“Ten minutes have passed! That’s the end!”
Randia’s shout made both fighters freeze, as if suddenly snapped out of a trance. The final exam, the one-on-one duel between Goritia, standing as the examiner, and Anje—was officially over.
“Tch… already over? Ten minutes feels way too short.”
Goritia grumbled.
“Exactly! This is so unsatisfying! There’s no way it should end until one of us falls!”
Anje shot back, frustration flickering across her face.
In the end, time had run out while the two remained perfectly evenly matched. Despite being battered and bruised, both of them clearly felt the fight had only just begun.
“Well… if you two insist on continuing, I have no intention of stopping you. But this space will be needed for the next examinee, so I kindly ask that you take your fight outside if you wish to carry on.”
“…”
Both fighters fell silent under Randia’s firm admonition. Perhaps realizing that a change of location was necessary to continue, the tension that had radiated off them slowly began to ebb.
“In any case, having fought Goritia on equal footing for a full ten minutes, Anje-dono has officially passed the final exam! Her promotion to S-Rank has been confirmed! Congratulations!”
As Randia announced Anje’s success, applause rang out throughout the training hall.
“…Come to think of it, that was the exam, wasn’t it? I completely forgot halfway through.”
Normally, this would be a moment of pure joy, but she couldn’t help the small chuckle. Then she turned toward Goritia.
“I’ll save the rest of our fight for another time. I still want to watch the remaining matches, after all.”
“Fufu~ I guess I can’t argue with that.”
Oh no, he had slipped back into his original, feminine manner of speech.
“But… honestly, I doubt I’ll ever get another chance to beat you. You’re only going to get stronger from here on out.”
“Do you think so?”
“Absolutely. I mean, even now, you weren’t going all out.”
“…I was going all out.”
“Huh? Do you think my eyes are that blind? I still remember the martial arts tournament—you used earth magic back then, didn’t you?”
That was true. In this final exam, Anje hadn’t used a single trace of earth magic.
Anje had held her own—or even surpassed Goritia—using only her martial skill. Had she also wielded her earth magic… she might have achieved a completely one-sided victory.
Understanding that, she had deliberately sealed away her magic and chosen to fight on equal, physical terms.
“Hehe… it’s been a while since I’ve felt this sting of frustration… Makes me want to train myself all over again,” she murmured, a gleam of excitement in her eyes.
“Now then, who’s next to step up?”
“I do. I want to fight.”
Perhaps inspired by watching Anje’s battle, Fana immediately volunteered, stepping forward without hesitation.
“Are you okay with that?”
“Yeah, I don’t mind going last.”
Orion replied.
With her consent, Fana stepped into the center of the training hall.
“Now, as for Fana’s examiner—”
“I’ll do it.”
Before Randia could finish speaking, a masked figure in a cloak leapt down from the spectator stands. Judging by her height, the tone of her voice, and her chest, it was likely a woman.
(And… that’s fairly well-endowed. Comparable to Fana… no, maybe even more. Alright, I’ll have to get her to lift me later.)
『As usual, you’re obsessed with breasts Master. Isn’t there anywhere else worth paying attention to?』
“Oh! It’s Fia-shi, then. You shall be the one in charge of this exam.”
The examiner called Fia was likely an S-Rank adventurer as well.
“Could it be… Fia, the Silver-Winged Twin Swords?”
“Strange. I didn’t expect her to take on this exam.”
“They say she’s one of the most anti-social among S-Rank adventurers.”
“Not just anti-social—she spends most of the year delving into high-difficulty dungeons and rarely shows herself on the surface.”
The adventurers watching whispered among themselves, trading rumors about the mysterious examiner.
Fia drew the swords hanging at her waist. Judging by her stance, she intended to fight in her masked, cloaked guise.
“So… she’s a dual-wielder, huh?”
“Yeah, just like Fana.”
It was a rare sight, but Fana showed no surprise. Expressionless as ever, she readied her two swords in response.
“Then, we will now begin Fana’s final exam!”
A sudden gust of wind swept through the hall.
It was Fana who had summoned it.
Unlike Anje, who had fought without her earth magic, Fana had no intention of holding back. She surged forward, using the wind to close the distance between herself and the examiner in an instant.
But Fana wasn’t the only one making the wind her ally.
“T-that examiner… she’s using it too!”
“Really… yeah, just like her!”
Fia was also wrapped in a swirling aura of wind. It seemed she would fight using a seamless fusion of wind magic and swordsmanship.
The two clashed at an incredible speed.
“U–unbelievable… what a storm of blades!?”
The exchange between Anje and Goritia had been so fast that even blinking could make you miss it—but this was on another level entirely.
Neither of them remained in one spot. They darted from one end of the training hall to the other, their positions constantly shifting. On top of that, the four swords—two in Fana’s hands, two in Fia’s—collided again and again like a torrential downpour of steel, crisscrossing with relentless intensity.
“And… they’re evenly matched!?”
“Yeah. On top of that, their sword trajectories are almost identical. That’s probably because their physical abilities—height, arm length, joint flexibility, and even muscle composition—are so similar.”
“Is it really possible for two people to be that alike?”
It was then.
Perhaps unable to withstand the relentless clash any longer, Fia’s tattered cloak was torn away by the wind, fluttering violently through the air. Almost simultaneously, her mask slipped from her face, clattering to the floor.
“Wh-what the—!?”
Anje stared in disbelief, shouting in shock.
The reason was clear—the woman revealed as Fia looked almost identical to Fana. Blue eyes, perfectly proportioned features and a silver hair slightly shorter than Fana’s.
And most striking of all—
(Their breast shape is the same too.)
『That’s gross, Master.』
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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