The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War ~And Thus, I Became The Strongest Knight Disciple (♀) in The World~-Novel

「!?」

It was right after Inglis’ sword shattered. Even for Inglis, she couldn’t evade in time, as such one of Eris’ swords managed to embed itself into Inglis’ arm, albeit shallow.

Inglis had tried to jump backwards, but Eris was closing into her.

Apparently, this strike of hers was backed with a force more immense than the last one.

This was exactly what Inglis had expected from a Hyrule Menace.

Just by giving a slight opening due to an unexpected situation, Eris could deliver an injury at that very moment.

But, that was good. That was why it was worth the fight.

The wound on Inglis’ arm was only bleeding slightly, a minor laceration at most. It would pose her no problem to leave it alone.

Her sword broke but the fight was still on. Things were getting interesting. ¹

「Ah… Y-, you okay?」

However, Eris instead gave Inglis a worried look.

After all, her body had only moved reflexively as she saw that small window of golden opportunity.

She was glad she didn’t let herself loose with that attack.

Still, receiving her attack in that circumstance and yet only suffering a slight injury, this Inglis girl was truly a force to be reckoned with.

That opening she gave away should’ve claimed her life. However, despite all odds, she— For a girl at a very young age, her skill was indescribable.

「Ms. Eris. Don’t ask me something like that. Are you not satisfied that I’m your opponent?」

Being shown concern by her opponent made Inglis feel disgruntled.

「N-, it’s not like that, but—」

「…Ms. Eris, tell me, please. Can Hyrule Menaces like you sense mana?」

Basically everyone of this era lacked the ability to sense mana but Inglis wondered if that was the same for Hyrule Menaces as well.

「Y-, yeah, to some degree.」

「I see. If that’s so…」

Inglis breathed in a controlled manner and focused her mind.

From this point of time, she decided to unveil a technique she had been working on recently, which was the ability to convert Ether into Mana.

Mana was the source of Sorcery as well as the fuel to power Artifacts.

However, if considering the quality of force it brought forth, mana’s efficiency was remarkably poor.

To put it into perspective, let’s say someone was to produce fire using sorcery. If they used 10 units of mana, the amount that was truly converted into the fire was at most 2 units, if not 3, and the rest would be dispersed into thin air.

That wasn’t the case for Ether. If one used 10 units of ether, 10 units of fire would be produced, if not more.

For that reason, converting ether into mana was seriously just a great waste of power.

But, for now, when facing off against Eris who seemed to be incapable of sensing ether but could sense mana instead, Inglis would resort to using mana.

「Hah…! Imposs— A…. Wh-, what….!? Who are…..!?」

When she saw Inglis who suddenly clad herself in an enormous amount of mana, Eris backed down in spite of her better judgment.

Eris couldn’t feel anything from her until now.

She looked just like any ordinary person, not a bit of unique power was felt from her.

That was why Eris found it weird that Inglis could fight against her so well.

She couldn’t be more mistaken.

Inglis hid an abundant amount of mana within her person, so much that it could drown her in it was Eris’ genuine thought.

「Do you understand now? Please, don’t pull your punches.」

What Inglis did was a visualization of her power.

She changed ether into mana so that her opponent who couldn’t sense ether could see how strong she was.

In other words, lowering herself to their level.

Ether was the root of all creation. The difference between one matter to another was just how much ether was in them.

If so, it was entirely possible to arrange ether in a way until it reformed into mana.

Fundamentally speaking, this maneuver would only make Inglis lose more of her power, but in this particular case, it would serve her well.

With this, Eris should’ve realized that she could go all out.

Up until now, Eris was under the preconception that Inglis had no power in her, so she held herself back.

Inglis wanted to get rid of that preconception.

This training also served as a practice to micromanage ether, and it was just a byproduct of what was originally an attempt to produce a rune of her own to please her parents. ²

As rune was a mechanism to control the flow of mana, she couldn’t start making a rune without having mana inside her.

「S- so that’s how it is. Maybe you don’t need my help at all, after all.」

Said Eris as she put her twin swords back to their scabbard.

「I won’t stop you now. Go if you want.」

「EEEEeeehhhh!? Please wait a minute! That’s not fair! You’re mean!」

「Wh-, why am I the…? I was trying to make you escape since I thought you were a frail girl, even if I had to use force to do so. But looking at that much mana you have, doesn’t that mean you can protect yourself? If so, I have no reason to stop you here.」

「Uwaaah! So that’s how it is! What a blunder….」

Inglis regretted it bitterly. ³

Even though they finally had a match, she just wanted to show her strength to her opponent in an easy-to-understand manner, but now she was judged to be unnecessary to be stopped.

What a miscalculation. How frustrating. Even though it was finally getting fun……!

「O-, oh, how poor this lil damsel in distress that is me! Oh please, stop me! By all means!」

「No, I’ve seen enough from you. Come on, don’t make Mr. Highlander wait.」

That was all Eris had to say. She turned on her heel and began to head towards the gate. It looked like she was going home now.

「Uuu…. I shouldn’t have done that!」

Inglis could only watch Eris’ back as she was leaving while gnawing on her own nail.

But, suddenly, Inglis saw Eris being struck by something in her view. ⁴