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Chapter 27: Demon General Octavia

Right now, Ryan felt as if 10,000 alpaca monsters were stampeding through his mind.

How could he run into her even here!

Octavia, one of the Demon King’s five great generals!

The last time Ryan met this demon general was at the frontier.

That battle was the hardest fight of Ryan’s life.

His physical abilities were slightly inferior to Octavia’s, and the magic he cast had very little effect on the demon general.

Fortunately, he eventually used his superb swordsmanship to defeat the demon general.

Since then, he had never seen her again.

Until now…

Because Octavia initiated the attack, her greatsword pressed down on Ryan’s longsword.

The overwhelming force made Ryan bend his knees for a moment, yet he quickly straightened and, fearless, met Octavia’s gaze with a faint smile as he said, “Yo, we meet again, defeated general; what brings you to Alcot Academy?”

At those words, Octavia’s eyes burned even hotter, and she increased the pressure of her grip.

“Sword-rack, if it weren’t for you, would I be here?!”

She called Ryan a sword-rack because, in her eyes, once he lost his blade he was nothing at all.

Tsk, he had not eaten much at noon.

Ryan had not cared before, but the moment he faced Octavia, the drawback of a light lunch became apparent.

Still, it was more than enough to handle Octavia.

Although his stamina kept draining fast, he still looked completely at ease and raised an eyebrow as he said, “Tell me… after losing to me, were you immediately demoted to a mere attendant?”

“Arghhh!!”

Octavia grew even more irritable; clearly Ryan had guessed right and hit her sore spot.

Chance!

A flash of light glinted in Ryan’s eyes, and as Octavia’s breathing faltered he prepared to draw his sword!

“Hey, you two over there! If you want to fight, take it outside!!”

At that moment, an angry shout came from the training-ground supervisor in the distance.

As soon as the words fell, Ryan and Octavia simultaneously sheathed their weapons, faced the supervisor, and shouted in unison, “Sorry! Our apologies!!”

After watching the supervisor turn away, Octavia looked at Ryan and whispered, “You’ve grown weaker; if we fight again I definitely won’t lose!”

Ryan shrugged indifferently and said, “Think whatever you like; I simply won’t fight you.”

Octavia said, “…As Captain of the Darkbite Knight Order, don’t you even have the courage to face a former loser again?”

Ryan refused to rise to her provocation and replied, “Your words are pointless; I’m no longer a Knight Order Captain, just as you are no longer a demon general.”

Without a doubt, Ryan’s last remark poked her sore spot again.

Octavia gnashed her teeth and, in the blink of an eye, set her hand on the hilt of her greatsword.

Seeing that, Ryan raised his hand toward the distance and called, “Supervisor!”

Octavia: “…”

Was this really the cold, imposing Captain of the Darkbite Knight Order on the battlefield? Why was he so shameless now!

Helpless, Octavia sullenly removed her hand from the hilt and silently clenched her fist.

“Come on, don’t be mad; how about we bury the hatchet?”

Smiling, Ryan patted the pauldron on her shoulder as though they were old friends.

Octavia knocked his hand away and said coldly, “Quit bothering me.”

“Don’t be so distant; we’re both ordinary attendants now, and our ladies are even classmates.”

“You’re noisy.”

“How’s life as an attendant? I find being a butler far more comfortable than serving in the Knight Order.”

“You’re driving me crazy; go away!”

Seeing that Octavia was on the verge of exploding, Ryan stopped teasing her and turned his gaze to Nanali in the training ground.

The instructor first had the students review the forms they had learned, then taught a new move before dismissing them to practice on their own.

Most students clustered in pairs or trios, sparring with wooden swords or discussing techniques in front of the wooden dummies.

Only Nanali stood alone in a corner of the yard, just as she did in class, hacking repeatedly at a dummy with her wooden sword.

This time, however, her isolation was not forced; many noble ladies had invited her, yet she had politely declined.

Nanali had realized their true goal was not sparring with her at all but approaching Ryan!

Although she had escaped her classmates’ ridicule, Nanali still felt no happiness.

She had long since grown used to mockery and sarcasm.

But if someone stole Ryan away, the pillar supporting her heart might truly collapse.

After all, Ryan was the reason she had emerged from her daze; if he suddenly disappeared, she would once again be alone in her world.

Despite those heavy thoughts, Nanali swung at the dummy with exceptional vigor.

At the same time, Ryan could now judge Nanali’s aptitude for the sword.

Hmm, poor balance, slow reactions, low thrust accuracy, an unsteady grip, and no feel for the blade…

Hiss…

Ryan could not help but crease his brow.

He could see that Nanali had not given up on herself and had trained alone for a long time.

Yet… the results were minimal.

A deficiency in talent like this could not be fixed by sparring or hard practice.

With someone like that, Ryan normally advised them never to touch a sword again.

Looking at the other students’ swordsmanship, he realized Nanali was still at the very bottom…

She was at the bottom in magic and still at the bottom in swordplay, yet she worked so hard; no wonder, among so many untalented people, the crowd chose to target her.

Finally, Ryan could not help asking Rowan, “Is this sword class mandatory?”

“It is mandatory, and there’s an exam every quarter.”

Ryan: “……”

“Mr. Ryan, does that mean… even you can’t teach her?”

Seeing Ryan’s reaction, Rowan asked worriedly.

Rowan had always felt that Ryan could transform Nanali’s sword talent just as he had changed her magical gift.

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