I had not liked this obligation of a duel, but it could be a way to show my skills. In fact, it would be an excellent way to test my combat abilities, he was certainly confident, so he must have had some skills that could serve as a form of learning, at least that was what I expected.
So far I had only dueled with Bedelia, Thalya and Silas, besides monsters. So I was limited to their abilities, which was good, since they were quite strong, but at the same time bad, since I had little experience in combat.
"What are the rules of the duel?" I asked.
"The same as the exam duels, we'll follow the rules. But we'll use swords."
"Alright," I said as I chose a sword that was in the arena. There were several options, I chose the one I thought was the prettiest, even though it looked a little worn.
He laughed, "You chose the worst sword possible."
The fight began and I quickly used dark magic and enhanced the sword, making it very sharp.
He looked confident, he didn't choose any of the swords that were in the arena, he brought his own sword.
At first I was only defending myself, I could see the feints he was planning, he was fast, but not as fast as Thalya, so it was easy, actually it was very easy.
He was, little by little, becoming enraged. When I noticed this, I began to make my attacks; the first strike cut his sword in half, the second strike cut his left arm and the third was stopped by the examiner, the examiner's hand stopped my arm.
"That's enough, you could end up killing him," the examiner said.
"What did you just do?" the woman with the hat asked.
"I just used magic to enhance the sword."
"You managed to cut mythril using a simple spell?" the examiner asked.
"Yes," I didn't know if that was good or bad.
"Call the doctors!" the woman shouted after seeing the noble faint while losing blood, he was exaggerating, the cut was certainly painful, but not to the point of him writhing on the ground the way he was.
I went up to him and used healing magic, little by little his arm began to grow again and he ended up falling asleep from the exhaustion caused by the healing.
"Can you use sixth level magic?"
In fact, I could use magic up to seventh level, but I thought it was better to hide that information.
"Yes, I can use sixth level healing magic," I wanted to give a biting answer, but I preferred not to cause any confusion.
"You are already approved," she said as she left the arena.
"Who is she?" I asked the examiner. He looked at me and seemed not to understand the question.
"She is the headmistress of the Academy."
After a while the noble woke up and looked like he wanted to kill me, he had a furious look and perhaps a thirst for blood. But I ignored it.
The sword I had enhanced was taken by the headmistress.
The other duels happened without any problems.
"You talked about me, but you hit him harder, you should have left at least a little dignity for the second prince."
"Wait a minute, he is the second prince?"
Jasly confirmed.
"My head must be worth a bounty, I thought he was just some random noble."
She laughed.
"You are strong enough to defend yourself, you are just too fearful and too cautious."
"Fearful?"
"Yes, you are strong, but at the same time you are afraid to fight, I've noticed that for some time."
"I just want a peaceful life," I wasn't lying, it had been a while since I had given up on returning to my world, I had begun to like my life here, besides that, I liked this family-like love. Actually, no, I had not given up trying to return to my world, I just had no idea where I should start.
We stopped at a café and ate a piece of cake, then decided to return to the inn, but on the way a group of people stopped us from continuing.
"Who are you?" Jasly asked.
An old man with a staff began to laugh, the others too.
"Capture the two," the old man said.
Jasly used wind magic and caused large cuts on the five bandits. The old man began to conjure a spell, but I managed to stop him, I used fire magic and burned his hand. He dropped the staff and I picked it up, I kept watching and took the chance to use my magic on him. Then I handed it back to the old man.
"Are you an idiot?" he said as he tried to use magic, but the attack bounced back to him.
The old man fainted, the bandits tried to flee, but I used water magic and managed to make them pass out from lack of air, the idea was terrible, since I could have killed someone by drowning.
The prince was watching the attack and began to run away.
The idea really was terrible, now someone knows I can use water magic.
"We're going to have a problem," Jasly said.
"Yes, but we'll hand these bandits over to the guild and try to use this attack to lessen suspicion."
Jasly used wind magic and carried the bandits.
At the guild we went straight to the guild master and handed over the six, he stared.
"You almost killed the second prince's guards," he said and then laughed out loud. He seemed to enjoy it.
He wrote something on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope and used a device to make the letter be delivered to the recipient.
"This is a problem, but don't worry too much. The second prince has a very negative reputation, it's easier for them to believe you than him, but this here is a problem," he said pointing to the old man with the staff.
"Who is he?"
"Yves Sterling, he is one of the court mages, defeating him is at least funny, even more so by children. I knew you were strong, but not this strong," he said excitedly.
"He's old, so it was very easy," I said. I wasn't lying, he really was very slow and seemed weak, if he had been strong it was at some point in his youth, age really is a natural enemy of anyone.
The man woke up, he was scared and confused, looking around and became even more frightened when he saw Kalil.
"You committed a crime against two of my adventurers. That goes against the guilds' independence agreement for missions," he said as he took a crystal out of a drawer. He placed the crystal on the table, "what were you doing on that street and for what reason did you attack the two adventurers?"
"They started the attacks, we were just protecting the second prince."
Kalil opened another drawer, took something and then stood up and went to the old man.
"I don't like having to resort to this," he said as he placed the object on the old man's neck. Then he put his right hand on the collar and Yves began to writhe, it seemed he was feeling pain.
Kalil stepped back and watched the man.
"I, Kalil Torch, begin the forced interrogation of Yves Sterling," he said looking at the crystal. "By the rule of the enslavement collar, you will not be able to lie to me."
Yves was terrified, he moved and tried to escape, but he was tied up and it was impossible for him to get away. Actually, no, it was possible, he could have used magic to cut the rope, or he could have used fire magic, I didn't pay attention to which element he used, it was very fast and I got distracted.
"Now tell me, what is the real reason you and the others attacked two adventurers who were on a mission?"
He lied about the mission, but from what I understood later, there was a non-interference rule in guild missions, guaranteeing the right of the mission and some protections. That law applied only in this country.
"The second prince asked us to kill the two."
"That's all," Kalil said, touching the crystal.
"What is that crystal?" Jasly asked.
"It's a recording crystal, I recorded the interrogation and will use it as proof so you are not accused, don't worry about that, since it's also part of my job."
"What are you going to do with this man?"
"The guild has police status in some cases, for now he and the others will stay imprisoned here. I'll deliver this crystal to the minister of security and ask him to take care of the case."
He took the crystal and put it in a leather pouch.
"You were very lucky, if their father had been here you would have been reduced to dust, not without first begging to die in the most painless way possible."
"Father?"
"They are sons of Silas Whisper."
When he said the name, Yves began to tremble.
Then two adventurers entered the room, they were muscular, making Kalil look small.
"Take these men to the mage cell, I don't know if the others can use magic, so it's better to be careful."
The mage cell was a special cell, no one could use magic inside it, which made it perfect for imprisoning mages.