Onlookers whispered as Daru stood a fair distance away from the shorter, black-haired Austin—one of False Witness's close friends and underlings.
The guy was one of the idiots who tried to provoke him by claiming a slumber capsule he was about to select, forcing him to choose one in the corner.
"Hahaha, what an honor it is to be your sparring partner, Your Highness, Daru Finnley of Ashton High!" Austin laughed sarcastically.
"I'll make sure to learn whatever I can from you today!"
His words were met by laughter and chuckles from False Witness and the goon squad.
Clearly, none of them were taking Daru seriously, believing he wasn't a "special case" at all.
He should be above average at most.
Austin, too, could be considered slightly above average, proven by the fact that he awakened a C-tier sword.
The reason why the short bastard was so confident was that he didn't need to win at all.
Just going toe to toe with Daru would be enough to expose him, and Austin was confident he could at least achieve that, if not win.
To the goon squad's surprise and confusion, the fallen sword prince only nodded in response.
Daru even seemed genuinely happy after hearing Austin's words.
"Good decision. I'll do my best to show you my techniques. As for how much you'll learn, it's up to you."
The black-haired young man's brows furrowed.
Is this the bastard's response to his sarcasm, or did the bastard not…
Unfortunately for Austin, he didn't have much time to ponder. Instructor Talon raised his hands and declared:
"Begin!"
Daru immediately charged at Austin, reprimanding sternly:
"Focus!"
The black-haired young man almost exploded in fury right then and there.
This delusional idiot thinks he's actually asking for advice?!
Austin raised his training takouba horizontally to defend, the clacking sound of wooden swords echoing across the outdoor dojo of the second running track.
"Raise your sword a bit more. Look, the tip of my sword almost touched you."
The black-haired underling finally blew up after yet another advice, kicking Daru, who was able to step back on time and dodge.
"Shut up!! Who the hell are you to give me advice, you lowly F-ranker!!"
In the next moment, Austin charged forth, counterattacking with a rather wild diagonal slash.
"RAAH!"
Daru frowned, slightly confused.
Didn't this idiot ask him earlier?
'Whatever…'
In any case, he could only defend for now, meeting his opponent's sword with a diagonal slash of his own.
A rather heated sparring match then ensued between the two youngsters.
Daru willingly put himself on the defensive, honing and showcasing his mastery of defensive techniques for his class to witness.
He hoped that by doing so, they would improve and close in on his level.
Perhaps they would be able to give him satisfying matches in the future if he planted seeds for half a year.
Unfortunately, instead of focusing on his skills, a majority of the onlookers were whispering, with a few openly mocking him for being on the defensive.
"Sigh…looks like he's indeed a fraud…" was the main content of the discussions.
How could he be struggling against a C-ranker this hard if he was truly as invincible as Ashton High School advertised?
Meanwhile, the anger in Austin's heart diminished with every swing.
The black-haired underling remained relentless in his assault.
He chopped, slashed, and thrust at Daru, showcasing his aggressive prowess with a widening triumphant grin.
His footwork wasn't too neat, though.
It seemed that Austin was a bit too overexcited about what was happening.
On the other hand, Daru's every move was extremely clean—his calm backward steps, his stances, the timing of his parries, and the form and stability of his blocks, everything could be called flawless in the eyes of the less-skilled.
Sadly, almost everyone was focused on the fact that he was being "suppressed" by Austin.
Even his instructor failed to see the bigger picture at that moment, questioning his decision to allow Daru to hunt swordspawns five levels higher than his own.
Daru's efforts were unfortunately ending up in the trash bin.
…Until Austin failed to suppress himself:
"Hahahaha, is this all you're capable of, Sword Prince Daru Finnley?" the young man laughed, though his words fell on deaf ears.
Daru was focusing on far more important things. He had no attention to spare on such useless matters.
There was someone else whose attention was captured by Austin's taunts, however—someone who was about to become a celebrity in the academy: Snowflower.
She instinctively turned to glance at the source of the loud, victorious voice, her attention immediately captured by the actions of the blonde young man with golden eyes.
Her lackluster gaze brightened a little, and she couldn't help but continue watching.
Ten seconds, twenty seconds…
Before she realized, she had already been watching for a whole minute, and she couldn't help but mutter, barely audible in the ears of those around her:
"What beautiful swordsmanship…"
Her voice, cold and lonely as winter yet as gentle as a flower, instantly captured the attention of the young men around her.
One of them immediately took the chance to strike up a conversation:
"M-Miss Iris, I-I don't see anything special, though?"
Snowflower failed to respond, endeared and momentarily lost in wonder.
The opportunistic classmate was naturally dejected after being ignored. But just a few moments later, his mood made a sharp turn once again as Iris suddenly asked:
"Do you know the name of that blonde student?"
The young man was momentarily stupefied, erupting into an enthusiastic explanation a second later.
"D-Daru Finnley? Yes, he's known as the Fallen Sword Prince of Ashton High School after awakening a…blah* blah*..."
Unfortunately, the hopeful guy's subsequent sentences all but floated into the winds as Snowflower murmured to herself:
"Daru Finnley…"
Iris wanted to watch more, but a minute-and-a-half sparring match would naturally be short.
At least she got to witness a brilliant strike near the end…
Hearing that there were only ten seconds left, Daru switched things up a bit, hoping to show Austin one of the rather abhorrent gaps in his defense.
He stood his ground, neatly parrying a diagonal slash before advancing slightly and resting the edges of his training tachi close to his dumbfounded opponent's neck, defeating him almost instantaneously, despite the unhurried grace.
"Time!" exclaimed Talon soon after.
He glanced at Daru, wincing as he found it extremely difficult to gauge the young man's true abilities, mainly because he, too, was expecting a dominant win.
While Daru did win in the end, he was on the back foot most of the time.
One could argue that Austin was already exhausted when he counterattacked.
This, of course, was an acceptable tactic, but one usually used by lesser-skilled individuals.
"Damn it!" the black-haired young man cursed openly, glaring at his opponent. "You lucked out this time. I hope you know things won't be the same next time…"
Daru merely ignored Austin's words.
He simply made his way to one of the benches to ponder about his winning strike, in what other ways he could've won.
False Witness and his goons coldly followed him with their gazes as he did. Zach was naturally not too happy at the result of the final moments of the spar.
Like so, the first sparring session ended, and the entire class performed exercises to cool their muscles down.
Instructor Talon didn't immediately let them go, making a few announcements first:
"Alright, I've more or less gauged your skill levels. I shall give you your customized training regimen next week on the same day.
Also, do note that our class will be holding a single-elimination mini-tournament that will last fourteen weeks, with one round happening every two weeks.
There would be no prizes except for the Class Representative spot.
However, do note that only the Class Representative will be sent to the inter-class representative competition that will happen six months from now.
There would naturally be rewards there, but only for the top four winners.
I advise that you guys not treat our mini tournament lightly. This would be your ticket to the bigger pond where highly-skilled opponents and scouts from the Seven Sword Guilds await.
That's it from me for today. Dismissed!"