Lucian glanced over at the approaching voice and saw a fully kitted up Sofia sauntering over his way, this time without her servant by her side. However, Lucian wouldn't be deceived by such an appearance, as he had no doubt that he would be hidden nearby somewhere Lucian couldn't detect him.
He frowned when he saw the sword in Sofia's hands, as well as the spotlessly clean armour that coated her body. It was clear that not only were they both of higher quality than his own, but they were also much more taken care of. But the main concern for Lucian was that they were real — not just training equipment.
Sofia's sword looked sharp enough to slice a man's arm clean off, and he had no doubt that she could perform such a feat effortlessly with her level of strength. She was an Official Knight already, so it probably wouldn't take much effort for her to do so either. Lucian just wondered why she was approaching him so late into the evening, with the sun already starting to set.
As far as he was concerned, nobody rarely ever came to this place, which was the exact reason he chose it as his training spot. Who'd have thought he would end up in this kind of situation, though?
Not him, that was for sure — or else he would have avoided this place entirely. Lucian wasn't exactly in the mood for crossing other students at the moment. In fact, his idea was to ignore them all completely until the Mage selection came around, but it was clear that the universe had other plans for him.
"What does the esteemed Lady Sofia want from me so late into the evening?" he questioned in the calmest tone he could muster.
"Nothing much, you just happen to be occupying my training area." Sofia replied matter of factly, maintaining her stride towards him the whole time.
'Her training spot? How come I didn't know of this?' Lucian queried to himself, but his memories held no answer for him.
In fact, there was a good reason he didn't know of such a thing. It had much to do with the reason this place was known to be empty at this time of day. The very reason it was empty was because it was common knowledge among the masses that Sofia used this place to train. And there was one very simple reason Lucian wasn't aware of this. It was spread through word of mouth. For Lucian, who kept to himself and rarely ever left his dorm except for when he was required to, how was he supposed to learn of this fact?
"I'm very sorry. I didn't realise this! I'll leave now." Lucian gave his sincerest apologies and picked up his sword before making his way past Sofia. Unfortunately, he was unable to do so before being stopped mid stride.
"Not so fast," Sofia spoke, holding her shining silver sword in front of Lucian, acting as a barrier between him and his way out of this situation. She made it very clear that she didn't intend to let him off so easily.
"Since you're already here, I could use a training partner."
Lucian watched her for a moment, trying to judge her reactions as she kept her sword in front of him. He hoped he could spot a glimmer of humour or sarcasm in her eyes, but it quickly became clear to him that she was deadly serious about what she said.
He let out a begrudging sigh. Lucian had been meaning to avoid meaningless fights during his remaining tenure in this academy, but he couldn't control the thoughts and wishes of others, especially when they far outclassed him in both strength and status.
Lucian had already done his research after his encounter with her in the canteen the previous time. She was the child of the Count the teacher was referring to during his lesson, and her father, Count Nessus, was the man Lucian's own father served. It was quite a difficult situation for Lucian at the moment.
If he refused to accept Sofia's request to be her training partner, then she 100% had the pull to have him removed from the academy entirely. If this happened, then forget becoming an Official Knight in time for the selection; even if he somehow became a Grand Knight during this period, he wouldn't be able to even attend the selection.
"Sigh, alright then. As you wish, Lady Sofia." All Lucian could do was sigh and accept this fate.
Shing!
The moment the words slipped out of his mouth, Sofia didn't even give him a moment to prepare before her sword met Lucian's, sending him reeling backwards and nearly knocking him to the ground.
The clashing of the swords created a crystal clear sound that could be heard from a good distance away from the grassy area. A few curious eyes nearby even turned to look at what was going on. They laughed in amusement when they saw Lucian being unwillingly pulled into a spar with Sofia.
"Hmph! As I thought, you're exactly the weakling everyone made you out to be!" Sofia held her sword with one hand and laughed as she watched Lucian nearly trip over his own feet.
Lucian remained silent and instead asked his AI to send the training of his sword techniques straight to his mind. The process took less than a second, and he frowned as his mind struggled to process the large intake of information. Sofia took his struggling expression as annoyance towards her, which only fueled her laughter even more.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, her sword thrashed through the air towards Lucian once again, aiming directly for his shoulder this time. She didn't intend to deal a mortal wound to him, as that was against the rules of the academy, which even she had to follow despite her status.
But that didn't mean she couldn't injure him somewhat!
"Hrahh!" Lucian shouted, and his legs moved in a strange formation, allowing him to barely dodge the incoming attack by a hair's breadth.
'Oh?' Sofia had a momentary lapse of surprise after seeing Lucian pull such a move off, even stopping her mocking laughter midway.
Lucian took this opportunity to launch a counterattack back at Sofia, aiming directly for her sword, rather than trying to deal a flesh wound to her like she intended for him.
He had absolutely zero intention of taking any chance at injuring her, despite the low likelihood it would even happen. If it even entertained the idea of getting him into trouble with the academy and perhaps even resulting in him being expelled, he was having none of it