Chapter 33 – Lesta VS
The Trihi Hall in the evening.
In one of its many training rooms, Reina and Ridipin were sparring.
Whoosh! Swish! Clang!
On the vast simulated plain, the two exchanged blows—sword and arrow intertwined.
When Reina closed the distance quickly, Ridipin used a powerful skill to evade by riding the recoil. And when Ridipin unleashed a flurry of arrows, Reina deflected them with Ignition.
Ridipin blocked Reina’s strike with her bow and, in that position, nocked an arrow aimed straight at Reina’s face—the match ended there.
As if on cue, the two released their tension and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
“Haa… haa…”
Both were exhausted from the long duel, but unlike Ridipin—whose expression showed she might collapse any moment—Reina still smiled as if she had energy to spare.
“W-We’ve been sparring for four hours now… Haa… Aren’t you tired, Reina?”
“Of course I’m tired! But it’s fun!”
From lunch break, right after parting ways with Ban, up until now, they had been training nonstop.
When Ban was around, they took turns sparring with Reina. But now Ridipin had to face her alone.
She had started this match confidently, determined to catch up to Reina. But at this point, Ridipin wanted nothing more than to run away.
Still, she feared that if she suggested ending it, Reina might be disappointed. So she kept going, unable to voice her wish to stop.
Please come back quickly, Ban…!
Ridipin was missing him more than usual today.
Reina, unaware of Ridipin’s inner thoughts, grinned brightly.
“All right, shall we go again?”
“R-Reina! W-Wait, let’s rest! Rest!”
In the end, Ridipin couldn’t hold out and shouted for a break.
She had barely earned this respite, yet something felt oddly empty—perhaps because Ban wasn’t here to hand them water and towels, offer praise and encouragement, or make idle conversation.
It feels… empty without him.
She didn’t know when Ban had come to occupy such a big place inside her.
After hesitating, Ridipin asked,
“R-Reina… what do you think of Ban?”
“What’s this? You want to gossip behind his back while he’s not here?”
“N-No! That’s not what I meant…”
She wanted to know if Reina felt the same fondness toward Ban that she did, but asking directly felt too blunt—so she tried to go about it indirectly.
“I-I just think Ban’s a decent person. But you might see him differently. All I knew about him before was that he was a troublemaker…”
“So you’re asking me to list his flaws?”
“T-That’s not what I—!”
Realizing Reina was teasing her, Ridipin puffed her cheeks in mild irritation. Reina apologized.
“Sorry, sorry. Anyway, what do I think of Ban?”
After a brief pause, Reina answered.
“He’s a good friend. Knows a lot, looks out for us. Sometimes I want to smack him in the head when he teases me, though. But why are you asking about Ban?”
“W-Well… it’s just that this is the first time I’ve sparred without him here…”
“So you thought of Ban while training with me? Don’t tell me you—”
“T-That’s not it!”
“Not what?”
“Uh, it’s just…”
Reina stepped closer with a knowing expression, and Ridipin’s face turned red.
Huh? Could it be…?
For a moment, even Reina looked flustered.
Before either could speak—
“What’s going on with you two?”
Like a savior, Ban appeared.
When I stepped into the training room, I saw Reina looking startled and Ridipin blushing furiously in front of her.
“Ahaha… well, it’s a bit awkward. But who’s that behind you…?”
“Oh. That’s Senior Lesta.”
Behind me, Lesta manipulated the training room’s settings, summoning a bed onto the grassy plain. Then, without hesitation, he lay down.
“Hey. I’m Lesta Lightjust. Don’t need to explain further, right? You’re famous enough that I roughly know who you are too, so spare me the introductions.”
Ridipin averted her gaze with a conflicted expression, while Reina frowned as if she’d just seen rotten food.
“I’d heard the rumors… but seeing you in person is even worse.”
Reina valued hard work and despised people who didn’t put in effort.
Lesta, despite being lazy and indifferent about everything, was still called a genius—his very existence undermined the value of effort.
To make matters worse, he was the son of the knight commander most responsible for destroying the Serenia family.
To Reina, Lesta was someone packed with every trait she disliked.
But at her harsh words, Lesta merely yawned.
“People say that a lot. Never met anyone stronger than me who talks like that, though.”
Reina gritted her teeth in frustration, and I quickly cut in.
“You came here to watch—why provoke people? Just apologize already.”
“Why should I? She said I was awful first.”
“Oh-ho. Changing your words already? Didn’t you promise before you’d be my dog?”
Lesta had indeed promised that once, and he never went back on his word.
So, grudgingly, he swallowed his pride and apologized to Reina—though still sitting on the bed.
“Sorry. But you started it, so I feel no guilt.”
It was an awkward apology, shifting the blame to her, but Reina looked more shocked than angry.
“L-Lesta Lightjust apologized?!”
Given his history of causing trouble and never cleaning up after himself, the fact he apologized at all was apparently a miracle.
Honestly, I was relieved my own reputation wasn’t as bad as his—people called me the empire’s greatest delinquent, but compared to Lesta, I looked harmless.
While Reina gaped at us, Ridipin cautiously spoke up.
“S-So… why did Senior Lesta come here?”
“Well…” I began, but Lesta cut me off.
“To see where you stand.”
I stepped closer, hissing under my breath.
“That’s not what we agreed on!”
We’d had a plan:
– Introduce ourselves
– Spar with me
– Pretend to slip up and use Aura Break
– Show them it’s safe, so Ridipin would use Aura Break on Reina
– Heal Reina while breaking through her ki
But Lesta shoved me aside.
“Why bother with all that? There’s a simpler way.”
Standing before Reina, he looked down at her.
“I need to know your level so I know how much babysitting you need. Spar with me. I’ll also show you the gap between us.”
Reina’s eyes blazed.
“Fine. I’ll show you how strong I am!”
“You? Strong?”
Still smiling tightly, she answered,
“I’ll make you regret saying that…!”
On the conjured plain, they faced each other.
“No weapon for you?”
“This is plenty. Using anything better against you would be overkill.”
While Reina wielded a sword, Lesta held nothing but a thin branch the length of his arm.
“Ugh! Don’t you dare make excuses when you lose!”
“Don’t you dare make excuses when you lose to a branch.”
Reina was so irritated she could barely keep from shaking. I stepped in to calm her.
“Relax. If you’re too mad, you’ll lose a winnable fight.”
“It’s fine. I’m not even aiming to win.”
Lesta was called the greatest genius in Lightjust history. Nobles across the empire had known his talent since he was a child.
Reina was certain she’d lose—especially since she couldn’t use aura.
But even so, she had a reason to fight.
“I’m at least gonna land one solid hit on that smug face!”
I stepped down from the platform.
“All right… begin!”
At the signal, Reina used Ignition and rushed forward.
A sharp, flame-like slash flew at Lesta, but he casually raised the branch and blocked it.
Clang!
Despite it being wood, the sound was like ore striking ore—the branch was shrouded in black aura, its hardness vastly increased.
Without missing a beat, Reina unleashed a barrage of Ignition strikes, but Lesta blocked them all with ease before swinging the branch at her.
Whoom!
A dangerous sound split the air, and Reina reflexively used Flare to block.
Thunk!
This time, the branch’s aura was thicker. The pressure forced her to one knee just to hold her ground.
Lesta, still pinning her with one hand, covered a yawn with the other.
“Boring. Did the one who said not to make excuses already run off to bed?”
Furious, Reina shouted and knocked the branch aside, then lowered her stance and charged.
[Serenia Style – Ignition, Flame Bullet, Flame Release]
She unleashed the three techniques in succession, mixing them up, but Lesta didn’t budge. Ignition was met with a counter-swing, Flame Bullet deflected by aura bursts, and Flame Release met head-on with a thrust of his branch.
No matter how she varied them, none landed.
Panting, Reina retreated. Lesta didn’t even chase her.
“I’ve seen all this before… only weaker than it was back then. Got anything else?”
“If I could use aura, I’d beat you right now!”
“Excuses. So you can’t beat me now, is what you’re saying.”
She bit back her anger, knowing he was right—Serenia style assumed you could use aura. Without it, its techniques were far weaker.
But Reina never gave up just because she was losing. Whether it worked or not didn’t matter—she’d throw everything she had into the fight.
She closed her eyes, exhaled, relaxed her body, then gripped her sword with all her strength.
Sensing the shift, Lesta’s smirk faded and he adjusted his grip on the branch—but he wouldn’t move his feet. That was his pride.
Reina’s eyes snapped open and she charged.
The opening looked like Ignition, but the force was far greater. Even Lesta instinctively drew in more aura—only for her sword to slice the air as if it didn’t care.
[Serenia Style – First Flash (Sun Annihilation)]
But despite its power, her strike was stopped cold by the branch.
She had reproduced the form perfectly, but without aura it was an empty shell—like a car without an engine.
Lesta sighed. He knew that if she ever did awaken aura, she would become strong enough to truly fight him.
Then, with her guard open, he struck her with the aura-charged branch.
The aura surged from the branch through her whole body.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“Reina!”
I ran to her side and began dismantling the Aura Break.
As the pain eased, she stopped screaming, but her body was still in bad shape.
“I went easy,” Lesta said flatly.
I wanted to be angry at seeing her in pain, but I couldn’t—it was the same end goal I’d intended, even if the method changed.
While I treated Reina, Ridipin glared at Lesta.
“D-Did you really have to use Aura Break?!”
He grinned confidently.
“Facing her told me—she never gives up. So I just gave her a defeat she could accept.”
“…”
“If you were close friends, you’d know that. Or… do you just not like me?”
“Y-Yeah!”
“Well, can’t be helped then. Come at me.”
