After Pinusal's shout signaled the start of the match, the arena fell into complete silence.
The teacher and her student, each maintaining a stance ready for either attack or defense, watched one another with such intense concentration that it bordered on the divine. Yet neither showed the slightest intention of making the first move. At the same time, it felt as though either of them could strike at any given instant.
This state of extreme, suffocating stalemate silenced practically the entire arena.
And it continued for more than a full minute without either elf moving so much as a single muscle.
"This is interesting… Considering Lady Agratà's obvious eagerness to challenge her master, I would have expected her to launch the first attack immediately. There was clear tension between the two of them—evident from the moment their gazes met—but instead…" Hero Caesar said curiously as he observed the two living statues standing motionless at the center of the arena.
"Mr. Caesar, this often happens during matches between two highly skilled practitioners of The Leaf Falling from the Tree Style, because that martial art relies almost entirely on counterattacks and on turning an opponent's own strength against them. Their most effective techniques can usually only be employed after the opponent has attacked first. For that very reason, practitioners of this style almost never make the opening move, instead waiting patiently for their opponent to strike.
Consequently, when two practitioners of the style face one another, neither wishes to attack first. Usually, if both are beginners, this stalemate does not last very long. After a short while, realizing that the match cannot begin unless one of them acts, one of them loses patience and attacks—and, more often than not, the one who strikes first ends up losing the match.
But in the case of expert practitioners, the confrontation is far more than a simple test of patience. Since they are trained to observe every minute movement of their opponent, it becomes a contest of pure strategy and absolute concentration, in which neither can afford to take their eyes off the other for even a single instant. The winner is usually the one who discovers that fleeting opening in which to strike.
That is precisely why, in some matches between masters of the Falling Leaf Style, it can even take an entire day before either combatant finally decides to make the first move," explained a calm voice belonging to someone who had just entered the royal viewing cabin.
Everyone present immediately recognized that voice.
"Welcome, Katerina," Lucas greeted her with a radiant smile, followed shortly afterward by the rest of the people in the royal cabin.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I lost my match against Hero Caesar. I hope you still found it enjoyable…" Katerina said in what seemed to be her usual calm voice.
But Lucas immediately noticed a slight tremor running through her body. He also saw that her lynx-like ears were lowered ever so slightly.
'Was she really that worried about receiving a negative answer from me? If that's the case, I shouldn't keep her waiting any longer…' Lucas thought gently.
"Of course it was a fantastic match! Both you and Caesar truly gave it everything you had. I couldn't take my eyes off either of you for even a second!" Lucas replied, his voice overflowing with genuine delight.
Katerina's ears immediately perked up, and a faint smile appeared on her face.
She promptly bowed before Lucas and said,
"I see…"
After pausing for a couple of seconds, she added,
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I'm extremely happy that you enjoyed it."
"Lady Katerina, I realize it may be somewhat rude of me to ask, considering that I was the one who inflicted those injuries… but how are your legs?" Caesar asked in his dignified manner, though a trace of embarrassment could still be heard in his voice.
"Please don't worry, Mr. Caesar. You targeted my legs because it was the most effective strategy to prevent me from escaping, and that was perfectly reasonable in a tournament match. You simply did what you had to do in order to win, so I have no reason to be upset. Especially since, as you can see, my legs have now almost completely healed," Katerina replied in her usual calm, almost mechanical tone as she slightly lifted the hem of her long black skirt—the one that formed part of her new maid's uniform—just enough to reveal her legs.
Lucas respectfully averted his gaze for a moment.
"I see… I have specifically paid attention to avoiding injuries that might have caused permanent damage to your legs, but you never know—it's always better to ask…" said the Roman general before examining the woman's legs even more closely.
Katerina, despite maintaining her usual neutral expression, blushed faintly beneath the intense gaze the Hero of Leore was directing at her legs.
"Not even a single scar… The medicine of this world never ceases to amaze me. Thanks to the various forms of healing magic, wounds that would have taken weeks—if not months—to heal in my world are now restored completely. How I wish we'd had something like this in my previous life. So many skilled and valuable soldiers were forced to retire from battle because of severe injuries, yet if they had received treatment like this at the right time, they could have returned to the battlefield…" Caesar said in his regal voice.
Lucas nodded to himself as he thought,
'It really is incredible. Even though my world is almost certainly superior when it comes to treating illnesses, this world is vastly ahead when it comes to healing wounds, broken bones, or concussions. Bruises that would probably have ached for days back on my world can be healed almost instantly here with nothing more than a little mana and a few words.'
"Of course, Mr. Caesar. The medical team assembled for this tournament consists of the finest doctors and nurses our kingdom has to offer. If injuries like these were to leave scars even after being treated by them, it would mean that both Health Minister Heve—who personally assembled this team—and I had failed miserably," said the beastkin maid in a calm yet proud voice.
She then added,
"Even so, although the injuries obviously left no permanent damage to my legs, I have still been advised to avoid running too much over the next few days."
"Anyway, returning to the current match," Caesar paused for a second before continuing, "So Katerina, you believe neither of them will make a move until nearly the very end of the allotted time, and then everything will be decided in a single exchange depending on whether the one attempting the counter succeeds or not?" he asked, presenting his theory with genuine curiosity.
Both Sequoria and Katerina shook their heads, but this time it was the former queen who answered the Hero's question.
"If this were a match between two other expert practitioners of the Falling Leaf Style, then yes, Hero Caesar, it would almost certainly unfold exactly as you described. But I'm certain that, because the ones facing each other are Minister Aurola and Minister Agratà, this battle will be nothing like that…"
Five minutes had now passed since the match had officially begun.
Yet neither of the two women had moved.
Most of the spectators were still holding their breath, captivated solely by the overwhelming aura of tension radiating from the two elves.
At the same time, however, many of them were beginning to grow bored, since, so far, absolutely nothing had happened.
But everything changed in a single instant.
Without the slightest warning, Aurola suddenly slammed her foot against the ground with tremendous force, kicking up a massive cloud of dust in front of her.
Then, almost immediately afterward, as the dust began to clear, the Minister of Education seemed to have vanished without a trace.
Agratà's eyes widened for the briefest of moments.
Then, without warning, Aurola appeared directly behind her student, her fist already raised and poised to deliver a devastating blow.
Aurola had used the cloud of dust as a distraction while making an extraordinarily high leap, allowing her to descend directly behind her student.
But before she could strike, Agratà turned around, the same smile still lingering on her face.
Even so, Aurola did not hesitate.
Her fist shot forward.
Its speed and power were truly staggering. If the Minister of Agriculture were struck by a punch like that, there was no doubt the match would end in an instant.
Yet, even if only by the narrowest of margins—and despite being slightly surprised by her teacher's sudden appearance—Agratà managed to intercept the punch and immediately redirect her teacher straight toward the ground behind her.
"Falling Leaf!!!" the Minister of Agriculture exclaimed before gritting her teeth in pain.
The sheer force behind her teacher's punch was so overwhelming that merely redirecting it risked injuring her own hands—and that was exactly what had happened.
Agratà's plan for this match had been to encase both of her hands in rock at the very instant her teacher attacked.
During the prolonged standoff in which she and her master had been carefully observing one another, however, she knew that if she had cast the spell too early, Aurola would have seized the opportunity. Even the slightest portion of concentration devoted to activating her magic would have been enough for her teacher to end the match with a single blow.
But Agratà had never expected an attack to come from behind.
That tiny element of surprise alone had been enough to rob her of the time needed to cast the spell before she was forced to block her teacher's punch with her bare hands. So a fair amount of blood was already beginning to flow from them, and on top of that, several burns had formed due to the friction caused by his master's incredibly fast punch.
Even so, her counterattack appeared to be succeeding.
If Aurola had crashed into the ground without doing anything to stop herself—considering the incredible momentum she had committed to that punch—it was entirely possible that the impact alone would have been enough to hand Agratà the victory.
'Don't worry, Master Aurola. From now on, I'll be the one to carry this burden... This is the very least I can do for the woman who has given me everything...' the younger elf thought.
But!!!
Before her face—and the rest of her body—could collide with the ground, Aurola's lips moved with such incredible speed that the spell had already been cast before her voice had fully caught up.
"Titanium Armor: Arm!!!"
Instantly, her left arm became encased in a gleaming layer of titanium.
'I'm sorry, Agratà, but my work isn't finished yet... I can't allow you to defeat me so easily!!!' thought the Minister of Education.
Then, with even greater force than she had used when attempting to strike her student, she slammed her armored left arm toward the ground.
The sheer power of the impact generated a tremendous blast of air that greatly reduced the force with which the rest of her body struck the earth.
At the same time, the collision pulverized a large section of the arena's uppermost layer just before the rest of her body reached it.
Thanks to those two factors, the impact—though far from completely negated—inflicted far less damage than it otherwise would have.
But although Agratà had hoped that her counterattack might end the match in a single exchange, she had never truly expected it to succeed.
Accordingly, she had already prepared to launch a second attack, exactly as her master herself had taught her.
"Rock Armor: Hand!!!"
Agratà's right fist was instantly encased in an enormous mass of stone, enlarging it to several times its normal size.
Then that colossal fist descended toward her master—who was still lying on the ground—like a small meteorite crashing down from the heavens.