I’m Not Good at Offensive Magic, but I’ll Do My Best With Support Magic!

The moment I lowered my arm and gave the signal, Shia-san moved.
Staying low, she flashes at Snow-san and swings sharply with her sword in her right hand.
Snow-san takes it without difficulty, but she can’t seem to hide her surprise.

「A bit too abrupt, don’t you think?」
「Yeah?」

Shia-san, having her sword blocked, immediately moved out of the way. When it comes to simple power comparisons like brute force, it is Snow-san who has the advantage.

「I knew you’d look for an opening like you did earlier」
「Earlier is earlier」

Snow-san does not appear to be willing to attack, and she is semi-positioned against the moving Shia-san.

「You’re not coming?」
「Un, I have my own way of fighting. You can attack me all you want」
「Okay… you’re gonna regret that」

With her right hand gripping her sword and poised with the sword on her left shoulder, Snow-san taunted Shia-san with her left hand.
With that, Shia-san starts to move. Faster than before, she approaches Snow-san in a straight line.
The distance closes in an instant. Shia-san closes in on Snow-san… and then comes to an abrupt halt.
Without killing the momentum, she sidesteps and turns around to the back side of Snow-san.

「Defenseless」

Simultaneously with the sidestep, she lowers her posture and seizes Snow-san’s back.
For Snow-san, who has her sword on her left shoulder, that is a blind spot. From Snow-san’s point of view, it would appear as if Shia-san had suddenly disappeared.
Shia-san swings her sword at the open torso, but Snow-san catches sight of her with a cool expression.

「Is that what you think?」

At the same time, she half-turned and swung her sword down from above, striking Shia-san’s sword, which slammed into the ground with such force that the sword was knocked to the ground.
It appears that Snow-san could see Shia-san’s movements or read her actions.

「Not yet!」

Snow-san’s attacks did not end there.
Snow-san uses the recoil of the sword strike to switch her sword to her left hand, and then releases a spinning attack in the opposite direction, making a complete rotation.

「Hmm」

Shia-san was struck by the sword, but just in time she caught it, using her sword as a shield, and the sound of metal clashing echoed.

「Fu!」

Snow-san’s attacks do not stop.
Snow-san seems to know at what point the swords will collide, and at the moment they clash, she holds her right hand and sends Shia-san flying, pushing her with the force of both hands.

「Shia’s sword is light」

Drawing her sword, Snow-san repositions it before Shia-san’s counterattack comes.

「Snow only uses force」

Shia-san is Shia-san and she flew backwards at the moment the sword hit her. That seemed to kill the momentum of Snow-san’s sword.
On landing, Shia-san switches the sword to her left hand and repeatedly clutches and opens her hand to check the condition of her right hand.

「If we had a proper fight, I’d probably have the advantage」

Shia-san’s hands appear to be numb from Snow-san’s attack.

「Un. Snow has the advantage in a proper fight. That’s why I took the leg first」
「Eh?」

At the same time, Snow-san places her right knee on the ground. From the looks of it, it seems that Shia-san’s blow hit somewhere on her right leg, paralyzing it.

「Aaah. Perhaps I let my guard down?」
「If that’s what you think, then think」
「That’s right. I can’t let my guard down against Shia… oh!」

Snow-san stood up on her left foot alone.

「Uwa… that’s a weird feeling」

When her paralyzed right foot touches the ground, Snow-san almost loses her balance, but somehow manages to hold on, using her sword as a cane.

「Trap」
「Oh, you understand that?」
「Understand」

The reason Shia-san didn’t attack immediately, even though it was a mock battle held to simulate actual combat, was that she wasn’t waiting for Snow-san to stand up.
It appears that this is because Shia-san was aware of Snow-san’s trap.

「Well, I don’t think this is going to work either way」
「Stop?」
「No way」

Snow-san laughed happily despite being backed into a corner.

「Then entertain me more」

Shia-san smiled happily at this.

「Vanish」

Shia-san disappears.

「Use it until then!?」

It seems that she did not expect to get that far. However, she immediately readied her sword for Shia-san’s attack… and meditated.

「There!」
「Ku… !」

Snow-san notices Shia-san’s approach and swings her sword.
Shia-san, perhaps unexpectedly, was able to block Snow-san’s sword, but was unable to kill the momentum and rolled to the ground and immediately stood up.

「I’m also trained to fight in the dark, so I have a good measure of protection against assassins」
「Never heard of such a knight」

The sight and smell can be muffled, but not the sound.
Snow-san seemed to sense that.

「Catching me by surprise won’t work on me」
「Then I’ll fight you head-on until the end」
「… Is Shia finally getting serious, then?」

Shia-san has been fighting with one sword so far. However, Shia-san’s style is dual swords.
Shia-san pulled out the second one.

「Let’s see how far you can stand on that leg」
「It’s not that easy」

That said, Snow-san can see that it is a fight that is on the edge.

「Go」
「Come!」

Shia-san began to walk slowly.
Step by step, she approaches Snow-san’s space.

When she was only a few steps away from getting to Snow-san’s space, Shia-san made a move.
She lowered her posture so that she could quickly loosen her knees.

「There!」

Snow-san swings her sword to match the movement.
She matched her sword to the timing of the moment when Shia-san was about to lunge in. The timing was perfect, if Shia-san had moved.
Shia-san did not move from the spot. She just relaxed her knees and made it look as if she was going to lunge.
Snow-san’s sword cuts through the air.
Snow-san’s sword cut through the air and did not stop. It was a fatal gap.

「I win」

Snow-san falls with her sword swinging.

「Snow’s sword is heavy. So I just don’t have to receive it」
「Uu… Lost. I lost on the final round…」

Snow-san turns on her back in frustration.
It was close until the middle of the match, but eventually Shia-san got the upper hand due to Snow-san’s paralyzed leg, and she had a shot, but Shia-san won.
So I declare.

「Winner, Shia-san!」

There is a small but appreciative round of applause.
Everyone seemed to be watching the fight between the two.

「Congratulations, Shia-san!」

Kiara-chan praises Shia-san for her victory.
A little embarrassed by this, Shia-san thanked her.

「That was a great match, Snow-san」

The match is over and I use magic to remove Snow-san’s paralysis.

「Thank you. But I’m not quite done yet」

Not satisfied with her own fight, Snow-san stood up and shook her head.

「It would have been a better match if Snow hadn’t been restricted」
「Well, I guess I’m a bit more decent now」
「Un. Besides, these conditions favor me」
「Yes, I know. But I won’t make excuses, because next time I’ll win」
「I’ll accept it every time」

They shake hands.

「Um, restrictions?」

I’m sorry to interrupt their handshaking and mutual admiration, but I was curious enough to bother them.
Shia-san noticed, but didn’t know what was restricting Snow-san.
It looked like a normal fight.

「Snow fought like she was protecting something」
「Protect?」
「Yup. I am the sword of protection. I have to put my body on the line to protect the Lord and stick around until my comrades arrive, or I have to think first about letting the Lord go. If I were to attack, the Lord would be defenseless, no?」

When it comes to whether it is more advantageous to be on the offense or the defense, it is the offence.
This is because the offense can attack at will, whereas the defense, which has to read and see what the opponent is doing, is in the rear position.
It seems that Snow-san dared to impose that restriction and fought against it.
To be honest, I didn’t think they were fighting with that much thought.

「Next time, fight purely」
「Right. Tomorrow I’ll attack and win」
「Challenge accepted」

The problem, though, is that they are planning to have another mock battle tomorrow as soon as possible.
I don’t mind if it’s when you have free time, but if you do it any other time, you both know what will happen, right?
Thus ended their first mock battle.
I didn’t think at the time, though, that for the next month I would be in a mock battle with Kiara-chan, who was inspired by the two of them, and for some reason Karina-san and Fiona-san too.