Marie rushed to stop Sophie, who was grabbing a wooden sword from the training stock.

Betty, who was still struggling to stand, tried to stop Sophie too, clinging to her.

Betty: "Alice, what are you doing, stop Sophie-sama!"

Alice, who had been silent and inactive until now, moved to block Sophie's way.

Alice: "I cannot allow Sophie-sama to duel with an adventurer."

Catherine: "Well, it's not a duel, it's a spar."

Betty: "W-We can't let Sophie-sama fight this shady adventurer! What if she gets hurt?!"

Catherine: "If the princess gets hurt, even if we can heal her with potions, it would still be a big problem... Maybe we should stop this?"

But the maids seemed to be completely ignoring Catherine's words.

Marie: "Your Highness, please reconsider."

Sophie: "What are you talking about? It's just training! That's what the Guild Master said at the beginning, it's also about building camaraderie as a party. So why shouldn't I do it?"

Catherine: "Oh, good, Her Highness was listening…"

Catherine looked a little relieved, but the situation hadn't changed at all. The maids were trying to stop her, saying it wouldn't do, it wouldn't do, while Sophie was eager to fight.

"Well, how about this? Ryujeen won't attack at all. If you hit Ryujeen even once, the princess wins. If he manages to escape, Ryujeen wins."

Suddenly, someone said this.

It was Sword Saint Reynard, who wasn't supposed to be there.

Ryu: "A wild Reynard appeared." (TN: Seems like a pokemon reference)

Reynard: "Am I an insect? I just came to see what was so interesting."

Sophie: "You are Sword Saint Reynard, aren't you? Do you remember me, we met when I was a child."

Reynard: "It's been a long time, Princess Sophie."

Sophie: "I heard you were injured and retired."

Reynard: "Ryu cured my injuries."

Sophie: "So Ryujeen and Reynard know each other?"

Ryu: "He's teaching me swordsmanship."

Sophie: "I see, so Ryujeen is the Sword Saint's disciple! No wonder he's so strong."

Reynard: "No, I haven't taught him much. He was a novice with a sword, so I gave him some pointers. But he was already stronger than me from the start."

Reynard grinned.

Ryu: "I told you, I'm not good with a sword."

Ryu spoke to Reynard.

Ryu: "What did you think? I've gotten a lot better, haven't I?"

Reynard: "You've improved since then, but you're still not there yet."

Ryu shrugged.

He had actually improved tremendously, but Reynard, who was a bit of a sore loser and didn't want to praise him openly, was making excuses to himself, telling himself he didn't want to make him complacent.

Ryu: "But, with a rule that I can't attack at all, I'd be at a huge disadvantage."

Reynard: "Then how about we set a time limit?"

Ryu: "Let's say three minutes. Boxing rounds are three minutes, right?"

Reynard: "Boxing?"

Ryu: "Nothing."

With that, Marie and Betty reluctantly backed down.

But Alice remained in front of Sophie, refusing to move. She seemed determined to stop Sophie from fighting.

Reynard: "How about we let that young lady join in too? Ryujeen can handle two against one, right?"

Ryu: "My conditions keep getting worse and worse… I get almost no benefits, but this spar…?"

Ryu grumbled, looking at Catherine, but she averted her gaze.

Ryu had recently started to feel that she was getting too comfortable relying on him. He thought he should put her in her place. He decided to have a serious talk with her later for an hour.

Reynard: "It's all part of learning. Swordsmanship improves the more combat experience you get."

Ryu: "…Fine…"

Alice turned to face Ryu, as if she had finally decided.

Alice: "If you even so much as scratch Sophie-sama, I won't forgive you."

Ryu: "I won't attack, but I can't be responsible for self-destruction, so be careful."

Thus, a friendly spar? between Sophie and Alice vs Ryujeen was decided.

— — — — — — — — — —

To be continued

Sophie and Alice vs. Ryujeen, a two-on-one battle!

Don't miss the next episode!