Cold wind blew as Sigulf began to chant. He gripped the twin frost axes as soon as they formed and made an x-shaped slash. Carole shivered; it’s definitely not from the chilly air which came with Fenrir.

“Come… Summon your True Arms.” Sigulf growled.

“Kuh…!”

‘I can’t back down here…! Else, I can’t face the Captain again…!’

Carole had no other choice but to brace herself. She held her arms forward and began reciting. Light golden energy slowly materialized on her hands.

“May the Holy eternally illuminate my path… May the Spirit embolden me against the flames of peril…! Endure with fortitude, La Pucelle!”

What looked like a steel spear appeared, only that its head were a bit too small. Near the base of its tip, almost translucent golden light emanates radiantly, making it looks less like a proper polearm, and more like—

‘…oh, of course. What else if not a flag pole?’ Sigulf thought. ‘Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc. Kind of ironic she would be affiliated with an English knight. …or was he Welsh?’

He set the thought aside; both fighters are waiting for the signal.

“En garde.”

Sigulf couldn’t feel any slight hint of movement coming from Carole.

‘If she’s not going to strike, then—’

“Begin!”

‘I’ll bring the fight to her!’

Sigulf immediately broke into a run; Carole stood ground and reinforced her stance.

“Deyah!!”

His axe slammed into her staff. Sigulf looked a bit surprised as he expected a bigger knockback.

“Kuh…!”

‘Oh? Her guard is tougher than I thought. But this…!’

As he had anticipated, Carole pulled away and retaliated with a swing. Sigulf spun sideways and countered with his left axe.

“Wha— Tch…!”

She raised her weapon in the nick of time and blocked Sigulf’s attack.

‘A close one! I won’t let you get away!’

He pressed with the offense, not giving Carole room for breather.

‘W, why is this guy so fast!?’

Sigulf has already circling around her; for every multitude of his slashes, she could only return with a single strike. Given enough time, it’s clear that Sigulf would break through her defenses. Yet…

‘There’s no way I’d wait until a time-out victory! That’s why…!!’

“…!?”

One empty step, and it managed to throw off Carole’s timing. Having gathered enough strength, Sigulf twirled and swung upwards.

“I’m ending this now!!”

“Gyah…!”

The Fenrir struck La Pucelle hard, sending it high into the air. Now defenseless, nothing Carole could do as Sigulf whirled once again and landed a clean, thrashing hit.

“Battle points, down by 35%.”

‘…!? It’s weaker than I thought… Is it the innate effect of her Arms?’

Sigulf pursued nonetheless, trying to finish Carole off, who has already begun recovering.

‘Kh…! I know that he’s on class above, but even so…!’

“I, I won’t let you!”

“Tch…!”

Unexpectedly, Carole threw some dirt towards Sigulf. He managed to avoid it, but it still bought her some time to grab her weapon back.

“Haah…! Haah…!”

‘She’s rather tenacious…’

“Uhh, is that even allowed?” Alba asked.

“Um, technically yes, since it didn’t touch Sigulf.” Celina explained.

“…wait, what? Seriously?”

“Have you ever watched a pro wrestling match? You can bring a steel chair and swing it around, but as long as the referee doesn’t see you actually hitting the opponent with it, you won’t get disqualified.” Chelsea added.

“Err… Is that how it goes?”

“Wait a second, I’m more surprised at the fact you know those.” Celina pointed out.

Sudden shouting coming from Carole pulled the three’s attention back. Uncharacteristically, she charged towards Sigulf, though the boy doesn’t seem to be too fazed.

‘Well then—’

“Eat this!”

“What!? Kh…!”

Sigulf slammed his axes to ground, making an icy cold energy spike erupt from the ground. Carole had to abruptly halt her advance…

“!?”

…only to face Sigulf head-on who rushed straight at her.

‘He ignored his own projectile!?’

She had no choice but to guard against his spinning horizontal slash. And even then, the knockback was big enough, it made her arm muscles ache.

‘Ugh…! B, but, this pattern…! I can’t falter—’

A glimpse of shadow flew over Carole’s head. It was too late by the time she realized it; Sigulf has moonsaulted instead of continuing his previous assault, and unleashed a cross strike upon her open back.

“Aagh!”

“Battle points, down by 20%.”

‘Just as I thought… It’s either her Arms, or she did train her endurance enough. Probably both… But, in any case…!’

With Carole’s back still against him, Sigulf switched his stance.

“Limiter: Laedingr, release!”

“…!? N, no…!”

With some struggle, she rose to her feet and immediately dashed to him.

“Limiter: Dromi—”

“Gh…! Uoooooohh!!”

“…just kidding.”

“Eh!?”

Sigulf took a step back and extended one leg out, tripping Carole in the process.

“Kyah…!”

She fell flat on her face. Sigulf didn’t give her another chance to move and raised his weapon.

“Hunt’s over.”

“””Ah.””” was Celina, Chelsea, and Alba’s collective reaction when Sigulf brought down the Fenrir.

“Battle points 0, cannot continue duel. Winner, Sigulf Hrimgard.”

He lets out a sigh of relief as his Arms vanished into thin air.

“Good fighting out there.” Celina congratulated.

“Ah, thank you.”

“W, what!?” Carole quickly turned around and looked at the other girls in disbelief. “Y, you were there the whole time!?”

“Umm, we’re sorry…?”

‘Uwa, talk about a quick recovery…!’ Sigulf noted.

“Ugh… How am I supposed to face the Captain now…?”

“Excuse me, but… Miss Delacroix?” Chelsea addressed her, making the French girl look up. “We are not quite sure about your Captain or why did you stalk Sigulf—”

“I, I didn’t stalk him!”

“No, that was stalking.” he sighed.

“Why you…!”

“Alright, alright, no fighting.” Chelsea clapped her hands before putting her focus back to Carole. “Now… Would you mind telling us your reason? A good knight will always keep their words, right?”

“U, ugh… That’s…”

Sigulf, Celina and Alba looked at Chelsea.

“Wait a sec, why are you the one who’s getting curious?” Sigulf asked.

“Eh? Because it’s interesting…? Maybe she does have a crush on you?”

“Pardon me!? Why would I like him!?” Carole protested.

“Why not? I do end up falling for him.” Celina replied bluntly and making Sigulf red in the meantime.

“You’re too serious, Cel… I know you wanted to brag about your boyfriend, but—”

“E, eh? That wasn’t—”

‘…w, what are they doing?’ Sigulf thought.

“…wait. Could it be that… She has a crush on Celina instead!?”

“Ah… N, no, at least not for me. Though, I do know few girls do, and they got heartbroken as well…”

“I see… Well, a beautiful and dependable president would be irresistible to both, after all. Hohoho~”

“What’s with that laughter?” Celina sighed.

“Nothing! And since we haven’t heard about her actual reasons… Miss Delacroix, if you will?”

“F, fine… I gave you my word…”

Carole shuddered a little. The other 4 waits for her answer with varying expectations.

“It’s… It’s all your fault, Hrimgard!”

“…huh?”

“When the Captain heard the news that you and Miss Bartram are seeing each other, he got crestfallen!”

“…ah, I see.”

“Hmm? This Captain she’s keep talking about…” Alba noticed something. “Since she’s from the Knight Circle, does that mean…”

“Yes, the Captain would be Arthfael Penndreic.” Celina answered.

Alba blinked once before she suddenly got furious.

“That Penndreic…! I judged him wrong! To think he would send a girl—”

“No, no, no, calm down.” Sigulf quickly interrupted. “He’s not that kind of guy.”

“Eh? But then—”

They looked back at Carole, making her nervous.

‘I think I have an idea why, though…’ Sigulf noted.

“Ugh…!”

“Well…?”

“It’s…”

“Hmm?”

“I, it’s because I want to avenge him! I, is there any problem with that!?”

“Umm, it’s not like I don’t understand, but…”

“She likes him.” Sigulf blurted out, making Carole shocked.

“H, how did you—!? W, wait, you aren’t supposed to say that!”

“O, oh!” Celina realized. “I, I see… So it’s avenging the honour of your beloved…”

“Well, it is knightly…” Chelsea laughed wryly. “And kind of romantic, I guess.”

“Ahahah, I always forgot that he’s a knight. Of course he would have admirers…” Alba added.

“Y, you guys are making fun of it…!”

“What? Nobody did.” Sigulf retorted.

“He’s right!” Chelsea suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Carole’s hands to her surprise. “If anything, I want to support you now! You can ask me for advice, fashion tips, or whatever else you wanted to know!”

“…Chelsea, you sure like this kind of stuff.” Alba pointed out.

“Eh? Eeh!?”

Carole got increasingly panicked, and tears began to gather on her eyes.

“Y, you…”

“Yes?”

“I can’t believe you guys! Waaaaaahhh!”

“Ah, Miss Delacroix! Wait!”

Chelsea reached out, but Carole has already ran off to the distance.

“Did I say something wrong?” she pouted and looked rather disappointed.

“I think she’s just confused from having too many to process.” Celina tried to explain.

“Man, I was hoping she got a legit grudge towards Siggy…” Alba sighed.

“…you just want to see me in trouble, don’t you?”

She simply returned it with a cheeky grin.

“Alright, looks like the case has been closed, so how about we grab some drinks on our way home?” Chelsea offered.

“Oh, sure. I’m a bit thirsty anyway.” Alba agreed.

Celina was about to follow the pair, but she stopped when she noticed that Sigulf still hasn’t moved.

“Is something wrong?”

“Ah, no, just thinking that my… Suspicions? About Penndreic was right.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Did you notice?”

“Kind of.” she replied. “Like everyone else, he admires me from afar. He’s just being more subtle, now that I think about it.”

“Hee…”

“Sigulf?”

Celina glanced at Sigulf, and found him smiling slightly.

“So that means I’m not like everyone else, right?”

There was a short silence before she finally chuckled.

“Fufufu, of course!”

“Ah, hey…!”

Celina reached out and gently caressed Sigulf’s head.

“I never thought that I would meet someone so bold yet so convincing on challenging me…”

“I have to, and I’ll get even stronger… Eheheh…”

“Then, I’ll be looking forward to it. Ufufu…”

“…you two, we are still here.” Chelsea reprimanded.

“”A, ah, we’re sorry.””