Having rested enough, Sigulf stood back up to face Victoria.

“I’m looking forward to your guidance!”

“Very good. Now…”

She swung her right arm aside and materialized the Blade Breaker.

“Draw your axes and show me what you have.”

“Right…!”

‘A serious Miss Stark is so different, after all…!’

Sigulf summoned his weapon, and in a blink of an eye, he already took off, bashing his Fenrir against Victoria’s fighting gloves.

“…!?”

“Fufufu, you are faster and stronger than I thought…”

She cleanly blocked his attack; Sigulf could even feel small feedback coming from it.

‘And this is one reason why she’s the Principal…!’ he thought. ‘But now, I have to focus on gauging her defense…!’

After a small backhop, Sigulf charged forward and swung with all his might.

“Rraaah!”

One aimed at her head, another towards her chest, yet another to her legs. But no matter what he threw, Victoria would either guard or evade them successfully.

‘Gh…! Even Chelsea was nowhere this tough…!’

“You’re faltering! Don’t get disheartened!” Victoria shouted, as if she just read Sigulf’s mind. “Next, try to circle me while you attack!”

“…! Yes, Ma’am!”

Sigulf stopped for a split second to change directions before resuming. His swings got faster, his strikes grew stronger, his steps became quicker, he even employed some feints to catch her off-guard. Yet Victoria was able to defend just fine.

“Grrh…!”

“…! There!”

“…!? Whoa—!?”

A well-timed reflect from Victoria knocked Sigulf away and stopped his assault.

“Fufu…”

‘No surprises here… But still…!’

Refusing to give up, Sigulf mustered all his strength and jumped forward. He spun his whole body diagonally and swung his axes.

“Grroooaahh!!”

“…!”

For the first time, Sigulf finally managed to blow Victoria back.

“Kh…!”

Still, the end result was the same; Sigulf gave it all as far as his unreleased Arms permitted, while Victoria remains unscathed.

“Hoho, quite good, if I must say.” Victoria praised. “But now, it’s your turn to defend. Prepare yourself.”

“Understood…!”

‘Here she comes…!’

Sigulf immediately went defensive, not willing to take any risks… and Victoria still blitzed through much faster than he expected.

“…!?”

“Let us begin…!”

A left cross, followed by a right hook forced Sigulf to fully concentrate on blocking.

‘By the Rokkr, such pressure…!’

“Don’t let up just yet!”

Victoria switched it up with a series of kicks, and even though her legs wasn’t covered by the Blade Breaker, they were by no means weaker than her punches.

‘This is…!’

Every single strike made Sigulf’s arms ache, and Victoria is not slowing down anytime soon.

“Final step! Stay aware of your surroundings!”

She lunged slightly to his right and threw a backhand; Sigulf barely blocked. Victoria followed with a spinning kick; he has to haphazardly clash against it with his weapon.

“You’re slowing down! Focus harder!”

“Guh…!”

Victoria didn’t stop her onslaught and she has almost completely circled Sigulf. By this point, it was a matter of seconds before his defense crumbles.

“Got you…!”

“Wha—”

Victoria threw an empty punch and messed Sigulf’s timing. She used the chance to twirl and unleashed an axe kick, which completely broke Sigulf’s guard and left him wide open.

“…!?”

“Sigulf!” Celina shouted.

He can only process the fact that Victoria launched a right uppercut…

“…eh?”

…only for her to stop just before it connects with his chin.

“Checkmate~”

“Ah…”

Victoria pulled her hand and lets her Arms disappear into thin air.

“So, was it enough?” she giggled.

“…very.”

“Fufufu, glad to be of help. Now…” Victoria turned towards Vigdis’ group. “Miss Alderliesten? You might want to treat his hands.”

“Oh, sure, right on.” Melanie replied as she approached the students.

“Ah, ri— Ow, ow…”

“Eeh!? Boy, are you alright!?”

Vigdis quickly ran over to Sigulf, who was sitting on the ground, and hugged him.

“Uwhoa!?”

“Where did it hurt!? You can still use your arm right!?”

“Eh!? Eeh!?”

“Vigdis, I can’t treat him with you on the way…”

“A, ah, sorry, Mel…” she apologized and moved a bit to give her some space.

“Will he be fine?” Celina asked Melanie.

“Hmm, as long he doesn’t do anything rigorous, he’ll be okay tomorrow. Just don’t forget to apply some ice.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear…”

“Umm, I can still cook, right?” Sigulf asked.

“What kind of cooking are you doing?” the school nurse laughed.

“So, how was it?” Celina asked again, this time towards Sigulf.

“Insane…” was his answer. “Looks like… I have tons of material for image training…”

“I see…”

“Seriously… You can be so reckless…” Vigdis sighed.

“Master…”

“What?”

Sigulf gazed upwards.

“The world is really vast…”

“…why are you saying that just now? Are you trying to sound cool?”

“I, I kinda wanted to say that…”

“Oh, you…” Celina giggled and reached out to brush Sigulf’s hair.

“Ah…”

“You did well. You should get some rest for the day.” she smiled.

“Ehehe, thank you. I definitely will…”

“Ahem. The guest house has many rooms, if you catch my drift…” Chelsea purposefully cleared her throat, making the pair blush and Alba snicker. “Anyways, should we call it a day?”

“Ah, wait, no! Not yet!” Alba suddenly exclaimed while getting up.

“Eh?”

“Ma’am! May I request the same training?” she addressed Victoria.

“Eeh? You want to try that too?”

“Hm? It’s fine, isn’t it?”

“Well…” Chelsea eyed Alba. “You did rest enough. Just be careful, okay?”

“What are you getting worried for?” she laughed. “But, thanks, I guess.”

‘Oh…?’

“Spirited bunch, aren’t you all?” Victoria chuckled. “In that case, give me some time to rest before we start.”

“Yes, Ma’am! Thank you very much!”

“Uuugh, I thought she’s supposed to be the perverted principal? Why is she popular now!?” Vigdis complained.

“Well, she’s only perverted towards your boy, so…” Melanie explained.

“That doesn’t make it okay!”

———

Since Alba has about the same skill level as Sigulf, the end result was similar.

“Zeeh… Haah… Haah…”

Minutes after their sparring, Alba was face first on the ground, breathing heavily.

“Uhh, you okay?” Sigulf asked.

She said nothing and raised a thumbs up instead.

“M, Mel! We have an emergency here!” Chelsea called.

“Yes, yes. Let me see…”

While Melanie went to check on Alba, Victoria stretched her own body.

“Nngh…! It’s been a while since I had such a nice workout…!”

“You just wanted to vent out, didn’t you!?” Vigdis accused.

“Eh? Considering my job so far has been smooth, I don’t see any reason to be stressed, though?”

“Grrh… When will I be cleared for dueling anyway?”

“If you want to be in optimal performance, then not in the immediate 24 hours.” Eliot nonchalantly stated.

“Uugh…”

“M, Master, if you don’t mind, we can do some light sparring…” Sigulf tried to cheer her up.

“T, thank you, my disciple. But you see, it is my destiny to take down the Evil Sorceress of the Atlantic…”

‘…she’s really dead set on fighting her.’

——–

Morning practice has ended, but since Celina wanted to say something, the adults left earlier.

“Alright,” she clapped her hands. “As we all know, finals—”

Alba immediately dropped her head.

“Haa… Right… Finals, huh…”

“Shush, let her finish first.” Chelsea reprimanded.

“Ahahah, it’s alright.” Celina reassured. “Anyways, since we’ll have our exams around the middle of next month, I was thinking to have another group study session. So I want to hear your opinions about it.”

“Ah, I thought so. Well… Last time, it was a few days before the actual test, but… Are you guys okay with it?” Chelsea looked at the 1st-years.

“Eh? Considering I end up at 2nd place…” Sigulf responded.

“Yeah, we actually did fine, somehow… Although, I still don’t understand what was the written test for…” Alba sighed.

“Then, there’s no problem. Sooo… Sigulf’s place?”

“Wait, again? Do we really have no other options?”

“The cafe or library is a no-go to avoid disturbing other visitors.” Chelsea pointed out.

“And you can cook.” Alba added.

“Yeah, but I can cook just fine on any other room, provided I have the ingredients…”

“Ah, so you just wanted to barge into another girl’s room. Sigulf, you pervert.”

“…can you not?” he retorted at Chelsea.

“But do you?” Celina asked, making Sigulf pause.

“Well… If it’s yours, and you don’t mind, then yeah…”

“Oh, sure, fufufu. So, have you thought about what we might cook? I’ll provide the ingredients.”

“Really? Then… I’m thinking something simple like—”

“Now hold on a minute, and don’t just go on by yourselves!” Alba interrupted.

“What? Why?”

“You talked like you’ve ever been in one…” Chelsea eyed him suspiciously.

“He did, though…?” Celina stated, shocking Chelsea.

“What!? Why didn’t you tell me!? When did it happen!?”

“E, eeh? It was before we went steady—”

“What!?”

“…Siggy, you’re surprisingly carnivorous…”

“…what do you mean by that? We were just talking at that time…”

“Reeeally?”

“G, girls…!” Celina waved her hand, trying to divert the topic. “Can we just agree that we will study in my room? I have another thing I want to talk about.”

“Eh? What is it?”

“Ah, do you mean—” Sigulf realized.

“Yes, ‘that’.” Celina smiled before she faced Chelsea and Alba again. “Would you mind clearing your schedule for next week? Let’s go and give the Pacifics a visit.”

“”…what?””