The Ditter Match

The Ditter Match

The Ditter Match

Having agreed to the ditter match, we headed to the Dunkelfelger Dormitory. There were training grounds there, apparently, so that the duchy’s students could play whenever they wanted. Just how obsessed were they? It really boggled the mind.

Under normal circumstances, students were only able to enter their own dormitory—but we had Aub Dunkelfelger with us today. We were given feystones containing his mana, which authorized us to go inside with the others.

Upon reaching the training grounds, we divided ourselves into our teams and moved to opposite ends of the field to discuss our game plans. I could see Dunkelfelger’s knights form a circle around Heisshitze and Hannelore as they started arguing about the best strategies for their representatives to use. I also noticed that Hannelore was clad in feystone armor, which she had evidently put on at some point. Only guard knights wore armor in the Royal Academy, so I never carried my armor feystone around with me as I did my highbeast one.

She looks so calm and peaceful, but I guess she is a Dunkelfelger archduke candidate, after all.

“Eep!”

I was dragged from my thoughts by a flick to the forehead.

“Your eyes were glazed over, fool. Pay attention,” Ferdinand scolded me. “As the treasure in this game, you must not leave this circle; simply make a shield of Wind and wait inside your highbeast. You are forbidden from doing anything unnecessary.”

Ferdinand was wearing his armor atop his clothes. He removed two of the protective charm bracelets from my arms and put them on his wrists, then he took off his completely unembroidered Ehrenfest cape and replaced it with his usual blue one, which was covered with protective magic circles. Justus was helping him with that, while I gazed in the direction of the knight building and thought back to the Interduchy Tournament.

“Is it wise to abandon the Interduchy Tournament to play ditter like this, Ferdinand?” I asked, thinking that Sylvester and the others would have a hard time dealing with all the visitors without us.

Ferdinand grimaced. “Had we postponed this to a later date, we would have attracted the attention of an unwanted crowd and even the king himself. We have no choice but to do this now, while everyone is distracted with the Interduchy Tournament. You have no right to complain, as I was quite clear about not wanting to participate before my hand was forced.”

Indeed, it seemed that I was the thoughtless one here. “My apologies,” I said. “Still, what exactly is your plan here? Did you really need to wrap Lady Hannelore and me into this?”

“You are more than capable of defending yourself, no? This will allow me to preserve mana without needing to devote unnecessary attention to the treasure,” he replied, looking down at me. He had spoken as though the answer were obvious, but there was something I refused to let slide—he clearly had no intention of protecting me whatsoever.

“Didn’t you say that you were going to protect me and that I didn’t need to worry?!” I exclaimed. “It was literally moments ago, and you said it with a great big smile too!”

“Even the gods require ample time and preparation before they may save Geduldh from Ewigeliebe. Not to mention, this is your battle for books, is it not?”

“It is, but... Lady Hannelore can’t use Schutzaria’s shield or Angriff’s blessing. It feels kind of cheap for us to rely on them.” In fact, it felt extremely cowardly.

Ferdinand scoffed. “What are you even saying? Duels are determined by how well one uses what is available to them. I only fight battles where my victory is assured.”

“I know.”

“Then make a shield of Wind as soon as you land in your highbeast. You wish to obtain these publishing rights, no?”

I gave a big nod and produced my Pandabus. Ferdinand, Heisshitze, and Hannelore all produced their highbeasts as well.

“Is everyone ready?” Aub Dunkelfelger called.

We all flew down to our respective circles. As the treasure, Hannelore and I couldn’t leave our designated spots—doing so would cost us the game.

“Begin!” Aub Dunkelfelger roared, his voice reverberating through the training grounds. The spectating Dunkelfelger knights erupted in cheers while Ferdinand and Heisshitze shot toward each other.

As Ferdinand had instructed, I poured mana into my ring. “O Goddess of Wind Schutzaria, protector of all. O twelve goddesses who serve by her side. Hear my prayer, and lend me your divine strength. Grant me your shield of Wind, so that I might blow away those who mean to cause harm.”

Schutzaria’s shield formed with a hard, metallic clank ... and an instant later, Ferdinand called out with slight urgency in his voice. “Rozemyne!”

“HRAAAAAAH!”

Wha...?

My eyes had been lowered in prayer, and when I gazed up again, I saw Heisshitze launching a blast of mana at me. I also heard traces of what I thought was Hannelore letting out her own shrill battle cry, but with the oncoming blob of glowing white mana blocking my line of sight, I couldn’t see what was happening. After inhaling sharply, I closed my eyes; I could rely on my shield to protect me, but the thought of something shooting toward me was still terrifying.

As I waited in darkness, there came a sudden, thunderous explosion as mana slammed against Schutzaria’s shield. I trembled for a second and then timidly opened my eyes. The blob of mana was gone, such that I could see only the familiar sight of Schutzaria’s transparent yellow shield.

“She blocked Heisshitze’s attack?!” one of the spectating knights cried. “What even is that?! It doesn’t look like geteilt.”

“Is it some kind of hemispherical shield?” a second knight ventured.

“Look out, Lady Hannelore!” shouted a third.

It seemed that Hannelore had attacked Ferdinand at the exact same time as Heisshitze attacked me, only to trigger a counterattack from his protective charms. Thin beams of light were quickly homing in on her.

“ Geteilt !” Hannelore cried, producing a shield which she immediately hid behind. She somehow managed to block the counterattack, but she was completely still; I could guess from her reluctance to move and the tears in her eyes that she was overcome with fear. The one saving grace was that her initial attack hadn’t been that strong—the charms that had activated doubled the power of the attack they received, so the resulting counterattack wasn’t actually that powerful.

Thank goodness! I’m so, so glad Lady Hannelore is safe!

I sighed in relief, unable to suppress a smile as I stayed inside Lessy and behind Schutzaria’s shield. Ferdinand, however, seemed to be anything but relieved—he was wearing the same look of displeasure he always wore when things didn’t go as he’d expected. He had presumably intended to use the charms to return an attack from Heisshitze, not Hannelore.

He knew Heisshitze would start things off with a powerful strike, then.

After years of experience battling with Heisshitze, Ferdinand must have expected to be the target instead; that was presumably why he had taken some of my protective charms. Maybe Heisshitze had chosen to attack me because he realized that Hannelore was too far away to do it herself, or maybe he had just wanted to check how strong my defenses were. I had managed to block his efforts either way, but the unexpected decision had still caught Ferdinand off guard.

“Be careful, Heisshitze!”

“He’s got charms that can counter attacks!”

Again, the Dunkelfelger knights watching the battle started yelling out advice. They had a good view of the whole battlefield, unlike Heisshitze, who had been focused on attacking me, so they must have seen the charm activate.

“That was a counter for physical attacks! Try to avoid those!”

“No, Lord Ferdinand isn’t the kind of man to have two charms with the same effect!” Heisshitze shouted, replying to the knights’ calls at last. “Physical attacks are safer now, if anything!”

He’s right! I think his keen insight deserves a round of applause!

Just as Heisshitze assumed, those were the only two charms Ferdinand was wearing—one to counter physical attacks, and the other to counter magic attacks. One had now been used up, and not by Heisshitze’s powerful attack, but by Hannelore’s fairly weak cover shot.

Eep. I think I just saw Ferdinand click his tongue.

Ferdinand moved to attack Hannelore, his expression grim, only to be met by a swift downward slash from Heisshitze. Not only was the Dunkelfelger knight faster—he was more precise too. I could see Ferdinand widen his eyes as he blocked the attack with his own sword, resulting in the sharp wail of metal on metal. A beat later, both men twisted their blades to end the deadlock and then immediately attacked again. For a second time, Ferdinand blocked Heisshitze’s attack, this time with an even harsher look.

Heisshitze, in contrast, was grinning from ear to ear. “Don’t think I’m the same as I was ten years ago!” he said and then launched into a flurry of attacks.

I widened my eyes in shock. Back in Ehrenfest, Ferdinand was completely unrivaled... but here, it took him everything he had just to block and dodge Heisshitze’s onslaught. He was outmatched in both speed and skill.

“That’s it! Keep it up! You’re in the lead!”

“Just make sure to stay close! Don’t give him time to change weapons!”

“Yeah! Get ’im! You’re faster and better in a sword fight!”

The spectators continued to lavish their side with support. It was easy to discern from their cries that Heisshitze was better with a sword than any other weapon.

Heisshitze had spent ten years as a Dunkelfelger knight since his graduation, and it really showed—he was clearly stronger than Ferdinand, who had mostly spent his time locked away in the temple, helping the Knight’s Order only when necessary. Of course, the fact that Ferdinand was managing to block these attacks at all was very impressive, considering that Heisshitze seemed to live and breathe battle, but his uneasy expression made it clear that he was being overwhelmed. It was the first time I had ever seen Ferdinand struggle against an opponent.

“I see you reaching for that magic tool, but I won’t give you a chance!” Heisshitze yelled, staying on the offensive so that Ferdinand had no time to wield a magic tool or morph his schtappe. The flashes of white and the loud ring of clashing blades were enough for me to tell he was launching some incredible attacks, but even with enhancement magic, I was unable to follow them with my eyes. “All that time in the temple’s made you go soft. Haven’t been keeping up with your training?”

“No, as I am not a knight,” Ferdinand replied. He was trying to speak in his usual tone, but I could notice the slight aggravation behind his words. I took in a large breath of air; he was never usually like this.

Just what’s going on here?! Is he actually going to lose?!

I had assumed that Ferdinand was going to breeze through this match, so his struggling was the absolute last thing I had expected. My heart pounded with anxiety, and a cold sweat ran down my back.

How can I help? What can I do that won’t get in his way?

I took out my schtappe and filled it with mana, desperately racking my brain for ideas as Ferdinand continued to be beaten back by Heisshitze’s strikes.