If I've done wrong, let the law punish me

"If I've done wrong, let the law punish me."

Even in this situation, Sonia did not lose her composure and start screaming. Instead, she calmly complained to the Watcher in her heart. "First you force me to practice swordsmanship, then you make me fight Felix. What exactly do you want me to do? Infiltrate Starry Aristocrat society and become your spy?"

"It's not as complicated as you think," the Watcher said. "I just wanted to arrange a battle for you, and he happens to be the strongest person here. That's all. It has nothing to do with whether he's a noble or not. Of course, it'd be even better if he were a noble. I especially love seeing nobles get beaten up. If possible, could you step on his face after you win... Forget it. I've heard some Starry Aristocrats are perverts. You should hit his ass instead... No, forget it. Pretend I never said anything."

"Can't we pick someone else? I don't want to get involved with Felix!"

"Why not?"

"I looked into him a little," Sonia said. "He's strange, and dangerous."

As the most approachable young master at Sword Flower University, Felix had naturally been one of Sonia's targets in The Hunt. Yet after gathering some intelligence, Sonia had abandoned this seemingly tempting option.

It had nothing to do with his playboy reputation. Sonia did not consider being promiscuous an obstacle. What truly made her hesitate was Felix's family background and his collection of ex-girlfriends.

Though rumors outside claimed Felix was the Ten Sun Goddesses' walking breeding machine, Sonia had discovered a secret through simple observation—Felix had never once spent the night outside with a girlfriend.

Felix lived in a villa off campus. Every night after training, he drove away from school. His Galloping Silver Tiger was one of a kind on campus, and Sonia occasionally saw it in the evenings. He had never taken a girlfriend off campus at night. Every time, he went home alone.

Of course, perhaps he simply preferred the daytime. But Felix changed girlfriends every three days, and many of them were noble ladies. Sonia found it hard to believe he could thoroughly devour someone in only three days.

Rather than lustful, he seemed more like he was collecting stamps.

Secondly, as the son of Duke Voslotda, yet reduced to attending Sword Flower University, it was hard not to wonder whether he had become entangled in some political conflict.

Sonia had no interest in struggling and growing alongside him. She would much rather hook the son of some newly risen nouveau riche noble family. That way, she could enjoy the benefits without effort and have plenty of room to maneuver. If her methods were good enough, even carving up the family fortune was not impossible.

With all those factors combined, Sonia could be said to have very little interest in Felix.

She had an entire forest. There was no need to hang herself from this one tree. In fact, she needed to stay far away from him—part of the reason was that Sonia had never dealt with nobles before, and everything she knew about them came from novels.

And in novels, aside from the male protagonist, traditional nobles were all villains who oppressed the innocent and committed crimes through power. Nobles who were not evil enough might even be kicked out of noble society and turned into commoners.

Sonia had always been cautious—or rather, pessimistic. Naturally, she did not believe she would ever encounter a good noble. Felix's image as a traditional noble who clearly leaned toward villainy naturally made Sonia keep her distance from him.

"So, if I make you fight him, you'll likely get yourself into trouble?"

"Exactly!" Sonia hurriedly said. "I don't know what you're trying to make me do, but I'm still so weak. I need to develop properly first. I should keep a low profile if I can. I shouldn't—"

"That's simply perfect," the Watcher said. "I want you to get into trouble. I want you to be high-profile all the way, to blast every enemy standing in your path into pieces... Besides, isn't that your Wish too?"

"What kind of childish, arrogant Wish would I have like that?!" Sonia roared.

"Then," the Watcher said with a bow, "I wish you victory in your first battle. Beat up the swordsmanship genius, kick the Starry Aristocrat."

"No, I absolutely won't—"

"Felix Vosrodar, the Swordsmanship Department's genius."

Sonia raised her Wooden Sword and pointed it at Felix, speaking in an arrogant tone she had never used before. "In all of Sword Flower, you're the only one qualified to serve as my stepping stone for summoning a Spell Spirit."

"Do you dare fight me?"

The Training Ground erupted into an uproar. The Swordsmanship Apprentices showed eager expressions, while Silia nearly bit through her lips—sure enough, Felix was her target as well, and Sonia had used such a clichéd yet effective method to directly establish a connection with him!

Ingrid said in astonishment, "Sonia, you've only trained for two hours. Even if you want to have a Sword Art match, you should wait until tomorrow..."

"No, it should be now." Felix stepped out of the crowd and stared intently at Sonia. "Two hours, three thousand six hundred strikes, from Swordsmanship Beginner straight to Swordsmanship Mastery. You're the most talented person I've ever seen, and the second person to make me feel fear. If I don't accept your challenge now, then when I wake up tomorrow, I won't even have the courage to draw my sword before you."

"Now may be my only chance to defeat you. Even if others think I'm catching you off guard or taking advantage of your lack of stamina, I can't care about that—at least if I defeat you tonight, I'll still have the right and courage to chase after your back!"

"And you're right. In all of Sword Flower, only I am worthy of your challenge. Those Void Realm swordsmen older than me merely rely on persistence to stir the knowledge of the Void Realm. They cannot be mentioned in the same breath as you and me. So... come!"

As he spoke, a large empty space had already opened up in the Training Ground. The two stood on opposite sides, gripping their practice swords as they faced each other.

Sonia used the most common middle stance, while Felix held his sword one-handed, raising the blade high as he turned sideways to face her. He looked as though he were full of openings.

"Wave Stance..." Though Ingrid was somewhat worried about Sonia, she could not help anticipating their match.

The Vosrodar Family was renowned for Sword Art. They had four secret stances capable of summoning Spell Spirits, and Wave Stance was one of them.

Within Sword Art Factions, stances were cultivation methods, summoning methods, and combat methods.

Or rather, the reason swordsmen could summon Spell Spirits was because they had gained sufficient understanding through combat training in a Sword Art stance, thereby stirring the Resonance of the Void Realm and turning the Void Realm's knowledge into Spell Spirits.

Every basic Spell Spirit independently summoned by a swordsman meant that they had perfectly mastered the corresponding Sword Art stance.

Felix had fought others before, but Ingrid had focused on studying—she had poor social connections—so she had received no news. This was her first time seeing the legendary Wave Stance. Her fighting spirit was stirred, and she thought about finding an opportunity to spar with Felix herself someday.

Then she noticed Sonia's cheeks were bright red and that she was repeatedly signaling at her with her eyes. Ingrid was confused at first, but after thinking briefly, she understood: Sonia was showing off that she got to witness Wave Stance first!

Even if you're geniuses, I'll definitely catch up to you!

Ingrid clenched her fists and made an encouraging gesture toward Sonia.

Sonia was completely helpless—wasn't the plea for help in her eyes obvious enough? Why wasn't Ingrid hurrying over to carry her away?!

"What's the point of you controlling my body to fight? Even if I win, it'll be your victory. I'm just a spectator," Sonia said inwardly. "If you only want to control my body, then do as you please. It's not like I can resist anyway."

"But last night, you had me undergo a Trial in the Dream Realm, and you had me undergo Swordsmanship Training. You must want me to grow, right? How about this? Let me regain control of my body. I promise I'll fight someone. If one person isn't enough, I'll fight two, all right?"

"Do you think this is arithmetic, where one plus one equals two?" the Watcher said, standing beside Ingrid. "And who told you that I'm controlling your body in battle?"

"If it isn't you, then is it me?"

"It is you." The Watcher walked to her side and reached out, raising the tip of her sword slightly. "Do you think I randomly chose someone for you to fight? Do you think I can truly ignore your will and forcibly control your body?"

"Why did you train in Sword Art? Because you defeated me in the Dream Realm last night. You realized your talent for Sword Art. You knew you had an opportunity to gain power, and you knew even more clearly that you had already wasted too much time."

"That is why you came here and trained until you squeezed out your last drop of stamina. You only wanted others to see, for your roommate Ingrid to see, that aside from your looks, you possessed talent worth taking pride in!"

"Why did you challenge Felix? From the first moment you saw him drive his Galloping Silver Tiger down the campus road, saw him adored by everyone, saw him become the school's hottest topic, you were already jealous of him, envied him, hated him. You could not blame the mother who had painstakingly raised you, so you could only resent people whose family backgrounds and status far surpassed yours."

"Why should they get everything from birth? Why should they be better than you at every turn?"

"Don't lie to your heart, Sword Maiden," the Watcher said. "You want to defeat him. You want to prove that you, Sonia Servia, are no worse than anyone!"

"You came to the Training Ground. You gripped the Wooden Sword tightly. You wanted to shine brilliantly! Everything came from your true heart!"

"Actually, I'm more curious why you think I'm controlling you. After all, no one besides you can see me. Don't you find that strange? Don't you suspect... whether I am a Watcher who truly exists, or merely an illusion your heart has created for support?"

"I'm done. Now, you can place all responsibility on me, and then..." The Watcher stood beside Sonia and pointed at Felix. "...enjoy the thrill of trampling a genius with a clear conscience!"

Bang!

With an explosive sound, both of them raised their swords and charged forward, clashing in battle!