"Kay, you're here."
"Yes, I'm here. Any promising recruits?"
After greeting Sovell, Kay took his seat in the stands.
"Not as of three minutes ago."
Sovell kept him guessing.
"Three minutes ago... so that means?"
Picking up on the hint in Sovell's words, Kay turned his gaze toward the two knights currently in the arena.
"Hah!"
A shout burst from the throat of the young knight wearing the Horned Helmet. What followed was a relentless flurry of slashes, fierce as a gale.
Under that furious assault, her opponent gradually lost ground, his knightly sword nearly knocked from his hand.
"Hmm? Sovell, are you sure you haven't misjudged this one?"
Kay deliberately rubbed his eyes, as though to emphasize that the prince beside him had lost his mind.
"This kid is just hacking away wildly!"
That was Kay's cursory assessment of the young knight in the Horned Helmet and her fighting style.
Sovell shook his head, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
"No, no, no. Kay, watch her movements closely."
This time, Kay rubbed his eyes in earnest and studied the young knight in the Horned Helmet.
After all, though he now held a civil post, he had once been a proper knight.
Only after Sovell's reminder did Kay notice that the young knight possessed exceptionally keen combat instincts.
As if she could see the future, she always interrupted her opponent's sword a moment before he could counterattack.
In doing so, she actively created the sustained pressure she now maintained.
"Familiar."
Kay blurted out the word.
He hesitated for a moment, then repeated himself with absolute certainty.
"This kid's fighting style... it's very familiar. What about you, Sovell?"
"Me? Hmm... I think I've more or less figured it out too."
At Kay's question, Sovell replayed the young