Chapter 7: Sierra Finishes Her Exam.

“Sierra… say, if some thug attacked you in town, what would you do?”

Her father, Ainz, had suddenly asked her that.
They were on a battlefield, just about to join a war together.
Sierra tilted her head at the question.

“What’s a ‘thug’?”

“Whoops, starting from there, huh. Well… a bad person. Like a bandit or something.”

“Hmm… cut them dead?”

“Yeah, my example was bad. Of course you’d cut them dead. Dad would too.”

“…That’s wrong?”

It was precisely because of Ainz’s parenting philosophy that Sierra had grown up the way she did; still, he had tried to teach her the things she needed to know.
Watching his reaction, Sierra asked,

“The important part is that it’s ‘in town,’ right? Outside of work, you must never kill people if you can help it.”

“Eh, really?”

Sierra stared at Ainz with an expression that said she’d just heard something earth-shattering.
It was only shortly before they parted that Ainz had decided to start teaching her the basic common sense of being human.

“That’s right. Sometimes you have to ‘cut them down’ without killing.”

“Cut them down?”

Sierra swung the same 《Crimson Sword》 as Ainz with a whoosh-whoosh right there on the spot.

“Not that kind of cutting… Subduing with a sword seems too hard for you, Sierra, so during this war I’ll teach you one good technique.”

“A technique? Not swordsmanship?”

“Your swordsmanship is already on par with Dad’s. You can be proud of that.”

Armored soldiers were approaching the two of them.
The clanking footsteps grew louder, yet neither father nor daughter showed any sign of fleeing.
Ainz gathered mana into his fist.

“! What’s that?”

Sierra looked at him with sparkling eyes.
She rarely showed interest in anything, but she loved being taught combat-related things.
Ainz nodded.

“Watch closely. This is mana-enhanced hand-to-hand combat.”

Ainz charged straight at the soldiers.
Of course they noticed him, but Ainz closed the distance faster than they could react.
Hand-to-hand combat assumed you could close in first; that part was never an issue.
Sierra already possessed abilities equal to Ainz’s.
Watching soldiers get sent flying one after another, Sierra muttered,

“So instead of cutting them dead, you beat them dead?”

That particular interpretation was corrected by Ainz later on.

In the examination arena, even Headmaster Awenda, who had been smiling the whole time, now watched with wide eyes.

“W-what in the world was that just now…?”

“It looked like mana-enhanced hand-to-hand combat… ufufu, but on a completely different scale.”

Awenda answered the stunned instructors around her.
The only person not shocked was Sierra herself.

“Guh… cough…”

House clutched his stomach and coughed painfully.
Seeing that, Sierra looked mildly surprised.

(I held back so I wouldn’t kill him, and he’s still conscious.)

Normally she would follow up and finish the opponent; that was battlefield doctrine.
But the hand-to-hand style Ainz had taught her was meant for subduing without killing.
The sheer force of Sierra’s dash had cracked the ground where she had stood moments ago.
She possessed enough raw power to fight entire monster armies single-handedly.
Of course, punch the wrong spot or misjudge the power and the opponent would still die.

(But I think I did it right.)

If Ainz were here, would he praise her? While she was thinking that,

“《Hell Blaze》…!”

House cast the spell again.
The temperature around Sierra skyrocketed as roaring flames erupted.

“H-House-san!?”

“It’s only… just begun…!”

Breathing raggedly, House still tried to unleash magic at her.

(…One more, I guess.)

Sierra planted her foot firmly; but at that moment she felt something wrong beneath it.
Her leg sank into the ground with a squelch.
House had cast a second spell at the same time: 《Dual Casting》.
Being able to use two different elements simultaneously was exceedingly rare even among magi.
It proved just how skilled House really was; even Sierra understood that.
To counter her explosive charge, he had sealed her movement.

“Take this…!”

This was far beyond an exam anymore; hellfire of that intensity engulfed Sierra.
The entire arena was swallowed by blistering heat.
A direct hit from those flames would do far more than leave burns.

And yet,

“That’s it— wha!?”

House’s eyes flew open.
What scattered the inferno was a sword even redder than the flames.
Sierra emerged completely unscathed from the blaze.
An instructor in the stands cried out in shock.

“! That’s… 《Weapon Materialization》…!?”

“One of the advanced techniques that manifests mana as a physical weapon. Ufufu, not exactly something taught in regular classes…”

Turning mana into matter was one of the pinnacles of magic.
It was a method Ainz had taught her, and even Sierra had needed some time to master it.
But she possessed the talent to make it possible.

“It’s basically a clump of mana, so it can cut magic too; that’s what Dad said.”

“Don’t screw with me…! That’s not an examinee’s level!”

House spat venomously and glared at Awenda.
Awenda merely shook her head slightly.
Sierra didn’t understand what that exchange meant, but,

“The exam continues until I beat you… right?”

“!?”

Sierra took one step forward.
From here, a single swing would finish House; but that wouldn’t let her hold back properly.

“U-Uoo!”

House fired bullets of flame.
Sierra sliced through them effortlessly.
The distance had already closed to within sword range.
She raised the crimson blade high.

“W-wait! I—I surrender!!”

The moment House shouted his surrender, Sierra’s sword stopped dead.
The tip had halted just in front of his eyes and nose.

(Dad’s method… really works. He taught me this is how you intimidate people.)

“So that means I pass, right?”

“Uh… um…?”

The female examiner looked helplessly at Awenda.
When Sierra followed her gaze, the headmaster wore the same gentle smile as when they first met.

“Th-the exam is now concluded! We will inform you of the transfer results at a later time.”

“Okay, got it.”

They weren’t telling her here, apparently. Shrugging inwardly, Sierra sheathed her sword.
The blade, formed of pure mana, dispersed into mist and vanished.
Sierra, who had already failed the written portion, had now achieved the unprecedented feat of defeating the examiner in the practical test; and thus secured her admission.