The problem then arose: there wasn't much time left until the next competition.
With Maria still in Noah's body and unconscious, she obviously couldn't participate in the competition. So, the only one who could replace Maria in the competition was—Noah herself.
"…But the problem is I haven't participated in Knight training for a long time." Noah held her forehead. Seeing Maria's body make such a gesture was quite amusing, as it was too different from her own personality. Manner, who knew the full story, watched Noah, who was occupying Maria's body. He wasn't particularly worried about the competition.
One must know that Noah was once a Knight who competed with Margaret for the top spot among the younger generation. If Noah hadn't had an accident, Margaret wouldn't have secured that position so easily. So, Noah, occupying Maria's body, might not be weak at all.
However, participating in a formal competition right from the start was indeed… a bit of a leap.
"But Maria's body doesn't have problems with her legs, does it? Why are you still sitting in a wheelchair?" Zofia asked doubtfully. That's right, while everyone else was sitting in chairs discussing, Noah's bottom was still in her usual wheelchair.
"…Ah, no, I'm used to it," Noah waved her hand awkwardly. "And I'm not very good at walking right now…"
"It's not good to still be in a wheelchair when you can finally walk. Just think of it as a holiday and walk more," Zofia advised. To be fair, if someone else had occupied Maria's body, she would have been worried, but Noah—even if Manner betrayed Maria, Noah would never betray Maria. And the current situation really couldn't be restored for now…
The so-called last resort was exactly this—
"To prevent the Commercial Federation from making an issue of this, you must pretend to be Maria during this time. And if we haven't found a way to switch back before the competition—then you must participate in Maria's place. After all, this would probably be Maria's wish too." Manner was the eldest here, and with Noah being the person involved and Zofia unable to make a decision, he naturally took charge of the entire meeting to make the final call.
"Before that, we'll announce that Noah was accidentally injured and is recuperating," Kuro also nodded. "I will look after Miss Maria, so… Miss Noah will…"
"Leave her to me." Manner nodded, and the two completed their handover of responsibilities. However, Noah herself was a bit troubled, on one hand, by the lack of a method to switch back, and on the other, by her concern for Maria, who was still unconscious.
And her participating… what could she participate in?
Noah was genuinely worried; she couldn't even walk properly. This sudden change truly left her at a loss.
If there was one skill she hadn't let go of over the years… it was archery. But this fighting style was too different from Maria's, which would inevitably raise suspicion. With this worry, Noah still arrived at the training ground early the next day. By the second day, Noah at least started walking more smoothly, but holding Maria's sword and shield, she still felt strange… It wasn't that she didn't know how to use a sword and shield, but that it had been too long since she practiced.
The only thing she could basically use in a wheelchair was a bow and arrow—and it had to be specially made. Using a sword and shield in a wheelchair was too abstract.
Manner had changed into a white shirt, holding a practice sword, and with his ponytail, he was much taller than Noah. Compared to the suit he usually wore as an office worker, the current Manner looked a bit more like his former Ranger self. Seeing Noah's unease, Manner spoke first. "I know you're still worried about Maria, but her spirit is not much weaker than yours—what you can endure, she will absolutely have no problem with. What you need to do now is to play her role well."
"I know…" Noah took a deep breath, adopted a stance, recalled her childhood training memories, and then reapplied them to this somewhat unfamiliar body.
"That look…" Manner stared into Noah's eyes. Once upon a time, he had seen a similar look.
—So alike…
—Margaret's eyes were exactly like yours back then.
Manner held the sword with one hand and attacked in Noah's direction. Noah's small golden ears twitched, and she directly met the attack with her shield. With a clang, Noah immediately spun her body, swinging her longsword towards Manner.
This was different from Maria's approach. Maria would observe the opponent's movements more, blocking the first few attacks before attempting to counter. Noah, however, was a pure opportunist, turning the force of the attack into her own power to strike back the moment she was hit.
Manner easily blocked the blow, then shifted from blocking to a slash, aiming for Noah's wrist—the practice sword was unsharpened, so even if it connected, it wouldn't cause any wounds. But Noah reacted. She retreated, moving herself out of the range of Manner's slash, then re-prepared her stance for the next engagement.
Considering her long period without practice, Noah's combat talent was indeed outstanding. This fearless fighting style made it hard to imagine that Noah was previously a blind person who had to sit in a wheelchair. Just one exchange had already revealed a lot. However, Manner confirmed that Noah's sword and shield skills were no longer very strong—or rather, they had become rusty. The few moves she was using now looked decent, but there was always a certain hesitant feeling.
If Manner's sword were a little faster, Noah wouldn't be able to keep up.
"Don't keep relying on your ears; you can see the sword now," Manner said. "You just… were relying on your hearing to dodge and counter, weren't you?"
Noah was silent for a while. Indeed, her long life as a blind person made her subconsciously not think of using her eyes to confirm things, which had both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that Noah had almost no blind spots in her defense; no matter what angle an attack came from, Noah would detect it and counterattack. But similarly, the accuracy of her counterattack was much worse. Just like the spinning counterattack she just made, if the angle had been more tricky, it wouldn't have been so easily blocked.
However, Noah did not adjust her sword's edge immediately. Instead, after Manner changed his move and she heard the sound of the sword's edge changing, she then changed her own move.
Seeing is always faster than hearing, after all, the speed of light is always much faster than the speed of sound. Although it's unlikely to encounter normally—what if the opponent's sword speed, or the bullet's speed, exceeds the speed of sound?
Noah would be completely helpless—
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