Reincarnated into Two Bodies

Not a whole lot of time had passed since Attila approached the girls. But in that short moment, the atmosphere in the room changed completely.

Attila was helping Lionne, Eve, and me clean the rest of the gear from dust. And throughout it all, the hostility from earlier was completely gone. Lionne went from staring daggers at her to straight up inviting Attila to her dorm to share tea.

“Seriously, you have to tell me more!” Lionne said. “I didn’t know Feyt was that shy!”

"Oh, he's not that shy, but you know!" Attila continued the conversation along.

Eve didn’t even say anything; she was just cleaning the gear with me with a silent smile, nodding along to the conversation.

All in all, I would say that the atmosphere was restored.

Attila was no longer an enemy of the world; everyone was getting along, and the cleaning was progressing smoothly. We could proceed with the joint training as planned now.

...But at what cost?

Attila had been talking about me, Feyt, like I wasn’t standing in the same room as her. She shared how I “missed Carine”, “talk about her a lot”, et cetera.

One of her topics was how proud I was that I learned my swordsmanship from Carine, which... admittedly, was a real conversation I had with Attila, but she was totally overplaying it! Some of her stories were even made up, like that hall topic earlier.

Should I do something about it? Should I intervene?

I mean... the mood was perfect for training now. The hostility toward Attila was entirely gone. Heck, she was practically one of the girls now, integrated into the group like she was always meant to be there.

First of all, was that really all it took to convince them to invite someone into a friend group?

Second… what was I supposed to do?

If I spoke up to deny it as Carine, I’d just look like an embarrassed noble girl in denial. If I acted as Feyt and shout across the room, it would just look like I panicked trying to keep my secrets from my crush.

As shameful as it was to admit it, I knew how their minds worked when it came to me. And I realized that I was in a checkmate here. Anything I do would just add fuel to the fire.

At least… we can train properly now, right?

At this point, I was just straight up coping while mindlessly wiping down wooden swords and training mats.

Just then, the heavy double doors of the training chamber creaked open, and Villius walked in. He was rolling up his sleeves, a slightly out-of-breath expression on his face.

“Sorry I’m late!” Villius said, offering a small, apologetic wave. “Had to finish some assignments first.” He paused, his eyes sweeping across the room, noting the faintly awkward atmosphere. “What did I miss?” he asked.

...A whole lot.

—

With everyone finally present, the joint training could start for real.

The awkward atmosphere from before had fully dissipated, replaced with a sense of enthusiastic productivity. It seemed everyone was eager to share a few blows.

As everyone was warming up, I noticed something.

Clarissa was standing near the weapon racks, clutching her training bow in one hand tightly as she was stretching herself. She looked tiny next to the massive wooden broadswords and spears lined up against the rack.

Which brought up a very practical problem. How do you even duel with a bow in a one-on-one?

I was admittedly curious. I mean, I doubt any of us here had held a bow before, maybe once or twice. I did hold a crossbow once back during my first ever kidnapping, but that was that, and this was this.

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Do you just aim directly for a direct hit? What if it missed?

What to do when an opponent gets close to you? Are you just out of luck?

But then I realized… why theorize when we could practice it?

So, I walked over to her, keeping my gaze calm.

“Clarissa,” I called out smoothly.

She flinched slightly, her grip tightening on her bow. “Y-Yes, Lady Carine?”

“I invite you to be my first sparring partner today,” I said, offering my hand.

Clarissa’s eyes went wide in shock. “M-Me?! R-Really?!”

…

I held my blade firmly.

Clarissa held her bow tightly as well. Several wooden arrows sat on the quiver on her back, its feathers poking out.

She closed her eyes as she began to take several deep breaths, calming herself. I took the chance to clear my mind as well.

Lionne stood at the edge of the mat, basically acting as our referee. She raised her arms high, a spare sweat towel gripped in her right hand to act as a starting flag.

After both of us were ready, we gave a slight nod to Lionne as a signal.

Lionne swung her arms down.

Clarissa moved quickly. Gone was the hesitant, stuttering girl from a few minutes ago. In the blink of an eye, she nocked a blunt training arrow and aimed it straight at my chest. The exact moment I took my first forward step, the arrow flew.

It cut through the air with surprising speed. Thankfully, it was still slow enough in my eyes that I was able to knock it away with a single, precise swing of my blade.

But Clarissa, perhaps expecting the deflection, didn’t even wait for me to recover my stance. She was already drawing back a second arrow.

I deflected it as well.

Then another arrow flew. And then another.

She began incorporating agile body movements, pivoting on the balls of her feet and firing from a variety of unexpected angles. Her arrows began flowing in rapidly; it was almost a rain of wood and feathers.

In the tournament, all she needed was for one of her arrows to hit directly to count as a solid hit, which would net her victory. So if I lost focus for just one moment, I would lose the match.

But despite her impressive firing rate, I managed to close the distance ever so slowly.

Throughout the entire exchange, Clarissa’s eyes were intensely focused, clearly fully invested in her fight. The stuttering mess I knew her to be outside of combat had vanished entirely, replaced by the sharp instincts of a marksman hunting prey.

She adapted to my movements and positions fast; some of her arrows seemed to be sent in anticipation of my movements as well.

Then, I managed to break through her shooting range. At this range, her arrows were useless. But instead of panicking and turning her back to run, she immediately shifted into a tight, close-combat stance.

She twisted her body, attempting to use the heavy, reinforced wood of her bow as a blocking tool to parry my blade while using her footwork to try and regain her distance.

Unfortunately for her, she couldn't quite keep up with my pace. I lunged forward with one big step, bypassing her guard entirely. Before she could react, the edge of my blade was resting gently against her chin, our faces merely a few moments apart.

The arena went silent for a moment. It was then that the sight of the typical Clarissa began to peek through, eating away her composure, as the realization of how close we were slowly dawned on us.

I took a couple of steps back, lowering my sword, and gave my best attempt at a genuine, reassuring smile.

“Nice work, Clarissa. You adapted to my pace well.”

Clarissa’s face instantly flushed slightly red, clutching her bow tightly. “T-That was fun, Lady Carine… Y-You really are fast. I can’t even hit you once,” she said with a soft smile.

“Did you get a good sense of what fighting a sword user with a bow would feel like?”

She nodded rapidly, her shoulders dropping in relief. “I-I do. It's... a lot harder to aim when you're constantly moving. I have to keep that in mind next time.”

“Then good. That means the practice is effective,” I replied, giving her an encouraging nod. “Remember, you only need one solid hit from that arrow to win in the tournament. I would say that is a massive advantage for you, provided you can keep your distance and pace.”

Her eyes lit up at the praise. “Thank you, Lady Carine! I’ll keep that in mind!”

With our match over, she began to pick up her spent arrows from the match. I volunteered to help as well.

But then, through Feyt’s ears, I heard their thoughts on the match. I wondered if I did well enough in front of them, or if they would have some harsh criticism about my techniques.

“That’s ridiculous…” Lionne muttered, her jaw slightly slack as she watched Clarissa. “How fast do you have to react to catch her arrows?”

“Against any of us, she probably would’ve won on her second shot,” Villius stated bluntly, eyes scanning the several spent arrows on the floor.

Eve and Attila nodded in agreement, their faces both serious and analytical.

A thought occurred in my mind.

Wait…

Was Clarissa really that strong of an opponent?

I looked back at the shy marksman who was currently picking up her spent arrows from the training mat, struggling to keep them from spilling out of the quiver on her back as she bent over.

Her arrows were exceptionally fast. And each time I deflected an arrow, another one was on its way. If I did falter for just a moment, it was probably over. Considering that, I could totally see her doing well in the tournament.

I underestimated her again, didn’t I?

So, I kept a good note in the back of my mind.

Clarissa: potentially scary.

I just hoped I wouldn’t encounter an even scarier bow user in the tournament.