The two students on the arena had just stepped down.
At this moment, no one else had gone up yet to fight.
Hearing Aurelian's words, Hilda paused slightly. Just as she was about to speak to stop her, she noticed a glance thrown over by August.
So she quickly shut her mouth, afraid of saying anything wrong again.
At this time, King August spoke with a smile,
"Of course you may."
"I also very much want to see the princess's skills. Perhaps it can give our students here a good lesson."
What he said was flawless, easily making people feel favorable toward him.
Even the empire's diplomatic ministers couldn't find any fault in it if they wanted to say something.
Besides, this was the princess's own willingness, so the empire's diplomatic ministers couldn't say much.
Hearing the king's words, Hilda also came to her senses.
Just now, she had already committed a major taboo by saying the wrong thing in front of foreign envoys.
How could it make sense to have a visiting princess from another country perform swordsmanship?
But the mistake had already been made, so now she could only go along with it.
Otherwise, she had just said she wanted to see it.
Now that the princess had clearly shown willingness, if she tried to stop her instead, wouldn't that be deliberately making things difficult for the other party?
How many heads did she have to dare say something like that?
So Hilda quickly spoke, "Your Highness, please go ahead and step onto the arena."
"I will have the instructors below prepare your next match."
The princess nodded calmly, and a sharp aura flowed out from her body.
She turned slightly and walked toward the aisle of the spectator stands.
Just as she stepped out, the female student who had been on the arena earlier happened to walk over as well.
The two brushed past each other in the same aisle.
Sensing the sharp aura from Aurelian, Joanna couldn't help but turn her head to look at her back.
She was someone unfamiliar.
She came to Hilda's side, and upon seeing the king, bowed deeply to him.
"Your Majesty."
The king waved his hand, indicating there was no need for formalities.
Joanna straightened up, then looked at her sister, Instructor Hilda.
"Sis…"
She really wanted to ask how her performance had been.
But before Joanna could finish speaking, she saw that Hilda had been holding a communication crystal the whole time.
It seemed like she was transmitting very important information.
So Joanna sensibly closed her mouth, stood beside her sister, and didn't go to find a seat.
She just raised her head and looked toward the arena.
At this moment, the girl Joanna had just seen was already standing on the arena in front of countless spectators.
She wore a long dress connected with armor, its flowing material shimmering like light, as if wrapped in a faint glow, making it look especially beautiful.
However, this made Joanna very confused.
That girl was someone she had never seen before.
She wasn't even wearing the academy's uniform.
Even the students below, upon seeing her, were filled with confusion.
At this moment, several instructors below received a message from Hilda.
So they calmly announced an astonishing piece of news to everyone, "A quick announcement. This new participant is the princess from the Calencia Empire."
"Her Highness Aurelian Sol."
At that moment, an uproar rose from the audience below.
The empire's princess was participating in their kingdom academy's evaluation battle?
The students naturally didn't understand politics. They were simply extremely excited.
So excited that each of them clenched their fists, wanting to challenge this imperial princess.
After all, if they could win, it would bring honor to the kingdom.
Wouldn't that mean they'd have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of their lives?
Even Joanna was extremely surprised.
'A princess from the empire?'
No wonder her sister had been so busy just now, not even having time to respond to her.
Clearly, she had been rapidly notifying the instructors below.
At this moment, the instructors' voices rang out again across the entire arena through amplification, "We look forward to this princess bringing our students a wonderful instructional match."
Accompanied by cheers and applause from the stands, King August below finally let out a breath of relief.
By bringing out the princess's title first, as long as the next student wasn't a fool, he would understand that he needed to deliberately lose to the princess.
Of course, even if the student was thick-headed, August had already thought of everything.
At worst, there were still the instructors on the field.
They just needed to arrange a relatively weaker student.
It wasn't that he didn't trust the princess.
But after all, no one had seen this princess fight before, and it was hard to understand Aurelian's true strength.
If the princess casually lost to an ordinary student of the kingdom, losing face, then the diplomacy between the empire and the kingdom could end early.
The same logic applied.
If their own side lost, wouldn't that mean the kingdom's students were weak?
That their abilities were too poor, unable to even defeat an underage princess?
Especially since this princess was only a mage.
Swordsmanship was just a secondary study.
That's why, in a situation where their identities were clearly unequal, merely proposing to watch this battle was already quite inappropriate.
No matter the outcome, it would benefit no one.
But after weighing the pros and cons, August could only decide to prioritize letting the academy lose.
After all, doing so would only cause a few students to lose face.
As long as he compensated that embarrassed student afterward, it would be fine.
In the end, a student stepped onto the arena full of confidence, his face brimming with obvious pride.
He had already begun imagining the heroic scene after winning.
If he could defeat the empire's princess, it would naturally bring immense honor to the kingdom.
He might even gain the king's recognition and have the chance to become a two-star or even three-star noble…
Of course, all that would have to wait until after the match, but without a doubt, his fame would soar to the top of the kingdom.
This match, he had to win, and he had to win spectacularly.
At this moment, the audience suddenly felt something strange.
The princess on the arena didn't seem to be carrying any weapon.
Even the instructors felt a bit puzzled.
Although warriors used many types of weapons and it wasn't required to use swords,
the blade was the most basic skill taught at Starlight Academy, and it also carried the elegance of the nobility.
Everyone wanted to become a noble, so naturally, everyone practiced swordsmanship.
Thus, an instructor below couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, would you like us to choose a weapon for you?"
Aurelian shook her head. Suddenly, faint silver points of light rose from her body.
In an instant, everyone's eyes widened.
Behind Aurelian, those silver-white points of light gradually formed into something unknown.
Its entire body was pitch black, with only two eyes like bright moons visible.
Its mouth was wide open, its teeth neatly arranged, as if it were smiling.
'Th-that… what exactly was that!?'
In its hand, a slender white light extended, forming a moonlike hilt.
Then silver light constructed a slightly curved blade, like a silver sword.
Before everyone's eyes, that grinning unknown being tossed the sword down.
Clang!
The blade landed steadily on the ground, stabbing straight into the hard arena.
That ground, which hadn't been affected at all by other students' battles, was actually pierced through by this sword that fell from above.
Finally, Aurelian walked to the blade that shone like a silver moon, extended one hand, and easily pulled it out.
At last, she raised the sword and faced the student who had just stepped onto the arena.
After witnessing this, the other party had already gone from confidence to complete confusion.
At this point, he was having trouble even holding his sword steady.
'That… could that be… magic?'
'Magic can be used like that?'
Even the audience below wore shocked expressions. This unusual method made countless people feel surprised.
Even Duke Barlow's gaze fell upon Aurelian.
There was a hint of interest in his eyes.
The instructors below finally came back to their senses from their shock and hurriedly said, "Th-then, the battle begins!"
Although the student facing her was greatly shocked by Aurelian's magic forming a weapon, under the lure of all those beautiful future fantasies, he would never easily back down.
Maybe all of this was just an illusion.
The moment the match began, wind gathered beneath his feet as he rushed fiercely toward Aurelian.
At this time, the king also snapped out of his thoughts about Aurelian's magic.
He had seen that magic quite clearly just now.
That sword was merely something derived from magic. What was truly astonishing was the unknown being summoned behind Aurelian.
It didn't seem related to any of the six elemental magics.
It looked somewhat chaotic, like a fusion of light and darkness.
August was curious, but since this was the other party's secret, he couldn't directly ask.
So he probed from the side and asked Viktor, "Councilor, you are Princess Aurelian's teacher, correct?"
"Mm.", Viktor nodded casually.
After getting confirmation, the king continued, "I'm curious, because as far as I know, you are a mage, and shouldn't have taught Princess Aurelian swordsmanship."
"So, it seems the princess has more than one teacher?"
At this point, Viktor didn't say anything, and the king took it as silent agreement.
He continued, "To teach a student more knowledge, every teacher should have their own strengths and weaknesses."
"Mr. Viktor, what are you good at teaching?"
August looked at Viktor, awaiting his answer.
But suddenly, an uproar broke out among the students.
A wave of shocked cries echoed across the arena, and the nobles were astonished.
Hilda's eyes widened, and even her sister stood beside her, staring at the arena with a serious expression.
Duke Barlow, after watching the entire process, quietly closed his eyes again.
Not knowing what had happened, August couldn't help but turn his head to look.
And the scene before him left him utterly shaken.
At some unknown point, the battle had already ended.
Aurelian stood in place, not having moved at all.
Yet the moonlight blade in her hand had directly pierced through the student who had charged at her.
The student stood frozen in place. His sword slipped from his hand and fell onto the arena with a cold clanging sound.
He looked down at his body.
There was no pain at the place where he had been pierced, not even a drop of blood flowing out.
Until the moonlit blade was pulled out by Aurelian, he suddenly dropped to his knees.
A wave of weakness rushed to his head, his body so stiff he couldn't move.
At this moment, countless people couldn't help but stare at the arena.
'What happened!? Did someone get killed!?'
But there was no blood on the arena, and no one dared to make wild guesses.
No matter what, shock and confusion were written all over everyone's faces.
Aurelian gracefully bowed to the student, "Thank you for the match."
After saying that, her figure lightly turned toward below the stage.
King August witnessed this scene, and his gaze became extremely serious.
At this moment, Viktor finally gave his answer.
"I thought about it carefully. I've taught Aurelian quite a lot of things."
"So, if I have to say it."
King August turned his gaze back to Viktor, only to see him clasp his hands together, looking at him with a smile, "I suppose…"
"I'm a bit good at everything."