"A duel?"
"Lucas! Stop!...Stop this instant!"
"No, Milady. You even said you were willing to submit to slavery. For the sake of that resolve, let me see if this man is worthy of your sacrifice!"
Lucas persistently demanded a duel from Jin.
"Sion, does he understand his position?" Jin asked with a frown.
Sion turned pale and lowered her head. "I-I'm so sorry! Please, please, do not abandon us!"
It seemed Sion understood the gravity of their situation perfectly—specifically, that Jin had nothing to lose by choosing to abandon them.
Even so, Jin had no intention of doing so. He needed to ensure the safety of Kaina Village and wanted to obtain more information about the world's history.
If he deployed a barrier and attacked from within it, he wouldn't lose, but he doubted such a victory would satisfy Lucas.
"Father, allow me to take your place."
Reiko made the offer to the pensive Jin. After consulting with Laojun, she had decided to accept the challenge to analyze the physical capabilities of the demon race.
"I suppose you're right. It can't be helped. Can I leave this to you? But go easy on him, okay?"
Jin gave Reiko her instructions, figuring it was the best way to handle the situation.
"Since you are Sion-san’s guard, I, as Father’s daughter, shall be your opponent."
"Hmph, fine by me. A battle between guards, then!"
Lucas agreed readily, his remark stemming from the fact that he already knew Reiko was an automata.
Since it was still plenty bright outside, they decided to hold the duel in the plaza in front of Nidou Castle.
"Lucas, are you sure your body is up for this?" Jin asked.
"Hmph! As Milady’s guard, I can fight anytime, anywhere!"
Reiko immediately poked a hole in his bravado. "For someone saying that, you certainly seemed to enjoy being carried unconscious into the clinic."
"Urgh..."
Sion had recovered enough to walk, but to be safe, Jin had Topaz 101, who was assigned to the castle, carry her outside to watch.
"Well then, what about weapons?" Jin asked.
"I don't need any! This body is my weapon!"
"Understood. Are you ready to start?"
"Come at me!"
The moment Lucas shouted, Reiko kicked off the ground.
Closing the distance in an eye-blink, she held her small fist perfectly against his jaw—a masterfully controlled strike.
"That is my win, then."
"W-W-Wait! That was a surprise attack! We’re testing strength here, so come at me from the front!"
Lucas spat out the words like a sore loser, cold sweat trickling down his face. Reiko leaped back to create distance.
"Is that so? In that case, you come at me."
Reiko stood her ground, adopting a stance focused entirely on waiting.
"Don't mock me!"
This time, Lucas lunged. He unleashed a flurry of punches at a speed nearly invisible to the eye, but Reiko brushed them aside with ease.
"What!?"
Lucas unleashed a further barrage, but Reiko parried every single strike with a single hand.
"Damn it! How about this!"
Lucas began incorporating leg techniques: front kicks, roundhouse kicks, knee strikes, and axe kicks. Reiko evaded them all with minimal, efficient movements.
"Amazing..."
To the witnesses—Jin and Sion, as well as Barrow and Belle, who had come to watch—the exchange was happening at a speed the eye could barely follow.
"Damn it! Why won't they land!?"
He was likely using Reinforce with his mana, but this was a land with a low concentration of free ether. Lucas gradually began to lose his breath. If things continued this way, he would likely collapse from exhaustion.
However, Reiko decided that wasn't enough. Given Lucas’s personality, she believed he wouldn't be satisfied unless she showed him a clear gap in their respective strengths.
"Now, I shall go on the offensive!"
Reiko, who had been purely defensive until now, had already read Lucas’s attack patterns. She unleashed a series of punches and kicks at a speed that far surpassed his own.
"W-Whoa!"
Now Lucas was entirely on the defensive, but Reiko did not let up. If anything, she increased her speed even further. Even now, her output was only at fifteen percent.
"Ngh!"
In the split second it seemed Lucas’s right hand had parried Reiko’s fist, she wound her arm around his, locking it under her own as she twisted her entire body. It was the Axilla Turn, known as Wakigaeshi—one of the secret techniques of the Shouro Empire Ritter Order.
"Gyah!"
Protecting the elbow that had been forced into a joint lock naturally broke his upper body’s balance. She applied more weight, collapsing his posture. By falling with him, she forced him to the ground.
She could have easily snapped his elbow or shoulder joints, but having no intention of going that far, she released his arm halfway through the fall.
Reiko used the recoil of pushing Lucas away to leap back. Lucas, showing an extraordinary sense of balance, managed to avoid hitting the ground by leaping backward as well.
Reiko instantly calculated the distance between herself, Lucas, and Jin’s group. She decided to test one more technique.
Drawing fifty percent of her output for a single moment, she closed in on Lucas at a speed approaching Mach 1. She came to a dead stop barely a meter in front of him.
However...
A charge at a speed just below the speed of sound created a cushion of compressed air in front of her. When she stopped her momentum, that compressed air separated from her and continued forward, expanding at its original speed.
It was much like a giant speaker vibrating once to produce an ultra-low frequency.
Because it was a physical phenomenon rather than magic, the effect dissipated quickly and could only be used at close range, but the mass of air struck Lucas nonetheless. It had the same effect as—if not more than—the wind magic Wind Blow.
"Uwaah!"
Taking the hit at point-blank range, Lucas was blown back twenty meters, where he collapsed, his head spinning before he lost consciousness.
"...Perhaps I went too far."
"Lucas!"
Sion’s worried voice rang out. Reiko immediately ran to his side to check his condition.
"...Father!"
Sensing something concerning, Reiko called for Jin, who ran over immediately.
"What’s wrong?"
"...Please try using Analyze on him."
"Hm? Alright. Analyze."
Jin’s expression changed instantly. "W-What is this?"
The flow of mana inside Lucas's body was abnormal.
"Diagnose didn't pick this up..."
When examining him with medical magic, he appeared no different from a human, but Analyze revealed a startling discrepancy. It was the flow of mana.
Normally, mana circulates through the body much like blood. In Lucas’s case, however, it wasn't circulating. Instead, it seemed to flow out from a single point in his body and then gather back into it.
"Sion."
"Y-Yes?"
At a loss, Jin called for her. "In exchange for forgiving Lucas’s disrespectful behavior, would you permit me to use Analyze on you as well?"
"Eh..." Sion’s face paled, but she nodded a moment later as if making up her mind. "I understand....Please."
"You have my thanks....Analyze. I see, this is..."
The results showed that Sion was no different from a human. This meant that while Lucas looked very similar to both humans and the demon race, he was a different kind of living being entirely.
"Um, Jin-sama?"
Rather than trying to guess, Jin decided to ask her directly. "Sion, what is Lucas? He’s a slightly different race from you... isn't he?"
Upon hearing those words, Sion’s face turned pale for the countless time that day. "...To think you could even tell that. As expected of the Magi Craft Meister."
Sion hung her head in dejection. "Yes. Strictly speaking, Lucas is not of the demon race. He is of the Servant race."
According to Sion’s explanation, in the lands of the demon race, there were the "Demons" and the "Servants." All Servants had dark skin like Lucas and uniformly dark brown hair. Their eyes ranged from brown to black.
"Lucas is only five years old."
"What!?"
"The Servant race grows quickly. He became my personal guard only one year ago. That is why he still lacks self-control. Please, take that into consideration."
"I see. Reiko, how is he?"
"...He is merely unconscious. He should wake up soon."
Just as she spoke, Lucas let out a groan and opened his eyes.
"Are you alright?" Reiko asked.
Lucas slowly sat up and placed both hands on the ground in front of her. "It's a total defeat! You were far stronger than me!"
He then turned toward Jin and bowed his head. "I am sorry! I have felt the power of the Magi Craft Meister firsthand!"
Finally, he looked at Sion. "It was just as Milady said. The Magi Craft Meister will surely save us all."
Back inside Nidou Castle, Jin gave Lucas some Persica juice. As the mana he had consumed in the duel was replenished, Lucas regained his energy. Since his only injuries were a few scratches, Jin healed them with Cure.
"Now then, you must be tired, so let's call it a day. I'll assign Ruby 101 to you; if you need anything, let her know."
Ruby 101 was a golem maid who excelled in attack magic, particularly fire-type spells. Since she could also use Paralyze, she was the perfect choice for a combined role of guard and monitor.
Additionally, Land 16 and 17, summoned from Hourai Island, were standing by nearby while hidden under a shroud of Invisible.
Jin’s real work would likely begin tomorrow. He used the Warp Gate in his private room on the fifth floor to travel to Hourai Island.