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Putting in a midday break, Rudel leapt onto Sakuya's back and fose into the air

The wide, blue sky spread out, noon had just gone by, and the light of the sun was strong But as he looked at his foe, so like theon a water dragon again"

'I won't lose this time'

As Sakuya thrust her fist towards her opponent a few tihed For some reason, he called out towards Rudel

'So that kid's the aunty of the lake's favorite I've got soet hurt My partner's quite a troublesome one, after all"

"Hahaha! How terrible, Spinnith"

'… And you should be especially careful'

"I don't understand the reason, but I'll be careful"

Rudel didn't understand what Spinnith was trying to say But thinking it would be rude to ask here, for now, he concentrated on theThis was a world he didn't know, and there were plenty of strong people rolling around

That only hted that there was still a higher level he could reach for

"Then let's have so to ai, Sakuya!"

'I'll teach you a lesson for calling Mystith aunty!'

'No, I mean seriously, she's my aunt She's my mother's sister'

"Is that true?"

While Rudel learned an unexpected truth in the sky, with that as the signal, Keith began

"Let's leave the talks at that From here on, you need only be intoxicated by irls and a dragon were enraptured by the on

"No matter how on's glassy scales caught the light and gli, but unlike Bennet's perfor it to brute force, it was as if he was reading his opponent's everyaround Rudel's shields of light While he could surely destroy them, he purposely avoided them as he slipped around to the back each ti?"

As Millia called out to Bennet, she answered withouther face She wanted to watch those movements, to steal as much of that technique as she could

"No, there's barely any difference More so, I'er"

'I won't lost to the young ones, and I'ht," Bennet answered The es in the air weredoubles of water, or was it the dragon? Perhaps it wasn't either

(Talent truly is a scary thing)

It wasn't as if Bennet didn't have talent But the gap was evident

"Major, is Rudel actually weak? I can't believe it I've never seen Rudel played with to such an extent"

On Izu She worried over how she was supposed to convey it, and worried over whether she could get the point across well

(Yeah~, teaching people really is difficult…)

So there, Bennet tried to co To be blunt, he's stronger than , but if he trains, he'll surpass ainst you?"

"Yeah But you see, defeating Elrond in an aerial battle will be difficult That dragon called Sakuya is unsuited to the air And just likethe four variants, it's the one with the best balance"

While wild dragons were all usually stronger than gray dragons, the answer to which of the four was strongest had yet to coue by eest could never be deterest

Everyone thought so And Bennet was the saht Keith Elrond in an aerial battle, she would lose, but she was certain her partner was stronger than Spinnith, and she thought it wouldn't lost out to any of the other species

That was because water dragons had very feeaknesses

As they could operate in the water, they were thought to be dragons specialized fot the water But that wasn't so

They were sions Slower than a wind dragon, but they could take second place in speed Less firepower than a red dragon, but even so, second place Less physical strength than a gaia dragon, but even there, they were second

Therefore, even if they didn't have anything special, they excelled in balance And froon who specialized in every single field

"But he lost so easily"

Bennet answered Izumi's question as if it were only natural But inside, she couldn't help but be anxious over whether she was properly getting the e across

"The reason it looked like he lost so easily was because I made it look so Don't let your opponent do what they want Don't let the It's a way of fighting you can only do if you have inforet it at all, Bennet breathed out a sigh and looked at their faces In truth, she wanted to see Keith's fighting techniques, but it was clear that teaching her two juniors was oons are the country's elite brigade It's downright strange for Rudel- who just graduated the acadeht us Graduated within the top ten of the acadeainst them This is a unit filled with people like that"

"E-even so, the difference in skill is way too intense"

"Let's see If you'll let me have my say, there's barely any difference between Rudel and ic, that guy clearly has the upper hand In that sense, I' the two still couldn't understand, Bennet was starting to panic Just being strongerit wasn't so siuy lacks is experience… so lance to Keith and Spinnith encroaching from behind as he produced his shields While their nuh, his foe kept chase with barely the slightestwas how he always maintained a set distance as he followed behind

"You should never show your dragon's rear Otherwise, it's an easy target"

'When you say it, it takes on a whole newup soht he could be so strong What makes us so different!)"

On top of the fact his attacks showed no sign of hitting, his opponent didn't even try toRudel

Before an overwhelap in abilities, Rudel felt a different sense of crisis frohted if his abilities even put his His heart was starting to panic, would he be unable to protect Sakuya? He was treasuring her toous from behind!'

Sakuya turned all the way around, but in that instant, Spinnith had transferred bhind her Before Sakyua could turn, he had already startedread?)

Played around with in the air, Rudel and Sakuya were unable to raise a hand to Keith and Spinnith

With Heleene, Sakuya had the slight hope that so would happen if only her attacks would connect, but now she began holding fear towards their opponents

'Don't get close to ainst an opponent with leisure, Rudel and Sakuya were beingto panic Theirfurther into Elrond's traps"

"Is that soht in the sky as she asked the question Bennet saw that even an ath as she continued on the previous explanation

"You could call it individual difference if you want When you call it talent, don't you think it always comes off as mean?"

"… You htful face, Bennet shook her head

"Like hell soo at it without any talent What I' to say is that individual differences definitely exist It's the same with the races Us beast type deh physical abilities But we have low e physical abilities, but her ht?"

"W-well, yeah"

When Millia conceded that her race was indeed like that, Bennet continued on with the conversation

"You have a sister in the dragoons, right? Major Lilim"

"Yes"

When talks turned to her sister, Millia's expression becaue

"If you asked whether or not Lilim has talent, a majority of people would say yes And if you ask about Cattleya, everyone will chienius I don't think that'saly lately"

Bennet recalled how the unmotivated Cattleya had shown so that she had grown earnest these past few years, as her abilities had grown alongside it

Frohtest bit ht her, she's be able to do it What a human would spend a few years to learn, in a month, or even a day she'd acquire it That could be called nothing shord of genius

"U, what I' to say is that he's the saot talent It's only natural It would be strange for so the elites If you don't have talent, then even before it conize you"

"But Rudel's circuht But if you ask ht Before so, everyone will always look back and say they have talent (Ah, no! This talk is proceeding in a strange directionnnn! What I' to say is that it isn't talent, it's form!)"

While she was sure she had failed, Bennet still tried to convey it to the two

"What I' to say is that Rudel is plenty ain a bit of experience, that guy will run straight passedhim the knack and a few techniques, he'll already be on another level That's the sort of strength he needs"

Bennet forcefully dragged the conversation back on topic and said was she was trying to say

"Talent has noif it isn't polished And the time we have to polish it is limited"

"You mean you don't have the tihter at Izumi's question, but she endured it and recovered

"No, I' we don't have the time to aim to be the best Life is short, after all So I, and Elrond, and Lilioons all have to search for our own forth, Keith had polished his aerial prowess If you asked which was better, it depended on time and situation It wasn't as if there weren'talone, so you couldn't say Bennet's decision rong