Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Takami no Kago ch . 44

15 MARCH 2016 ~ RAIZU

Hi everyone, Raizu is here .

Apparently, RTD site is down again atm . We’re apologize for the inconvenience .

But, hey, as far as I know, we made a good amount of progress for the new site!

I love the bigger size of chatango xD . Feel free to stop by to say hi there later .

Well, enjoy your chapter!

Translator: SaintDevil

Editor/TLCr: Darknari & Light

Chapter 44

When I was guided into the castle along with Flora and Frey, there was something going on in the courtyard .

Looking closely, it seems to be a match between adventurers .

[That, it’s to decide the shares . ]

[Shares?]

[Yeah, if multiple parties participate in a quest like this, representative matches like these are being held in order to decide how to distribute the shares after the completion of the quest . ]

When asking for the details, it seems to be common on big quests like these . The materials and items obtained in the quest could be obtained by the adventurers who didn’t participate in the quest .

Of course, when participating, you need to pay the registration fee . For the bet they must prepare a decent amount of materials and items for the adventurers who didn’t officially participate .

We already got our share of the materials and items after doing the quest of investigating the town, and those who didn’t participate are deciding in a match who get’s what is left . Of course, we didn’t know that .

[Hey, that’s [Annihilation], right?]

[Yeah, you’re right . ]

I somewhat noticed them as they approached us in a friendly manner .

It was uncles Stew and Saute .

[Yo, will [Annihilation] also participate in the competition?]

[Competition?]

[Yeah, the goods confiscated from the seized Necromancer’s house are the wager for the competition . ]

Although Zir had already defeated that man… As I thought so, I looked at the flustered Giren as he started making excuses .

[N-no, the fact is that I issued an invite for the competition for you all, but it seemed like you weren’t at the inn . I certainly had requested the landlady to pass a message . ]

[I see . Well, the competition will start this afternoon so you went to inform me at the inn before noon . ]

[R-right . ]

Apparently, the lord doesn’t want us to participate in the competition .

Perhaps, this competition was held as a reward to the adventures who participated in that counter attack from the other day .

We have already obtained a large amount of monsters’ materials and items . That’s why, they probably didn’t want us to take the competition’s prize .

Unfortunately, when we went to the lord’s castle because of our errand they got discovered, but if the Adventurers’ Guild had not come for the competition in the courtyard, then we wouldn’t have been noticed .

[I guess being a lord is also hard in various ways . Bearing a grudge against someone like me is also part of his job, huh . ]

[N-no, please wait a minute!!]

If they asked us for our cooperation in the beginning, then I would’ve been alright with it . However, this method is too underhanded .

What a stupid man . If he didn’t do things like these, my anger or my reward, either would’ve went well .

Or rather, first it’s Frey, then Giren, as I thought you can’t underestimate this world with all the dodgy business I’ve been dragged into after all .

[Of course, I’m planning to participate too . ]

[O-oh, I see . ]

It seems magic is allowed in this match, and weapons are also allowed . There doesn’t really seem to be any rules other than you’ll lose if you kill your opponent .

The competition began as soon as I finished registering to participate .

My first opponent was a leather-armored adventurer using an orthodox short sword style .

Without words, the signal for starting the match was given .

At the same time the signal was given, my opponent rushed at me . I imbued [Water Magic] (TLN: plain water) on my katana and parried the incoming sword in front of me .

As my katana imbued with magic and his sword clashed, the imbued magic activated and a decent amount of water was sprayed in different directions .

As our weapons clashed many times, our bodies got drenched with the sprayed water .

At first, he evaded the water as much as possible, but then noticed that the water was not harmful so he ignored it .

Preparations finished . I casted [Wind Magic] and created a gentle flow of wind within the plaza . All that’s left is to buy time .

After 10 minutes, my opponent’s teeth were chattering with *gachigachi* sounds, his lips were turning purple, and his hands were turning numb from the cold that he dropped his sword a few times .

The symptoms of hypothermia occur when the wet body is exposed to wind, rapidly cooling the core body temperature . Therefore no matter how much a body is strengthened, there is a limit .

If there are a lot of muscles then the body will generate more heat, so there will be a difference in time, but they will all eventually end up like this .

After being satisfied that he was mostly unable to move, I knocked his sword away and let him surrender . With this it’s my first victory .

The people around became noisy . Saying [Black Magic User], [Curse], and other things, but it’s fine .

If they think it’s something mysterious, then it’s a success .

The second round started after a break . The next opponent had a long sword and was wearing full-bodied metal armor . Probably participants from outside, maybe Team Hyena .

Well, he paid the cheap registration fee so there was no problem .

The enemy, making use of his full-body armour he slowly drew closer to me . As it would be bad if he closed the gap, I swung my katana imbued with [Water Magic] at my opponent .

My katana was avoided but he got sprayed by the water . He should be showing hypothermia symptoms soon, but after 20min his movements did not dull at all so I devoted myself to defense .

From here, I’ll be able to check my opponents stats properly .

When I did that, the [Heat Insulation] effect was granted to the full-body armour . The effect has probably been there since the beginning .

Within the armor heat is confined and is prevented from escaping, and it also has the effect of protecting the body inside the armor from receiving fire-based attacks .

No wonder his body temperature didn’t drop because of the water .

[Damn, I blundered . Even though it’s been awhile since we have been doing PVP, we have never battled against Gun Vorde, and I should’ve confirmed his armor’s effect beforehand . ]

While the going’s good, I slightly changed the magic imbued in my katana .

As usual, my katana’s oozing out water and my opponent’s not minding it .

Did he know the contents of my first match? Or was he purely just that confident his armor can prevent it? Either way I don’t know .

After clashing 5 times there was a clear change in my enemy’s appearance .

He was squirming and his body shook violently . He scratched and tore at the surface of his armor trying to tear it off .

At last he realized there was something wrong with his body . His breathing became rough, and his body trembled .

However, he was not trembling because of the cold .

Both of his hands were squirming . His back itching . Around his neck, there was something crawling around .

Yes, his whole body was itchy .

“When I noticed the effect of [Heat Insulation], I fine tuned my magic and altered the water imbued into the katana a little . ”

When that water touches skin, that area becomes intensely itchy .

As he was conscious of the itchiness he has no way of resisting it .

He scratched all over the armor and determined that he couldn’t reach the itch no matter how hard he tried . He began to despair that it would never fade .

He let go of his sword and rolled on the ground but the itchiness didn’t fade .

Finally, his eyes rolled back and he let out his last breath .

[Winner, Hibiki!!]

Once again the surroundings were loud . Next time they probably won’t be so defenseless enough to take my attack again .

Well, even then, I did think of a few unblockable attacks though .

I went back to my corner of the plaza where everyone was .

[Well done . Master . ]

Ayla greeted me with a smile as her tiger ears twitched . She was probably happy that the people were saying that I was amazing .

[As expected from master . What did you do to your opponent?]

While giving me a towel, Amy asked .

[I’ll tell you about it later . Right now, there are spies everywhere . ]

Hearing that, Giren’s ears twitched but he did not glance toward us .

[However, that’s a really strange technique . Master, are you also a [Black Magic User]?]

[A black magic user, what kind of job is that?]

[No, master’s incomprehensible way of fighting is what made you be referred to as a [Black Magic User] . You’re using a sword, but can also use magic at the same time . ]

[Fuun, is that so?]

The third round had a small interval . There seems to have been several prolonged matches .

The next contender was wearing metal armor over his vitals and used a spear-like weapon . When I asked later, it seems it was called a Glaive .

At the end of the handle, that acceded 2m in length, was a single edged blade . That weapon seems to be limiting our approach .

At the same time as the start signal, the point of his blade was aimed towards me and prepared to intercept .

Pointing my katana at the enemy, I cast [Wind Magic] to surround the enemy with wind .

However, I wonder if he had a magic-resistant armor, because he had a confident expression, but my aim wasn’t the man himself .

I was working on the air around him .

Enclosing the enemy loosely with wind, using [Fire Magic] I throw a fireball inside the wind barrier .

I pretend to aim at the enemy so that suspicions were not raised, however the moment the fireball touched the armor it vanished .

But it’s within my calculations . I concentrate my mind on the remains of the fire, preventing it from growing too big, but on the other hand, removing oxygen from the fire while making sure it doesn’t go out .

After 5 minutes had passed, he started to become dizzy and soon fell . It’s because of oxygen deficiency .

I immediately put out the fire and sprinkled the area with water to cool it as I undid the wind barrier

Well, it’s not really that hot, but when Backdraft phenomenon occurs, it’s difficult to deal with .

[Winner, Hibiki!!]

It looked like many opponents would fall before they properly understood what was going on during the 3 matches . My fame as a [Black Magic User] escalated further .

I won the fourth and fifth rounds without difficulties, and finally, I advanced to the finals .

My opponent for the finals was a greatsword user with a height of 2 . 5 meters and a width of 50cm . (EN: about 8ft and 1 . 6ft; is he a giant? that’s huge)

I saw his match at the semi-finals and it seems he’s a power type swordsman .

The greatsword user was confident of his own power, and just charged straight towards me .

I let him get close to me as much as possible, then evaded his blade with a paper-thin margin and landed a blow on his side with my Zetsumu .

Of course, I hit him using the pommel rather than the blade so that it does not kill .

While groaning he bent his body to hold his side . It seems that even with that he hasn’t lost the will to fight .

It can’t be helped, I imbued [Shock Magic] to my katana, adding shock damage to my attacks . With this, no one will know what will happen if he gets close to me .

That man, having an anguished expression, recovered his demolished posture again, then he collapsed to the ground .

[Match ended . Champion, Hibiki!!]

From everyone’s perspective, I fought fairly at the finals and won as a result .

The opponent too, he couldn’t do anything about it so I guess it’s alright .

As the match was over, Ayla and the others were running up here .

[Congratulations, master . ]

[Thanks, Ayla . ]

[Congratulations on becoming the champion . ]

[Yeah, thanks Amy . ]

[Master, thee art still stout yea if thou square normally . But wherefore didst thou not square normally back then?]

[Even by a little I wanted to raise the winning rate, I guess?]

As the three were being noisy about praising me, I was approached by Flora and the others .

[Hibiki-san is truly strong, no?]

[Yeah, no, ahaha, you really did win the competition, I’ve been beaten . ]

Flora seems to be purely impressed, but Giren has a little complicated look on his face .

Thank you for the speech, but I’ll press you for answers here as well .

[Giren-san, I’m looking forward to the reward for the subjugation of the Necromancer . ]

[Y-yeah, right . ]

Giren looked away from me, but I don’t plan on holding back against this uncle .

[No, I’m looking forward to it . What will the town’s lord and the guild’s branch chief Giren-san give me?]

Giren let out a big sigh . You get what you deserve .

Then Frey, who was silent up until now spoke .

[It was a good fight . But, what was that fight before the finals? Isn’t it just fighting cowardly?]

[The [Proud Knight]-sama is like ‘I can nobly die if I fight fair and square’, but I have a reason I have to live even if it means being underhanded . ]

[What did you say!?]

[Yeah? You angry? In the first place, what part is unfair? What did I do to call that unfair?]

[Don’t play dumb!! You defeated your opponent using some incomprehensible attack, didn’t you!?]

[Then, should I say [I will attack you with this kind of attack, so be careful] thus, I should attack just like that?]

[Wrong!! Just fight fair and square-]

[Then, just because birds can fly it’s unfair? Are monsters unfair too because of their claws and fangs?]

[Why is it like that!?

[From the weak’s perspective, knights are [Strong and Cunning] you know?]

[W-what?]

[Just because we’re strong that’s why we should settle it with duels? [I don’t need the opinions of the weak!!] Like that . ]

[You bastard, you dare to insult a knight!?]

[Weren’t you the one who insulted my way of fighting first? In the first place, if you weren’t an idiot and thought about it then you would’ve come up with a counter-measure . ]

[If we don’t know what it is, we can’t have a method for a counter-measure, you know!!]

[Then, on the battlefield [Um, I don’t know what kind of attack that is, so please stop] would be said, knighthood is such an easy job . ]

[…Unforgivable . Let’s fight!!]

[Haha, look at that, as soon as there’s something she doesn’t like she immediately resorts to her duels . ]

[Shut up! Just fight me!!]

Frey has completely snapped . Oh well .

[Well, what would you do if you lose?]

[What are you talking about!?]

[If I lose, I’ll apologize about the insult that I’ve said . Well, what would you do if you lose?]

[Fuun, there is no reason I’ll lose . If that happens you can do whatever you want!!] (EN: harem flag, lol)

[Okay, then it’s settled . ]

Suddenly, I got an exhibition match organized against Frey .