CH 34

RAW:

Xant: God a new job. Woo. At the same time this means we at Lazy9 need a supplementary editor. If you feel up to the task of taking 9’s raw output of english and turning it into something readable, throw me an email at: [email protected]

We only require about an hour of your day & Skype.

Another small announcement is that we’ve added Neo to our proofing staff! Wooo!

“The match already started?!”

Roel had been flustered while she was lost, but managed to find her way back. Since there was more than one entrance to the spectator seats, Roel had circled the vast venue many times looking for the proper path.

“It’s very soon. You were in a real hurry, huh?”

“It is Ryua-chan’s match…”

“Oh, it’s starting.”

Just as Seigel said, the first match of the second round for B block was starting.

///

“Baste-sa~n! Look at this wa~~~~y!”

“I bet on you~!”

Most of the spectators were cheering on my opponent, Baste. Baste just wiped his circular glasses.

“Well then, start!”

I moved first and aimed for Baste’s stomach. Before he uses his unpleasant magic, I’ll defeat him. He groaned but didn’t fall over.

“Gu…*cough*…y-you went easy on me…”

Even though I used the same amount of strength on him as I did on Benkei, Baste was barely able to stand. He doesn’t seem to be able to exert any more strength after that hit.

“<Might Down>…I cast that on you just before…I thought that someone like you, a musclehead, would swiftly attack first…It looks like I managed to make it in time…”

Baste was able to explain it while holding his stomach. That’s why he could still stand. Nevertheless, if I put more force into it…I already put a decent amount in, but not enough to kill him.

“I-I’ll show you! This is the winning pattern! <God Force>! <God Force>! <God Force>!”

It was apparent that his body was rapidly getting harder. If I just let him keep casting that, I wonder how hard he could become?

“Now for the finishing touch! <Seal>! <Blind!> With that, your skills and eyesight are sealed!”

…Is he trying to taunt me while holding his stomach like that? He was barely able to endure the hit… Let’s just end this.

“And now <Veno Fi….Ugeeea!”

I hit him with a slightly stronger punch and this time Baste lost composure, collapsing while holding his gut. *Twitch twitch* he was convulsing on the ground. I think I overdid it…

“…Ha! T-the victor is Ryua!”

The soldier regained his senses, grasped my arm, and raised it to the sky.

“I-isn’t that impossible!? That girl, twice now with one hit…”

“Is she an adventurer? It’s impossible for a famous enthusiast like myself to not know her!.”

I think they believe me now. Their reactions are different than before, excited cheers could be heard.

“I didn’t expect her to be that strong…that isn’t on the level of just defeating a <Poison Salamander>…”

“I think Ryua-chan’s going easy so her opponent won’t die.”

“If she was serious then his guts would have scattered everywhere as his upper and lower halves got separated.”

“That’s on the level of a monster…”

She’s saying stuff like that but does it matter? I won. ‘Returning now will be troublesome so we should wait a bit,’ was what I thought, but for some reason there were many participants on standby. Even I would get embarrassed by this many people observing me.

///

F block had already completed their representative match. His opponent was an insulting woman. Argil harbored a lot of anger in his heart during the fight. The woman had no damage on her armor and was standing tall.

“This is the first time that I, <God of Death> Argil have been insulted so…if you are that confident in yourself why don’t we make a bet? If I win, you retire as an S rank, <Master Knight> Tifelia?”

“Eh? But I don’t want to.”

Tifelia’s hair fluttered as she looked at the face of her stumped opponent. She was thinking ‘I’d rather be preparing tonight’s dinner’. (TL:死神アーギルをここまでナメたのはおまえが初めてだ……) “Would it be better to eat out…? *sigh*”

“What did you say?”

“But if I do that too often my skin will…”

“You…!”

As the <God of Death> yelled at her, he charged with intent to kill. He wasn’t too concerned about killing since he’s killed his own party members before. It was unpleasant for the first while, eventually it became his badge of honor. For him to be laughed at and insulted by the <Master Knight>, Argil was unable to keep his emotions in check. (TL:そんな自分を侮蔑に等しい態度で嘲ったマスターナイトを生かす算段はアーギリにはなかった)

“Now, F block final match. Are both of you ready?”

“Quickly start it…!”

“Y-yes!”

Now that the referee soldier had performed his duties, he retreated. The soldier could feel the fear in his body, as the match started he was already off of the platform as if running away.

“You are standing before me with nothing but your prided armor. Not even a weapon! <God of Death> Argil! At A rank 7, you are close to being an S rank. Don’t think I will stand still forever!” (TL: ご自慢のあの鎧どころか、武器すら持たずにオレの前に立つとはな！死神アーギル！　Ａランク７位とくりゃ、Ｓランクに近い存在だ！いつまでもあぐらかいていられると思うなッ！)

Argil chanted a wind magic so quickly you could barely hear the chant. Suddenly a squall descended upon the arena and Argil released many rotating sickles from inside the tornado. The tornado grew in size until the platform was swallowed up. After a moment, the wind’s course began to change and the path of the sickles changed. A storm of sickles flying around…if you were inside the squall you would be mercilessly attacked from all sides. This move has killed many monsters and party members.

“Uwaa…I-I can’t get near…”

The referee was unable to approach the platform to do his job. He looked rather angry as he looked at what was happening.

“Even in this tempest you won’t flinch…”

The sickles were aiming at Tifelia. A normal human would be sliced in the blink of an eye, but Tifelia just took the hits. She came out unscathed, looking annoyed as she stood her ground.

“*Sigh*…”

As she sighed, she smashed one of the sickles flying at her. She was completely unphased by the wind, and she hadn’t moved a step from the spot she had started in.

“That’s right, Ritta-chan would definitely cook me some food…rather I will make her cook me food.”

Argil had been riding the wind and approached her flank. The sickle blade’s intent was to cut her neck. Of course, the rules of this tournament would deem that a disqualification. However, the <God of Death> hadn’t cared about the tournament from the start. Even the <Master Fighter> didn’t have that kind of resolve. But that lack of hesitation was the trigger.

The sickle made contact with Tifelia’s neck. However, even this sickle which could cut steel left no mark on her skin. Argil was flabbergasted.

“T-that’s ridiculous! Just what did you do!?”

“Eh? So you were still here…”

With that one phrase the wind stopped. Argil thought that Tifelia was using some kind of skill. However, the moment his move was negated, his will to fight disappeared along with his wind. Argil surrendered.

“Match end!”

Being absent minded, Argil left Tifelia on the platform.

—-‘so you were still here’.

Due to his experience with combat, he could understand the meaning behind that line. It’s not that he wouldn’t become her opponent, it’s that there was no opponent before her. She hadn’t been fighting from the start.

“So this is S rank…”

The audience had been looking forward to the fight between Tifelia and Argil. No one could understand why it suddenly stopped.

“What? Is that the end? Seriously? There weren’t any panty shots from Tifelia-chan!”

“I saw Argil’s attack, didn’t he stop it himself? Oi! If you don’t feel like it why are you here~?”

Unless one had been in Argil’s shoes during that moment, no third party could understand the fear he felt.

///

The wind stopped coming from that direction. I wonder who had been fighting there? I wasn’t curious about the wind but rather the participants. I was able to feel heavy pressure for a moment even from this distance. That person seemed to pass the preliminaries.

“Victor, Griiman!”

“The fight is decided by the efficiency of your equipment! Remember that!”

Griiman declared while facing the audience. He was definitely wearing expensive silver armor. His helmet was so polished it was like a mirror, his sword had a dragon wing decoration on it, and hung around his neck were a multitude of jewel-like accessories. Being so over the top…it looks really ugly. I wonder if he cares about appearances?

“You’re right about that Griiman~! It’s all about fighting with lots of good equipment!”

“Ah-hah! You got it! This way is better than slowly polishing your superficial skills. Investing a lot of money into your gear is better than just being all talk!” (TL:大金つぎ込めばいいだけの話だってな！)

That’s wrong…I don’t know what he’s spouting, but it’s wrong. Armor doesn’t make that much of a difference. I don’t wear any myself. I tried wearing some that I picked up at the <Caves of Hell>, but it was a pain to wear and stuffy so I threw it away.

“Griiman recently became A ranked, he’s pretty energetic.” (TL:最近Ａランクに上がった一番勢いのある奴だな)

“Keh…I feel like the young guys these days are taking shortcuts. He only managed to get to that rank because of all that equipment.”

“I’m not denying or approving that. But proof of his strength is easy to measure since he can display it at any time.”

“*Gulp* fu~n…*Gulp*”

“Roel-chin, you’ve had way too much to drink…won’t you end up going to the toilet again?”

They were pretty lively in their seats.

“We’ll have a 15 minute break now, but afterwards the final preliminary match will begin!”

A break huh? Seeing Roel drink so much, I’m feeling rather thirsty. Should I buy a drink if the salesperson is still wandering through the spectator seats? I jumped towards the spectator seats, and as I landed the surrounding people looked at me with surprised expressions. I bought a Momoru Soda with my limited pocket change.

“Ryua, that was rather rude. I know it’s bothersome but follow the path like everyone else to get up here.”

“Oka~y.”

I didn’t expect Seigel to berate me about that. But with all those girls following him, I guess he has to keep up appearances.

“Ryua, give that greenhorn a punch right from the get-go!”

“If she did that wouldn’t he die…? *Gulp*”

I wonder why Gantestu was so angry? Moreover, Roel, you’re drinking way too much.

“So you’re Ryua-san………”

My arm was being rubbed by Tifelia. I didn’t even notice she got this close to me.

“Yo, Tifelia. You’re participating this time, huh? How did you stop that wind?”

“Fu~un, *rub* *rub*…”

“Ignoring me huh? I get it.”

She was completely ignoring Seigel and kept rubbing my arm and body. It was more like tickling at this point, so I brushed her hand away.

“Ah, I’m sorry…”

“I-it’s fine…”

“D-don’t do anything strange to Ryua-chan!”

“You…are an adventurer?”

“Yeah.”

“Really…”

As she said that, she jumped down in a similar fashion to how I got up here. Seigel needs to warn her as well.

“As usual, that woman is really hard to keep still. Though that’s good in its own way.”

Nothing!? Whatever, the situation got weird because of her. I drank my soda and jumped down like Tifelia had.

“Ah!”

My match will start soon; Griiman is my opponent, it seems. The same guy that was currently showing off his gear while smack-talking his opponent. (TL: そのグリイマンはというと他の冒険者相手に自分の装備を見せびらかせている。)

“A good adventurer uses good equipment while a shabby man will wear shabby things!”

“Even though I don’t recklessly choose my gear…how…” (TL:「市場でも滅多に見ないのにどうやって……」)

As the onlookers became envious, Griiman seemed really satisfied. I wonder how expensive my Mithril sword is?

“Oh, my match will start soon! So the opponent of the great me is…that girl!”

“Yeah, it’ll be me. Nice to meet you.”

“I’ve seen your matches up till now, you show promise. However, I’ll say it now: You won’t win against me.”

Griiman pointed as if he was taunting me. Sure, bring it on.

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