CH 40

RAW:

Xant: Here is an announcement in video form. Hooray?

EDIT BY 9: how ironic we used <> to mark important stuff and WP just deletes them. I SUGGEST YOU GUYS REREAD THIS CAUSE YOU MISSED ALMOST ALL IMPORTANT WORDS

The spectator seats started to empty during the break time. There were some people walking around, some sleeping, and even some just munching away. People were startled as I passed by them, and the gazes started to pile up.

“Your power will really shine with the <Royal Knights>!”

“If possible, I want you to join us. We’re still not ready for this, nothing but terrible floor monsters-”

“E-eh, ah, I still have something to do-”

“She’s embarrassed! How cute!”

“Ah…s-stop it…mugyu-”

There were various guilds inviting me left and right, and even some people who hugged me. It seems that there’s a guild besides Amane’s that is all women. Almost every guild that approached me was searching for strong people. I didn’t even consider that people would be scouting for new members while I was fighting. I became really embarrassed upon realizing that. Up until now, nobody has given me so much attention. I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing. I managed to slip away from that troubling situation.

It seems like Tifelia’s next match will be in 30 minutes, so I decided to talk to Roel and everyone else to kill time. Nikka told Ritta to come and watch the match, it seems like Ritta also came to watch my fight. Ritta had been somewhere in the distance, it seems she became my fan along the way. Unfortunately, her favourite was Tifelia, so I’m number 2 to her.

“Amazing, why are you so strong even though you’re just a C-rank?”

“Please, let us listen to your adventures!”

The barrage of questions overhwhelmed me.  I’m originally bad at conversations, so I don’t know how to properly tell my story. Almost nobody was able to follow along. Roel was the exception, she was able to understand me. Thanks to her being there, Ritta’s eyes were glistening. She’s here since it’s her day off from her soldier duties.

“It’s unusual to have a day off during such a busy time. Up until last year, this event was so busy and a lot of soldiers were done in by the atmosphere. Most of the newbies collapsed. I remember a time when even I, Gantetsu, was that busy.”

“There’s also a night shift for the soldiers, right? That’s gotta be difficult since people are used to sleeping at night.”

“It would be relentless to those guys who only work to make money. If you don’t love your job, you won’t do the work well.”

Gantetsu and Cynthia were talking about jobs. I decided to leave them alone since they were so into the conversation. Ritta was enrapt from talking to Roel and myself, and with great excitement, she asked about Roel’s <Fire Rod> .

“Fire comes out from this!?”

“Yeah, it completely burns what it touches.”

“Completely!? It’s expensive, right?”

“Probably, but I got it as a gift you know.”

She’s telling a little bit of a fib there. She doesn’t completely burn them, but turns them into ashes. I’ve seen it happen a lot of times. I think it’s best to stay silent this time though.

“Ryua-san, you’re the same age as me, right? That’s amazing…I need to work hard-”

“Ritta, why did you join the castle soldiers?”

“I wanted to get close to Tifelia-san…I’m happy just being by her side.”

Was that her sole reason for becoming a soldier? I definitely couldn’t do it. I agree with Gantetsu that being a soldier is relentless. I became an adventurer due to how things ended up going, but it would be impossible for me to become a castle soldier, even if asked.

“Ah, Ryua-san is also fantastic, I respect you a lot.”

She didn’t have to follow up like that…

Suddenly, I saw Seigel enter my field of vision. I stopped for a moment while looking at him. He sat in his seat and placed his elbow onto his knee, opening his mouth to speak to me.

“….You looked down on Hekaton as you fought him, Ryua.”

It was rare to see Seigel without his gaggle of girls. He was speaking in a serious tone, and he wasn’t looking at me while talking. This isn’t like Seigel, being so serious.

“You were carelessly inviting death. After all this time we’ve been together, I didn’t want to preach to you about it, but did you notice? Just like how Hekaton crushes people, you crushed him. At that moment, you and he were the same kind of person.”

“Same kind…?  That guy and me…”

“You beat him down just like he does to others.”

“I…did the same thing as that guy…”

I fought back by punishing him. I didn’t think it was a bad thing to do, but Seigel’s words weigh heavily on me. I mimicked Hekaton’s way of fighting. That trash.

“I’m not trying to blame you for it. If you leave here today with the understanding of what you did in your heart, it’s not a loss.”

Everyone was silent. Even though Roel would always cover for me, she was attentively listening to Seigel. Cynthia was also keeping her mouth shut.

“Though, I also just recently charged Gametts without thinking!”

His attitude took a 180 and he laughed as if deceiving himself.

Seigel had done the same thing as me–taking revenge because someone wronged another. I also went to beat Gametts. Why…even though this situation right now should be the same…why? I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Oh, it looks like Tifelia’s match is about to begin.”

As if changing the topic, Seigel pointed at Tifelia-san who was standing on the match platform. I’m happy to see her fight again, but last time was a complete let down. The opponent just gave up, what the hell was that about? If he didn’t come to fight, why did he participate?

“Semifinal 2nd match! Tifelia-chan vs. Kweed! Will <Master Knight> the show her prowess this time around?”

“Eeh, well, she might.”

“Shitakka-san, it’s fine if it’s impossible to talk about, you know?”

Yeah, yeah, just what does <Master Knight>  mean?

She didn’t even carry a sword and was standing there with just casual clothes. I can’t see a knight standing there. Her atmosphere is extremely disconnected from the match, it almost seemed like she would suddenly start cooking after this match. Kweed, compared to the match before, had dangerous eyes. Drool was dripping from the corner of his mouth, and he was holding his sword with both hands while hunching over.

“Now then, I wonder what Tifelia will do about that sword?”

“What are you saying? It’s Tifelia, she’ll easily win.”

“I didn’t mean that, you know.” I totally didn’t understand so I stopped asking. I’ll figure it out once the match starts. Tifelia-san started out sluggish again-

—no, the situation is different this time.

With only her sigh, it felt like the very air around them was shaking. You could tell she saw Kweed as an opponent since she had been looking at him this whole time, unlike her other fights. Could Kweed possibly be someone she is wary of? From what Seigel said, it’s actually the sword, not Kweed.

“Battle Start!”

Kweed slashed Tifelia before the referee finished his announcement. It was quite the intense slash, but I think most people could dodge it. Tifelia-san avoided it with barely any movement. You could hear a dry sound as she moved; she looked rather carefree as she dodged.

“Ihihi! That was dangerous…ain’t you too good at this?!”

“*Sigh*….even though I would normally ignore this, the king ordered me…aaaah…but letting something like this go would be a bad thing to do, as a person…even so, annoying…so annoying…”

She kept avoiding Kweed’s slashes, with a bored and annoyed look on her face. Kweed wasn’t discouraged, rather he was getting more excited as he vigorously attacked over and over, leaving no space for Tifelia-san to fight back. Well, I say that, but it looks more like she can’t be bothered to fight back.

“Though, I even forgot my sword…I need to deal with this somehow….<Saint Sword>”

Light shot up from Tifelia-san’s hand. The pillar of light slowly molded into a sword. Tifelia-san, now engulfed by a radiant light, grasped the sword with her hand.

“I-it appeared?! One of the <Master Knight>’s <Omni-blade> techniques! Not even high class mage fighters can create such a radiant magic blade! Now it seems Tifelia-chan is showing us her fighting stance!”

“I was just about to say that.”

“Tifelia-chan is finally holding a weapon! How will Kweed cope with this?!”

Tifelia-san kept lazily avoiding Kweed. Is it just me, or is Kweed getting faster…? Suddenly, that black fog from before leaked out of Kweed’s body again and went straight into the sword. Exactly like when Rupee was downed in one hit.

“Gihii! More, more, more, more, more! Grow! More power!”

“Aaah, geez…why did he have to bring that troublesome ability out…”

Kweed renewed his assault, but Tifelia-san blocked it with her <Saint Sword> . A radiant light slowly leaked from the <Saint Sword> and wrapped around Kweed’s blade. He became flustered, seeing something abnormal happening to his sword.

“Gihii?”

“This will be over soon, ok? Don’t worry, just please stay still.”

Kweed had ignored her words, he was too focused on what was happening to his sword. The light suddenly flickered.

“Gihii? Gihihihihihihi~”

After the light faded, nothing had changed with Kweed’s sword. He seemed relieved. Once again, Kweed began attacking Tifelia-san.

“Oh my…was that not enough…? Geez, so annoying…I have no choice it seems. <Weapon Break>.”

Tifelia totally ignored the large storm of slashes, like they were feathers being thrown at her. She casually walked up to Kweed and lightly hit his sword with her <Saint Sword> .

*Clunk*, the contact was over as fast as it happened, that sound rang out clear through the stadium. Kweed’s blade was instantly broken into pieces. He could only stare at the hilt remaining in his hand.

His eyes were swimming as he glanced all around, suddenly, he collapsed onto the ground. It seems he lost consciousness, he was lying perfectly still and not moving a single inch.

“Referee-san, this is the end, right?”

“Ah, yes! Victor, Tifelia!”

Kweed collapsed from having his weapon broken?  It didn’t seem like any of the spectators were curious about that, they were in an uproar, delighted about Tifelia-san’s victory.

“Ok ok, thank you. Make sure to take care of that person, since I’ll be taking care of this thing.”

Tifelia-san picked up the fragments of the sword she broke and leisurely walked out of the match grounds. Just what in the world was that? I wonder why she did that?

The moment that sword was broken, Kweed collapsed. It was as if the sword itself was Kweed’s heart. I gazed towards Kweed who was being carried out on a stretcher, but I still don’t know the answer.

“Seigel, what do you think?”

“That sword was in cursed in some way, or-” Curse. That’s right, and now I wonder why Kweed had used such a sword. I don’t understand it.

“What I’m curious about is why Tifelia collected the weapon fragments. In all likelihood, the King ordered her to do it”

“The King did?”

“An S rank is already beyond a simple Adventurer. Even that really trouble avoiding Tifelia would abide by anything the king orders.”

“Seigel-san, about the curse inside the weapon. If the weapon is broken, does it make you collapse?”

“Beyond a simple adventurer” I was attracted to that really interesting point. I was about to ask a question but Roel interrupted by asking a question.

“Each of them has a different compensation. Beyond that, I can’t tell you much more. It’s not really my specialty.”

—-Suddenly, far away behind us, in the spectator seats, I felt a presence. It was not blood thirst, it was a strange presence. I turned around and at the same time, I saw a shadow quickly disappear. What was that just now?

“Ryua, what is it? the next match is the Finals you know? You opponent is that Tifelia. You saw that match just now, right? That was the true meaning of <Master Knight>.  <Omni-blade>Techniques.”

“O-omni-blade?”

“A <Master Knight> possesses about 10,000 sword techniques. Among those, there is a technique which a master swordsman mastered over decades. Summing up Tifelia’s strength… Even if all A-ranks attack her, she wouldn’t get a scratch. That’s what kind of opponent she is.”

It’s mortifying if it’s an opponent who can even overturn my 10 years in the Caves of Hell. “I wonder just how amazing Tifelia-san is”. I’m absolutely much stronger. That is the only thing that I will absolutely believe.

—-Because I am.

I am?

I am…?

Right now, I wonder what I was about to think.

Sometimes, I feel really uncomfortable. Even though I am myself, it’s like I am not myself. Now that I think about it, I feel like there was something like this before too. Right, at that time—–

/ / /

“Tifelia, did you bring it?”

“Yes, right here.”

Tifelia presented a cloth that held the fragments to the King. Usually, she was a woman that even abandoned her responsibility. She was lazy, but even this time she would bow her head. If this was just a cursed weapon, the King wouldn’t even order such a thing by himself. She may have been called because it was urgent. Tifelia didn’t understand.

“My King, I will be receiving it.”

The Prime Minister, Bermund. He had a bad appearance. He moved closer to Tifelia. Tifelia normally isn’t interested in any other people, but she had a feeling of hate towards this man. The reason wasn’t merely because he had an ugly old face. He manages most of the official business in the kingdom. He only gets around 2 hours of sleep according to rumors. He is closer to the king than any bodyguard, and also took on the role as the food poisoning tester. To volunteer that much, he was being too attached to the king. Having this strange sense of patriotism, it was one of the reasons she hated him. From her mouth, only one word was fit for him. Disgusting. Right now, he isn’t even worth being called a person. In Tifelia’s mind, she was scorning him.

“Umu, well done. Keep up the good word, I wish for a good match, you know?”

The king was not the one that uttered it. Those were Bermund’s words, it was something like a proxy. Tifelia understood that it was futile to ask. Just as she was asked, she went back towards the Match Ground.

“…really disgusting.”

She had a loathsome face, similar to that of a demon without a shred humanity. It was that brutal.

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