Volume 2 - CH 4

“The annual Martial Arts Festival is an event where representatives of the academies from different countries compete in their prowess.”

Julis and his friends were sitting in a circle so that they could see each other’s faces amidst the sound of swords being clashed.

Emilia explained everything to Julis, who knew nothing about the martial arts festival. Julis was listening to this explanation with Cecilia on his lap, who was still grumpy with her cheeks puffed out.

Emilia and Mirabelle were also slightly grumpy.

“First of all, in order to participate in the festival, you must qualify for one of the two seats available for each grade.”

“Of course, the two seats are not reserved only for this academy────, but for all grades in the country.”

“Hmm hmm…… So that means, I have to kick out all the other participants of the same grade in the country────, is that it?”

“Exactly, Julis-sama.”

Currently, there were eight magic academies in the Kingdom of Lapis Lazuli, including this one.

In this academy, there were about 200 students per grade. If other academies were included, there would be approximately 2,000 students. The odds of obtaining one of those two seats──── were quite hard.

Aku Suka Web Novel - tresnokoe[dot]xyz - Web Novel Translation

“…… Say, is the odds of getting into the martial arts festival that hard? Why don’t they just let everyone who wants to participate in it?”

“But Julis-kun, if so, the number of participants in the festival will be huge.”

“Indeed, If you participate in the festival, you will be the center of attention of the whole country. In addition, if you win, you get a prize, and even if you don’t, you can show that you are good enough to participate in the festival────. That’s why everyone wants to participate in the festival.”

“…… is it?”

Julis was drooping in disappointment.

It seemed that Julis had a long way to go to get to his goal.

Cecilia akhirnya sampai di depan makhluk buas itu.

Perbedaan ukurannya begitu besar sehingga ia harus mendongak untuk melihat wajah binatang itu, dan Cecilia yang ramping akan terinjak-injak dalam sekejap.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"

"Aku ngerti...... aku ngerti kok, Julis ......"

Cecilia memeluk kaki depan yang besar dan kokoh itu.

"Itu pedih, kan? Itu menyiksa, kan? Aku yakin Julis berusaha ngelindungin seseorang terus menjadi kaya gini....... Beneran deh, Julis itu baik banget. Biarpun dia sangat menderita sendiri."

Makhluk buas itu mengarahkan kaki depannya yang lain ke Cecilia, mencoba menarik Cecilia yang memeluknya menjauh.

────lalu.

"Eh!?"

"I, ini......"

Kaki depan itu berhenti tepat pada waktunya.

Cecilia tidak terluka, dan kaki depan itu berhenti tanpa tanda perlawanan.

Namun penderitaan itu muncul dalam bentuk teriakan.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!"

Tetapi.

"Aku belum bisa balas budi sama Julis buat segalanya...... Julis selalu ngelindungi aku, tapi aku terus banyak ngerepotin Julis.────Cuma ini yang bisa aku lakuin buat Julis sekarang."

Cecilia menguatkan lengannya yang memeluk kaki depan itu.

Ia ingin kehangatannya dirasakan, ia ingin perasaannya tersampaikan.

Cecilia tersenyum lembut pada makhluk buas itu, mengatakan kepadanya bahwa tidak apa-apa sekarang, bahwa dia tidak perlu berusaha terlalu keras.

"Aku bakal ada di sisi Julis...... sepanjang waktu, sepanjang masa. Julis ngga cocok sama penampilan kaya gitu, tahu? Kalo kamu balik lagi ke Julis yang biasanya, yang konyol, yang bisa diandalin, sama yang lembut.────Aku bakal seneng banget."

Translated by - Aku Suka Web Novel - tresnokoe[dot]xyz - Web Novel Translation

“…… By the way, those who want to participate, raise your hands.”

Julis asked everyone.

Cecilia who were sitting on his lap──── and Mirabelle, didn’t raise their hands.

“Almost everyone!?”

“Obviously I want to, Julis! I’ve got to show the whole world these majestic muscles!”

Saying this, Ricardo posed to show off his biceps.

He was somewhat on fire.

“I can understand if it’s Anastasia──── but, to my surprise. I can’t believe Mirabelle doesn’t participate while Emilia does.”

“I don’t really want any honors or anything, and I don’t expect to get any rewards~. So, this time I’ll be cheering with Cecilia-chan instead!”

“I’m looking forward to cheering with you! Let’s cheer for everyone!”

“Yes, Cecilia-chan!”

The two of them were really good friends, smiling at each other.

The scene was somewhat heartwarming for Julis.

“I came to this academy to develop my abilities…… so naturally I have no reason to miss out on this opportunity to fight against strong people.”

“…… Is Emilia a junkie?”

“Fufu, I shall let you interpret it yourself.”

Emilia smiled elegantly with her hand over her mouth.

Her smile seemed to have some depth to it, and Julis was a little horrified.

“Ah-hem! A, and then? How do they decide who gets those two seats?”

Cecilia rushed to Mirabelle, and Julis, whose knees were getting lonely, asked.

Aku Suka Web Novel - tresnokoe[dot]xyz - Web Novel Translation

“I believe that the two seats for each grade will be decided at the upcoming academy’s selection competition next month. Then the two seats from each academy will fight each other to decide who will be the two seats for the martial arts festival.”

“At the martial arts festival, students of all grades will compete against each other in a tournament format. Of course, sometimes students from the same grade fight each other, and sometimes students from the same country fight each other.”

“……Hm~mm.”

Julis nodded in a light tone.

(Which means I can do some special training for it…… it might be a good opportunity to test “that”.)

Julis smiled at the time period being established.

“As usual, you seem to have a lot of leeways.”

Anastasia looked at Juulis with a smile on her face and gave him a look of amazement.

As for Julis, he didn’t mean it that way at all.

Di depan kami, ada sederetan piring kayu yang kosong.

“Anjiiir, akuh udah makan banyak... akuh gak bisa nambah lagi ....”

Firia mengatakan itu sambil menepuk-nepuk perutnya. Jumlah yang dia makan sangat sedikit, hanya sekitar sepersepuluh dari porsiku.

“Gua pikir elu tipe yang ngabis-ngabisin, tapi enggak nyangka elu cuma makan dikit, ya.”

Karena dia bilang 'enak, enak' jadi kupikir makanannya sesuai dengan seleranya, tapi sepertinya perutnya tidak sebesar itu.

“Akuh pingin nambah lagi, tapi tangki bensinku udah penuh nih. Akuh iri bat ama elu bisa makan banyak gitu, Yuri-san.”

“Penampilanlu keliat ringan banget. Gimana kalo menambah berat badan dikit lebih banyak?”

Aku mengamati tubuh Firia sekali lagi.

Meskipun dia mengatakan bahwa perutnya kenyang karena makan, tidak ada perubahan sama sekali pada tubuhnya yang ramping.

Ketika aku menatap Firia seperti itu, dia menyilangkan tangannya seolah-olah menyembunyikan dadanya yang sederhana.

“Ah, Yuri-san mikirin kalo akuh menyedihkan....”

“Jangan sembarang nuduh lah cuk!”

“Apa, salah ya tod?. Alhamdulillah.”

Sambil tertawa ringan seolah bercelu, Firia berdiri sambil mengatakan 'Oi sho'.

“Makasih badhogannya. Rasanya mantul, manjiw tenan.… Kalo gitu, akuh pikir akum mesti cepet-cepet cabut deh.”

“Sek sek, mengko disek cuk.”

Gua manggil Firia yang berdiri dan berniat meninggalkan rumah gua.

Dia mencondongkan lehernya seolah bertanya, ‘Ada apa?’.

Sama Firia yang kaya gitu, gua ceritain perasaan jujur gua sama dia.

“Gua juga pengin cabut dari hutan ini. Apa gapapa kalo gua cabut bareng lu sampai luar hutan?”

Gua gak pernah ngerasa kesepian sejak gua tinggal sendirian di dalam hutan ini.

Gua juga gak merasa ngga puas sama mata pencaharian gua di sini, karena ada fakta kalo gua bisa dapet beberapa magical beast buat makanan gua ndiri.

Tapi, aku ketemu ama dia.

Aku Suka Web Novel - tresnokoe[dot]xyz - Web Novel Translation - asw-tenan[dot]blogspot[dot]com - Mbah Du-chan

“Oh man, there’s no way I have, you miserable tits.”

“Huuh? What did you just say?”

“Hii! I didn’t say anything!”

Julis apologized with a vigorous salute in front of the thin sword held at his throat.

It seemed that his Acedia could not be successfully exercised on Anastasia, who was already in the form of a demon.

“Indeed, I think even Julis-sama might have a hard time this time.”

“Ah, as I recall, I was told that the Hero will be participating this time?”

──── Hero.

It was a being summoned from another world to defeat the Demon Lord and chosen by the Holy Sword.

It was said to be capable of piercing mountains, purifying demons, and leaving sound behind────. The actual fact was, that nobody knew how much of it was true.

“Yes……, this time the hero is attending the academy of the Zagar country. He has just been summoned and doesn’t know much about this world, so he’s studying there and trying to improve his skills.”

“Have Emilia-sama met him already?”

“No…… it’s just that my dear sister has met him once. And Zagar has been hiding the hero until now────, so I am sure they will let him participate this time to show off his skills.”

“I don’t think there’s any need to hide him…… However, just having a hero in the country can keep other countries in check and give them an advantage────. Considering that, they wanted him to develop his abilities and appeal to other countries…….. I think that’s probably the reason?”

“I’m also up to that point…… but surely even the Hero can’t win against Julis-sama. Poor Zagar country.”

“Wait, wait, wait. What the hell is this mysterious trust?”

Julis said so, but Emilia just responded with, “What? Isn’t it obvious?” and looked at him as if to confirm this.

It was so unbearable for Julis that he could not help but wonder about it.

“But it’s true, I can’t imagine Julis losing. Well, I’ve never seen the Hero, so I don’t know.”

“No, why do you guys have such a high evaluation of me?”

“Julis is sure to win, right!”

“Thanks for it~ Cecilia~ But you know what? I want to win, but I’m not sure if I can, you know?”

“I’m sure Julis-kun will be fine! You will, you will!”

At the training ground where the members of the knight order practiced hard.

As an instructor, I was teaching swords to all the Knights.

"Then, the next step is to swing the sword a thousand times. You won't improve just by swinging blindly. You need to imagine the opponent's movement."

""A, thousand times?""

"Kaizer-san. Are you sure you not making a mistake one digit?"

"Oh, right."

"Hoo~..."

"When I and Elsa were in the village, we used to swing 10,000 times a day, but, you guys won't be done until the day changes, will you?

""You misinterpret the word mistake on one digit, are you?""

The standard of my and Elsa's training was probably too high, and most of them couldn't follow even the light menu.

"Come on, you'd better hurry up or it's going to get dark."

I clapped my hands and urged them.

The knights began to swing their swords while screaming.

As the warming up, they were running ten times around the training ground with their armor on, few of them could swing their swords properly.

"Is Knight Commander Elsa doing this training from an early age..."

"I thought she was a genuine genius swordsman.....that's why she's so strong.. we didn't even reach half effort she did."

"Either Kaizer-dono or Knight Commander Elsa is outrageous..."

I saw the helpless knights and mumbled.

"Umm. Looks like our normal isn't everyone's normal.''

"I was surprised when I came to the royal capital, because the training of the Knights, which was known to be tough, was felt only in lukewarm water. The training I had done with chichiue was, to most people, out of the norm."

Elsa murmured next to me.

"I didn't mean to be particularly strict...."

"I think so, too"

The knights couldn't endure the training and exhausted. Then one by one, they fell like a broken doll.

But, one person among them――.

Aku Suka Web Novel - tresnokoe[dot]xyz - Web Novel Translation

“I don’t get what I’ll be fine means.”

“Well, I guess we should start celebrating now, huh?”

“Please no, I’ll be really embarrassed if I don’t win. So please don’t do that.”

He had no idea what everyone else was expecting.

Julis was in tears as he thought of this. Those were evaluations that made him both happy and not so happy.

“Well, joking aside──── since I’m going to participate, I’m going to take the challenge seriously……, so be prepared, okay, Julis.”

“I’ll give it my all, too, Julis-sama.”

“I won’t lose, Julis!”

At once, the three who are going to participate in the martial arts festival looked at Julis with fighting spirits on their faces.

Why are you guys telling only me? He wondered────

“…… I’m not going to lose either!”

Julis had a soft smile on his face as he took in the words.

Although he did not know whether it would come true or not, he still wanted to stand next to Cecilia.

Julis will participate in the martial arts festival.