Volume 2 - CH 10

The Martial Arts Festival Selection Tournament at the Lapis lazuli Royal Magic Academy was held in a large stadium.

The seating capacity was large enough to accommodate more than 1,000 people, and the central stadium was protected by a magic barrier to prevent damage to the surrounding area.

Then, on the day of the selection tournament.

All participating students would be competing for two seats in each grade────therefore, any classmate who stepped foot in this stadium was an enemy. So, the stadium was filled with a tense atmosphere.

[Now, here we are! The Martial Arts Festival Selection Tournament!──── and the live feed will be brought to you by me of the third grade, Franya!]

[[[[[WHOAAAAAAA!!!!!]]]]]

A girl with bright light blue hair raised her voice in a high pitch from a seat specially set up above the audience.

Along with her speech, an overflowing cheer rose up from the audience.

[All participants! Each one of them is competing against the other to see who will be the best at the martial arts festival! Everyone, Let’s cheer them on~!]

……Really, Franya’s tension was high.

Well, maybe she couldn’t be a live commentator if she wasn’t.

[And this time, we’ve invited the headmaster of our Lapis lazuli Royal Magic Academy────Ms. Musée, to commentate!]

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[Mm, a pleasure of mineth f’r being h’re.]**

And sitting next to her was a girl with light pink hair. Her figure was somewhat adorable as she sat there in the commentary seat.

[I knew it, a brave has a different atmosphere.]

[As expected~ I’m so glad I got to see her in person!]

[Musée-tan…… haaaa, haaaa …….] (TLN: Moshi-moshi FBI desuka?)

Such voices were heard from the audience.

Among them, some of the students were breathing roughly, but just let them go.

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."

[Then, let me explain the rules of this year’s selection tournament.]

Returning to the topic at hand, the live commentator, Franya, spoke up.

[The rules are quite simple. The participants will be divided into two groups in each grade, then a group of you will fight in this stadium all at once! The only conditions for defeat are loss of combat, being out of the field, or surrender! It doesn’t matter which technique you use! And only the student who survives to the end will get────a seat representing our academy!]

A pure battle royale match.

Perhaps this was because it would take too much time if it took the form of a tournament or some other format.

Still, it was a bizarre situation────in which all those present were enemies.

……Indeed, this was going to require not only ability, but also scheming and luck.

[Let’s get started! First, there are────178 new students in the first grade who have come to bloom this year! Let’s have the first battle royale group!]

♦♦♦

“Yes, yess…… Why the hell am I at this very first match? It’d be better to start later…….”

“Don’t worry about it, Julis! I’m happy to have you in the first match!”

Ricardo, smiling boldly and happily, turned his shoulder to Julis, who exhaled a sigh in the waiting room.

“Good for you, good to know you’re happy, Ricardo…… I’m more of a do it later than a do it early kind of person.”

By the way, Julis was saying this, but there was practically no deep reason for it.

It’s just that later is better.

“Don’t say that, let’s get going, Julis! Let’s have a serious, all-out muscle fight!”

“……What does muscle have to do with it?”

The students in the same waiting room were glaring at them.

Nevertheless, Ricardo and Julis were going to battle for a seat in the first group.

The first match, was the first group of the first grade.

Julis Anderberg

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

Ricardo Rakistan

Into a battlefield.

♦♦♦

Following the instructions, Julis and Ricardo strode up to the stadium.

Each spread out as they pleased, and when they looked up, they saw that students of all grades were watching Julis and the participants.

And then────

[Hey, isn’t that guy that “inept”?]

[Aah…… he is that inept who can’t even use magic, right? I can’t help wondering why he’s in the S class.]

[Really. I’m sure he used some kind of backdoor. Otherwise, I would have gotten into the S class.]

Julis was, he was ridiculed as soon as he appeared on the stage.

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.

In a low voice, yet with a sneer, to humiliate him.

(Whoa…… I feel like I haven’t been called inept in a long time……)

But then again, maybe Julis’ sensibility had gone awry, because he felt nostalgic over it.

(……Well, just until today.)

Smiling thinly, Julis waited for the signal to begin.

(In the midst of all this attention, I’m going to use my overwhelming power to overpower them────that way, my nickname of “inept” will disappear.)

“Inept” was a generic term given to Julis who couldn’t use magic. A sign of contempt.

Still, since coming to this academy, he had met various friends and had made a bit of an impression.

But it’s not enough.

(If I aim to stand next to Cecilia, I have to erase this stigma…….)

A useless person is unforgivable standing next to a saintess.

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

That’s why────

(The era of being strong because you can use magic────is over.)

“We will now begin the selection match for the first group of the first grade!”

At the edge of the stadium, the commentator using a magical broadcasting tool declared.

“Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

“It’s me who’s going to win!”

Spirited voices could be heard from the surroundings.

Magic flew, swords clashed, shouting and sounds of impact could be heard.

In the midst of it all, amidst the gathering of magicians…… the deadly sins sorcerer smiled irreverently.

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――.

“Those who believed they could win, those who were proud of their ability to climb to great heights, this very deadly sins sorcerer will shatter your pride.”

Julis put his left hand on his hip and thrust his right hand forward.

“Get out of here, you shameless inept!”

“You’re not wanted here!”

The students who taunted him as “inept” charged toward Julis.

“Let’s have a match, Julis!!!”

And Ricard, without even looking at the other students, rushed toward Julis at once.

His expression was joyful, and he held up the great sword he carried on his back with both hands, pointing the tip at Julis.

“To think you can beat me…… that’ s a bit arrogant, don’t you think?”

But Julis was undaunted.

And did not even take a stance.

He simply just snapped his right hand’s fingers.

From behind him, a four-footed beast with ferocious fangs and mane emerged.

It was a lion covered in ominous black.

“The demonic beast of Pride──── whose power is the gravity to bring its opponents to their knees.”

────At that very moment, all those in the arena were face down on the ground.