CH 117

“It was great to get first place in a row. Let’s keep earning points at this rate.”

“The important thing is that it’s not a combat competition♪. Lars-kun is mostly in combat, so we have to do our best.”

“Let’s try not to waste the winnings.”

Helena and Yogus laugh at each other, and we laugh at them.

I’m happy to say that we got off to a good start with first place 10 points in the bread-eating contest and the current combat competition. The next event is the throwing competition, so it’s Luciel and Urka’s turn.

“I’ll go then.”

“I’ll do my best to get first place too!”

“Fight, Luciel-chan!”

“Thank you, Nora-chan. Shall we go, Urka-kun?”

“Yeah.”

When the two of them left the tent and went out to the ground field, they heard the voice of the third-year student who had played the game before them coming out to replace them.

“Well, that was a heated throwing contest between the third year, Verna-sensei.”

“Yes, I didn’t think Len …… Oh, the first years are coming out.”

“This time, take the first place!”

The two players from E-Class come out with their faces down, as Basleigh-sensei is still as noisy as ever. Yeah, I understand you guys.

Anyway, it’s the throwing event, and Tigre-sensei is just about to start explaining it to us.

“The third year were doing it just earlier, but just in case. There are two targets: a ball made of slime that floats by wind magic. It takes two of you to make them explode and you win, it’s simple, right? One of you must use a knife and the other a boomerang. You have 10 knives, so when you run out of knives, just use the boomerang to destroy them. Remember, if you don’t fall inside the white line, you can attack from any angle!”

After the explanation, they stand in front of their respective balls.

The colors are different for each class, so it is easy to understand. The size of the balls was a little smaller than the ones used in Sports day.

Also, since throwing knives are dangerous, it’s kind of nice to have a glass wall near the balls.

Well, I watched the third year’s do it. Because of the wind magic made it so fluffy that even if you could catch it once, you couldn’t break it in one go.

“I’ll go with the boomerang.”

“Then I’ll take the knife. The third years were having a hard time, so let’s do our best.”

“Yeah! …… Ei!”

“Oh, you hit it!”

“The result of practicing, right.”

Luciel promptly hits the slime ball with his boomerang, and we rejoice. 

However, as expected, the slime ball was bounced around and wobbled. Since it was tied up with ropes, it returned to its original position and swayed …… It looks like a cushion, so I might want one.

“No, it was just a little dented, that’s all.”

“I’ll do it then! Ei!”

Urca’s knife flies sharply and hits the slime ball. It banged and the flipped ball quivered. This one’s a little scratched up, but apparently, it’s not damaged enough to break yet. 

When I looked at the rest of the class, I saw that they were struggling, and after throwing the second knife, they were struggling with their hands on their hips.

“Hmm, this is difficult.”

“Maybe we should try throwing at the same time?”

“They’re having trouble. Is there a strategy to this?”

“There is, at least. It’s important to use the boomerang well.”

“I see, did you hear that, little ones! Think about it!! At this point, two members of my E-class made a move!!”

“That’s not my problem.”

“Please, young miss, I’m just trying to make up the numbers.”

“Of course.” “Precision target.”

As Verna-sensei explained, each class began to consult with each other, and a girl with long blonde hair from E-class threw a series of knives. Is this the effect of a skill? They hit the same spot every inch of the way, and even though it was shaking, they were able to hit the target continuously.

“Wow ……”

“That skill seems to have other applications. Do you think it could be used in the indiscriminate combat competition?”

Ryuuze opens his mouth and mutters, and Yogus calmly analyzes. That’s a skill I could use. As I was thinking this, E-Class ruptured two slime balls and the first place was decided.

“Phew, It’s no trouble at all.”

“Oh, as expected of the young miss.”

“Please don’t talk like that!”

“E-Class defeats the slime ball! Well done, Onette-chan, you’re in first place!”

“Fufu, nice skill.”

“So she’s throwing skill user, it can’t be helped, we’ll just have to settle for second place.”

“Good luck! I’m going to throw the boomerang and it’s going to swing to the right, so I want you to stand on the swinging side.”

Luciel holds her hands in front of her chest and tells Urka to do so. Urca does as he’s told and stands, and Luciel throws her boomerang.

“I’m starting!”

“Yeah!”

She throws with all her might, making the most of her hip twist. She hit the slime ball without any trouble and it swayed towards Urka. The slime ball was tied up with a rope, so when it was stretched to its limit, Urka noticed.

“Oh, so that’s it! Yaaaaaaaaah!”

The rope was just short of the white line when it was fully extended. The ball was very close to Urka. I see, if it’s this close–

Urka throws knives in rapid succession, and Luciel hits them with her boomerang to keep them in place. Despite her practice, Luciel’s throws are not bad, missing only about one in three times.

Even so, it was still difficult to break, and after a while, everyone had finished breaking the slime balls and the competition was over.

“The end! It was great to see the creativity and ingenuity of each class.”

“Yes. I want them to learn that problems that are difficult to solve on their own can be solved by discussing them with two or three other people♪ It’s hard to survive on your own when you grow up, whether you’re an adventurer or a merchant.”

“Hmm, sorry! We came in third.”

“I’m sorry ……”

Urka and Luciel were doing their best to play together, but by a split second, the D-Class’ slime ball breaks, followed by A-class. Nora and the other girls approached the depressed Luciel.

“It’s completely fine! Right, Kuu-chan!”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s make up for it in the other events.”

“It’s only the third game, so it’s fine! Next is Helena’s search.”

“Yeah♪ Well, Yogus will do his best, right? Haha~”

Helena looked in our direction and winked, and Yogus let out a sigh.

“Don’t put any pressure on ……”

“I’m counting on you, aspiring scholar!”

And then Yogus and Helena go out to the ground as the rest of the grades finish their throwing events and move on to the next one. It’s an appraisal/search competition, but what are they going to do?

“And so, the search and appraisal competition begins. If you don’t have any skills, we’ll lend you a magnifying glass to do a simple appraisal, so the conditions are the same♪”

“Now, how will the winner be determined?”

“It’s literally a search first. All you have to do is find a box somewhere in the ground field, appraise its contents, and report back.”

“Wow, so it’s first-come, first-served ……?”

“That’s right! There are no rules after that! Good luck, everyone!”

This time, Verna-sensei’s signal seemed to be the start, and Helena and Yogus immediately began their search. Thanks to the efforts of the teachers, there is a little field on the ground made of earth magic. There are rocks, cliffs, and even a pond.

“The only other class that can use appraisal is D-class, if we get it right away, we can win. The appraisal magnifying glass takes a little longer.”

“Heh~, I’m curious to see what it looks like♪ I’m off then.”

Helena entered the field and began to explore. As I said before, but this ground is pretty big.

“Damn …… I can’t find one ……”

The other classes were looking around, but they couldn’t find it, and a boy from C-Class was complaining.

“～♪ I wonder if it’s around here?”

Helena, on the other hand, hummed as she searched. And either by intuition or by looking around, she found the box.

“There it is♪!”

Helena rejoiced as she held up the box in the pond. Soon after, the box in her hand is snatched.

“Thanks!”

“Ah!? What are you doing! I found the box!”

“I’m sorry, but Verna-sensei said there were no rules, right? That means you can take the box from your opponent. The only purpose of this is to determine the contents of the box!”

“What!? Tigre-sensei!”

The D-Class boys are running away. When Helena looked at Tigre-sensei, he shook his head and said.

“If we don’t go after him, he’s going to win, you know? There are no rules other than one person searching and one person appraising. That’s exactly what Verna said.”

Helena bites her teeth as Tigre-sensei remarks mercilessly. But then she looked as if she noticed something.

“I see~, then …… It’s okay to attack, right! < Fire>, then !”

“What!?”

Helena’s quick thinking caused the water chain to hit the boys and send them tumbling. Helena quickly dashed over, retrieved the box and headed for Yogus.

“Hurry up Helena, I think B-Class found one too!”

“All right!”

“[Appraisal] …… These are earrings made of mithril, report back later!”

“Yes!”

Helena goes to the headmaster to report. Is Helena the one with the fastest footwork? Just when it seemed like it–

“I won’t let you, Helena!”

“Hyaaaaaaa!?”

A girl from C-Class came up behind her …… I believe her name was Anthea, who was there when I was shown the dance. She put her foot on the side and Helena fell forward.

“You can’t feel bad about it, I’m going to win here too~.”

“Anthea……!”

Helena stood up, but Anthea, who had reported first, was in first place. Helena was in second place.

“Nice try! I think I was pretty fast.”

“I would have won if the D-class kid hadn’t interfered! Oh my God!”

“It can’t be helped, it could have been prevented if I had thought through the rules. In that sense, she isn’t wrong.”

“But it’s frustrating ……!”

Jack stomped on the ground, but second place was good enough. We still have a point advantage.

“Sorry ……”

“Helena did her best, it was good magic.”

She was unusually disappointed, perhaps because she had lost to her rival Anthea. Helena and Yogus immediately smile again as we praise them.

“There’s still a lot of competition, and I’m sure we can win the next riding competition. Right, Nora.”

“Yes! I’ll get first place for sure!”

Two competitions in one episode. We’ve all competed at least once, so I guess the rest is digested, I guess ……?

(T/N: He literally said/wrote Digest.)

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“It was one of those fights where you can’t wait to see Helena’s dance.”

She’s not a bad girl, but she hates to lose. It’s a little sarcastic, but in terms of the school’s tradition, it’s way better than bullying.