76. Darkness and Sword King Festival [7]
After winning the first battle safely, I returned to the president and senpais who were watching me from the stage wing.
And then,
「As expected, Allen-kun! You were splendid!」
「It was a wonderful front kick! I waspletely enthralled!」
「Well done though…」
They were quite happy with my victory.
「Thank you very much.」
After replying with a smile, I sent a nce towards the audience, and my gaze met Ria’s.
When I waved over to Ria, who had been cheering for me all the while, a big smile bloomed on her face.
When I was doing so, thementator’s voice resounded loudly.
「Who on earth expected such a result! Allen Rodore, perhaps he is going to be the『Dark Horse』of this tournament! Now, let’s continue. We will start the『Second battle』!」
The Second of Thousand de Academy is Lilim Tsuorine-senpai.
「I’m rooting for you, Lilim-senpai!」
「Take advantage of Allen-kun’s momentum, Lilim!」
「Do your best though…」
「Fufufu, leave it to me!」
Saying that, she went up to the stage triumphantly.
■
After that, Lilim-senpai disyed an offense which almost seemed like a raging fire, and won the Second battle.
And the Center match continued, where Ferris-senpai managed to win safely despite struggling a little.
When we won all three battles – the Vanguard battle, the Second battle, and the Center battle,
「Sword King Festival Qualifiers A Group – The winner of thememorative first match is one of the Five Academy, Thousand de Academy! Congrattions!」
We were able to safely win the first match against the famous, veteran Werewolf Academy.
And then,
「Way to go! Each one was a good match!」
「Hey, is this finally the year of resurgence of the『Invincible』Thousand de Academy!?」
The audience sent a voice of blessing and a crackling apuse.
「Now then, we will continue with the second match, Twilight Academy vs Mist Academy! For everyone at Thousand de Academy and Werewolf Academy, please go down to the contestants’ waiting room!」
Then we went to the contestants’ waiting room as thementary progressed.
Walking down the long corridor, the moment I opened the door of the waiting room.
「……」
Almost every swordsman in the waiting room stared at me.
A person who peeped at me with a sidelong nce.
A person who turned an evaluating nce towards me.
A person staring straight from the front, without hiding it.
(It’s not my imagination, right…)
As I felt ufortable with the strange situation,
「Fufu, everyone is very interested in Allen-kun, aren’t they?」
「Because he had a brilliant “Sword King Festival debut!” Kuh, how I envy you!」
「No, it’s troublesome as usual though…」
The president and senpais said so andughed it off lightly.
「We don’t need to care about their nces. Let’s take it easy and prepare for the next match. 」
「Yes, that’s right.」
Then I waited for the start of our second match, talking happily with my senpais as usual.
■
After that, we continued to win with unstoppable momentum.
Most of the matches were three straight wins – Vanguard, Second, and Center.
There were rare matches where Lilim-senpai or Ferris-senpai were defeated, but…
The president, who was waiting in the Vice General battle, firmly secured a win. And we finally advanced to the final match of the A-Group qualifiers.
「Now, let’s start the final match of today. Thousand de Academy vs. Astrology Academy!」
Thementator dered with the loudest voice by far today.
「At the Sword King Festival, the top two academies in each group will advance to the main rounds, which means, both of these academies have already advanced to the main rounds. But will they break through in first ce or in second ce? Due to that, it is basically heaven and hell beyond this point!」
She took a breath and continuedmentating.
「In the matching of the main rounds, the academy that broke through in the first ce will be matched against the second ce of another group! The second ce will sh with the first ce of another group! In other words, both Thousand de Academy and Astrology Academy will want to break through the first ce at all costs!」
When I heard the matching of the Sword King Festival main rounds for the first time,
(Well, we can’t lose here!)
I was firmly made aware of the『weight』of this final round.
There is no doubt that the first ce of each group will be the『Five Academy』including the Ice King Academy.
If we continue winning in order, we will eventually sh with other Five Academy.
But it’s better to be aste』as possible.
(In the main rounds, we will have to fight four matches, excluding the finals.)
Thest four matches will be the best 16, best 8, quarter-finals and semi-finals.
Of course, every single match will be a deadly match, and the physical exhaustion will be tremendous.
(We have to win『consecutive battles』in the form of a『tournament』. Which means, in the sense of avoiding unnecessary exhaustion and injury, it is advantageous to sh with a Five Academy aste』as possible.)
When I was thinking about that,
「Now, let’s quickly introduce the contestants!」
Thementator moved on to the customary introduction of the contestants.
「First of all, Vanguard of Thousand de Academy – Allen Rodore! What a total victory of all the battles so far! Moreover, he is the dark horse of this tournament that achieved the feat of『all wins unscathed』without receiving a single sword wound!」
And without dy, she began to introduce the next contestant.
「And next, Vanguard of Astrology Academy – Sven Rosrick! He belongs to a rare school of the southern origin called the Soft Sword Style, and has left a wonderful performance of winning all the matches so far, the same as contestant Allen!」
The swordsman who was introduced slowly climbed up to the stage.
Sven Rosrick.
Long ck hair extending on both sides.
Cool facial features that could be mistaken for being around 3 years older.
He was almost as tall as me, about 170 centimeters tall.
Yellow lines running on white fabric, the uniform of Astrology Academy, which looked like noble clothing, dressed his person.
When he climbed onto the stage, he stared at me.
「I am Sven Rosric. Just want to say best regards.」
He held out his right hand and seeked for a handshake.
「Me too, Sven-san.」
I grasped his right hand tightly and shook his hand before the battle.
(Sven-san has honest eyes. And above all, he’s a very polite person…)
It seems like we’ll be able to have a pleasant match.
As I was thinking about that,
「You… You’ve been having a hard academy life, right?」
With my right hand still in his grip, Sven-san said something I didn’t understand.
「…Eh?」
「Aa, my bad… When I hold the other person’s hand, I can relive what kind of life they have lived so far. It is something like a “by-product of my soul dress”.」
「S-Something like that…!?」
「Aa… For example, Gran Swordsmanship Academy was a really terrible ce, right? From such a terrible environment, you did well to grow to this point, and…!?」
While speaking, Sven-san’s face suddenly turned pale and he pulled away his right hand.
「Haa haa…!?」
As he hyperventted,rge beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
「T-This is…!」
Did he perhaps… Relive my memory in the『Prison of Time』?
(If so, I feel like I have done something bad…)
I don’t know how many『hundreds of millions of years』of memory he experienced, but…
Judging from his reaction, he must have experienced quite a painful memory.
(Oh no…)
I should have warned him when he told me about his ability.
「Umm… Sven-san, are you all right…?」
And when I approached him, who was as white as a sheet,
「Hi-Hii…!? D-Don’te near me! MONSTER!」
He screamed, jumped off the stage, and ran away frantically towards the waiting room.
「E-Err…」
As I was left stunned, alone on the stage,
「…What on earth happened!? Contestant Sven was shaking hands with contestant Allen… And suddenly ran away! Well, uh… I would like to seek for the judgment of the Sword King Festival Executive Committee on this matter, so please wait for a while!」
Thementator said so, and left the seat for a while.
「……」
Tens of thousands of people’s gazes pierced me.
「As expected, there’s something『hidden』about Allen Rodore.」
「Exactly. That frightened figure of Sven… I’m sure he received some kind of『threat』!」
「No no, maybe Sven was just ”acting”, right?」
「W-What do you mean…?」
「It’s quite simple really… Allen Rodore offered him a deal.『Give up the match in return for arge sum of money』.」
「I-I see…!」
From here, I can’t hear what the audiences were talking about, but…
I could somehow feel my bad reputation spreading.
(Haa… Why am I the only one who always has to go through this…?)
Just when I ended up thinking we’ll be able to have a pleasant match, things turn out this way.
And when I heaved a sigh deeply,
「Thank you very much for waiting! So… As a result of the deliberations, it has been ruled that, Allen Rodore wins by default in the Vanguard battle!」
Thementator said, and announced my victory by default.
At that moment, the buzz of the venue became even noisier.
It is most likely that… The audiences don’t agree with the result.
And then,
「Well,e on! That was an unexpected happening, but let’s put in behind and move forward to the Second battle!」
With a cheerful voice that blew away the noise of the venue, thementator advanced the qualifying rounds.
■
After that, the match with Astrology Academy was extremely fierce.
In the Second match, Lilim-senpai was defeated after a fierce battle.
And when the score was tied one-to-one, Ferris-senpai managed to attain a narrow victory against a strong opponent in the Center match.
And in the remaining Vice General match, the president picked up a certain victory.
As a result,
「The first ce of the A group is one of the Five Academy, Thousand de Academy! Everyone, please give them a big round of apuse!」
We got through the A-Group Qualifiers in first ce and advanced to the『Sword King Festival Main Rounds』.