TL: Yuki

ED: Filip

________________________________________________

 

Because the quarterfinals will be held at noon, we are currently killing time by idling at the Inn. Aguera-san also seems to be free today and was drinking tea gracefully with us.

 

But you know, it would have been much better if you didn’t place your feet on the table… still, the beauty of that leg-line was a wonderful sight.

 

「I didn’t expect that you would be that strong you know. I thought that you reaching the first round would already be good enough.」

「Did Aguera-san bet on anyone?」

「Nope, I’m not good at betting you see. That guy too, my old boyfriend, he poured all his assets into betting and lost. There was also a time when he ran away with my money. But he was caught and  turned into a slave. Right now he is probably working hard in a mine somewhere」

 

You said that with a nostalgic face, but the content was quite heavy. I was astonished to the point that I couldn’t even remember the taste of the tea I’m drinking. La Veil also felt awkward about it.

 

「Well, I believe he’s thinking of working to get back here when he returns」

「Eh, you’re planning to redo the relationship?」

「I don’t, I have already failed once and was looked at with pitiful eyes. I wonder if I can find a good husband out there. You know someone that might welcome me warmly?」

 

Ah, that’s the face of someone who wants to look for someone who would do errands for her. Nee-san sure has power behind her. No, more like a little too much power is what I would say. To the person who will be her husband, please live strongly.

 

「So are you guys also betting?」

「Ah, yeah, I got a bet from Arena」

「Ne~♪ I bet a loooot~」

「Hou,  how much?」

「Gold Coins, a lot, 5「Ooops」umugumu」

 

That was dangerous, really dangerous. I won’t let Arena say anything more than that. If she says 5000 pieces, Aguera-san’s heart might just stop.

 

「You bet 5 Gold Coins right?」

「Hou, betting 5 Gold Coins you say!! Well, I guess the hero will win it anyway. Even if you join in there, the result might already be fixed. You should take advantage of it Jou-chan」

 

Ahhh, so you’ve also given up to that situation. If you say that to Arena right now, she will just get more fired up.

 

◇――――――――――――――――

 

『Now, once again, we will resume the event!! Today is the day of the quarterfinals, it will be the battle of the remaining, and the strongest 8!! Now, for the first match, it will a battle between the Blazing Flame Lady La Veil and Abil the crafty warrior!!!』

 

「Been a while since we’ve met, it was from the qualifiers I think」

「Ooh, same here, but I didn’t expect you to be quite the beautiful Nee-san 」

 

『There will be no time limit in the qualifiers!! Furthermore, the whole stage and the whole area around will be considered as battle stage, so there will be no losing by throwing them out!! Players, please go crazy to your utmost and show off your power to everyone!!』

 

While listening to what the announcer said, a grin formed on La Veil’s face. It seems that she interpreted the rule of no off-limits on the stage as something like it would be fine if the stage is destroyed. That desire started to grow inside her head.

 

「Hey, hey nee-san, what’s with that extremely wicked smile… What are you planning to do, oh beautiful Nee-san?」

 

Abil prepares his sword while slightly trembling. Although he was wary about it, he understood that it would be an extremely difficult battle because he also witnessed La Veils fight in the second round yesterday.

 

◇――――――――――――――――

 

『Then, for the first battle of the quarterfinals!!! Battle Start!!!』

 

「My Flames! Blow up everything around me!!!」

 

「You must be kidding, right!?」

 

As an introduction, La Veil created a fire pillar that was around 10 meters high. The place where Abil stood was burned a second after he moved to escape. Turning blue from seeing the ground where he was before getting charred, Abil moved away in order to escape from further damage.

 

「That’s not all!! Here’s more!!」

 

She created another pillar as if to mock at how futile his moves were.

 

「How can I win against this!! If only I can find a little—–!!」

「What is it?」

「Oiiiiiiii!!??」

 

And another one was unleashed again at Abil. He was now stuck surrounded by fire pillars. The swirling fire pillars that began to spin were generating tremendous heat, making the area where Abil stood hot enough that it felt like being in the middle of a desert under a blazing sun. Sweat was dripping from his skin like a waterfall, and even his armor is starting to heat up.

 

(I can’t sense even a little bit of magic power depletion… Even great wizards, they wouldn’t be able to last 10 seconds casting something like this… Damn… Why must I be faced with such a monster!!)

 

「Are you going to show us your courageous spirit, or will you drop out just like that!!」

「Daaaaaaaaaahh!!」

 

Abil read the trajectory of the fire pillars and then jumped out. Although he was able to escape the blazing hell, his sword was swallowed by a fire pillar and was turned into nothing more than a pile of melted metal.

 

『Amazing!! Abil somehow managed to escape the fiery cage made by Nee-san with only his weapon as a sacrifice surviving the ordeal!! We still don’t know how the match will end up!!』

 

After escaping, Abil immediately rushed towards La Veil. The only weapon he had was a spare knife on his waist, but thinking of La Veil’s Halberd, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to parry with his knife.

 

「I won’t let you!!」

「An opening!!」

 

Abil was attacked by La Veil, who used her Halberd. The swing send out an extremely strong pressure, but he managed to avoid it by paper thin margin. He was then able to close in and grabbed her while planting his feet onto the ground in preparation to throw La Veil.

 

「Wah, What is with this ridiculous…!?」

 

When Abil was trying to throw her, he felt such a heavy weight, as if he was trying to pull out a big tree. During this short time, Abil was completely wide open,

 

「Touching a woman’s body… How long do you plan to stay dumbfounded!!!」

「Gaaaah!!」

 

From a simple swing, Abil’s body was flung into the wall. You could hear the sound of debris getting crushed and the sound of his body falling.

 

There they could see Abil struggling to stand up despite his body covered in blood and wounds.

 

『With this it will be「Wait!!!」』

 

La Veil obstructed the announcer that was about to call her victory. She approached the battered Abil. Then she asked.

 

「Are you giving up?」

「…Fugu, I… I can… Still…」

 

Abil tried to stand up and raise his hands, but he was definitely losing blood. Although he was already running out of strength, his eyes showed that his fighting spirit did not yet disappear.

 

「Is that all you’ve got!!! Stand up and show me your spirit!!! Young Hero!!!」

「…I, I am a… Hero…?」

「Yes, young one, heroes are not those who have strength to defeat demon kings nor are those who show off their strength. It is those few that show courage to fight the impossible! If a brilliant young man displayed courage befitting that, then I would acknowledge them as a wonderful hero!!」

 

It was definitely a remark to smear dirt on the Hero’s name. Despite that, the meaning of the word hero is nonetheless the exactly what she had described. Abil could only laugh wryly at her announcement.

 

「For you… to compare me to such a… I’m not worthy of… guh…」

 

As he said those words he finally lost consciousness and fell down. La Veil looked towards the announcer and nodded, then once more the announcer declared the end of the match.

 

『Participant Abil is not able to stand up anymore, the victory goes to Participant La Veil!! Respecting her opponent’s will until the end, she has shown us the true pride of a warrior!! She will proceed into the semi-finals!!』

 

◇――――――――――――――――

 

「What will you do if any of them were listening to that? Don’t say things that would needlessly provoke the heroes…」

「Well you know, isn’t that actually great? If the other side gets provoked, won’t they seriously come to fight us? 」

 

The message she said about the heroes from a while ago. If it was heard by heroes in the audience then they will definitely mark us as their enemies. If the entire group of summoned heroes comes to attack, it will be a really crazy battle so stop it. I might accidentally kill them if it turned into a battle of life and death you know?

 

◇――――――――――――――――

 

『Following that match is the second round of the quarter finals!! Please enter, the magician who has a good control of water, Magic User Morial and he will be challenging the Hero Ayane!! 』

 

「Seriously, I’m really unlucky. I don’t think I’ll have any chance to win against a hero, but I will still do the best I can to at least fight back」

「Is that so」

 

Murial slumped his shoulders as he looked at the hero who didn’t seem to care at all.

 

(This woman… She’s dangerous)

 

Among the ones who faced the hero, it was only Morial who fought well with another person while having a good atmosphere. He was also one of the targets who the hero wanted to destroy.

 

『Now then, for the second match, battle start!!』

 

「Tides of water, become a creature of majesty and swallow my enemies!!!」

 

What appeared was a huge snake made out of water. It winded itself and tried to swallow the hero with its strong torrent of water. The hero was just standing without doing anything, and she was easily covered with water.

 

「Engulf!!」

 

The water serpent wraps the hero and enclosed her in a water sphere. Several layers of swirling torrent were assaulting the hero. Even though the hero is in that state, Morial didn’t drop down his attacks and was looking at the hero who was expressionless, and yet he still felt like something bad was about to happen. However,

 

*Bashan

「What!」

 

Suddenly, the water snake that he was manipulating was destroyed and the water scattered on the ground. After that, the hero activated her holy sword and slowly walked towards Morial.

 

To Morial, he couldn’t believe that his strongest attack wasn’t even able to scratch the hero and was easily destroyed. He is already at the point of giving up. But because he was also unharmed, he decided to persist a little more.

 

「Spear of Ice pierce my enemy!!」

 

He produced several ice spears and shot them towards the hero. However, that magic disappeared as it came in contact with the hero’s holy sword without even any of it remaining. Be it magic, weapons, or his strongest attack. It was all useless.

 

「Ah… I… Sur…!! Guh!!」

 

At the moment he tried to surrender, the hero already closed in and slashed all his limbs other than his right hand. The scream of Morial reverberated in the whole stadium.

 

『Conclusion, It has been settled!! The victor is Hero Ayane!! Recovery Magicians, please immediately mend it or Participant Morial will die!!』

 

The announcer declared the victory in a hurry. In this fight, if urgent measure isn’t taken immediately, Morial might die and will disqualify the Hero.

 

「Ah…」

「Oh Sorry, I might have overdone it. Sorry about that and let me cure you」

 

But before the recovery magicians arrived, the Hero already applied recovery magic and closed his wounds. That is without connecting back the cut off parts… Right before he fainted, the last thing he saw was the hero grinning in pleasure, and it was an ugly and distorted grin. Then the Hero whispered something to Morial before she left.

 

『With this, next year, or even after that, you will never ever see the one you love… It’s – the – end ~ ♪』

 

When she arrived back to her waiting room, the terminal for communication buzzed for a bit before it got connected.

 

「Are you doing it?」

 

『Oh, it finally connected. The plan to give La Veil a little fright has been set up for tomorrow. Even if the fight with Aidle in the final comes, threatening her won’t be a problem. Defeat them at that time and show them what it’s like to face the hero』

「Yeah, Alright~」

『Well then, I’ll be moving.』

 

Receiving more pleasant news, Kousaka hummed in delight as she walked away.

 

◇――――――――――――――――

 

But both Hino and Kousaka wouldn’t know that the result of what they planed to do for the sake of their own pleasure would bring something that they would surely regret as a result…

 

________________________________________________

 

Tutorial Time is over.