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434 p2. Noble Faction and New School Year [7]

 

The president gave a clear answer to my question.

「Second-year students at Imperial Academy are said to be the generation of the Seven Holy Swords, and they are all genius swordsmen who are expected to join the Seven Holy Swords in the future. In addition to that, it seems that a lively first year student has joined them this year.」

「I see……」

Does that mean that the second-year swordsmen are so good that there is no room for a third-year student?

「The General, Shin Rex. We need to pay the utmost attention to him. After all, he is a genius swordsman who has been entrusted with the position of one of the Seven Holy Swords at a young age.」

「How cool! One of the Seven Holy Swords!」

「According to rumors, it seems that they are treated well enough to get super star treatment, though…」

While Lilim-senpai and Ferris-senpai displayed their respective reactions, I felt an unease.

(The Seven Holy Sword of this country is…)

As I glanced at the president, she silently nodded.

It seems that this swordsman named Shin is no doubt the Seven Holy Swords possessed by the noble faction.

「Next, please look at these document.」

While saying that, the president laid out four piles of papers on the dest.

「What is this?」

「It’s a scouting report. Not only regarding their height, weight, and swordsmanship school they belong to, but also their soul dress’ abilities, fundamental tactics, their habits during battle, and even information that the person themselves don’t realize, is completely covered in here.」

「Wow, that’s amazing.」

「I’m impressed that you were able to make something like this…」

Ria and Rose were impressed.

「Fufu. The Arcstria family mobilized our forces and investigated the contestants of the Imperial Academy.」

The president proudly puffed out her chest.

「Even so, you must be pretty serious this time to go this far.」

She was in full negative mode just the other day, but I wonder what brought about this turn of events.

「For us third-years, this is the last Sword King Festival. If we don’t give it our all, we’ll surely regret it in the future.」

「I……see……」

I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but the president and all the third-year students will be graduating this year.

This year will be the last time the current members of the student council of Thousand Blade Academy will be able to make a fuss every day.

(…It suddenly feels lonely.)

I joined the student council as a result of being forced by the president, but somehow I made a lot of fun memories.

I’m getting a little sad that it’s going to end this year.

「H-Hey, why is the air so heavy! Come on, let’s read this together and deepen our understanding of the opponents!」

The president clapped her hands and pointed at the scouting report, then let out a noise as if she just remembered something.

「I forgot to mention that there was one big problem with this – the General of the Imperial Academy, Shin Rex. We know almost nothing about him. We don’t even know the fighting style he uses, let alone his soul dress.」

「Oh, so he’s kinda like a “mysterious swordsman”…」

「I think it’s kind of cool, though.」

For some reason, Lilim-senpai and Ferris-senpai were both excited.

「For the time being, the battle recording is still there. To be honest, however, it’s not a very pleasant match to watch. Do you guys still want to watch it?」

The president clumsily took out a videotape.

「If there is a battle recording, I would like to see it!」

「A video of the Seven Holy Swords live match should be really interesting.」

Ria and Rose were both enthusiastic.

「Okay then.」

The president inserted the video tape into the playback device and operated the LCD monitor.

「This video is the final match of last year’s Big Five Festival.」

「Last year’s Big Five Festival was the one in which Allen-kun went on a rampage, right?」

「I was rooting for you from the audience seat. I was a little taken aback by that brutality, though.」

Lilim-senpai and Ferris-senpai unleashed their blades of words at this moment.

「Ugh…」

As my old wounds were poked at, I felt my mental HP begin to dwindle.

(I’m really reflecting on that matter, okay? The reason why Thousand Blade Academy lost at the Big Five Festival was because of disqualification due to a foul play brought upon due to my own lack of ability. Even now, I’m still a wreck who hasn’t been able to control my spirit core, after all…)

My negative switch was turned on and my depression started to surface.

「Please stop saying such mean things.」

「In the first place, that was an accident. If Sid of Ice King Academy hadn’t committed a foul, Allen wouldn’t have gone out of control.」

「Ria, Rose…」

As I heard those words full of kindness and warmth, I felt like my tears were about to appear.

「Okay, enough with the jokes. Let’s watch the video. The battle Shin participated in was the General match between Imperial Academy and Flame Emperor Academy.」

「Which reminds me, Flame Emperor was pretty strong last year.」

「They were also lucky in the lottery, though.」

The president nodded in response to Lilim-senpai’s and Ferris-senpai’s remarks.

「Yes, that’s right. Last year, Flame Emperor Academy had a lot of excellent swordsmen enrolled, and the superb combinations overlapped, and they were able to advance to the finals.」

Speaking of which…

(If I watch this video, does it mean that I’ve seen all the matches of the Five Academies?)

The Five Academies are the collective name for the five prestigious swordsmanship academies that represent the Ringuard Empire – Thousand Academy, Ice King Academy, White Lily Academy, Flame Emperor Academy, and Imperial Academy.

The absolute champion, Imperial Academy.

The eternal number two, White Lily Girls’ Academy.

The stable middle rank, Flame Emperor Academy.

Aiming to rise above the ranks, Ice King Academy

Dead last, Thousand Blade Academy.

This seems to be the order of the five academies based on the results of the last ten Sword King Festivals.

「I’m going to play it now.」

When the president inserted the videotape in her special-use tape deck, images began to appear on the TV screen.

「The image quality is a bit poor, but the swordsman on the left is Shin Rex from Imperial Academy. The swordsman on the right is Coresta Bowen from Flame Emperor Academy.」

In the center of the screen – on top of the large stone stage, two swordsmen were facing each other while maintaining enough distance.

「Now then, the match between the Imperial Academy Shin Rex and the Flame Emperor Academy Coresta Bowen will begin! Are you both ready!? –Begin!」

At the same time as the start signal was announced, Coresta-san manifested his soul dress.

「Dance in the Heavenly Flames -〈Rings of Blaze Dance〉!」

Bluish flames so fiery that it lights up the entire screen.

Shin took it head on and slowly bent his knees―shockingly, he lied down and started napping.

「Bastard, what the hell are you doing?」

「Can’t you tell?…A nap.」

「I can tell that just by looking! I mean, I’m asking why are you taking a nap during this sacred duel?!」

Shin responded as if it wasn’t his problem in response to the furious Coresta.

「Don’t shout like that… There’s no rule that says “No sleeping”, right?」

「Don’t screw with me! Referee! This is considered a downed state, right? Start the count!」

「Well… according to the rules, unless your abdomen or back is completely on the ground, it’s not considered downed state…」

「Exactly. That’s why it’s okay to lie down and take a nap. I’m only lying on my side, so it’s fine.」

Shin said so and started laughing foolishly.

「Who cares about that kind of chop logic! A match between swordsmen is a serious match! Be serious!」

「You’re so noisy and keep spouting old-fashioned things. Dude, enough with the talks… Just come at me.」

Coresta-san’s patience ran out against Shin’s overly lenient attitude.

「Bastard… Don’t regret it later.」

Coresta-san, clad himself in blue flames, brandished his sword and rushed straight towards Shin.

「Eat this! Ogre Flame-Style Secret Technique – Scorching Purgatory Blade!」

But the next moment,

「……Why……?」

Coresta-san’s soul dress shattered into pieces.

Shin swung his hand off-handedly―No, he didn’t even swing his hand. The soul dress was easily pulverized with a light snap of his wrist as if he was brushing away an insect.

「Ahaha, what a funny face. “Prostrate”.」

As Shin commanded, a huge amount of spiritual power erupted from Shin’s body, and Coresta-san knelt on the spot.

「Kuh…」

Coresta-san desperately tried to resist the overwhelming mass of spiritual power that rained down from above… but it was all in vain, and he was finally made to prostrate on the stage.

「C-Coresta is down! The count will begin! One, two, thr–!」

「Oh my… What are you doing? What happened to all that talk of a swordsman’s match?」

「KUOOOOOOOOOOOO!」

Coresta-san let out a burst of energy.

Blood oozed out of his clenched fists, foam rose from the corners of his clenched mouth, and tears of blood flowed from his wide eyes.

However… no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get up, and the count kept going.

And–.

「Eight! Nine! Ten!!」

The ten counts were reached, and the match was quickly decided.

「Match End! Imperial Academy Shin Rex Wins! With this, the Imperial Academy wins this year’s Big Five Festival!」

The host declared the outcome, and Imperial Academy’s victory was decided.

「Fuwaaaa… So boring.」

Having achieved victory without much effort, Shin stood up listlessly and let out a big yawn.

「Why… I’ve been training hard up until now… so why…」

Coresta-san, on the other hand, was unable to stand up.

He was still on all fours, and was tearing up.

Shin then walked towards Coresta-san with a light gait.

「Um, was it Coresta-kun? Congratulations on your worthless effort!」

The TV image cut off abruptly at Shin’s sarcasm.