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The Rising of Tanaka – 93 Part 1

Pasifista

Chaos in the Imperial Capital

　The final match that marked the end of the Imperial Tournament Festival. In the center of the arena, stood calmly Karin, the Imperial Princess of the Empire. And in front of her was the figure of Toby, unsightly sprawled on the ground–.

「Get up! Get up, Toby!」

At the side of the arena, Tanaka was desperately calling out. Wearing a black eye patch, which was unknown when he had arranged it, he was shouting with an expression of thicker touch than usual. Truly a dexterous man as usual.

「… it’s… my lose.」

As Toby slightly lifted his upper body from facing up position in an attempt to get up, he finally ran out of strength and collapsed. The audience erupted as if in protest at the outrageousness of this work of reaching the conclusion without any depiction of battle. And Tanaka was no exception either, he was raising a scream.

「Tobyyyyyy!」

The way his nose turned red and tears dripped down his face was truly a realistic act. But still, despite this and that, from the way he was cheering for Toby, you could feel Tanaka-san’s manly spirit.

「It doesn’t matter if you fall, just don’t faint! What’s going to happen to my date? No matter what, secure the date promise!」

Scratch that. No matter when and where, Tanaka-san would always be Tanaka-san. However, please give him credit for the strength of his spirit that never wavered here.

「It was kind of an anticlimactic ending, wasn’t it? Like it wasn’t even much of a match, or something.」

On the spectator seat, Mikoto leaked out such an impression. Yashichi’s follow up followed after.

「Toby was originally just a merchant, after all. And it hasn’t been that long since the day he stepped into this world of battle. Please cut him some slack for it. Rather, I think it’s even worthy of praise for him to make his way through up to this point. In fact, in most of the battles he fought up until now, his opponents have had the edge in terms of strength. I may be the one who has come up with a plan to overcome it each time, but for being able to overcome the short period of training in order to attain the strength necessary to put it into practice, Toby is by no means a weakling.」

「Well, true enough, I’ve learned a lot from his fighting style, and in a way, it was a figure I found affinity with.」

It was true that for Mikoto, who in the past – with the assumption of fighting against the mysterious demon lord that boasted enormous power – had engraved the way of fighting against overwhelmingly powerful people onto her body, Toby’s matches were something that attracted her interest.

In each match, even as he was at disadvantage from beginning to the end, the virtue of quick wittedness he displayed in order to overcome the crisis. The concentration ability to never overlook the few chances he had. And the decisive techniques that he had learned in the short period of training for each match, which were honed to the point of being disproportionate to his normal strength.

Toby might have been the one who had displayed matches worthy of learning the most in this whole tournament festival.

「That means his strength wasn’t limited to the surface strength, huh. Looking back on it now, it’s true that I feel like I sensed something unfathomable from him.」

The Knight of Roses, who was listening to the conversation from the side, barged into the conversation. At the point of view of such him was the figure of Tanaka who was shouting while exposing his worldly desire. Since the content of his shout couldn’t be heard from there, his figure must have looked like the figure of an ideal second.

「I see, that means there’s a man who supports his back behind him, huh. Like this, it’s no wonder I can’t beat him. That side is fighting with two people, after all.」

The high quality good grief suited him well as usual. Next to him was the figure of Nikumen who continued to silently stare at the arena in silence until the end. The manga-meat mask that was now completely blurred indicated the fact that he was brimming with tears of emotion.

「Young miss! Before we know it, Sage-sama’s afro has disappeared! Moreover, such a countenance of thick lines! It’s amazing! I would very much like to learn that divine technique!」

「It doesn’t matter! Just be quiet for a bit. It’s embarrassing.」

It seemed like the maid and the young miss were also satisfied with the match. And so the final match ended with great success. Thus, the last event of the Imperial Tournament Festival was finally about to begin. The birth of a new ‘Guardian of the Empire’. The event would take place directly at the arena. At the prearranged ceremonial hall at the top of the stairs that stretched as though splitting the spectator seats.

Waiting there was the 255th Emperor of this country, Vinta Haru XIV. The man who was also the father of Echigoya and Imperial Princess Karin. If you were expecting a great man who would shout ‘How are you?’ here, then unfortunately you were mistaken. To begin with, if such a man had been the emperor, he would not have allowed the nobilities’ tyranny. In fact, Vinta Haru XIV was a mild-mannered looking man with thin lines.

In the ceremonial hall, not only Vinta Haru XIV, the dignitaries of the royal family were all lining up. The reason even Echigoya, a former imperial family member, was allowed to attend was probably due to the nobles openly laying their hands on the tournament festival. In fact, on both sides of the imperial family, clad in flamboyant decorations, the nobles were in attendance as if they owned the place. Moreover, perhaps for the sake of the ceremony of the blessing of the God of Creation that was about to take place. Behind them stood in line a large number of people wearing deep, sacred-looking robes.

Imperial Princess Karin climbed up the stairs leading to the ceremonial hall as the eyes from the spectator seats gathered on her. The Knight of Roses and Nikumen also gazed at the warrior who stood atop them all. From the dignitary’s seat, the Princess of the Purin Kingdom was also staring at her. So was Hero Kamui who accompanied her. As well as his companion, Tetsujin.

Hero Yashichi and Hero Mikoto who were sending slightly different gazes than them. In addition, young lady Torte and the junk maid were also on the lookout for something that might happen.

And then, while Tanaka, who had suddenly received a call from nature, disappeared into the bathroom, Karin arrived at the ceremony. Being forcefully dragged along by Tanaka, all we could offer Toby was condolences. While the two of them weren’t present, the ceremony finally began.

The outsiders had no idea what was going on in the ceremonial hall that stood at high altitude. However, amidst the watchful eyes of the quiet spectators, a pillar of light rose up in the ceremonial hall. For those who had spectated the previous tournament festivals, they all knew that it was the light that brought about the blessing of the God of Creation.

The moment Imperial Princess Karin, who had received this light of blessing, showed her appearance from the ceremonial hall again, it would be the moment of the unveiling of the new ‘Guardian of the Empire’.

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