Volume 9, Chapter 7
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Translator: RevoPotato
Editor: Weasalopes
A single knight was pushing forward through the crowd of spectators towards the colosseum stage.
At first glance, his equipment seemed to be rather light, but it was indeed the armor worn by members of the Staves of Light Chivalric Order.
「Thank you all for gathering here in Kashnart! Before we begin, the First Princess Narika has some words for you all! Be sure to listen well so that not a single one escapes your ears!」
Following his reverberating voice, the audience gradually grew to a silence.
Most likely due to the knights on patrol issuing the same orders, even the voices from the street stalls outside disappeared.
After confirming that the colosseum was in complete silence, the woman sitting in what would be guessed to be the seats reserved for the nobles stood up.
She then slowly turned her eyes across the spectators.
After being satisfied with seeing that everyone was in their seats, she made a dignified nod.
「…Please look at the sky. The fact that there is not even a cloud to be seen in that blue sky on this fine day should be evidence enough that Raidolg-sama is watching over us and has given us his blessing.」
The woman who had her voice travel across the colosseum using voice amplifying magic, Narika, pointed her golden staff towards the sky.
The weather was perfect.
It was likely that the more religious people in the audience would agree wholeheartedly with her words.
However, that line of hers was but one of many that were prepared beforehand for whatever situations that may have applied.
For example, if the sky had been cloudy, she would say something like 「Raidolg-sama is concerned over the current state of matters. This cloudy sky could be seen as the reflection of his heart itself. We must show our faith and eliminate the enemies that persist within Elarc and cloud our future.」 Of course, if it was raining, she would have a line for that scenario as well.
「These brave warriors have gathered today to fight for justice under my behalf. Now, witness the birth of the new knights that will crush our usurpers.」
Narika then slammed the floor with her golden staff as she made her declaration.
「…The Knight Screening Tournament shall now begin!」
The spectators began roaring with cheers. Amidst all of that, a knight on the stage shouted out.
「We shall now move on to the first match! Ein and Sergey Carkinos, step forward!」
「Good luck, Ein.」
「I don’t need to hear that. Focus on worrying about yourself.」
After lightly poking at Kain’s head, Ein stepped onto the stage.
Kain and Ein would be fighting on the side of the arena. While it wasn’t a place where nobles could easily spectate from a bird’s eye view, it was, however, the area where commoners could witness the fight from as close as possible
「Now… begin!」
As soon as the knight who began the match stepped off the stage, Sergey unsheathed his sword.
「Hmph, I didn’t think someone like you would aim to become a knight.」
The young man named Sergey Carkinos spoke with a scoff.
He wore a steel blue chest plate, along with gauntlets and greaves of the same color. He wielded a longsword and a gold shield with an elaborate emblem. If he were to be judged purely on appearance, he definitely at least looked the part of a knight.
As Ein stayed quiet, Sergey flipped his hair in an exaggerated manner.
「I am the second son of the Carkinos viscount family that has been in the Canal Kingdom for generations. I am sure if I were to simply offer my services to the capital, they would gladly invite me to their ranks. However, I thought I’d first display my outstanding talent in the tournament, you see?」
Ein did not respond.
Perhaps because he took that as fear, Sergey began speaking with more and more confidence.
「Oh my, do excuse me! I shouldn’t have revealed my status so casually like that! After all, I’ve been studying both sword and magic under the greatest instructor to exist! I still have yet to master the art of the Magic Sword, but it will not be long before I will! In other words, I have the potential to become the strongest knight there ever is! There is no shame in losing against me!」
Ein did not respond.
Perhaps because he began to get ahead of himself, Sergey began looking Ein up and down with a creepy look in his eyes.
「Hey, Ein, was it? Why not become one of my subordinates? I believe I’d be much better than
that boy over there-」
「Hey.」
Ein’s irritated voice cut Sergey short.
「Are you going to come at me or not?? If you’re just going to talk, you can spend all the time you want with one of those trees over there.」
「Wha…?! Y-You… Who do you think I am…?!」
「Trash that won’t stop spitting out nonsense. You sounded so ridiculous that I thought you were casting some new kind of curse.」
Sergey began shaking with anger upon Ein’s display of disdain towards him.
「H-How dare you… And here I thought I would show you a little mercy because I didn’t want to hurt a cute girl like you, but it appears that you don’t know your place…!」
Sergey thrust his magical-ring equipped fingers towards Ein and began performing a chant.
「O wind, tear my crazed opponent into dust… Tornado!」
「Magic Guard – Wind」
Sergey’s magic harmlessly bounced off Ein’s Magic Guard.
「N-No way! My magic!」
「Your chant is slow, your magic conversion is slow, and the concentration is shallow. I’m more surprised that you actually thought I wouldn’t be able to guard against such a level of magic.」
It was common knowledge among magic users that magic could be guarded against with Magic Guard.
Being able to quickly examine the oncoming magic and determine the applicable Magic Guard to use was a requirement for becoming an efficient magic user.
This goes the same for the attacker. You’d want to defeat your opponent before they put up a Magic Guard, or use magic that would be sufficient enough to break through their Magic Guard. Only a magic user capable in both of these fields could truly be considered skilled.
Sergei’s magic was naïve and easily read by the opponent, and on top of that it was weak and easy to defend against. That was all there was to it.
「I-It can’t be… O-Oh, I know! You probably serve a support role for that boy! That’s why-」
「Wind Arrow」
「Gyah!」
Caught off guard by the magic launched towards his feet, Sergey was about to lose his balance.
After Sergei somehow managed to avoid falling over, Ein let out a sigh, to which Sergei’s face grew deep red in embarrassment.
「Dammit…! So you were a magic user! You tricked me by wielding that longsword! But now that I know that, I won’t hold back! Witness my supreme swordsmanship!」
Ein coldly stared at the roaring Sergey charging at her with his sword.
Ein showed no signs of reaching for her sword.
Seeing that, Sergey grew all the more sure that Ein was a magic user not familiar with the handling of a sword. That would mean she wouldn’t even have the time to put up an Attack Guard… No, even if she did, he would easily break through it and take her down.
Sergey decided to use his ultimate technique to truly show this woman once and for all how much of a fool she was to underestimate him.
Thinking, 「Yes, this will do it…!」, Sergey shouted out.
「Here it comes, my secret technique- Argh!」
Ein threw a kick aiming at the gap in his protective armor.
His body then bent in an L shape as he flew back with glittering saliva shooting out his mouth.
After falling onto the ground, he proceeded to roll to the corner of the stage.
He eventually stopped moving with an idiotic look on his face with his mouth wide open.
Ein did not even bother looking at the white-eyed twitching Sergei, and instead grimaced at his disgusting saliva that had landed on the stage. She dodged his attack at the last moment, but she risked the chance of that saliva splattering into her.
「I see… Secret Technique Argh, huh? Truly a force to be reckoned with…」
The knight watching over their fight with a dumbfounded face then recollected himself and declared Ein to be the victor.
At the same time, the crowds roared with praise to the victory earned by Ein, who had won without even drawing her sword.
The fight had clearly shown the difference in ability between the two combatants.
However, because Sergey’s actions were so idiotic, the spectators just thought that he was a mistaken fool who was appropriately taken out by a qualified opponent.
At the same time, there were also those that recognized her spirit as a knight due to how she avoided going all out against an opponent who was clearly much weaker than her.
However, most of the spectators did not even realize that Ein won the match without drawing her sword.
「…Hmph, ridiculous.」
With her back against the roaring crowd, Ein muttered those words.
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