chapter 34
34 – #34. Swordsmanship Tournament (4)
Amid the loud cheers from the audience, the sound of blunt wooden swords clashing could be heard mixed in.
The host finally announced the end of the last match of the round of 16.
The final participants in the quarterfinals have been announced.
A total of 8 people.
Of course Cain and I were in it.
Soon there will be a mid-term event where Rosaria, the princess of the royal family and current Ariel Academy student, will face each of the quarterfinalists, give her well-wishes and award them flower necklaces.
If a big event was held within the Academy, of course we would actively promote it by putting Rosaria, the royal family, on the signboard, but I was complacent.
She just passed the preliminary round, received the participation prize, and tried to disappear suddenly, but life didn’t go as planned.
“We hope that all of our promising students, winners of the round of 16, will come up to the stadium!”
After hearing the host’s words, all the participants who were waiting came up to the stadium.
Rox, Garret, Nealok, me…… Dyson, even Cain.
I was in the middle order.
“Rosaria is entering!”
Everyone in the audience cheered as Rosaria appeared from the waiting room.
The flower of the academy.
Rosaria is famous for being the purest and most beautiful member of the royal family.
The response that followed was amazing.
Perhaps his image management and interpersonal relationships were good, and there was not a single word of criticism from the audience.
-Thumping. Step by step.
Rosaria comes up the stadium stairs and walks towards all eight participants, making eye contact.
Soon, Rosalia stopped her steps halfway and smiled with her eyes.
Some of her winners in the round of 16 seemed to admire her Rosaria and her appearance, blushing brightly.
“Rosaria, please give flowers to the winners of the round of 16 from now on!”
After hearing the host’s words, Rosaria took the flower necklace from the guard knight at the end and began to hang it around the participants’ necks.
After hanging it around her neck, it seemed like he was giving her a good word.
The participants who received her well-wishes responded with a big smile and thanked Rosaria for her well-wishes.
In response to the participants’ answers, Rosaria just smiled and moved on to the next turn.
She took turns putting on her flower necklace, and she gave a well-wishes to the next contestant.
Then, finally, my turn came.
“… ….”
“… ….”
Rosaria stopped in my tracks and she said nothing.
She just stared into my eyes.
I expected it.
At that time, she left without saying anything.
The other participants took turns looking at me and Rosaria with puzzled expressions.
After a while, Rosalia put her flower necklace on me.
Then she whispered to me.
“I wish we could talk about it separately later. “I hope you don’t run away this time.”
“… ….”
Then, as if nothing had happened, she took a few steps back and smiled her eyes.
From what she said, I thought it would be difficult to leave this time.
Because this is an order from the royal family.
It would be rude to run away twice.
You will not be disadvantaged, but you will be framed… So, I decided to meet in an appropriate manner, demand appropriate compensation, and part ways in an appropriate manner.
At some point, I started to have a lot of connections with Cain’s heroines.
I tried so hard to avoid it, but life doesn’t go as planned.
I thought I would do it right from now on.
… Please note that Hedy is an exception.
Originally, I should have stayed away from Hedy, but after we became so close, I didn’t want to go away.
I bowed my head to Rosalia.
Then Rosaria quietly walked to the next participant.
And the moment when Rosaria is about to award her flower necklace to her next contestant.
-Tukaang!
“”…… !””
The sound of something sharp colliding with something solid was heard.
The direction from which the sound came was the direction Rosaria had just passed by.
A light green shield was deployed there to protect the caster.
The caster is Rosaria.
The necklace she was wearing was shining brightly in light green, as if a protective shield spell had been applied to it.
She was left behind with a puzzled expression on her face, clutching her chest in surprise.
“Giggles, I guess we were prepared for this as expected.”
Someone swung her true sword at Rosalia.
It was Nilok, the winner of the round of 16, whom Rosaria was just about to award her flower necklace to.
He began to pour her magic into the iron sword that was blocked by her light green shield.
“Become a scapegoat as an example to the pig-like wizards! “The princess!”
-Woooooh….
The air was overwhelmed with an ominous and gloomy energy.
At that time, I felt it.
Participant Nilok said that the magic power he was blowing into his sword was not normal magic power.
Dark horse.
It was the energy of a dark horse that consumed life force as a source and imitated magical power.
I have seen a narrative in which those who hate wizards revolt by dealing with a dark horse that imitates magical power.
That’s why I knew it as soon as I saw it.
“How dare the princess… ! “Wow!”
“What, what! “Wow!”
Two guard knights who were running to protect Rosaria were hit by someone’s blade.
It was another participant standing next to Niloc.
“Do you think we came without any preparation? “The pigs are lying on the ground.”
“These crazy people… !”
At that moment, the other winners of the round of 16 jumped on him to protect Rosaria.
There must have been spies among the victors of the round of 16, and they were blocking the victors who were trying to approach Rosaria with real swords.
Unlike the pure winners of the round of 16 who held wooden swords, they had no choice but to struggle because they were holding true swords that they did not know where they had been hidden.
I too had already kicked my feet.
Rosaria’s shield was gradually dissolving due to the sword clad in Nilok’s dark magic.
Rosaria’s complexion turned pale as she was frightened.
Her right-hand escort, Emil, noticed something strange in the audience and was seen running towards her, but it seemed like she would be late.
“The little boy is waiting… “Wow!”
I filled the wooden sword with aura and cut off the heads of the spies who were trying to stop it.
Every minute and every second was a tense situation.
The surface of Rosaria’s shield gradually melted, and Rosaria sat down, losing strength in her legs.
She had to stop Nilok.
“Kwaaak!”
“Oops!”
“Huh!”
After stopping, she skillfully cut down her spies and advanced forward.
Because she imbued her wooden sword with aura, she was able to achieve strength equal to that of an iron sword.
Nilok, who was destroying Rosaria’s shield, seemed embarrassed when he saw me.
A distance of about 7 steps forward.
Time passes slowly.
Looking beyond, I saw that Cain, who was close to Rosaria, was also struggling with her other spies.
Is he not able to use Aurors yet?
The timing was bad. Has the future changed because of a variable called my country?
I definitely remember that Cain had a narrative that she was going to save Rosaria.
As expected, I was the only one who could protect her at the moment.
Time passes quickly again, one step forward.
Niloc thought it wouldn’t work, so instead of destroying Rosaria’s shield, she changed her target to me.
He swings his sword at me.
-Kaaang!
A solid metal sound rang out.
-Gagagak!
His and my swords interlocked, competing for strength.
“f*ck! Almost done, what are you doing? What are you? I haven’t heard of any first year students reaching the halfway point of 3 stars… !”
I ignored Niloc’s words and shouted to Rosaria.
“Princess! “Run away now!”
“Wow… !”
Rosalia, who had been sitting down with her legs loose, must have finally come to her senses at my words, and she quickly frowned and stretched out her hand towards me.
And a yellow magic circle bloomed from her hand.
It was a muscle strengthening type of magic.
My body glowed yellow for a moment.
-Ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!
The sword that was interlocking with Nilok gradually began to tilt towards Nilok.
He was outnumbered.
“f*ck! f*ck you! “What are you-!!”
“Ugh!”
His expression was distorted as if he felt unfair.
If he was a pure 3-star level player, it would have been a dangerous situation.
I have a wooden sword, and that one has a real sword.
If a wooden sword and an iron sword with equal aura collide, the wooden sword will break.
Even if I was wearing a dark horse, it was not enough to destroy my aura because it was a form that imitated magical power.
Warlocks have an advantage over curse-type magic rather than fighting by imitating Aurors.
If we continue like this, we will be able to cut down Niloc.
“It was saved for the purpose of attacking the princess, but… ! “I can’t help it!”
“…… !”
Nilok began to mutter something.
An ominous black energy began to bloom from his body.
No matter how much I am, I don’t know every single magic that appears in the narrative.
At that time, I was worried about what he was using.
Nilok finished chanting.
As soon as he did that, the black energy he gave off began to rush towards me.
“…… !”
“hahahahaha! You brought it all on yourself! “You idiot!”
What is it?
My body became increasingly heavy.
Is it a curse-type black magic?
As his body became heavier, Nilok’s sword, which was outnumbered, began to gradually rise.
In an instant, we were in the opposite position and I was at a disadvantage.
“Princess!”
“Emil! Come on him… !”
-aaah!
“aaah!”
Emil, who joined us late, ran towards me and cut down Niloc.
Nilok, who was clashing his swords, fell down, spurting blood.
“Huh, huh….”
Even though the caster died, my body was still heavy.
It wasn’t just heavy.
The Danjeon was flowing backwards.
Magic power had seeped into his dark horse and he was showing signs of abnormality.
If things continue like this, we will end up in a state of panic.
Rosaria ran towards me and was using purification magic, but it had no effect.
“It’s no use…” Priests! Bring in the priest! Emil!”
“Yes! Princess!”
Emil ran out of the stadium.
I sat down with my wooden sword stuck in the ground.
My danjeon flowed backwards and my body became so heavy that it felt like it was going to melt.
The princess continued to use purification magic, but there was no response.
A more advanced level of purification magic was needed.
I didn’t think I could last until then.
I saw Cain standing there looking confused.
… What a dog.
This is what happened because I did the work that idiot should have done.
Because of this, her relationship with Rosaria will also not be easy to shake off.
“… Draft!”
I was so dazed that I saw Hedy running from afar with a worried look on her face.
… Was this the second time she fainted in front of her?
Amid the seriousness, I burst into laughter.
What kind of expression will she have when she wakes up?
No, is it possible to wake up?
It was impossible to continue thinking any longer.
I lost my mind like that.