TL: Yuki
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When I went out of the waiting room and climbed up the ring. The atmosphere of the audience today was way too different from yesterday.
I guess it"s probably because there are a lot of knights watching this match, right? They look like a bed of roses placed in one part of the stage.
There was also a lined up group of red fully armored people, and every one of them was holding a trumpet and a red flag, so I was thinking that they might be doing a performance before the game starts.
On the luxurious are positioned higher than everyone else, there was a crystal ball at its center the size of a basketball, and I was wondering what it was.
There was an uncle and aunt wearing very luxurious clothes near it, and there were also a lot of knights guarding them so they were probably important guests.
They were not wearing a crown though, so it"s not the King, probably.
「I see, so is this why Ornica said that? 」
The person I am going to fight finally stood in the ring, did Ornica said something about me.
However, the person who stood before me doesn"t really look like a Knight Commander or a Sly Person like I have expected, and he even looks younger from what I have thought. It was a person with bright and good looking face blonde hair and blue eyes that has the impression of a gentleman.
A fanfare from the audience shouting about Knight Commander-sama, and even the female group of the Knights joined in on the clamor as he reaches close to the center of the stage.
「With this, the match is about to start! 」
Looking at the Knight-sama, he was in a position where he stands at attention with one hand on his chest, it"s like what they do in pre-sports event pledges… Maybe I should do it too?
First of all, what was it again? I can"t remember the Knight Captain-sama"s name. If I wasn"t mistaken, it should be Vani… Vanilla? No, it was close to Vanilla Milk.
「Vanil Mirth Crown! 」
「Yes」
Ah yes, that, it was Vanil Mirth.
「Tote! 」
「Wha, what! ? 」
I was surprised when my name was called, I see, so they were going to announce our names here.
「Thank you for taking part in this battle tournament, now before we start the match, His Majesty the King will be giving us his message, let us all listen eagerly! 」
Eh, King-sama, where, I didn"t see anyone who looks like a king though, is that it, well Vanil Mirth-sama was kneeling, eh, should I do that too?
Ah, that"s right, he was a Knight, it"s probably what soldiers do, I guess I don"t have to follow since I"m not really one.
When I was thinking about what to do, a fifty-something year old uncle with a magnificent bear was projected on the crystal ball which I was thinking about how it was used.
He was sitting on a luxurious throne and was adorned with a crown on his head.
He has an atmosphere like a kind yet strict uncle with a mix of majesty, and also added to that is the calculating image he shows on face.
I see, so the king wasn"t able to come here directly, or maybe it was just for security measures since the security on the arena isn"t really as tight.
「I am overjoyed to have our country"s festival be held peacefully this year, this all due to every one of you people doing your best, and all your proper cooperation…… at that I want to offer you all my thanks, and then to the partic.i.p.ants, Tote」
「Ha, Hai」
Eh, why was I called, I didn"t do anything bad you know. Probably.
「I am asking you this, it has been a few years since Vanil Mirth have reign in this arena, please if you are able to, do your best in order to win」
「Hau, will do my best!!」
The King waves at me after showing a wink. There"s only one think I thought of when seeing a King like this.
（He doesn"t act like a King at all, isn"t he a little too friendly? ）
It probably is.
Well, for the people of the capital, this is probably just a normal scene, and at the moment that I"ve responded, everyone also broke out in a large cheer.
Immediately after that, the knight calmed down the audience in order for the king to continue.
「Vanil Mirth-dono, I am also expecting a fight that wouldn"t make the knights of this kingdom be ashamed of this year.」
「Hai! 」
A loud cheering once again erupted but was immediately put down by the knights.
「That is all from his majesty, now partic.i.p.ant, fight with everything you"ve got and show us the strength of a champion without anything to regret! 」
When the female knight announcer says so, he stood up, unsheathe his sword and made a cros slash in the sky.
I wonder if there"s no standard for a swords length here, it looks like a sword bigger than a one-handed sword but smaller than a two-handed one and can be used one-handed style or two-handed style.
I also noticed that a lot of people prefer not using a shield, like in yesterday"s matches. I wonder if it"s not that popular.
With Vanil Mirth-san fixing his stance, I also prepared and took a fighting pose gripping my fists, and then the referee raises his hand. Ah, I see, so this time we don"t need to be introduced.
「Start the Match!! 」
The bell has been rung but the two of us were still and didn"t move to attack, and it seems like Vanil Mirth-san is also trying to read into what I will be doing so the two of us were only staring at each other.
How can I find an opening in this point, if only I could understand what that person was thinking? I wonder if I should attack first since I can"t really attack from far away, I"ll just probably run close.
◇Third Person PoV――――――
Vanil Mirth was thinking what to do, since the opponent in front of him looks just like an ordinary child.
Of course, if Toto was wearing armor and carry a weapon, he probably wouldn"t be confused and would even consider her a genius《Genius》 because such geniuses exist, and him being one of such.
（Is it fine for me to attack）
Though Ornica did told me about her winning the semifinals, but I didn"t really know anything about how Toto fights, and one more thing is her appearance of not wearing armor making her look more like and ordinary child.
（I could feel a ma.s.sive amount of magic power contained within her though, is she a magician? ）
But Vanil Mirth is a person who doesn"t regret not having such information, and while he was concentrating about how the girl"s mind works, and he lightly relaxes his stance and smiled to the unknown threat.
After that Toto rushes in. It was a natural choice considering her ways of attacking. She had no choice but to close in to deliver an attack because of her fighting style.
（First is to check the reaction, how will an S Rank react）
Knowing the probability of a counter attack, instead of jumping straight to attack just like what she did before, she headed straight below him and feints to aim at his torso while preparing to jump back at any moment.
（It was good that I was trained by my mom to fix my awkward movements, there will only be two results for this attack, either to avoid or block and counter）
（How fast, of it"s like this, then she certainly has considerable physical power……）
The moment Toto rushed towards him, he was confused for a bit, he immediately tried to calm down and react countering with his sword, but the result was not something he expected with Toto brushing off the counter and moving away.
「Almost got me」
「I guessー」
Laughing as she answers back, Toto looks even more like a child playing around, but now Vanil Mirth has somewhat grasped Toto"s ability.
（I see, having that ma.s.sive magical power improve her physical ability, she certainly would be able to deploy something on the same level as solid armor, it also seems fine even if she becomes a bit reckless ）
Having grasped a bit of her features, Vanil Mirth this time moved to offense and attacked aggressively.
First is basic light swing, then powerful horizontal and vertical slashes and some even faster that the eye attacks, but Toto was able to successfully evade and backed away.
Vanil Mirth continued the pursuit and the chain of attacks, but with Toto"s strong dynamic vision and speed, she was able to evade all attacks to the limit.
Then as their gazes cross each other, Vanil Mirth instantly twists the handle of his sword and delivered a quick strike from the side which looks like a powerful horizontal slash.
Toto tried to avoid by squatting down but the sword"s movement stopped halfway and headed straight for her.
「Uwa, dangerous」
「Prepare yourself! 」
『Toto, you can do it, you don"t have to forcibly stop the a.s.sault, for example』
I remember my mom"s teachings, and she told me that I have to make use of my strong dynamic vision. Although I would need 《Shield》, I have to do it barehanded.
The moment the sword was dropped straight to me from above, I immediately decided to accept the attack and my arm blocked the trajectory of the sword.
I was overwhelmed for a moment, but I somehow managed to deflect it.
After the successful defense as I blocked the sword, I made a slight back step to open the distance between us.
Again, I was cut! It was wounded!!
Looking at the damage, it"s not as much as the damaged I received from Benihansan, but the cut was slightly deeper and I was bleeding.
It was amazing, and it reminded me of a sensation when I accidentally cut my finger with a kitchen knife.
And now I once again notice, that it seems like my body also could tolerate pain.
In this case, at first I was thinking of holding back in my power just like my past battles, but now I feel something else, my worries from before have now disappeared and I don"t need to worry about it anymore.
Also from this point on, I don"t have problems blocking but it will definitely hurt if I continue receiving that sword attack, and the attacks would definitely be stronger than what my arm received from before.
「I was expecting for you to have strong defense, but I didn"t expect that you would be able to actually deflect my sword」
That"s what Vanil Mirth said but somehow he now looks even happier about it, ah he looks like he completely lost it, hey this guy is acting weird, somebody help me.
「Will, will be serious from now on」
「Yeah, that"s right, I am also more motivated now」
Vanil Mirth stretched a bit and swings his sword in a circle, and then returned to taking a stance.
At the moment, it was not yet a big deal so I took a short breath and calm myself down to prepare for the continuation.