Group A
The low rankers fought with blunt weapons. It was a battle royale with fifty people in all. Everyone was your enemy. While you fought the man in front of you, the woman behind you may take you down. If you tried attacking with magic with a wide area of effect, you might find people uniting against you.
It was hard to know what would lead a person to victory in this scenario. But as long as they fought, there would be losers and winners. There would be no draw. And the person that won would get through and move on towards the real battle.
"That one in the silver armor is impressive."
"Such ease of movement."
The fighting style of the man we were staring at was rather cowardly. But some would call it cunning.
…Who knew if it was right or wrong. What I did know, is that it drew attention.
"Oh, again…"
"A great eye…"
"For weakness, it seems…"
There was an Adventurer with a spear and one with a sword. The one with the sword seemed to retreat without closing the distance between them. Running away here would mean a stab in the back. And the spear-wielder advanced as if he had no intention of allowing the opportunity to go to waste. The spear was in range now…it was at that moment, the man with the sword was kicked from behind. He had been distracted by the spear that was poised to attack him at any moment. The spearman was also surprised, after all, the man had come flying towards him.
The newcomer quickly attacked and drove the spearman back with his sword before slamming his weapon in the back of the first swordsman as he tried to get up. In a flash, the newcomer had the advantage.
We were watching this newcomer. A man in light armor that was easy to move in and a blue bandana.
"I bet he"s going to make it to the end."
"Hmm… I don"t like his style, but it"s probably a good strategy for the preliminaries."
It wasn"t the most appealing, but it was smart when surrounded by enemies.
"Hmm…see anyone else that"s interesting…?"
"Senior Asagi, look at that dual-wielder over there."
"…Huh…"
I looked at the contestant that Lemon had pointed at. He was wielding two swords, which he expertly used to bash anyone in his way and out of the boundaries. I was pretty sure that meant they were disqualified. That"s why the area was limited. It was an interesting way of doing things.
Even now, he used his left sword to parry the attack of an axe-wielder, and struck the attacker on the knee with the sword in his right hand. And then he kicked the attacker who had lost his balance. Out of bounds. Yes, it was well-done. I could see that there were already about ten people sitting on the ground behind him.
I guess they had nothing better to do but watch from there, now that they were out. It was amusing how quiet they were.
"…Really, just those two."
"Yes. I think it is them that will move on."
"What? Both of them?"
"Of course. The top two of every group. Senior Asagi, did you not hear the rules?"
"Haha… I overslept."
Actually, I had planned to come at this time. It just seemed like I could ask about such details later. Besides, I wanted to sleep.
"Oh, you really are hopeless, aren"t you?"
"I couldn"t be more embarra.s.sed."
"Very well then, I will tell you all about it!"
"Thank you, I knew I could count on you."
"Hehe. I have no choice."
See. It was easily resolved.
And so junior Adventurer Lemonfrost briefed me on the main rules of the Imperial Sword Tournament.
Two people would move forward in the preliminary game that were currently underway. As for the rest, well, they could try again next year. As it was a nonlethal battle, those who don"t win either surrender, are knocked unconscious, or exit the boundaries. The dual-wielder was making quite a lot of people do the later.
There would be three more preliminary matches after this before the real ones started. The eight fighters who survived the preliminaries, those with recommendations, and the previous winner would then fight. According to Lemon, three people had recommendations. Me and Daniela, plus one other person. Who was it? Well, there would be twelve of us in all.
The main tournament would have similar rules. Surrender, become unconscious or leave the boundary. Of course, there were sometimes unfortunate accidents. But the Empire would apparently supply us with magic decoy tools… That may sound safe, but I did not want to get anywhere close to dying. I had seen the tool used before when fighting against Eve. It took the damage of a lethal blow for you… I wonder how much they could cost?
"…Well, that"s basically it."
"I see. I see. Very interesting. Thank you."
"No, no! I"m glad to be of service!"
Lemon said with a laugh. It was so blinding that I found myself patting her on the head. Maybe I was starting to feel like a senior.
"Uh…Asagi?"
"Think of it as a show of grat.i.tude."
"Ve-very well…"
She nodded and blushed. It was hard to believe that she was older than me… Well, she was probably younger in human years. Maybe being someone"s senior wasn"t always bad… Oh?
"It seems like the battle is finished."
"Yes. It was those two after all."
So it was the bandana guy and the dual-wielder that conquered Group A. They had certainly dominated the match…so it was no surprise.
And that was it for today. It ended quite quickly… People were already starting to get up and leave. I had to return to the inn as well…I was worried about Daniela.
"Well, I gotta go too."
"Oh… You"re leaving already?"
"Yeah. Daniela"s got a hangover."
"I see… Oh, perhaps I should go and see her?"
She asked with a tilt of her head. Charming. And there was no way that I could deny her request. I"m sure that Mister Hipericam would let her in if I explained things.
"All right, let"s go."
"Yes!"
We got up from our seats and headed for the entrance. There were still crowds of people, and we were crushed as the lines moved forward. It sounded like a festival outside. There were rows of street stalls and the smell of food and drink wafted in the air. There hadn"t been anything when I was on my way in…
"The Empire is famous for its "quick stalls"…"
"Quick…what?"
"Quick stalls. It"s like they can smell a crowd of people, and they come here."
So they came out of nowhere and set up their stalls. Phantom food stalls. Right. And they were famous here…Daniela would like that. Maybe I should buy something for her. Might as well treat Junior Lemon to something as well.
And so we bought some food and ate it while we walked back to the north district and the lodging facility.
Mister Hipericam acknowledged us lazily and gave his permission. And so we climbed the stairs and headed for room 315.
"A military facility…I"ve never been in one before."
"Not even when you were a guard?"
"Yes. We are not the same thing, you know."
While they still worked for the Empire, they were still separate when it came down to it. I didn"t know why, but that was the way things were…
We quickly arrived at the door. I put in the key and it unlocked with a loud click. When I opened the door, we were greeted by the white room that appeared to be the height of cleanliness.
"Welcome."
"Thank you."
We entered and I closed the door. Lemon walked in, her eyes scanned the room as it were all very interesting to her. As I followed after her, I heard the sound of running water.
"Hmm…?"
It was coming from the bathing room. Daniela. There was no one else it could be. I checked the bedroom and it was unsurprisingly empty. So she must have finally gotten up and taken a bath…
"Asagi. Daniela doesn"t seem to be here."
"Yeah. I think she"s taking a bath now. I heard the sound of water."
"I see."
"We don"t have anything to serve you, but you can sit here. I"m sure she"ll be out soon."
"Certainly."
She did an exaggerated salute. I chuckled and took off my bag.