With Lutra’s victory, the inheritance ceremony has come to an end .
The right to the throne was given to Lutra and although she hadn’t told me about her decision, I’m sure that she would make the right choice .
After waving to the audience, the audience cheers became even louder as Lutra had proven herself with her strength, as the second coming of Senki Renoir making her popularity rise higher than before . Even after exiting the ring together with ger, the cheers continued on .
[I won . Yuuyojisama, it’s your turn now . ] (Lutra)
[Of course . Do you think that I would lose?] (Yuuya)
[Fufu, that’s true . I can’t imagine that at all . ] (Lutra)
That was an overstatement as I’ve lost countless times in my life until now… Though I don’t recall losing a single match ever since I reset my level . Lutra’s work wasn’t over yet as there was still a ceremony to celebrate the new ruler of the Laluzulu kingdom later .
However its preparations took awhile to complete as the victor wasn’t known until the finals, thus another event was hosted to keep everyone occupied . It was a battle to determine the strongest knight in the kingdom . The strongest knights sent by their units as well as knights sent by the royal family would be competing in the tournament .
Of course, I was being sent as Lutra’s knight .
The rules of the battle were to land a hit on a vital point on the opponent’s body using a dull blade . This was the tournament that I won previous with a heavy heart as the rules made it possible . With these rules, ending the battle in one hit was possible as someone who focused on polishing his swordsmanship .
This was how I was dubbed the Strongest Weakest Knight as someone who won the tournament, but could never win in a normal fight . This made me feel as if I had disrespected the knights while making them regret that they could not win the tournament . This was why I decided to overwhelm my compet.i.tors convincingly as the strongest knight .
The battle of the knights was about to begin in thirty minutes as me and Lutra parted ways in the coliseum . Lutra went to prepare for her ceremony while I went towards the waiting room . Right before we separated, Lutra grabbed my hand and stopped me before kissing me on my cheek .
[M . . Maybe, since I just won my match, I could share some of my luck with you . So, Yuuyojisama . Good luck . ] (Lutra)
Lutra began to walk away with red ears .
[Another reason for me not to lose huh . ] (Yuuya)
Since I’m her knight, I just couldn’t betray my princess’s expectations . Since I received a blessing from the G.o.ddess of victory, then I wouldn’t be a man if I lost .
Advertis.e.m.e.ntThere were about twenty people who were considered the strongest knights in the kingdom competing in the tournament . The moment I entered the waiting room, everyone’s eyes turned to me . The compet.i.tors who had partic.i.p.ated in the previous tournaments had looks of admiration, some had looks of hostility and people who directed their curiosity towards me . I walked towards a chair in the corner of the room and sat there as I observed everyone in the room .
As expected of the knight order, only the cream of the crop was present as well as the personal knights of the other royals .
… That’s why I was burning with excitement .
I look forward to the start of the tournament .
Since a knockout stage with twenty partic.i.p.ants would take too long, the first four matches were qualifying matches with several people instead . Dividing it’s partic.i.p.ants depending on their achievements and levels, we were divided into four groups of five partic.i.p.ants .
Each battle would be a battle royale and the last man standing would move forward to the knockout stage . Since the ring was too small for twenty people, the ring was currently being expanded and separated with part.i.tions to allow the four groups to battle simultaneously .
The audience’s excitement reached its peak as the knights began walking onto the ring . Although this battle received a lot of attention, there was another reason for it . Since this tournament wasn’t a sacred ceremony like the inheritance ceremony, placing bets was allowed as aristocrats and rich merchants began betting ridiculous amounts of money into the battles .
Since large sums of money was involved in these battles, the audience’s enthusiasm was increasing at an accelerated rate .
By the way, I was allocated the number one and would be partic.i.p.ating in group A . Since the number was allocated depending on the person’s achievements, I was placed number one not due to my ability but my achievement as a previous victor . Since it was a gambling session recognized by the kingdom, a magic tool projecting the bets as well as the possible payout amounts for each group was used . Currently I was the third most popular knight while the most popular knight by a large margin was the vice leader of the fifth knight order in the group . Although it was more common to bet on the stronger partic.i.p.ants aka the lower numbered partic.i.p.ants, battle royales were valued differently .
The best strategy for upsetting the tournament was to form a united front and defeat the favourites of the tournament . In addition to that, I was an outsider when it came to the other partic.i.p.ants as the other four partic.i.p.ants were all part of the knight order who were trained to cooperate, making it easy for them to form a team . It was painfully obvious that a one versus four battle was about to occur in my group which meant that the audience were less inclined to bet onto me .
[Well, it could also be because of my cla.s.s . ] (Yuuya)
Since the person’s cla.s.s was listed next to their name, my popularity was much lower due to my cla.s.s as a magic knight . Since this was a tournament to determine the strongest knight, skills were allowed whereas magic wasn’t . Since a magic knight was strictly inferior to a normal warrior in close combat, this was a huge handicap for a magic knight . The referees from each group began to confirm their respective partic.i.p.ants as the battle started .
The battle has begun .
In group A, the other four knights lined up in a semicircle around me without hiding the fact that I was the main target . The vice captain of the fifth knight order was an excellent commander while the other three looked oppressing .
[Is fighting a magic knight in a four to one battle the pride of a knight?] (Yuuya)
[Yuuya Grandwood, I admire you . Previously, the partic.i.p.ant who was weaker than everyone stood above everyone else purely with his skill with the sword . It was someone who was adored and admired by everyone, including me . ]
I did think that he was familiar, it turns out that he was one of the squires who were watching me in the tournament . That young man has already become a vice-captain of a knight order .
[Somehow, you’ve managed to become stronger than before . This is our only way to win… I need to spare my knight order the humiliation of losing to a foreigner . It doesn’t matter what methods we resort to, we will win!]
With perfect coordination, the knights began closing in on me as the semicircle began to shrink . I was surrounded on all sides by the top knights, making it difficult to defeat even a single one of them . To top it all off, I wasn’t able to show my full ability against them unlike the level fify monsters . It was difficult for me to defeat two level fifty monsters with Lutra, much less hide my true abilities against them for the tournament .
However, my trump card wasn’t shown then as I began to breathe deeply .
The ability I uncovered when I face death in the eyes, and had honed for more than a decade . After obtaining the ability to perceive the blessing of the status in my body, I began to notice the white aura flowing and overflowing in my everyday life, gaining the ability to control it .
By pulling my consciousness deep into my psyche, I forcefully pull out the white aura from my body and pushed it into my legs, pushing up my status .
This was something I called “opening the door”, the only thing I would call my trump card .
[Sorry . ] (Yuuya)
The vice captain of the knight order was blown away as he collapsed onto the ground .
Opening the door and concentrating the power on my legs, I released the fastest Shukuji possible while thrusting my blade forward as quickly as possible with a single hand resulting in a dash that doesn’t even get perceived by my opponents . Using this, I took out the vice captain while his subordinates were focused on surrounding me .
[Vice captain!]
[I-, I could even see it . Is that even possible?]
[Don’t panic, there’s still three of us left . ]
I closed the door as the white aura was as exhausting as it was powerful . I would have to conserve my stamina for the battles after this as I’ve already defeated the vice captain responsible for their cooperation . This battle can be won even without opening the door as I continued to walk towards my next target .
The qualifiers has been decided as the winner of each block has been confirmed .
The winners for each block were me, Prince Aleck’s knight, the captain of the knight order and a young knight of the knight order . Every block ended as expected aside from block D as cries of joy and frustration could be heard . With this, the matches for the final knockout stages were announced with a projection magic tool .
The partic.i.p.ants for the first round was me and the captain of the knight order while Prince Aleck’s knight was battling against the young knight . Among the audience, foodstands were loudly advertising their food and alcohol as the final rounds were announced . People were running around placing bets on the matches while buying tickets to the actual matches themselves .
[… . That was dangerous . ] (Yuuya)
As expected of the elite knights of the Laluzulu Knight order . I was completely pushed to a corner .
Having a numbers advantage in a battle was tremendous as I immediately took out the enemy’s leader and removing their chain of command . I would have lost otherwise as there were several dangerous moments even after defeating their leader . Since the allocated break was increased to an hour to allow the audience to place their bets, it was possible for me to return to the VIP seats to meet up with the girls while catching my breath .
Returning to my seat, the girls were still there as I realized that they were watching my battle .
[Yuuya, that was amazing! Luna has never seen such a fast and powerful thrust!] (Luna)
[Yes, you’ve never showed that to me either . . Yuuya, you can’t explain that without saying that it’s a skill . Even so with your current status, the calculations aren’t right . Thinking about it, there has been several times you’ve showed us things that aren’t possible with your stats . ] (Phil)
As expected of Phil, she deduced it right away .
[Right before I reset my level, I had obtained a power to increase my stats equal to an average person . Since it was something that couldn’t be detected just by my status alone, it gave me the chance to defeat the vice captain immediately who had grasped the limit of my status . ] (Yuuya)
[What the . That’s amazing!? Yuuyniisan, teach me that too!] (Til)
I shook my head as I refused to explain the white aura for two reasons .
[Luna gets it somehow . The moment Yuuya became fast, everything turned white!] (Luna)
[Lies, I didn’t see anything you know . ] (Til)
[Same for me . ] (Phil)
Shockingly, it seems Luna was able to see the white aura .
The first reason why I didn’t want to teach anybody about the aura, was because it was extremely dangerous to do so . It took a near-death experience for me to recognize the aura flowing out of my body .
[If you can’t see the aura, then I won’t be able to teach you . Luna on the other hand might be able to do it . ] (Yuuya)
[Uhn! Yuuya, teach me!] (Luna)
[Ughh, this is frustrating . I’ll definitely learn to see it!] (Til)
Til looked frustrated as she squeezed Luna’s nose .
[You may have the talent, but it’s still too early for me to teach Luna . If used incorrectly, you won’t be able to move a single finger . Think back to what happened in Rumberg with the Killer Ape . That wasn’t because I took too much damage from its attacks, but because I had overused the white aura . ] (Yuuya)
That was the second reason . You wouldn’t be able to move after using it . Although there was a limit to how much you could use, it varied depending on your physical condition and strength . Unless you could gauge your own physical condition perfectly, it will be dangerous .
[Yuuya, it’s too early but once Luna grows stronger, will you teach me?] (Luna)
[Ah . Sure, I promise . If that time comes I’ll teach Luna . ] (Yuuya)
[Hurray!] (Luna)
I had told the girls to bet on me yesterday as I was familiar with the gambling culture . At the very least, I made sure to keep a reserve of cash we would need for our journey . However, it was a little worrisome as we had a large amount of money hence the amount we had placed was large as well . Since this was the biggest event of the kingdom, there were many aristocrats and rich merchants partic.i.p.ating and placing large sums of money into the pool, which drastically reduces the amount we could earn by winning the bet . However, it was still a profit .
That’s why the magic knight’s rating was low .
However, unlike the qualifying round, the knockout stage consisted of one versus one battles .
[It’s time for me to head back . I’ll do my best for the rest of the tournament . When I come back, I’ll be the strongest knight . ] (Yuuya)
[Yuuya, do your best!] (Luna)
[If you win, then you can get a nice private reward from me! Yuuyniisan, I’ll let you look at my chest every now and then . ] (Til)
[… . Til . By a reward you mean a punishment right?] (Phil)
[Hiiieee . Oneechan, forgive me it’s just a joke . ] (Til)
It’s nice to hear that they are still full of energy . I’ve gotten a good break before the final although it’s a shame I didn’t get to meet Lutra .
Let’s be sure to win the two remaining matches convincingly .