Chapter 93

The main matches of the royal tournament. As it was early in the morning, there were many sightseeing visitors crowded about the seats that had been placed on the plaza.

“Would you want some alcohol, a boxed lunch or perhaps a sun shade~”

Even if the world changes it seemed business stayed the same, as there were pedlars raising their voices all over the place.

“Limited edition food for the royal tournament, you can’t get it anywhere but here~”

They have special edition goods in this world as well it seemed.

I sat in the tent meant for contestants which was closer to the ring compared to the rest of the guests, mumbling about these trivial matters to myself as I watched the match.

The match being held right now was the second match of round 1. The Elite Magician vs The Magic Swordsman♀.

The battle began with the Elite Magician taking the upper hand, holding distance and constantly firing water b.a.l.l.s from afar.

As the Magic Swordsman♀ became drenched and her clothes see-through, the spectators heated up in excitement.

She seemed to be able to resist the magic well, but lacked her own winning move.

Let’s look back at the first match of round 1 at this juncture.

Oddly enough, it was also a battle of a Magician vs a Swordsman, similar to this one.

The Swordsman was continually attacked by long-range magic and lost one-sidedly without being able to do anything.

The difference was the gender of the Swordsman and the fact that she was actually fighting back.

She had been trying to conjure fire in her hand since a while ago but it had been extinguished by water every time.

It appeared that she was insistent on using fire magic though.

As defeat seemed inevitable, she probably wanted to get at least one hit in.

As her legs were faltering, finally a hint of smoke rising was seen.

“She’s got grit, that

magic swordsman.”

“True, but soon it’ll be…”

About the same time as Lux sitting beside me grumbled those words, the Magic Swordsman fell to the ground.

Apparently, it seemed as if she had lost consciousness.

The relied squad immediately rushed over to help her.

“And with that, the 2nd match is over.”

“Then it’s finally time for Hibiki to appear.”

The 3rd match was between me and the Gale Hero.

[Well then, 2 matches have finished so far, with both of the compet.i.tors exempt from the preliminaries winning.]

[Those exempt from the preliminaries are proven fighters, so it’s not unreasonable that they won.]

[I see.]

As I got told to prepare and started my stretching, I heard some odd commentary.

It was not present in the the matches till now. It was probably done through wind magic or something. It was broadcasted loudly as if through a megaphone, reaching everyone in the plaza.

[Finally, the next fight is one we’ve all been waiting for, a [Hero Candidate] has finally arrived!]

[The [Gale Hero] has quite the reputation even amongst wind magicians. Seeing what he can pull off is something to look forward to.]

I listened intently, but no words about me were spoken of.

That was fine though. It was just proof that I had done well in not drawing attention.

“Alright, it’s about time I got serious.”

The reason I was getting a bit serious was because as the rumors would suggest, the [Gale Hero] was quite strong. There was no other motive there.

I entered the ring as indicated by the official.

As I entered, Tiger was already standing there with a big smirk on his face

“How nice of you to come all the way here just to get beat up. And here I was thinking of not embarra.s.sing you on stage.”

“Sorry, my principle is to only accept fights I won’t lose.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Don’t make me explain. Basically, why would I run when I finally got an opponent I can win

win against? That is what I was saying.”

“…You little..!!”

This guy, his reactions were so slow. Not unlike when he threw a tantrum in the store, he surrounded the arena with wind.

The referee hastily signaled for the match to begin, and ran off the stage.

Before earning the nickname of the [Gale Hero], he apparently was called [Slaughterer Tiger].

He made friends and foes alike fall victim to his wind.

I held up my sword and poised myself for Tiger’s attack.

“Hyahaa–!”

A strong gust swept through the ring. I promptly used wind magic to alter it’s direction, but the wind had enough strength to blow a person away.

Of course, Tiger was not an exception to that and got blown high into the air towards the heavens.

[Th-this is quite a daring move indeed! Tiger is floating in midair.]

[Getting hit by the gale is what’s making him fly I believe. Nevertheless, such power and accuracy!]

Tiger having gained quite the alt.i.tude, surrounded himself with wind and dived headfirst towards me.

Though, he doesn’t aim directly at me, but rather grazes me lightly with his attack.

“Trying to make fun of me, eh? Well, that just makes this easier.”

As he continued to charge at me, I got a feel for the timing and angle of his attacks.

The wind surrounding him must have sand and pebbles mixed in, as I could see multiple cuts where his skin was exposed. However, because of his 【Self-Regeneration】 they immediately sealed up.

“What’s the matter? You won’t move your limbs?”

Tiger even took his time to call out to me from the air.

“That’s because I haven’t felt the need to move. Recklessly flailing at buzzing flies isn’t my style, you know?”

Tiger, without saying a word began charging at me repeatedly. Most likely he intended on continuing like this until I fell.

Thanks to 【Insight】 I had gotten a good grip on his attacks.

The next time he came at me will be the last.

I

the last.

I heard a wind cutting sound from the sky.

I felt the wind swaying my hair.

Our eyes met. I saw his sneering face. The timing was perfect.

The blade of wind and my steel sword made contact. However, the one going flying was me.

“What just happened!?”

At the moment of contact, something detonated at the base of my feet. I found that I was without any burns, though I had many gashes.

“A compressed air bomb?”

It was likely that he compressed the air at the base of my feet in advance, and released it at the time of my counter resulting in an impromptu bomb.

“Not bad, I suppose his name isn’t just for show.”

I was surprised he saw through my counter.

That guy’s charging attacks still continued on, and because of the earlier explosion I was still in shambles.

“I’ll torture you slowly to death!!”

As stated, without giving me any room to pick myself up the relentless attacks continued.

I guess it can’t be helped with me being in this state, I’ll have to execute my strategy.

However, for this plan to take effect I’ll need some time.

I still had to dodge his attacks numerous times more, without changing my kneeling posture.

I rolled diagonally to the left in order to avoid the attack from the right.

This time he was coming from behind so I avoided it by somersaulting forward, still on my knees.

I avoided his next attack with a cartwheel and spread myself out directly below him and dodge his blows by rolling around.

“I guess it’s about time.”

As I spotted that his charging was getting slower, I got up fast and started preparing my counterattack.

The speed at which he was coming at me was quite sluggish compared to the last time.

With this, even if the ground beneath me exploded again I’ll still hit him properly.

My second crossing with the wind. This time, my steel sword cut through his blades

through his blades of wind and stained them red.

“Absurd! How!?”

Tiger, covered in blood fell onto the ring. The relief squad promptly put him on a stretcher and carried him away.

[What a turn of events! A hero candidate going out in the first round!? What in the world just happened?]

[My guess is that he was simply struck in an unlucky spot.]

Not exactly.

The trick was quite simple. I covered that guy’s surrounding wind with my wind magic, and hit him with a headwind from the direction of travel.

With Tiger being in the middle of his typhoon-like winds, he was only able to feel the speed by the touch on his skin (he can’t accurately confirm at what rate it was accelerating).

Of course, he could partially read the speed by the amount of magic he was consuming but I was sure he wouldn’t have noticed the headwind growing gradually faster.

Well, I didn’t have any obligation to explain this to the public, I’ll just get off the ring with a suggestive grin on my face.

“Amazing, as expected of you Hibiki. I’ve never thought of using wind magic like that before.”

It seemed Lux figured out what I did.

“I’m not as strong as you, so I have to consider a lot of things in order to have a chance at winning.”

‘’Ahaha, and with that you defeated a hero candidate, you really are something, Hibiki.’’

“Nevermind that, your match is up next, right? Don’t you need to prepare?”

“Yeah, I’m itching to fight.”

As we were talking, the plaza was filled with cheers and Lux got called by the official.

“What, is the 4th match already over?”

The official nodded. It seemed the fight was over before it even began.

“So, who won?”

I asked the official for the details.

The 4th match was between the Sickly Girl and a Magician♂. It was clear as day to me who would win the fight.

The official told me and as I antic.i.p.ated, the Sickly Girl won.