Siksiksiksiks: "......
　The Dragon Girl, who was crying behind her back as she hugged Belle, had calmed down when the first round of the tournament was coming to an end.
　The tournament has been apportioned by fair lottery to the twelve players.
　That's why Alma versus the deputy commander and Bernold's wife versus the beastman Kell, a combination that would have been a waste of the first round.

　But the battle between Alma and the vice commander ended with the vice commander on the defensive from start to finish.
　Alma, with her fast-moving, poisonous attack that would kill her if she were scratched by a single blow, was the worst opponent for the slow, defensive-oriented vice commander.

　By comparison, the battle between Kell and Bernold's wife was very heated.
　The first half of the battle was dominated by Bernold's wife with magic, but after her magic power diminished and she began to suppress her power, Kell's speed became fierce and he defeated her.
　It's a bit of a dilemma, but if Bernold's wife had been prepared to run out of magic power and kept firing her full force of magic, she would have fallen to Kell.
　Well, seeing that Kell didn't change her expression at all, she probably decided that even if she continued to do this, she would lose due to her magic power running out.
　In fact, he had been hit several times, and he was pretty badly damaged.
　Considering that, should I praise Kel's tactics?

"Oh, Nick won. I didn't expect Nick to be this strong: ......
　It looks like the battle between Raza, the last old-timer, and Nick, the new guy, is over.
　It was a battle of endurance with no dirty tricks, but it was a good battle.


Now we have the top eight. Vann and Hermann, Van, Alma, Rob, Kell, Stan and Nick. The quarterfinals are going to be interesting to see how Kell and Stan do in the quarterfinals.
　The guys who played well in their respective qualifying groups have been solid winners.
　Assuming Bernhardt, Hermann and Alma survive, ...... it will be interesting to see what happens with the remaining slots.

Yeah ...... I have a feeling Kell will win.

I'm not so sure about that.


　30 minutes later
　Just as I thought, Bernolt and Alma won without a hitch .
　Alma, I knew I should have seeded her: ....... The poisonous sword and fighting style are too good together .
　Next time, I should seed the best four finishers this time.

　And now the battle that mattered most in the quarterfinals began.

"Huh?　Don't you use magic?

I think he thought he couldn't win with less skilled magic.
　Bernolt's wife couldn't win. You know you can't win with your own magic.
　And he uses magic now but he joined this order with nothing more than his sword. His sword should be strong enough .

''Yes ...... I thought Kel would win easily, but I was wrong.

I think Stan's going to win, rather than the other way around.
　She is firmly receiving Kell's attack with her sword and using her magic to kill Kell's speed.
　Kell seems to be helpless at this.

''It's just like your sister-in-law's fighting style: ....... Come to think of it, your sister-in-law once beat up an entire group of knights.
　Yeah, he said something like that.

''I'm not quite as good as my sister, but it looks like Stan will continue to be stronger for that.
　Just as I was saying this, the sword plunged into Kell's chest.
　It seems that he was killed before he could think of a countermeasure.

Ah~ my expectations were wrong~

'Well, that's how strong they all are,'
　Depending on the combination, a completely different person would have survived.


"All right, now it's time for the semifinals. After all, it's going to be Bernolt versus Alma, a master and student showdown.

''I can't predict who's going to win this one. In my normal practice, I've never seen Mr. Bernhardt lose, but Alma is more suited to real competition. ......
　You wouldn't be able to use a poisoned sword in a normal mock battle.

The key to victory will be Alma's skills.


　SIDE: Alma.

　Ugh ...... I'm nervous.
　I've finally come this far . I've been preparing for this match today, but I still don't feel like I can win .......
　Even with my skills, I've never been able to win against Mr. Bernolt so far, and I don't think that move I've been hiding ...... is going to work.

''It's okay . I'm sure Alma will be able to win. You can use the sword that your master gave you today, right?　We need to be more confident.
　As I was getting nervous, Hermann, who was going to fight next, came up behind me and encouraged me.

"You've got your own game to go to and you can afford it. ......

Well, you want to decide who's stronger?　I don't want you to lose.
　You'd think I'd be encouraging you, but you're being nasty.

Watch ......　Mr. Bernold and you have it easy!

It'll be fun. Good luck with that.

Thank you.
　Encouraged by Hermann, I made my entrance with pride.


. .......
　They enter the arena, face each other, and not a word is spoken, but they draw their swords.

Then let the action begin.
　As soon as I heard Master Leonce's voice, Mr. Bernold rushed in .
　You're going to stick around and fight to prevent me from using my sword's flying slashes. .......
　My strength is weak, so if I'm on the receiving end, I'll lose immediately.


　I should use my speed to attack from me.

　While avoiding Mr. Bernold's assault, I attack from right beside him.
　It was easily defended, but I attacked more and more without stopping.

　I shouldn't be in a hurry, but ...... if this is the case, it will be the same as usual.
　Mr. Bernhardt is calmly continuing to defend himself, looking for an opening to show me one day.
　At this distance, I'll be beaten one day.
　But when I try to keep my distance, it's an opening: .......

　Well, I knew this was coming.
　I've been thinking about how to deal with it. It's not quite perfect, and I'm not sure it will work.
　But I'd have to take a gamble or two rather than wait to lose anyway ...... or .

　I jumped as hard as I could towards the back, pretending to go around my back.
　I let fly a poisonous slash at Bernold-san, who was momentarily delayed in his reaction.
　If this one rubs a little, I'll win.
　But that wasn't going to happen, and Mr. Bernolt came toward me while avoiding the slash.

　Now, here's the battle.
　I'm going to keep firing as many slashes as I can at Mr. Bernolt.
　Even so, Mr. Bernolt dodges them all while running in a zig-zag fashion.
　Compared to Hermann's special effects, my slashes have a shorter range and shorter distance to fly.
　That's why they'll never hit an opponent at Ms. Bernolt's level unless I'm caught off guard.
　Yes ...... I know that.

　Hmmm. All that's left is to pray that I'll succeed.

　I stopped my slash and went to charge at Mr. Bernolt who was coming towards me.


　SIDE: Leons.

　The skill of penetration looks ...... easy, but in reality it's not.
　You need to not refuse to let a foreign object enter your body, and this is extremely difficult.
　For example, if a sword is about to be thrust into the chest, a person would normally try to avoid it and would naturally tense up in order to resist.
　This skill does not allow that. If the person refuses to allow even a small amount of the foreign object to enter their body, the skill will fail.
　It is a skill that will fail if you tense up even slightly while being cut.
　Normally, you should spend a long time getting used to it.
　But Alma and Hermann had only learned it a couple of days ago.
　The success rate should still be low.

　As I thought about what Alma was about to do now, I couldn't help but think about how hard it would be.
　Now, how far can Alma go?


　SIDE: Alma

　This skill is most effective when you are mindless .
　When the sword flies, I just think about it passing through me mindlessly .

　As I charged, I slipped past Mr. Bernhardt, who swung his sword down as if waiting for me, twisted my body and sent a slash at Mr. Bernhardt's back.
　At this, Mr. Bernhardt no longer has the luxury he had earlier, and he dodges the slash as he rolls away.

　Chance!

　Just as I was thinking this, Mr. Bernolt threw his sword at my eyes.
　Don't get lost . Just blinking is probably not good enough.
　It's okay. I can do it.

　Instead of being afraid, I charged at the sword.
　Mr. Bernhardt looked unusually surprised, as if he thought I would avoid him.
　But I didn't care and slashed at Mr. Bernold as I felt the sword slip through my head.
　Mr. Bernoldt avoided it, but he was a little too late and the tip of his sword touched his right arm slightly.
　Normally, it would be a harmless cut, but with ...... this sword, it was fatal.
　Mr. Bernhardt was poisoned and collapsed.

I'm not quite there yet. If it had been a normal mock battle, I would have been the one to lose.
　It was a victory completely aided by the performance of the sword.
　I still have a long way to go.

Maybe you're right. But a win is a win. We don't want to cheat for our lives. You win with every technique you can muster.
　I found Mr. Bernold, who should have collapsed, but he was awake.
　It looks like he's on the mend.

"Mr. Bernold. ......

That sword that flew into your head, I never thought you'd succeed in slipping through the cracks. I think you're getting better.

Oh, thank you.

Okay. You beat me, so why don't you win?　Because if I lost to Alma, the winner, then I can make excuses too.

All right. I'm gonna win this thing.

Oh. Good luck!
　Watching the back of Mr. Bernhardt, I promised myself that I would win.
　Herman, I will never lose!