This has never been done before. No, the victory should be unassailable, and convinced that it was, Isle found an obvious contradiction in the map he was looking at and turned his thoughts to the fullest as many as he could think of countless times.

　Not enough orders. To be precise, he couldn't see the soldiers that Tesfia had ordered to move. That is something that is hard to distinguish when the other soldier is in action. However, just because it's hard to tell them apart is not the same as being completely blind to them.

　The move of consuming orders in vain was also considered, but that is not a meaningful choice. It's not rational. Even if there was an intention to confuse the other party, what is the point of consuming it now and at this time?
　Yes, there is no point in anything. It's like asking Isle to hurry up and settle the matter since the Knight 《Knight》 is completely unable to fight and is out of the fight.

　Considering Tesfia's character, it was an unlikely choice.

　Then is it a mistake? The most likely scenario now is if Tesfia pressed the command button unconsciously and as an unavoidable force majeure. It would consume a number of times and therefore the order must be given.
　No, there should still be some kind of movement. The act of not moving any troops, even if it is to retreat, makes Isle suspicious.

　It's a good thing that the other soldiers have not been overlooked since the time of mapping. There is a possibility that they should have. I'm sure they know for sure.
　It's a good idea to be able to have a good time with them.

　He calculates a rational reason in his brain and gradually begins to bite his nails out of impatience. There wasn't enough time to resolve the uncomfortable feeling that something was wrong. This uncomfortable feeling had been coiling up for much longer.
　Now, it was finally noticed by Isle as an uncomfortable feeling that finally bloated. But by that time, it was no longer a haze of discomfort, and the possibility emerged that the other party's intentions were not limited to the sound of the unleashed assassin's footsteps being so imminent that they were snatching at his eardrums.

　Aile's heart jumps, and he hears the unnatural sound of leaf rubbing behind him. At the same time, he stands on a general hairspray, leading him to one conclusion.

　Immediately, he hits the command button repeatedly and gives Silsila an order.

''Return immediately!　Quickly, now!　.........?

　It was like an instinct, a reflex. When he recognized the sound as unnatural, Isle looked back. It was probably a natural human behavior.
　One thing is for sure, that must have been a sight that Ail didn't want to see.

'Who ... who is it?　You yeah!!!!

　His voice, which had turned to grief, spurred a latent fear and his throat began to tremble on its own. It probably had something to do with the fact that it was the first time he'd ever seen it, the first time he'd ever done it.


　♢ ♢ ♢


　The soldier was surprisingly middle-aged. The battle dress he was wearing was also of the highest quality. However, the reason why I have a sense of simplicity is because it definitely doesn't suit me. From the way he dresses and his appearance, it's a bit strange to call him a substitute.
　As a matter of fact, he was the first person to raise his hand to convene Froese. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that he felt a great debt of gratitude.

　In terms of aristocracy, he belonged to a lower class. Such a man was not very aristocratic and was more of a common man's race. He was not extravagant, and his house was not particularly large. The family lived in harmony with their neighbors to a fault.
　He had no desire to be a magician, and the crown of nobility was supposed to end in a man's generation. The only daughter has no magical talent, and she was forced to go to another family to become an apprentice maid. The daughter was soon courted by the master.

　The daughter of a lowly nobleman knew that this was inevitable, but she did not give her body to him. The man, her father, did not blame her for that. In fact, he even blamed himself for it.
　But in doing so, the daughter had scratched her master with her fingernails. That was the beginning of the whole thing. I couldn't help but blame myself for not being able to see that I was an insidious aristocrat, as my head kept falling down begging for forgiveness. As a result, he was saddled with a huge debt and the family was lost.

　Their savings were quickly exhausted, and the man bowed to countless noblemen, sometimes trampled on and stained his forehead, in the hope that his daughter would be the only one.

　He was able to eat for a few months from his neighbors' association, but even that was a pale shadow of his former self as his wife and daughter grew thinner and thinner by the day.
　His attempts to find work have been rebuffed at every turn, as if the aristocrat he's dealing with is backing him up. Still, the man was able to get a job at a neighborhood shop that had been good to him on the outskirts of the small town.

　A small town factory, sorting and processing metal with AWR materials. It was simple work and paid poorly, but he couldn't afford to let his family starve, so he worked himself to the bone. But that didn't last long.

　The man had no idea what had happened. When he came to work, he found the small factory roaring and burning. The man could do nothing but stand there, stunned by the warlike noise around him.

　He could see the owner of the factory, who had befriended him at a distance from the sparks of the fire, bending his knees and pounding the ground with difficulty.


　From then on, days went by without the man taking even one meal a day. He hadn't seen a family that was poor but never ceased to smile since that day. It was too much.

　The man was proud to have lived a life he was not ashamed of, and that will continue to be the case. A man with nothing to show for it was the only thing he was proud of, living righteously in the family name he had inherited from his parents. He has lived a life that he is not ashamed of, a life that he can be proud of, no matter who asks him. He is not a wealthy man, and yet he has met the best wife in the world, and he is blessed with children.

　But that is no longer the case. He looks at his wife, at his daughter, and day by day he becomes more determined to cross the line. Whether that decision was wrong or not, the man does not know. But no matter how many times he repeated it, his actions would not have changed. The reason is that he found out that it was the nobleman who set the fire.

　If AWR had sold, surely he wouldn't have done this. But the man couldn't give up his power to protect his family in the end.

　The man crept in under the cover of night. To the home of a nobleman who had disgraced himself, to the home of a vile man who would lay a hand on his daughter.
　The hazy vision was because of the continued starvation. Still single-mindedly, he scrambled up the wall with his martial sword in one hand and stunned the guards from behind with all his might.
　His breathing ceased to be rough and his heart tightened with guilt. It's all I can do as I make a vow to never kill in the face of the source. I wasn't even confident that I could truly keep it. All I had to do was just ... just to get back enough money and goods to eat.

　Even in a situation like this, the man didn't prioritize driving his opponent to ruin. He wanted to one day apologize to the factory owner who had treated him so well, but still, his priority was always his family.

　But a little hope did not excuse his misdeeds. Somewhere along the line, the world calls rationality to a man an absurdity. He couldn't see it, the man thought to himself, as he looked at the woman in front of him.

　He didn't know why Frose Favell was here, but he had been abandoned. That much he could understand. He couldn't stop everything from going from bad to worse.
　You wouldn't dream that there would be some three noblemen who happened to sneak in.

　But to such a man, Froese simply extends his hand.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on. After hearing the whole story, Froese imposes his own sanctions.
　The opposing nobles belonged to the faction of Ummulina, but they didn't lend a hand as if they had been abandoned.

　Originally, the Fevers had planned to contact a man who was a subordinate nobleman once, but the man's house had already been seized after he had been seized. After investigating the circumstances, it seems that they came across the owner of this house. Just then, it was arson.

　The investigation by the Favell family's butler had brought everything to Froese's ears, and he had come to declare war on this house.

　From then on, the man was entrusted with a giddy warmth that made him live in a dream. The family had regained the foreclosed house, and the factory was rebuilt under the Favell family, with the same owners and employees.
　The man, of course, explained his situation to the former owner of the factory many times and bowed more times than he could count.

　The daughter keeps up appearances for both of them by sending her daughter to the Favell family for service. But he felt that this would not preserve anything for the man. All he could do was cry like copious tears and spit out endless words of thanks.

　But in this, at least, a measure was taken that would benefit Froese. That is, the man remains a nobleman. Of course, there was no objection to the man.

　That's why this nobleman's ruling (tenbram) is an opportunity to return the favor, if only a little. The fact that he came forward without any pretense is exactly what made him come forward without a moment's hesitation.
　His daughter's name is [Minasha Bronsch], my darling daughter.
　And a man even thinks that no matter what he throws down, it is not enough if he can repay the Feivel family for giving him the opportunity to bring back his wife's smile.

　Cicero Bronsch scrambles through the grass, breathing hard, and hides himself in the trees to gain visibility.

(Thank you, Mr. Froese, for giving me the opportunity to repay you a little favor.)

　He put even more force into the AWR in his hand and jumped out of the bushes at once.

'Who ... who are you ... who are you ... you are aaaaah!
'Ooohhhh!

　Hunching over, Ail covered his face with his arms and closed his eyes. He choked on his feet and got on his ass.
　Cicero's sword cleaves right across and cuts off.

　It was a banner that fell with a thud. Cicero picked up the proof of victory that fell at the feet of the Isle and held it high.

　The buzzer sounds high and clear to announce the conclusion to the entire match. The name of the winner, Tesfia, followed.


　♢ ♢ ♢


　オルネウスとの戦闘がピタリと止まり、アルスはホッと安堵した。終始オルネウスは腕輪を狙う事をしなかったのだ。
　確実に肉体的な負傷を狙った戦いだ。それでも押されるアルスはほぼ全力に近い戦いを繰り広げていた。

　魔法を制限された状況では苦戦は免れない。ましてやオルネウスの魔力反発【ギルティ・ギフト】は近接戦闘において絶大な力を発揮する。
　少しでも決着が遅ければどうなったか。

　アルスは左腕を掴まれる変わりに右手の先端に魔力刀を形成し、オルネウスの左肘へ。
　お互いが負傷する結果は直前で有耶無耶になる。それこそ後、コンマ数秒終了のブザーが遅ければアルスは左腕を内側から破裂され、オルネウスは肘から魔力刀を生やしていただろう。

　そういう戦いだった。

　一瞬の静寂の後、二人は弾かれたように距離を取る。

「残念な結果ですが、楽しめました。次会う時は全力で……」

　そう言うとオルネウスは勝敗に関しては無関心を貫き、淡泊な表情で踵を返した。
　アルスは完全に姿が消えるまでその背中を無言で見ている。

「もうやりたくはない相手だな」

　一人溢したアルスは思考を切り替えて、自陣へと引き返した。一体テスフィアが何をしたのか、それをアルスは推測するのではなく本人に訊くことにする。
　そのほうがいいのだろう。やはり最後は彼女自身が打開する鍵を自ら手にしたのだから。