Djinn almost collapses at the scene in front of him.
　

　Seeing the approaching Bandit King, Jin stands up, trembling in anger, and releases the killing intent from his body.
　However, at this time, the approaching Bandit King seemed a little strange to me.

''You bastard! Now that's a bit much, by all accounts!

　Hearing Jin's voice that seemed to strike a killing blow, it was obvious that the Bandit King's footsteps had slowed down.
　I stopped Jin, who was about to jump on the bandit king right now, with my wings, and the bandit king seemed a little relieved and started walking again.

''Let go, don't stop, Temma!

'Wait, Jin. You're acting a little strange! And if you look closely, no blood is flowing from Garratt's body (..............)!　

　Jin stares at Garratt after hearing my words.
　If the Bandit King had stabbed Garratt's body, it would be strange if a significant amount of blood hadn't spurted out.

　Seeing that the djinn had gone quiet, the Bandit King slowly lowered Garratt, who was hooked to the end of the axe (........), out of the field.
　The Bandit King then turned to the referee. The ref was also surprised by the Bandit King's actions, but he hurriedly approached Garratt and saw that Garratt was still alive.

'Winner, Amur!'　

　The Bandit King returned to the waiting room after hearing the judges' declaration.
　Many spectators were stunned by the sight, but the referee turned to the audience and stated his opinion that the Bandit King's final blow was not an attempt on Garratt's life, but rather an act to carry him out of the field and defeat him safely.
　The audience agreed with the referee's explanation and applauded the bandit king as he walked away and applauded Garratt for fighting until he was torn to pieces.

　Jin was relieved that Garratt's heart was beating, but he remembered that Garratt was badly injured, if not dead, and was about to carry him on his back and rush to the infirmary.

'Wait, Jin. Let's just give him first aid right here.

　Hearing my words, Jinn took Garratt off his back and laid him down on his side.

"'The Cure' ... 'Aquaheel' ...

　I used two rounds of magic in a row to heal Garratt.
　The wounds on Garratt's body have mostly healed, but he may have hit his head when the bandit king rolled him over, and he still hasn't regained consciousness.
　When I finished using my magic, an attendant brought in a thangka, so Jin and I had Garratt carried to the infirmary on the thangka.
　According to the diagnosis of the doctor who was waiting in the infirmary, ''Garratt is in good condition for his life. The doctor who was waiting for us in the infirmary said, 'Garratt is not in a life-threatening condition, but he has hit his head, so we have to keep him in bed in the infirmary just in case.

'I'm glad Garratt survived... but that bandit king guy...'

'Jin, don't hate the bandit king for Garratt it was just a game. There's no point in saying that it happened within the rules...

　Menace soothed Jin, tapping him on the shoulder. Leena was out of the room for the procedure of Garratt's treatment and so on.

'I know, but hey...'

No, you don't understand. In fact, if Tenma hadn't stopped you, you would have jumped on the bandit king, wouldn't you? That would have disqualified you and embarrassed Garratt.

　Jin looks awkward at Menace's words.

''Well, be that as it may, thank you Temma.

'I know ... I'm really sorry, Temma. I appreciate it.

　Jin is thanking me as Menace holds his head down.

'Well, that's all well and good, but come on ... are you okay with the team fight?

　Jin and the others have also advanced to the final round of the team competition, and the Sword of Dawn originally entered the tournament with a limited number of participants.
　Therefore, the lack of even one person is a significant disadvantage.

You can't blame them.

　Normally, a party that participates in individual and team competitions would prepare for such a situation with a maximum of six players, but rarely do teams fall into such a situation.
　Even in such cases, adding or changing members is not allowed, so the Sword of Dawn will have a tough fight on its hands.

The fact is that this is not a place for Tenma to worry about.......Tenma doesn't fight until he is in this situation by mistake. If it were us, even if we were missing one member, we could still participate in the tournament. But in Temma's team, which is made up of the Military, Temma's retirement would be an immediate retirement from team competition.

　What Menace is saying is that since the tournament is a people's tournament, only members of the military are not allowed to participate in it, and since I am the only person registered in my team, the team itself would not be eligible to participate if I was not allowed to participate.

'Yeah, I'll keep that in mind,'

　As we were talking, it seemed that all the first rounds were coming to an end, and an attendant came looking for me.

'It will be Temma's turn shortly. Please return to the waiting room.

　I nodded and got up from my chair, pulling some potions and other things out of my bag and handing them to Menace before returning to the waiting room.

'If Garratt wakes up, give him a drink.

Sorry, Temma.

　Menace took it in stride and fixed it in his bag.
　Jin won't be on until the last game of the second round, so he'll be here until then.

　As I went back to the waiting room to relieve myself a bit, an attendant came to call out that my turn had come.
　My opponent in the second round is a large axe man, and he also advanced to the final round of the last tournament, which is good for a virtual bandit king in terms of size, but his opponent was defeated by Ash in the last tournament, so their abilities are too different to be of any use to me.

　When I went up to the arena, my opponent hadn't appeared yet, and an attendant had gone to call him for help.
　He didn't come right away after the attendant went to call him to the waiting room, and even when he did show up in the arena, he took his time to get to me.
　I looked at my opponent, wondering what he was doing, but it seemed that he was trying to irritate me.
　He's been smirking and laughing at me for a while now.

　As they say in my previous life, 'You're late! Musashi! I suppose they want to do something like this, but I don't think it's likely to be effective in a match with rules that make you wait too long and the referee decides you're going to lose.
　Moreover, he seems to have irritated the crowd before he irritated me, and there were loud boos earlier, making it feel like an away match for Oggo.
　The ref seemed to know that Oggo was deliberately taking his time and seemed slightly annoyed.

'Second round of the main contest, first match, Tenma vs. Oggo. Let the match begin!

　Taking another look at the man called Oggo, he is a little over two meters tall and probably weighs more than 100 kilograms. He looked like he was boasting of his strength, holding his axe wide open without a second thought.

　Without drawing my sword, I ducked into the bosom of my opponent to check him out and unleashed a left body blow... and it went right into Oggo's pigeon tail area. As a result, Oggo collapsed in agony, foaming at the mouth.
　As it was, Oggo couldn't get up and was declared defeated by the referee.......Huh?

　Oggo was unable to get up after being declared defeated, and eventually left with an attendant holding him by his sides... seriously? That's it?

　I stood there dumbfounded and watched Oggo leave on the spot for a while.
　By the way, when Oggo was leaving, there were loud booing from the spectators that made the hall feel like it was shaking, and the officials were struggling to calm the audience.

　I went back to the waiting room with my back to the referees, but even after I got back, I couldn't think straight, so I went to see Garratt for a change of pace, but Jin and Menace were astonished that it was all over already, and when I told them what happened, they laughed at me. ...They were laughing uproariously and the doctor and the nurse got pissed off at me, and for some reason I got caught up in it too.

　The first game of the second round was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it happening? but the games after that were even more exciting than the previous year.
　My third round opponent was also decided, and as expected, it was the third place finisher from the last round.
　The Bandit King match ended easily. My opponent had survived a few attacks, but was unable to attack and lost.
　The next winner of the match was the winner of the previous round, who continued to taunt his opponent throughout the match, and the crowd did not react well to his performance. However, his opponent had advanced to the finals in the last round as well, and he was able to beat his opponent without suffering any damage, so he must have some ability to do so.

　Eventually, the time for the final match of the second round came, and a very fired up Jin appeared.
　Unfortunately, Jin's opponent was someone who had made it to the finals for the first time in the tournament, a young man who would normally be considered the next generation's hope, but he didn't have the strength to deal with Jin, who was bent on 'Defeating the Bandit King' to take on Garratt's opponent.

　The match was one-sided from the start, and it was settled about five minutes into the match.
　The young man was depressed that he was only able to take Jin's attacks from start to finish, but to me, he said, 'I'm impressed that you were able to withstand Jin's attacks for five minutes in that condition,' and several of the people watching the match seemed to agree with him.

　With Jin's match, all of the second round was over, and when the rest of the match was halfway through, the match took an hour break.
　The spectators used this time to buy lunch and other things, but as a player, you can't get much to eat... usually...

"Another Temma.

　For some reason, Jin had come to my waiting room and was gathering my lunch.
　My lunch is Zosui. It's a Zosui-style soup made with leftover Chinese cabbage and chicken from the mansion, and white rice that had been previously cooked and stored in the house, with a beaten egg in it. , maybe.

　Of the participating players, the ones who had won were not allowed to leave the bleachers or the venue, so they were supposed to tell the attendants to bring food and drinks to them.
　However, there wasn't much I wanted to eat on the menu given to me by the attendant, so I was in the middle of getting permission to go to the waiting room to make it, when Jin, who had been kicked out of the infirmary, came over and made the current situation.

''Jin.... no matter how good it is for digestion, it won't do you any good if you eat a lot of it...''

I'm fine! My match is the last one, so I'll have plenty of time to digest it!

　Jin scraped up the porridge without paying any attention to my sarcasm. Although I made more because of Jin's appearance, I decided to eat it too, because if I didn't, there would be no more for me.

　When Jin finished eating the porridge, he lay down and talked to me.

'How does Temma see the Bandit King?'

'Like Jin said, he looks a lot younger than we thought. Besides, from the way you fought Garratt, you didn't seem to be used to being taken by surprise or at the mercy of others.

　Jin nodded after hearing my words.

''You generally feel the same way I do... but my fighting style is more like that of a bandit king... so it's going to be a frontal slugfest...''

　That's what Jin says, but he was probably planning to do a frontal slugfest from the beginning. If I wanted to, I could surprise or play around with them, but even if I did, I wouldn't be able to fight like Garratt.
　If that's the case, then the methods of battle would be obvious.
　It's more likely to win by hitting each other head on than by forcing yourself to imitate Garratt.

I'm going to go back to Garratt's place. Temma, feast your eyes.

　Jin stood up vigorously and walked out of my waiting room with one hand raised... leaving my waiting room a mess...
　I threw the washing up and other things into my bag and laid down on the couch to get some sleep, even if it was only for a short time.
　I had quite a bit of time to spare physically, but I was more mentally exhausted than I thought I would be, and soon I was out of it.



　After a while, I felt someone approaching the waiting room, and I came fully awake from my half-asleep state.

'Temma's turn is coming up, please get ready.

　It seemed it was an attendant who had approached, and he knocked on the door of the waiting room before coming over to tell me what he wanted.

'I understand,'

Then I'll call you back in about ten minutes, so you should be ready to go by then.

　When it comes to preparation, there's nothing to do but relax your body, since you'll soon finish equipping your beloved leather armor and the like.

　My opponent for the third round was the third place finisher from the last round. I checked out his match, and that made me wonder a little bit about it, but it's not something I'm thinking about now.
　He's a 35 year old tiger beastman, and his name is Blanca. His fighting style is contrary to his appearance, he is the type of fighter who prefers to overwhelm his opponents with skill rather than forceful push.
　His specialty is the spear, but he fought the first and second rounds with the tip of his spear made of wood, and he has been able to win the battles with less force.
　I had a momentary urge to fight Blanca with a spear, but I was at a disadvantage in a spear to spear battle, so I decided to hold back this time.

　As I was checking out the feel of Kogarasuma, before I knew it, it was time for the attendant to come for me... Normally, the attendant would only call out to me, but it was decided that he would come for me because it would be a disaster if the audience started to make noise like in Oggo. That's right.

　Almost at the same time as I went up to the arena, Blanca came from the other side as well.
　As soon as Blanka saw me, he suddenly looked fierce. Did he get angry for a moment? But he doesn't look like he's in an angry mood, rather he looks like he's enjoying himself. Probably when he is excited, he has that look on his face.

　As soon as he got up to the arena, he stopped, a small smile on his mouth, and Blanca ripped off the cloth that was wrapped around the tip of his spear. I'm sure you'll find a white metal tip inserted underneath the cloth, and although it's a little hard to tell from a distance, it looks like it's probably made of orichalcone.
　It seems that Blanca has recognized me as a powerful enemy, which probably means that this is the first time in this tournament that she's gotten serious.

　As me and Blanca came to the center of the arena, the referee looked at us and then tried to raise his right hand, but Blanca waited.

'Hey, that was Temma. Are you sure you want to use such a tiny weapon? You're going to get skewered before you even get close enough to me?

　Blanca says as she looks at my weapon, but she doesn't sound too foolish.

'On the contrary, I ask you, are you sure you want to use that kind of weapon? You wouldn't want me to get in your way if you got in my pocket, would you?

　Blanca laughs at my reply, peeking her fangs at me.

'You're a cocky bastard don't regret having a big mouth!

　The referee raises his right hand.

'Try to make me regret it!

　At the same time as I said it, the referee was shouting something as he swung his right hand down.
　Me and Blanca ran at the same time as the referee's words.

　The tip of Blanca's spear was focused on my body as she ran.
　In contrast, I'm focused on dodging Blanca's first attack without pulling out the korasuma at my waist.　

　The moment I get in between the spears, Blanca's sharp blow is released.
　
　However, Blanca didn't allow that to happen, and the moment I evaded, she switched her spear to a sideways cleave.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on in the world, and you'll be able to find out what's going on in the world.　
　But there wasn't much space between the spear and my body, so it didn't do much damage.

　The moment I ducked the previous blow I thought it was Blanca's all-out blow, but seeing that it suddenly changed into a sideways cleave, the speed of the spear still seems to increase.

　I decided to land firmly, but I created a distance with Blanca and it was a form of partition.
　This time, he drew his sword beforehand and ran towards Blanca again.
　Blanca bent down and set up his spear and fired a series of thrusts against me as I came rushing in.

　The speed is slower than before, but the uninterrupted thrusts that are unleashed are not going to be able to be followed by ordinary dynamic vision.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to get close to it, but I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work for you.

　I thought that Blanca's thrusts would eventually stop, but they didn't seem to be slowing down at all, and it looked to me from the audience as if I was on the offensive.
　As I moved out of range, Branca moved out of range.
And as I started to move, Blanca moved in and unleashed a series of spear strikes.

　The difference in reach between the sword and the spear prevents my attacks from reaching Blanca, but so far they haven't been properly hit by Blanca's attacks, so the content is even.

''Temma, it's time to get serious.''

　Blanca said this as she unleashed a barrage of spears.

''Anytime. I'll get serious too.''

　I tried to say it lightly, but inwardly I was a little surprised that it wasn't serious.
　Right after Blanca said she was serious, a change occurred in the previous series of attacks.
　The previous series of attacks were simple thrusts, but after the change, a rotation was added to the thrusts.

　When I tried to pay off the rotation-added thrust with my sword, the sword was flung wide.
　He didn't just let go of the sword, but instead lost his stance and nearly took a blow from Blanca, but was able to avoid it in the nick of time.
　However, Blanca's strike seems to have been snatched by the leather armor, and a portion of the leather armor has been shaved off, rendering it useless.

'd*mn, this is no longer useful.......I liked it a lot!

　I complained as I removed the leather armor I'd loved so far, but my eyes were the only thing I didn't remove from Blanca.
　For some reason, Blanca also waited disciplinedly until I finished removing the armor.　

''Ha, you're lucky you only needed the leather armor. I was actually going to decide on that now!

　Seeing that I finished removing the leather armor, Blanca readied her spear again.
　As expected, it would be bad if I took a similar blow next time, so I decided to fight using my legs(...) this time.

　Blanka's spinning strike was indeed a threat, but not without weakness.
　Since the rotation seems to be applied by twisting the arm, the movement stops for a moment if the arm is fully extended. So Blanca has shortened the range of the first thrust so that her arms are not fully extended, which eliminates the disadvantage of timing slightly.
　So, I was able to get close to him, albeit about two to thirty centimeters closer than at the beginning, and I was almost ready to strike a blow.

　Just as I was about to set up a counter at the right moment, Blanca's blow suddenly extended.
　The reason for this was simple: the thrust had lost its rotation. Blanca noticed that I was timing it, so he timed his thrust to the contrary and extended it.

　Blanca laughed wryly as she countered my counter, but that was the blow I was waiting for.
　I knew there was no way a master as good as Blanca wouldn't notice my counter, so I stepped in with a finely tuned movement, and sure enough, the rotation disappeared from the thrust and extended my range.
　I took a step forward and grabbed the base of the tip of the earpiece with a blow that lost its rotation and became just a fast thrust.
　Blanca was surprised by the suddenness of the situation and tried to pull the spear in a hurry, but in the next moment she seemed to realize that it was a bad move and switched to slam the spear into the ground, but it was too late.

''Guguee........''

　I let go of my sword the moment Blanca's thrust changed and pulled the scabbard from my waist and attacked with a kick to push the scabbard in.
　As a result, the scabbard, with the power of my kick and the force of Blanca's spear pull added to the scabbard, pierced the area around Blanca's chest.
　However, Blanca seemed to use her magic to increase her defense at the point where the scabbard hit her on the spur of the moment, and she was unable to sink Blanca with that blow.
　Blanca swung her spear and popped me off, forcing me to keep my distance.
　Blanca's face was distorted, though slightly, when she swung her spear, so it looks like she wasn't damaged at all.

　I called the sword and scabbard that had left my hand to myself (...........).
　I reinserted the scabbard I had called up into my waist and held the sword in the middle position to face Blanca.

　I could hear cheers of surprise from the audience at the sudden appearance of the sword and scabbard in my hand, but I didn't have the time to pay much attention to it now.
　The reason for this is because Blanca started killing me a while ago. It was also quite thick........

　It's not that I've never faced a person with a killing intent before, but this is the first time I've ever had this much killing intent directed at me (................................) from a human.　

"Tenmaaaa........don't hate me even if I die.......

　At the same time as those words, Blanca's figure disappeared... well, it looked like she disappeared, to be exact, but that doesn't change the fact that I lost sight of her for a moment.
　Immediately after losing sight of Blanca, a killing spirit rapidly swelled up from behind my left and was about to swallow me.