'Fuyao-san's second sister, huh!
That's right. His name is Mochizuki, Morohara. That's Morohana-chan. She's my sister.
Nice to meet you.

　 Everyone was surprised at the sudden appearance of her sister. I can understand. I was surprised too.

''I'm sorry I'm late to greet you. ''We are the ones who are engaged to Fuyao-san...''
I know. You're Umina, and this one's Linse, and that one's Sue.
Do you know who we are?
Oh, look closely from above...
'Oh! She said she got a letter from Hanakoi sister telling her about it!

　She interrupted the new sister who was about to say something unnecessary and managed to fool her. This sister seems to have a bit of an inability to read the atmosphere of the place. Is she a natural?
　Sister Morobane is as beautiful as Hanakoi, but Hanakoi's sister is more of a pretty type, whereas Morobane's sister is a gallant type of beauty.
　She's tall and her movements are very refined. It's a level that wouldn't be strange to be in an opera company.

''But why was Fuyao's sister in this place?
'Hmmm, I forced myself to join because it sounded kind of fun. It wasn't a winner-take-all match, so I lost. Well, I guess I came here to train as a warrior,

　Sister Morobane made up a suitable reason and ducked Su's question.
　It seems that this guy really looked interesting from above, so he landed on the ground, forcibly entered a certain tribe and fought as a member of it. Apparently, he let the tribe think he was one of them. Is this some kind of hypnosis? No, he's a god, so anything is possible.
　Basically, these two guys are supposed to be unable to interfere with events on earth, but... Well, they can't interfere as 'gods', but they can interfere as powerful 'humans'. It seems that their physical abilities are also based on human standards. I'm not just a master, I'm a monster.
　That's why it's impossible to ask for the annihilation of the Freys or the reconstruction of Euron. In general, the only thing that's wrong with them is that they're not good at anything other than what they're good at (God?). It seems like........

''Speaking of warrior training, is it by any chance Morohana Yoshisama (nee) who taught Fuyao-san the sword?
''Uh ... well, that's about it. Fuyao-kun's has a lot of his own style in it, though.
When it comes to sword skills, there's no one who can match Morobane's skill. I'm the best in the world.

　Sister Hanakoi brags about it as if it were her own. Of course she is. She's a god, you know. Ah, but is it possible to have this sister train our knights.......
　But since it's called 'sword god', perhaps spears and axes are not allowed. I heard that the dagger and the twin swords are just fine. I'll have to ask them later.

The match for Yae and her friends is about to begin. If we win this match, we'll be able to participate in tomorrow's final day, right?

　I stop thinking about Su's voice and turn my attention towards the stage. The top eight will now be decided, and the 'Tree King's Tribe' will be decided tomorrow. In other words, the best 16 are currently in place.

''For what it's worth, the Balm tribe has also won out.
The contestants seem to be quicksilverly strong, unlike those who have been involved with us.

　Well, it's no surprise. If we were here at the same level as those guys yesterday, I can only assume we were blessed with the right combination.
　Oops, I have to watch Yae's match rather than those guys.
　Yae's opponent was a man covered in tattoos all over his body, holding a tomahawk in both hands.
　As soon as the match begins, the man approaches Yae and flashes his right hand axe at him. Yae dodges it with a backstep and moves out of range, dodging the chasing man's attacks to the right and left.

'Yae wins, right?'
What?

　With a small smile of amusement, Morobane sister murmured.
　On the stage, the man was gradually cornering Yae. However, Yae didn't seem to be in a hurry and continued to avoid the axe. Is he aiming for something?
　Eventually, Yae moved. The tomahawk man dodged the swinging axe and cut off the tomahawk's hilt with his sword as he leapt up. The chopped off axe blade flew off the stage. The returning sword chopped off another axe as well, and a double blade flashed into the stunned man's rattling torso.
　That blow decided the man's defeat.

'I can't cut off a weapon as destructive as an axe with that eightfold blade. There's a chance that the sword could be damaged. Even if you attack as it is, if the axe prevents you from attacking, it's the same thing. So, on the contrary, he was probably trying to find the right time to disable the axe. But it would have been much quicker if he decided to pull out at once without even letting it defend. That was playing around a bit. I guess he was trying to see if he could cut off the axe he was wielding. I guess there's still a lot of work to be done in that area.

　Oh, oh. I don't understand it, but Morobane's sister is talking about something. As expected of the god of swords, she seemed to have figured it out right from the start.
　In the match, Pam and Hilda won in straight games, and the Lauri tribe moved on to the last day.
　Were they able to make it to the final day without a hitch?

'Hmm?'

　I casually looked at the other stages and saw that the Balm tribe was playing against a strange tribe.
　They had a skinny body and a hunched over posture. They wore long clawed cuirasses and a strange mask on their faces. The mask was not the mask, but a kind of dust mask that covered the lower half of his face. For a moment, this mask made me wonder where he was going to the rotten sea.
　The look in his eyes is also somewhat suspicious. You can even feel a light that seems to be pregnant with some kind of madness.
　It's a good idea to have a good time with a good friend.
　The Balum man released his spear, but his footing was faltering. I'm not sure if he's exhausted, but he's breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

"Hmm, poison.
What?

　I'm surprised by the words that Morobane sister plainly uttered.

'Not enough to take your life. At best, numbness in the hands and feet, exhaustion, and slight dizziness. Apparently the stage itself has been sprayed with it as well.
Isn't it against the rules to use poison?
'No, magic is forbidden, but not much else. It is forbidden to defile the pride of the tribe, but the use of poison is a delicate matter. It's a common hunting method, such as using poison to kill your prey.

　If you put it that way, I see. But I wonder what it is. I feel like a coward. It's true that those masked tribes are not physically superior. Maybe that's why they established a hunting method that uses poison to cover it, though.
　It's not a bad thing to compete in a field that you are good at.......is it?
　The hunchbacked man stepped quickly into the Balm man, whose movements had slowed down, and a right claw thrust was slammed into his stomach. That was the end of it.
　As it was, the male-dominated Barum tribe had been defeated by the poisonous Rivets, one after another.

"We've been defeated, haven't we, Barum?
This puts the Lauri's concerns to rest for now.

　So at least they could prevent the Balm tribe from becoming the "Tree King's Tribe" and forcing a law against the Lauri tribe.
　However, that poison is tricky. Even if you don't get hit directly, it's the same thing if you inhale the poison scattered on the stage. Maybe that's why he was deliberately taking so much time to fight in the spearhead battle. They were probably waiting for the poison to go around to the other four people as well.
　Fortunately, thanks to the spirit's blessing, the poison didn't drift and spread outside of that stage.
　However, on the contrary, it could be said that the spirits and judges also approved the use of the poison. Even though the referees who were on the poison stage were also involved. Well, apparently it's not life-threatening enough, so it seems that they'll recover in a few hours.
　But in a fight, even that level of poison can be fatal. It would be good to have some kind of countermeasure against Yae and the others. It could hit them tomorrow.
　When I asked if that riveted tribe had ever participated in a "pruning ceremony" before, they are an emerging tribe that originally split off from a different tribe. So a tribe that specializes in hunting was born from a tribe that originally hunted to the extent that they also used poison.
　The tribe of the Great Sea of Trees is more like a village or a colony, so to speak, than a clan, so new tribes are sometimes born on their own, while others are absorbed by mergers and disappear.

O

　On another stage, the female martial artist of the dragon race I saw yesterday was fighting. As usual, she's still moving flatly and fighting leanly. Ah, my opponent was blown away again.
　Well, that was the third match. Winning in straight games, this tribe had also advanced to the last day tomorrow.
　As expected of a tribe that is in the top eight, the winners are all tribes that have their own peculiarities. There's a wide variety of tribes, including one that wears jaguar pelts all over its head, and another that mainly uses weapons made of bone.
　It might be a little tougher tomorrow.




'Are you sure you want to do this?'
Come on in. Come on. Oh, and no magic, just in case.

　After introducing Morohana and her sister to Yae and the others, Hilda and Yae asked her to join them.
　It's a good idea to be able to have a look at it, because Hanakoi's sister spoke of her swordsmanship. However, even if they were contestants in the Pruning Ceremony, I couldn't let them fight each other. We have an important match tomorrow. It would be a problem if something happened.
　Nevertheless, Hilda, Yae and the others, who were begging to see how good you are, pushed me into a mock battle after dinner.

''Why am I the opponent?''
Because who else could it be?

　Well, well, yes. I can't let Yumina and Linse do it if I pull out Yae and the others.
　It can't be helped, I've been wondering a bit about it too, so let me do it. Gripping a blade-drawn mithril mock sword, I confronted Morobane sister.

''I'm not going to end it right away, so come on, give it your all.
So you'll have to let me go, then. Hey!

　For now, I'm going to try things out and lunge straight ahead and swing my sword down head-on. It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're doing. I bent my body and cut up while working through it, and the sword streak was easily ducked.
　He confronted her again from the front, and this time he feinted. Pretending to aim for his right torso, he leaps up his sword and aims for his right arm! But the older sister, who has thrown herself into a body-blowing attack, knocked me off balance and I almost fell down, but I kept my momentum and rolled on the ground to get away from her. The fact that he or she doesn't chase after you suggests that he or she is not yet serious.
　It's a bit frustrating when he's smiling with a smile of leisure. If it comes to this, let's let him go all out!