In the first match of the Kisenshou challenger tournament, Alfred versus Jay Mix.

　Alfred still has long, dull-colored hair, but it seems to be less shaggy, as if it's not as shaggy as it used to be.
　Jay, on the other hand, has emerald green, shiny, short-cut hair. His sister Dee has long, and his sister Jay has short, or was it?


''--Rei each other!　Ready!

'Jay, you can't just bow somehow. Bow firmly.
'Master, you can't even preach in a place like this: ......
'It's a place like this. I didn't want Jay to be embarrassed.
'Enough shame already ...... No, I'm sorry. I'll be careful in future.
That's good.


　They are talking in some kind of congenial fashion.

'You're both so relaxed,'

　Seeing the two of them, Sylvia mutters.
　Since we're watching the game from the very special seat, which is called the contestants' only seat, everything from the expressions on our faces to everything else is completely understandable.

''Well, we're like relatives now,''
Mmm ...... would have been unthinkable six months ago.

　Coincidentally, the Summer Onion Piercing General Tournament this time was the same tournament as the Winter Onion Piercing General Tournament six months ago.

　Six months ago, Jay, who was only a pawn of Demon Piercing General Elnte, and the blind Alfred, who was working hard to free them, never thought they would face each other like this. Six months ago, he would have never imagined that he would be facing this.

　He can see. And she, too, can see ahead.

　It's going to be some kind of happy title fight. Except for the one old man, you know.


''--start!

　The call of the judges is given.

　At the moment, Alfred and Jay moved point-symmetrically diagonally in a horizontal direction, and almost simultaneously unleashed the 《Infantry Archery》.


''Oh.''

　I couldn't help but notice that I can't help myself. Jay's Aim, a clear improvement over what I've seen before.

　He moves and aims at a moving target. The two of them suddenly shot at each other's first move of high difficulty, but both of them shot 《Infantry Archery》 to each other's eyebrows with not an inch of aim.

''Ha!''
Phew!

　Suddenly braking. Suddenly stopped moving and ducked the 《Infantry Archery》, both master and student.

　Immediately afterwards, they released a combination of 《Silver General Archery》 and 《Gui Ma Archery》 while advancing and closing the gap between them.

　Again, both of them both attacked in the same way with the same moves.


''Imitation!''
'Yeah, an imitation. Alfred is imitating Jay.
'And?　Can you lose?
He'll win. Alfred dares to imitate them in this way, making it a simple game of skill. An instructional match, so to speak.
Hooray!

............


　While talking with Eco, I caught a glimpse of Sylvia's expression as she was watching the game in silence.

　She had a match coming up next, and she was probably nervous again, as usual. I thought so--.



...... hmmm, hmmm, haha.


　Sylvia was laughing.

　She couldn't hold it in, and it seemed to overflow from the back of her throat.


'Hey, hey, what's the matter?'
Mm, no, Mr. Second, I'm sorry, I'm afraid I am somewhat confused.

　A look that says you shouldn't be laughing, but your face will smile on its own.


　............ Oh, I see.


You've noticed.

!

　I knew it.


Did you used to feel this way, Mister Second?

　Sylvia, who has finally quieted down, asks me if I'm curious.


'...... well,'

　When was that? Ah, yes, the night of the first day I came to this world.

　Sylvia, when you were still a lowly member of the Third Order, when I was questioned about my duties after returning to King's Landing after finishing the Dyke Warfare, I had a pretty similar feeling when I learned that only thirteen dungeons in this world had been conquered.


　Well, of course you did.
　Now Sylvia, if she had to watch a game like that, she would be ...... laughing, right?



That's it!　Winner, Alfred!


　Alfred, who was slowly increasing his advantage, defeated Jay.

　It was truly a match between a master and his apprentice, and the difference between the two was obvious.

　Jay's growth was remarkable, but apparently Alfred had grown even more. The opponents that he used to attack with solid countermeasures are now being pushed out to a position where he can instruct and play against them with a relaxed expression on his face.

　That guy didn't fail to properly train himself while taking care of his students. He wouldn't become like that just because he could see. He's still a man who can't see the bottom of the barrel. Age doesn't matter. I'm sure he will continue to work hard. I'm sure he'll be able to defeat Elnte and others with just the "infantry archery" in a year's time.


　...... Still, though, Silvia would probably laugh.



　　* * * *.



　Dee Mix had a definite fear (...)


　The second match, Sylvia Virginia vs. Dee Mix. The winner of this match and the winner of the first match, Alfred, would make the finals and have the right to challenge General Elnte Onion Piercing.

　The brainwashing of the Mix sisters by Elnte has been lifted. For the past six months, Alfred's affectionate shaking of the demon had finally allowed the girls to look forward to the future.

　Hence, if they got the right to challenge, it would be retribution (...) for Dee. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that turning on Elnte, "How dare you use me for good?" was her goal in this title fight.

　There is no fear there. Her former mentor is now alone. It's not just a matter of time before you get to the point where you'll be able to get your hands on a new pair of shoes.


　So why ...... is she now afraid?

　The cause is the woman in front of her.


You're going to be able to get the best out of it. You look a lot different, don't you?　You dress kind of nice, too.
Hmm, long time no see. Have you had a haircut yourself?　You look good in it.
'Oh, thank you. You look too good for ...... and I'm afraid you look too good for it.
Really?　Hmm, well, thank you.

　Dee's long emerald green hair was cut into a semi-long bun and tied back. It was a cool haircut for summer.

　Sylvia, on the other hand, had the same haircut, but her face was noticeably different than before.


　It's imposing - and that's obvious to anyone who looks at it. I can't specifically point out what has changed, but it's clear why.


　In addition, his outfit also helped to create an imposing atmosphere.

　He was fully equipped with the "Black Flame Wolf". It consisted of an archer's light armor with a jet-black cloak on one shoulder, a hat, a bowcatcher, shin guards, and shoes, all made from materials dropped by the Black Flame Wolf, the boss of the First Grade dungeon "Isolois". It is the most powerful armor currently available. The defense and light weight of this armor is perfect, the only drawback is that it's a bit hot.


Then, shall we play?

............


　Again, something cold stroked Dee's back with a lurch.

　I knew it. She's sure of it. She's afraid.

　Why she's scared, she's still not sure. She still doesn't know why.


"--Reply to each other!　Ready!

　Following the referee's instructions, the two men took out their bows and held them up.

　Dee took out a mithril longbow. It is a large bow that is lightweight, powerful and easy to handle.

　On the other hand, Sylvia took out not a flame wolf's bow .......

''It's just, a longbow ......?

　A nondescript, wooden longbow. It is an orthodox large bow that is sold in any weapon shop.

　The reason why Sylvia dared to choose this weapon, which is inferior in attack power to the Flame Wolf Bow, was extremely simple. It was for the sole reason that its attack motion was smaller and less conspicuous than the Flame Wolf Bow.


''--Start!

　It's time to start.


"Good.

　A moment later ...... Sylvia spun around in a circle on the spot and made two lateral turns.


''What?''

　Mysterious action. Dee is confused, but shoots the Infantry Archery prepared for the attack.

　AIM is accurate. The advice she received from Second by way of bingo prizes, the advice she received from Second, and the training methods she repeated every day, had improved her Aim ability to a degree that was incomparable to that of six months ago.

'You're too honest,'

　On the other hand, Sylvia muttered a word and advanced as fast as she could while dodging Dee's attacks.

　On the way, she stopped twice, and both times she released 《Infantry Archery》.

　From a slack arm hanging down, she raised her arm in an instant, shot an arrow before she had time to aim, then instantly lowered her arm and ran again. But Aim couldn't be more accurate. It was a sharp 《Infantry Archery》 that was not inferior to the technique that Second had shown in the exhibition with Ernte.

　The key to the battle of the Onion Piercing General is how to "make it impossible to know when to shoot" - the knack that Second had mentioned was faithfully incorporated into her own fighting style.


''Kuh!　This!

　Dee just barely ducked both of Silvia's 《Infantry Archery》 shots, and then began to prepare a combination of 《Incense Car Archery》 and 《Crazed Horse Archery》 for a counterattack.

　This was not a bad move. The Incense Car has a penetrating effect. Hence, it was difficult to prevent it only with attacks that had the same penetrating effect. Also, by compounding the cinnabar, it achieves a more precise aim and makes simple evasion difficult. It's an excellent move as a means of stopping Sylvia's advance that is trying to close the gap.


''Hm?''

　For some reason, Sylvia tilted her head and stopped on the spot to begin preparing ...... 《Flying Car Archery》.



''Huh?　What are you doing--




　Right after ......, the Gui Horse Archery flew into Dee's brain.



''


　The only person in this arena who didn't know what had happened was Dee.


'Hey, hey, what are you doing! ''Silvia Virginia was shooting Guillermo Archery at the same time as the opening ceremony! And the audience was selfish.

　But this was the only thing that could not be detected.

　He didn't even pretend to be shooting. It is impossible to imagine that he is shooting the 《Katsura horse archery》 toward the sky with his opening two turns, and it is also unimaginable that he would try to drop an arrow with such an accurate position in mind.


　That's right, this is a trick that makes it extremely difficult to see the moment when the "Gui Ma Yutsu" is activated because Silvia's double rotation is only seen from the front.

　This is a sophisticated move that is understandable to a spectator watching from another angle, but not to an opponent watching from the front.


　The basics, to put it bluntly. Sylvia is only doing the very basics. The only thing she did early on was to demonstrate her basic, down-to-earth technique: "Don't know when you've fired.


Sorry for the laugh.

　Silvia released the 《Flying Car Archery》 while uttering a small word of self-reflection.

　It happened in the blink of an eye.
　After taking two attacks in a row, Dee went down with heavy damage.


''............''

　With a face that still doesn't seem to be convinced that this is the true reality, Silvia silently prepares her final move with the Dragon King Archery.



　--The level, too low.


　The cause of her laughter was this feeling that could never be escaped.

　That group of people who had been using surprise warfare techniques to wage such a thrilling match six months ago felt so low ...... What can I do if I don't laugh at this?


　No matter how many times I think about it, no matter how much I think about it, I just don't feel like I'm going to lose.

　Not to Jay, not to Dee, not even to Alfred, and not even to ...... Elnte.



'--That's it!　The winner, Sylvia Virginia!


　Silvia leaves the arena with her shoulder cloak dominated by the blast of Dragon King archery.

　It's a very good idea to have a good time with them.


It's not anyone else. It's me, I'm the one who has to do it.