Novel Bin Chapter 64
“… Did you change your character?” Adis gave a forced laugh as they faced each other on the stage.
“Of course not! I’m more surprised to hear that you defeated Prince Ruben,” Razé said with a sinister smile. You’re the reason all my efforts went down the drain.
She turned a blunt dagger and grabbed it with her right hand. She had brought a weapon in this match to ensure that the referee could judge a critical attack. In other words, she was determined to win.
* * *
“Wow! Leader is determined to win!” Ducard exclaimed with joy when he saw Razé’s provocation. He said to Bonalt, “I thought she is going to lose because the mission is cleared. This is great!”
Bonalt gave a dry laugh and replied, “… That’s the same smile when she loses her temper…”
Ducard: “I don’t care whatever the reason is. Leader, go for it! Make sure to crush our future superior!”
Bonalt: “This fella. Just because they can’t hear us, you can’t say it like that.”
He was dumbfounded by Ducard’s aggressive reaction. Razé had infiltrated this academy to protect these people. This scene seemed pretty weird.
“Oh…” Bonalt finally noticed something. “Leader defeated her opponents without harming them because she’s supposed to protect these students.”
Ducard: “You only noticed that now? Isn’t it pretty obvious? Just think about how she was during our training.”
Bonalt: “She never hold back.”
Ducard assented while Bonalt gave a dry laugh. If they were unlucky, their training might be more dangerous than an actual battle. She would smile at them and said, “Even if you get injured, the healer will heal you and the recovery efficiency will increase. Isn’t that great?” And when she said, “If you experience danger now, then you can handle the actual battle without any problems,” they seriously felt it was an irrational remark. In reality, everything Razé said was correct. That was how their battalion had become the famous Hyakki Yagyo of Shian.
Ducard: “I always thought that her standard of holding back means to cause light injury instead of stopping right before she causes injury to others. That’s why I felt relieved when I saw her attitude in this tournament.”
Bonalt: “That’s a good point. Then this means that she’s purposely being strict with us.”
Ducard: “Yeah. Anyway, military training is different from students’ tournament. It’s only normal for her to be strict with us.”
They stopped chatting as the final match was about to start.
* * *
There was only one stage occupied in the middle of the arena. The audiences were focused on Razé Granoli and Adis lag Zars. At this time, no one would still dare to think that Razé’s victory was a coincidence. Although there was no guarantee, most of the audiences believed that this match would be won by her.
Vanessa: “How much longer do you think it would take for our son to be able to defeat Wolf-chan?”
Welrian: “… Vanessa. The match hasn’t started yet.”
The Prime Minister and his wife were watching the tournament from the VIP seats. Welrian was making a remark in support for his son.
Vanessa: “You aren’t seriously thinking that Adis can win, are you?”
Welrian was speechless when his wife was looking at him like she was doubting his sanity.
Vanessa: “If it’s like this, then we need to change gears[1]. What he needs are knowledge and power if he wants to pursue Wolf-chan. This is your territory. We will have a family meeting once we return home.”
Welrian: “Uh, but I…”
Vanessa: “Hmm?”
Welrian: “… Nothing. I’ll finish my work as soon as possible. We will have the meeting then.”
He was busy with work and didn’t have the time to have a meeting about the guidance policy of his grown-up son. But he was intimidated by her “Hmm?”
He wished Adis would win this match. But he knew it was pretty hopeless because Razé had entered the stage bringing a weapon for the first time in this tournament.
* * *
The referee rang the bell to signal the match had begun. Everyone was focused on who would make the first attack. They had expected that she would speed run towards Adis as usual, but Razé remained at her spot in a natural stance.
Thinking that she wouldn’t come, Adis created an armor out of wind and closed the gap between them.
Clang!! His long swords and her dagger clashed against each other. “You’re not coming?!” Adis exclaimed as he wielded his sword repeatedly.
She easily dodged his sword with just a dagger, showing off her swordsmanship mixed with martial arts. For an expert observer, they could instantly see her movement was not of an ordinary person.
However, this was an aristocratic school where joining the Knights was considered as the best status for future career. A soldier would be more familiar with Razé’s movement. It was of a different nature and had a ferocious feeling to it.
“!” Adis gasped when Razé jumped closer to him.
“—Great,” Razé said with a grin.
Adis increased his armor strength with his wind magic, while Razé went against him with physical strengthening only. She looked serious. Her eyes looked like a predator.
The pressure made his skin crawl. It was something he had never felt before. Being wary, he moved away from her and switched to a long-ranged attack. He shot a wind slash at her. Depends on the referee, some might stop the match immediately after seeing this technique alone.
The atmosphere in the arena became strained as they watch with anticipation on how she was going to escape from the attack. However…
“Why is she standing still?” Puzzling voices could be heard from all around the arena. Razé was attacked by the wind blade, but she stood upright without showing any resistance. The audiences were astounded.
“Lu- Luca-kun. What is happening?” Folia asked the magic expert. But Luca was stunned too. “… This is…”
Suddenly, Carna exclaimed with excitement. “Ah!! Razé, you did it!”
All the other members watched her with a puzzled look.
Carna: “It’s related to teleportation.”
Ruben: “Carna. What do you mean?”
Carna smiled and replied, “That’s an optical illusion, an after-image.”
The members continued to watch her with a puzzled look.
Carna: “I told her that I want to see it someday. I didn’t expect that she would show it on this big stage.”
Ian: “… Lady Carna. I’m not really sure what you mean, but is it correct for me to assume that Razé-san managed to avoid the attack?”
Carna nodded and answered, “Yes. What you’re seeing now is just an after-image.”
― ― ―
In order to fulfil Carna’s wish, Razé had performed a very high-level magic.
It’s time to end this… Razé thought as she avoided Adis’ attack. The atmosphere in the arena was getting gloomy.
“Why is she not moving?”
“What is happening? Is it a trick?”
“She can’t do anything, is she?”
The audiences were losing patience seeing Razé standing still without doing anything.
Hmm… Razé felt she had overdone it. She looked straight into Adis’ eyes.
He prepared himself and hold his sword firmly while waiting for her to come closer.
He must be thinking that I’m going to come to him, Razé thought and smiled. “You’re the one who should come to me.”
Before Adis knew it, his body had come closer to Razé Granoli. And he was going directly towards her dagger. All he could say was “Huh?!”
The referee announced match end and the winner’s name was shown on the screen. “The winner is Razé Granoli!”
In the future, this match was played repeatedly as the most shocking final match of all time.
[1] シフトチェンジ: Change gear. Figuratively speaking, of course. It means change direction, change plan. ↩