Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

Thus, the first round ended. Having emerged victorious from his match with Rockert, Kyle and the others walked around inside the arena. As you can’t watch the matches from the waiting room, they were instead heading to their designated seats in the audience. Coming to the front entrance of the arena, they spotted the large tournament board lit up with light magic. On it was also Kyle’s name, with Rockert’s name not lit up anymore, showing that Kyle had progressed to the next round.

“How many matches are there in the first round?” Lieze asked Kyle.

“It’s 16 matches in total for the first round. 8 are held on the first day, and the others are held tomorrow.”

As there were breaks in between those matches, the Martial Arts Festival generally is held over around six days.

“Hey, why are there some names missing?” Just as Lieze stated, out of the 32 participants, some columns on the board were empty, one of these even being the last match of the first round, in which case both nameplates were empty.

“That’s the so-called surprise match.” Urza explained, while looking at the ‘Festival Guidance’ pamphlet in her hand. “Especially when it comes to participants that have been recommended to participate, or famous ones, they generally hide their names until the very match to make the festival more exciting.”

Sometimes these surprise matches were also announced previously, and others would only be revealed shortly before the match in question began. There are even bets going on to see who can guess the participants, and those are quite popular. Since Darius’ name could not be seen on the board, he must be part of one of those hidden recommendations.

“By the way, where’s Seran?” Kyle left early for the arena, so he has yet to see his worst friend today.

“He was called over by Princess Angela again. Maybe they’re watching the matches together?”

“Again? She really has taken a liking to him, huh.” Kyle let out a sigh, as he heard roaring cheers from the audience.

It seemed like the second match had just begun.

“…Guess I should watch it.”

To Kyle, the winner of this match might be his next opponent, so he can’t afford to miss out on it. The audience seats were split into various categories, reaching from the imperial family to upper nobles, vassals, and finally the normal citizens. The seats for Kyle and his group were quite high up in ranking, located near the nobles of the Empire. They were away from the average seats of the normal citizens, with food and drinks, naturally immediately visited by Shildonia.

The second match ended with the favored axe-user, which decided Kyle’s next opponent as well. The matches continued in great excitement for the audience, and Kyle simply watched the matches unfold while barely saying anything. Some of the participants were not only human, but also dwarves and beastmen, even lizardmen, and the audience would always celebrate a winner, even if they were not human. As expected from the country that valued strength over origins or race, you could say. That being said, the weak were bullied, so it was a double-edged sword.

“Yeah, lots of strong people here.”

Once the remaining matches grew lesser and lesser in number, Kyle muttered a compliment. Most participants of humanfolk’s greatest tournament were all strong enough to obtain honor and great rewards, but that was also to be expected.

“But…this is still inside my range of assumptions.”

It seemed like Rockert was the favorite not just for show, as the other participants were strong for sure, but not fully on his level. Most of the participants, Kyle could win against them.

“So the problem is that Darius person after all?” Lieze asked.

Darius was the previous winner of the last festival, and Lieze heard from Kyle that he was basically Kyle’s ultimate enemy. However, Kyle shook his head.

“…No. Honestly speaking, I don’t think he’s that dangerous of a participant.”

“Eh? But, he’s the winner of the previous festival, and one of the strongest fighters in the entire Empire, right? How can you be so sure?”

“It’s simple. I don’t know him. Not his face or name, even.”

Naturally, Lieze couldn’t follow what Kyle exactly was talking about, but Shildonia smirked briefly, as she probably realized. During the ‘Great Invasion’, humanfolk had to come together to gain the most strength in their fight against the demons. Since Darius never met with Kyle, who was in the center of humanfolk’s last stand, he probably didn’t survive long enough. Of course, there may be certain circumstances that could lead to that. Sometimes even strength alone isn’t enough. However, that also meant that fate wasn’t on his side, which made Kyle feel mentally superior at least.

The matches continued, and Kyle’s tense expression slowly softened up. He understood the average level of the people participating in the tournament, and found relaxation.

“…It won’t be an easy victory by any means, but as long as I don’t let down my guard, I should be able to win. As long as nothing irregular happens.” Kyle muttered.

“…Now that you said it, something will definitely happen, you know?”

“…Kyle gets caught up in both fortune and misfortune, after all…I have a bad feeling about this.”

Lieze and Urza were whispering to each other after having heard Kyle’s comment.

‘Now then, let us move on to the final match of the day, number eight!’

The female announcer’s voice passed through the arena. Since this was the final match of the first day, both participants had been hidden in secret. One was recommended from the country, whereas the other joined as a surprise, which would make this match the most exciting.

‘From the East gate, we have Participant Gadofury, who achieved second place overall in the festival two years ago!’

As Gadofury was introduced, a roar of excitement unprecedented during the day ran through the audience. Appearing from that gate was a handsome and young man, making you think that he didn’t quite belong there. Because of his good looks, a lot of loud female shrieks could be heard from the audience.

‘With his alluring sword skills, he charmed many of the audience, and his battle against Fighter Darius during the previous festival has been regarded as a legend! This year for sure, he promised to take the victory!’

Gadofury raised both hands, throwing smiles at the audience.

‘Facing him from the West Gate, we have today’s surprise participant! His name is…um…’ The announcer hesitated, and went silent.

At the same time, the participant appeared, as the audience waited in awe. With red as its basis, he wore a red garment with bird feathers all over, looking like a costume for a stage play. The crimson mantle he wore swayed with every step, and the mask covering the upper half of his face looked like a trademark. To sum it up, he was a swordsman who stood out in a negative way, not looking like he’d participate in a match now.

‘F-From the West gate, we have the mysterious masked swordsman! San Ferdes!’

The announcer gave a half-baked introduction, as San Ferdes did a cartwheel and raised one hand. The audience was confused for a moment, but immediately showered him with heckling and booing.

‘We have absolutely no information on him! However, he ended up participating under Princess Angela’s recommendation! His strength is unknown, but we can expect great things from him!’

The audience grew noisy again, but the booing stopped. Princess Angela was famous for being infatuated with the strong, so that alone was proof of his strength. Amidst this chaotic atmosphere, Kyle’s group went silent.

“…Hey, is that possibly…”

“Don’t say it, please…” Kyle held his head, as he heard Urza’s comment.

Naturally, Kyle and his group saw through San Ferdes’ identity right away. Even if he hid his face, that sword he was holding was undoubtedly Seran’s beloved Holy Sword Rand. Kyle looked over at the seats of the imperial royalty, and saw Princess Angela push her body forward, clearly enticed at the appearance of the fighter, and Eldorand next to her asked her something. It seemed like he didn’t hear of this either.

“…By the way, the name San Ferdes comes from Ferdes-san, an old neighbour of Seran’s, who had a dog called San.” Lieze explained with a sigh.

“What a weird name.” Shildonia commented as she munched on some more food.

Before the excitement from the audience subsided, the battle began. At first, Gadofury smiled like the audience, but once the match started, his facial expression changed, and he showed absolutely negligence. And although he had never seen the person fighting, he slashed at his opponent. Worthy of being a former second-place and all-around favorite, even from Kyle’s judgment, he was far stronger than the previous participants. On top of that, his swordsmanship was a beauty to behold, which explained his popularity.

However, the masked swordsman easily accepted Gadofury’s attack of full might and added a counterattack to the mix. Gadofury seemingly had planned on ending this in one fell swoop, but after being met with the masked swordsman’s furious onslaught of attacks, he was forced into defensive mode, as his expression slowly changed to agony and exhaustion. Naturally, Gadofury is a first-class swordsman, so by simply exchanging a few blows with his opponent, he could tell just who he was dealing with.

Skills, experience, strength, speed, stamina, the habit when holding a sword…as well as inborn talent. The moment you catch on to the opponent being superior in everything, the longer you clash swords with them, the more the despair inside of you grows. From the gap of the mask, the eyes shining through, despite the laughable outfit, they held no negligence and arrogance. Certainly, Gadofury’s chances at victory were slim, but he continued to fight. After the loss during the previous festival, he was now ready to do whatever it takes in order to emerge victoriously. As long as a one in a million chance existed, he could not give up that easily.

As for the masked swordsman himself, he felt the strong determination residing in Gadofury’s gaze, judged that simply crushing his spirit to make him surrender wouldn’t work, and ultimately changed his approach. First, he attacked the opponent’s face. Gadofury managed to defend against that, but the masked swordsman suddenly crouched down, and fired off a foot sweep with the momentum that could even gouge a hole in the ground.

As Gadofury had his attention towards the attack on his face only a second ago, to him it must have looked like his foe suddenly vanished. As a result of his reaction being belated, he was swept off his feet, falling backwards on the ground. Gadofury immediately got up and attempted to regain his posture, but the masked swordsman moved before that. With a swift move of his leg, putting speed and heaviness into his knee, he rammed that right into Gadofury’s face, nothing between the two.

Unable to defend against that, Gadofury was blown off, rolling along the floor, started convulsing, and eventually stopped moving. For a moment after that, the masked swordsman pointed his blade at Gadofury, showing no opening whatsoever, but after confirming that his foe was down, he put away his sword, and raised one hand to signal his victory.

‘A-An overwhelming victory! Victory candidate Gadofury has been knocked out of the festival in the first round! Our winner is the masked swordsman San Ferdes! Truly a remarkable show!’

The arena was enveloped in cheers, showering the new favorite of the day with aggressive applause from the audience. The masked swordsman responded to that applause, and finally retired from the arena through the West gate again. As the polar opposite of that, Kyle and his group were watching the swordsman walk off with a cold expression.

“Was there really any need for that last knee kick?” Looking at Gadofury being kicked off, nose twisted and teeth gone, Urza let out a bothered voice.

“He probably judged that he couldn’t let down his guard against a first-class swordsman. At the same time, if the enemy’s heart couldn’t be broken, he needed to be more aggressive.”

In order to win a match at this festival, you needed to either knock out the opponent, or make them surrender. Looking at Gadofury, there was no chance that he would have surrendered. Eventually, he may have been able to win, but it would have taken time. So, the masked swordsman took the quick approach.

“Yeah, it’s at least better than dying, I guess.”

It was a severe injury, but at least his life would be saved. He was probably brought to a priest and received holy magic to be healed.

“…Or so I added a reason, but he probably couldn’t stand seeing a guy who’s more handsome than him, which is why he went for the face.”

“He really is the worst.” Urza furrowed her eyebrows, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Anyway, we should probably ask that masked swordsman for his circumstances.” Kyle said, and stood up.

“I didn’t join because I wanted to, alright.” Seran, also known as the masked swordsman San Ferdes, greeted Kyle and his group arriving at the waiting room.

He still wore the masked swordsman’s attire.

“Well, I know it’s because of that Princess, but just what happened?”

“…You know, after we had our mock battle, she was suddenly called over, right? That was apparently for a marriage meeting.” Seran explained with an indifferent expression.

As of right now, many nobles inside the Empire and even other countries request marriage with Princess Angela. Some of these could be awfully passionate, and now Duke Warbal, a chief vassal in the empire, is attempting to have his oldest son be engaged to the princess. Both the Emperor and Prince Eldorand are quite gentle to her, so they let Angela, who isn’t interested in marriage, pretty much roam free. However, with the relentless request from the Duke, they couldn’t reject him anymore, and they agreed to a marriage meeting at least.

However, that very son was quite far from Angela’s ideals, so she found a good reason to reject him. The Duke however still didn’t let up, and recommended Gadofury as a participant, adding the condition that if he won the festival, she would have to marry his son. It was quite an aggressive condition, but it was very much like Angela. At the same time, the Duke knew about Eldorand using Darius as his participants. He accepted, knowing that Gadofury would not lose against anybody but Darius.

“Basically, you were used so that she can avoid the marriage?”

“Pretty much. Apparently, I agreed with confidence…Can’t remember because I was drunk, though.”

For a moment, Kyle showed a bewildered expression, but eventually shrugged his shoulders.

“So you were set up…And, what’s that disguise about?”

“Saying that I’m from Zilgus would apparently bring too many problems, so they hid my true identity for me.”

The design apparently came from Angela.

“Well, I get why you did it. You achieved your promise right, what will you do now?”

Naturally, Urza was asking about the upcoming match. If both he and Kyle continued to win, they would end up in the semi-finals as opponents.

“…Well, it’s simple. My duty is over, so I’ll be retiring. I was told that participating in one match was enough after all.”

As Kyle’s goal was to win, Seran had no need to continue further.

“Ah…wait a second.” Kyle stopped Seran, showing a somewhat complicated expression. “Can’t be helped now that you’re participating. You should continue the second and third match as well, and then retire in the semi-finals. That would make it easier for me, raising the chances of my overall victory.”

Seran looked at Kyle’s face for a moment, and then answered with an indifferent tone.

“Can’t help it then…That princess told me to raise my name match by match.”

“Must be Princess Angela’s hobby.” Kyle argued, remembering Princess Milena in contrast.

“Still, I’m shocked the audience accepted me looking like this. I wouldn’t dare approach someone looking like this.” Seran muttered while looking down at himself.

“Don’t say it yourself…It’s all because you won.”

They were booing him before, but as soon as he remained victorious, the audience cheered. The stronger, the higher your reputation.

“Strength is justice, huh…This country is exactly as my old hag said. It’s simple, and easy to understand.” Seran’s foster mother Leyla was a gladiator who fought in this arena ten years ago.

At the time, she was the strongest in the Empire, even surpassing the Emperor in popularity. However, she eventually left this country behind. Back then, she never spoke much of her past, so Seran doesn’t know the circumstances of that.

“…No idea if that is the best approach or not.” Kyle muttered without wanting anybody to hear him.