The Long Vacation (9)
I let out a long sigh. God, I’m tired. Physically I’m nowhere near my limit, but mentally I’m drained. The stall tactic sounds simple on paper, but if the opponent catches on to what I’m doing, the risk of them charging in like a bull is too high to half-ass it. Perfect pacing and top-tier acting are non-negotiable. At least I lucked out—none of the contestants in my block had eyes sharp enough to see through my plan, nor were any of them so overwhelmingly skilled that my tricks wouldn’t work. If that counts as drawing luck, sure, but honestly it’s probably just coincidence rather than anything the playboy’s power arranged.
“Great work, big brother!”
After finishing the paperwork to advance and straightening myself up, I returned to the stands. Fiore greeted me with a bright smile.
“How’s the situation looking?”
“Still no standout threats. That’s the vibe. Ligret checked up through Block Five before she left and said she didn’t spot anyone worth worrying about either.”
If she said it, it’s probably accurate. Her instincts for battle are terrifyingly sharp. The problem is that what she considers “passable” might still be dangerous by my standards. I’d have to look into that later.
“Is Ligret up next?”
“Yeah, she’s in the seventh match. It should be starting any minute.”
Behind the announcer’s booming voice and the crowd’s roaring cheers, the next batch of contestants stepped into the arena. Everything was normal up to that point. Then the problem appeared.
“…Doesn’t it look like Ligret’s already surrounded right from the start?”
“It does to me too.”
Normally, before a match begins, contestants keep their distance and eye each other warily. Right now, however, roughly half the entire field seemed to have coordinated in advance. They had Ligret completely encircled.
Because strengthening my eyesight with Blue Light mana is such a pain, I was still reaching for the telescope in my bag when white magic power flooded Fiore’s eyes. After scanning the arena, she frowned.
“Looks like about ten of the people who caused that commotion in front of the Mars workshop are leading the pack. The rest are just reading the room and joining in.”
“You actually remember all their faces from back then?”
I could only recall the two who had personally been sent flying by Ligret. But that wasn’t what mattered right now.
“It’s less about revenge and more that they can’t forget how badly they got humiliated.”
Come to think of it, causing a scene in front of the Mars workshop at that time was basically proof they were targeting the tournament. There had been dozens of them swarming the place, so it wasn’t strange that some had ended up in the same block.
Not strange… but still dangerous.
“This looks bad…”
“Yeah… this is really not good…”
Having reached the same conclusion, Fiore stared down at the arena with an anxious expression. I could already picture what was about to happen, playing out like a scene from a movie.
Ah! What on earth is happening here! In the seventh preliminary match, before the starting bell has even rung, an encirclement has formed around one contestant! At the center stands a single delicate girl! What is this?!
“Cough! Hack! Damn it, I almost spat out my drink.”
Crow Vein, who had been sipping a beverage while watching from the stands, clicked his tongue like he’d heard something obscene. What did he just say? A delicate girl? Not just a girl—a delicate little girl?
“That announcer’s eyes must be decorative holes.”
“I mean, if you only look at her appearance, it’s not entirely wrong,” Akasha replied.
“If she’s a delicate girl, then a manticore must be a house cat.”
“At least call her a lion or something.”
Akasha shook her head. For someone who was the third son of a prestigious noble family, Crow Vein’s speech and behavior were barely different from a third-rate thug. Then again, the youngest paladin of the Holy Star Church wasn’t exactly known for being a model student herself. Birds of a feather, as they say.
But the perspective of the academy students who knew the truth and the general audience were completely different.
“What the hell? Are they seriously all ganging up on one girl?”
“You bastards! Are you even men?! Is that thing between your legs just decoration?!”
“If you’re gonna fight like cowards, just quit!”
“Shut up! Then why the hell did you enter the tournament?!”
“Exactly! Once you step in the ring, there’s no such thing as men or women!”
“Crush her already!”
Boos rained down from the crowd, met by opposing shouts. The arena grew even hotter with chaotic energy. The contestants themselves were just as bewildered by the situation.
What the—why is everyone focusing on that one girl? Who is she?
One swordsman standing in the arena couldn’t hide his confusion. In a battle royale, eliminating strong opponents first was certainly a valid strategy. If the target had been a true monster like the famous “Knight of Mars,” Daniel Richter, he wouldn’t have felt any discomfort joining the encirclement. But the one being surrounded was just a girl who looked no older than twenty. No matter how you sliced it, the optics were terrible.
His goal was to reach the main bracket and apply to the knight order. He didn’t want to do anything that would damage his reputation. He whispered to a friend who had unfortunately been placed in the same block.
“Hey, pretend to help with the encirclement but target the others instead. If we get praised for saving the girl out of a sense of justice, even if we lose midway we might still get an interview—”
“…Yo. Can you swing two longswords, one in each hand?”
The swordsman frowned at the sudden nonsense. “What kind of stupid question is that? Maybe with daggers, but who the hell swings a longsword one-handed? It’s not like I’m going to throw it when I get tired.”
“Then what are you carrying them for?”
“Just a spare. Look, this isn’t the time for—”
The swordsman suddenly felt something was off. Weapons were heavy. Swords often broke or dulled mid-fight, so carrying a spare wasn’t unusual—but only one. There was a limit to how many iron lumps you could strap to your body. Belts could only help so much.
But… how many weapons was that girl carrying? And with that much weight, why did her movements look so light?
The match begins!
Before the swordsman who had realized something was wrong could even get into stance, the announcer’s signal rang out. The ground where the small girl—Ligret—had been standing exploded.
“Gah!”
The man at the far right of the encirclement, armed with a mace and leather armor, was sent flying backward before he could even scream properly. Ligret snatched the mace out of the air and hurled it at another contestant. The weapon flew with terrifying force, grazing one man’s jaw before smashing into the helmet of the person beside him.
Three people down in a single instant.
Both the audience and most of the contestants were still frozen, unsure what had just happened. But some reacted quickly. Three blades aimed at her back, a giant charging with a shield from the front, and several daggers thrown into the gaps between them. It was an excellent coordinated assault for something thrown together on the spot.
Yet the attackers themselves were the ones panicking. Their target had vanished from right in front of them.
The answer to the three swordsmen’s question of where? came from their own bodies. A burning sensation in their shins and thighs. Before they could even register that they had been cut, their lower bodies gave out and they dropped to their knees.
“You bitch!”
Only the giant, whose shield and armor had protected his legs, understood that she had swung her sword while crouched low to the ground. He raised the edge of his shield to crush her before she could stand—but it was already too late. The target had moved behind him.
The moment he flinched at the snake-like agility and bizarre posture, he felt something climb onto his back. Goosebumps erupted across his skin. He thrashed wildly, trying to shake Ligret off, but she clung to him like a leech.
Just as he tried to slam himself backward onto the ground, a chilling whisper brushed his ear.
“If you touch the floor, I’ll take your head first.”
The voice was completely flat, without the slightest hesitation. And to prove it wasn’t a bluff, he felt something cold and blade-like press against the gap in his armor at the back of his neck.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
With his mind shattered by fear and confusion, the only thing the giant could do was run around the arena screaming like a child.
“He’s coming this way!”
“Someone stop him!”
“Don’t order me around! You stop him!”
Now the other contestants were the ones panicking. A heavily armored brute who could shrug off normal attacks was charging at them with pure terror in his eyes. Attacking from the front was useless. The only option was to strike from behind, but even that was difficult.
Shk! Thud!
“Aaaargh!”
A swordsman trying to approach Ligret took a knife straight to the eye and screamed in agony. A spearman had his foot nailed to the ground by his own thrown spear. A lightly armored dagger user was skewered through the shoulder and pinned to the wall.
Even from an unstable position—clinging to the rampaging giant’s armor with one hand—Ligret’s throwing accuracy and power were on another level. After the brave ones who tried to close in were all taken out, only the hesitant stragglers remained.
Reading the mood, Ligret released the giant she had been using as both shield and mount and landed lightly on the ground. Whether the giant hadn’t noticed or had simply lost the will to fight, he kept running straight ahead and exited the arena. He was ruled out as expected.
In the sudden silence, Ligret rested a blade on her shoulder and asked in a monotone voice.
“Anyone still want to continue? It’s getting annoying to keep sparing your lives.”
“…….”
The remaining contestants looked around. Some had shattered jaws with bone exposed. Others clutched legs pouring blood. A few were desperately trying to deal with spears and daggers piercing their bodies. But no one was dead.
Killing in a martial tournament was “to be avoided if possible.” And “if possible” here meant not finishing off opponents who were clearly incapacitated. It didn’t cover “unavoidable accidents” during combat. In other words, the girl in front of them was saying:
If you keep going, I will actually kill you.
There was only one possible answer.
I let out a long breath. “Phew. Thank goodness. At least she didn’t turn it into a massacre.”