Chapter 207: I Must Live (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 207: I Must Live (3)
Winners and losers rose and fell in quick succession.
As if answering the critics who claimed his pure skill didn't live up to his title, the Sword Emperor took down three opponents before going out in a blaze of glory.
The one who finally brought him down was Yenika, the younger of the High Elf twins.
To put it nicely, she played strategically. To put it bluntly, she was petty to the point of being pathetic, keeping her distance and spamming nothing but magic.
After fighting two Sword Masters in a row—I’ve conveniently scrubbed the memory of that petty lizard who intruded in the middle—the Sword Emperor finally ran out of mana and forfeited.
However...
"...I took one down, so I've filled my quota, right?"
"Don't run away! Stand and fight!"
"Yeah, I'll just go die now..."
"You're not the one dying, I am!"
Despite having defeated the Sword Emperor after he’d already dealt with two Sword Masters and a petty ancestor, Yenika fought half-heartedly, claiming she’d done her part, and promptly exited the stage.
"Damn pointy-ears..."
Boradori fumed as she watched the High Elf slack off, but compared to our ancestor who failed to take down even a single person, she was practically a saint.
It was strange...
High Elf Yerisha had clearly stated that our ancestor’s power was at least equal to theirs, if not greater. I’d heard that as a Dragon Descendant, he couldn't use his true power whenever he pleased, but still.
Does he really have a Black Flame Dragon hidden in his left hand or something?
...Come to think of it, wasn't the ancestor’s mother a legendary Red Dragon?
While I was lost in these useless thoughts, the matches proceeded at a rapid pace. Someone won. Someone lost.
"Eek! Youngsters these days have no respect for their elders!"
Unlike her sister, our pointy-eared Yerisha fought hard, taking down two people in her fury against the humans attacking an "elder," but she eventually lost as well.
That left us with Prince Ellen and Boradori, who had exactly one month of sorcery training under her belt.
"Wait, he won?"
"Holy shit."
Prince Ellen showed off his prowess by defeating a professor from the Swordsmanship Department and a knight from the Holy Kingdom.
The knight wasn't a Sword Master, so his victory there was expected. But the professor from the academy was a genuine Sword Master. Since the knight had also been a high-level expert close to reaching Sword Master status, it had been a grueling back-to-back struggle. I was certain he would lose.
"...Is there something in the water in the Leon Kingdom? Why does that guy get stronger every time he goes home?"
Honestly, the ones who should be growing the most are the guys experiencing RoFan plotlines every vacation. Why was our prince out-scaling the other RoFan male leads?
"You're the best, Ellen! I'll definitely keep my promise!"
"......"
I found the culprit.
Judging by Prince Ellen’s awkward expression, it seemed Boradori had sold Daisy out. They really were going all out for this total war.
"Huh?"
As I watched with an incredulous expression, I felt something tugging at me. I turned my head to see Delmoa.
"Give."
She was holding out her hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Fine."
Violet was busy, so I had to be the one to give it to her. I reached into my subspace pouch and pulled out a piece of bread, but...
"Give more."
"Already?"
Unlike usual, even after receiving one, she immediately demanded more. I pulled out another piece.
"Not that."
Delmoa indicated that bread wasn't what she wanted. (Though she took the bread anyway.) She stepped closer to me.
"Give."
"This?"
She boldly extorted my belongings from me.
*
Violet - I didn't want to pull this out, but...
I was the final person left on our side.
Well, it was only natural. This was all for the sake of my human rights. So, it wasn't like I felt some grand duty to resolve the finale myself.
It was just because I was the weakest.
As a Boradori with only one month of sorcery, there was nothing I could do. Whether I went first or last, the result would be the same. I had assumed it was a guaranteed loss.
However, because I’d received every possible advantage to somehow scrape a win, I was now in a situation where I only had to defeat the final opponent.
"How am I supposed to beat that?"
The opponent standing before me was the Academy Director.
Joan Helias, the Director of the Imperial Academy.
To look at her, she didn't seem much older than me, but that was the result of her own patented youth-maintenance magic. I heard the royalties from that single spell alone were beyond imagination, and even that was just one of her many magic patents.
She was a Grand Mage who had left a permanent mark on the magic society, and her skills were in no way inferior to the other Tower Masters.
In fact, the only reason she took the position of Academy Director was that even the massive income from her patents couldn't keep up with her research expenses. That was how dedicated she was to magic, and in the main story, her combat power was described as being on par with the Sword Emperor.
How was I supposed to beat someone like that?
The only thing I could think of was the Director collapsing from overwork in the middle of the fight.
"Win."
"......"
But when Delmoa approached me and spoke with a deadpan face, I had no choice but to steel my resolve. It wasn't just my human rights on the line.
Delmoa.
She had been abandoned by the Holy Kingdom. Because of that, she hated them, yet she was in a position where she might be dragged back there.
Of course, the Holy Kingdom probably felt they had their own excuses. All the wrongs were the result of corrupt cardinals seizing and wielding power. The regular soldiers who followed them were just nominal Holy Knights who spent more time greeting tourists than training.
Now that the Holy Kingdom was being normalized and reformed, they were trying their best to rescue victims like Delmoa.
...But why should I care about any of that?
In the first place, Daisy did most of the work to normalize the Holy Kingdom, followed by the RoFan male leads who helped her. I could probably claim the next most credit.
It’s one thing for people who did nothing to show up now that the table is set, but it’s another thing entirely to try and decide someone else’s life for them. It pissed me off. Especially since they claimed it was the "Goddess's will."
Is it something the Goddess can't help?
I know. I know better than anyone in this world. I know how much the Goddess sacrificed for the world. Only I, with my omniscient author's perspective, know how much she grieved while watching those corrupt cardinals.
But if you're going to stay out of it, stay out of it. Why start this now that everything is over?
Of course, I knew about Delmoa’s talent as a Saintess, and what would happen the moment that talent fell into the hands of the Evil God.
But so what? The girl hates it.
An individual might be a tiny speck in the grand design of the world, but to that individual, their life is everything. I felt like I could finally understand why Adam Smith acted so selfishly in the early days of the academy.
That was why.
"I'll win," I answered Delmoa with conviction.
"......"
But Delmoa silently shook her head.
"You can't win."
"......"
"Violet... is weak..."
"Hey now..."
It was true, but it still stung. You told me to win! I already felt like I couldn't, so why are you crushing my spirit? Just as I was about to glare at her in indignation...
"......"
She silently placed something on my head. Judging by the noise it started making, it was the Helmet of the Demon King.
That wasn't all.
"This."
I could only gape at the object in her hand—something I couldn't understand why she even had.
"......"
Looking at the brilliant divine power radiating from her hand...
—Aaaargh! Don't get so close! I'm going to be purified!
Ignoring the screams of a certain helmet echoing in my head, I quietly accepted the item.
And then...
*
Joan Helias - Hey, I was going to go easy on you!
Joan Helias, the Academy Director.
To be honest, she was baffled.
‘Man, I want to retire.’
Why did she suddenly have to fight not only the Holy Knights but also her own students?
Of course, since most of those students were foreign exchange students of different races, she couldn't ignore them as the Director. But her actual opponent wasn't one of those demi-humans; he was a pure human student.
‘Violet.’
He was a student she actually had a fair amount of information on. Of course, it was mostly because of the people around him—specifically his connection to Saintess Daisy.
Even setting that aside, he had decent grades in the Magic Department. He was a so-called "slave candidate" whom several professors were preparing to "invite" to grad school.
‘Poor kid.’
It was sad enough that the professors were salivating over him, but somehow things had escalated to the point where both the Empire and the Holy Kingdom were targeting him.
As the Director, Joan had been suffering lately due to the string of incidents involving the Empire, the Holy Kingdom, and various other nations, so she sympathized with Violet’s plight.
Therefore, she intended to go easy on him. She was even running simulations in her head on how to lose convincingly without making it obvious.
So, when she saw Violet approaching with a heavy, determined aura, she understood. It was a fight for his fate; of course he would be serious...
"Huh?"
But when Violet came into full view, the Director couldn't help but blink.
Because...
"Um, Student Violet? You don't use a sword, do you?"
Lately, there had been a few odd students calling themselves "Magic Swordsmen" who started carrying blades instead of staves, but according to her records, Violet was a traditional mage.
So why the sword all of a sudden? And why did that sword look so incredibly familiar?
"To win... I have to do whatever it takes."
"Uh, well. I suppose that's true, but..."
The Director narrowed her eyes at the strange sword. That... that was it, wasn't it? The Saintess's Magic Sword...
Because the Saintess used it, people called it a Holy Sword, but based on its functions, anyone could see it was a Magic Sword. It was an artifact that absorbed the opponent's mana for the user's own. It was even under the Goddess's seal, unusable unless one possessed the Saintess's divine power.
‘I always thought that thing looked dangerous...’
And now it was in Violet’s hand. Not only that...
"And... what is that on your head?"
For a mage, he was wearing a very strange helmet. Well, she could understand that. He brought a sword, so he might as well bring armor. But... why was he talking to the helmet?
"Then, let the final duel begin!"
"Wait, hold on a second!"
No, something’s wrong with him! His eyes have gone totally wild!
She tried to shout, but...
"Ice Spear. Wind Cutter."
The opponent didn't wait. Two basic spells used by Magic Department students flew toward her. Double Casting. Usually, it lacked practical power, but at a high level, it allowed for proper offensive pressure.
Of course, Joan could do the same, but...
—Fireball.
"Triple?!"
Suddenly, the number of spells increased by one. And that wasn't all.
"@!$%$#^@#$%!@#!"
He began muttering in an incomprehensible language. Someone of Joan’s caliber couldn't possibly fail to recognize it.
"Sorcery?!"
Just early last year, because of a mage-killer named Silence, McGregor, the head professor of the Magic Department, had been extorting massive amounts of research funding for sorcery defense.
Wait, is it finished?! Did they hide this from me too?!
With that thought, she glanced toward the man responsible for her being out here—the one who had secured zero wins.
"......"
McGregor merely shook his head with a look of pure innocence.
She had a lot she wanted to say to him, but...
"Wait, kid! Just a minute!"
Seeing Violet close the distance and swing his sword with an incredibly awkward posture, Joan found herself forced to use her full power.