Swordsmanship Tournament (4): The Traitor's Strike
In the thunderous roar of the crowd, the dull thud of wooden swords clashing wove through the noise. At last, the announcer declared the final match of the round of sixteen over. The eight quarterfinalists were revealed. Eight names in total. Naturally, both Cain and I were among them.
Soon would come the midway event where Rosaria—the royal princess and current Ariel Academy student—would greet each quarterfinalist, offer words of encouragement, and bestow a flower necklace. Whenever the academy hosted a major event, the royal family would inevitably push Rosaria forward as their face for maximum publicity. I had been careless. My plan had been to slip away quietly after clearing the preliminaries and claiming a participation prize. But life rarely follows the script.
“All round-of-sixteen victors and our promising young talents, please ascend to the arena stage!”
At the announcer’s call, the waiting participants climbed up together. Rox, Garrett, Nilok, me… Dyson, Cain, and the rest. I stood somewhere in the middle.
“Her Highness Rosaria enters!”
The moment Rosaria stepped out from the waiting area, the entire stands erupted in cheers. The flower of the academy. Famous for possessing the purest, most beautiful features among the royal bloodline. The reaction was overwhelming. Thanks to her careful image management and warm personal relationships, not a single word of criticism rose from the crowd.
Step. Step.
Rosaria climbed the arena stairs and walked forward, meeting every one of the eight participants’ eyes. She stopped near the center and offered a gentle, eye-crinkling smile.
A few of the victors clearly harbored feelings for her; their cheeks flushed as they drank in her beauty.
“We now ask Her Highness Rosaria to bestow the flowers upon the round-of-sixteen winners!”
Following the announcer’s cue, Rosaria accepted a flower necklace from her escort knight at the end of the line and began placing them around each participant’s neck. After hanging the necklace, she seemed to offer a few kind words. Those who received them beamed and thanked her warmly. To each reply, Rosaria simply answered with another soft smile before moving on.
She continued down the line, alternating between hanging necklaces and offering encouragement, until my turn finally arrived.
“……”
“……”
Rosaria stopped in front of me and said nothing. She simply stared straight into my eyes. I had expected this. After disappearing without a word last time, how could she not have something to say?
The other participants glanced back and forth between us, puzzled.
After a moment, Rosaria placed the flower necklace over my head. Then she leaned in and whispered into my ear.
“I’d like to speak with you privately later. Please don’t run away this time.”
“……”
She stepped back a few paces as though nothing had happened and offered me another eye-smile.
I realized it would be difficult to dodge her request. An order from royalty carried weight. Running away twice would be outright rude. I wouldn’t face real punishment, but the rumors and political maneuvering that would follow… Better to meet her, ask for reasonable compensation, and part on acceptable terms.
Somehow I had become deeply entangled with Cain’s heroines. No matter how hard I tried to avoid them, life refused to cooperate. I decided it was time to handle things properly from now on.
…Hedy, of course, was the exception. Logically I should keep my distance from her too, but we had grown far too close. I no longer wanted to pull away.
I gave Rosaria a respectful bow. She nodded quietly and moved on to the next participant.
Just as she was about to present the next flower necklace—
-Clang!
““……!””
A sharp metallic ring split the air as something hard collided with something harder. The sound had come from the direction Rosaria had just passed. A protective lime-green shield had unfolded there. The caster was Rosaria herself. The necklace she wore must have contained a defensive spell; it was now glowing brilliantly in the same green hue.
She clutched her chest, face pale with shock, and stumbled backward onto the ground.
“Heh heh. So they at least prepared this much.”
Someone had swung a real blade at Rosaria. It was Nilok—one of the round-of-sixteen winners she had been about to honor. He began pouring power into the iron sword still blocked by the lime-green barrier.
“Become a sacrifice for those pig mages! Princess!”
-Woooo…
The air grew thick with a sinister, chilling aura. I sensed it immediately. The energy Nilok was channeling into his sword was not normal mana. It was dark magic—life force consumed at its root to imitate mana.
I had read that narrative before: mages who hated other mages would rebel using dark magic that mimicked mana. The moment I felt it, I knew.
“How dare you raise a hand against Her Highness…! Gah!”
“What the—urk!”
The two escort knights rushing to protect Rosaria were cut down by another blade. The attacker was yet another participant who had been standing beside Nilok.
“Did you think we’d come unprepared? You pigs should stay face-down in the dirt.”
“You insane bastards…!”
The remaining round-of-sixteen winners tried to charge forward to shield Rosaria, but spies had been planted among them too. They blocked anyone trying to reach her, real swords drawn. Unlike the pure contestants still holding wooden practice blades, these traitors had somehow smuggled in live steel. The others were forced into a desperate struggle.
I had already launched myself forward. Rosaria’s shield was visibly melting under Nilok’s dark-magic-coated blade. Her face had gone deathly pale with terror. I spotted Emile—her trusted right-hand knight—leaping down from the stands after noticing the disturbance, but she was still too far.
“Kid, stay back—gah!”
I wrapped my wooden sword in auror and sliced through the necks of the spies trying to block me. Every second mattered. The surface of Rosaria’s shield continued to corrode. She had lost all strength in her legs and collapsed where she stood. I had to stop Nilok.
“Graaah!”
“Ack!”
“Hurk!”
I carved my way forward, cutting down the traitors with practiced precision. The auror around my wooden blade gave it strength equal to their iron. Nilok, still hammering at the shield, looked visibly shaken when he saw me coming. Seven steps away. Time seemed to slow. Beyond him, I saw even Cain—who had been closest to Rosaria—struggling against other spies. Had he still not learned to wield auror? The timing was terrible. Had my presence as a variable already changed the future? I distinctly remembered a storyline where Cain saved Rosaria. Yet right now, it seemed I was the only one who could protect her.
Time snapped back to normal speed. One step away. Realizing the shield wouldn’t break in time, Nilok abandoned it and turned his blade toward me. He swung.
-Kaaang!
A heavy metallic clash rang out.
-Scraaape!
Our blades locked, each of us straining for dominance.
“Fuck! I was so close! Who the hell are you? I never heard anything about a first-year reaching the mid-stage of three-star level…!”
I ignored Nilok’s snarling and shouted past him.
“Your Highness! Run while you can!”
“Huk…!”
Rosaria, still sitting with trembling legs, finally snapped back to her senses. She grimaced, thrust her hand toward me, and a yellow magic circle bloomed in the air. A strength-enhancing spell. My body flashed with golden light.
-Scraaaape!
The sword locked with Nilok’s began pushing steadily toward him. He was losing ground.
“Fuck! Fuuuuck! Who the hell are you—!!”
“Ugh!”
His face twisted with resentment. Had he been a pure three-star expert, the situation would have been dangerous. I held a wooden sword; he held real steel. If two blades wrapped in equal auror collided, the wooden one would shatter. Even though his weapon was coated in dark magic, the mimicry wasn’t strong enough to break my auror. Dark magic favored curses far more than direct combat imitation.
If things continued this way, I could cut him down.
“I was saving this for the princess, but…! No choice now!”
“……!”
Nilok began chanting. A sinister black aura rose from his body. No matter how much I had read, I didn’t know every spell in the original story. While I tried to guess what he was casting, he finished the incantation. The black energy surged straight toward me.
“……!”
“Hahaha! You brought this on yourself, you fool!”
What is this? My body grew heavier by the second. A curse-type dark spell? As my limbs became leaden, Nilok’s sword—which had been losing—began to rise. In an instant the advantage had flipped.
“Your Highness!”
“Emile! Hurry and cut him down…!”
-Slice!
“Aaaargh!”
Emile, arriving late, charged in and slashed Nilok across the torso. The traitor who had been locked blade-to-blade with me collapsed, spraying blood.
“Huff… huff…”
Even though the caster was dead, the heaviness remained. Worse, my danjeon had gone into reverse flow. My mana was reacting violently to the dark magic, causing dangerous symptoms. If this continued, I would fall into qi deviation.
Rosaria rushed to my side and poured purification magic over me, but it had no effect.
“It’s not working… Priest! Someone bring a priest! Emile!”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Emile sprinted out of the arena. I planted my wooden sword in the ground and sank to my knees. My danjeon churned violently. My body felt so heavy it seemed ready to melt. Rosaria continued casting purification spells, but there was still no response. We needed a far higher-level spell. I wasn’t sure I could hold on that long.
In the distance, I saw Cain standing there blankly.
…Useless bastard. Because I had done the job that idiot was supposed to handle, everything had spiraled like this. Thanks to this incident, I would no longer be able to easily shake off my connection to Rosaria.
“…Sian!”
My consciousness was fading. Far away, I caught sight of Hedy running toward me with a desperate, worried expression.
…This would be the second time I fainted in front of her. Even in this grave moment, a hollow laugh escaped me. I wondered what face she would make when I woke up. If I woke up at all.
I couldn’t keep thinking any longer. My mind slipped into darkness.