Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: It's Not a Legend, It's a Legend (1)
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#1 Their Side of Things: A Certain Commentator's Predicament
Once, I had lived as a knight in the Empire, only to lose an arm in the grand arena and wander aimlessly afterward.
Perhaps out of pity for me, a senior from the still-active knight order introduced me to a new profession.
That was the role of commentator.
It was a job that made it possible for commoners—who could never hope to follow the dozens or hundreds of changes per second, along with the psychological warfare—to understand the matches.
I'd always been the storyteller within the knight order, and it turned out to suit me perfectly. Five years in, I was covering all sorts of tournaments...
But after those five years, I finally caused an incident as a commentator.
[……]
[……]
The mage Merel, commentating alongside me, was in the same boat.
What was the most important virtue for a commentator?
To never stop talking.
Explaining the match was crucial, of course.
But filling the awkward silences before the match began or during its lulls was just as vital.
Even a few seconds of dead air, let alone tens of seconds, was enough to brand you a failed commentator. Yet here we were, minutes in, and we still couldn't find our words.
In a normal situation, an Imperial Tournament official would burst into the booth and chew us out.
But no officials were entering the commentary room.
They were probably just as speechless, staring blankly at the feed.
[What... is this? It's over?]
One student stood there in utter calm.
But hell itself surrounded him.
The ground where he'd stood was scorched like it'd taken a magical bombardment, littered with Arsia Academy students collapsed like corpses.
[Y...our... K...ia!]
Arsia's student council president knelt on the ground, sword planted before her, barely holding herself up as she glared at him.
As an Arsia alum, I knew full well how prestigious that position was.
The Empire's Four Great Prestigious Academies had long been hailed as the pinnacle of prestige.
And Arsia—the sword academy among them, deemed the strongest—required its student council president to boast not just outstanding political skill and the trust of the students, but top-tier strength even within Arsia itself.
No matter how brilliant or popular, if the professors deemed their swordsmanship unworthy to represent Arsia, they'd be ousted from the role.
In truth, scions of great houses or students with massive support fell short in swordsmanship elections every year.
And now, Arsia's student council president—the lowest-rated Yuglasia Academy's president was on her knees before Yuglasia's president, letting out a desperate scream.
It was incomprehensible from words alone.
Seeing it with your own eyes made it even more baffling.
[Uh... how did this even happen?]
Merel, my co-commentator, finally broke the long silence, sending her voice through the magical commentary tool.
[Y-yeah...]
I snapped back to reality and tried to respond...
But I still needed a moment to form a proper answer.
[Let's recap from the start, slowly. Arsia seemed to aim for a blitz with fast strikes. Right?]
[Yes. They wanted to end it before Yuglasia—who faced Marsis in the previous match—could recover their mana.]
[Exactly. But Yuglasia sent out their vanguard first. Their student council president, Nerkia... all alone.]
[And that one person...]
[Defeated all of Arsia single-handedly.]
[……]
[……]
We weren't supposed to do this, but silence fell again.
How were we supposed to explain this?
In fights between inexperienced students, overwhelming talent gaps showed starkly and clearly.
Out in the real world, that kind of genius often got you stepped on early for a swift death, but student matches weren't that brutal.
You rarely saw them dancing on the edge of death, breaking their limits like on a battlefield.
Such experience only came from staring death in the face, surpassing it, and surviving.
Students couldn't gain that. That's why talent gaps were so obvious.
Yuglasia's student council president, Nerkia, was an undisputed genius summoner.
Among countless summoners, his spirit affinity was hailed as a once-in-a-century talent—and backed by the Summoners' Association certification as the continent's top contractor of spirits. That was Yuglasia's student council president, Nerkia.
Last year's Imperial Tournament proved his worth.
He dragged Yuglasia to second place by day two, then first by day three.
They fell to third due to mental and physical fatigue on the student council and losses in the team events, but no one blamed Nerkia.
If Yuglasia's average strength matched Arsia or Marsis, people said Nerkia would have led them to victory. His reputation was that stellar.
A genius spirit summoner acknowledged by the Empire—no, the continent's summoners.
His command of versatile spirits for any situation had earned him the moniker "Spirit Legion."
Evaluated higher than the other three academy presidents as an individual!
People called Yuglasia weak, but never Nerkia!
Yes. He was a genius. Bursting with talent.
Everyone knew it. We'd confirmed it last year.
That's why this shocked us more.
As a recognized genius, everyone watched him closely.
The Summoners' Association had professors publishing theses on why spirits adored him. Other academies' faculty analyzed his strengths and weaknesses relentlessly.
As a commentator, I'd reviewed his footage endlessly, gauging his max and average output.
But he'd changed. Overwhelmingly so.
In just one year!
[What in the world happened at Yuglasia?]
That was the first thing I managed after sorting my thoughts.
Just one year. One year, and his power had transformed utterly.
I'd always seen Lady Aris as an overwhelming genius.
Even among imperial nobles, she'd been famed as a prodigy since childhood.
I never reached swordmaster territory even at my peak, so I couldn't speak definitively, but as a former knight, I'd heard swordmasters possessed something beyond mere talent.
The rest of Yuglasia's students seemed similar.
I'd chalked it up to their new military professors giving them extreme experiences to push their limits.
Many were average compared to other academies' students, winning through sheer tenacity against stronger foes.
Something only growing students could pull off.
But Nerkia shattered that notion.
He'd surpassed the limits of personal talent.
One person overwhelming—not just beating, but dominating—not 100 others proved Yuglasia's foundation had changed!
And then, the most shocking revelation came from Nerkia's own mouth.
[I... really got strong.]
[Are you... insulting us?!]
[No, I seriously had no idea. Even all our academy students together couldn't beat one of Professor Niserwin's summons. I thought we were that weak.]
[What?!]
Nerkia, who soloed Arsia's 100 without letting them close in.
Plus Lady Aris, a swordmaster.
Those two alone could crush a typical knight order.
Not to mention Vice President Loki's familiar, Trickster Lisen; the Imperial Tournament's aerial ace, Queen of the Skies Karen; and the other proven student council officers.
First-years had four god-tier summoners besides Lady Aris.
And the "ordinary" students—who'd achieved massive growth and could no longer be called ordinary!
This lineup could match an imperial division.
Compare that to evaluations of Professor Niserwin!
An honored professor of the Continental Summoners' Association, unmatched in theory.
But born frail, he'd recuperated in the elven forests, or so the tales went.
Yet Nerkia claimed that frail figure could solo a Spirit King contractor, swordmaster, and hordes of summoners.
[Really? Yeah, Kir. Why do you think we pushed so hard to survive? Sure, even stronger, we can't win.]
[What... what even are Professor Niserwin's summons?! A god, like the rumors? Archdevil? Spirit King?!]
Those rumors existed.
His overwhelming info network led to tales of contracting an info god, selling his soul to an archdevil for secrets, or linking to the Akashic Records—holding all the world's lore. Some said he'd contracted every summon he knew!
The Association debunked it as absurd, but if the entire academy couldn't beat them, it'd be weirder if no secret existed.
[Idiot, think. I'm a Spirit King summoner. Lady Aris is god-tier. Lisen's god-tier too, and four more first-years. A mere god, archdevil, or Spirit King—we'd overwhelm with numbers.]
[Then what is Professor Niserwin's summon that even this insane lineup loses to?!]
[That's...]
[That's?]
Gulp.
Arsia's president swallowed dryly. So did Merel and I.
Everyone watching this feed was probably doing the same.
A summon unbeatable by a Spirit King summoner, swordmaster, six god-tiers, and a thousand students! No one wouldn't be dying to know!
Nerkia pondered briefly, then smiled and revealed what everyone craved...
[That's a secret.]
He didn't!
[You're mocking me?!]
[No, no, we don't know exactly either. It's called a metal spirit, but nah. Claims to be a goddess herself, but no gods recognize her. We do have a name for it.]
[You do?]
[If I said it, I'd get smacked. Nah. Rather die than get hit.]
Her face twisted at his playful tone.
[Still... mocking me?! You think a mere threat...]
[Mere? Threat?]
[Urk!]
But Nerkia dropped the playfulness, pressing her hard.
[Mere, you say? Do you have any idea what we've endured for that "mere" thing?!]
[Grk!]
At his rage, the Lightning Spirit King unleashed its power too.
[You haven't experienced it yourself, and you call it "mere"?! Do you know how we've approached the Imperial Tournament to dodge that "mere" thing? Lady Aris became a swordmaster because of it. I contracted a Spirit King. That "mere" thing despaired us—and made us strong!]
The clear sky darkened.
Those black clouds? All thunderheads.
Amid the shattered ground and lightning-laced thunderheads evoking apocalypse, Yuglasia's president roared.
[Don't you dare speak of that "mere" thing if you haven't endured it, you greenhorn!]
With that, not a single Arsia student remained.