The Kingdom Stirred to Motion
A steady rhythm of thuds echoed across the open-air stage, as if a club were relentlessly striking a leather bag.
At first, Alan had struggled with all his might, desperately blocking or dodging to survive, but Iris's sword found no mercy. It pierced through his defenses and seized his escapes, delivering merciless strikes that battered his body without pause.
The relentless assault left no room for Alan to even declare surrender.
Under that overwhelming pressure, neither the judge nor the spectators could utter a word. They held their breaths and stared at the horrifying scene in silence.
Every person present here had been completely overwhelmed by Iris Reiknear.
Just as Iris was about to deliver her final blow, she suddenly halted in place, grimacing in pain. Amid the cheers from the stands mixed with a few pained groans of sympathy, a voice of lament rose from several spots.
Is that miraculous phenomenon happening again? The rather unremarkable young man is claiming another victory.
A few spectators voiced their concerns.
But Iris, with a determined expression, swung her sword with force strong enough to silence the surroundings. She straightened her posture.
The murmurs quickly transformed into cheers, and an immense presence surged from Iris's body.
Ah, that's anger.
I've witnessed that kind of aura several times before, so I understood.
I don't know what happened, but Iris was furious.
And as Iris blocked Alan's attack, her momentum shifted.
While her focus had been on evasion and counterattack, she now seized the initiative, unleashing a barrage of strikes that pounded into Alan's body.
It was a lightning-fast sequence of blows from the same senior who had once made the spectators roar with excitement, but now it was a power that silenced the crowd entirely.
Honestly, I was terrified.
The senior's sword aura, which was pummeling Alan like a beast, made me, seated in the highest VIP box, feel utterly crushed.
Glancing sideways, I saw Riel and Emilia were also holding their breaths, watching the spectacle.
Had Riel sensed my gaze? She was looking back at me, her eyes filled with worry, as if she were gazing upon a family member heading into battle.
I didn't understand the meaning of that gaze at all for a moment.
Ah...
And then I realized.
Tomorrow, I have to fight my senior.
I have to confront the tragedy unfolding on the stage right now.
...
This is done for.
That was my final conclusion after careful thought.
I was done for.
That was when I was worrying about my future.
Clang!
The sound of something falling.
It was the sound of Alan dropping the sword he had been holding.
Thud!
And Alan collapsed to his knees without moving.
"Hmph... Not dropping the sword even when knocked out shows quite a bit of willpower."
With a hint of admiration in her voice, Iris remarked.
The arena remained deathly silent in that moment.
It was none other than the judge who first snapped out of it.
"The... winner is Iris Reiknear!!"
Even after the judge's announcement, the arena stayed silent.
But that silence didn't last long.
[Waahaaaaaaa!!]
[Iris! Iris! Iris!]
[Academy's strongest, as expected!]
The stadium erupted with cheers.
Riel, Emilia, and I clapped enthusiastically, sending our congratulations.
...For a brief moment, I forgot that my opponent tomorrow would prove to be far stronger, and instead cheered along.
At that very moment, murmurs began to spread across the arena.
"Hey, look at that..."
"Did he really get struck?"
"Ha... poor guy..."
Confused by those words, I turned to look around when Riel poked my shoulder with her elbow.
"Look over there..."
Riel's face tightened as she pointed with her finger.
It was Alan, collapsed in the arena.
What had happened to Alan?
Had he suffered some serious injury?
Honestly, it didn't matter to me what happened to Alan, but if he ended up with a criminal record because of Iris senior, that would be bad...
Amid the murmurs, I even heard mocking laughter, which made me think maybe my worry was unnecessary...
As I leaned forward to examine Alan closely, I suddenly realized.
"Oh..."
That's right.
The bastard had done it.
A wet puddle had formed near the groin of the unconscious young man.
...
Well.
Regardless of whether I liked or disliked that guy, I felt a bit sorry for him.
After the match, there was supposed to be a stage performance.
Since Emilia, Iris, and I didn't have any particular interest in the stage performance, we left the arena.
As we stepped out, Iris handed me back my sword.
"Umm... If you notice anything strange about the sword, please let me know. I'll get you a new one..."
"Ah... no, no. I doubt anything would happen to it...?"
Could a sword really break just because I smacked Alan around a little? He's not some virus.
...Actually, there's a small chance that guy might cause something like that.
"Then the finals tomorrow will be between Kyou and Iris senior, right?"
Emilia asked, and Iris turned to me with a grin.
"Yes, that's how it will be. I'm looking forward to you."
"Hah... hahaha... Please be gentle with me."
Honestly, it was a bit frightening.
"I need to prepare a new gauntlet in advance. Tomorrow's the finals, and royalty will be watching."
After saying that, he bid us farewell and hurried into the crowd.
"By the way, royalty will be attending tomorrow too..."
Emilia said, and Riel nodded in agreement.
Tomorrow was the final day of the Martial God Festival.
The Martial God Festival consisted of four types of competitions: martial arts and magic in the general division, and martial arts and magic in the academy division.
These four competitions were held in different locations, but the final matches on the last day took place in the same venue.
That venue was the Royal Central Stadium.
It was the place that could always accommodate the most spectators for grand events or sports competitions, making it the standard stage for finals.
From there, four winners were crowned, and the event included royalty watching the matches so they could personally award trophies to the victors.
While the king sometimes attended personally, it was often a prince or princess.
"I heard Princess Luna attended last year."
Upon hearing that, Emilia nodded.
Princess Luna Ena Palazinia.
The first princess of the Palazinia Kingdom.
Originally, she should have been ranked first in the line of succession, but when the twin princesses Aine and Luna were born, there was a struggle for the throne around them.
However, since the two princesses were very close, they instead expressed regret for troubling the people around them and gave up their succession rights.
As a result, Princess Yuril, the legitimate daughter of the queen, took the top spot in the succession order, and the conflict ended with the two sisters supporting her enthusiastically.
Just like the legendary Princess Aine, renowned as the kingdom's greatest martial powerhouse, her twin sister Luna was known for possessing the kingdom's greatest political wisdom.
In the original story, she had appeared as a villain alongside Princess Aine, and with her intelligence, she had trapped Alan's group in trouble several times.
Although I had never met her directly, I had seen her from afar a few times.
I had also heard recent news about her.
It was from the northern front not long ago.
"Since Princess Luna is currently fighting on the western front, she probably won't be here this time."
Riel gave a knowing look upon hearing my words.
Well, Riel had also heard that story from Princess Aine in the north.
The outcome of this Martial God Festival might change, but if the original story and some parts remained the same, the royalty attending this time would likely be her.
The boy who had been with Alan yesterday.
Julius ibn Fallazinia.
"Yuri. What's going on?"
The boy, Yuri, turned his head at the voice calling him.
A lively woman with pink hair tied back.
It must have been Refia, the one who had helped him when he got lost in the crowd after secretly leaving the palace.
"No, it's nothing. Rather, is it okay for me to go with my companions?"
One of her companions was Alan, the man who had just suffered a bitter defeat in the festival and had been carried away to the infirmary.
...He didn't seem like a bad first impression, but honestly, his swordsmanship was sloppy, and with that personality lacking in common sense, I thought he would face hardships later.
Anyway, the others had all gone with him to the infirmary, but Refia had stayed by Julius's side instead.
"Ah... yes. I plan to escort Yuri and then do some solo training afterward."
"Training?"
Julius had come up with something.
Now that I thought about it, this woman, Refia, had also participated in the festival.
She had lost in the 32nd round yesterday, but perhaps she had learned something from that loss.
Refia's father was an officer in the kingdom's military who had performed well.
She was not a noble, but living comfortably and learning swordsmanship from her father, Refia had truly loved him.
Eagerly training her sword, she had entered the academy planning to join the military like her father.
There, she met her fateful person.
Alan Ludwig.
A handsome boy with a knightly father and a burning sense of justice.
His outgoing personality had been his only flaw, but at some point, Refia had fallen for him.
Without him, it was difficult to describe Refia's daily life. At some point, she had even started skipping sword training often.
While living that academy life, Refia faced the Martial God Festival.
The girl who had skipped training had gone to the festival.
Alan had gone to the festival too, to seek revenge against the noble boy Kyou Ventos who had defeated him.
Well, it wasn't as if I had been the first to meet him, but since I was going to fight anyway, Refia had charged forward boldly.
But she had lost.
Her defeat had been so perfect that I couldn't even refute it.
'I should have focused on training instead of chasing after Alan Ludwig's tail.'
That one line was engraved in Refia's mind.
After the loss, Refia had been unable to focus even on Alan's quarterfinal match and had fallen into deep worry.
"Maybe I should start training from scratch again."
That was the resolution Refia had made.
"Ah, this is enough. It looks like a welcoming party has come. Thank you, Refia."
"Ah... really? Then Yuri...?"
Refia's mind snapped back at the boy's voice, and she looked around in confusion.
While walking hurriedly with Yuri, they had arrived at the front of the palace.
And the group that had come to welcome him was the royal guard knights stationed at the palace.
"...Eh?"
Refia lost her words as she watched Julius's retreating figure surrounded by the royal guards.
Julius turned his gaze to Jess, one of the knights who had come to greet him.
Jess nodded and stood beside Julius as they continued walking together.
"I didn't know you'd come out to greet me personally, Jess."
"You knew it, didn't you?"
"Hahaha... Thank you for secretly following and protecting me."
"...Yes. More importantly, someone has come to see His Highness."
From Jess's words, it seemed the person who had come to see Julius held a rank higher than him.
His father? Or mother? Or...
Julius entered the room where the visitors were waiting.
"It's been a while, Julius."
"Niece."
Julius's eyes widened.
He hadn't seen his step-niece much, and she was always busy shuttling around.
It was Princess Yuril, the first in the kingdom's line of succession.
Beside her always stood her personal knight, Meryl Milliano.
Julius sat opposite Yuril.
"It's been so long. But... what could it be...?"
"Julius. I have something I want to discuss with you."
Her kind expression now replaced by a serious face and voice made Julius feel something was off. He looked at her directly.
"...It's about the World Tree Church."
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