Chapter 96: The Tin Knight and the Martial Arts Tournament (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 96: The Tin Knight and the Martial Arts Tournament (3)
“That damn lord. He just doesn’t listen.”
Before the preliminary rounds, Maximilian Egir Haidern lamented.
He was a man of noble blue blood, born with the destiny to move history—or so he believed.
For him, winning the martial arts tournament wasn’t a goal, but merely one of the many ornaments he was naturally entitled to.
To enhance Maximilian’s honor and authority was to raise the prestige of the ‘Patriotic Youth Corps’ he led, and by extension, to protect the Empress and the Crown Prince.
When offered the chance to contribute to this great patriotic cause, it was only natural for others to be overjoyed and offer up their hearts and souls. Yet, the Lord of Thracus had ignored Maximilian’s requests with all sorts of excuses. Ah, what a rude and ill-mannered man.
Worse, the lord hadn’t even offered a sincere response to the mysterious memory loss incident the Youth Corps had experienced about a fortnight ago.
Since it had happened while they were patrolling the area to eliminate bandits and monsters, the Lord of Thracus should have compensated them as a matter of course.
Of course, the fact that the lord had never ordered such a patrol in the first place was of no concern to Maximilian.
“This is truly displeasing.”
The fact that someone as special as himself had to fight his way up from the preliminaries just like any other commoner, without the ‘natural consideration’ of being seeded directly into the main tournament.
And the current situation, where his attempts to befriend Algind Goodwitch—the Witch of the South’s apprentice and thus a political ally—were not going well.
Fuming over it all, Maximilian drew his sword.
Fortunately, there were plenty of suitable ‘targets for his frustration’ all around him.
“Kuh!”
“Aaargh!”
Taught by first-rate knights since childhood, having consumed every beneficial elixir known to man, and armed with the finest equipment, his strength was immense.
A massive cash injection might not be enough to build character, but it was more than sufficient to boost his on-paper stats.
His sword, gushing with sword energy, cut through the other participants like paper.
Maximilian’s sword strikes, turning the preliminary round into his personal venting ground, were brutal.
Even after his opponents were incapacitated, he would deliberately deliver an extra blow to finish them off, causing the other participants to grind their teeth in fury.
“Kill that bastard first!”
“Surround him!”
In a chaotic deathmatch, it was only natural for the strongest or most detested individual to become the common enemy.
Yet, even as he became the sole target of the participants’ animosity, Maximilian remained composed.
“Do you honestly think a mob of your kind could ever be a match for me?”
Swords, spears, daggers. Various attacks aimed for Maximilian’s openings.
Some were blocked by his sword, others he dodged, but a few managed to find their mark.
“Die!”
A swordsman’s slash struck Maximilian’s undefended back with all its might.
Crack!
And the swordsman’s blade shattered.
“Huh?”
His own sword, broken in half, and Maximilian’s face looking down on him with contemptuous eyes.
That was the last sight the swordsman ever saw.
After beheading the swordsman who had aimed for his back, Maximilian surveyed his surroundings with an even more relaxed demeanor.
After the mysterious memory loss incident, he had further reinforced and added to his already excellent equipment.
Plastered with all sorts of magical gear, Maximilian’s defense had reached a point where it could ignore most forms of sword energy.
Slice! Slash!
“Ugh!”
“You bastards…!?”
That wasn’t the end of the participants’ misfortune.
Most of the Patriotic Youth Corps had been scattered when the blocks were divided, but some had been placed in the same block as Maximilian.
They moved across the arena, stabbing the participants who were trying to surround Maximilian in the back.
They too were armed with high-quality equipment, though not to the same extent as Maximilian.
With Maximilian already boasting immense attack and defense, the addition of his allies left the other participants with no way to fight back.
“Dammit, this tournament is a bust!”
“Hell, of all the people to be in the same block with!”
Watching Maximilian mercilessly slaughter everyone around him, the participants swallowed their indignation and stepped outside the baseline drawn at the edge of the arena.
It meant a loss by ring-out, but it was better than dying.
Watching the scene, the platinum adventurer Peter clicked his tongue.
He’s the complete opposite of that little blonde girl.
Looking at the match itself, Adelaide had won an overwhelming victory without any particular struggle, but the match time itself had been quite long.
Once the participants realized Adelaide wasn’t actively trying to kill them, they had kept charging at her with a ‘might as well try’ attitude or used others to try and wear down her stamina.
In the end, they grew tired of Adelaide’s unshakable defense and decided to settle things amongst themselves, but the process hadn’t been short.
In contrast, Maximilian was so brutally murdering every enemy he faced that the other participants didn’t dare challenge him lightly.
After a few of the more skilled and aggressive participants were killed, the rest just eyed each other warily before being picked off one by one or giving up early and forfeiting.
The time it took to win and the stamina consumed were far less. Looking at the method alone, one could say Maximilian’s approach was wiser than Adelaide’s.
It was, but…
I don’t like him, that bastard.
Efficiency be damned. If asked who was more likable between a human butcher who slaughtered people like insects and a little lion who possessed a modicum of consideration and mercy, Peter had no choice but to side with the latter.
And it seemed he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
《Hmm, his skills are passable, but he doesn’t seem like a fun opponent to fight.》
In the spectator seats, the figure who had plopped down next to Peter said as much.
Peter spoke to the figure, who was completely covered from head to toe in a large robe, in a tone of disbelief.
“What are you doing here again? Is it really okay for the champion to be sitting here watching?”
At Peter’s words, the champion, Kalida, complained.
《Keep it down. Can’t you see I’m in disguise, trying to hide my identity?》
“If you really wanted to hide your identity, it’d be faster to take off your armor than to wrap yourself in that cloth.”
《I would if I could. I have my reasons.》
“Hah, honestly.”
What a strange one, Peter thought, shaking his head.
Truthfully, he wasn’t one to talk.
Peter spoke as if complaining to himself.
“Hah, what a mess this has turned into. The opponent I was hoping for a rematch with went and joined the team competition. And to top it off, the young lady who caught my eye is on that team too. I should’ve just joined them.”
《You don’t even have a team, do you?》
“It’s common for adventurers to team up with people they barely know.”
《Everyone knows ‘Platinum’ is picky about his party members. Lying through your teeth. And at your age, ‘the young lady who caught my eye’? You’re pretty shameless.》
“In this world, what you see is what you get.”
It was a statement filled with profound wisdom.
Even Kalida couldn’t refute it and fell silent.
After Maximilian and one of his followers advanced to the main tournament, the one who shone in the next match was a mage.
As the young man overwhelmed the other participants with spectacular fire magic, Peter and Kalida each offered their assessment.
“He’s pretty good. The guys from the Tower of Annihilation really know their way around attack magic.”
《Hiding in a corner out of sight and quickly putting up a wall of fire was a smart move. Once you block off access like that, a warrior has no way to attack unless they have exceptional armor or have mastered body enhancement. He’s good enough to enter the individual matches without a single familiar.》
A few more matches followed, but no other participant caught their eye.
There were skilled individuals, but to the two who had reached the pinnacle, those with unique characteristics like the ones before were more interesting than simple skilled fighters.
“The noteworthy ones who’ve made it to the main tournament are the little blonde lady, the gold-plated butcher, and the mage from the Magic State, I guess?”
《The first for speed and endurance, the second for mana and defense, and the third for range and firepower.》
“I’d like to crush the second one with my own hands if possible. Hey, Champion. How about you rig the match-ups a little?”
《I don’t have that kind of authority… well, it’s not that I don’t, but I won’t. It makes the fights less interesting. You know that, right?》
“Hmph. I suppose you’re right.”
Peter stood up.
He spoke with a grin.
“Well then, can’t be helped. I’ll just have to leave it to fate. That’s one of the important pillars of adventure, after all.”
Peter leaped.
The other spectators were shocked by his sudden jump from the middle of the stands, but Peter didn’t fall.
Thud!
The moment he kicked off forcefully, his body shot forward again as if there were an invisible foothold in the air.
Descending through the air as if hopping across stepping stones or down a wide staircase, he landed in the center of the arena.
The final stage of the preliminaries.
Receiving the astonished gazes directed at him, Peter drew his daggers.
Flicking one of them, he said.
“What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to attack?”