The Quarterfinals of the Comprehensive Evaluation
The quarterfinals of the Comprehensive Evaluation. As expected, all the main cast members had advanced in the previous matches. It seemed Mikaris Merian had done as much as she could before forfeiting. Currently, those who had made it to the semifinals were Winston Arcadia, Adan Elois, and Saint Richmond. And now, the highly anticipated final match of the quarterfinals. It was my turn.
The commentator's voice echoed across the arena through a magical amplification device.
—Now, for the final match of the quarterfinals! The one everyone has been waiting for! The hope of the commoners! Hound Egil is entering the arena!
—You are our hope!
—Show them what a commoner can do!
The commoners in the audience cheered for me passionately. It was almost overwhelming. Forcing an awkward smile to match their enthusiasm, I waved toward the stands.
—Our next contestant is the maverick of the Gillette Barony! The spearman, Forne Gillette!
—Show them! Prove that the future of spearmanship isn't just guarding the gates!
Forne Gillette? I'd heard that name somewhere before. I was pretty sure he was the catalyst for a major incident in the original novel...
A spearman with a green ponytail walked up the steps. It was Forne Gillette. He had sharp, squinting eyes—the classic closed-eyes character trope. I could already see where this was going.
Is he a mastermind? But he's only from a barony. I don't think he was prominent enough to be a mastermind...
What was it again? I couldn't remember for the life of me. I was certain he was a key figure in a massive event, though. The noble names in this world were just too damn complicated.
As I racked my brain, a voice called out, "Begin!" The moment the blue barrier expanded, the match officially started.
Wait, shouldn't they ask if we're ready first? That was incredibly sudden.
Unlike the others, he didn't charge at me immediately. Did he do his research beforehand? Not that it would make a difference.
"Do you have a purpose in winning this tournament?"
"...A purpose?"
"Yes. If you only care about your grades, shouldn't you be satisfied with how far you've come?"
Satisfied with my current grades? In any world, if you don't have ambition, you'll never make it out of the bottom.
"What I want is victory. That is the only answer I can give you."
"I see... So you have no other purpose."
"Do you have one?"
Forne Gillette didn't answer. He merely smirked, curling one corner of his mouth.
What's his deal? What a weird bastard.
Right then, Forne channeled Aura into his spear and lunged forward.
Whoosh! Forne gripped the very end of his spear's shaft, swinging it with maximum reach. If I didn't have the Eye that Sees Crisis, I might have actually been hit. It was that unexpected of a technique.
"Judging by your Aura, you are at the 3-Star stage."
"Indeed. I am known as the hope of the Gillette Barony, after all."
The hope of the Gillette Barony with just 3-Star? Well, I suppose that makes sense. Lutera Edelian and I are the abnormal ones here.
Screeech. I drew the Storm Sword Eterna. The moment the blade left its scabbard, a fierce gale swept across the arena floor, whipping Forne Gillette's green ponytail wildly.
"Is that an artifact you obtained from a dungeon?"
"It's something like a family heirloom."
I had no intention of making a fool out of Forne Gillette. His gaze was straight and true—he possessed the eyes of a proper knight. Therefore, I would treat this match with respect. Of course, within reason.
"I will grant you the first move."
"How arrogant."
Thud! The moment the words left his mouth, Forne dashed toward me. He traced elegant lines in the air with his spear, unleashing a rapid flurry of consecutive strikes.
A sweep from the upper left, spinning the spear behind his back, followed by a straight thrust. The pros and cons of spearmanship: great reach, but slow recovery. While any weapon's effectiveness ultimately depends on the wielder, the spearmanship of this world possessed glaring flaws.
Forne Gillette didn't stop, relentlessly pressing his advantage with his family's signature spear style. An upper-right thrust, a center thrust, and then closing the distance to strike my solar plexus with the shaft.
I tilted my head to dodge the upper-right thrust and twisted my waist to evade the center thrust. When Forne closed in, I blew him back with a gust of wind from my sword.
"That sword is truly troublesome."
"I found it troublesome at first, too."
Forne's expression grew solemn.
"I must win this tournament. And to do that, I have to defeat you."
What was he suddenly blathering about? Was he trying to have a heart-to-heart in the middle of a fight?
"Is there a reason you absolutely must win...?"
"If I win this tournament, I am going to confess my feelings to her..."
Ha. This guy wasn't sane either. He just uttered the ultimate taboo. Using an academic evaluation as a stepping stone for a love confession? Yeah, you're doomed to fail, buddy.
"Ah, is that so..."
"What is with that reaction?"
"I've felt this way for a while now, but it truly breaks my heart to stand in the way of someone's dreams."
"..."
The sunset seemed to pool at the tip of Forne Gillette's spear. A brilliant crimson light began to gather, and a red Aura enveloped his body. The tip of his spear blazed with blood-red Aura.
I raised Eterna and took my stance. Now was the time. The perfect moment to use the Flowing Water Sword.
Crash! Shattering the arena floor, Forne leaped high into the air.
"Gáe Bol—!"
"Don't you dare say that name!"
A dark red trajectory line appeared in my vision—a lethal strike. The attack plummeted toward me like a crimson meteor, moving at an incredible speed.
I activated the Flowing Water Sword. Flow like water. It meant to redirect and deflect incoming attacks as fluidly as a running stream. Hence, the Flowing Water Sword.
Screeech! A bone-chilling screech of grinding metal threatened to burst my eardrums. I deflected Forne's falling meteor, forcing its trajectory off course.
Boom! Having lost its path, the spear struck harmlessly into the empty ground.
"To deflect that... What on earth are you?!"
Now that I listened to him, his speech pattern was a bit cringe too. And that technique just now... I almost cursed the original author.
"Deflecting things happens to be my specialty."
He had shown me everything he had. To bring this to an end, I summoned the power of six stars—my 6-Star Aura. A light more brilliant than ever before flared to life. He had likely never witnessed an Aura of such pure, pristine white.
Cheers erupted from the stands, along with the astonished voices of the knights in attendance.
—Th-That Aura! Didn't they say he was only at the 5-Star stage?
—He's barely seventeen, yet he possesses that level of power... Could the first Elois Emperor have been like this at his age...?
—He's not a Special Scholarship Student for nothing! Incredible!
Of course. That's right. I am indeed this amazing.
Step. Step. Holding my sword cloaked in pure white Aura, I slowly walked toward Forne Gillette.
"That Aura..." Forne collapsed to his knees.
"You fought well, Lord Gillette."
I swung my sword straight down toward him. A clean, linear strike—aimed just close enough to miss his crotch as he sat there.
Craaaash! A massive tempest swept through the arena.
—...
Silence fell over the arena. As the thick cloud of dust settled, it revealed a knocked-out Forne Gillette and me, standing tall with the glowing Eterna raised high into the sky.
—Once again, the victory goes to Hound Egil!!
—Damn it, I knew you could do it!
—The hope of the commoners!
This kind of expectation and attention... it didn't feel bad at all. My chest tightened. I felt almost intoxicated by my own strength. But I couldn't let myself become arrogant. My goal was already set.
Swish. I sheathed my sword with as much flair as possible. A little showmanship never hurt anyone. And with that, the quarterfinals drew to a close.
Immediately after the match, Ronia Cardelia was speaking passionately in the dining hall.
"Lord Gillette is a highly anticipated prospect! To achieve such an overwhelming victory right after defeating Lord Lauren... Your dream of slaying a dragon is truly not just a wild fantasy!"
"Of course. I do not dream of things I cannot achieve."
I was the one who won the match, but Ronia seemed far more excited. Well, seeing her so happy certainly made me puff my chest out with pride. Hahaha.
"He is my exclusive knight. This much is only natural." Though her words were cold, the corners of Mikaris's mouth twitched upward.
"Indeed. As Lady Mika's knight, this is the bare minimum."
At that moment, a bitter smile crossed Ronia's face. She always wore that expression whenever the topic of Mikaris's exclusive knight came up. Worried about her, I asked,
"Lady Ronia, is something the matter?"
"Ah, no, it's nothing! I think I will head back first today."
Ronia hurriedly left, leaving her ordered food barely touched.
"Lady Mikaris, did something happen between you and Lady Ronia after all?"
"Like what?"
"Well, Lady Ronia has been acting a bit strange..."
Clack. Mikaris stabbed her fork into her plate.
"You only need to focus on me."
"..."
A shadow fell over Mikaris's eyes. Seeing this, I couldn't help but freeze. A chill ran down my spine.
"I will head back first today as well. You should prepare diligently for the semifinals, shouldn't you? Your opponent is Lord Arcadia, after all."
"Ah, yes! Have a safe return, My Lady."
Click-clack. Mikaris stood up and walked away first.
Why has the atmosphere been so weird lately?
My next opponent was Winston Arcadia. After what happened during the Dungeon Practice, he was probably gnashing his teeth in anticipation. Well, not that it mattered to me.
But wait, wasn't Winston's opponent supposed to be Lutera? This was unexpected. In the original novel, Lutera won the tournament, yet Winston was the one who advanced... Did my influence cause him to train like a madman out of spite?
"..." Oh well. The original plot was already twisted beyond recognition anyway. As long as I knew how the major incidents would unfold, it didn't matter.
Just then, with a sharp *ding*, a message window popped up.
Coins have been sponsored.
Once again, coins had been sponsored.
This time, 50 coins were sponsored. Was someone sponsoring me after watching my actions and their outcomes? My head began to ache again. I squeezed my eyes shut, plagued by useless worries. Even though I knew that dwelling on these thoughts was a waste of time since no clues or answers would ever present themselves, I couldn't help it. Perhaps it was because the thing humans feared most was the terror of the unknown.
"..." I wanted nothing more than to grab whoever transmigrated me into this world by the hair and shake them, but... what could I actually do here? I decided to just focus on training. Besides, I was quite satisfied with my life here. I began to diligently raise my mastery of the Flowing Water Sword. Since Winston knew how I fought, he would likely employ a rapid-fire magic assault that would be difficult to deflect. In that regard, the Flowing Water Sword was the ultimate swordsmanship to cover my weaknesses. It was essentially like constantly maintaining the consecutive strikes of the Edelian sword style.
As I continued to practice the Flowing Water Sword, Lutera approached and spoke to me.
"You are working hard."
"When did you arrive?"
"I have been watching you for a while now."
Lutera's expression didn't look very good. Was his defeat in the tournament that shocking to him?
"I am sorry to hear about the tournament."
"No, I am not depressed over something like that. It is just..."
"Just?"
Lutera stared at the ground, seemingly lost in thought for a moment, before quickly speaking up.
"Are you familiar with charm magic?"
"Charm magic?" Charm magic. Even having read the original novel, I didn't know much about it in detail.
"Yes. Charm magic. The magic that makes one fall for the caster without even realizing it."
"...Is there someone who uses charm magic?"
"No, it is merely a suspicion. After my duel with you, my emotions became somewhat strange. I do not quite understand it myself."
"You worry too much."
Lutera laughed and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Haha. Hound, I envy you. You shake off your worries immediately and forge ahead... Sometimes, I think to myself: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing? Thoughts like that."
Lutera seemed to have a lot on his mind. Was this also my doing? Although I couldn't forgive him for hurting Mikaris, seeing him like this made me feel a bit sorry for him.
"What does any of that matter? The path you believe is right is the correct one. No one knows what lies at the end of it anyway."
"Haha, I am glad I spoke to you. I like your perspective. Well then, keep up the good work with your training."
I didn't know why, but it felt like I had just raised a flag with a weird guy in addition to all the villainesses. I just hoped he wouldn't become a nuisance...