The fight between Dorial and Selius-kun came to a sudden end.
When it seemed like there was no more safe space in the ring for Selius-kun to retreat to, Selius-kun actually leapt into Dorial’s direction.
Jumping from such a distance was normally reckless to say the least, but by using the wind to push against his back, Selius-kun managed to travel in the air further. And as soon as he was near enough, he dropkicked Dorial who was at the center of the axe’s orbit.
Dorial lost consciousness from that attack and accidentally let go of the chain. That caused the axe to fly toward the audience. We obviously couldn’t have the axe hit any of the crowd, so I quickly built a wall in front of the audience.
At any rate, with Dorial unconscious, Selius-kun was declared the winner.
“Selius-kun, you did it! You made it to the semifinals! Keep giving it your all, okay!?”
I applauded Selius-kun with all my might.
“Hey, what gives? You didn’t look that happy when I won, you know.”
Selen said so with a discontent look on her face.
“I-Is that so?”
I dodged the question, but to be honest, I reacted like that because I was hoping that either Selius-kun or Noel-kun would become the champion. After all, I knew both of them would make reasonable requests as their prize for winning the tournament.
In contrast, I was scared of what Selen and especially Gori-chan would ask. As such, I was hoping that neither of them would become the champion.
But anyway, we were now down to four participants, hence the start of the semifinals.
The matchups were as follows:
Selen vs. Noel-kun
Gori-chan vs. Selius-kun
With the end of the competition close at hand, the audience were understandably eager to start the semifinals right away. Unfortunately, they would have to wait one more day.
On the flipside, the grand finals would be tomorrow as well.
“…maybe I should go to the church and pray. Pray so that either Noel-kun or Selius-kun will win tomorrow…”
◇ ◇ ◇
It was finally the last day of the village’s fighting tournament.
Whoever it might be, the champion would be decided today.
“Huh? Did you perhaps not like that I cheered for you…?”
“N-no way! It’s just…my opponent this time is Selen-san, so…so, I thought the chief would be cheering for her…”
“W-well, of course, I’ll be cheering for her as well. I’m cheering for the both of you, yeah. So, Noel-kun, go do your best!”
“Chief…hm, I will.”
Noel-kun tightened his fist and nodded.
Seriously, I wish you luck in stopping Selen from becoming champion.
However, it wasn’t like all I could do was cheer for Noel-kun and Selius-kun.
No, I actually had a secret plan.
Fufufu, yes, I have a way to support them even from outside the ring. And its name is Villager Enhancement!
Unlike magic, I could use it without anyone noticing.
<<Don’t do it, Luke. That is cheating. As village chief, you should embrace the results in a sportsmanlike manner, whatever those results might be.>>
What, an angel Luke is scolding me!?
<<Ha, don’t be stupid. If Selen or that pink macho becomes the champion, who knows what they’ll request. If you don’t want to end up with regret, you oughta do the sure thing here. Not like you’ll be caught anyway.>>
And now there’s a devil Luke!?
<<Pay the devil’s words no mind. For the sake of all the villagers who have fought fairly thus far, make sure the competition stays fair until the end.>>
<<You talk about fairness, but what that Belrith fellow did wasn’t fair at all. That guy had the nerve to suggest such an absurd prize. You’re not wrong for what you’re about to do. Plus, like I said, no one’ll notice. Even if they suspect something’s up, it can be swept under the ‘oh, he just got so pumped from my cheering that he fought better than usual’ excuse.>>
<<Luke, follow your conscience.>>
<<You’ve been tiring yourself for the villagers’ sake, right? No one’ll bat an eye if you fudge the rules a bit here and there, you know? Besides, in the first place, this event was for fun, wasn’t it? Forget fairness, what matters is that people get excited. And you know what’ll excite the public the most? To see Noel defeat Selen, the one predicted by many to become the champion!>>
<<H-huh? That strange…why does the devil have more lines than me?>>