ENTERING THE TOURNAMENT ②

“At last, it has finally arrived! The first day of the tournament!”

A female voice echoed inside the stadium.
That voice seems to be magnified by a magic tool of the ancient magician civilization installed in this arena.
This entire arena was a ruin from that era, and has been used to hold such exhibitions since long ago.
I remember, as a child I used to think that people of the ancient civilization were much more barbaric than I thought.

I currently stood at the entrance to the arena.
I had no memories of how I reached here.
Only that I couldn’t escape, so I had to come here.
Something along those lines.

It seems my turn was right at the start, and as soon as I arrived at the stadium, this is where I was lead to.

“I have to do this.”

I tightly squeezed the jewel on the necklace which Lain gave me.
My trembling stopped ever so slightly because of that.

Since this necklace was meant for training, it continued sucking my magic even now.
I wondered whether I should take it off for the match, but decided to keep it on.
That’s because when I’m wearing this necklace, it makes me feel as if Lain is watching over me.

If, I ended up in a pinch during the match, then Lain would come rescue me.

“Fu fu. As if that could happen.”

Lain was at the village right now.

Even with a horse-carriage, it would take half a month to travel from the village to the royal capital.
There’s no way Lain, who’s so far away, could save me from my crisis.

“Then let’s meet the contestants for the first round! The third son of the Rolle Barony, Dale Rolle-sama!”
“”””””””YAAAAAAAAAY!””””””””

Receiving the cheers, a man about the same age as me enters from the opposite side.
Waving to the audience, he climbs the stone stage built in the center of the arena.

It seems that my first opponent is the third son of Rolle Barony.
Rolle Barony was my own house’s, Flemia’s, close associate.
This fight must have been drawn deliberately just because of our relation.

“Versus, the village chief of a pioneering village who foolishly signed up for this noble festival, Aria!”
“”””””””BOOOOOOOOO!””””””””
“Hi!”

The next to get called was me.
Booing could be heard from the entire stadium.
Everyone was bearing hostility against me.

I never thought someone’s hostility could be this frightening.
All because I couldn’t learn magic.
It’s as if the entire world has become my enemy.

As I stepped back, the necklace on my neck shook slightly.
That slightly cold sensation let me know that I wasn’t alone in this world.

“…”

I closed my eyes and remembered everyone from the village.

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If I made it out of here, Sui and Reno could finally receive citizenship.
Even if the village disappeared, I could help Kili and Milia in various ways without letting them wander the streets.
In order to break Lain’s curse, I couldn’t afford to lose our village near the forest, where so many ruins could be found.

In order to do that, I have to survive no matter how, and go back to the village as an aristocrat!

As I opened my eyes again, my body felt strangely light.

It felt like the necklace was giving me power, but I knew that was just my imagination.

I took a step towards the battlefield.

***

“So you came instead of running. I suppose even failures have some noble pride left in them.”
“There’s no meaning in escaping.”
“Hmph. So you can speak respectfully too. An aristocrat even though a rotten one.”
“I am honored to receive such praise.”
“Hmph. You should be honored. I am…”

I replied to him as respectfully as I could.
In order to increase my chances of survival, I wanted to avoid offending my opponent as much as possible.

While letting the conversation pass my ears, I looked around the stadium.
The seats were sparsely filled.
The only ones who could enter here were aristocrats.
As expected, it seems that there aren’t that many nobles who liked seeing the slaughter-show of fallen aristocrats.
If it were a full-house, that would make me seriously worried about this country’s future.

The stone stage where Dale Rolle and I were standing was a square-shaped.

Not being that wide, you could walk from end-to-end in about 20 steps.
It was slightly narrow to run around in.

If I stepped outside the stage, I would lose…

(Maybe they’ll do something if I tried going outside)

Knights stood all around the stage as if to surround it.
Most likely, they would use their weapons to push me back onto the stage in case I tried to leave.

I think it’s in really bad taste.

“*Ahem*. Dale Rolle-sama? Is it alright to begin?”
“Oh, my bad. We can start whenever.”

After a while, the referee interrupted Dale’s bragging.
As expected, his talking went on for too long.

I kept nodding to everything he said so I would have preferred if he kept talking, but I suppose it wasn’t that easy.

“Now, I except both contestants to fight fair and square! Begin!”

Along with the referee’s shout, the battle for my life began.

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