Aizawa Daisuke Read online

  of the fighting arena.

  I join the end of the line for magic swordsmen, then observe my surroundings.

  The warrior in front of me is tall and has well-trained muscles. At first glance, he looks

  strong, but his center of gravity is not stable.

  Unn, it might be a close call, but I think I look just a little bit weaker than him.

  Another warrior joins the line behind me.

  His center of gravity is stable, but he has too much fat in his stomach. More like, it

  seems that his center of gravity is stable because of the fat. He most likely drinks too

  much.

  But it should be fine. He has a grim face, so I’m sure I look weaker than him.

  In that manner, I look all around, arbitrarily hosting a ‘who looks the weakest’

  tournament inside my head.

  In order to have people go from “Oi, oi, that guy’s definitely going to die” to “Wait, that

  guy is that strong?!”, it’s a necessity that I look the weakest among these people.

  That guy is small fry, that guy over there is also small fry, the one across is small fry

  also, and the one all the way over there is trash… come on, why are they all small fry.

  But it should be fine. The current me is Jimina Sehnen.

  As a result of a strict judging, I conclude that I am indeed the one who looks the

  weakest here.

  I nod as a way to convince myself. At that moment.

  “Wait a second, you over there. Stop right there.”

  “Nn?”

  “If you participate, you’re going to die.”

  When I turn around, I see a young girl wearing a magic swordsman getup.

  My heart leaps. Could it be that that event is happening?

  “Who are you?”

  “My name is Annerose. If you are joining with a halfhearted attitude, then I advise you

  to stop.”

  Annerose glares up at me with a sharp gaze.

  That instant, I do a guts pose inside my heart.

  Indeed, this is… the event that happens without fail when a weak-looking character

  applies for a tournament!

  “You’re an amateur, right? I can tell with a look.”

  Annerose walks towards me, and stops barely within reach.

  She has light blue eyes shining with a strong will, and her hair of the same color is cut

  to around shoulder length.

  “You have a cheap sword, and a weak-looking body.”

  Annerose lightly taps my sword and body with her index finger.

  “Though the swords used in the tournament are dulled, if you take them lightly, you

  can die.”

  Then once again, she shoots me a sharp glare.

  I look into her eyes, and think for a bit. The reaction that I should show here is…

  “I’d advise you to not judge books by their covers.”

  So saying, I turn away from Annerose.

  Indeed, the setting that I’m going with here is that I look weak but am actually really

  strong. And thus, it would be contrary to come off deferential here.

  The best effect is if I get them to think ‘this guy is weak, but sure is presumptuous.’

  “What is with that attitude. And here I am actually worrying…”

  “I don’t need it. Save it for someone who does.”

  Ah right, gotta remember to use the pronoun ‘ore’ to refer to myself.

  (T/N: There are many options in Japanese for the pronoun ‘I,’ depending on gender, age,

  relative status to the conversational partner, etc. ‘Ore’ is the most masculine one, to the

  degree where in some situations would come across as excessively aggressive.)

  “I’m being serious, you really…”

  “Oi brat, that was a warning, not advice. And warnings are meant to be taken seriously.”

  Abruptly, a man interrupts our conversation.

  If I have to use a simile to describe him, then he is like an rough-looking pro wrestler.

  However, the sword on his waist is well-used, and the various scars on his face give off

  a ‘veteran of battlefields’ aura.

  In actual fact, among everyone present, he seems to be the strongest after Annerose

  and me.

  “I am Quinton. I’ve participated in the Festival several times already, and every time I

  see weaklings like you pouring cold water on the audience. How about you just run on

  back home and suck your mama’s tits?”

  Quinton’s brazen ridicule is met with voices of approval and vulgar laughter from the

  surroundings.

  But I shoot Quinton a sideways glance, then sneer.

  “At the very least, I’m stronger than you.”

  Quinton’s face turns livid.

  “Gyahaha! Quinton, you’re being looked down on!”

  “Quinton, you gonna just let a small fry run his mouth off about you?”

  Quinton’s eyebrows scrunch up from the jeering, and he grabs me by my collar.

  “Oi, you better be careful with your tongue. Who the fuck did you say is stronger than

  me?”

  I do not answer.

  But I do raise a corner of my mouth in a sneer again.

  “Seems that you are in need of some… educating!”

  So saying, he throws me.

  I crash into some people, then roll on the ground.

  “Yea, show him who’s who!!”

  “Gyahaha, make sure you go easy on him!!”

  The people around Quinton and me back off into a ring. As expected of these people

  who make their living from violence, they sure know how to react.

  “This is your last chance to apologize.”

  So says Quinton while cracking his neck with koki koki sounds.

  “Your standard really is low.”

  I shake my head with a ‘yare yare’.

  “I will fucking KILL you!”

  Quinton charges at me with a punch.

  To be honest, unarmed combat in this world is almost entirely undeveloped. More like,

  people are stronger when using a weapon, so the only opportunities for unarmed

  combat are either when the fighter is that much stronger, or when the fighter has been

  driven to the ropes to that degree. Otherwise, unarmed combat almost never happens.

  If there is an unarmed combat tournament, I would undoubtedly take first place.

  That’s how much confidence I have.

  The various ways that I can react to this situation flash through my mind.

  Countering with a left straight or right hook would be simple yet effective. Stopping

  him with a jab or front kick then wait-and-see would be safe. Not doing anything and

  going completely wait-and-see would be even safer. Meeting him with an elbow or

  knee would be very effective. Tackling him and then locking him into a joint lock on

  him would be good too.

  If this was a real fight with a strong enemy, I would definitely go with the jab. But not

  with a fist, but with outspread palm, all five fingers aimed towards his eyes.

  But against mere Quinton, there is no need to go that far. In the first place, I… don’t

  even feel like fighting yet.

  “ORA!!”

  Quinton’s fist sinks into my cheek.

  Then I am sent flying away flashily, crashing into the surrounding human wall.

  “There’s more where that came from!!”

  Quinton’s punches land on me.

  Right, left, right, left, left, left.

  I allow myself to continue being punched without raising my own hand, then arbitrarily

  collapse by myself where I think appropriate.

  “This guy is weak! He’s way too freaking weak!”

  “
Gyahaha, so he is a small fry after all!”

  The gallery’s derision is music to my ears.

  “Is he too scared to do anything? What a wimp!”

  Quinton looks down on me and scoffs.

  “My fists are not so cheap as to be used on the likes of you.”

  So I say while looking up at Quinton and smiling.

  “So you haven’t had enough yet?!”

  “Stop it already!!”

  Quinton’s raised fist is stopped by Annerose’s voice.

  “You’ve already gone too far. If you’re still itching for a fight, then I’ll be your partner.”

  Annerose glares up at Quinton.

  “Oi oi, the lady said she’d be your partner!”

  “Gyahaha, can you be my partner instead?!”

  In contrast to the jeering, Quinton’s face grows grim.

  Leaving behind a ‘tch,’ he turns on his heels.

  “What’s wrong, Quinton? Going for a piss?”

  “How boring, it’s already over?”

  As Quinton leaves, the human ring also beaks up.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t foresee it turning into that.”

  Annerose reaches out a hand.

  I stand up while ignoring that hand.

  “If you’d actually wanted to, you could have stopped it at any moment. Am I wrong?”

  Annerose flinches from my question.

  “Rather than something that you can’t recover from happening to you during the

  tournament, I thought it better for you to learn a lesson here first. But he really did go

  too far. Are your wounds alright?”

  Annerose reaches towards me, but I intercept it with one hand.

  “No problem.”

  “But you… eh?”

  It seems that Annerose has noticed. Despite having being punched so many times,

  there are no obvious wounds on me.

  If I have to point one out, the only thing I can raise is the small cut on the side of my

  mouth.

  I use a thumb to wipe away the blood slowly oozing beside my mouth, then turn to leave.

  “The taste of blood… how long has it been last…”

  So I murmur in a small voice loud enough to be heard by Annerose.

  “…! Wait! What is your name?”

  I feel her strong gaze on my back.

  “…Jimina.”

  With that, I disappear into the sea of people.

  Then I clinch a guts pose.

  Hell yea!

  I have successfully done it.

  ‘The small fry that everyone underestimates, but a small minority have realized that

  he might not be what he seems!’

  I absolutely love this cliche .

  In my opinion, those who unveil their strength before the tournament even begins are

  mere third-rates.

  Where’s the fun in that? What’s the point of revealing your true strength in the least

  interesting place possible?

  Being underestimated by everyone before the tournament begins is just right. Then

  when the tournament begins, you make more and more people think “Wait, isn’t that

  guy kind of strong?” Then only at the climax do you reveal your true strength to make

  people go “Hell, that guy was actually that fucking strong the entire time?!” Now that

  is a first-rate flow.

  To maintain control over the audience’s impression of me until that crucial moment is

  the task that I have been tasked with during this Festival of the God of War.

  I host this single-person reflection session while hiding into the shadows.

  Then after confirming that Annerose and the rest have left, I secretly get back in line

  and complete my registration.

  The prelims for the Festival of the God of War begin next week. I return to Sid’s

  appearance to check out the fighting arena and consider all possible developments.

  Then I hit MagRonald and buy two sandwiches to eat on the way back to my dorm.

  While walking beneath the twilight sun, I remember that I had promised to treat Alpha

  to MagRonald.

  But Alpha always seems busy, so we haven’t really found the time. Oh well, I’ll get

  around to it someday. Alpha is Alpha, so she’ll probably easily live for more than 300

  years. And me, I intend to use magic to lengthen my own lifespan to over 200 years. I

  just have to treat her once before I die. Let’s think long term.

  As I approach the academy, the sound of cicadas increase in volume. Twilight in

  summer is the cicadas’ time. Or maybe not, maybe that’s just my arbitrary impression.

  The academy as illuminated by the setting sun is well into the process of

  reconstruction. At this pace, the reconstruction should indeed finish in time for the

  usual starting time of the new semester. Previously, Hyoro had cursed it with “I wish

  it had all burned down,” but I concur. I’m sure the entire student body that wishes for

  an extension of the summer holidays are of the same opinion.

  I walk past the school buildings towards the road that leads to the dormitories.

  There are very few people.

  The large majority of students have returned home. Speaking of which, Nee-san had

  also said “we will go home together,” but then I ignored her and went to the Holy

  Ground. I wonder what happened after that? Would she be back around the time of

  the tournament proper?

  While thinking such thoughts, I throw the last morsel of the first sandwich into my

  mouth.

  At that moment.

  “Unpreparedness is one’s greatest enemy, you know?”

  The sheath of a thin practice sword touches my shoulder. There is almost no killing

  intent at all, so I didn’t react to it.

  The owner of the sheath giggles, then withdraws the sword. She has honey-colored

  hair and a gentle smile. It’s Rose.

  “Yaa, you back from practice?”

  “Indeed. I found myself with some free time, so I went to swing my sword for a bit. Sid-

  kun, you went to MagRonald?”

  “I’m acquainted with the store manager over there. Happened quite recently, though.”

  “I also went the other day, with two friends. That place really is very delicious.”

  “Two friends?”

  “Yes! Natsume-sensei and Alexia-san.”

  I don’t quite get the relationship between the three of them, but well, they were together

  at the Holy Ground, so maybe something came out of that?

  “You close with them?”

  “I’ve gotten really close with Natsume-sensei. Alexia-san is also a really good person,

  so it won’t be long before we become close.”

  As long as you are under the impression that Alexia is a good person, that means you

  are not close to her.

  “But it’s just that Alexia-san and Natsume-sensei don’t really seem to get along well

  with each other.”

  Rose looks slightly sad.

  What to make of the Beta and Alexia pairing? Though I do think they’re birds of a feather.

  “It’ll probably sort itself out eventually.”

  “I’d be glad if that is the case… I’m just so worried about whether those two can get

  along well if I’m gone. From here on, we’re going to cooperate together. Though we

  still don’t know what it is that we can do, but we hope to make the world at least a

  little bit better.”

  “World peace is important indeed.”

  “Yes it is!”

  Rose is now smiling brightly.

  “Ah, I’m sorry. It’s about time for me, so I have to get going.”

&nbsp
; Our surroundings are gradually getting darker.

  “Un, see you around.”

  “Um…”

  Despite saying that she has to get going, it seems like Rose still has something else to

  say.

  “What’s up?”

  Rose hesitates for a while before opening her mouth.

  “Now, I’m going to meet my father. It seems that he might be introducing my fiance to

  me.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes.”

  “Congratulations… is something that I’m not going to say.”

  Rose’s face tells me that it is not something she wishes for.

  “I am the princess of Oriana Kingdom. As a princess, I shoulder many expectations

  while I live. However, in my selfishness, I have betrayed all that.”

  “Un.”

  “I might end up betraying the expectations of a large number of people, again.”

  Rose smiles a painful smile.

  “But this time, it is not selfishness. It would be great if I’m just worrying for nothing.

  But… if… if something happens, will you believe in me?”

  “Un, got it.”

  Rose looks down as if to hide her face, then turns around to leave.

  “Hey.”

  I call her back, then throw the other MagRonald sandwich towards her.

  “Take it. You should relax your shoulders a bit.”

  “Thank you.”

  Rose smiles at me gently.

  2

  The next day, I am jolted awake by Hyoro’s scream.

  “Student Council President Rose stabbed her fiance and fled!!”

  While still in bed, I tilt my head in puzzlement at what drove her to do such a thing.

  “What is she doing, that girl…”

  So sighs Alexia inside her own room, accompanied with a ‘tch.’

  “It seems that Rose had fled to the northern part of the royal capital. She is most likely

  still within the city.”

  The one who said that in a businesslike tone is Natsume, who is sitting on the opposite

  sofa.

  Alexia looks at Natsume with a bitter face, then clicks her tongue again.

  It is thanks to Natsume that the details of Rose’s attempted murder of her fiance