Aizawa Daisuke Read online

  “Either way, today’s match will make everything clear.”

  “Agreed. His opponent is that Undefeatable Myth Goldoh Kinmekki.”

  “I don’t know him personally, but apparently he’s famous? Something about him never

  having lost a fight before.”

  “For better or worse, he is famous indeed.”

  So says Annerose with a wry smile.

  “Is he strong?”

  “Let me see how to put it… So I’ve fought in a few different countries. I’ve been in

  actual battle, and have also participated in several tournaments. In tournaments in the

  past, I’ve been matched with Goldoh Kinmekki three times.”

  “Hou… if he’s never lost before, that means that you lost to him all three times?”

  Annerose shoots Quinton a light glare.

  “As if. All three times, we didn’t fight. Whenever he meets a strong opponent, he runs

  away.”

  “Hah? What the hell?”

  “He makes sure to never fight against an opponent that he has a chance of losing to.

  He only participates in fights with guaranteed victory, and the other ones? He just

  forfeits. His nickname is ‘Undefeatable Myth.’ After all, it’s true that he would never

  lose. Though it seems that he hates that nickname and is going around calling himself

  Sure-Win Golden Dragon.”

  “‘Sure win’ and ‘Undefeatable.’ It’s true that both sound the same but have completely

  different connotations.”

  Quinton barks out a laugh.

  “So in other words, we can’t expect anything from Undefeatable Myth-san?”

  “Not quite, maybe.”

  Annerose smiles with only one corner of her mouth.

  “Nn, what do you mean?”

  “It’s true that Undefeatable Myth only fights opponents that he’s sure to win, and

  climbs tournaments that way. However, he’s actually even won the championship in

  several small-scale tournaments.”

  “Hou… so he’s not really that weak.”

  Quinton’s eyes turn sharp.

  “Indeed. His strength is in accurately gauging difference in strength. And he did not

  forfeit the match with Jimina. In other words…”

  “I get it.”

  Quinton laughs with a mad glint in his eyes.

  “Even Undefeatable Myth could not see through Jimina’s true strength.”

  “That, or that Jimina really is a coward relying on the power of an artifact or some

  other external aid.”

  “In addition, Undefeatable Myth has only ever fought opponents that he was sure to

  win against. Which means that he’s never displayed his true strength either.”

  “Now it’s gotten interesting.”

  “Indeed, it will be interesting for sure.”

  Quinton laughs like a beast, while Annerose licks her lip.

  Then the two of them direct their full attention towards the arena.

  Amidst a rain of cheers, Jimina Sehnen and Goldoh Kinmekki are both facing off

  against each other.

  The only people in the audience who understand the true meaning of this match are,

  as of this moment, only two.

  “Round 4, Match 6: Goldoh Kinemekki vs. Jimina Sehnen! Battle… start!!”

  Then begins the match.

  The one who makes the first move is Goldoh.

  Right at the moment the fight begins, he closes the distance in one go.

  In the same movement, he unleashes a mowing attack with his excessively ornamented

  sword, aimed straight at Jimina’s neck.

  The targeted Jimina has yet to draw his sword. He is just standing in place, not showing

  any reaction whatsoever.

  Sure of his victory, Goldoh flashes his teeth.

  That instant, a ‘ koki’ sound can be heard.

  “Eh?”

  The one who exclaims in confusion is Goldoh. But it is not only him, but all eyes in the

  arena that are straining for a clue as to what just happened.

  Goldoh’s sword had missed Jimina’s neck and swung by harmlessly.

  When Goldoh comes to, he realizes that his torso is completely unguarded.

  “Tch!”

  Goldoh’s face stiffens.

  Seeing his opponent in such a fatally compromised posture in front of him, Jimina moves.

  And then.

  Jimina only slowly draws his sword.

  That’s it.

  Completely overlooking the opportunity presented by Goldoh’s mistake. Jimina’s

  movements were so slow, it was almost as if he didn’t even notice what had happened.

  Goldoh quickly retreats back out of range, then glares at Jimina.

  “You making light of me?”

  Irritation can be heard mixed into Goldoh’s tone.

  2

  “Did you see it?”

  So Quinton asks Annerose in the audience seats.

  “Just barely.”

  So answers Annerose while fixing vulture-like eyes on Jimina.

  “As expected. I couldn’t see a thing. I really thought that Undefeatable Myth’s sword

  had gotten Jimina’s neck.”

  “It really was a timing that is normally unavoidable. But… right before the sword hit,

  Jimina cracked his neck.”

  There is unmistakable shock in Annerose’s voice.

  “He cracked his neck? The hell does that mean?”

  “He just cracked it, like normal. With a ‘ koki,’ then another ‘ koki.’”

  So saying, Annerose also tilts her own head, demonstrating what she’s describing.

  “Ok wait, that just made it even more incomprehensible.”

  “I don’t get it either, alright? But the instant that he tilted his head, there was a koki

  sound, and Goldoh’s sword really did miss.”

  “Oi oi oi, you gotta be shitting me. You saying that he tilted his head to crack his neck,

  which just happened to enable him to evade the sword?”

  “Yes I am.”

  “You pulling my leg?! Like hell such a coincidence happened!”

  “What if it wasn’t a coincidence?”

  Annerose’s eyes turn sharp.

  “What… are you saying?”

  “He had cracked his neck at a speed that even I would have missed if I wasn’t completely

  focused on him. Can a normal human do something like that?”

  This is the logic that a super speed neck crack that bare eyes cannot catch is normally

  impossible.

  “Guh! You’ve a point…”

  “Perhaps for him, evading the sword was merely a byproduct. He first wanted to crack

  his neck, but it just happened that a sword was passing by, and it just so happened that

  his neck evaded the sword.”

  “What the fuck! Now THAT’s a true impossibility! Goldoh’s sword was fast! And you’re

  saying it was evaded as a byproduct?!”

  “I am also feeling extremely incredulous at the moment. Maybe it really was a sheer

  coincidence. But if it was not a coincidence, then…”

  “!! Hell if I swallow that!!”

  2

  Goldoh speaks up while still glaring at Jimina.

  “You piss me off. Just now, you had let a golden chance slip right through your fingers.

  That was the single chance in your entire life to defeat me, but you had let it go. And

  yet, why do you still look so composed!”

  Goldoh gnashes his teeth audibly.

  “Be more wracked with regret! Wail! Struggle more, in your unsightly way! Otherwise,

  it would be an insult towards me.”

  Jimina merely silently listens to Goldoh’s words.

  “Don’t tell me, you didn’t even realize that you had an opportunity? If so, then there’s

  no helping it, as you are but a small fry with only a battle power of 33.”

  Goldoh laughs from the back of his throat.

  “To think that a small fry cast shame on me. I’ll beat you down with all I’ve got. Don’t

  fault me if you accidentally end up dying, alright?”

  Goldoh takes up a stance with his sword, then begins accumulating magic.

  The air vibrates, and a large amount of magic gathers.

  Great furor rises up from the audience.

  “I’ll teach you something as a souvenir to hell. My battle power is 4,300!”

  With that, he once again closes and swings his sword.

  “EVIL GOD・INSTANT KILL・GOLDEN DRAGON SWORD?!”

  The golden flow of magic seems to be evoking the image of a golden dragon.

  The golden dragon assaults Jimina.

  Or so things should have proceeded.

  But in actuality, after a weird ‘ kshuu’ sound, the golden dragon disappears.

  “Bubera!!”

  (T/N: Bubera is what people in mangaka Man☆ Gatarou’s works reflexively say when

  they are hit. Kind of like his made-up word for ‘ouch.’)

  Then Goldoh flies through the air with a tailspin.

  The audience falls silent.

  Everyone watches on in shocked silence as Goldoh hits the ground with a splat. He

  does not show anymore movement after that.

  “W-, winner, Jimina Sehnen!!”

  So rises the victory cheer as Jimina turns around and leaves.

  2

  “To think that Goldoh Kinmekki is actually so strong…”

  That is the first thing that Quinton says after the
match.

  After listening to Annerose, Quinton had somehow been looking down on Goldoh in

  his heart.

  But to think that he can actually materialize his magic to such a degree.

  That last attack of his had contained enough strength to easily clear the preliminaries

  of the Festival of the God of War.

  “Turns out he is a lot more skilled than expected. If he had devoted his time to aiming

  higher and fighting with people stronger than himself, he might have been an even

  stronger magic swordsman.”

  “So, what was it that Jimina did at the end?”

  Annerose crosses her arms and sighs while answering.

  “If I saw correctly… he sneezed.”

  “Hah?!”

  “If I had to venture a guess, it’d be because the golden dragon was too bright. Jimina’s

  sword fell along with a sneeze, which Goldoh charged into. Thus the collision.”

  (T/N: “Reflexive sneezing induced by light, and sunlight in particular, is estimated to

  occur in 18 to 35 percent of the population and is known as the photic sneeze reflex

  (PSR)…” [Scientific American])

  “Wait, wait, wait, that just sounds absurd. A dragon and a sneeze clashed and the sneeze

  won?!”

  “That’s what actually happened, so what can I do? Goldoh had mentioned a golden

  chance, but perhaps for Jimina it was nothing at all. Jimina could have defeated Goldoh

  at any moment. Thus there was no need to exploit a mistake… no, more like, maybe in

  Jimina’s eyes, every single motion of Goldoh’s is exploitable…?”

  Annerose shivers at her own deduction.

  No way.

  Indeed, this is only a mere supposition… simply an overvaluation of Jimina’s strength.

  “How retarded.”

  Quinton laughs from his nose, then violently stands up.

  “I’m the idiot for listening seriously. No way in hell I’d acknowledge such a ridiculous

  guy. If Jimina continues to win, then he’ll meet me in the finals of the prelims. I’ll

  unmask his true self for all to see.”

  Quinton shoots a glare towards the arena that is now absent of Jimina, then stomps away.

  Annerose returns to her own seat, and ruminates over Jimina’s movements.

  “Can I do what he did…?”

  Still staying in her seat, she cracks her neck and sneezes.

  Again and again. Faster each time, and with smaller movements.

  Koki, kshun, koki, kshun, koki!

  “Kshun, ah…”

  When she finally notices the weird looks that everyone nearby is shooting at her, she

  blushes to the tip of her ears and dashes away.

  The Undefeatable Myth was finally defeated.

  This news spread like wildfire among all the tournament mania in the city.

  Despite this being only the prelims, there had been quite a bit of attention on

  Undefeatable Myth Goldoh Kinmekki. Though many were surprised to hear that he

  had been defeated by a completely unheard-of new participant, they found themselves

  convinced upon hearing the details of the match.

  It somehow seemed like this new guy had won by chance.

  That was the frank opinion of most of the tournament mania.

  However, a small minority of them, as well as some who had seen the match first hand,

  came to hold doubts regarding Jimina’s evaluation.

  They purposely sought out Jimina’s matches, hoping to see him up close to gauge his

  strength for themselves.

  However.

  “AAHHH!! Contestant Quinton is DOWN!! He cannot get back up! Contestant Jimina,

  once again he wins with a single attack!!”

  Finals of Block B of the Festival of the God of War prelims once again ended with Jimina’s

  victory.

  Once again, with a single attack.

  None of the tournament mania could accurately gauge Jimina’s strength. Today’s

  match confirmed Jimina’s entry into the tournament proper, but not a single person

  understood how on earth he managed to win all the way to this point.

  This is entirely too much to be pure coincidence, so he probably has some strength.

  His opponent in the prelim finals, Quinton, was a magic swordsman with stable

  strength who is evaluated quite highly among the tournament mania. Since even this

  Quinton had lost, then they had no choice but to acknowledge Jimina’s strength.

  But since no one understood how Jimina won, no one could grasp exactly how strong

  Jimina is.

  He’s most likely stronger than Quinton, but is he strong enough to stand on the stage

  of the tournament proper?

  Even if he is strong enough to do so, is that strength enough to earn him a place among

  the Festival’s history of champions?

  This topic became all the rage among the tournament mania.

  Many did not believe that Jimina has the strength to go high in the tournament.

  In light of his achievements, this couldn’t be helped.

  Almost all other contestants in the tournament have sold their names in other

  tournaments or battlefields. However, Jimina had not done any of that.

  Objectively speaking, there wasn’t a single thing to prove Jimina’s true strength.

  And thus, his evaluation naturally was low.

  But a small portion of the tournament mania were pushing Jimina as a dark horse.

  Looking at this year’s participant list, it is almost certain that the champion will be Iris

  again. However, if there really is someone who can overturn that result… then it can

  only be this mysterious young man with as-yet unmeasured strength.

  With such expectations on his back, Jimina leaves the arena.

  The tournament proper begins next week.

  The first match will be Jimina Sehnen vs. Annerose.

  90% of people predict that it will be Annerose’s win.

  2

  While thinking about how today’s ossan opponent was strangely energetic, I leave the

  arena. His name was Q-… um, sorry, I forgot. He had quite relentless killing intent, so

  it was a bit new.

  With this, my entry into the Festival of the God of War is confirmed. The first match is

  next week.

  To this point, the audience’s reaction is about so-so. The plan is to slowly begin

  revealing my strength in the matches starting next week, so until then I’ll be doing

  image training.

  While walking down the long corridor of the contestant entrance with such thoughts

  on my mind, I find my way blocked by a lady with light blue hair. If I remember

  correctly, her name is Annerose.

  “You have business with me…?”

  “To think that you would advance to the tournament proper. You’ve sure done it.”

  Her strong-willed eyes are looking at me.

  “A natural result.”

  “I admit that I had misjudged your strength. But I have a warning for you.”

  “Warning…?”

  “I’ve already seen through your movements. Don’t think that you can continue winning

  in the same way as before.”

  Annerose flashes me a confident smile.

  “Hmph…”

  I laugh with only a corner of my mouth. Then, as if to insinuate that she is not worthy

  of anymore of my time, I indifferently walk past her.

  …Please call out to me!

  So I shout within my heart.

  “What’s so funny.”

  I can feel Annerose’s glare.

  THANK YOU!

  I turn only my neck around, as if sizing her up with only the corner of my eye.

  “A warning from me too, then…”

  So saying, I undo the wristband that I had put on in expectation of this happening, and

  throw it at the ground by Annerose’s feet.

  Dosa.

  The wristband makes a heavy sound upon hitting the ground.

  “Th-, this is… don’t tell me you had this weight on while fighting…?!”

  “These weights are the chains that seals my strength… guess play time’s over…”