CH 135

[The First Match Begins!]

The coliseum, the venue for the martial arts tournament, was filled with excitement.

There weren’t only students in the audience, but also a large number of visitors, jam-packing the place.

“T-there are a lot of people.”

“Yeah… I was surprised, to be honest.”

The first round of the martial arts tournament began amid loud cheers.

…There might be someone lurking in the audience trying to do something bad.

I placed my hand on the card in my breast pocket.

It was the card that the principal had given me that allowed me to contact her even from far away.

If I found something suspicious, I had to report it immediately, even if a match was ongoing.

“Without further ado, let’s begin the first match! 2nd-year fire element class Forganes vs 3rd-year wind element class Milsey! Fighters, please, to the stage!” The student from the Broadcasting Committee announced excitedly, making the cheers grow louder. And the competitors ran up to the stage in the center of the coliseum upon their names being called.

“It’s finally starting…” Jarvis, next to me, muttered.

Competitors and our supporters waited by the side of the stage—which meant, we could watch the match from the nearest location.

All members of the Knights of the Academy stood still to watch the match.

“Still… to think Forganes and Milsey would be matched up.”

“The difference in their physiques is so big.”

Tayte and I focused on the difference in the physiques of the two competitors.

Forganes, who was a male, was a nearly two meters tall giant. On the other hand, Milsey was quite petite even for a girl with a height of about one and a half meters. They looked like an adult and a child.

“Forganes’s strength is top-class among all boys.”

“But you can’t underestimate Milsey’s speed. Even I will find it difficult to catch her.”

Raul and Jarvis calmly analyzed.

—Though, something kept bothering me.

“Raul, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I-I’m totally okay.”

Raul half-forced himself to continue participating, but… would he be fine?

He was sweating a lot… I was worried about him, to be honest.

I shifted my gaze to Raul’s opponent, Joel.

Joel ignored the match and was talking with Eleanor.

Were they cooking up a strategy, perhaps?

No… they seemed too serious for that.

As I was looking at them, the audience raised their voices in unison.

Something big happened in the match, apparently.

I moved my gaze from the two to the stage.

There, the giant Forganes was kneeling in front of Milsey.

“! W-what’s going on?”

“H-huh? Didn’t you see it, Barrett?” Tayte spoke, shaking a little.

Jarvis, Raul, and Eureka were also stunned by the development of the match.

“T-that surprised me… to think such a giant man would be brought to his knees by a single water spell…”

“R-right, I was expecting a close match, so why…”

“I can’t believe it was going to be so one-sided…”

Apparently, Milsey overwhelmed Forganes.

…But that was strange.

Because, as Raul said, the disparity in abilities between the shouldn’t have been that great, so I’d expected the battle to drag on.

“Gh—ooo!”

Forganes, who had been on his knees, stood up while screaming.

As expected of one of the toughest boys in the academy.

“Looks like it’s not over yet.”

“Y-yeah.”

I responded to Raul’s words and—increased my vigilance over the surroundings.

The reason being… I’d just detected a mysterious activity of mana.