CH 139

[Raul VS Madeline (Joel)]

The match between Raul and Madeline (Joel) finally began.

“I heard Madeline Halman is supposed to be the best rookie this year.”

“Well, she is one of the Halmans, they’ve been a family of knights for generations… she is built different.”

“But you can’t underestimate her opponent, Raul Lorenz.”

“He was chosen as the first gen member of the Knights of the Academy.”

“I heard he played a big role together with Barrett Albers in the wyvern attack incident that occurred the other day.”

“Simply put, this is one the best matches in this tournament, comparable to Barrett Albers vs. Jarvis Lekrust.”

The spectators seemed to have high expectations for the match.

Despite hailing from the slums, Raul had mastered the power of the Demon Sword and thus had been selected to join the Knights of the Academy. Madeline, on the other hand, came from a prestigious house and was the most promising rookie of the year (although the one on stage was her twin brother).

Their contrasting backgrounds were one of the selling points catching people’s attention.

“Haa…”

At the same as the match started, Raul infused mana into the Demon Sword.

Then, powerful magic emitting a purple glow enveloped his whole body.

“Oh! Is that the Demon Sword’s magic?”

“How powerful!”

“What’s more, the wielder, Raul Lorenz, can keep his composure while handling that much magic!”

“An ordinary knight probably would have been swallowed by such powerful magic…”

This surprised even the knights who were watching from the special seats.

Next to them, Raul’s master, Holy Knight Klaus, quietly made a self-satisfied face.

He seemed to be quite pleased by the fact that his disciple was being praised by his colleagues.

They had a good teacher-student relationship, really.

…Still, Raul’s magic was certainly stronger than before.

Was it because of the fact that his curse mark had been cut off?

If that was the case, Eureka, who had also gone berserk once before, should have the same curse mark… maybe I should try talking about it to Raul and Eureka and ask if they would like me to cut off her curse mark after the festival was over.

Raul’s opponent Joel, on the other hand, was standing still, seemingly not knowing what to do.

“Why isn’t Madeline getting ready for battle?”

“Is she going to fight Raul Lorenz without putting up any defense?”

“She only clads herself with such a little amount of mana… that’s some big confidence she got there.”

—You guys got it wrong.

He wasn’t suppressing his mana use or anything, that was already his limit.

Although they were identical twins, the difference between Joel’s and Madeline’s talents was like night and day.

He might have been able to lie through his way in class somehow, but… on this big stage, the martial arts tournament, he couldn’t pull any tricks.

Shouldn’t he quickly forfeit…?

If he got beaten one-sidedly, both Madeline and Joel’s reputations would suffer greatly.

—But even Eleanor, his maid, wasn’t saying anything.

“Ohh!!”

In the middle of my musing, Raul launched an attack.

A strike from the Demon Sword that emitted a purple glow.

Joel blocked it with his own sword.

Their swords locked, but only for a moment.

Raul sent Joel flying and followed it up with another attack.

“Eek!”

Joel went down on his hands and knees to avoid it.

The venue began to be filled with murmurs due to his cowardly fighting style.

“Hey, is she really the best rookie of the year?”

“How disappointing.”

“There’s such a big gap in their power…”

People’s evaluation of Joel—I mean, of Madeline immediately went down.

This is bad, at this rate—

Just as I thought that,

“I’ve been waiting for this match!”

A girl’s scream echoed out of nowhere.