Chapter 276: Cause of Defeat
After the awards ceremony, a standing buffet party was held from here on.
Due to circumstances, some people had to leave, but we arranged for tournament participants to stay one more night in temporary lodging, so many remained.
General guests who came from afar also managed by staying in the royal capital, so compared to last year, there was tremendous bustle even after the tournament.
While feeling deeply moved by such a sight, I first went to greet Sam-san, who handled the setup and management.
“Sam-san, thank you so much for this time! Thanks to you, it became the best tournament ever!”
“Thank you as well. I’ve managed various martial arts tournaments, but this was top-level and interesting to watch. And above all, the food was delicious. I honestly felt it was worth taking on just to be able to eat this cuisine.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that, Sam-san. We’ll also be serving dishes that showcase our skills at the standing buffet party after this, so please eat your fill.”
“Yes, I’ll eat without reservation. Fufufu, I’m looking forward to eating that cuisine again.”
Sam-san smiled happily and returned to where the management team was.
Sam-san was undoubtedly this tournament’s MVP, so I’m really glad she liked the food.
I want to continue asking him to manage events and build a solid good relationship.
While thinking such things, I next came to where Lime and Mika-san were, who showed us a wonderful final.
From the looks of them talking about something, I thought Mika-san was grilling Lime with questions.
“Thank you both for your hard work. It was very interesting.”
“I lost to Lime though! Ah, frustrating! If Lime says it’s okay, I’d want to do it again right now!”
While Mika-san was frustrated, Lime shook his body sideways to refuse.
Lime won, but he was also the one being cornered.
“May I ask one thing? Why did you lose at the end, Mika-san? From watching from the sidelines, you seemed to have cornered him, so I was incredibly curious about how you lost.”
“I was curious too! But when I calmed down and thought about it, I understood, and when I asked Lime, that’s what it was! Lime mixed in attacks after turning invisible, in addition to no-motion attacks and charged attacks!”
Ahh, I see. So that’s what happened.
The last hit she took was from an attack by Lime’s invisible clone.
No wonder even watching from the sidelines, we couldn’t tell.
“Remember when I perfectly countered and blew away one of Lime’s clones? That clone pretended it couldn’t participate in battle anymore, then turned invisible and approached! It was completely outside my awareness, so I really had no idea what was happening!”
“Such tremendous tactics were at play. Could it be that you took the counter on purpose to turn invisible from outside awareness?”
When I asked Lime this, he nodded happily.
Lime’s strength lies in this high combat sense.
Mika-san thinks and uses her intuition, so she was properly on guard.
However, simply having one of the clones turn invisible seemed like something Mika-san could see through.
“Wow! It was on purpose! Even if I hadn’t been so guarded, I was fully occupied dealing with no-motion and charged attacks, so I don’t think I would have noticed!”
“No, I think you would have noticed, Mika-san. Your observational eyes are outstanding.”
“I don’t have observational eyes! I think my intuition is sharp though!”
Mika-san says that, but I don’t think Mika-san’s intuition is just about having good luck.
For example, I think there are people with bad luck who often get hit by bird droppings, but Mika-san is someone who would never get hit by bird droppings 100% of the time.
That’s not because she has terrifyingly good luck, but because she eliminates the part where luck operates by not passing directly under where birds are.
In combat terms, she’s the type who calmly observes muscle movements, gaze, and even breathing.
Knowing that most people don’t attack while inhaling, Mika-san utilizes this in combat.
It’s not that Mika-san is lying when she says these things—what’s amazing about Mika-san is that she does most of this unconsciously.
“I don’t think it’s just intuition. I believe the major factor in your awakening was becoming able to utilize your high observational skills.”
“Hmm, I don’t really get it! I’m happy you’re praising me though… Sato, you received the prize for correctly predicting the champion after Lime won, right? That means you predicted Lime would win!”
“No no, I predicted both Lime and you would win!”
“Hmm, is that true?”
Mika-san looked at me with half-closed eyes, appearing suspicious.
I really did predict the champion, but it’s frustrating that I can’t prove it since I already exchanged the prediction paper for the prize.
Just as I was about to defend myself to Mika-san, the standing buffet party began.
Though I strongly wanted to defend myself… I also wanted to talk with other participants, so I left where Lime and Mika-san were.