Kays Translations

Chapter 126: Second Round

After the first round matches concluded, the second round began in the afternoon.

The first match of the second round was Margrave Zabadak’s family, who were exempted from the first round.

Although the Zabadak family was present in the venue where Isamu and the others were, except for the head of the family, they were not familiar with the detailed dealings of the Grand evaluation, so there were no particular interactions between the knights of the two teams.

The Zabadak team, with a formation slightly skewed towards the vanguard with 4 vanguards and 2 rearguards, raised the battle flag with their rearguard’s magic.

A large fireball, infused with a large amount of magic power, headed towards the enemy’s camp, followed by four vanguards wielding shields.

The opposing team, with an orthodox formation of 3 vanguards and 3 rearguards, had two rearguards join forces to cast Water Drill against the incoming Fireball.

Upon being struck by two water spears, the Fireball exploded with a loud noise, scattering a large amount of steam around and obscuring visibility.

Anticipating this, another rearguard from the Zabadak team unleashed Wind Cutter, tearing through the mist, and headed towards the enemy vanguards while faintly maintaining visibility.

Seizing the moment when visibility cleared, the vanguards of the Zabadak team charged into the enemy camp in a small reverse V-shaped formation.

Caught off guard, the opposing side managed to block the initial onslaught with their shields, but due to the numerical disadvantage of four against three, their vanguard quickly collapsed.

Despite one of the rearguards launching a massive Fire Blast in an attempt to turn the tide, it was overwhelmed by the Water Ball fired by the Zabadak team’s rearguard, who had closed the distance simultaneously with the vanguards’ advance.

With the opponent surrendering, it was a complete victory for the Zabadak team.

“Hah, they’re certainly strong. Even though the opponents won the first round…”

“Yes, indeed. Besides individual strength, they’re also accustomed to fighting.”

Felix followed Isamu exclamation with admiration.

“We can’t afford to show any disgrace in our battle either.”

“Of course not. We’ve sworn to win convincingly, even staking it on Orihime-sensei’s crest.”

As they conversed, Liddell and Mizeroi secretly kindled their fighting spirit.

“Nyah…”

With that, Orihime went around each member, rubbing her cheeks against theirs and tapping their ankles two or three times.

Inspired by this encouragement, the team, now more motivated than ever, headed into the second round.

With both sides having won their first-round matches decisively, the battle between Viscount Klaufeldt’s team and Viscount Balbastre’s team garnered some attention as it began.

Shortly after the match started, the audience gathered murmured with anticipation.

“…Are they underestimating us?”

Chigor Balbastre, the leader of the Balbastre team, gritted his teeth.

In official matches like this one, since it’s not an individual competition, the teams typically start by organizing their formations.

It’s common practice to divide into vanguard and rearguard based on strategy and roles, and fight in a somewhat organized manner.

However, what Team Nyafu chose was a formation that could hardly be called a formation, just a simple horizontal formation.

At the start, everyone lines up in a single row, but then they simply spread out horizontally, with each member keeping their distance, without any notable strategy.

If anything, the distance between the two in the center, Mizeroi and Ulysses, was slightly closer compared to others. Moreover, for some reason, Ulysses was holding a bow.

On the other hand, the Balbastre team, just like in the first round, formed a formation of 3 vanguards and 3 rearguards, with the rearguards hesitating to cast spells, glancing at their leader, Chigor.

The target was too spread out, so they needed instructions on where to cast the spells.

“Damn it… Murano, aim for the left flank. Trammel, aim for the right. I’ll target the center!”

“”Understood!””

Having decided to spread their magic, Chigor gave instructions to each member. But just as he was about to cast his own spell…

“Huh!?”

It seemed like the sides of the Klaufeldt team, which had spread out horizontally and seemed to be pushing the frontline, suddenly started dashing towards them.

With the targets suddenly changing direction, causing a commotion, the two knights of the Balbastre side, called Murano and Trammel, were taken aback.

But what surprised them even more was that shortly after the two on the flanks ran a bit, the next two beside them also started running.

“What the…!?”

Clang!

Just as Chigor glanced at the sides where the Klaufeldt team was closing in, something flew at him with high speed, and one of the vanguard knights barely managed to knock it down with his shield.

“It’s an arrow!?”

What rolled away with a clatter was an arrow fired by Ulysses without any motion.

“Oh my, how unfortunate. I thought I had him, but there’s someone perceptive here. But now that the surprise is ruined, feel free to shoot without reservation.”

Without remorse, Ulysses announced, then began shooting arrows at the enemy rearguards one after another, just as he declared.

Although arrows have less range and power than magic, their speed and rate of fire far exceed those of magic.

The arrows, shot at rapid succession, overwhelmed not only the vanguards but also forced the rearguards into evasive action.

And taking evasive action meant they had to stop chanting spells. With their initial moves blocked by magic, the Klaufeldt team’s flanks were allowed to approach.

Furthermore, as Mizeroi, who was supposed to protect Ulysses in the center, began to run towards the enemy, Ulysses followed behind, shooting arrows as he went.

With the Klaufeldt team advancing in a V-shaped formation, the situation turned into an offensive.

“Hmm, a reverse wedge, huh…”

A woman watching the battle with keen interest muttered from the corner of the audience.

The rare female voice in the arena caught the attention of a knight nearby, who turned to look at her, his face flushing with surprise.

“L-Lady Eriksen…!”

“Oh, sorry about that. Just let me watch here for a bit.”

With a smile and a wink, Eleanor, the current head of the Eriksen family, appeared—a woman who was renowned for her martial prowess despite being female.

The current head of the Eriksen family is Eleanor, who serves as the female lord. Despite being a woman, she is said to be one of the greatest warriors in the family’s history, and there are hardly any who dare underestimate her.

“O-Of course, milady!”

“Apologies… Oh, something’s happening!”

As Eleanor chuckled at the nervous knight, her expression suddenly sharpened.

As the knight hurriedly turned his attention back to the arena, he saw that at the tips of the Klaufeldt team’s flanks, Felix and Tiramisu were cutting inwards.

Their aim was to encircle the enemy’s rearguard from behind.

On the other hand, the Balbastre team’s rearguards tried to cast spells to intercept them, but due to sporadic arrows flying in, they couldn’t concentrate properly.

Since there was a risk of being completely overrun if they continued like this, the vanguard knights each went to support the left and right sides.

“Fireball!”

“Lightning Bolt!”

As if anticipating this, magic came flying from Marcella and Liddell, who had been pursuing the flanks.

The vanguards of the Balbastre team, who hadn’t expected magic while on the run, were hit by the spells just by raising their shields.

Since they were running, the spells weren’t powerful enough to knock them down, but simply injuring them enough to stop their movement was sufficient.

“Don’t lose focus!”

Tiramisu slashed at the rearguard who was surprised by the vanguard’s attempt to protect him from the magic.

On the other side, Felix was doing the same.

Clang!

“Guh!?”

Perhaps he was just practicing his magic,, even though he managed to draw his sword somehow, it was knocked away in an instant. His head was struck by the blade and he fell unconscious.

Meanwhile, Felix on the opposite side had rendered the enemy rearguards immobile.

Without letting their guard down, they continued to advance toward the opponents who had been hit by magic, but they had already raised their hands and declared surrender.

As Felix approached to see the condition of the immobilized enemy affected by Liddell’s lightning bolt spell, he saw.

“From the chaos of hell, let the flames rise and become the banquet of destruction! Hellfire Banquet!”

Chigor, standing in the center, infused his magic power into the spell with all his might.

Isamu’s eyes caught the vivid orange magic power emanating from Chigor.

“Hmm. That’s a bit too much magic power. Anne, get ready. We’re going with water magic.”

“Tch, that idiot!!”

Another person who reacted to it was Eleanor Eriksen, who had been observing from the corner of the venue.

“Die!” “Hellfire Banquet!”

A huge swirl of flames spread out from Chigor’s center, engulfing him. A scorching heat wave reached the audience seats.

At that moment, three spells were activated.

“Heavy Rain Squall!”

“Water Ball!”

“Water Tornado!”

The Heavy Rain Squall spell cast by Isamu brought a torrential rain down around Chigor, as the name suggests.

Although this alone wouldn’t extinguish the Hellfire Banquet, the intensity of the flames weakened slightly, and the surrounding temperature dropped.

Then, Anne-Marie’s huge Water Ball fell naturally onto the flames, covering the area with steam accompanied by a loud noise. It was as if being in a steam sauna.

Furthermore, the thick stream of water released by Eleanor swirled around, surrounding Chigor.

A few seconds later, Chigor’s Hellfire Banquet vanished, leaving the venue soaked with water.

Steam rose lightly from the ground around Chigor, indicating the magnitude of the heat from the magic used.

Members of the Klaufeldt family, with Felix and Tiramisu each carrying incapacitated opponents, managed to retreat somehow. Meanwhile, Liddell and Marcela, as they began chanting spells, retreated at full speed while showering the opponents hit by their magic with as many Water Balls as possible.

And as Mizeroi grabbed the neck of the bewildered remaining vanguard and dragged him back, Ulysses manifested a Stone Wall behind him.

While each of them evaded the attack, it appears that no one was killed because they protected the Balbastre side members, who would have been dangerous if left alone.

“Chigor Balbastre. Disqualified for the use of prohibited magic! Therefore, the winner is Viscount Klaufeldt’s team!”

It feels like the declaration was quite late, but the referee announced Chigor’s disqualification and Klaufeldt family’s victory.

“Phew, that was close. He used an incredible magic.”

“It was dangerous… Also, someone else besides us used magic, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. That was amazing. In fact, that magic alone might have been enough.”

Isamu and Anne-Marie, who released water magic from the audience seats and barely managed to minimize the damage, sighed with relief and marveled at the power of the simultaneous Water Tornado spell.

“No, that’s not the case. Thanks to the initial Heavy Rain Squall, those nearby were considerably saved, and most of them were neutralized by the subsequent Water Ball. It was probably unnecessary for me. Hahaha.”

Startled by the sudden words from behind, they turned around in surprise.

There stood Eleanor Eriksen, arms crossed, laughing dryly.

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