Chapter 127: Eleanor Eriksen

“Th-thank you very much? Haa! Eriksen-sama!!!?”

Isamu tried to express his gratitude while wondering about the unfamiliar woman’s name, but Anne-Marie’s astonished voice cut in.

“Haha, well, well. Ah, you don’t need to be so formal. Sorry for surprising you, Klaufeldt.”

Isamu was surprised by Eleanor Eriksen’s lively laughter and quickly apologized.

“How rude of me… I never expected that such a beautiful person would be Her Excellency Count Eleonora Eriksen, who is famous for her valor…”

“Haha, beautiful, you say? You’re praising me despite flaunting your lovely fiancée in front of everyone. Isn’t that right?”

Eleanor laughed even more at Isamu’s apology.

He probably didn’t miss Annemarie’s twitching reaction to Isamu’s words that she was beautiful. I say that and close one eye.

Indeed, as Isamu said, Eleanor Eriksen was a beautiful and alluring woman. Despite being in her 40s, she already held the position of head of the Eriksen family due to their meritocratic principles, but she looked much younger, with her long beige hair being particularly striking.

Perhaps it was private, but she looked good in attire like a knight’s uniform rather than formal wear.

“I apologize once again… Your Excellency Eriksen, what brings you to us?”

“No need to be so formal. It’s hard to talk like this. I don’t mind if you call me Eleanor. I’ll call you Isamu and Anne-Marie too.”

“I understand… Thank you, Eleanor-san.”

“Good, good. It’s nothing major. I thought there might be someone using interesting magic at a good time. So, I hurried over when I realized it was the rumored magic advisor of the Klaufeldt family. That was the Heavy Rain Squall, right? It had quite an impact, but why did you use that magic? Also, did you know that the Balbastre kid will use fire magic?”

“At that moment, we didn’t know what magic would be used, but based on previous battles, it seemed like he was good at fire magic. If he was going to use magic in anger, it would probably be a big fire magic…”

Eleanora nods slightly at Isamu’s answer. The fact that she doesn’t speak means that I should just keep going.

“I chose the Heavy Rain Squall because I couldn’t handle it alone, so I planned to combine it with Anne’s magic from the beginning to minimize the damage. If it was powerful fire magic, we needed to somehow deal with its intense heat first, so a Heavy Rain Squall with a large amount of water over a wide area was the best option. Even if I used Water Ball with my magic power, it probably wouldn’t have been enough to stop the magic due to insufficient output.”

Isamu spoke somewhat self-deprecatingly.

“I see. You entrusted the task of dispelling magic to your fiancée and focused on weakening the power first… Yes, it was indeed a wise choice. Understanding the situation, one’s own abilities, and the abilities of one’s allies—all while making a smart choice based on that—is impressive.”

Eleanor nodded greatly at Isamu’s words, praising him.

“Ah, it’s a bit embarrassing to be praised like this, but… also, because Heavy Rain Squall is a relatively unused and inconspicuous magic…”

“What? You used it because it’s rarely used magic!?…Hahaha, that’s delightful. You’re an interesting guy, Isamu. I like that.”

As Isamu scratched his head while saying so, Eleanor, momentarily stunned, burst into laughter and patted his back vigorously.

Then, Felix and the others who had finished the match returned. Except for Mizeroi and Ulysses, they were all soaking wet.

“Isamu-sama! Thank you so much for your help!!”

Tiramisu, who ran up first, tried to thank Isamu and Anne-Marie for protecting them from the Hellfire Banquet that Chigor had unleashed, but her voice turned upside down.

“Eh, Eleanor-sama!?”

She screamed in shock at the sight of Eleanor in front of her. Isamu, who thought that if anyone didn’t know her among them, it would only be Tiramisu, felt a sense of defeat in his heart.

“You guys worked hard too. I’m sorry for getting you all soaked by going a bit overboard.”

“Huh? Huh? Oh, no, not at all. Thank you for helping us, Eleanor-sama.”

Felix’s thoughts froze at the unexpected event of Eleanor suddenly apologizing, but he quickly regained his composure and thanked her.

“What? I don’t think I needed to intervene if it was just you guys. Right, Isamu?”

Eleanor said with her usual cheerful smile as she directed water at Yuu.

“Yes. They are excellent knights, so there’s no way they would be done in by a magic of that level. But since they’re kind, I thought they would definitely help those who couldn’t move.”

As Isamu smiled in response, Eleanor nodded in satisfaction.

“Indeed. Despite having the same number, you overwhelmed them with the reverse wedge formation. Whose idea was that?”

“The reverse wedge? Ah, you mean the Crane Wings formation. Yes, there were some things that were hard to swallow, so I thought I’d win convincingly using a formation that’s said to be disadvantageous.”

After thinking for a moment about the unfamiliar words, Isamu answered.

“Oh, that’s scary. Well, if someone who understands sees it, they’ll immediately realize it’s a Klaufeldt victory.”

Eleanor narrowed her eyes at Isamu’s words.

The Crane Wings formation Isamu mentioned refers to the famous Crane Wing formation found even in the eight formations of the Sengoku warlord Takeda Shingen. The formation, characterized by arranging soldiers in a V-shape, is mainly used to surround and annihilate the enemy.
Despite its inexplicable appeal, it is a popular formation often seen in games, but it is not particularly excellent as a formation in reality.

Historically, it was a formation that won and lost.

When it works, it wins overwhelmingly, but if used incorrectly, it leads to a devastating defeat, especially when there is no difference in military strength.

It can be said to be a formation used to avoid as much damage to the soldiers as possible when crushing the enemy with a large army.

When Isamu asked the knight commanders Diluc and Felix, who often take command, they said that the recognition was the same even in this world of Ethersia, so Isamu adopted this formation deliberately in a match with an equal number of forces.

As Eleanor said, to win convincingly in an easy-to-understand way…

“By the way, why are you here, Your Excellency Eleanor? Isn’t the Eriksen family’s match in a different venue?”

“Yeah, that’s what I was wondering about too.”

Felix asks Isamu what he was also wondering about.

“Huh? My soldiers aren’t trained in a way that would leave them behind in the second round. That’s why I’m just going to see what I think looks interesting.”

She said with confidence. It’s natural, considering that it would be surprising if they lost in the first half.
“Interesting, huh? Is it Margrave Zabadak turn here in this venue?”

Isamu asked while shaking his head, and Eleanor answered.

“No, no, it’s your place. Including Zabadak’s, I know the tricks of all the familiar opponents, so there’s no point in watching them. On the other hand, your place suddenly became the talk of the town after the Grand evaluation started, so I wanted to see it for myself. And it was worth coming to see, I saw something interesting.”

“Ah, it was at our place. I’m glad you enjoyed it then.”

Isamu tilted his head, wondering if being dragged into unnecessary trouble was considered interesting.

“Ah, it was really worth coming to see, especially since I’ve gained an acquaintance. There might be a chance for us to fight somewhere after tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.”

With those words, Eleanor bid farewell and left, laughing heartily.

Realizing only now that she hadn’t even brought any guards with her, it seemed unnecessary for the formidable woman who commanded the kingdom’s strongest mercenary group.

“I was so surprised. I imagined someone tough because they’re the head of the robust mercenaries, but to think it was a woman…”

“I was surprised too. I never thought Lady Eleanor and Lord Isamu would be having a conversation…”

Felix’s words were met with unanimous nods from the knights.

“I’ll send a formal thank-you letter later since we’ve been helped. But that person is what you’d call a monster… When she used magic, I briefly caught sight of her magic power. It’s abnormal. To have that much magic power and still maintain a calm demeanor is unbelievable. With that much magic power, it might have nothing to do with ancient magic…”

As Isamu recalled, he shuddered slightly.

“Ah, more importantly, you all had a hard time. Maybe I went a bit too far… I’m sorry for putting you in a dangerous situation.”

Saying so, Isamu lightly bowed his head.

“No, it would be beneath us to get enraged over something like that.”

Felix dismissed with a sharp tone.

“Hahaha, there was a bit too much of a difference in strength. Everyone, have you all improved a lot since last year?”

As Isamu said, in both the first and second rounds, they hadn’t used any special equipment, so they had won overwhelmingly based solely on their own abilities.

In addition to the improvement in the power and efficiency of magic through the teaching of ancient magic, was it the effect of competing to enter this year’s selection team to obtain magic swords or to accompany on business trips?

Or perhaps it was due to the motivation boost from Orihime frequently showing up.

At any rate, if their fundamental abilities had improved, they wouldn’t rely solely on magic tools in battle, so the future looked even more promising.

“Well, now we’ve made it into the top 32 teams. Tomorrow, we’ll probably have to fight against one of the teams exempt from the first round at least once. This is where the real deal begins, so let’s put our spirits into it, shall we?”

“””Yes!”””

“Alright then, Tiramisu-san, the usual, please.”

“Be safe tomorrow!”

“””Be safe tomorrow!”””

And thus, despite the incident with Chigor, they won their matches convincingly and concluded the first day of the tournament with Team Nyafu.

As for Chigor’s rampage, before any punishment could be handed down from the kingdom, he was disowned by his father, the current head of the Balbastre family. Additionally, considering that there were no casualties and it wasn’t an official match, he managed to avoid execution or being turned into a criminal slave, instead being sentenced to five years of dangerous zone labor.

By the way, dangerous zone labor refers to forced labor in places threatened by monsters, such as mining, road construction, or frontline deployment in battlefields. It’s a punishment where the convict doesn’t know where they’ll be deployed.

It’s unclear whether he’ll be rehabilitated through this punishment, but the Klaufeldt family received a formal apology from the Balbastre family, and in exchange, they managed to secure a significant favor.
Since they were able to crush their opponent in the match and it also served as an opportunity to gain acquaintance with Eleanor Eriksen, the Klaufeldt family decided to settle things amicably.

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