Chapter 16
Heroes who turned the tables.
If I had to describe my teammates, that was the only way to put it.
Of course, I didn't mean they were literally heroes who'd turned the tables. It was more that the atmosphere they gave off was so fitting for heroes who had.
I guess it's true that beating people into submission gets through to them.
I clench and unclench my fist.
A body that felt no pain.
The high-grade potions I'd been receiving lately from that mysterious self-proclaimed childhood friend seemed to be having a real effect. I'd been a little worried that constantly using Cursed Swordsmanship might cause something serious, but my body was in better shape than I'd expected.
…
I look at the opponents in front of me, lost in thought.
Basically, this proficiency test was a tournament.
A system where you won by fighting around six or seven battles and taking the championship.
Naturally, the more matches you won, the better the items you could receive.
A ring that could raise VIT.
After all, VIT wasn't exactly easy to raise.
There was a limit to how much you could raise it through exercise, too.
While training those three, I’d also squeezed in some basic conditioning whenever I had time, and the muscle aches I got from using swordsmanship had gradually lessened, but that hadn’t reduced the penalty from Cursed Swordsmanship.
Besides, it'd be good if all four of us could raise our VIT. I wasn't getting the ring all to myself.
Lydia and Laura were practically dying by the end of every training session.
Thinking that, I look at the people in front of me.
…
The four of them watched us, tense.
…
…
They seemed to be saying something, but honestly, I couldn't hear them very well.
Before long, they took their positions.
A man with a shield in front, two women with staves behind him, and another man who looked like a thief at his side.
A well-balanced composition.
Since they could use their Stigmas, it was fair to call them a complete, well-rounded team.
Of course, that would be true of an ordinary team.
“Blonde, to the back. Pink hair, up front.”
Laura and Aila obeyed immediately.
“Brown hair, support from the very back.”
Lastly, I sent Lydia to the rear.
Good. That should do for a rough formation.
“Go.”
-BANG!
At my command, Aila stamped her foot and charged forward like a storm.
A hot wind swept through,
“Whoa...!”
and in an instant, Aila was standing before the opposing team.
The man raised his shield when he saw her,
“Too slow!”
but she grabbed him by the collar and tossed him to the ground with a hip throw.
“Gack!”
The man let out a strangled scream, and the man in the rogue class drew a dagger, but
-Ting!
“Gah!”
Laura flicked a coin straight into his forehead, knocking him down.
<Coin Flick>, a skill Laura used often in the game.
According to Laura, it activated by throwing money away, but I didn't know the mechanics behind it.
I only knew it was effective.
When I looked from them toward the mages,
“Aaaah!”
“Save me!”
"No, no!"
Aila was already beating the mages one by one.
Aila grabbed them by their robes and hurled them far away, or kicked their ankles out from under them.
Or Laura walked along, ruthlessly driving coins into their solar plexuses.
The two of them were beating their opponents mercilessly, as if venting their anger.
Even so, they were women. Weren't they going a little overboard?
Who on earth had taught them such inhumane behavior?
Maybe it didn't matter since they were the same gender.
By the time I was thinking that, all four opponents were already sprawled on the ground.
Now this is more like it.
I nodded in satisfaction, and relief spread across Aila and Laura's faces when they saw me.
This was good enough, wasn't it?
It wasn't so much that they were working together as that each was simply doing her part.
“I expect you to do just as well next time.”
“...I'll do my best.”
“We were pretty amazing just now, right?”
Laura and Aila nodded in response to me, while Lydia looked at me as if to ask, When do I get to go?
Almost as if she were impatient.
But I had no intention of using her unless I had to.
Who knew what kind of disaster would happen if she used her Stigma? There was no need to light the fuse on a bomb.
If I could avoid using her as much as possible, I should.
Thinking that, I met Lydia's gaze without a hint of shame.
For now, neither was necessary—not my Cursed Swordsmanship nor Lydia's holy power.
Those two alone could handle it.
*
The finals.
It should have been a glorious event, with everyone cheering as the first competition to determine the strongest team in the year.
But there were no cheers, no excitement.
Only shock and astonishment.
The students watched the two teams before them in silence.
Aiden Starfive's team and the team facing them.
“...Damn it.”
At the man's mutter, the other three looked at him anxiously.
“...Two of them barely even moved.”
As if to deepen his unease, another woman muttered, and the other two looked away as well.
Aiden Starfive.
After driving that princess and the mercenary's daughter through hell with insane training, he'd turned them into an incredible combo in just one week—and then showed up.
As if toying with the other contestants, he hadn't participated at all until the main tournament, bringing that half-baked saint along with him.
Only when Laura Crown and Aila Seed were half-exhausted did Aiden Starfive finally join Lydia Straw, as if he had no choice, and begin displaying his martial prowess.
It was a perfect party.
With Aila Seed in the vanguard, the team coordinated with Laura Crown, sometimes launching a rear ambush, sometimes breaking through the front.
And whenever someone attacked them with everything they had, Lydia Straw provided perfect support.
“...”
The man ground his teeth with a crunch.
“Just how much did he torment them...?”
His gaze shifted to Laura, Aila, and Lydia.
They were strong. There was no doubt that each of them was powerful on her own.
But what was even more of a problem was the coordination of the four.
A flawless combination.
As if someone had threatened to kill one of them if they failed, the three coordinated with each other by a hair's breadth.
They knew each other's weaknesses all too well, and their movements to cover those weaknesses were incredibly efficient.
Like comrades who'd crossed the line between life and death together, as if someone had threatened them with a knife.
“...We have no choice.”
He gritted his teeth and gripped his sword.
No matter what, he had made it to the finals, and he wasn't someone who should lose on skill alone.
He was one of the few on the continent born to parents who bore Stigmas.
They'd grown up hearing that a tiger's cub was still a tiger, and defeat was unacceptable to them.
Even if he had to stake the honor of his parents and grandfather, he had to win.
“...Here I go.”
He clenched his teeth, and his teammates took their positions as well.
With the heart of a hero challenging a monster, he looked at the people before him.
Aiden Starfive and his teammates.
He had no intention of losing.
“Move according to the plan.”
They had a plan, too.
The two teams faced each other.
Ignoring the murmur of the crowd, he took his stance.
Right. He couldn't lose like this.
We are the chosen ones.
We can't lose like this.
Thinking that, the man stepped forward.
-BANG!
The man shot forward like a beam of light, with countless enhancement spells and blessings pouring onto him.
His Stigma was specialized in speed, so the key was to make use of that speed.
It was a simple plan.
Take out the saint candidate first.
Eliminate the one who was most heavily protected.
It was a simple strategy.
“Ah...!”
He passed Aila Seed,
“You madman...!”
then passed Laura Crown.
“...”
He went straight past Aiden Starfive, then looked back.
He'd sprinted at full force, expecting an attack to come, but no attack came.
Aiden merely glanced at him before looking ahead.
What was that? He wondered for a moment, but he was already standing in front of Lydia Straw.
Lydia Straw stared at him with wide eyes.
“...I have nothing against you personally.”
He muttered as he drew his sword.
Even if the magical treatment had reduced its lethality, it would still hurt to be hit.
But that wasn't particularly important.
“Here I come...!”
He shouted and swung his blade,
and in that moment,
-Thung!
His sword struck an invisible barrier and bounced back, his arm flung backward by the recoil.
“...!”
She'd already raised a barrier made of holy power?
Her reaction speed was incredible.
A cleric's position should be in the rear, making them vulnerable to a surprise attack, so why was she so fast?
As if she were no stranger to being ambushed—
“That's too bad.”
A calm voice interrupted the man's thoughts.
He hurriedly turned to look at Lydia Straw.
The half-baked saint candidate.
A failure the Church had chosen for reasons no one could understand.
Someone like her shouldn't have been able to react this quickly.
The man hurriedly kicked off the ground and retreated, but
"Ghh...!"
he felt something hard against his back.
When had she formed a barrier and blocked his escape route?
He had only a moment to think that.
"You're fast, though."
He raised his head and looked forward again.
Lydia was already holding a hammer made of holy power.
“Lord Starfive's ambush was faster.”
As she said that, her eyes turned pitch-black and one corner of her mouth curled upward.
At the sight of that smile—far more suited to a villainess than a saint—the man's body stiffened with fear,
and the half-baked saint candidate swung her shining hammer.
The hammer sank right into his solar plexus.
-KABOOM!
With a tremendous sound and a searing pain, he went flying far away.
“Gah, huh...!”
As he flew through the air, he surveyed the battlefield.
His companions were already down, while Aiden Starfive watched him fly through the air with his sword drawn.
The gaze fixed on him held neither surprise nor contempt.
It was utter indifference.
The composure of someone who hadn't even considered the possibility of losing.
Had this outcome been calculated from the start?
“...Star...five...!”
The man shouted Aiden's name as if he wanted to kill him, then slammed into the ground,
and lost consciousness there.