episode_0030

Day 6. Quarterfinals.

I ended the game by kindly returning all the curses to the idiotic Marquis who attacked me with curses, which is my main sport, and stunning him with a shield bash.

It was so simple that I thought it ended too blandly, but what can I do? If you feel unfair, study the curse for 100 years and come back. like me.

Oh, Seria was eliminated in the quarterfinals as she faced the princess.

And now, the long-awaited 7th day.

The sun rose on the day of the semifinals and finals.

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[Miss, may you excuse me?]

As I woke up early in the morning and warmed up in preparation for the semifinals that would be held in the morning, I heard Mel’s voice.

“Come in.”

“Excuse me.”

Mel came through the door and was holding a black dress in her arms. Could it be that the school uniforms haven’t been repaired yet? No, let’s listen to the story first. just in case.

“Why does school uniform repair keep getting delayed?”

“Mrs Amelia came to visit us saying she wanted to see you take the exam wearing the school uniform she made. And then――”

Oh yeah. I understand even if I don’t listen any more.

“After hearing that my school uniform was torn, did you take it with you, saying you would repair it yourself?”

“He said he would make a new torn top.”

“Ha… … . okay. He was that kind of person. A person who does not compromise at all with his work.”

I raised my arms, massaging my forehead as my head pounded. With Mel’s help, I changed into a dress and left the room.

The hem of the skirt, which was shorter than the dress I usually wore, felt a little awkward, but I took comfort in the fact that it was longer than the academy uniform.

Oh, and of course I didn’t wear a corset. I had to move vigorously, and if I wore something like a corset, it was obvious that I would break my ribs while moving.

“You took everything you needed, right?”

“Yes. We had the carriage on standby early in the morning, and we also prepared sandwiches for a decent meal.”

“Okay. Now then, let’s take off. Because the semifinals are held in the morning. I have to go early.”

With Mel’s help, I got into the carriage, and as soon as the door closed, the carriage took off.

Sera hasn’t boarded yet. Are you waiting for her to go first?

“Mel. I haven’t seen Sarah since yesterday. Do you know where it went?”

“He went to the library, saying he was ashamed of himself for not being able to stand next to the young lady. You are probably studying right now.”

“There’s no need to go that far. Sarah is also very sincere.”

If you become unnecessarily smart, it becomes inconvenient to use it… … . Should I tell you that you don’t have to try harder later? No, if you have a good mind, wouldn’t you be able to interpret my words as you like and act accordingly?

I don’t like it because it feels like I’m carrying a bomb with no idea where it will go. Seria is enough for such a bomb-like being. Well, I don’t know about anything else, but Sera is better than Seria in that it doesn’t cause me any harm.

“I’m worried… … .”

“Is it because of the test you have today?”

“Huh? No, I like Sarah, who is cute even if she’s a little short, right? I think it won’t be worth it if you become too competent. Well, what should I say. That’s it. Imagine a dog that listens really well, but one day it suddenly starts speaking human language. How creepy is that?”

After saying that, Mel kept her mouth shut. Seeing the slightly fearful gaze, he smiled and covered his mouth with a fan.

Afterwards, as I was spending time thinking about the battle with the princess, the carriage stopped. I looked out the window to see if they had already arrived, but no.

“Mel. Come check what’s going on.”

“Yes, lady.”

As I quietly looked out the window after telling Mel to do it, I saw a blue-haired girl jumping out of the front of my carriage and running down the alley.

The blue-haired girl stopped right in front of the entrance to the alley and looked in this direction. She looked at the kid she seemed to have seen before for a moment and then smiled.

Ahhh. found. My master key. The girl, who looked at the carriage for a moment, immediately turned her back and disappeared down the alley, and not long after, Mel got back into the carriage.

I pretended not to notice and looked at Mel.

“What happened?”

“It was a child who stole bread and ran away. I thought there would be a delay if the owner came after me, so I paid for it and sent it instead.”

“Hmm… … . Are you even pitying that kid?”

Instead of answering, Mel chose silence. okay. There’s no way I wouldn’t sympathize. You’ll be reminded of your old self. He chuckled, leaned back against the backrest, and closed his eyes.

“Wake me up when I arrive.”

“… … Yes.”

She’s the rebel commander’s younger sister… … . Something unexpectedly good happened.

I screamed with joy at the appearance of a new chess piece, turned over the chess board in my head, and made a new board.

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As soon as the carriage stopped, I opened my eyes.

“You’re awake.”

“I can’t sleep much.”

Mel nodded, got out of the carriage first, and extended her hand to me. I got out of the carriage holding Mel’s hand, and entered the main exam room while receiving a lot of attention from those around me.

There were already thousands of people in the audience, and the princess and crown prince who came before me welcomed me.

“It’s quite late.”

“The academy’s main testing center is quite far from the villa.”

As the crown prince smiled at his sarcastic words, the princess jumped out in front of him and took my hand.

“It’s been a while! Is this the first time since then? Yes, yes!”

“Ah, ah. yes. It’s been a while, Second Princess Trueno.”

“Hey, just call me Hermel! We talked about doing that at your 10th birthday banquet!”

“Ah, it was like that. sorry. It’s the first time we’ve met since then. I forgot about it for a moment.”

As I was talking with the princess, who was approaching me with her eyes sparkling to the point of being burdensome, I saw a blue-haired commoner trudging from afar.

Just in case, I did it anyway. There can’t be that many blue hair. Feeling that his doubts were turning into certainty, he gently took his hand out of the princess’s grasp.

“It looks like the last main character has appeared, so I think I should quickly return to my seat.”

“Eh, that’s a shame… … . A test is a test, so there’s nothing you can do about it… … . See you later then!”

Having to deal with such a crazy person… … . No, but since we don’t talk much when we fight, I’ll do less than before.

I looked at the innocent princess leaving, waving her hand for a moment, then followed the examiner’s instructions and headed to my seat.

“Please wait here for a moment. When it is your turn, just walk forward.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I stood there in a daze, listening to the emcee’s long speech with one ear and listening to it through the other. Soon, the host, who heated up the testing room, called out the opponents for the first match.

[Introducing the two people who will announce the start of the semifinals! first! The flower of the Kingdom of Trueno blooms with the sword! Princess Hermel Rey del Trueno is entering!]

I felt my skin crawl at the unnecessarily flashy and cheesy introduction of the host.

Why is this the way it is in the game? As I stood there thinking that, the cheers and applause died down and I heard the emcee’s voice calling me.

[And the next person to be introduced! A master of all cold weapons! This is Princess Charlotte La Rochelle of the Rochelle family!]

As soon as the moderator’s introduction was over, I walked to the test table, and cheers and applause poured in from all directions.

The applause did not stop even when I stood in front of the princess. No, in fact, it has become even bigger than before.

“See you here again! If I had known we would meet so soon, we could have just talked here. Isn’t that right?”

“Hehe, that’s right.”

The princess is like that too, right? After saying this, I climbed up onto the exam table holding two broadswords, and I climbed up onto the exam table holding a halberd in my right hand and a fan I had brought with me in my other hand.

“A halberd on a fan. Are you planning on taking some time off?”

“No. Rather, this is showing sincerity.”

“Hmm. Well, okay. All you have to do is have fun.”

The princess laughed fiercely, spread her arms slightly to the sides, placed the tips of her dual swords wide, and positioned herself so that she could attack at any moment.

I placed a subordinate’s curse on the right arm holding the halberd, forcibly increased its strength, and waited for the signal to come.

[start!!!]

As soon as the signal went out, the princess lowered her posture and rushed towards me, and I raised the halberd, scraping the floor with the ax blade of the halberd that was pointing downwards.

“Doing your best is just playing with dirt!? I’m so disappointed!!”

The princess, who covered her eyes with her arms crossed to prevent the stone dust from flying out, shouted and swung her right arm, and I raised the spear at an angle to block the sword aimed at my waist.

The moment when the sword was blocked by the spear blade, there was a thud. The princess twisted her wrist to change the direction of the sword and swung it upward.

The swinging sword came up on the spear pole and threatened to cut off my fingers, and I immediately turned around and struck the princess’s side with the spear pole.

However, the princess blocked the spear with the sword she was holding in her opposite hand, and both attacks were in vain.

“Ahaha! It’s fun! Other than your brother, you are the first person to receive my sword!”

“That’s such an honor.”

I twirled the halberd I was holding and took my stance again, covering my mouth with a fan and laughing.

“So, when are you going to use that fan?”

“You’ve been using it since the beginning?”

“What?”

I folded the fan with a loud thud, and at the same time, while rotating my body, the magic I had applied before was activated.

The princess’s feet froze with a crunching sound, and while the princess looked down for a moment, I ran forward and swung the halberd wide horizontally.

“Oh my――!”

Kaaang–!!

“It’s a shame. It was the best blow.”

“Aha, so you can use it with magic like this? Hehehe. As expected, it’s fun――Yes!!”

Kwasik! With a sound, the ice binding the princess’s feet broke, and the shards fell on my face.

Even though I knew I shouldn’t, my body reflexively closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, what I saw was the princess’s sword swinging at my shoulders.

“Tch… … !”

I threw the fan behind me, grabbed the halberd’s pole with both hands, and held it horizontally to block the princess’s sword.

“It’s too bad! I can’t use magic anymore!”

As soon as the sword was blocked, the princess came in with one foot forward, raised her back foot and kicked me in the stomach.

“Kahak――!”

“Kyahaha! I guess I’m not good at close combat!”

It was a blow that made my stomach turn, but I gritted my teeth, endured it, and prepared for the next attack.

A left-handed sword swung aimed at the neck. As she fell back, she aimed for the stomach and stabbed the halberd, but the princess raised her legs wide with her characteristic animal-like reaction speed and stepped on the spear of the halberd.

“I copied the technique you did!”

The princess laughed fiercely and shouted, swinging her sword while saying that.

“If you were going to use it, you should have looked at the direction carefully before stepping on it.”

I smiled and pulled the spear towards me, and the hook on the opposite side of the halberd’s ax blade caught the princess’s ankle.

Suddenly, the princess lost her balance when the spear pole was pulled, but she regained her balance by tumbling backwards to increase the distance.

“As expected, you don’t get offended easily.”

“It wouldn’t be fun if you were easily defeated like other chaffs. Isn’t that right?”

“Hehe, I don’t know? Because using my body isn’t my thing.”

A brief lull. Naturally, it was the princess who attacked first.

I stabbed first using her long reach, but the princess avoided it by lowering her posture and opening her body slightly, and with a grin, she aimed at my stomach and stabbed me with the sword in her right hand.

I also turned my body to avoid the stab, retrieved my halberd, and blocked the second sword being swung with my spear.

Kaang!

Swing, block. Stab, dodge. The battle continued by blocking all attacks that were similar but had a completely different feel, and sometimes blocking them.

As time passed, the body that had been cursed by the subordinate became increasingly broken as it could not withstand the load, and even when blocking sword attacks well, his arms and legs began to shake and his posture began to collapse.

“Inhale!”

It shouldn’t stay like this. After making that judgment, I blocked the princess’s attack and stretched out my legs, aiming for the princess’s stomach, just like she did earlier. Unlike me, the princess blocked the kick with her knees and both arms, so she stepped back and adjusted her posture.

“Ha… … . ha… … . I returned the same thing I received earlier.”

“Kyahahaha! you are the best! really! It’s the first time I’ve felt this kind of excitement since I sparred with Onii-sama!”

“That, indeed. Thank goodness.”

After catching my breath while using the halberd as a walking stick, I glanced towards the fan behind me, and the princess grinned when she saw that.

“Are you slowly running out of stamina? If you keep looking at that fan.”

“Hehe, I guess it’s because I haven’t trained my body well. I’m starting to get tired at this point.”

“Hmm… … . okay! It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing we can do.”

I’ll finish you off with the next blow.

As she said that, the princess lowered her arms and assumed the same posture as when she first attacked.

“I don’t know what to do with the princess’ consideration. Yes, then. As the princess said, I will end it with the next blow.”

As I said that, I lifted the halberd slightly and tapped the floor with the end of the spear.

Crunch–!!

“What!? Completely without chanting!? If you don’t have a fan, you can’t use magic!?”

After confirming that more than half of the princess’s body was frozen, she walked slowly and picked up the fan that had fallen behind her.

It’s full of dust. It’s almost time to replace it with a new one.

“Okay,” he spread his fan to cover his mouth and walked towards the princess with a smile.

“When did I say that you can’t use magic without a fan?”

Saying that, he put the halberd’s ax blade to the princess’s neck――

“I never said that.”

I smiled and folded the fan. The princess, who was glaring at me while gritting her teeth, turned her head as if annoyed and opened her mouth.

“Ah… … . Ah yes! I lost! I lost! Complete defeat, complete defeat!”

“Hehe, thank you for your hard work.”

At the princess’ declaration of surrender, I put down my halberd.

[victor! Princess Charlotte La Rochelle!!]

Thunderous applause poured out.