Chapter 500 – Semi-Finals!
◈-Sarman’s SIDE
I was born into a knightly family.
My father’s family had been knights of the Second Order for generations.
I, too, was trained to be a knight from a young age, and I took pride in becoming one.
Recognized for my talent from an early age, I trained at the Locke family’s training grounds with other promising young knight candidates, and… with Lady Gracia.
Lady Gracia.
An elf whom Sir Linesalot had found and raised during a mission.
She was a beautiful woman who respected Sir Linesalot more than anyone and wanted to become a knight.
As a young boy, I watched Lady Gracia and dreamed of one day becoming a full-fledged knight alongside her.
At that time, I saw her not as a woman, but as a comrade striving to become a knight.
However, as time went on, Lady Gracia grew stronger and more beautiful.
Both as a knight and as a female.
Her breasts and hips grew fuller as she matured.
And her fair skin was revealed by the clothes she chose due to the characteristics of the mana field.
Before I knew it, I, and… the other knight candidates, naturally began to see Lady Gracia as an attractive female.
Of course, perhaps sensing those gazes, Sir Linesalot’s gaze towards us was very frightening.
In front of Lady Gracia, and in his usual demeanor, Sir Linesalot was a knight to be respected, but also a father.
He couldn’t possibly look kindly upon us, who were showing our male gazes towards his precious daughter, so we ended up using the training grounds within the knight order, and the opportunities to see Lady Gracia became extremely rare.
As time passed, while other knights were marrying their own females, I remained unmarried at the age of 22.
The reason was my stubbornness.
I have a goal.
That is to be with Lady Gracia.
Lady Gracia, who is three years older than me.
At first, I thought of her as a flower on a distant cliff.
I thought she would eventually become another man’s female.
But as time passed, my feelings for Lady Gracia grew, and even at the age of 25, Lady Gracia still had no partner.
The reason was that there was no male who could subdue Lady Gracia and make her his female.
That’s why I thought.
I will be that male.
I will prove my strength by defeating Lady Gracia.
But to do that, there is someone I need to be recognized by.
That is Sir Linesalot, the commander of the Second Order of Knights and Lady Gracia’s father.
Before challenging Lady Gracia, I must first gain Sir Linesalot’s recognition.
Sir Linesalot is the knight of knights.
To gain recognition from such a person, I thought I needed at least the title of tournament champion, so I entered the tournament.
But the result was a defeat in the semi-finals.
Moreover, the news that Lady Gracia had left on a journey to find a male with Lady Lyfa of the Tizan family was devastating to me.
Still, I did not give up hope.
Lady Gracia is strong.
A male who can satisfy such a lady will not appear so easily.
But that hope was shattered.
A few days ago.
While training for the tournament, I heard news from a colleague.
Lady Gracia had returned with Lady Lyfa.
With a male.
Lady Gracia had become a female.
I didn’t even know who the partner was.
But it was clear that he was strong enough to make Lady Gracia his female.
Ah, all my efforts until now…
It would have been easy to sit down and lament, but my heart for Lady Gracia wouldn’t let me.
Bridan favors the strong.
Then… then let’s prove it.
Win the tournament.
And ask Sir Linesalot.
To let me duel the man who made Lady Gracia his female.
And by dueling that man, I will show Lady Gracia my strength.
I will prove that I am a superior male by defeating that man.
I know it’s a rambling thought.
Even if I win the tournament, I may not be able to have a duel with that man.
Even if things go well and I beat that man, Lady Gracia may still choose him over me.
But… even so, I couldn’t stop myself.
And I entered the tournament and made it to the semi-finals again.
The skills I gained through grueling effort allowed me to reach this point more smoothly than last time.
My opponent in the semi-finals was a quirky man who was participating in the tournament for the first time.
That man had used the martial arts of the Third Order of Knights in the previous match… and now he was even trying to use the swordsmanship of our Second Order of Knights.
Even using the name of Sir Linesalot’s family.
The Locke family.
That was an unforgivable act.
To use the name of the Locke family, only Sir Linesalot, Lady Gracia, young master Alex, or a male who is Lady Gracia’s partner and can use the Locke family’s swordsmanship are allowed to mention it.
That title, which is only allowed in the position I want to be in.
The man with the strange attire in front of me had said it.
A man wearing a golden bucket and golden lower body armor, with only a red cloak.
The mysterious golden warrior, Roger.
A man who, I don’t know what skill it is, was taking out a sword from the air and taking the stance of the Second Order of Knights, saying he would fight me with the Locke family’s swordsmanship.
I couldn’t forgive him.
That’s why, as soon as the match started, I attacked him.
With all my might, in one go.
To make him realize his mistake.
But.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
“Ugh!”
Rather, it was I who was being pushed back.
[Amazing! Player Roger! He’s parrying all of Player Sarman’s fierce attacks!]
[Not only that, but the way he’s parrying is also the movement of the Second Order of Knights. It’s like watching a sparring match of the Second Order of Knights.]
It may look like a fierce sword fight on the surface.
But I, who am directly clashing swords with him, can tell.
It’s overwhelming.
The difference in skill between him and me was truly overwhelming.
He was perfectly grasping and responding to all my movements.
As if he had mastered all the swordsmanship of the Second Order of Knights.
The swordsmanship of the Second Order of Knights is famous.
But even if it’s well-known, it’s almost impossible to respond so perfectly.
Even if it were possible, it could only be done by someone who has an understanding of swordsmanship comparable to Sir Linesalot.
And… the man in front of me was doing it.
He was blocking all my attacks as if he were handling a child, and now he was preparing to counterattack.
At this rate, I will be thoroughly defeated.
Thwack!
I quickly created distance and rapidly generated mana.
“Wind Boost!”
My magic, which I had obtained through repeated efforts because I admired Sir Linesalot.
I activated my magic, which I had further honed to become Lady Gracia’s male.
The opponent in front of me is not someone I can afford to hide my trump card and be relaxed against.
I will use all my strength in one go to create even the slightest opening!
With the wind surrounding my body, I unleashed the fastest thrust I could muster towards Roger.
The opponent’s upper body is bare.
No matter how confident he is in his body, it should be impossible to take my thrust head-on.
My only way out is to get him caught up in my pace while he’s evading.
That was the plan.
Claaaaaang!
“……What?”
The sword was blocked by Roger’s stomach.
My fastest thrust, which I had generated with all my might.
It was blocked by Roger’s abs.
[Unbelievable!!! Player Roger! He blocked Player Sarman’s attack with his stomach! With his bare body!]
[Not with his fingers, but with his stomach… or maybe he can concentrate mana throughout his entire body.]
I couldn’t understand.
My sword was blocked by his stomach?
Is this man a monster?
I know it’s a match.
But I couldn’t stop my question.
“What… did you do?”
“Iron Body.”
Iron Body?
What is that?
“Then, it’s my turn to attack.”
The moment Roger said those words.
Whoooooosh!
Roger’s body and sword were enveloped in a fierce storm.
I know this storm.
I know this technique.
No way.
It can’t be.
This technique is… like Sir Gwein’s Crimson Lotus Fist, it’s Sir Linesalot’s signature technique.
A technique that sweeps away enemies by surrounding the body and sword with a storm.
It was Storm Breaker.
“Hup!”
Roger’s sword is swung towards me.
But that sword will not reach me.
Before that sword reaches me, I will be caught in the storm that sweeps around the sword and be blown away.
[The wind! The storm! It blew Player Sarman away!]
[That’s Storm Breaker. I never thought I’d see Sir Linesalot’s technique after Crimson Lotus Fist.]
My vision is spinning.
The world is spinning.
Blown away by the storm, I fell to the ground.
Thud!
“Cough!”
I, who had not even managed to perform a proper landing, realized.
I can’t possibly beat Roger.
He is a strongman of a different dimension.
The moment I was hit by the storm.
The moment I felt the immense mana contained within that storm, I realized.
The difference in strength as a true male.
“Eek…”
I was already in a posture of surrender.
◈-Lant’s SIDE
I thought it would be boring to just show off my swordsmanship, so I received Sarman’s sword, which was using Wind Boost, with my bare body.
Even without using mana, my body was completely fine and I didn’t take any damage.
When Sarman asked what technique it was, I decided to finish it by casually saying it was Iron Body, following the mood.
What came to mind was the sword strike that my father swung at me while shouting !@#$@#$!@#$ in an unknown language.
With the feeling that I myself was becoming a storm, I surrounded my sword and body with a fierce wind and swung my sword towards Sarman.
If he were to be hit directly by my sword, he would be cut in half, so I made the output of the wind surrounding the sword even stronger and blew Sarman away.
And while I was thinking about how to deal with Sarman when he performed a landing and rushed at me again…
“Eek…”
Sarman, who had fallen flat on his back, was taking a pose that I had seen many times before.
[Aaaaaaaah!!! The surrender poseeeeee!!! It’s the surrender pose, everyone!!!! Player Sarman is doing the surrender pose!]
[The surrender pose, which is said to be taken when the instinct is activated regardless of one’s will when facing a true strongman. I never thought I’d see it in this tournament.]
[Player Sarman’s instinct! The instinct of a strongman who reached the semi-finals in the last tournament!!! It has recognized Player Roger as a strongman!]
As a result, I made Sarman do the surrender pose in front of a large audience.
I feel very… sorry.
[The surrender pose means that he acknowledges defeat! The second match of the semi-finals! Advancing to the finals is the mysterious golden warrior! Player Roger!]
[I’m looking forward to the finals.]
[Medical team! Please take Player Sarman to the treatment room first!]
Medical staff are coming out to move Sarman and me.
At the same time, I felt the expectant gazes of the audience.
I did something very regrettable to Sarman.
But now, let’s perform a victory ceremony that lives up to the expectations of this audience!
I removed the sword in my hand and created five swords with mana weapons, sticking them in a circle around me.
Whack, whack, whack, whack, whack!
[Player Roger! He’s stuck swords into the ground again!]
[What kind of ceremony will he show us this time?]
I spread both arms out wide and supplied mana to the mana weapons, creating a fierce wind around the swords, and that wind soon began to swirl like a vortex.
[A vortex! A vortex has formed around the swords stuck in the ground!]
[To be able to do something like that, it can only be seen as someone who has professionally learned magic, not just a skill.]
Whoosh!
I folded my outstretched arms, clapped my hands, and made the vortexes come towards me.
Whoooooosh!
I was pushed up quickly by the wind of the vortexes.
[Aaaah! Player Roger! He’s floating into the sky again!]
[This time, it’s by the vortex created by magic.]
This time, floating up is not just to strike a pose in the air.
I quickly flipped my body downwards and created a bind near my feet and kicked off.
Whoosh!
I was descending at high speed into the center of the still swirling vortexes, and at the same time as landing in the center, I punched the ground.
KABOOOOM!
With a roar, the vortexes disappeared along with the swords due to the shockwave of my punch.
This time, the concept is not a muscle pose, but an expression of wild power!
As a finish, I clenched my fist and looked up at the sky, shouting loudly.
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
“Kyaaaaaaaaak!!!”
Along with my shout, the enthusiastic cheers and bright yellow screams of the audience echoed throughout the arena.
