Chapter 75 - Darkness and Sword King Festival [6] (1/2)

75. Darkness and Sword King Festival [6]

Following the instructions of the commentator, students other than Thousand Blade Academy and Werewolf Academy got off the stage and headed to the contestants’ waiting room.

As the crowd of swordsmen moved, I took a glance at the audience.

(Wow, there’s a huge number of people in the audience…)

The venue was a full house. There was not even a single empty seat.

As expected of the Sword King Festival.

Even though it’s still the qualifying rounds, there was a remarkable difference in public attention.

(It would be very difficult to find Ria in this crowd…)

Finding Ria from tens of thousands of spectators when I don’t even know where she is.

Honestly, it’s not realistic.

Still, I kept looking through the spectators as there was nothing for me to lose.

「Now then, from here on, we will start the『Vanguard battle』between Werewolf Academy and Thousand Blade Academy!」

The female commentator declared loudly.

The next moment, the enthusiasm in the venue reached climax at once, and cheers burst forth as though the earth itself was rumbling.

「There we go! The atmosphere in the venue has fired up. Let’s introduce the contestants without delay!」

The commentator cleared her throat, and began to introduce the contestants enthusiastically.

「First of all, Vanguard of Werewolf Academy – Gallow Yundler! According to the information at hand, he is a super genius swordsman who manifested his soul dress at ten years old! In addition, he has fully mastered the『Blooming Flower Style』which is famed in the west! It seems that he was supposed to enrol into the Five Academy, but… due to a violent incident that occurred just before that, he unexpectedly entered the Werewolf Academy! In other words, in terms of simple ability, he can be said to be Five Academy class!」

The swordsman who was introduced, slowly went up to the stage.

Gallow Yundler.

Perfectly styled, flashy blonde hair .

There was a big hint of confidence on his face together with his good features.

He was a little taller than me, about 175 centimeters tall.

He was dressed in the uniform of the Werewolf Academy, with a crimson cross running on black fabric.

And then,

「UUOOOOOOHHHH! Make the festival bloody, Gallow!」

「Slaughter the trash of Thousand Blade Academy!」

「Demonstrate that the times have changed to those『Losers of the Capital』!」

From one block of the audience, foul-mouthed cheers flew.

They all wore the same uniform as Gallow-san.

Probably the students of the Werewolf Academy.

As Lilim-senpai said, it seems to be an ill-natured academy.

「Now, the vanguard of Thousand Blade Academy – Allen Rodore! According to the information at hand, he is… Eh? …Ah, E-Errr… he is unaffiliated to any school, and he seems to be just doing practice-swings every day. As for the soul dress… Ah, it seems not to have been manifested yet.」

What can I say…? It was a very sad introduction.

(Everything you said is true, but… I think you could have made a little more decent introduction than that.)

When I was thinking about that,

「Pu… Gyahahahahaha!『Unaffiliated swordsman』,what a joke!」

「Isn’t the quality of the student way too bad?」

「In the end, Thousand Blade Academy has fallen that much huh…! It’s about time they got kicked out of『Five Academy』,right?」

From the audience seat of Werewolf Academy, terrible mockery and abuse flew.

(It somewhat… feels nostalgic…)

Recently, thanks to the gradual increase in the number of friends, I have encountered less of these jeers, and due to my days being full of ups and downs, I completely forgot that I was unaffiliated.

And then,

「Allen! I’m with you! Don’t lose to these guys!」

Just behind me, in the front row of the audience, Ria shouted loudly while waving.

Behind her was everyone from Class A, including Rose and Tessa, and seniors dressed in the uniforms of Thousand Blade Academy.

(Ria…! And everyone…!)

When I waved back to Ria, I felt something was off.

(Eh, that’s strange…)

Despite Thousand Blade Academy being mocked, everyone from Class A and the seniors were strangely quiet.

On the contrary, they had a smug grin on their face for some reason.

(What the hell is going on…?)

As I tilted my head looking at the audience seating,

「Oi Oi, what’s up? You can withdraw if you’re too scared you know?」

Gallow-san said that and laughed at me.

「…No, it’s okay.」

I’m way past getting used to the jeers from audiences.

(And I’m no longer alone…)

Even the lone cheer from Ria, outstrips ten thousand boos.

And then,