Chapter 76 - Darkness and Sword King Festival [7] (2/2)

And without delay, she began to introduce the next contestant.

「And next, Vanguard of Astrology Academy – Sven Rosrick! He belongs to a rare school of the southern origin called the Soft Sword Style, and has left a wonderful performance of winning all the matches so far, the same as contestant Allen!」

The swordsman who was introduced slowly climbed up to the stage.

Sven Rosrick.

Long black hair extending on both sides.

Cool facial features that could be mistaken for being around 3 years older.

He was almost as tall as me, about 170 centimeters tall.

Yellow lines running on white fabric, the uniform of Astrology Academy, which looked like noble clothing, dressed his person.

When he climbed onto the stage, he stared at me.

「I am Sven Rosric. Just want to say best regards.」

He held out his right hand and seeked for a handshake.

「Me too, Sven-san.」

I grasped his right hand tightly and shook his hand before the battle.

(Sven-san has honest eyes. And above all, he’s a very polite person…)

It seems like we’ll be able to have a pleasant match.

As I was thinking about that,

「You… You’ve been having a hard academy life, right?」

With my right hand still in his grip, Sven-san said something I didn’t understand.

「…Eh?」

「Aa, my bad… When I hold the other person’s hand, I can relive what kind of life they have lived so far. It is something like a “by-product of my soul dress”.」

「S-Something like that…!?」

「Aa… For example, Gran Swordsmanship Academy was a really terrible place, right? From such a terrible environment, you did well to grow to this point, and…!?」

While speaking, Sven-san’s face suddenly turned pale and he pulled away his right hand.

「Haa haa…!?」

As he hyperventilated, large beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

「T-This is…!」

Did he perhaps… Relive my memory in the『Prison of Time』?

(If so, I feel like I have done something bad…)

I don’t know how many『hundreds of millions of years』of memory he experienced, but…

Judging from his reaction, he must have experienced quite a painful memory.

(Oh no…)

I should have warned him when he told me about his ability.

「Umm… Sven-san, are you all right…?」

And when I approached him, who was as white as a sheet,

「Hi-Hii…!? D-Don’t come near me! MONSTER!」

He screamed, jumped off the stage, and ran away frantically towards the waiting room.

「E-Err…」

As I was left stunned, alone on the stage,

「…What on earth happened!? Contestant Sven was shaking hands with contestant Allen… And suddenly ran away! Well, uh… I would like to seek for the judgment of the Sword King Festival Executive Committee on this matter, so please wait for a while!」

The commentator said so, and left the seat for a while.

「……」

Tens of thousands of people’s gazes pierced me.

「As expected, there’s something『hidden』about Allen Rodore.」

「Exactly. That frightened figure of Sven… I’m sure he received some kind of『threat』!」

「No no, maybe Sven was just ”acting”, right?」

「W-What do you mean…?」

「It’s quite simple really… Allen Rodore offered him a deal.『Give up the match in return for a large sum of money』.」

「I-I see…!」

From here, I can’t hear what the audiences were talking about, but…

I could somehow feel my bad reputation spreading.

(Haa… Why am I the only one who always has to go through this…?)

Just when I ended up thinking we’ll be able to have a pleasant match, things turn out this way.

And when I heaved a sigh deeply,

「Thank you very much for waiting! So… As a result of the deliberations, it has been ruled that, Allen Rodore wins by default in the Vanguard battle!」

The commentator said, and announced my victory by default.

At that moment, the buzz of the venue became even noisier.

It is most likely that… The audiences don’t agree with the result.

And then,

「Well, come on! That was an unexpected happening, but let’s put in behind and move forward to the Second battle!」

With a cheerful voice that blew away the noise of the venue, the commentator advanced the qualifying rounds.

■

After that, the match with Astrology Academy was extremely fierce.

In the Second match, Lilim-senpai was defeated after a fierce battle.

And when the score was tied one-to-one, Ferris-senpai managed to attain a narrow victory against a strong opponent in the Center match.

And in the remaining Vice General match, the president picked up a certain victory.

As a result,

「The first place of the A group is one of the Five Academy, Thousand Blade Academy!　Everyone, please give them a big round of applause!」

We got through the A-Group Qualifiers in first place and advanced to the『Sword King Festival Main Rounds』.