I’ll Live My Second Life! - Chapter 90

The ten boys—representative members from the Northern and Eastern Dormitories—stood opposite each other at the centre of the stadium. Some sent sparks crackling through the air; some wore relaxed smiles, while some simply stood coolly in their spots. Each of their gazes intersecting.

All captains of the Orstollian Knights Order and almost all members of the Northern and Eastern Dormitories as well as regular knights who came to watch of their own free will were present.

Under the many eyes gathered there, the boys saluted each other.

At last, the swordsmanship competition begins…!

The first match was between the vanguards Fii and Luka.

Before Fii’s match, everyone from the Northern Dormitory team assembled once more so that everyone could join together in a rally chant. The individual who led the group was Gorms, who had adopted a role much like that of a leader from the formation of the team until training.

“All right! Let’s win this competition and make those guys from the Eastern Dormitory be sorry for challenging us!”

“OOOOHH—!”

A loud roar rose from everyone following Gorm’s voice. It was simple, but they had plenty of determination. Everybody seemed to be full of fighting spirit.

On the other side, only Carneggs was yelling at the gathering of the Eastern Dormitory.

“Alright, Luka! You’re up first! Show those guys from the Northern Dormitory the difference in our powers! Go—! It’s time—!”

“Yeah yeah, I know, Carneggs-senpai. Besides it’s not like I’ll lose if I don’t go all out. Please calm down a little.”

Because of the coordinator’s objective, there was an element of elitism in the Eastern Dormitory.

Carneggs’ plan involved a training method focused on the members appearing in the team competition. It was by no means an entirely bad thing. Having many opportunities to fight and watch excellent people would also help to develop their abilities.

However doing that required motivation.

There was a wall between the members and the others, and as the members were a group made up of the most powerful, it was difficult to say that there was a sense of cooperation in the Eastern Dormitory and that an atmosphere like that could be cultivated here.

To speak frankly, everyone except a certain person got along well. It was different from the atmosphere in the Northern Dormitory, where they sometimes fought with one another and other times banded together.

But still, many people held the opinion that the ability and strength of the team competition members exceeded the Northern Dormitory’s.

Even instructors such as Hisuro couldn’t help but say that if they were speaking objectively.

It has nothing to do with one’s body shape. You only need skill.

The structure of the Eastern Dormitory was the embodiment of that.

“As long as Jerid and Kerio don’t mess up, the competition should end quickly with three victories. Just watch. I’ll prove it with my amazing swordplay.”

With that, Luca went down to the arena stage.

“All right, it seems your opponent is going down too. Go, Heath.”

Hisuro slapped the backs of the team members and called out to them in order to cheer them on as much as he could. The match between Heath and Luka was definitely going to be the most intense among the ones being held today. The difference in their abilities was obvious.

If there was any chance of the Northern Dormitory winning, it’d be in the matches between Slad and Jerid, or Remie and Kerio.

Nevertheless, they were not in a situation where they could throw away a match.

The battle between the vanguards would set the tone of the rest of the competition. If the tone of the competition completely trended towards the way of easily losing matches, then it was highly likely that Remie and Slad, who was lacking in ability, would be easily defeated…

They had to somehow progress further into the competition and let Gorms and Doug, who both had the ability to fight head-on, take over.

Gorms and the rest called out to Fii, who was holding her personal wooden sword and preparing herself.

“Heath! Proceed with the intention to win!”

“Good luck!”

“We’ll be cheering for you so do your best!”

“I’ll be cheering my hardest for you!”

Seeing the looks on their faces, Fii nodded and descended onto the arena.

Looking at her back, Gorms and the rest murmured.

“Hey…he was silent just now…”

“Maybe he’s nervous…”

“If it’s him, he’ll be fine! A-All we can do is believe in him!”

Seeing Fii act different than usual, the boys murmured in uneasiness.

At the centre of the spectators’ attention, Fii and Luka faced off.

“Hey. It’s been a week since we last saw each other. Did you sleep well yesterday?”

“……”

Luka burst into laughter at Fii, who looked over his way without saying a single word.

“By the looks of you, it seems you couldn’t sleep much, right? Don’t worry. I will finish this for you in an instant. After that, you should take your time and rest.”

“……”

“Please refrain from idle talk! If you have finished preparing, please salute each other and get ready.”

The referee gave a warning to Luka who was chatting. While saying “Yeah, yeah”, Luka greeted Fii in a conceited manner and readied his sword. Fii also quickly bowed her head then readied her sword.

There was a considerable height difference between the two whose gazes intersected.

“Whoa, is that small guy going to fight?”

“His opponent is that Luka, yeah? Can he even win against him…?”

The name of the anticipated newcomer—Luka—was quite well-known even among the regular knights. And now Fii, who was going to face off with him, was the smallest knight ever in history. Rather than predicting the outcome of the match, it was doubtful whether it would even be a proper match. Fii was probably going to be defeated by Luka the instant the match started. That was the prediction of almost everyone.

“Heath, you can do it!”

Remie’s turned his gaze towards Fii as though he were praying. Doug also watched the match with an anxious look; His gaze lay fixated on Fii.

“Begin!”

Just as the referee’s voice rang out, Luka immediately closed the distance striking at Fii with his sword. He was not on the same level as Doug, but had an attack where he could strike at the speed of lightning.

“Eehhhh!”

“Is this really his first year as an apprentice knight?”

Such a commendable feat took away the breath of the people watching.

Fii parried the attack using her wooden sword which she held with both hands. The metal made a dull clanking sound; Fii’s arms trembled for an instant as her body was forced back by several centimetres. Even so, Fii caught the blow of Luka’s first attack.

Luka’s eyes widened a little in surprise.

“Ehhh.”

Luka brought his head close to Fii as they locked sword to sword.

“You’ve worked quite hard haven’t you? I never thought that someone of your level would be able to respond to my sword.”

The moment he peered into her face and whispered that…

Her face flushed orange.

“EHH-!?”

“What!?”

Everyone at the competition arena widened their eyes at the unbelievable scene that suddenly came into sight.

The moment after Luka sprung forward and exchanged a blow with Fii, something orange sprayed from Fii’s mouth, becoming a mist that covered Luka’s face.

A second later, Luka, whose face had been covered by the spray, dropped his sword and screamed.

“MY EYES AHHHHHH! MY EYESSSS!”

Luca threw his head back grasping at his eyes.

While watching Luka in his current state with a composed expression, Fii twisted her hips as much as she could and held her wooden sword aloft against the back of his head. She raised her leg, took a step with all her strength and swung her wooden sword against his face.

By the way, this was not sword-swinging form no matter how one looked at it.

“AARGHHH!”

Despite her small and short build, the power amassed in her full swing was tremendous. Luka, having sustained a direct hit, collapsed to the ground with a dull thud. Fii briskly rushed over to Luka with small steps and swung her wooden sword downward three times. *gon gon gon*1

When Fii confirmed that Luka could no longer move, she slightly raised her arm up and triumphantly spoke to the silent and motionless arena completely without a worry.

“I’ve won.”

“F-FOUL PLAYYYYY! Competitor Luka’s victory!”

The Northern Dormitory’s first loss was determined in no time.