Chapter 104
Whoops I accidentally forgot about this chapter sorry teehee~
The In-School Tournament in the Eyes of the Heroes
I——Takamiya Shota came to the Academy’s stadium in order to witness it myself, the event called Bardora Magic Academy’s In-School Tournament.
It was something we heroes initially had nothing to do with, but because we were told to keep company with Class S’ training, we consequently had to watch the affair as a result. Because Theobolt who was the first prince of the Kaizer Empire whom had summoned us was a member of the class, it was hard to turn it down.
In all honesty, I didn’t have any good impression about Class S’ members. No, I knew that Robert, the first prince of Wimburg Kingdom, was one of the few people that would interact with anyone normally and was a good guy.
However, the majority of them were a bunch of people who looked down on others.
……まあ、俺たち勇者も人のことを言えないけどな。
…Well, we heroes couldn’t really speak bad about others.
Quite a few among us used the powers that they had obtained to intimidate others.
「 …And? Why are you in such a good mood?」
「Hm?」
I asked so to Kannazuki-senpai next to me who, was smiling away which was rare.
「Hmm~? You want to know? Hm? Hm?」
「It’s very rare of you to make me pissed off…!」
Kannazuki-senpai who usually didn’t act like this made me curious what was inside her brain.
「It bothers me. Please tell me what happened.」
「I won’t~」
Annoying…!
No, Kannazuki-senpai seemed off these days.
She’s so air-headed that it made me wonder; where did her cool and composed self go to?
This is weird… It’s definitely weird… There’s no mistaking that something must have happened.
Come to think of it, Kannazuki-senpai often disappear off somewhere at times… is that somehow related to this?
In the end, whilst I still couldn’t solve what lifted her mood, the tournament started.
First round was Class C vs Class A, which I personally found extremely interesting, but that wasn’t the case for other heroes, it seemed.
「Hah! Magic like that, even I can do that.」
「I knew it, we’re far more awesome than the people in this world.」
「If it’s like this, it will be a piece of cake for us to take over the whole academy.」
A lot of the heroes looked down upon them.
For me, I don’t understand what supported their confidence.
It was scary for me; how people changed just because they received power without any hardship.
While I was having such thoughts, a student from Class A changed the atmosphere with his appearance.
It was the emergence of Geonis, the second prince of Wimburg Kingdom.
「Kyaah! It’s Geonis-kun!」
「Isn’t his Wildish impression unbearable~」
「Should I go for an attack? We’re heroes after all, so he wouldn’t treat us roughly, right?」
The girls were hyped when they looked at Geonis’ profile, while the boys were not pleased looking at them.
…Exactly, what’s prone to be the root of problems isn’t always about chemistry between the heroes and other classes.
Among the heroes too, many individuals were likely to have perilous mood.
Amongst all——.
「 …This ain’t fun.」
「Hey, ain’t it fine and dandy if we left him dead?」
「True that. Since we’re told it’s okay to display our strength, let’s make an example out of him~」
The trio of Kisaragi Masaya, Ōyama Tsuyoshi, Tōgō Rentō.
It would be fine to say that these trio were the ones with a particularly bad humour.
Apparently, they were pressing onto female students using their power.
「…How troublesome.」
Kannazuki-senpai felt their impropriety then frowned upon them.
For now, Kannazuki-senpai and my group somehow managed to keep them in check, but that wouldn’t last long.
The predictable matches kept preceding until finally the match for Class S whom we had lent our hand came rolling.
「That took a while.」
「How boring.」
「Rather, won’t class F be massacred in seconds?」
「Lmao」
「Poor Class F~」
「These lot can’t even use magic~ Makes me feel, like, how you’d fight?」
The heroes were sneering at the member of Class F severely.
Although I didn’t partake in the laughs, I also entertained the thought that it would need a miracle for Class F to win against Class S.
After all, Class S was the class where students with excellent command of magic gathered, and we accompanied them during their training, allowing them to grow even further.
Among them, the man named Robert, the first prince of Wimburg Kingdom, was overwhelming.
He was a powerhouse who surpassed even heroes, and now he has become even stronger. Truth to be told, among the heroes, maybe only Kannazuki-senpai who could fight with him toe-to-toe? He was such an opponent.
…That’s right, even heroes aren’t considered as the strongest.
However, everyone else couldn’t understand that idea.
Well… I’m even worse, can only comment those within my mind.
While I was vexed of myself, Class F came into the arena.
Along with that, all those boys were licking all over them with their eyes, not bothering to hide their degenerate smiles.
「The girls from class F are good with their looks alone, ain’t they.」
「True that. Ah, right, why don’t we make ’em accompany us?」
「Ah, good idea you got there. Class F is a just a class without future after all. I’m sure they’ll be delighted to accompany us great heroes」
「Well, if they resist, just use some force until they bend!」
Couldn’t endure those remarks any longer, Kenji whom seated himself until now raised his body.
Against him, Kannazuki-senpai stopped with a face without expression.
「Those bastards…!」
「Calm down, Kenji.」
「Kannazuki-senpai!? But…!」
「You’re one against many. In addition, I can’t predict what might happen if heroes with bad reputations made an uproar in this venue.」
「Guh…!」
「However, we have to be more careful about their conduct from now on. Particularly, against class F… okay?」
After she soothed Kenji down, the match started.
The one who was first to fight was a male student with a bear headgear on his head.
「What the fuck…!?」
「Buhak!? What? Is he trying to get attention or what!?」
「How fucking lame!」
「Maybe he just don’t wanna show his face after he got his ass kicked!」
The student with the bear costume received all kind of ridicules the Heroes threw at him.
Meanwhile, the student from class S who was to fight him was, frankly said, just a student with thin presence.
If I have to remember him, then I guess he’s one of the people who leeches off on Theobolt?
That being said, he is from class S, after all said and done. His power must be high at least.
This would be an unsparing fight…
The match started while I was having that in my mind, trying to watch it over——However, we were caught utterly dumbfounded.
「Wh, what the ffuck…」
「You’re shitting me…?」
「Un-fucking-believable…」
The student from class S… was it Fauner his name? Putting that aside, the magic he fired was supposed to have quite a high firepower even in the eyes of heroes.
However, this student from Class F… Bead, warded off said magic. ——He knocked it off.
It was really bizarre.
Indeed, he had brass knuckles equipped in his hands.
However, the thing that knocked away those magic was clearly——the air pressure of his own fist.
Oi, just which manga did you crawl out from…
Bead boldly strode towards Fauner, dead straight.
Even among the heroes, there weren’t many individuals who’d do such dangerous flex when facing against a member of class S.
Despite that, Bead was doing so without a single scratch on him.
Lost in disarray, Fauner discharged a large number of magic, which each and every last of it was knocked away, then… with an unexpected chop on the crown, he was defeated.
『……』
The entire body of heroes was drowned in silence.
No, not only heroes.
The other students too, they were trapped in shock as that haphazard battle unfolded.
The only ones who acted like it was normal, was those from the same class as Bead.
No… don’t tell me, that’s the norm for them? Really?
Even when the venue was enveloped in silence, the match continued.
The next match was Theobolt from class S against his own brother, Blued from class F.
Far from meeting Blued at the Kaizer Empire, we were not aware of his existence until we arrived here.
…There must be some circumstances among the royals for this to happen.
At any rate, it was a sibling quarrel that didn’t share a normal relationship.
While not reaching Robert’s level, Theobolt was a superior fighter worthy to be aware of. If you didn’t include his personality, that is.
He was a powerhouse that amongst the heroes, at best Kannazuki-senpai was the only one who could win against him, while Kisaragi-senpai would need more room to do the same.
That was why, the heroes gradually regained their spirit, putting the last match under the bridge while focusing to Theobolt’s fight.
「W, well, that one was a fluke.」
「T, that’s right!」
「Also, next is Theobolt-kun!」
「Hah! Eat that! Class F’s massacre is unavoidable!」
Along with the rise of their spirit, their bullshit also rose. The game started with Blued firing slashes in an unknown direction.
「The fuck you’re attacking at!」
「Oi, oi, do you even have eyes to look where your opponent is!?」
「Why don’t you use magic? Ah, you can’t do magic, can you?」
Even if the heroes were spewing whatever they wanted, Blued didn’t change the course of his slashes, still firing them towards a weird direction.
Theobolt too, he was making fun of his means of attack all the while deploying a number of magic.
However, Blued kept his attacks going whilst expertly avoiding the incoming magic.
This development of events continued for a while, until Theobolt couldn’t handle it anymore and decided to end it.
He fired a powerful homing magic in order to bring Blued down for certain.
However——That was what Blued aimed.
To my surprise, Blued used that very magic as a foothold and closed the distance with Theobolt with frightening speed.
Theobolt who was surprised by this occurrence tried to evade, but… much to his surprise, the slashes Blued fired made his footings bad, and with his feet losing their place, Theobolt fell senseless.
And then, by seizing the scruff of Theobolt’s neck, Blued turn Theobolt into a meat-shield against his own magic!
With how big the firepower packed within that magic, once it came into contact, the whole arena was clouded in dust.
Once the dust settled, what came out was an uninjured Blued and Theobolt who was burnt into charcoal.
Despite the opponent being his older brother, Blued treated Theobolt like some kind of trash and left him aside.
『……』
Again, all the heroes were engulfed in silence.
Just what is Class F? What do they mean by drop-outs?
Within our minds, that thought started to rule over us.
However, again, only Class F treated the whole ordeal like it was the norm and was unperturbed.
This is weird… this is weird on many levels…
Those who thought that Bead’s fight was a fluke lost their words along with the second loss from Class S’ side.
However, once Kisaragi-senpai’s group regained their composure, they started to turn against Theobolt instead.
「Hmph… In the end, those who aren’t heroes have their limits.」
「Y… you’re right! That fucker Theobolt, I expected him to somehow could it.」
「Well, he’s the kind of guy who couldn’t bear any fruit.」
It was but a bluff no matter how you see it, but other heroes had a different opinion and continued with Kisaragi-senpai’s remark.
「You’re right!」
「Things like Class S losing to Class F… this only proves that only the heroes are those who are chosen!」
「Ah, seems like Robert is fighting the next one.」
「Hmph… If it’s Robert, then we can expect something from him.」
It was the Academy’s strongest student, Robert from Class S who was fighting next.
And, from Class F, the one who stood against him was a male student with the look of a delinquent… Agnos.
「Uwah. He seems like an idiot.」
「This gon be ez.」
Looking at Agno’s appearance, the heroes once again ridiculed.
…I’ve seen the pattern. No matter how you slice it, that was a jinx…
Having that premonition in me, the match started.
And then——.
「Eh? Eh?」
「Huh?」
「No way…」
It was bizarre, in a different meaning than the previous ones.
Both in Bead’s and Blued’s case, the very development of their fight was bizarre. However, for the fight that unveiled before us, it was simply too high leveled that it was bizarre.
The various super-tiered magic Robert deployed.
And Agnos who fought all of it with a single metal bat.
When things progressed to close quarter combat, even if Agnos had a little bit of wiggle room, it was still an unprecedented sword-to-bat fight that we had no hope to reach in level that unfolded before us.
The fight that kept getting heated up finally was coming to its end.
Both fighters squeezed out the last ounce of their strength, delivering the last attack they had.
With sheer guts, they produced strength that should’ve been depleted then——conclusively speaking, they ended it with a draw.
Nobody came out as the winner.
However, who cared a shit about winning or losing.
The heroes who’d been sneering on them couldn’t accept the fact.
That the Class F that they made fun of, such a monster who had that strength existed within.
Uncommonly, even that Kisaragi-senpai and his group had nothing to fix their stiffen face.
We heroes… no, even the whole venue was looking at it like it was the strangest thing to ever happen, but Class F treated it like it was the norm.
Just who is the one teaching Class F? Isn’t his standard of normal way too off the mark?
Watching Class F who acted like that was the most obvious outcome, I was curious about the perpetrator behind the birth of this common-sense-breaking group.
Looking at the bench area for Class F, other than the students who were waiting for their turn, there were three other people.
One of them was a female with a teacher-esque feeling, but no matter how you look at her, it was hard to think that she could give birth to that group.
Another one was not even a teacher, just a little girl of an age suitable to be an elementary schooler. That would be impossible.
And then, the last one of the batch.
A shady guy who hid behind his hood.
Un, it has to be him. He’s too shady.
Just what did he do to make all that happen? Doping? But, honestly, their atmosphere doesn’t feel like they doped.
In addition, as long as there wasn’t any evidence, saying they doped would be a false accusation.
First and foremost, Class F students couldn’t produce even a speck of magic.
Really, just what happened…
While we heroes were lost our words, suddenly, a student from class S made his appearance then voiced his complaints and jeers.
That male student, his name was Freed if I recall correctly, was one of Theobolt’s grovelers just like Fauner. That was all I could think of him.
Listening to Freed, apparently, despite Class F having another student who hadn’t fought, that student was refusing to participate in the showdown between Class S and Class F.
No, I don’t understand your logic.
Since they already bear 2 losses and 1 draw, isn’t it thanks to class F that Class S didn’t come out as the defeated side, yet why they can’t understand that? Let’s say this last student partook in the match, if Freed lost to him then Class S as a whole would lose, wouldn’t they?
Thinking along those lines, the student from class F in question decided to join the game, as I expected.
Well, looking at him from this place, I see him as a fainthearted boy, but it seems like Freed just ignited even that timid boy’s anger with his words.
I can already see what will happen next.
In spite of that, I sighed… Well, the result was within expectation.
He lost many things in various meanings——That Freed, I meant.
With that, Class S’ complete defeat was set in place.
However, the heroes didn’t see the one-sided massacre namely the match since they were taken aback by how their pride shattered and what-have-them at the time Freed appeared.
Class S’ homeroom teacher who couldn’t accept the reality finally stepped down from his high horse.
Looking closely, the student from Class F that fought had lost consciousness and the shady guy was caring for him.
While the individual that I thought as the teacher for class F was trying to bring his student to the infirmary, Class S’ teacher started to voice his complaints.
The content of his words mainly about how they cheated, but he couldn’t prove it himself.
However, with the teacher saying so, the heroes started to regain their momentum.
「That’s right… that’s right! Think about it normally, it’s weird that Class S lost to Class F!」
「They cheated is the only reason!」
「You cheating bastards!」
「You fucking dropouts should crawl in the mud like how you deserve to be!」
Showering with jeers and boos, Class S’ teacher also struck the other party with magic while he was not on guard.
「Watch out!」
Watching the situation, Kannazuki-senpai let out such warning.
I also was about to intrude in myself——But, yet again, we were trapped dumbfounded.
Much to our surprise, Class F’s Teacher grabbed that magic with his bare hands.
It was bizarre enough that Bead knocked away magic with sheer air pressure of his fist, but grabbing magic with your bare hand would be categorized as something on a whole different dimension.
That also applied to Class S’ teacher, as it seemed like you would be able to deploy a large number of magic overwhelmingly stronger than that of us heroes’, and he did it instantly.
However, Class F’s teacher was just much more monstrous than the rest.
I watched how he parried the incoming magic with the one he had in hand, but outside of my expectation, he plucked more of those magic with his fingers then threw them back directly to Class S’ teacher.
In addition, the firepower was off the charts.
Compared to when it was fired by its original creator, the magic clearly packed more punch.
Facing before such excessive firepower of magic, Class S’ teacher ended up with his butt stuck out.
Looking at his situation, Class F’s teacher was finally going to head to the infirmary this time, but the other party didn’t give up still. Or rather, he didn’t know when to give up.
Again, a large quantity of magic was deployed against Class F’s teacher.
Everyone thought that would strick Class F directly.
However, the reality——Was different.
『Haah？』
The heroes, every member of us, had our mouth hung open.
As for why, rather than the magic going toward the Class F’s teacher, its trajectory changed towards Class S’ teacher, and its number even exceeded the number when it was first deployed when it rained upon him.
No… err… huh?
Why would someone who fired magic get assailed by the very magic he made?
Every single soul here couldn’t help but marvel about the sight that unveiled before them.
After a while, once the mayhem that birthed from overwhelming magic settled, the unsightly Class S’ teacher was laid there in a pitiful and unfathomable manner as if deprived of human dignity.
Looking upon such a figure, not only the heroes, but the venue in its entirety fell into silence.
As if he couldn’t bear the atmosphere of this venue, the guy behind this retreated to the infirmary swiftly.
I thought that the students from class F were the extraordinary ones of the batch, but I was wrong.
What was the most dangerous was their teacher.
『……』
Nobody could accept what just happened in front of their eyes.
That the class F they’d been making fun of was actually a group of people harnessing monstrous strength.
And, in order to deny such reality, Kisaragi-senpai’s lot expressed the darkish feeling they had.
「Unforgivable… absolutely unforgivable… only us… get to be heroes here…!」
Towards such remarks that could only be seen as an outburst of anger, other heroes started to fan the flame.
「True! Like hell some unknown fucker could stand in a place above us…! 」
「We heroes stand on top while others should kneel to us!」
「Exactly!」
The heroes, one after another, started to pour the darkness of their heart against the Class F due to jealousy.
This is… too late.
I thought they would revert back to their sane mind someday, but they’d gone past the line shouldn’t cross.
As I watched the heroes grimly, I found one student who looked like they were surprised.
It was Sado Airi who kept looking for someone she called 『Sei-chan』.
With dazed look on her face, Sado murmured so.
「…Sei-chan…?」