TWEM Vol. 6 Chapter 2 Part 2
I, Haruto, called out Finne, who had returned to the audience.
“Good job, Finne. You fought very well. Your skills have improved, too.”
“I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it! But, you know…”
Finne looked around, and her cheeks were flushed.
As a participant who had just passed the qualifying round, it’s only natural that they would stand out. And Finne was embarrassed by the attention.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be in the main tournament. You should be proud of yourself.”
“Y-Yes! I’ll do my best in the main tournament, too!”
Finne said, clenching her hands into fists.
～
The following preliminary round for block-B was won by a swordsman named Glent, and the preliminary round for block-C would begin next.
‘‘The next match will be in block-C! The next match is block-C! Who will qualify for the main tournament in this block? Perhaps a dark horse will emerge like in block-A!’’
And finally, it was Iris’ turn.
“I’m off, Haruto!”
“Go for it!”
“Even if you don’t say anything, I’ll defeat them all! I have these swords that Haruto gave me. There’s no way I can lose♪”
Iris said as she placed her hand on the two swords sheathed in their scabbards.
“Haha, I see. Then go be as wild as you can! Show everyone what you can do.”
“Yes!”
Iris left us and headed to join the participants’ line.
‘‘—I’ve kept you waiting. It’s the start of block-C! All competitors, please enter!’’
Once again, after introducing the notable entrants, the participants entered one after another.
Well, I checked the other participants’ status, and no one seemed to be a threat.
Iris should be able to get through this qualifying round without any problems.
I will still root for her, even if I don’t have to worry about her. That’s what friends and fiancees are for.
‘‘Then, let’s start the match!!’’
At Nina’s words, the bell rang to mark the start of the match.
◇◇◇
Iris looked around as the bell rang on stage.
Iris, who exposed her real face as she was not wearing a hood, must have looked like an easy target to the other participants.
The contestants surrounded Iris.
“Hehehehe, if you don’t want to get hurt, you should withdraw now.”
“We don’t want a young lady to get hurt.”
“If you still won’t give up…”
The contestants surrounding Iris readied their weapons.
“This is how it is. You know what I mean?”
The contestants around Iris laughed. Even though they were showing concern with their words, it was obvious that they wanted to get rid of the weak ones.
Iris opened her mouth to these men with a smile on her face.
“Of course. I win and you lose. Isn’t that how it works?”
The contestants went scarlet at Iris’ provocation.
“Why’s your face red when I’m telling the truth?”
“Shut up! I’ll make you never wield a sword again! Let’s do it!”
Iris calmly pulled out her two swords and took a stance against the opponent who was heading towards her.
In her left hand, she held the magic sword Tonitrus. In her right hand, she held the magic sword Tempest.
When Iris channeled her magic power into both swords, Tonitrus made a crackling sound of thunder, and Tempest was covered with swirling winds.
The others saw this and hesitated. They stopped dead in their tracks.
“No way, dual magic swords?”
“Seriously…”
“Moreover, I can feel their extraordinary power.”
Seeing an opening between the men exchanging words, Iris stepped forward.
The men immediately swung their swords, but there was no way their swords would hit Iris—
“Too late.”
“What!?”
Iris brilliantly dodged and got behind the man in an instant.
As she continued to swing the magic sword Tempest, a storm raged and several people were blown off the stage.
“We targeted the wrong opponent.”
“I’m sorr—”
She then wielded the magic sword Tonitrus, knocking out the few who were not blown off the stage.
In the meantime, there were only a few people left standing on the stage.
Nina, the emcee, shouted in surprise,
‘‘Who the hell is that girl? Will she really be the dark horse of block-C? Oops, here comes the information about the girl!’’
Nina received a paper from the tournament staff and read out the information.
‘‘The girl’s identity is―― Her Royal Highness Princess Iris, the First Princess of the Kingdom of Perdis!’’
The paper contained information from the Emperor Oskar von Galzio.
Shouts of surprise arose all over the arena at Iris’s true identity.
No one in the audience expected the princess of a country to appear in such a tournament.
The same was true for the remaining participants on the arena stage.
‘‘There’s more!’’
Nina continued.
‘‘Princess Iris is working with Haruto, an EX-rank adventurer who is said to be the strongest in history and known by titles such as ‘Demon King’ and ‘Annihilator’. By the way, I, Nina, am a big fan of Haruto-sama!’’
With this information, the audience’s roar grew even louder.
Amidst this, one of the participants approached Iris and called out to her.
“Your Royal Highness Princess Iris.”
“Hm?”
“I would like to ask you to have a match with me.”
The one who asked this was a man.
Iris nodded in agreement.
“Okay.”
“Thank goodness. My name is Falun. Despite my appearance, I’m an A-rank adventurer.”
“I’m Iris, as you probably know.”
They both held their swords and faced each other.
“Then—let’s go!”
Falun approached Iris. He quickly closed the distance from Iris by several meters. He had caught Iris in his own range, and swung his sword down, but Iris saw through his movement.
Iris easily blocked it with the magic sword Tonitrus, and mowed him down with the magic sword Tempest in her other hand.
“Ggh!”
Even though Falun was blown away, he held on just in time to avoid being blown off the stage.
He looked up to see Iris, but lost sight of her.
“She’s gone?”
“No, I didn’t disappear. You just couldn’t follow my movements.”
Iris answered as she crouched in front of Falun.
Falun tried to escape, but it was too late.
Iris’ magic sword knocked him off, and he was out of the ring this time.
Iris then defeated the rest of the players, and without any difficulty, she made it through to the block-C qualifying round.
◇◇◇
That evening.
“Finne, Iris. Congratulations on making it through the preliminary rounds!”
“““““Congratulations!”””””
Not only me, but also Kuzel, Ephyr, Suzuno, and Asha congratulated Finne and Iris for making it through the qualifying round.
Zero was also clapping.
“Well done to both of you. Iris can brag to Mr. Dillan later.”
“That’s right, Iris-sama! It’s amazing!”
Iris shook her head in response to Asha and me, who said that.
“Not yet. My only goal is to win!”
“That’s one thing I won’t yield!”
Finne also seems to be aiming for the championship.
Well, I guess if she’s going to the main competition, she’s going for the win, right?
“Tomorrow’s Kuzel —Well you’ll be fine.”
“What’s with that tone of voice? I want you to support me too, right?”
“Kuzel, I don’t think you have anything to worry about, but do your best.”
“I’m embarrassed when you say that much, but leave it to me! I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I wonder what kind of strong people will be there…”
Kuzel blushed and seemed to be thinking about tomorrow’s match.
This one is no good… it’s already a disease. No, it already was from the start.
We laughed at Kuzel, who was the same as usual.