Chapter 6 — Why Is Someone Like That Trying to Be a Knight of the Divine King, Anyway?!

The top of the tower offered an unbroken view of the surrounding canyon. It was a desolate wasteland of stone and earth stretching as far as the eye could see. The greenery around the tower seemed to be the only exception.

Standing at the edge of the roof, the Swordmaster pointed downwards, directing the crowd's gazes to a truly bizarre sight. A large, spherical hole had been gouged into the canyon. The sphere itself ran ten kilometers across, as if a bomb had gone off there, vaporizing everything in its path.

Within that space was a huge crowd of horrible creatures. Countless monsters glared up at them, but they seemed to be frozen in place. Tomochika's superior eyesight could make out two particular figures standing right at the center: a woman in white and a man dressed in black. They looked like they were hugging each other, but there was no doubt that they were locked in combat, as the woman's sword had punched through the man's back and into her own stomach, clearly in an attempt to keep him trapped there with her.

Tomochika instinctively understood that this was where one of the Dark Gods was imprisoned — where the Divine King had sacrificed herself to hold him prisoner.

"This is where the world ends. It is always on the edge of collapse, ready to fall at any moment. Swordmasters aren't anything special. All we do is watch over those below."

"Of course we know that!" A woman in fancy clothing stepped out from the crowd. "I came here to put an end to that thousand-year-long struggle. This conflict between the Knights and the Dark God's spawn is a wasted effort! Let us end the conflict once and for all!"

"You seem to be absolutely brimming with motivation," the Swordmaster observed with amusement.

"Yes. Your job ends here. Feel free to retire in peace!"

The woman raised the staff that she was carrying. The heat that it gave off sent a murmur through the crowd. A ball of intensely hot light had appeared just above it, and even without any knowledge of magic, Tomochika could tell that it contained an enormous amount of energy. That brilliant, blinding fireball was like a tiny sun.

The woman swung the staff downwards and the ball of light seemed to vanish, catapulted towards the barrier at an incredible speed. Her confidence was understandable — certainly, anything it touched would be utterly destroyed.

But something changed the moment the sphere struck the barrier. The light visibly began to slow, and in no time at all it had come to a complete stop. The woman looked at the now-frozen fireball in confusion, not comprehending what she was seeing.

"Time within the barrier moves much more slowly," the Swordmaster explained. "The farther in you go, the slower time will move. Once you reach the center, time has essentially stopped. It will probably take a few hundred years for that attack to reach its destination, so I suppose my retirement will have to wait a while longer!

"Now, let's start with the trial of selection. Generally speaking, anyone who makes it to the bottom of the tower will pass, but there are some rules. I'll leave the explanation to you." As he spoke, the crowd realized that a woman in a black dress had appeared beside him. "I will see you all later. Oh, and due to the proximity of the barrier, time here moves a bit more slowly as well. If you waste too much time, the rest of the world will move on without you."

With those parting words, the old man stepped into the elevator. The door closed with a sharp sound, transporting him back to the bottom of the tower. Naturally, those remaining would not be able to use the elevator themselves.

"All right, then, everyone. Please pay attention. I am Magic Puppet A, and I have been appointed to oversee this trial."

Tomochika looked at the woman. As the newcomer had announced, she was clearly a doll. Her skin was far too smooth for a normal human being.

"Within this tower are numerous other dolls like myself. They all look identical, so please don't be alarmed. Now I shall explain the rules of this tower. As the Swordmaster said, we will have you descend from the one hundredth floor, where we currently are, back down to ground level."

"Hey, what happens if we just jump off the side?"

The speaker was a girl whose maid outfit looked totally out of place on her. She had a rather high-class air about her — a sharp contrast to her choice of wardrobe. Tomochika could hardly imagine her ever serving someone else.

"Such an action will not be sufficient to pass."

"I figured that would be too easy." The girl spoke as if she could indeed fall a hundred stories and be just fine. At that point, Tomochika noticed that something else was off.

"Hey, Takatou, was she with us earlier? Do you remember anyone like her?" Tomochika couldn't recall seeing the girl beforehand, but she could hardly imagine failing to notice someone that flashy and eye-catching.

"She wasn't in the clearing. It looks like a bunch of other people have joined us since then."

Tomochika looked around. Their numbers had been significantly reduced by the original massacre in the clearing, but the size of the crowd seemed to have somehow increased again.

"In order to pass, you must reach the first floor after accumulating one hundred points, all within twenty-four hours. The time is currently fifteen hundred hours, so you must complete this task by the same time tomorrow. You will discover how to obtain points on your own. There are numerous hints scattered throughout the tower. To keep the explanation to a minimum, the tower is divided into two areas. Please look at the floor. You can see that here it is white. That makes this a safe zone. Engaging in any form of combat inside a safe zone will immediately disqualify you. The other areas are battle zones, which are gray in color."

Tomochika was starting to get a very bad feeling.

"You may ask any Magic Puppet to determine your current total points along the way. This ends the explanation and the trial has now begun. There are numerous ways to leave this rooftop, so please take whichever one you prefer."

A number of structures were scattered around the platform, each one presumably an entrance to the tower interior. A large portion of the crowd had jumped into action the moment the signal was given, heading straight for those entrances. They must have thought that starting as soon as possible would be an advantage, considering the time limit.

Rick, however, raised his hand. "May I ask a question?"

"You may, although I will not answer anything regarding the rules, so you're likely better off just getting started instead."

"If memory serves, that woman in the maid uniform is Lady Teresa of the Thunderous Blade. Why is someone who is already a Knight involved in the selection process?"

Tomochika realized that the girl in question must be quite well known.

"She is participating under special circumstances. There are various reasons for an established Knight to be here, but in her case, her qualifications have been revoked and she must retake the trial."

The unexpected increase in participants must have been those with other special circumstances. Rick seemed to accept her explanation, but his face still turned grim.

"May I have a word, everyone?" he said, gathering their group together.

"What's up?"

"If the explanation we've been given is correct, I suspect we will not be able to avoid combat within the tower. If that is the trial, then unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it. But between us, there are some participants we should absolutely avoid fighting."

"Like that thunder girl?" Tomochika asked, glancing at the former Knight. Clearly not in a rush, she was still standing around, perfectly relaxed.

"Yes. Her name is Teresa. She is a swordsman of the Thunderous Blade and was once royalty."

"I don't know what Thunderous Blade means, but I guess she's pretty strong?" Tomochika had no idea how powerful the girl might be. She obviously stood out, but she didn't have the same aura of mastery that Tomochika was used to seeing in their stronger opponents.

"The 'Thunderous Blade' denotes her rank as a swordsman, with that particular rank being third. In comparison, my rank is Royal Blade, which is seventh. In short, she is not someone we could hope to challenge in combat."

"Seeing as she used to be royalty, did her family fall from grace or something, for her to be dressed up like that?" Tomochika wondered if she was simply disguising herself as a maid for some reason.

"Is that what you're worried about?" Rick asked in a tired voice. As he did, Teresa herself answered. They had been speaking quietly, but she'd had no problem overhearing them.

"This is just my personal taste in clothing. I'm rather surprised to see you here, Richard," she said, approaching them with a smile.

"I'm also quite surprised. Why are you here?" As if dreading the conversation to come, Rick's voice was flat.

"It seems I was killing people too recklessly, so my qualifications were revoked. But without the title of Knight, I'll have significantly less clout within my household, and I'll lose my personal standing as well. I spoke to the Swordmaster about it, and he agreed to give me a second chance."

"I see," Rick responded, still visibly tense.

"I can tell that I'm not welcome here, so I will take my leave. I look forward to meeting you inside." With that, Teresa left them behind, casually walking towards one of the many entrances.

The unasked question hung in the air between them, the heavy atmosphere making it difficult to speak.

There are several others that you should be wary of as well, Mokomoko whispered, prompting Tomochika to look around. First is the one with the skull mask. The guardian spirit pointed at someone who was wearing an outfit made entirely of black cloth. It was likely a man, but there was no way to know for sure. His white skull mask was a stark contrast to the rest of his clothing, and gave the impression that it was floating in the darkness.

"Why is someone like that even trying to become a Holy Knight?!" It was hard to think there was anything holy about such a person.

Also, that one. I am not familiar with the magic of this world, but his presence is quite different from the others.

"Yeah, I get what you mean."

Mokomoko was pointing out a man dressed entirely in gold. He wore a golden robe, with a gold circlet that decorated a face with rather delicate features. A necklace studded with numerous precious gems hung around his neck, and his fingers were thick with gaudy jewelry. In his hand was an expensive-looking golden staff, decorated with finely detailed ornamentation. One look made Tomochika think that he must be a mage of some kind. At first glance his appearance seemed ridiculous, but all of the items that he wore looked to be of very high quality.

"Really, come on. Isn't this supposed to be a selection for swordsmen?!"

Meeting Tomochika's gaze, the man gave her a gentle smile and a wave in response.

Next is that one. He looks like an otherworlder. He was either reincarnated or summoned here, so he likely has some sort of power. Wearing a white jacket lined with fur, the man certainly did look Japanese. He had three girls with him who appeared to be his companions.

"Seeing those girls with him makes me think of Tachibana and his bodyguards," Tomochika murmured. One was a bunny-eared girl dressed in white, another wore something like a military uniform, and the third — much smaller than the other two — wore a dress. All three seemed to look up to him with an air of respect.

Last is this one over here. Something about her bothers me, although I don't quite know what it is. I feel like she's hiding something. Wearing a slightly dirty overcoat, the woman the spirit was referring to seemed ordinary in every way, although her stance suggested that she had experience in combat. She possessed a definite aura of strength.

As Tomochika looked around, she noticed that most of the others had already entered the tower.

"Lynel and I each have one point, and Rick has ten," Yogiri noted. "You should go find out how many you have."

While Tomochika and Mokomoko had been reviewing the competition, the others had been finding out their current scores.

"Wait, they'll actually tell us?"

"I mean, she specifically said that she'd tell us if we asked, yet everyone just went straight inside for some reason."

Tomochika checked in with the Magic Puppet and found that she had one point.

"How does Rick have ten points already? Is it because he just looks like such a swordsman?"

The one-pointers among them weren't carrying any visible weapons.

"By the way," Lynel said timidly, "that girl who launched an attack at the barrier earlier was the friend I told you about. Her name is Frederica, but...what should we do? I feel like we can't just leave her like that."

Frederica was still standing as still as a statue, staring blankly at the barrier. Tomochika supposed that she hadn't yet overcome her shock at her failure.

"You're right," Rick replied. "Although, considering her behavior earlier, trying to console her will likely have the opposite effect."

At Rick's comment, Lynel continued, his voice still shaking, "Exactly...but anyway, I came here without knowing anything about Dark Gods or the Divine King. So what should I do now? She said she was going to defeat the Dark God, right?"

Frederica's magic had been completely blocked by the barrier. Naturally, if the barrier was made to seal the monster inside, outside intervention would hardly be a simple task. But Tomochika, of course, knew of an attack that could bypass all of that.

"Hey Takatou, couldn't you —"

Couldn't you kill it? Tomochika cut herself off before she finished the sentence. She could almost hear him saying, "But there's no reason to kill it, right?" At this point, they had no idea what the Dark God actually was. Killing it because it "sounded evil, I guess" was definitely jumping the gun. Reflecting on her own hasty reaction, she looked at Yogiri, seeing an unpleasant expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, confused. It was a look she had never seen on him before.

"That Dark God or whatever? I thought it was the source of the evil aura here, so I went ahead and killed it already..." he said, pointing towards the center of the barrier. "But...it seems I may have made a mistake. I feel kind of bad now."

Rick had been explaining the local history to Lynel, telling him all about the millennium-long battle between the Dark God and the Divine King. It was just about the most awkward possible moment for Yogiri to cut in and say, "Oops, I killed it."