Venue of the Sacred Martial Arts Tournament, the noble's visitor rooms.
「Boring! So the next one to compete is Rose's favorite, right?」
I, the second princess of the elf's country, Millefeuille Renren Lorelei,
asked the elven butler beside me while yawning.
「Yes, Milady! In this situation, the next one to compete is most likely
him.」
The old butler replied while placing his right hand on his chest.
The international educational institute in which I had enrolled,
[Babel(World Sorcery Institution)], was in the middle of summer
vacation. Therefore, I had come incognito to the nearby Amelia kingdom,
which also happened to be the motherland of my classmate Rosemarie.
I had already heard from Rose before that this year was the year when a
super big event called the Sacred Martial Arts tournament would be held
here. That was why I wasn't surprised when I had unexpectedly seen Rose
during one of my strolls in Luserhall. And when I ordered my butler to
investigate Rose's suspicious behavior at that time, the result of the
investigation came faster than my prediction. Namely, Rose's chosen
swordsman was participating in the tournament.
「So this is the Amelia kingdom's biggest tournament, huh! To be honest,
Babel's sponsored tournament is on a whole nother level compared to
this.」
Elves were the tribe that received gifts on the same level as the human tribe.
And my gift was [Interpreter]. It was a special gift that allowed me to
read and understand the truth. That gift allowed me to really enjoy martial
arts tournaments.
However, my impression of the final round turned for the worse. Though I
had seen only a few matches, it was enough for me to say that the level of
this tournament was too low. My impression even went down from worse to
worst in the match of the candidate of Prince Gilbert's guardian knight. The
opponent didn't even show his fighting spirit and got beaten up one-sidedly.
Thus I concluded that this particular match was just a mere show. Prince
Gilbert's faction might even have bribed the opponent to put on such a
show.
「Good grief, such a show is the worst.」
I even wondered whether the guardian's candidate was happy with that kind
of match. If I were in his place, I would rather die than endure that kind of
shame.
「It's about time.」
The emcee wearing a black suit stepped up into the arena. Then, the
moment I saw the black-haired youth who appeared from the passage―
「!!?」
An extremely horrible terror that I had never felt before assailed my body.
All the hair on my body stood on end, followed by me feeling an extreme
sense of vertigo. It caused me to fall on my knees and vomit on the spot.
「M-MILADY?」
My escort maid quickly made her move and patted my back. The butler
fetched a cup of drinking water for me.
「W-W-W-WHAT kind of a monster is thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!」
This was the first time I had seen such a terrifying aura. And even though
THAT had the shape of a human, the same couldn't be said for its content.
It could only be described as something from a far higher dimension.
Is he a spirit king? No! That's impossible. I've met Jin, the wind spirit king
who made a contract with my older sister before. This isn't something as
LOWLY as spirit king! The difference between them could only be described
as the difference between a bug and a mighty dragon, with the spirit king
being the bug.
(ROSE, just what in the hell did you make a contract with!!!)
A while later, I recovered a bit. I became strong enough to watch that
monster, albeit while desperately suppressing the nausea that came from
within my body.
I heard that this monster was recognized as a human and seemed to be
widely known as the incompetent, the gift holder of [The Most
Incompetent in This World].
The first thing I said upon hearing such ridiculous information was:
「What kind of a fu*king joke is this?」
I spoke as if there was a huge question mark above my head.
During the match, I even caught a glimpse of that monster(transcendent)'s
wrath. And that wrath was directed at none other than the small fry called
Di—whatever his name is—who became his opponent. Yet, why did that
monster spare the life of the piece of trash who disrespected him? Is that
benevolence? As if! There was no reason for him to show his benevolence
to those blind people who couldn't see the truth. Then, it would only leave
one possibility,
「Is it for Rose?」
The act of killing was banned in this tournament. Doing that would only
disqualify him, and Rose, who had recommended him, would receive a
penalty for that. Maybe he wanted to avoid that situation.
Upon realizing that, I, who was desperately holding back the impulse to
scratch my throat, shouted at the top of my lungs.
「WHY WHY WHY WHY! WHY IS IT ALWAYS ROSE?」
Yes, this was an unsightly display of jealousy. For us, the elves, a contract
with such a paranormal being was treated as something sacred, and the
status of the contractor became a symbol of status itself. Thus, the elves
always looked for a paranormal being to contract with for their lifetime.
That man was definitely the strongest transcendent in the long history of the
elves. And as an elf, I had to make a contract with him. Yet, that
transcendent had made a contract first with Rosemarie, with a human who
he should hate. Everything felt unreasonably wrong about this situation.
But then, such things did always happen around Rose. Even a spirit who I
couldn't make a contract with due to bad affinity and which I had
summoned during a lesson had instantly attached themself to Rose, who
had happened to be watching this scene from some distance.
「Milady, are you saying that this personage isn't… a human?」
「Stephen, does he look like a normal human tribesman in your eyes?」
「Yes. I'm… ashamed to say that he looks like a normal human in my
eyes.」
I see! So Stephen doesn't feel the same nausea and extreme terror that I had
felt right now. In short, Rosemarie with her human tribe perception, which
was worse than Elves', wouldn't notice this fact too. Since that was the
case, in Rose's eyes, this being is nothing more than an extremely powerful
human.
「STEPHEN, INVESTIGATE HIM THOROUGHLY!! Use all means we
have!」
「Understood.」
Stephen left the room after replying with his right hand on his chest.
I'll make a contract with him no matter what. I'll use all methods available
to me. And as long as I make a contract with him, I, Millefeuille, will be
known as the elf who contracted with the strongest transcendent in the
elves' history.
「Prepare yourself, Rose. I won't lose this time!」
I made such a declaration.