Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Tournament Preliminary Round (4)

Before I knew it, two hours had passed since the Tournament Preliminary Round began.

Now, only about three matches remained until today’s preliminary rounds came to an end.

“So you really came just to watch the matches?”

Lucia, who was sitting beside me, drank her beverage and shot me a sidelong look.

“Then why else would I come to a stadium except to watch the matches?”

“…….”

“Oh, that Beastfolk’s movements are sharp. How does that look to you, Senior? If I beat them down in Hand-to-Hand Combat with Holy Magic right now, would they be a pain to deal with?”

“So that is why you called me here? To ask me about that sort of thing?”

“Of course. Beastfolk like you are good at close-range combat, Senior.”

Bringing Lucia along had been the right choice. 

Thanks to her, I could view the Hand-to-Hand Combat that would mainly come up in these preliminaries from a more objective perspective.

“...Forget I said anything.”

Lucia somehow put on a sulky expression, then pointed to one side.

“If you’re aiming to win, shouldn’t you be paying more attention over there than to the matches?”

“Team 7?”

I could see Yulia, who was sitting not far from here, talking with Viole.

Meanwhile, the bag of fries in Yulia’s hand was the size of a forearm. 

Is she seriously going to fit all that in?

Anyway.

“Yulia’s preliminary round is tomorrow anyway, isn’t it? There’s no need to worry about it now.”

Besides, according to what Sword Radiance had said before my Return to the Past, the winning team was not Team 7.

The team that won the tournament was Team 1, which Elysia belonged to.

‘According to Sword Radiance, she came out as a team with other Elves near the end of the first day of the preliminary rounds, right?’

It was worth checking who the two Elves teamed up with Elysia were.

It should be about time for them to come out......

“Hoh-hoh. I watched your match, Damon. It was quite impressive.”

“……?”

At the voice coming from above my head, I raised my gaze and saw a stately old man stroking his beard.

“To think you managed to cooperate with undead by restricting the casting range of your Holy Magic. It seems it was no lie that you have a great interest in Black Magic.”

“If that was praise, I’ll accept it gratefully, but I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Although I was treated as an oddball among Holy Magic Department students, the old man’s expression did not change in the slightest as he smiled kindly and laughed it off.

“Hoho, the same goes for me. Goodness, I should have properly exchanged names with you at the Training Hall. Things were hectic then, so I am only greeting you now.”

“Are you perhaps... the professor who came from the Holy Order......?”

Lucia, who had recognized the old man’s identity at once, let the end of her sentence trail off.

As Lucia said, this man was the one who had come as the representative among the three people dispatched from the Holy Order.

‘McDowell Bacchus.’

“You are a sharp-eyed student. I am McDowell Bacchus.”

“By ‘Bacchus,’ do you mean... that Royal Lord......?”

“That is correct, young lady of a ‘Baskerville’ branch line.”

McDowell looked back and forth between Lucia and me with interest.

“As expected, Damon, you are an odd fellow. It is strange enough that you formed a team with a Direct Line of the Four Great Houses, but to think you are watching the matches with a branch line of the Four Great Houses......”

Lucia looked uncomfortable at McDowell’s appearance, but that man was a veteran who had been through every mountain and river life could throw at him, befitting his age. 

He was past the level of making a fuss over something like this.

And he was that strong, too.

“There is no need to make such a face, Student Lucia. You may have gone through a serious incident with Yulia, but this is Saengterminum, is it not? Outside may be another matter, but I have no intention of saying anything to you here.”

Before my Return to the Past, I had not been in the Holy Magic Department, so I did not know in detail what kind of person he was.

But this man was one of the figures who became greatly notorious among Black Mages after the war between the Dark Empire and Holy Empire broke out.

“I thought I might have seen wrong, but you really did come?”

“Did you come to watch the matches too, Father McDowell?”

Yulia and Viole, who had been nearby, recognized McDowell and approached.

“Grandpa McDowell, why are you here... Ow!”

Yulia stopped Viole’s words by pinching her side.

“Yulia, the title Father is not appropriate here. While I am here, I would prefer that you call me Professor.”

McDowell then looked at Viole.

“And Viole? Even if you have been taught by me in the Holy Order since you were young, Grandpa is a bit much, is it not?”

“It’s been a while. I can call you that, can’t I?”

“Hoho, then shall I discipline you for the first time in a while as well?”

“I’m sorry......”

After the light greetings passed, Yulia hesitantly parted her lips toward McDowell.

“Um... Professor McDowell, do you perhaps have business with Damon?”

At Yulia’s subtly voiced concern, McDowell laughed airily, as if to say, Surely not.

“He may have fought with Franz and Bella...... Hoho, young blood like you are meant to grow through fighting, are you not? You fought, but I hope you will get along well from now on.”

Well, I wonder.

Before my Return to the Past, I had a history of risking my life fighting that old geezer McDowell in the middle of war.

He fought so well that calling him a former Inquisitor felt absurd. 

Even I had been fooled by his old age and let my guard down, and it had nearly gotten me killed.

To me, experienced people like this were more troublesome than Franz and Bella.

People of that sort were highly skilled at hiding their true intentions precisely because they looked so benevolent on the outside.

Above all, since he had made teaching in the Holy Order his profession, there was basically no way he would leave a Holy Magic Department student with talent in Holy Power like me alone.

Especially if that student was an oddball like me.

“In that sense, all of you may look forward to this tournament.”

McDowell swept his gaze across us, then leisurely turned his eyes to the screen.

“It is convenient that you have all gathered like this. Now I can show you directly.”

The four of us, including me, followed McDowell’s gaze and looked at the stadium screen.

‘...What?’

I had no choice but to furrow my brow.

The spectators in the stadium were murmuring.

The kids around me also froze for an instant when they saw the figures on the screen.

“Hmm, this match is the final match of the preliminary rounds scheduled for today.”

“Since it is the last one, we should watch even more closely. Haha.”

Even the voices of the professors announcing the match through amplification magic carried agitation.

“Uh... and Team 1 has had its team composition newly changed at the Headmaster’s discretion. It would be good for everyone to keep that in mind.”

“They may not be first-year students, but they are the same age, so there should be no issue......”

The students who had come up into the arena were all staring at Team 1 with faces like death.

Elysia was casting magic while waving a staff as tall as herself.

Above her head, Rune Characters and formulas made of blue mana were being drawn densely and in layers, forming dozens of circular bands.

SCREEEEEECH......

...As I said before, I had only dug deep into Black Magic; I didn’t have especially deep knowledge of pure magic.

However, there were some things one could understand by sense alone.

On the left side of the formula, flame.

On the right side of the formula, lightning.

At the center, wind surging like a gust of wind was gracefully controlling the two elemental spells that looked ready to burst out at any moment.

WHOOOSH~!

The wind blowing from the arena made my bangs sway.

The vortex that was gradually gaining rotational force and the size of the completed formula made it visually clear that her magic was anything but ordinary.

“She’s using three elemental attributes at the same time by herself?”

“Elysia... To think the princess of the Elves would request to participate.”

“Those guys in the arena right now really have rotten luck.”

The spectators around us were wishing the students who had just entered the arena luck in battle.

I had expected this much.

Honestly, if the only person we needed to keep close watch on had been Elysia, I had also judged that our team’s current strength would be enough to get past her.

...But.

Doesn’t that cross the line a little?

Lucia was the first to speak.

“...Royal Lords?”

Yulia and Viole also could not hide their surprise.

“What? Why are they there?”

“Didn’t they only come as dispatched personnel?”

White hair and orange hair fluttered this way and that in time with Elysia’s Wind Magic.

Franz, and Bella.

The two of them had stepped to Elysia’s sides and stood as if protecting her, each holding their main weapon.

Those were the members of Team 1 who had formed a team with Elysia.

They were not Elves like Elysia.

“Hohoho, in truth, as soon as I heard that you and those two had fought, I quietly suggested something to them.”

I glared at McDowell.

“...You probably said something along the lines of, ‘If you really want to fight, try fighting legally,’ didn’t you?”

McDowell stroked his beard and let out a leisurely laugh.

“Those youngsters are also Inquisitors who have acquired a Grade 2 License, so there were many Magic Department students who wanted to team up with them. Then, by coincidence, that princess of the Elves requested to participate in the tournament, did she not? I thought it would be a good experience, so I had them form a team together.”

I chewed over the conversation I had had with Sword Radiance before my Return to the Past once more.

The winning team of the Magic Department Tournament I remembered was Team 1, which had Elysia.

And I had heard that Elysia formed a team with Elves her own age.

No matter how much I thought back on my conversation with Sword Radiance before my Return to the Past, I had no memory of Franz and Bella, who were Inquisitors, participating.

If Inquisitors belonging to the Royal Lords had participated in the tournament, there was no way Sword Radiance before my Return to the Past would have failed to mention it.

The conclusion was very simple.

‘...Things have gone to shit, haven’t they?’

My would-be roadblock to victory, Team 1, had so graciously shown up with a stronger lineup than in the previous timeline.

And in an extremely troublesome form at that.

***

Three days after all the Tournament Preliminary Rounds concluded.

I sat in the lecture hall, lost in thought while listening to a theory class.

As a result, over the three days after the preliminary rounds were held, I had narrowed down the leading candidates to win the tournament to three teams in total.

Team 1, which Elysia, Franz, and Bella belonged to.

Team 7, which Yulia and Viole belonged to.

And.

‘Team 44, which has Karin, Lloyd, and me.’

From our team’s perspective, the most ideal picture was still for Team 1 and Team 7 to face each other first.

If that happened, we would be able to learn in greater detail what Team 1’s current strength and combat methods were, so we could also prepare more concrete countermeasures.

‘For now... maybe I should wait to see the tournament bracket announced at lunch today before deciding?’

After all, the tournament bracket for the thirty-two teams that passed the preliminaries would also be assigned at random.

Since I had to leave it purely to luck, a slight shadow fell over my face.

I tended to have subtly rotten luck with things like this.