Chapter 9:
Inter-school Tournament
THE TOURNAMENT WITH the Gifted Institute took place a few days later. I was in top condition, prepared for whatever was to come. I’d already converted all the weapons Mr. Stoke gave me. Even identical-looking weapons could be worth different amounts of LP, depending on their condition. None of the individual weapons had been worth all that much on their own, but thirty of them together earned me 11,500 LP. That left me with a comfortable forty-seven thousand, opening up my options in combat.
The tournament was taking place in a large arena in town. It was normally used for fights between humans and monsters—sometimes just for entertainment, and sometimes open to betting. Between both schools, over a thousand people would be watching, so it would have been hard to accommodate them at the Hero Academy. I arrived at the arena just before nine. Emma and Leila waved to me from the entrance.
“Noooir, give it your best today!”
“Mess them up on our behalf!”
It was nice to have them cheering me on.
“I’m the first-year, so they’ll probably send me out first,” I told them. “I just have to do what I can.”
“Well, if anyone can beat all three of them, it’s you, Noir! You’ll take top prize!”
The students voted for their champion from the winning team, and the schools put up a prize for whoever won. That was my goal, but either way, I still wanted to settle things with Emilia. They weren’t going to put her up first, so I’d need to beat at least one other person to get to her.
I went down the hall and headed for the waiting room. When I found a sign that read “Hero Academy Representatives,” I went inside. It was a sparsely furnished room, with little more than a desk and a chair. There were two people waiting inside—a boy who was sitting on the chair with his legs spread wide, and a girl who was leaning on the wall. The boy glared at me.
“You’re the first-year representative?”
“The name’s Noir.”
“Well, you sure don’t look strong. But if you’re here, then I guess you gotta be half-decent.”
He had short hair without bangs, and his small pupils made his expression seem harsh. Even though he was sitting down, I could tell he had excellent balance. I decided to use my Discerning Eye on him.
Name: Fing Barabbas
Age: 18
Species: Human
Level: 145
Occupation: Student
Skills: Boxing (Grade A); Agility (Grade B); Stamina Up; Impact Palm, Afterimage Step
Ooh, he really was strong. I was higher-level, but he had some skills I hadn’t heard of. The way the King of the School Year Competition worked meant that it was about more than just pure strength. For example, even a relatively weak skill like Telekinesis had a huge advantage. But this guy didn’t seem like the type to win with tricks.
“I’m Fing. Hand-to-hand’s my forte. I’m a third-year, but this is my first time participating in the tournament.”
He shot the girl a look. She kept her arms crossed.
“Liddy,” she said. “I use daggers. It’s my first time here too.”
Name: Liddy Locun
Age: 17
Species: Human
Level: 72
Occupation: Student; Seeker
Skills: Throwing (Grade A); Faithful Short Sword; Pocket Dimension (Grade C); Booby Trap Perception
Seekers primarily explored dungeons. So she was working on the side too. Actually, didn’t that make me a seeker? Student, adventurer, seeker… I had a lot on my plate.
She had a similar skill set to the leader of those thieves I’d fought a while back. Faithful Short Sword allowed her to manipulate a dagger relatively freely after she threw it. With the Throwing skill and a Pocket Dimension for support, it was easy to predict how she fought.
“So do you mind if I go out first?” I asked.
“What?” said Fing. “Are you crazy? I’m going first.”
“Huh? I figured you’d put the first-year out early, to test the waters.”
Fing frowned. “This is a sudden death tournament. If on the off chance you’re really strong, you’d beat all three of them and claim the ultimate prize, right?”
“Yeah,” Liddy agreed. “Then you’ll get the item from the Gifted Institute. I dunno if you know, but there’s an unwritten rule: the prize is always an S-Grade item.”
Oh, so that was how it worked! The losing school gave a prize to the winner. If that prize really was an S-Grade item, I could understand why both of them wanted a shot at it. Of course, that just increased my resolve.
“Well, then I really want to go first,” I said.
“Of course you do,” said Fing. “So what do we do? Fight to settle the order?”
“That would just be counterproductive,” said Liddy. “It’s stupid to waste our strength before facing our opponents.”
She had a point.
“Then what do we do?”
“I have an idea,” she said. “We’ll use this.” Liddy held something up. It was just a normal, everyday coin.
“I’ll hide it in one hand, and you have to guess which one. Everyone gets five guesses. Whoever gets it right the most gets to go first.”
“Sounds good to me!” Fing agreed.
But I wasn’t so easily convinced.
“Liddy, I know you have Pocket Dimension. Are you planning to use that to cheat?”
“You have Discerning Eye?” she asked.
I nodded. The two of them were shocked.
“Now that’s impressive!” said Fing. “You really are a cut above the rest. So, Liddy, were you planning to trick us?”
She panicked. “N-no, I-I-I w-w-would never d-d-do that!”
We glared at her. Obviously, that was exactly what she had been planning.
“All right,” said Fing. “Then how about Noir and I do a coin flip?”
“No, I have Pocket Dimension too.”
“Aren’t we honest! You coulda just kept that to yourself.”
“This arrangement might only be temporary, but we are a team, and I don’t see what I’d gain from deceiving my teammates.”
Plus, it wouldn’t feel good to win that item by cheating. Fing seemed moved by my gesture.
“You really are a good kid. But really, how do we decide?”
Right, Fing couldn’t compete with either of us fairly. Fortunately, the door opened, and Ms. Elena came in.
“It’s starting soon,” she said. “Have you decided who’s going first?”
“Ms. Elena, perfect timing!”
I explained the situation and asked for her help. When she agreed, we started our guessing game. Here’s how the results shook out: Fing got it right four times, Liddy was right three times, and me? I was right exactly…zero times! If only we’d had to guess which hand the coin wasn’t in! Because I’d clearly mastered that.
Ms. Elena laughed. “Luck isn’t on your side today, huh? You’re just gonna have to sit and wait this time, Mr. Finisher.”
It wasn’t like I had another option. What a pain!