About five minutes had passed since the fierce verbal prelude to the real match, and the mood was shifting, hinting that the match would start soon. To make absolutely sure, I suggested switching with Rion one more time, but as I expected, she didn’t take me up on it. I had to accept that there was no point in trying any longer, so I decided to obediently watch and cheer from the sidelines this time.
Ugh...I’m so jealous!
“Whooo! Do your best, Rion!” Gerard shouted.
“Yeeaaahhh! We’re with you!” Gustav joined in.
“Hey, Kelvin, what’s up with those weird old dudes and their crazy shouting?” Rami asked.
“That just shows how much they love Rion, Rami-chan.”
I hadn’t lied, and I’d communicated that they weren’t dangerous people.
Huh? You want to ask who that is? Well, we have a dark knight who seems to be lacking sleep from multiple nights of being too excited and a certain demonic father-in-law who arrived yesterday and stayed with us.
I’d decided to drive home the point that they were just noisy and not actively harmful.
Still, there are more people here than I expected.
They must have felt the furious pressure that Dorothy had unleashed, since they’d come streaming in ever since, and now the seats were almost full. There were Rion and Dorothy’s friends, invited guests and family who’d been staying at the estate, and even some totally unexpected visitors.
“Hm? What? Why are you staring at this most Serge-iest of faces? Could it be? Have you fallen for me?” Serge asked.
The first and foremost example of the last category was sitting in the front row—Serge. And it seemed her self-esteem was as high as ever. She was right, though. She had a pretty face.
“How could you say that to a newlywed? That’s too much for a joke.”
“Blame your thoughtlessness for letting me infiltrate so easily,” said Serge. “But I think Ange and Sera know.”
“You never change. I mean, I didn’t know you were coming today. You weren’t at the ceremony in Trycen, were you?”
“Yeah, well, to tell you the truth, I wanted to go to Shutola-chan’s wedding too. We really got to know each other during the last battle, after all,” said Serge. “But my bosom buddy Dorothiara-chan asked me so passionately to help her train for this day, y’see. It was basically a date invitation at that point! Seriously! There was no way I could refuse!”
“Dorothy asked you? Ah, that reminds me. You’ve been her training partner ever since she became whole.”
“Yep! Like I just said, we’re basically united in both body and soul!” Serge exclaimed. She stuck out her tongue and gave me a thumbs up.
Yeah, I don’t know if you’re really friends, but it definitely seems like Rion and Dorothy have a mutual respect for each other’s strength. Good, good. But...I still haven’t forgotten my grudge against you for stealing my spot as Dorothy’s opponent after she fused with the others. One day, I’ll take my compensation from your body in the form of a battle!
Serge sighed. “You’re thinking something weird again, aren’t you, Kelvin? I’m not Melfina, but it’s so obvious, even I can read your mind.”
“Urk!” Ugh, someone read my mind again?! I know I’m pure of heart, but I really wish everyone would just respect my privacy!
“Anyway, there’s no need for that. I’ll pay you with my body tomorrow anyway. Wow, that really did not sound good,” said Serge.
“Just how accurately can you read— Wait...wait, wait, wait. By ‘tomorrow,’ you mean at Colette’s wedding? Isn’t our opponent supposed to be Mysterious Swordsman S? That’s you?”
Serge started whistling innocently.
Ah, she’s whistling and trying to act all nonchalant! After everything, this is how she behaves?!
“Hey, didn’t you deny that you were Mysterious Swordsman S to Colette’s face—?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Serge interrupted me. “Too bad, the talking stops here. Look, it’s about to start.”
I couldn’t ignore the feeling that she was changing the subject, but looking at Rion and Dorothy, I could see they really were about to start fighting. As proof of that, Colette, who had hastily teleported here from Deramis, had set up the battlefield with her esoteric techniques. In fact, she was now coming to me.
Hm, she looks really tired.
“Heh...heh heh! I’m going to do a perfect job today too!” she muttered.
“Good work, Colette. Sorry to make you work so hard so early in the morning. Here, take a Mel-stamped MP recovery potion.”
“A... A Mel-stamped MP recovery potion?! I-I’ll take it!”
For two days in a row now, she’d reached the end of her tether after doing her best to create the arena barriers. However, the moment she laid eyes on Mel’s potion, she jumped on it with hunger in her eyes and immediately gulped down the whole thing, unwilling to give anyone else even the chance to take it from her.
“Pwhah hah! Heh... Heh heh! Mel’s potions really are the best,” Colette said. “All the exhaustion in my body’s been blown away. It feels like I’m in a dream! Kelvin-sama, one more! I wanna slam down another!”
“Hey...phrasing!”
I’m glad it’s so effective for you, but I would rather you didn’t refer to it like you’re taking some dangerous drug.
It was a little scary how she seemed to have fallen into a trance even though the potion should have merely recovered her MP.
“You really are an Oracle of Deramis, aren’t you, Colette? Then again, it seems that’s true of every generation,” said Serge.
Even Serge, who was attracted to literally any cute girl she saw, was a little creeped out.
Impressive, Colette, to make both of us feel fear.
“Ehe heh, I’m not that impressive,” Colette said bashfully.
“Yeah, okay, could you please not read my mind too?” I said. “Actually, I guess I don’t mind you or Mel doing it, but... Anyway, it’s finally time for the match to start.”
“Hey, hey, what are the rules going to be for today’s match? Like a duel or something?” Serge asked.
“Ah, you want to know too, Serge? Yesterday’s fight was basically a copy of our promotion match,” Rami added.
After Colette took her seat next to me, Rami and Serge asked their questions.
“Hm? Ah, the rules themselves are the same today. If Colette’s barrier gets activated, they lose. There’s no arena, but if someone passes the barrier they’re counted as being outside the ring and lose. The only difference is that the battlefield isn’t as big as yesterday since we’re underground. The barrier’s been set along with the ceiling, so you’re really limited to what you see here. Still, this place was built to handle our sparring, so I think there should be enough room.”
“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I see,” said Serge. “Normal and reasonable rules. It might be a little small considering Dorothiara-chan’s strength, but that should still be within tolerance levels, just like you said, Kelvin.”
“Yep, I agree,” said Rami. “But...why is Alex there next to Ri-chan?”
As Rami had pointed out, Alex was sitting on the floor beside Rion. Not only that, but he had a weapon in his mouth. He clearly looked as if he was going to fight. Which he actually was.
“When we were deciding on the rules, it was mentioned that Rion would be at a disadvantage fighting alone when Dorothy is fused with the other Divine Pillars. So Alex is allowed to fight with her as a handicap. Basically, this will be a two-on-one fight.”
Surprisingly, Rion had been the one to bring it up. She had become a monster in fights against other people after being influenced by the Beast King, but recently she’d been starting to negotiate based on the situation too. She was probably being influenced by Shutola. In this case, since Rion had been the one asking, there was no way Dorothy would refuse. Even though Dorothy was no doubt markedly stronger than Rion, my sister would be enjoying an advantage in this fight.