🐾🐱🐾
IN contrast to the quiet, stately atmosphere of the morning, it was boisterous outside of the first-aid room. Guards were still stationed everywhere, but the corridors were also filled with civil officials, busy with managing the operations, as well as injured people and their escorts visiting and leaving the first-aid room.
They couldn’t see the tournament stage from outside the first-aid room, but they could hear the cheers and feel the enthusiasm in the air. With the clanging sounds of swords clashing swirling around Amy as she walked, her stride was pushed to its limit trying to keep up with Jahal.
“P-Prince Jahal! Where are we—”
“We don’t have much time! Hurry!”
Jahal kept his hold on Amy’s arm as he marched quietly forward. It didn’t seem like he was in the mood to talk as he walked.
Wait! Seriously! At least walk a little slower…!
With how incessantly he pulled at her arm, Amy was practically running.
She wanted to tell him that she could walk on her own, but she definitely wouldn’t have been able to keep up with him if he didn’t have a hold of her arm.
A few of the guard knights stationed along the corridors grew concerned when they saw Amy, but once they realized her companion was the prince of Bakr, they fell silent.
After crossing a short corridor, Jahal proceeded in the opposite direction of the waiting room Amy had visited that morning.
Wait… Is he taking me…?
Amy finally got an idea of where they might be headed.
Behind the stage where matches were currently taking place, there was a special viewing room for staff. It was the only other place besides the first-aid room Amy knew how to get to, and it was where she had planned to go during Edward and Harold’s matches.
“U-Um…”
“Amy, you’re extraordinarily talented with healing magic. But did you really want to be cooped up in that room all day, never getting a chance to cheer for Ed or Alec?”
Jahal had pulled her away to give her a chance to see the match…
“It should be starting soon,” he said.
With how busy things were at the first-aid room, it would have been nearly impossible for Amy to have slipped away without Jahal’s heavy-handed intervention. And now that she thought about it, it was strange that Sir Dion let her leave so easily, whether the one requesting it was a foreign royal or not…
It would make total sense if they had arranged this whole thing beforehand. There were plenty of chances for Jahal and Sir Dion to meet up, whether at school or at the royal palace.
Amy did feel bad when she remembered how crazy things were at the first-aid room, but they also had healing magicians ready to help on standby. Things would probably be all right if she were absent for a little while. She did feel rather selfish for leaving, but she was also happy she could fulfill her promise to Edward.
“Thank you…so much!” Amy told Jahal in between gasps for air as they continued to scurry down corridors.
“It’s no big deal. Ed’s next opponent is the one who beat me. I think it’ll be hard for him to win, but I don’t want to give him any opportunity to use the excuse, ‘I just wasn’t doing my best because Amy didn’t come to cheer me on!’” said Prince Jahal, his face darkening into a disquieting grimace.
“I-I see…” Amy’s face twitched into a half-smile.
Jahal’s probably really bummed about losing.
Although the tournament had no age restrictions, Jahal was one of the youngest participants. And although he was put into a team with adults—and professionals, at that—they had gone through the tournament as a team of three people, the lowest number of team members you could have in the group competition.
Amy thought he had achieved quite a lot, but Jahal seemed very disappointed by how far he had gotten. It was clear that this was probably exacerbated by the fact that Letizia had been watching him.
And, of course, there was always an element of luck—or match-up compatibility—with one’s opponent.
Bakr was a kingdom with a long-established reputation for swordsmanship, and Jahal naturally knew how to handle a sword. If the tournament were a contest of swords with no magic involved, he could very likely have won the whole thing.
Amy was no expert on the subject, but she thought it must have been difficult for Jahal to go up against magic and bows in long-range fights.
But Ed’s team is also sword-focused…
Now knowing that Ed’s next opponent would be the team that defeated Jahal…Amy suddenly became worried.
“What sort of a…person is…Ed going up against?” Amy panted. “And…can we go…a little slower?”
Amy was usually confident in her stamina, but she had been using her healing magic nonstop all day, and she wasn’t a particularly good runner.
“You’ll find out soon enough. Nice! We made it in time!”
Just as Amy had reached her limit and asked if they could slow down, they arrived at their destination. Going through the doorless archway, they walked into a room roughly the size of a classroom with around ten people already inside.
From the massive glassless window, nearly the size of a sliding glass door, they could clearly see the stage a little distance away. All the civil officials and guard knights who looked to be on their breaks were facing that direction.
As Amy looked at everyone’s backs, she saw an aristocratic man and woman standing slightly apart from everyone else.
“…What?” Amy asked, eyes snapping open and closed in disbelief.
Her own parents were there, standing in the room, along with…
“Tigger?!”
At Amy’s shout, Tigger’s ears and tail twitched simultaneously and he turned toward her. Tigger immediately started to run, startling the people around him. Amy unconsciously wriggled her hand out of Jahal’s and stepped forward.
“Tigger!” she shouted again.
“Whoa!”
Tigger flew at Amy, their bodies colliding with a thud! Jahal had scrambled to try and keep her upright, but she fell to the ground before he could reach her.