Lying with her head resting on Lily’s table, Melissa drifted off to a nap thinking of all the things she couldn’t change.
† † †
Several days later, the preliminary tournament had arrived. Melissa got out her old gear from her time as an adventurer to wear in the competition. Other than the boots, it had all been resting in the back of her closet. She hadn’t expected to ever have use of it before she retired from the guild and returned to the adventuring life, but it seemed she would be putting it on again earlier than she’d thought.
A small part of her had been worried that she wouldn’t fit into the outfit anymore after her years working a desk job.
Melissa arrived at the arena right on schedule, accompanied by Kanata. Lily would be making her way there on her own. As this was the preliminary tournament for the Royal Capital itself, the event took place in the same enormous arena used for the tournament proper. In some ways, it was like a rehearsal for the main event.
“What...is this?” Melissa stared in disbelief.
The number of people jammed into the arena was nothing short of enormous. She could only guess at how many matches it would take to winnow the crowd down to a single contestant.
“It’s a hole in the rules, I’m afraid,” the receptionist who’d registered Melissa said, stepping up beside her. “People who fail in the regional preliminaries often come here for a second attempt.”
“You don’t say!” Melissa remarked. “So the people here are...”
“I would say about eighty percent of them are people who failed other preliminaries, yes.”
It was common knowledge that the Royal Capital held its preliminaries last of all, but Melissa never would have imagined so many people would have sought to exploit that fact like this. “Shouldn’t you have made a rule preventing this before the Hall of Fame thing?”
“Well, at one point we were considering instituting a rule to reject challengers who had already lost, so we could have a normal preliminary tournament, but...”
“But?” Melissa asked.
“His Majesty the King finds it more entertaining this way,” the receptionist said.
“Ah...”
It did sound like something the current king might say. He was rather...unconventional. Make no mistake, he was an excellent king, to be sure. He was a magnanimous monarch to his people, and a strong enough ruler that none of the other great powers dared to invade his kingdom. He was the very model of a king, possessing both kindness and strength. He was, however, something of a maniac when it came to human talent.
“His Majesty says we may find an undiscovered gem thrown away with the common rocks,” continued the receptionist.
“He did, did he.”
“And so, we hold one grand melee with all the contestants participating at once. The last fighter standing will be the one to advance to the tournament proper.”
“But that’s crazy!” Melissa exclaimed. “This is the preliminary for the storied and venerable National Fencing Tournament...?”
It was—unthinkably—going to be a battle royale. With such an enormous arena, it certainly might be possible to host a melee with this many participants, but surely the whole thing would be sheer chaos from the word “go.” Melissa had come here intending to try her sword technique against other fighters, but with so many people fighting it out, the whole thing lacked a certain sense of dignity.
“I understand how you feel,” the receptionist said, “but the preliminary is a popular event. The ticket sales are just about on par with the tournament proper.”
“So it’s the damned management!” Between the king’s selfish decrees and the profit motive, what chance did the dignity of the historic tournament even have? “I thought it looked like too many people came to watch the preliminaries...” Melissa said, glancing over at the nearly full stands. “Well, nothing for it but to try...”
“You have the look of someone who seriously intends to make it through the preliminaries,” the receptionist commented. “I’ve been watching the National Fencing Tournament for twenty years. I loved it so much I became a member of the staff. I like to think I have an eye for such things.”
It seemed this woman was quite the maniac herself.
“I have to,” said Melissa. “It’s for my job.”
For all that she hated her work at the Adventurers’ Guild and wanted to quit, Melissa took a certain amount of pride in her work and had a strong sense of duty. She had made what preparations she could. All there was left to do now was make full use of her training and win.
† † †
For days, Melissa had been spending her time being launched in the air or sent tumbling by Kanata without any real sense of whether she had been getting stronger or not. She had learned how to use her magic sword, but at the end of the day she was still a mere former B-Rank adventurer. Her initial thought in a melee of this size with such powerful opponents had been to keep her distance and bide her time—that was the only way she could see herself coming in first.
However...
“I-I don’t believe it!” the announcer’s voice rang out, amplified by his enchanted megaphone. “This lady’s got some poooooower!!!”
A woman shrouded in a gale of wind raced through the arena, making the large space seem tiny with her overwhelming speed. Wherever she ran, scores of contestants were sent flying helplessly through the air.
“Coming in strong—maybe too strong—it’s Melissa Straud! Where did the guild find a receptionist like this one, let me ask you that?!” Even the announcer seemed to be getting excited.
Melissa, for her part, was no less surprised than anyone else.
I don’t believe it! she thought. I’m actually doing this!
Although she had retired from adventuring some time ago, Melissa hadn’t actually left combat behind at all. As receptionist, she sometimes had to use force to restrain violent individuals who couldn’t be reasoned with, and she had served as an examiner for adventurers’ qualifying tests many times. More recently, she had faced off against a dragon and risked her life fighting a former A-Rank. If anything, she had been facing far greater challenges than she ever had as an adventurer. And that, of course, was all before her training with Kanata, which had done wonders to help her master the use of her magic sword.
“H-Hey!” one of the other fighters shouted. “We gotta take that one out or the rest of us are just screwed! Everyone gang up on her!”
“O-Okay!” agreed his opponent. “Truce! Everyone, go after that woman!”
Melissa had drawn too much attention to herself. The spectacle of her dashing around the arena kicking up plumes of sand had excited the spectators in the stands, but it had also drawn the attention of her fellow competition. The preliminary was set up as a battle royale. There was nothing in the rules against everyone ganging up to attack a single fighter.
“Graaaaaaaaaah!!!” With a mighty roar, the fighters all charged in unison toward Melissa.
“Too slow!” Rather than stand and face the onslaught head-on, Melissa charged straight through the mob using her superhuman speed, and attacked them from behind. She dashed through their confused formation, her feet flying just above the ground, cutting aside foes as she passed. When she was done, the mob was lying in a heap on the arena sand.
Melissa had been getting better and better at controlling the power of wind. By now, her feet were hardly ever touching the ground at all. Melissa’s Profession of Duelist gave her hardly any magic, but the wind magic she was using now came from her sword itself. Her own magic reserves were barely under any strain. It was the perfect showcase of the power of the magic sword made from rare materials by Lily, the brilliant young blacksmith.
Thank you, Lily! Melissa thought to herself. With this sword, I can do this! You didn’t skimp on the bill, but thank you just the same!
Melissa’s job earned her a high salary, but even still her jaw had dropped when she saw the price Lily was quoting her. Still, as expensive as it was, it had been worth every coin.
“That’s a nice sword you got there!” One of the contestants was an A-Rank adventurer—higher rank than Melissa herself. “But it’ll take more than a nice weapon to win this tournament!” He rushed her with his axe, bringing it down in a mighty blow.
He’s strong! Melissa thought. But nothing compared to Kanata! Her skills would have to win her the day. She avoided the axe swing with only a hair’s breadth to spare, creating an opening for her own counterattack. The man went down with a look of sheer surprise on his face.
“Did you see that counter!” the announcer roared. “No guard whatsoever! This is one receptionist who doesn’t value her own life!”
Of course I value my life! Melissa thought. But I could tell that attack wasn’t going to hit...
If she had made a single error, her head would have been split in two, but Melissa’s mind was calm. Fighting against an opponent as overwhelmingly strong as Kanata day after day had lent her psychological strength as well. Compared to Kanata, all of these fierce warriors were like infants. Melissa herself was nowhere near Kanata’s level either, of course, but having such a superlative target to compare them to kept her from losing her head in the fight.
“Somebody stop heeeeer!!!” one of the remaining contestants screamed.
But it was not to be. Ten minutes later, her opponents were all lying on the ground, not moving. Melissa released her sword’s magic and made her way to the center of the arena to cheers that seemed like they might bring the whole building down.
“Holy moly, Melissa! That was incredible!” Lily cheered from the stands.
“Moly holy, Miss Melissa!” Kanata agreed.