“Gh!” the man cried, stumbling for balance. “I-I can still—”
“No,” said Melissa. “It’s over.” She was behind him, her slender sword point at his exposed back.
“Wh-When did you...?!” the man exclaimed in shock. He didn’t dare move a muscle. If he did, Melissa’s rapier would run him through faster than he could blink. The killing intent radiating from the woman behind him testified to that much.
“Do you yield?”
“N-Nghaaaa!” the man cried, rallying his spirits. “I wouldn’t even feel a stab from a tiny sword like that!!!” Refusing to surrender, he went to swipe at his enemy with his axe. Before he could turn around, however, Melissa summoned a powerful cyclone from the point of her sword, tossing the giant man in the air and out of the ring.
“Match!” the referee declared. “The winner is Melissa Straud!”
The whole thing had taken no more than five seconds of lightning-fast movement. For many of the onlookers, it had looked like Melissa was torn to shreds by the man’s axes, only for her to reappear a second later behind him, in complete control of the fight. They watched him struggle in vain as he was swallowed up by the onrushing wind.
It was a showy conclusion to the match. The crowd went wild.
“Hah...” Melissa let out a satisfied breath. Having made it all the way to the tournament itself, there wasn’t, strictly speaking, any need for Melissa to win her matches. Having come this far, however, she found herself wanting to see how far she could go.
“Miss Melissa! You did it!” Kanata gave Melissa a leaping hug, followed by her three furballs.
“Th-Thank you, Miss Kanata! Although I do think I had something of an advantage in that matchup.” It warmed Melissa’s heart to see Kanata and her furballs so happy about her victory, but she had come here in the first place on other business. “Anyway, what do you think? Did that person seem like a likely suspect to you?” Melissa had no way of knowing whether or not the giant man she had faced off against was the creator of the illegal drug. Maybe Kanata would have a better idea, with her superhuman perceptive powers.
“Hmm...” Kanata said, peering over at Melissa’s opponent. “That one?”
“Yes, him.”
“His fluff score wasn’t anything to speak of. Let’s hope the next one’s a little better.”
“M-Miss Kanataaaa!” Melissa wailed.
This request just might be hopeless after all.
† † †
“Well, from what our source said, the person we’re looking for is of medium build, with a nondescript physique,” Melissa considered. “It probably wasn’t him.” The man she had just defeated was too large to fit on a stretcher, and had to be carried out of the arena by a huge crowd of staff members. Now she had nothing to do but wait in her waiting room until her next match.
“This is quite a well-furnished room, isn’t it?” Zag’giel observed.
“It’s a waiting room for a contestant in the National Fencing Contest!” said Fenrir. “I guess it only makes sense for it to be this fancy!”
“’Tis far too gaudy for my tastes,” Elizavett complained. “Whoever designed this chamber has questionable tastes, indeed.”
Kanata, however, had a different concern entirely. “But this is a problem for us!”
“You picked up on the issue too, Miss Kanata?” Melissa asked. “I didn’t expect for them to put us all in individual rooms...”
It was a luxurious, comfortable room, but right now it mainly served as an obstacle to the group’s investigation. If there were a single waiting area for all the contestants, they could observe and question them without arousing suspicion. But since they were all stuck in private rooms, Melissa would have to go out of her way to visit someone.
Anyone would be on their guard if a potential opponent in a future match were to suddenly knock on their door. The creator of the drug, especially, might have some sense that they were being pursued. If they took the evidence and fled, this whole thing would have been for naught.
“I suppose I can at least question my opponent in the previous round, under the pretense of a conciliatory visit...” Melissa proposed.
In other words, there was still a possibility of things working out, just so long as she kept winning. She had been fortunate enough to win her first bout, but there were sixteen fighters participating in the main tournament. If she didn’t have the luck to stumble upon the culprit before the semifinals, she would have to win four more times.
“It just seems impossible, no matter how I think about it...”
She did have Lily’s magic sword, and the benefit of Kanata’s training. It certainly did seem to be the case that she was stronger now than she ever had been when she was active as an adventurer. However, in this tournament of world-class fighters, she couldn’t count on getting lucky every time. “I don’t suppose you have some sort of ingenious plan, do you?” she asked.
“Hm...” said Kanata. “Let me think...”
“If we were to return to our original form, we could use our magic to scan the area,” Zag’giel proposed.
“Yeah?” said Fenrir. “Well if I returned to my original form, I could use my nose to sniff them out! I don’t believe for a second that some drug could escape my sense of smell!”
“Could I but taste one drop of their blood, I should know at once whether there are any traces of the drug within their bodies,” offered Elizavett.
The ridiculous balls of fluff, it turned out, boasted some pretty incredible abilities.
“Really?!” Melissa asked. “Then what are we waiting for?! We should start right now!”
“Alas, that would be impossible,” Zag’giel said.
“It’s unfortunate...” admitted Fenrir.
“It displeases Mistress for us to return to our original forms,” Elizavett explained.
“Wh-What?!” Melissa demanded. “Why?!”
“Because that would lower their fluff score!” Kanata insisted.
What in the world was a fluff score, Melissa wondered. It was a phrase Kanata used often, but nobody had any idea what she actually meant by it.
Some furballs, however, had their theories.
“It is Kanata’s wish for us to seek ever-greater fluff,” said Zag’giel.
“That’s right!” chimed in Fenrir. “I believe Kanata is teaching us that we will never surpass our limits if we stay in our original forms!”
“Is it so, I wonder...?” Elizavett wasn’t so convinced. “I wonder if she merely dislikes your wretched and unlovely original forms...”
Elizavett’s guess wasn’t far off the mark, but the other two refused to believe it.
“If that were the case,” said Zag’giel, “it would imply she dislikes your original form as well.”
“And what about the way you stick to Lady Kanata every chance you get?” Fenrir snapped. “If we’re wretched and unlovely, you’re nothing but a nuisance!”
“Y-You dare?!” Elizavett snapped. “What terrible discourtesy to a peerless beauty like myself! I won’t stand for it!” Elizavett flapped her wings, fluttering up into the air. Soon, the three had launched into yet another fight.
Their furball forms, however, had no attack power whatsoever, and the fight showed no signs of reaching any sort of conclusion. The three continued launching attack after ineffectual attack until they had completely tired themselves out.
“L-Let’s leave it there for today...” they agreed, huffing and puffing as they gasped for breath.
“You’re all just super adorable today!” Kanata gushed, scooping all three up in her arms. “You’re the best fluff ever!” She rained down a hail of kisses on the furballs’ fluffy heads, absolutely delighted.
“Miss Kanata,” Melissa ventured, “is there any possibility you might let those three use their abilities, just for today’s investigation?”
“I dunno...” Kanata pouted. “It would lower their fluff score, you know.”
“Please!” Melissa pleaded, clasping her hands together desperately.
“Hmm...” Kanata hemmed and hawed before finally giving way. “All right. But only for the investigation!”
“Hm,” said Zag’giel. “It has been too long since we were in this form. Truly, this is our proper body.”
“I can feel my senses getting sharper by the second!” Fenrir declared.
“Kee hee hee!” Elizavett laughed. “Now, receptionist! Be enthralled by my unearthly beauty!”
With the three back in their regal and imposing true forms, Melissa felt even more overwhelmed than before. This wasn’t the first time she had seen Zag’giel and Fenrir in their true forms as Demon King and Spirit Wolf. Their outlandish claims, it turned out, actually were completely true. The gorgeous woman with blonde hair and crimson eyes was a new addition, but Melissa could sense tremendous strength underneath her cold beauty as well. It went without saying, but all three of them were much stronger than Melissa herself. For that matter, they were almost certainly stronger than anyone participating in the tournament.
The fact that those three obeyed Kanata was just another sign of how incomprehensible the girl’s power truly was.
“Very well!” Zag’giel said. “Then we shall begin our part.” He touched his hand to the wall and spoke a short incantation, turning every wall in the building invisible. They could see every contestant in the building, and what they were doing.
“Wh-What the—?!” Melissa balked.
“A simple application of scrying magic,” explained Zag’giel. “In truth, the walls have not turned invisible, and the image we are seeing is a mere projection. They will not notice that we are watching them.”
“Next, it’s my turn!” said Fenrir. “I just need to pinpoint which direction the drugs are in, and the rest should be easy!” Fenrir’s nose twitched. A quizzical look came over his face. “Miss Melissa... I would ask you to remain calm as I tell you what I’ve learned...”
“O-Okay...” Melissa agreed.
“Every single one of the contestants smells of the drug. It’s the same scent I detected in the patients’ body odor in the hospital.”
“I-It can’t be!” Melissa reeled in shock. How could the drug have possibly spread this far?
“The large man you defeated earlier was using the drug as well,” Fenrir said. “Perhaps we should ask him what he knows?”
“R-Right,” Melissa agreed. “Let’s hurry, then.”