「Hee, well, it’s true that someone with superficial skills won’t be suitable to oversee this match, but…」


  Squinting his eyes, Hiroaki stared at Alfred’s face.

  「As you can see, he is unarmed. Even without binding, we used a magic tool to seal him. In addition, we can rest easy as the person himself doesn’t wish to escape despite being part of the opposition. That’s why I chose him as the referee as he is of a neutral party and has the ability to make an impartial decision. And the man himself won’t lie in regards to a fair match. 」


  Christina said to reassure Alfred’s impartiality. One could see that Alfred was indeed the most suitable referee for this match.

  「Well, fine by me. I guess if it’s him, the one called the strongest knight, he has the qualifications to referee this match. I’ll leave the rest to you then. 」


  Hiroaki said with a Shrug and a triumphant smile on his face.

  「Well since Alfred is here, let’s begin the match. You’ll take over from here, Alfred. Be an impartial referee. 」


  Christina said to Alfred who had just arrived.

  「… Your wish is my command. I give my promise to be neutral and give my impartial judgement as a referee. 」


  Alfred said as he bowed in a respectful manner.

  「Over here, Christina-sama. 」


  Led by Vanessa, Christina left. She headed towards where Celia and Flora had been waiting.

  「Well then, both parties. If there’s no objection, may you two take some distance apart? Is that okay? 」


  Alfred asked Rio and Hiroaki after confirming that Christina and Vanessa were at a safe distance.

  「Yes. 」


  「’Kay. 」


  Rio and Hiroaki replied almost at the same time.

  「Well, you may take some distance between each others. 」


  Alfred nonchalantly prepared to start the match…… Though the spectators were really surprised by his appearance, they knew that the match was about to begin, so they ignored him and held their breath, watching in anticipation for the match instead.

  「Well, do you want to attack first? I am a hero, so there’s no need to hold back. That’ll at least spare you from being insta killed by me. And will at least provide a little bit of entertainment for me. 」


  In contrast to the spectators who were watching in silence, Hiroaki did not seem nervous at all, he was even acting frivolously and provoked Rio. His faith in his victory in this match was nothing but absolute.

  「It’ll be my honor. I’ll fight with that intention then. 」


  Rio replied in a calm tone, he didn’t seem to be affected by Hiroaki’s provocation.

  Well no reaction huh, I guess this will end in a flash.

  Hiroaki heaved a sigh, and――、


  「Good, referee. Please give the starting signal right away. 」


  Hiroaki urged Alfred to start the match.

  「Well then, the match will being in 10…… 」


  Alfred said as he began the countdown to the start of the match with「10, 9, 8,…. 」. Both Rio and Hiroaki strengthened their physical abilities during that time.

  And then, as soon as Alfred said 「2, 1」――、


  「ENGARDE! 」


  The match began.

  ◇　◇　◇


  「HAAAAA! 」


  Hiroaki charged towards Rio right at the start of the match. That decision was an excellent one as he approached Rio at a speed that couldn’t be easily followed with untrained eyes. [ED:Didn’t he just say Rio can have the 1st hit??? {Hello? He’s an antagonist here…and since when did MC’s antagonist’s have brains? Or hold up their words at that?}]

  But, his movements were sloppy. The fact that Hiroaki charged head on with all of his power won’t be missed by someone at Rio’s caliber. Even if it’s just the first move, as long as Hiroaki’s intention was read by the other party, countering it was a simple matter. And Rio was more than capable of doing so even if he were to only strengthen his physical ability with magic.

  Rio easily parried Hiroaki’s slash with his sword, stopping Hiroaki’s attack just before it connected as he had already seen through Hiroaki’s intention to attack him from above.

  「W-WHAT THE! ? 」


  Hiroaki couldn’t believe what he had just seen. It felt as if the shockwaves, that the attack he had put his entire power behind, was absorbed, just like a metal bat hitting a bag of sand. Despite attacking with all his power, it was parried with ease by Rio.

  Hiroaki, out of habit, loosened the tight grip he had on his Tachi as he tried to retreat. Noticing this, Rio swung his sword with the intention of crushing Hiroaki’s stance as he retreated.

  「UWAAA! ? O-Oopsie! 」


  Hiroaki’s body was suspended in air for a while as his balance crumbled, and then landed again on the ground. Though in Rio’s case, he could have used the gap when Hiroaki’s stance crumbled to push the blade of his sword at Hiroaki’s throat, yet he didn’t do that to honor Christina’s wish of not ending the match quickly and to crush Hiroaki’s over-bloated confidence to pieces.

  Thus, he simply looked at Hiroaki with a smile on his face. He was fully aware that Hiroaki was confident that he could end the match on his first strike, and planned to do so. And so, it was really simple for Rio to cope with Hiroaki’s attack. Based on Rio’s observation of Hiroaki’s personality, a simple smug smile as if he could see through Hiroaki’s plan was more than enough to provoke him.

  「Y-You little…! 」


  Sure enough, Hiroaki lost his cool and charged right at Rio. With his Tachi held low, he approached Rio almost crawling on the ground and tried to do the same thing with his previous attack.

  But again, his Tachi was parried way too easily by Rio’s sword. A heavy sound of metal clashing against metal resounded in the entire drill field. But――、


  「O, RAAAAA! 」


  Hiroaki didn’t falter at all. Gripping the hilt of his Tachi with both hands, he kept attacking with all his power. Several images of that brandished Tachi approached Rio at a speed that couldn’t be seen by normal people.

  But, using his sword, Rio easily parried all of Hiroaki’s attacks with a bored look on his face. The sounds of clashing metals resounded intermittently.

  「W-WOOOOOW……….. 」


  Most of the spectators were at a loss for words. They understood that Hiroaki was going all out with his attacks. But, they also noticed that, none of those seemingly endless torrent of attacks could even put a scratch on Rio’s clothes.

  Rio was just standing there, unmoving as he parried all of Hiroaki’s special attacks. His sword was like a fortress that couldn’t be scratched by Hiroaki’s attacks. Truly like a sword barrier. Rio continued to parry Hiroaki’s full powered attacks.

  He is fast. But that’s all. [TL : ……][Ed: SO WEAK {hehehe}]

  Hiroaki was fast, but didn’t have the necessary skills or experience to make full use of his speed. Maybe that was the reason it was so easy for Rio to predict his attacks. A classic example of the type of soldier who gained strength unbefitting of him. Rio analyzed Hiroaki’s true abilities as he continued to parry all of Hiroaki’s attacks.

  Hiroaki seemed to be the one with the advantage in this match from the spectators’ eyes, as they did not seem to have realized that he was being cornered, slowly but surely. As if to prove that, Hiroaki started to look impatient while Rio still had the same nonchalant look on his face. He didn’t even move an inch from his initial position from the start of the match.

  But, that alone wasn’t enough to fulfill Christina’s request. Rio started to think about how to end the match from this point.

  As Rio was thinking about the next steps, Hiroaki retreated to open some distance from him. He glared at Rio with a vexed expression on his face.

  「Oi. Aren’t you quite nonchalant about this?」


  Hiroaki said annoyed.

  「You’re not going all out yet right, hero-sama? 」


  Rio fanned Hiroaki’s anger even further.

  「Ceh….. You’re right, well, my Divine Raiment, Yamata no Orochi is rather special. I held back since no one would be able to cope with my power and speed when I use it’s full power, including in this match against you. Well, you’re lucky to be able to last against that limited mode. As you wish then, I’ll release my LIMITER. BEHOLD, MY FULL STRENGTH!!!」


  Baited by Rio’s provocation, Hiroaki became talkative as he shouted that he’ll use his full strength. Even Alfred who heard that statement as a referee thought that Hiroaki was just making an excuse by saying that he didn’t go all out yet.

  「Well then, let’s start the match again then. 」


  Rio said as he set his sword to his most natural stance. He was yet to see Hiroaki’s true strength.

  「HAH, DO YOU THINK YOU CAN STILL SHOW THAT RELAXED FACE AFTER YOU SEE MY TRUE STRENGTH! 」


  As soon as he said so, Hiroaki rushed to Rio. His speed was even faster than before. But that was all, there was no change in his attack pattern.

  Once again, Rio received Hiroaki’s attack without even moving from his spot. He effortlessly dealt with Hiroaki’s attack which had become even faster than before.

  「……! 」


  Hiroaki’s eyes opened wide, he was astonished at how easily Rio dealt with his attacks. But, in spite of his astonishment, he still continued to move, using his full power, he unleashed a torrent of slashes, same before, just with faster speed.

  But, none of his slashes landed a hit on Rio. Hiroaki’s Tachi continued to be parried as if there was an invisible barrier protecting Rio.

  「God, DAMN IIIIT! 」


  His attack didn’t land as he expected. As soon as he felt so, he grimaced in frustration. He drew even more power from his Divine Raiment and slashed at Rio.

  「As I thought, you can still increase your speed huh. 」


  Rio praised Hiroaki with a nonchalant face. In Rio’s case, he didn’t even increase his physical strengthening from the initial state at the start of their match with his spirit arts. The difference between their skills couldn’t be bridged over simply with an increase of speed. To put it simply, if he used physical strengthening, then he would easily overwhelmed Hiroaki. In other words, he could easily defeat him by pure skill alone. [ED: OP bastard. ][TL : The Opponent is just too weak]

  But, Rio’s praise was an honest one from the bottom of his heart, not a sarcasm. Even Rio was astonished that Hiroaki could continue to strengthen his physical abilities. But――、


  「How, HOW CAN YOU SO EASILY PARRY MY ATTACKS? AAAAH! ? 」

  Hiroaki turned a blind ear to Rio’s praise. He raised his voice to the point of cursing at Rio.

  「Let this humble one say this, to me, it seems that hero-sama is too reliant on his physical strengthening. 」


  Rio said as he gave a hint to what Hiroaki was lacking.

  「ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT MY SWORDPLAY IS HOPELESS! ? 」[TL : YESYESYESUUU]

  「No, I mean, the way hero-sama fights isn’t the way of someone who understands swordplay. If I have to guess, you have never taken any proper swordcraft lessons from anyone right? 」


  「S-SHUT UP! 」


  Maybe due to his heightened emotion, Hiroaki became even more powerful. But, Rio easily parried Hiroaki’s Tachi, changing the trajectory of his slash to the side, forcing it to hit empty air.

  Seeing this, Hiroaki became even more enraged, which made the swing of his sword become even more disordered than before. Even the spectators had begun to realize that Hiroaki was desperate, and the reason for that was none other than the way Rio handled every single one of his slashes so effortlessly.

  「Let me say my honest opinion. Including Hiroaki-sama, I’ve fought three heroes so far, and…. 」


  Rio said, as he continued to parry Hiroaki’s attacks.

  「SHUT UP! 」


  Hiroaki raised his voice even further to prevent Rio from speaking. But――,

  「Hiroaki-sama, you are the weakest of the three. 」


  Rio said his evaluation for Hiroaki.

  「You, bastard…… WHAT DID YOU SAY?　HOW DARE YOUUUUUU!? HOW DARE YOUUUUUU? 」


  With his rage reaching boiling point. That moment, Hiroaki’s face warped from seriousness, to anger. He attacked Rio the moment his anger exploded. But――,

  「W-WHAT THE! ?　!….. 」


  Rio who didn’t move an inch from his place since the start of the match suddenly vanished from that place. Enraged Hiroaki lost sight of Rio’s figure.

  Rio on the other hand circled around Hiroaki and now stood behind him with his sword pointed at Hiroaki’s back. Even Hiroaki stiffened the moment he heard the metallic sound from behind.

  「You might have wanted to continue the match, but don’t you think that we should end this here? 」


  Nothing will change even if you keep fighting, you’ll lose anyway was what Rio’s statement implied.

  「……!!!」


  Hiroaki gritted his teeth. He used to think that he could still do something even if someone pointed their sword at his back just like in the movies, but reality was a shitty game. Though he knew that Rio wouldn’t kill him, he knew that he couldn’t overturn this situation. He instinctively felt the difference in their skills. It was a checkmate.

  Even the spectators were already clear about the victor of the match. Everyone who saw that was convinced of Rio’s ability as someone who had defeated the King’s Sword, Alfred. Immediately――、


  「THAT’S ENOUGH! WINNER, LORD AMAKAWA!!」


  Alfred declared the victor of the match. A while later, cheering sounds resounded in the drill ground.