0% Thracus was a big city—a highly populated one at that.
As a center of logistics, Thracus was located in a position where travelers from other nations could easily flow in.
The Thracus Cup Martial Arts Tournant didn’t scrutinize participants’ identities much, and anyone could participate as long as they paid a small entry fee.
Achieving a significant result in the Thracus Cup Martial Arts Tournant beca a significant career milestone for an individual.
However, the Thracus Cup Martial Arts Tournant was held only once every two years.
What phenonon occurred when all these conditions ca together?
Dorothea summarized the answer in one sentence, “...The number of participants is ridiculously high.”
To Dorothea’s half-disgusted voice, Sophia replied in a leisurely manner, “Well, this tournant itself is quite prestigious. Even if not first or second place, just making it to the finals seems to be recognized. For adventurers, it makes rank-ups easier; for rcenaries, it increases their value; for wandering knights, it may allow them to get employed in high-ranking domains.”
“So everyone’s rushing in with fire in their eyes, is that it?”
“Still, the team competition we’re participating in is better. Perhaps because of the condition of needing to work together, there aren’t that many teams. The individual competition is the tough one. Just the preliminary round alone has participants in the four-digits.”
Of course, it was nearly impossible to filter out such numbers through 1-on-1 duels.
If they forcibly increased the number of arenas, it would put a trendous burden on the organizers managing them, and above all, it would be difficult to sell arena tickets.
On the other hand, if they conducted duels in a small number of easily manageable arenas, it was clear that the schedule would stretch like rubber.
Therefore, the preliminaries of the Thracus Cup Martial Arts Tournant were conducted in the following manner:
One. The four-digit number of participants would be divided into 15 blocks.
Two. Participants in the sa block were cramd into one arena.
Three. From there on, it would be a free-for-all. Only the last 2 advance to the finals.
Do note that the reigning champion would only join from the round of 16.
Additionally, while there were rules for going out of bounds and forfeiting, everyone had to provide their own weapons and there were no separate safety asures applied.
It was truly an eco-friendly tournant actively working towards reducing carbon dioxide.
Of course, neither Dorothea—occupation: corpse recycler—nor Sophia—dietary preference: human blood—had any particular thoughts about the tournant’s population reduction policy.
They were just closely watching Adelaide, who was in the center of the arena visible below the spectator seats.
“Big Sisters, I brought so snacks. Have a taste!”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ guarantees he didn’t put anything strange in it!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ insists that snacking while watching the ga is the standard!]
Towards Hindler of the Iron Stake rcenary Company, who had naturally taken on the role of an errand boy, and the Tin Knight, who had gone to the market with Hindler, Dorothea gave an incredulous look, “Shouldn’t you at least pretend to be worried about your pupil?”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ evaluates that Dorothea is the type to worry a lot while pretending not to!]
“Want to get hit?”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ stages a hostage situation, saying if Dorothea hits him now, the roasted peanuts will disappear too!]
After carefully placing down the snacks he couldn’t eat himself as if enshrining them, the Tin Knight puffed out his chest.
Looking at Adelaide, he said.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ proclaims his pupil won’t lose in a place like this!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ explains that if Adel were weak enough to lose in a place like this, she would have already been crushed by his hand long ago!]
“What an amazing way of showing trust.”
While leaving a scathing comnt, Dorothea focused her gaze back on the arena.
***There was a saying that a protruding nail got hamred.
It was a phrase used in various situations for various purposes, but in this case, the reason Adelaide was “protruding” was simple—her appearance.
Flowing, vibrant golden hair and striking violet eyes.
Smooth, fair skin that seed worlds apart from hardship.
A small stature, at least a head shorter among burly n and a miss-matched long, large two-handed sword.
One participant said with a lewd smile, “Hey, little miss. Haven’t you mistaken where you’re supposed to be? This isn’t a children’s playground!”
The man turned his gaze around as if seeking agreent.
He thought the other participants around would agree with him.
But what t the man’s gaze was the surrounding participants looking at him as if he were an idiot.
“She has golden-hair with violet eyes, and he’s spouting such nonsense.”
“Ignorant bastard.”
“Leave him be. He seems like the type to go in front of a duke’s mansion and ask, ‘Why is this garden blocked off with a gate to keep people out?’”
“Damn, how far out into the sticks must he be to not know the Lion Duke’s bloodline?”
Only then did the man realize the situation and turned red.
In fact, there were a few others who didn’t imdiately think of the Lion Duke’s bloodline upon seeing Adelaide, but they quickly shut their mouths after seeing the atmosphere or jumped on the bandwagon as if they had known all along.
It was a mont when the wise saying, “If you stay still, you’ll at least be in the middle,” shone.
Adelaide, who had drawn everyone’s attention just by standing quietly without saying anything, inwardly sighed.
As expected, it turns out like this.
The gazes towards Adelaide were diverse.
The most common was wariness, and the least was underestimation.
Adelaide, who looked even younger than her actual age with her small stature and cute face, had an appearance perfect for lowering others’ guards, but even that effect was greatly reduced in the face of the fa of the Lion Duke’s bloodline.
Considering that standing out in such a lee would bring no benefits, it was like fighting with a big penalty from the start.
If she had dyed her hair or hidden under a hood, the situation might have been better, but Adelaide chose not to do that.
For Adelaide von Lennart, this tournant was an opportunity to prove her skills.
No one earned dals while secretly hiding their appearance.
- Beeeeeep!
With the sound of the starting whistle, the participants began to act according to their respective strategies.
So charged towards their surroundings indiscriminately, so observed the situation and held back, and so ford alliances with those around them as if pre-arranged.
Among them, there were also those who quickly rushed towards Adelaide.
It seems the young lady from a noble house wants to play warrior, but this is no place for soone like you!
The fact that she’s holding a sword as tall as herself is proof that she’s just putting on airs!
No matter how I look at it, she’s just a kid, but everyone’s scared because of the Lion Duke’s bloodline. Pathetic fools.
Even if I don’t make it to the finals, just getting the record of taking down soone from the Lennart family is more than worth it! It’s worth a try!
Their inner thoughts differed, but the sharpness of the blades they brandished was uniformly keen.
Adelaide tightly gripped the handle of her sword, recalling the words left by the Tin Knight, her teacher.
— [The ‘Tin Knight’ says that in a 2-person survival rule, the most effective strategy is to be a bystander beneficiary, and the second most effective is to beco a bomb that no one wants to touch!]
Adelaide trusted the Tin Knight so she did as he said.
Whoosh.
The mont Adelaide’s two-handed sword seed to draw a large semicircle, one of the participants rushing towards her flew into the air.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
As if dancing, Adelaide continued to rotate her body.
The blades aiming for Adelaide sliced through the air, unable to keep up with her nimble movents, and their owners had to take direct hits from the two-handed sword without exception.
Adelaide, who had shattered four participants in an instant, lowered her two-handed sword.
Since her blade was covered with a long sheath, those hit by Adelaide’s attacks weren’t split in half.
This was one of the few childish whims Adelaide had indulged in.
Thanks to her experience teaching disciples in Tik-Tok, she had learned about “moderation” even in duels.
She knew that unless she was facing superhumans like René or Gerhardt, whom she had dueled in Tik-Tok, swinging her sword with full force against ordinary people would take lives.
At Adelaide’s comnt that it would be a bit much to indiscriminately slaughter competitors in a martial arts tournant, the Tin Knight allowed the attachnt of blade covers without argunt.
The logic was that it was better to swing a blunt sword with full force than to carefully swing a sharp sword with restraint.
Above all, just because the blade part was covered didn’t an it wasn’t dangerous.
A blunt piece of tal was enough to crush human flesh and shatter bones.
It had gone from certain death if using the blade to possibly fatal if unlucky.
It was too clumsy to be called rcy, and too immature to be called a conviction.
Therefore, it was Adelaide’s childish whim.
However, considering that one of Adelaide’s goals was fa and honor, it was quite a good move.
Thud! Thump! Thwack!
A large empty space ford around Adelaide.
It was the result of Adelaide blasting all those who approached away.
Conversely, Adelaide didn’t touch anyone who didn’t approach her.
The participants also realized Adelaide’s strategy.
If you attack first, you get knocked down. So, don’t touch her, is that it?
Indeed, since only two advance to the finals, we can win without necessarily taking down that young lady.
They understood Adelaide’s intention, but that didn’t an they would comply with it.
Adelaide’s action was a strategy that only worked if fighting Adelaide alone was scarier than taking down everyone else.
Moreover, while it might work for those purely aiming to advance to the finals, for participants seriously aiming for victory, it was more beneficial to use this lee situation to eliminate strong contenders.
So of the participants’ eyes glead.
“Ugh!”
One participant, kicked by another, was forcibly pushed into Adelaide’s territory.
Adelaide sent this opponent flying as well, without exception, but this was just the beginning.
The skilled participants started forcibly pushing relatively less skilled participants into Adelaide’s territory.
So subtly adjusted their positioning to manipulate engagent, pushed with striking techniques, or even grabbed opponents by the collar and threw them.
Adelaide stubbornly knocked down all of them.
Seeing this, so participants sneered.
Her actions are too simple. Tactics should constantly change according to the situation.
Two-handed swords already consu a lot of stamina to handle. Even swinging a sword as long as your arm length often leads to exhaustion, let alone a sword as tall as yourself.
I’ll just make her consu stamina for a while, then look for an opening later.
They even felt joy.
Like a trash can that had appeared in the middle of the arena, it couldn’t be more convenient, as anything thrown in was promptly dealt with.
How long had they been throwing other participants like tossing tissues?
They felt sothing strange.
Why... is she fine? It seems like it’s been dozens of minutes since the match started?
Of course, when training in martial arts, it wasn’t uncommon to swing a sword for hours.
But that was when one could focus solely on the sword.
In a situation where anyone around might attack, while avoiding each surprise attack using bait as a shield and swinging a sword, it couldn’t be the sa as simple training. Even roughly estimated, it would require several tis more concentration and stamina consumption.
Yet, why does that girl have such a calm face?
Why is the force of her sword swings not diminishing but rather becoming sharper?
They didn’t know, for Adelaide, who had endured the Tin Knight’s crazy training thods, the current situation where she could rest in place and only occasionally counterattack and dodge felt downright relaxing.
They couldn’t possibly fathom what it ant to have a magic doll that knew neither fatigue nor injury as a teacher, and to sohow keep up with that insane schedule while making a tearful face.
Ti passed, the number of participants decreased, and there were no more participants weak enough to be used as bait.
anwhile, Adelaide, with a slightly flushed face as if she had just done so light jogging, calmly held her position.
The remaining participants stared at her, their faces showing a mix of awe and fear.
Soon, they turned their gazes away and started fighting among themselves.
Not a single person dared to challenge Adelaide.
Thus, Adelaide’s advancent to the finals was all but confird.
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