A young girl equipped with a twin set of mallets stepped up to the arena, where a soldier gripping a spear was waiting. Metallic clunking accompanied their steps, coming from the extremely thick and sturdy armor the two had on. If it weren’t for their exposed faces, Saki was certain that a particular chef would
A young girl with rose-colored hair in light armor sailed past several combatants as they jumped away to dodge her. No one wanted to get in the way of a flame-encased sword that stuck out from the speedy blur. One unlucky fighter was slow to turn his head, being occupied by another in front of
Having escaped quickly from the baths, I didn’t get the chance to ask Cornelius about the tournament details. Rather than separating magic talent and physical prowess, like done in the past, the new tournament would allow for competitors of any specialty to fight at the peak of their abilities. In battle, it was difficult to
After returning from the Divine Isles, we unloaded a treasure trove’s worth of Resonance Stones in front of Queen Katalina. Giddy with the prospect of her new inventions, she picked up one of the smaller ones and examined it before walking toward her lab. Before she got too far, she paused and gave me a
A few weeks later, in the Country of Sanshiro, one fair maiden was in the midst of a budding turmoil. “Let it be known – the heads of the Yagami clan, the Kiryuu clan, the Nissin clan, and the Samyang clan – are now a part of our virtuous council! Please use your positions to
“Great! Of course, the stones were a trap!” “Who was the one that triggered them in the first place?!” I bickered with Koujiro, whose sword had knocked against the ground. If I had to guess, a holy power from an outside source set off some kind of defense mechanism. Otherwise, it was too coincidental that
As we moved through the forest, the only sounds were our intermittent banter and the rustling of foliage against our bodies. Koujiro’s charm worked like… well, a charm. After feeling the rage overtake my senses temporarily, I had just enough will to hold myself back as Saki approached. Seeing her before me cooled my tantrum
Saki blinked in surprise as she felt a sudden dread in the air. It had not come from her own heart which was nervously pounding in anticipation of a battle’s start, but from the normally easy-going chef standing beside her. A low growl emitted from him, and his eyes suddenly flickered with a purplish hue.
“A hero’s life for me! Oh, A hero’s life for me! Beyond the horizon and across the seas, a hero’s life for me! ~𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅯 ” Koujiro stood at the bow of the ship with one foot propped up against it. Like the image of an explorer eagerly scoping out new lands, he merrily sang as
After about 30 minutes, Katalina decided that Koujiro’s punishment was enough. She redirected the portal high in the sky toward the open sea. The next time that Koujiro fell into the bottom portal, he was launched horizontally, skipping a few times on the water’s surface like a stone before going ‘kerplunk’. Fortunately for him, swimming