Takami no Kago ch.95

Sup, Raizu here~
Here is the long-waited TnK chapter.

Enjoy~

Translator: Raizu
TLC/Editor: Darknari

Chapter 95

“Yo, Hibiki. Good job.” (Sai)

Along with the end of the first round, there would be a slightly longer break time.
As Lux and I left the waiting room, we were greeted by familiar faces who were busy talking about getting some snacks.

“You have already arrived, Sai?” (Hibiki)

“Yeah, I was right on time for Hibiki’s match.” (Sai)

Behind Sai there was Kuesu and the others, as well as Amy and Zir.

“Good work, master.” (Amy)

“Yea, t’was quite a bout.” (Zir)

The two of them praised me.

“That’s right. You were up against a hero candidate after all.” (Gary)

“It was really amazing.” (Baara)

I nodded at Gary’s impression, and smiled at Baara in reply.

“[Annihilation] is my disciple after all.” (Kuesu)

Winning was only natural. Kuesu had made that sort of statement. I wondered where that confidence came from.

“…” (Seira)

Seira was still staring at me. Without worrying about it, I continued with the conversation.

“Lux was much more amazing than I was.” (Hibiki)

Kuesu shook her head, while Gary and the rest smiled wryly.

“Lux, is Lux.”

“That’s right, there is no point in cheering for Lux’s matches.”

“He’ll still survive even if left alone.”

Contrary to what they said, it showed how much they trust him.

All of us entered a nearby restaurant but it seemed that everyone else also had the same thought. It was packed.

“This, I guess we came a bit late.” (Hibiki)

“Master and Mr. Lux still have some matches left after this, so we better get them something to eat now if we can.” (Amy)

“Since that is so, we all can simply eat whilst viewing the matches.” (Zir)

I’m not that hungry yet, but I appreciated everyone’s concern.
Fortunately, Lux and I were still able to eat the sandwiches and skewers they had bought earlier from a street vendor.

“Ah, that’s right, Sai. I’m sorry, even though you have just arrived but I have something to request of you.” (Hibiki)

I spoke to Sai while biting on the skewers.

“What’s with this rough treatment of your employees? Then, what do you want to ask?” (Sai)

I asked Sai to gather information about my next opponent.

“By next, do you mean that lady with a lot of scars?” (Sai)

Apparently he watched the girl’s match as well. His face looked troubled.

“Sure she’s quite strong, but not as good as you, Hibiki.” (Sai)

Apparently her opponent was wrapped in a fire pillar as soon as the match began.
Saying that I’m better than her after seeing that match was quite weird.

“It’s just in case. I’ll just do what I have to do.” (Hibiki)

“I know. I’ll collect as much information as I can before the match starts.” (Sai)

Sai immediately left.
My match will be the second match, so it couldn’t be helped since there was not much time left.

Break time was over and the second round began.
At the moment, there were two magicians clashing with their magic spells in the arena.
Those two seemed to be a part of the “exempt from the preliminaries group” and were rivals to one another.
Since the commentator talked about the match for quite a long while, Sai’s info managed to get to me in time.
The winner of this match, was the elite magician who was proficient in water magic.

Now then, my match came next.
Called by the official, I quietly rushed to the arena.
I was greeted with the live commentator saying that ”This girl has a better chance of winning the match”.

As the referee announced the beginning of the match, the [Sickly Girl] immediately shot fire and water balls with both hands.
The crowd cheered at that flashy attack.

I manipulated the wind to divert their trajectory, cladding my sword in flames then proceeded to use the fiery sword to cut the water ball.
I couldn’t completely deflect the fireball, but I managed to divert it enough to allow me some gaps to wade through.

I somehow managed to withstand the first wave without a hitch, and returned fire with my own fireball. To display that I’m her senior it should be a bit bigger than the girl’s fireball, don’t you agree?
The girl didn’t even try to dodge the fireball. It directly hit her in the stomach.
The crowd started booing at me. What’s with this difference in treatment?

However, the girl was still standing there. Upon closer inspection, her stomach was actually protected by a layer of ice.
Apparently that was what neutralized my fireball.

“Girls shouldn’t let their stomach’s feel cold.” (Hibiki)

I approached the girl while spouting that light remark. It was to fight within sword range.
The girl seemed to notice my intention, she prepared an ice blade in her left hand.
I once again cladded my sword in flames like I did earlier.
Fire Sword VS Ice Sword, both swords clashed against each other at the blade’s midsection.
It seemed to be a draw at first glance, but it was actually my loss.
I quickly released my grip on my sword and retreated.
The next moment, a fire and ice blast bloomed at where I previously stood.

“You have deprived me of my weapon, eh?” (Hibiki)

Taking a quick glance to the audience seats, I noticed Sai waving at me.

“Apparently, it seems that he rescued her safely.” (Hibiki)

I sighed, then talked to the girl.

“Leelan. That’s enough.” (Hibiki)

When I pointed towards Sai, [Sickly Leelan] turned towards the audience seats.

“Para, thank goodness. You really helped me out!!” (Leelan)

The girl fell to her knees and started crying.
The referee looked at me with scornful eyes. It seemed that he suspected me of threatening the other participant.
He reluctantly declared me the victor. The crowd also seemed to have the same idea, thus they started booing at me again.

Leelan and I could care less about such a thing and the both of us returned to the waiting room.

“Thank you, thank you very much. Big brother.” (Leelan)

Leelan kept saying that repeatedly on our way back.

Well, what had actually happened before the match?
Let’s return back to the time before the first match started.

=====

“Hibiki!!” (Sai)

It was Sai who came to the waiting room alongside of Kuesu.
Apparently, people other than those concerned were not allowed to get in, which was why he brought Kuesu along.

“The thing about that girl, after I looked around for a while, I found it, found it.” (Sai)

He seemed to have various things to say so I allowed him to explain it to me.

=====

That girl, she was an experimental object of a magical research institute.
The name registered for this tournament was [Number 15].
For me, I could only hear it as a number, but for everyone else it seemed that they heard it as something that rhymes with 15.
In other words, there were 14 other people before her.
The institute was experimenting in order to be able to artificially produce a magician with a dual or even more element combination.

Apparently, they experimented by having someone live in extreme environments, like next to the entrance of a volcano or near a iceberg, in order to force them to awaken a new element of magic.
They were able to awaken something, but the result was weak in power.
They repeatedly tried and found out that the younger the person they experimented on, the greater the result.
However, they stalled there. Using younger people also meant that their magic before awakening was not that strong.
It would be no different than a single element magician.

The next method, was to implant body parts of a monster with a certain element into the human body.
Apparently, they grafted the monster skin onto the subject’s skin and waited to see if there was a power transfer.
Again, there seemed to be some success.

Since it was directly put inside the body, it didn’t take very long to take effect.
However, they also stalled here.
Some individuals did obtain the power, but they soon died.
It seemed that the human body couldn’t handle that of a monster’s.

From those two attempts, two studies were born.

Raising a human from childbirth in an extreme environment, making them capable of mastering 2 elements as they grew into an adult.

Grafting monster parts onto the human body to transfer their attribute.

Both showed results, but both also had limitations.

With a more than normal ability, but less than an elite magician, an amiable human chimera was created.

The researchers who weren’t satisfied with the result continued to try to find a better method.

Having lived in an extreme environment from their early years, combined with the surgery method.
That was, the chimera magician.

[Number 15] was the fifteenth result of such an experiment.

She was a chimera with her own elder twin sister, showing practically no rejection to the implants and adjusted to them very well.
The masterpiece of the research institute.

======

That was the story Sai managed to dig out.
It was information gathered in such a short time. So there were bound to be some mistakes.
But knowing this much about her was already good.

Looking at the girl who sat in the corner, facing down.
That man from the first round didn’t seem to be around.
I was standing before her when she finally noticed.

“Why do you not run away?” (Hibiki)

I tried talking to the girl. The girl lifted her face and looked at me.

“If you are that strong, why didn’t you try to escape?” (Hibiki)

The girl finally realized my intentions.

“Because, I’m a big sister.” (Leelan)

So it was just like what Sai told me.

“No, it’s because I’m Para’s big sister.” (Leelan)

Para, was the name of the chimera born at the same time as her.
It was probably a measure to prevent escape or rebellion.
They threatened to kill Para if she went against them.

“If I rescue her, then you won’t have to fight anymore, right?” (Hibiki)

The girl looked at me with a surprised face.

“…hm.” (Leelan)

Hearing that reply, Sai left the waiting room.
She’s been waiting for this moment.

“That uncle over there will go look for Para.” (Hibiki)

“Really?” (Leelan)

“Yeah. So please don’t fight me seriously to buy some time. It will be hard for me if you come at me as fierce as in your previous match.” (Hibiki)

“Hm.” (Leelan)

And with that, she wouldn’t fight seriously in our match.
Sai also seriously started searching. He’s a really good guy after all.

“Hibiki, we’ll also help.” (Baara)

Baara and the others also offered to help.

“It’s difficult to speak about but the church officials are suspicious.” (Lux)

Lux whispered into my ear so as not to be heard.

“Why?” (Hibiki)

“She’s still alive even with that many traces of implant surgery. Even if the rejection was small, she should’ve run out of energy and died.” (Lux)

I didn’t know anything about this transplantation surgery, nor about this rejection thingy, but I did understand a little about the operation. Baara noticed what I wanted to say.
In other words, the surgery wouldn’t be successful without extensive use of healing magic during the process.
Only the church was capable of bringing together a large amount of healers.
Baara frowned but nodded her head, then followed the others accompanying Sai.

=====

Before our match began, I had been trying to get to know her better.
As long as she trusted me even just a little, it’ll be less risky for me.
Her name [Leelan] apparently came from her older sister’s [Lee] and her own [Lanfa].
The researchers usually only called her with “hey”, ”you”, or “Number 15”.
She had never met her older sister [Lee] before. It was only natural as they were separated since childbirth.
She was called [Lee] on the day of the surgery, the first time they met these two people mutually gave each other names.

[Regardless of who will expire first, I will always remember you and you will always remember me.]

Those were the last words of her older sister [Lee] who she met for the first time.

“Big brother will not forget about Leelan’s matter, right?” (Leelan)

Even after the match had concluded and we returned back to the waiting room, Leelan never left my side.