Chapter 9
Chapter 9
“Anyone who refuses to participate or doesn’t cross the finish line before time runs out has to pay one silver.”
Massive numbers made of the same green bright light as the barriers and health bars appeared in the sky.
It was counting down from 2 hours.
“Why are you all still here? The timer’s already going down.”
After hearing what she said, everyone other than me and one other person took off running.
The other person was the blonde girl from my class who I saw in the food store with the second princess earlier.
I didn’t notice before, but she has the same blue eyes as the princess………………..
Whatever, it’s not my business.
So, I started walking and immediately heard an explosion and a scream some distance up ahead.
[Student Han from class 1C has been eliminated.]
Huh
I kept walking.
===
Jin, the blonde student who was glaring in Zary’s direction when they were on their way to mana class earlier is the second youngest son of the Goldsmith family, one of the four great Ducal families of the phoenix empire.
The other three are The Akakiri family, the Aozora family and the Midori family.
His family valued magic above all else, since he wasn’t particularly talented in magic, unable to cast a single spell, his parents hardly paid him any attention, that was until his 9th birthday, the day a messenger from the church arrived at their house.
“Your second youngest son has been chosen by the Goddess as a hero candidate.
We would like to take him to the church to receive training right away.”
That was the first and last day his parents ever smiled at him.
When he arrived at the church there were four other candidates, all third or fourth sons of other noble families, all of similar age.
“Only one of you will be chosen by the holy sword at the end of your training; work hard so you’ll be the one gripping that sword at the end.”
And so, they spent the next 7 years enduring the church’s training until the day of the hero selection trial arrived.
Just like the demon lord selection trial, the hero selection trial was a free for all being broadcast throughout the empire and other countries who sent their own hero candidates to participate.
There were three other countries who sent candidates to participate.
Each of them sent 5 each, so in all there were 20 candidates.
Because there were more candidates than expected the other countries suggested they change it from a free for all to a tournament.
The empress who didn’t care told them to do whatever.
And so, with the help of the first queen consort who did most of the work they quickly set up the tournament.
In the first round Jin went up against one of the boys he trained with; after an almost evenly matched fight he barely managed to win.
The other boys he trained with went up against candidates from other countries and all got eliminated in the first round.
In the second round Jin went up against a girl with black hair and eyes from an eastern country and got eliminated within five seconds without managing to leave even a single scratch on her.
And just like that all the candidates from the empire got eliminated without a single one making it to the third round.
In the end the girl from the eastern country won the whole tournament; not that in mattered, because immediately after she won a bright golden light shot up far off in the distance.
The people from the church and everyone else who knew what that light was all looked bewildered.
“T the holy sword?”
“But how? None of the candidates have drawn it yet!”
All the candidates rushed towards the direction of the light.
The floating stones that were recording and broadcasting the tournament followed them, so when they arrived at the scene not just them but everyone who was watching the tournament saw it, the sight of an orange haired girl in cheap adventurer gear holding up the holy sword with a disbelieving look on her face while the saintess stood beside her.
Jin didn’t want to believe what he was seeing.
It’s bad enough he got eliminated from the tournament and in the second round no less, but now you’re telling him that it wasn’t even one of the other candidates who pulled out the sword, but some random commoner girl?!
“What the hell…….WHAT THE HELL EVEN IS THIS!!
DO YOU KNOW MANY YEARS I’VE TRAINED TO BE THE HERO?!!
WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YUO ARE TO BE HOLDING THAT SWORD?!!
LET GO OF IT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ”
Jin gripped his sword almost hard enough to draw blood and charged at the orange haired girl.
None of the other candidates tried to stop him.
When he arrived in front of her, he swung his sword at her with all his might.
She reflexively blocked his strike with the holy sword and as a result his sword broke, and he got sent flying just from the excess holy mana flowing from the holy sword.
After seeing that, all the other candidates looked at the holy sword like a starving cannibal looking at a piece of flesh.
Without saying a single word, they all charged at the orange haired girl without hesitation.
And they all went down in one swing with the sole exception of the girl from the eastern country.
She swung her mana infused sword at the orange haired girl from the side and just like before, she blocked it with the holy sword though unlike with the others the girl from the east didn’t get sent flying and her sword didn’t break.
“Tell me usurper, what is your name?”
“Zary. And you?”
“My name is Mikazuki Yuki. The one who will become the right full owner of that sword!”
Zary pointed at the saintess beside her with her left hand that wasn’t gripping the sword.
“If you want this sword, she’s the one you should be persuading.”
“What does the saintess have to do with how the hero’s holy sword’s owner is chosen?”
Zary looked at her with pity and exasperation.
Sigh
Zary kicked Yuki in the stomach sending her rolling across the floor.
Just as Zary was turning away thinking the fight was over, blue mana shot up from behind her.
When she turned back around a sword was mere inches from her face, she barely managed to block it in time.
The impact actually made her slide back a few feet.
Zary unknowingly started grinning.
Yuki saw that and gritted her teeth.
She slid her sword across the holy sword trying to push Zary back even further, but Zary no longer budged.
When their swords separated Yuki pulled back her sword then swung it widely at Zary’s waist.
Zary jumped completely avoiding her swing then slashed down at Yuki’s right shoulder.
She jumped back dodging the downwards slash, then before Zary could pulled her hand back Yuki swung at her right hand holding the holy sword aiming directly at her wrist.
Zary let go of the holy sword avoiding the swing.
Yuki stretched out her left hand trying to grab the holy sword, but before she could Zary’s right foot came down stomping on her hand.
“Argh”
Then immediately after, Zary planted her right foot in Yuki’s face sending her rolling across the ground again before she crashed into a tree.
Zary picked back up the holy sword and stared in Yuki’s direction.
While she was looking in that direction Jin snuck up behind her and swung his broken sword at the back of her neck.
Without turning around Zary caught his hand and tossed him to the side sending him headfirst into a cave wall.
Yuki slowly got up and looked at Zary for a full 10 seconds before sheathing her sword, turning around and walking away.
“Wait you’re done already?”
“I will be back for that sword after more training, so keep it safe for me.”
“…”
After Yuki was out of sight the saintess walked up to Zary.
“Are you enjoying the sword?”
“Honestly yeah, It’s the best and only birthday present I’ve ever gotten.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You sure it’s alright for me to have it though? I’m not even one of the candidates.”
“Its fine, you’re way more qualified than those clowns; I chose you while no one chose them.”
“Didn’t the goddess select them as candidates though?”
“You honestly believe that nonsense? The Goddess doesn’t care who the hero is.
That was just an excuse the church came up with to recruit unwanted noble kids.
I’m the one who’d have to give them permission to use the sword in the end and I’d rather you use it than any of those failures and rejects.”
Thud
Both Zary and the saintess turned towards that sound and there they saw Jin who had just fallen to his knees after overhearing their conversation.
The audience was in shock.
“Is that really the saintess?”
“Is what the saintess said true? Was the church lying about the Goddess selecting the candidates herself?”
“What was this tournament even for then?”
“It was still pretty entertaining though”
“Was the saintess always this harsh? I heard she was kind to everyone.”
“Exaggerated rumours obviously.”
“If what she said is true, why’d she give the holy sword to a commoner of all things?”
“What are you on about? All the other heroes started out as commoners.”
While the audience was chattering, the first queen consort silently looked at the church’s clergy responsible for recruiting and training the “hero candidates”.
“Lady Aozora, it’s a misundersta-
Before he could finish speaking, his and the other clergy’s heads were already disconnected from their bodies.
“Clean this up.”
“Yes, your majesty!”
