Chapter 51

「Now then, in the name of the king, the duel between Akira Oda and Liam Gladiolus is acknowledged . The both of you, make your preparations . 」

I drew out “Yatonokami” from my back and reversed the blade, and Liam stood at the ready with his bow .

He didn’t have any kind of reaction like Kirika when I reversed the blade .

Perhaps he was just concentrating, he stood there, motionlessly .

According to Amelia, he was a civil officer and hated arguments or something .

His specialty was with the bow, which was typical of elves, but it seems that he was completely helpless with the sword .

In the first place, there was no other elf besides Kirika who specialized in the sword, they generally used the bow and magic as their weapons .

Liam too, even if he used the bow to hunt, he didn’t use the sword .

These were the elves who loved cleanliness, so the reason might be that they hated being unexpectedly dirtied by the blood or something .

Long distance vs . close range .

Close range would, of course, be at a disadvantage .

Even in the dungeon, there were monsters that had stingers that come flying and it was difficult dealing with them .

If I’m not mistaken, didn’t we aim for that short time period where it reloaded, approached it, and split it in half .

「Start!!!」

As soon as the king said that, an arrow came flying .

I’ve never done something like cut an arrow before, but I cut it down properly .

The speed of that monster’s needle was faster .

「Slow . 」

By the time he notched the second arrow, I had gone around to the inefficient Liam’s back, and hit his neck with the katana .

Oops, he’s an ikemen, so I might’ve put a little too much strength into it .

He had nothing but ill will, and I didn’t regret it either .

「Winner, Akira Oda . 」

With the king’s verdict, the plaza became noisy once again .

The three idiotic attendants were glaring at me while carrying Liam down from the stage .

In the end, it was my win .

Or rather, if Kirika was the strongest amongst elves, it would be meaningless to have any more duels, and to be honest, I’m getting annoyed with the elves who didn’t accept that it was their loss .

Also, Liam had, an extremely refreshing look on his face at the end, but what the heck was going on in his head .

Did the trick work?

「Liam, Kirika’s charm has been removed . 」

「As expected, huh . 」

I nodded, and opened my right hand that wasn’t gripping the katana .

In my hand was, a single wood chip .

That was, the wood chip that Amelia gave me before the duel with Kirika started .

I had, pushed this wood chip down on Liam’s skin when I grabbed him by the collar .

「The sacred tree, has the power to negate the effects of things like magic and curses . Last time, I was desperate and did not think of it, but if I realized it much earlier, Akira wouldn’t have wasted his time . 」

Of course, there was my matter as well, but more importantly, I patted Amelia, who regretted shaving a piece off of the sacred tree that was considered more important than their own lives to the elves, on the head .

I really liked this despondent look on Amelia’s face, but as expected, I liked her smile the most .

As soon as I told her that, Amelia blushed and looked down .

「Akira, did you figure something out?」

「Aah, something like that . I decided to not think about something that didn’t agree with me . 」

A beautiful girl like Amelia, truly wasn’t suitable for me .

Even if she was much older on the inside .

I broke the wood chip in my hand into tiny pieces, and sprinkled it all over the crowd .

「…eh, what was I doing?」

「Eh, what is with this stage?」

「Ah, it’s Amelia-sama!」

「She’s as beautiful as ever . 」

The elves who were bewildered at first saw Amelia who stood on top the stage and gave shouts of joy .

I, sprinkled the rest of the powder in my hand on Amelia as well .

「Eh? Akira, why are we in elven territory?」

As I thought, was Amelia charmed as well .

With this, even Amelia’s strange persecution complex could be explained .

「Isn’t it futile? Kirika Rose Quartz . 」

「…」

Kirika was there, when I turned around .

The sword from before was gripped in her hand .

「You, what do you understand?」

Kirika said that and drew out her sword .

I too held up my sword so as to protect Amelia .

Don

At that loud sound, Kirika came attacking with her sword .

The elves screamed .

I carefully stopped the attack .

Kirika saw the calm look on my face and she grimaced .

Like this, we exchanged several tens of blows .

It was pretty fun for me, but it seems that that was not the case for Kirika who wanted to quickly end the match .

「『Oh Wind』!」

In the end, she even started using magic, the enchantment of the wind .

Was it ok to use magic?

Then I will too .

「Shadow Magic . 」

There were a few shadows on top of the stage, but maa, it should be fine .

The shadows gathered at the sword .

I embraced Amelia .

Kirika’s sword that was intertwined with the wind, clashed with the ominous-looking sword that was intertwined with black shadows .