“Wake up.”(Hiro)

Without waiting for my reply, Hiro kicked me from the bed.

“What was that for?”(Me)

“Äh? Obviously, I wanted to wake you up.”(Hiro)

“I was already awake.”(Me)

“Hmm? Why didn’t you say anything?”(Hiro)

“Because you didn’t wait for me to say anything.”(Me)

With an angry stare, I stood up from the ground and we left my room.

“Anything new regarding that incident yesterday?”(Me)

“Arthur told his men to be especially on guard, because there could still be an attack. That’s all.”(Hiro)

“It is good that he is especially careful. Hopefully his followers will do the same.”(Me)

“I haven’t asked yet, but what do you honestly think about the destroyed part of the wall?”(Hiro)

Hiro switched the topic extremely fast.

“I have already told you, I have no idea what could have caused that. I’ll have to look into it further.”(Me)

“That’s obviously only an excuse right?”(Hiro)

“I wish it would be, but it isn’t.”(Me)

“So we walk completely in the dark?”(Hiro)

“You said that.”(Me)

“I knew it you do know something. Spit it out already.”(Hiro)

“I don’t have enough information.”(Me)

“Sigh. Then don’t tell me and keep it to yourself until you can talk about it.”(Hiro)

We already reached the hall when our conversation ended. After Hiro opened the door, we could see a rather angry looking character, which stopped us from going further.

“Oh. You are finally up again. You sure you should go with us already?”(Hiro)

“Shut up.”(Sandra)

“Hahaha.”(Hiro)

“Did you have any serious injuries?”(Me)

My strange question hit them completely unprepared. Hiro looked like he just saw a ghost and Sandra didn’t know how to answer. I had to hold myself back, or I would have slapped both of them.

“N… No. I only got knocked out and received some minor bruises.”(Sandra)

“Hmm. And what did you learn from your fight?”(Me)

“That when you can control your mana and boost your speed, it can become a dangerous weapon.”(Sandra)

It was more or less, what happened, but I actually hoped for something new, I didn’t know about yet. Something, which you could only see when experiencing the attack yourself. It’s not like I suddenly felt empathy, I just wanted to hear the details from the person who fought herself.

“Ok, good. Anything else?”(Me)

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to notice anything else. I couldn’t even see how he boosted his speed to such an extent.”(Sandra)

I let out an inner sigh.

“Not many were able to notice even that. You did well. As long as you’re fine you can come and watch the rest together with us. Today’s going to be special anyways.”(Me)

“You mean your fight against the winner?”(Sandra)

“So you already heard about it?”(Me)

“Yes.”(Sandra)

“Then I can skip the explanation. It’s probably going to be a fight between Hayate and me anyways.”(Me)

We put on the hoods and went to the arena. As always, I came a little bit late. When we arrived at the back entrance, we could already hear the announcing of the final. At least we still had some time, because Arthur had to give another speech in which he thanked everyone for coming, all the participants and congratulated the finalists, etc.

“Look who finally arrived. Luckily you didn’t oversleep today right?”(Sam)

Sam gave a sarcastic comment as soon as we arrived. I only gave an appropriate reply.

“Have you decided on your answer yet?”(Me)

“Grrr. I don’t even have a choice.”(Sam)

“Well if you want the best for your people then no.”(Me)

“Fine. I’ll sign whatever contract you have after the tournament.”(Sam)

Two out of five. Not a bad start.

Our discussion happened while Arthur gave his speech. I stopped listening after the first few minutes, so I had no idea when it would end.

“And with that let us enjoy this final round!”(Arthur)

Followed by loud cheering of the crowd, his speech finally ended. He sat down with a smile and joined the talk.

“So you guys finally came to an agreement. Good.”(Arthur)

“Grrr.”(Sam)

“Don’t be like that Sam. If you get to know him a little bit better, you’ll understand that his character isn’t that bad.”(Arthur)

“Don’t worry he already knows me”, is what I wanted to say, but I decided otherwise. I had to focus on the last fight and didn’t want to have to explain everything. It would be my last opportunity to see Hayate’s fighting style and to come up with a strategy to go against it.

The fight started like every other. First, the contestants got announced. Afterwards they went on stage and lastly the referee would start the fight. Everything went smoothly until the fight started.

I already knew how Hayate’s attack worked, but not to what an extent. Even though Lim, his opponent was a beastman, he seemed like he knew a lot about magic and could even cast some defensive barriers on himself. It wasn’t on par with Sandra’s barriers, but it should still be enough to defend against one of Hayate’s attacks.

All for nothing though.

Hayate waited until his opponent finished. As if it wasn’t enough disrespect, he only did an average warmup of stretching and the like, until the barriers were finished.

“Are you finished yet? Can I attack?”(Hayate)

Hayate even asked if his opponent was prepared to receive his attack. It would drive every proud fighter crazy. However, Lim’s anger didn’t last for long. Hayate disappeared and reappeared at the other end of the arena.

Everyone went crazy. Even Sam couldn’t hold himself on his seat and stood up in disbelief. Arthur already gave up on the tournament. He probably was the only one except me, who remained seated.

“D… Down. Lim won’t be able to continue anymore. Winner Hayate!”(Referee)

Now I had a problem. Hayate had another attack, which even I didn’t see. Lim was down, but not even one of his barriers shattered. I needed to think of a way to defeat someone, I couldn’t defend against.

I didn’t think it would be over in an instant. I gathered my thoughts and went over all kind of knowledge I had. Which magic would be the most effective? How should I dodge? What kind of attack should I use? Hayate didn’t let me off for long.

“Come down here already. How long will you keep me waiting?”(Hayate)

Let’s stop thinking and just focus on winning.