After all the matches concluded, the four semi-finalists were announced. One of them was Elird.

Even after all those matches, the crowd’s cheers never died down. In fact, as soon as Elird and his opponent stepped on the stage, it only seemed to become louder and louder. Well, who could blame them, though? The next match even made Risa closed her book.

The match was between two Warriors. They both had a similar fighting style; they both used a claymore and both were big and sturdy men. In this match, there would be no advantage and disadvantage. They were probably in the same league, thus, the fight would be headlong battle, where their pride would be on the line.

In other words, everybody liked an intense and equal battle.

“Who do you think would win, Takana?” I asked him since he was the most knowledgeable about this.

Takana scoffed, as if telling me I was dumb for asking. “Why would I tell you? We’re here to watch, not to be spoiled.”

I mentally sighed but couldn’t say anything back. Yeah, don’t want to waste the money we bought on tickets.

The referee checked their body while the crowd cheered energetically. After seeing that there would be no problem, he produced a bell from his pocket. After the crowd saw the bell, everything suddenly went quiet. With a single jingle, the bell’s sound echoed throughout the entire arena.

The match started.

As if in a mutual understanding, surprisingly, both of them didn’t move. Instead, they both stared at each other while the crowd stared at them, not knowing why they weren’t fighting.

“Give them a couple more seconds,” Takana said.

“What does that —“

Suddenly, the crowd cheered, making me look at the match. They both dashed toward each other and met at the middle of the stage. There, their weapons locked to each other with a ringing clang. Sparks flew.

The crowd’s cheers intensified as they exchange a couple of attacks. With each attacks, the clanging sounds seemed to resonate to the crowd. Damn, this people were really wild.

The stalemate ended when Elird’s opponent parried his attack. Elird staggered while his right arm was pushed aside, leaving his chest opened from his opponent’s attack.

That’s bad. That thrust could be lethal.

Elird’s opponent went for a thrust, as expected. The crowd went silent due to the deciding move of his opponent. But in the nick of time, Elird managed to dodge by letting himself carried by the momentum of his heavy claymore. I didn’t know how’d that happened but it was a miracle that happened.

After missing his thrust, Elird’s opponent tried to slash him but he was able to step back and take a breather.

Beside me, Risa picked up her book and started reading again. Was their match really that uninteresting for her?

Though he wanted to take a breather, Elird’s opponent didn’t let him. He dashed towards Elird again and locked weapons with him. Again, they exchanged a series of blows. The crowd loved this as they cheered.

“Elird has to be the one pressuring if he wants to win,” Takana commented. He was eating and having drinks as he watched eagerly.

“Takana, don’t talk while you’re eating,” Merry looked at him in annoyance. “But I agree. He’s going to get pushed out of the stage at this rate.”

Merry was right. Currently, they were at the edge of the stage and little by little, Elird was being pushed back. He had to take action now if he wanted to win.

Elird held and tried to push his opponent while they locked their weapons. His opponent barely budged. But he wasn’t done yet. He kicked his opponent’s leg, causing him to slightly give in to Elird’s push and Elird used this opportunity to turn the battle.

Elird was now on the offensive.

I could hear a sigh of relief from Fiss even if the crowd’s cheer was loud.

Still unable to bounce back from the unexpected kick, his opponent staggered until they reached the other side of the stage. Now, he was in danger of getting pushed out of the stage.

“Nice, just a little bit more and he will win,” Takana grinned.

Unfortunately, his enemy had regained his footing and they were again in a stalemate. But this time, Elird was the one in the brink of winning.

Wait, he’s still…smiling?

Elird’s opponent was grinning. It was a confident one. A kind of grin where he knew he was going to win. But at the same time, Elird’s face looked as if he was struggling.

Elird tried to slam his hips on his opponent’s but to no avail. Instead, Elird seemed to be the one who was pushed back by the hip thrust. Little by little, his opponent was gaining ground.

“What’s happening?” Fiss asked.

“Shit,” Takana bit his lip. “He’s starting to get tired.”

He’s right. Elird’s move suddenly became sluggish and he’d been excessively inhaling through his mouth as if he was always out of breath.

“If he’s getting tired then he has to make his last big move,” Merry said.

As if listening to Merry, Elird went all in. He shouted loudly as he made his last push.

Elird stepped back and broke the stalemate. As his opponent was about to pounce on him, Elird charged recklessly at him. It was his last ditch effort.

Elird began his onslaught and thrusted his claymore towards his opponent. When that missed, he cleaved him again and again but to no avail. Slowly, he became sluggish. His attacks barely count as an attack as he swayed his claymore. In the end, his opponent knocked him out with the butt of his claymore.

The once energetic crowd turned sour as no blood was spilled. The referee raised his opponent’s arm and declared him the winner.

Elird had lost the match.

*

“We’re finally going back to the house!” Risa enthusiastically shouted as she closed her thick book. We were on our way to pick up Elird from the infirmary.

“Was the match really that boring for you?” I asked.

“At first, it was somewhat bearable but since he lost the first stalemate, the match was already decided then.”

“Huh?” I tilted my head. “What do you mean by that?”

“In the end, the match turned into a battle of attrition but he could have won if he managed to win the first stalemate.”

“That makes no sense,” I furrowed brows in disbelief. “He managed to turn it around after the second stalemate.”

“He did but because he used an underhanded attack. In raw power, he lost. He only manages to change the tide of the battle because he kicked him not because he won the stalemate. The stalemate was the key to winning. If one proved stronger than the other, then they would always win the stalemate.”

That’s why after the first stalemate she started to read her book. She already knew who will win.

When we arrived to the infirmary, we saw Elird on a bed. He was fine but the priests said he shouldn’t move for a while due to the blow he took on the head.

“Sorry, guys, I lost.” He chuckled wryly. You could see in his dejected eyes that he really wished to win.

“I wouldn’t really worry about it,” Takana said. “You did your best. Most importantly, you gave me an interesting match.” Takana said as he looked him in the eyes.

“Yes, but I still lost…”

“Oh, shut it already,” an angered Risa took the stage. She was probably irritated that we had to deal with him. Risa was known to be impatient in a lot of things. “You’re weak and pathetic. The sooner you learn that, the better.”

Everyone was stunned with Risa’s sharp words.

“The kid’s right,” Takana wanted to pat her head but Risa dodged the incoming hand on her head. “My bastard teacher told me that when you lose, you don’t actually lose. You gain something in return. And that something is knowledge and experience. I really hate the dude but what he said is right.”

“No, What Risa meant is —” Risa corrected Takana but before she could speak, Merry had something to say.

“You must have such a respectable mentor before, Takana.”

“That old, sweaty bastard?” Takana grimaced. “He’s a loyal friend of the King, so, no. That makes him a piece of shit.”

“Never mind, Takana,” Fuyuki came close to Elird. “Third-fourth place is very good! Don’t belittle what you accomplish!” Fuyuki grabbed his neckline and vigorously shook it.

“Remember, Fuyuki, he still needs to rest…” Kihana dragged away the crazy Fuyuki.

After taking a moment to recover from Fuyuki’s antics, Elird thanked them. “Thank you very much. I’m certain that you guys mean well but…”

Ah, that makes sense…

“Come on, guys,” I turned around and started leaving. “We should let him rest for now.”

They all reluctantly left the room after they looked at Elird’s face.

“I’ll be staying here,” Fiss said.

“Meet us in the house when he’s all better.”

We’d all had that kind of face. The face of defeat. No matter how close you were to winning, when you lose, you lose. You’d think of yourself as weak and be dejected. We were only humans, after all. We’d feel sad when we put effort into things and it wouldn’t work out. But the important thing was the action we took after we take a defeat. Would we rise and continue or would we fall and stagnate?

“What were you about to say earlier?” I asked Risa.

She had finally calmed down as we started going home. “Hm? Oh, I mean what I said. He should know that he’s weak and give up. But then Risa realized that if he continued doing that, he’ll eventually die because of his weakness, so Risa let it go.”

Well, some things never change, huh?