Black Badger

It looks like someone is plotting revenge or sabotage from behind again.

I had expected as much, but at this point their jealousy and spite were downright ugly. I couldn’t hide my weariness.

“Kysis, my lord.”

In any case, I offered a polite greeting.

Commoners who noticed Kysis stirred softly around us. The knight of Zaan paid them no mind.

The moment he closed the distance, I inclined my waist slightly.

Then I whispered quietly.

“What is it?”

Kysis let out a deflated chuckle.

“Do you know who your opponent in the finals is?”

“I heard yesterday. Last year’s champion. He registered three familiars, but so far he’s only been using two in his matches.”

“Watch out for the third one.”

Hm?

So he’s hiding something monstrous.

But that doesn’t violate the rules of the match, does it?

I lifted my head and looked at Zaan. The Swordmaster immediately understood what I meant.

But he didn’t bother offering a detailed explanation.

Rolling his brows, he answered slowly.

“You’ll find out when you see it.”

What is he even trying to say?

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

“Thank you very much for the useful information, Sir Kysis.”

Still, this kind of attitude from him no longer surprised me.

I quickly regained my composure and smiled faintly.

“It’s an honor that you took time out of your busy schedule to visit the arena just to watch us.”

“So I go out of my way to bring you information, and you mock it as useless.”

Kysis pressed his index finger firmly against my temple.

A truly dignified act.

He kept pushing my face to the side, and in the end I made a small protest.

When I shuddered like a drenched puppy, Kysis burst out laughing and finally removed his finger.

Being a knight is exhausting.

I watched the Swordmaster turn away without a word that he was leaving.

The match would start soon.

Was he not even going to watch the semifinals?

“Are you leaving?”

“As you said, I’m a busy man.”

“You won’t come to the finals either?”

At that, Kysis stopped walking.

Zaan, whose thoughts were unreadable, studied me closely.

“If the Emperor comes, I don’t. If he doesn’t, I do.”

How straightforward.

Which also meant he would absolutely not watch the semifinals.

“I’ll probably come.”

Is something happening in the Imperial Palace?

I found it strange, but I hadn’t offered him water, and even if I asked, whatever I heard wouldn’t change anything.

What mattered to me right now was making sure no creature attacks flew into the stands during the match, and that no participant used unfair methods.

I didn’t press further. After bowing my head once, I turned my gaze back to the arena.

The semifinals.

With the Emperor present, they wouldn’t dare do anything visibly foolish.

According to rumors, the Emperor liked these matches quite a bit. He wouldn’t look kindly on anyone who ignored the rules.

Still, when people get drunk on the heat of competition, there’s no telling what might happen.

I let out a long breath and fixed my eyes on the arena, praying that, as always, nothing out of the ordinary would occur.

***

I was wrong.

On the contrary, because the Emperor had come, Kairos’s opponent was even more excited.

Apparently, he wasn’t someone who often showed his face in semifinals or finals. That probably made him even more worked up. It was widely known in the capital that the Emperor loved familiar matches and kept a close eye on outstanding handlers.

Even without winning, if you could just prove your skill in front of the Emperor, you could enter the Imperial Court.

Become a handler of the Imperial Family and live in comfort.

That was the sort of rumor going around.

Phaaaang!

That was why this opponent was desperate to prove himself.

A creature that looked like a chestnut burr exploded.

The spikes embedded in its round body scattered in all directions.

“Kyaaak!”

“Aaah!”

“They’re flying this way!”

Slash!

Kyle, Rei, and I drew our swords at the same time.

We cut down the spikes flying toward the stands. The spikes split in half and clattered to the ground.

[Good heavens!]

The match master survived thanks to Kyle’s sword strike.

On the opposite platform from the VIP seats, someone stared in horror as spikes split in midair.

[I almost lost a precious eye!]

The match halted for an instant.

Everything had happened so fast that the audience took a beat to catch up.

The VIP seats were surrounded by defensive magic, so they would have been fine regardless.

Still, Rei, who was assigned to guard the VIP section, cut down every spike that flew their way.

Kyle and I also intercepted every spike heading toward our respective sections of the stands.

Because of that, we were slow to react to what happened inside the arena.

[Ah!]

Only then did I grasp the situation, nearly leaping down into the arena.

[Kairos has been injured!]

The creatures were unharmed.

They must have dodged in their own ways. They hadn’t been injured once up to this point, so that wasn’t surprising.

The problem was Kairos.

His right arm had been pierced through by a spike.

People gasped in horror.

[Is he all right! As you know, by principle, healers are not allowed to intervene during a match!]

What a deranged rule!

You’re just going to leave him like that without stopping the match?!

“We will continue.”

Infuriatingly, Kairos answered exactly as expected.

Bang!

On the opposite side, Kyle struck the wall of the stands for no reason.

Most people, focused on the match, didn’t even hear the sound.

But somehow, it felt like Kairos must have heard it. The handler, now exposed, dropped to one knee and simply tied a cord around his spike-pierced arm.

It must have been prepared for moments like this—the cord came straight out of his pocket.

Needless to say, that wasn’t proper treatment at all.

Suddenly, I felt unbearably sorry for Kyle.

I wanted to jump into the arena and tear the exposed handler apart.

Having watched him since childhood, Kyle must have been completely losing it inside.

I was going insane—

“Heal him.”

A powerful voice rang out.

Everyone shouting this or that, even the match master who had been insisting the match would continue at the participant’s request, fell completely silent.

The Emperor had risen from his seat.

“From what I can see, the outcome is already decided.”

Until the chestnut-burr creature self-destructed, Kairos had been pressuring his opponent by combining a flying creature with a slime.

It was a truly astonishing tactic. Who would ever think to fuse two familiars they brought with them and use them to attack?

The effect was so good it was almost absurd.

Even now, the flying creature was unharmed thanks to the slime wrapped around it like a specimen.

Slimes don’t take physical attacks well to begin with, so it was fine even while holding onto the spikes.

Next, it would take to the air and fire those spikes, wouldn’t it?

Having lost his strongest attacker, the opponent wouldn’t be able to quickly deal with the flying slime—whatever that creature was.

So saying the match was decided wasn’t entirely wrong.

[Yes!]

The match master didn’t hesitate.

[We have a winner! Victory goes to Kairos!]

For the first time, I felt genuine gratitude toward the Emperor as he walked out of the arena.

Because he ended the match, Kairos could receive treatment in time.

And since it was an imperial order, not some random healer but one assigned to the nobility rushed into the arena.

“The knights are skilled.”

With those words, the Emperor disappeared from the arena.

“Newcomers with yellow eyes...”

I couldn’t understand what that muttering meant.

It wasn’t praise for the handler, so why suddenly mention us?

In any case, that was how the day’s semifinals came to an end.

***

The opponent in the finals was Shane.

A man who had taken first place two years in a row. Known for merciless handling and powerful familiars that crushed his opponents.

I heard that this man, who always brought familiars the audience never even imagined, was already boasting that he would smash Kairos’s arrogant nose flat.

Kyle promptly transferred his belongings to Kairos.

Then, watching the handler grin brightly and thank him, he grumbled.

“If you were going all the way to the finals, you should’ve contracted creatures that are easier to fight with.”

It was the same complaint as last time.

Kairos clenched and unclenched his right hand, laughing softly.

“These kids are enough.”

“Didn’t you understand what Kysis said, the message Hilde passed on?”

“I # Nоvеlight # did. I’m looking forward to it! The other two are strong as well. A lich and a Seral buffalo, right? Won’t be easy.”

“Forget three—one of the two he’s already shown looks hard enough to take down.”

Rei murmured, lifting his brows in confusion.

“So what’s the plan?”

I saw Kairos put on a confident smile.

The handler gently patted the flying creature perched on his shoulder before answering.

“I’ll show you in the arena.”

His voice was calm.

“I haven’t revealed all my cards yet.”

***

[Ahem!]

The long-awaited finals.

Just as Kysis had said, the Emperor did not come.

That didn’t mean the audience was any less extravagant. For one thing, Kysis himself was seated in the VIP section. No idea what whim that was—apparently, in the past, even when he watched matches, he deliberately sat among the commoners. Today, though, he boldly claimed a seat in the VIP area.

Several nobles, including a baron, shifted uncomfortably.

Heavyweights like the Minister of Finance and the High Priest didn’t even blink.

Despite the Emperor’s absence—or perhaps because of it—the VIP section was far more crowded than during the semifinals.

Even the son of a viscount would have trouble getting a seat there.

The commoners’ stands were packed to bursting.

With anticipation at its peak, the match began.

And in that final familiar match, Kairos revealed the card he had been hiding.

A silkworm cocoon hatched.

It transformed into a Leviathan.

[This can’t be!]

The crowd erupted in ecstatic cheers.

[Did you see that, everyone!]

Until just moments ago, Kairos had been on the back foot. The buffalo hadn’t collapsed from an eye strike, and the lich had no eyes to strike at.

On top of that, both endured attacks solidly, so even when the slime reflected damage, it had little effect.

A situation that looked completely hopeless.

Just as Shane sneered, convinced of victory, Kairos’s forgotten third familiar appeared.

[It was a Leviathan!]

The match master shouted excitedly.

[A Water Dragon Leviathan! That ugly ground potato, that ground silkworm cocoon we called it because we didn’t know its name, was actually a Leviathan’s pupa! My goodness! To witness the molting form of a Water Dragon like this in person!]

“Let’s go.”

Kairos smiled and stroked the Leviathan’s crown.

“It must’ve been stifling inside that cocoon.”

Everything turned upside down in an instant.

The buffalo was rendered combat-ineffective almost immediately.

It was bitten by the Leviathan after it burrowed underground and struck at an opening. After that, it was pummeled by the flying creature and couldn’t get back up. Meanwhile, the lich took a direct hit from the Leviathan’s cannon.

The tide of battle reversed in a flash.

Waaaah!

The crowd went wild.

The roar of the excited audience shook the arena.

“Kairos! Kairos!”

Thud!

But Shane wasn’t about to just sit back and watch Kairos’s rampage.

Thud, thuuud!

It wasn’t the arena shaking, but the ground itself.

Something massive was walking toward the arena.

I took a short breath and turned my head toward the heavy presence approaching.

Then I heard the crowd’s screams of terror, Rei’s curse, and the High Priest shouting, “Such sacrilege!”

After taking in the shape entering the arena, I turned to look at Kysis.

Among the nobles, each reacting in panic, he alone was grinning broadly.

When our eyes met, Zaan’s gaze curved.

‘I told you.’

The damned Swordmaster mouthed the words.

I spat a short, silent curse in return.

‘You should have stopped this!’

Shane’s third familiar, previously unknown.

A giant that had slept atop the western peak revealed itself in the arena.

***

Grand Duke Jacques had, in truth, been watching the golden-eyed knights closely throughout the finals.

The exposed handler, whose dazzling talent could not be hidden, was someone he had already seen several times. He knew well that once the tournament ended, that rookie handler would receive a summons from the Imperial Palace.

So around the quarterfinals, the Grand Duke’s attention shifted elsewhere.

For instance, to the black-haired, golden-eyed knight who had guarded the right-side stands throughout the match.

An Imperial knight from the same tribe as the famous exposed handler.

The Duke knew that knight disliked him.

When he once told him to forget the past, those golden eyes had burned with rage.

At times, the knight wore an expression as if he couldn’t understand why he had become an Imperial knight at all.

He must never have been able to forget the humiliation of kneeling.

His attitude was utterly different from the exposed handler rampaging in the arena.

If they didn’t die young, both were bound to succeed—talents of that caliber.

What paths would the two of them take in the future...?

When he tired of those thoughts, he turned his gaze to the third son of a count.

A knight said to have fled his family after being devastated by his sister’s death.

Rei Renyr, who had shown extraordinary talent in swordsmanship since childhood, now belonged to the western division.

From the looks of it, he seemed to have grown completely sick of nobles as a whole...

The Grand Duke understood that contempt, yet found the boy’s youthful attitude faintly amusing.

It felt like just yesterday that he had looked down at the face of a baby wrapped in swaddling.

The boy himself probably didn’t remember at all.

Well, compared to the majority of arrogant noble brats, it was a far more admirable course.

Watching that green youth’s future unfold would be a pleasant diversion as well.

That was what he had been thinking.

Right up until the finals were underway.

Even then, he was focused on only two of the three knights assigned as guards.

BOOOOM!

“Hm?”

A giant smashed through the main gate of the arena.

As nobles in front and behind screamed in shock, the Grand Duke crossed his legs, lifted his wineglass, and arched a brow.

“Why is that thing wobbling?”

“The control is incomplete.”

A flat answer came from behind him.

It was the voice of the purple-eyed scoundrel who had returned.

“It’ll lose control and go berserk before long.”

BOOOOM!

The Swordmaster was right.

The moment the giant entered the arena, Shane failed to control his familiar and spat blood.

The Grand Duke let out a hollow laugh as he watched the screaming audience and the collapsing arena.

“Kairos!”

And then he saw a knight leap into the center of the arena.

White hair whipping through the air, bronze skin.

Bright yellow eyes.

“Grab your familiars and fall back!”

For the first time, Grand Duke Jacques fixed his gaze on Hildebert Taleb.