“Something was off there..”

Sitting in the audience, Urza called out to Lieze. After the third round ended for Kyle, and they headed to his waiting room, his reaction seemed oddly dull and devoid of much emotion. Despite Seran’s match starting soon, Kyle did not return with the girls in the audience.

“Maybe he’s bothered by the fact that his opponent died?” Urza showed a grim expression, but Shildonia shook her head.

“It can hardly be classified as Kyle’s responsibility. That lizardman took some weird drug, so he wouldn’t have been able to hold out for much longer in that match. Also, I would assume that he intended on dying from the very beginning. And, it’s not weird for deaths to occur during such a tournament.”

In fact, every tournament suffers casualties, and even Goldar was the second death in this year’s tournament. The participants were agreeing to the possibility of them dying the second they appeared.

“Right, it seemed like the lizardman was prepared for his death. What do you think, Lieze..Lieze?”

“..About Kyle..it felt like he went back to his former self for a moment.”

Lieze had been lost in thought ever since they met Kyle a few minutes prior, now opening her mouth.

“Even before he suddenly wanted to become a hero, when he was just a good-for-nothing with no motivation..No, even prior to that..when he was passionate about sword and magic, quiet but confident about his skills..but equally fragile and easy to break..”

“..Doesn’t fit him.”

“You’re right.”

Knowing Kyle only from the current time, both Shildonia and Urza could not imagine him that way.

“But, because of a certain reason, he just ended up like a lazy good-for-nothing with eyes like a dead fish.”

“So it wasn’t a good change..he’s gotten worse in a different direction.”

“Right. Though, he was out of harm’s way, and gave me relief in some way, but..Kyle just now looked like he was back to that time, and it made me feel anxious..”

By the way, the Kyle back at the time was a bit gloomy and mysterious, which made him somewhat popular with the members of the opposite sex, but as soon as he turned into a good-for-nothing again, they all looked away, which made Lieze feel relieved for a different reason.

“And, the trigger for him to change into that was..”

“Everyone, could I have a moment with you?”

Urza turned around, wondering who talked to them when it turned out to be Orgis. Both Kirlen and Orgis were letting Kyle take care of everything, just as they said, so they had been keeping quiet so far. Even after the festival began, they stayed away from Kyle’s group so as to not put more unnecessary pressure on them.

“First, we’d like to congratulate Kyle-dono for making it to the semi-finals. It seems to be going well, surely, but..the appearance of the Crimson Ogre was outside our range of expectations.” Orgis glanced down at the match, where the masked swordsman San Ferdes (or Seran, for the people who could tell) had just emerged victorious, raising his hand.

“The next match will be the semi-final, but..why is that person participating?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. He’s just continuing until the semi-finals so Kyle has it easier. They’ll be holding a fixed game then.” Urza explained with a quiet voice.

“Ahh, is that so? Then those two won’t actually have a serious match in the semi-finals..”

“Of course not!” Lieze protested strongly. “It’s fine! Seran will lose for sure! It’s a fixed..Mgh!?”

“Calm down..” Urza thought that Lieze was starting to lose herself, so Urza covered her mouth before she could say anything unnecessary.

“T-That’s a relief then..I met Princess Angela a few moments ago, and she talked about how she’s so excited in regards to tomorrow’s match that she probably won’t be able to sleep tonight, so I was..worried..” Orgis said with an awkward laugh, and Urza could only show an uncomfortable smile.

At around the same time, Kyle sat in the waiting room, looking up at the ceiling. A few moments ago, his fury towards Barrel, as well as the Mera Cult, was about to explode, but now that he managed to calm down a bit, he couldn’t help but think about Goldar. He hadn’t intended on killing Goldar, and although it was inevitable in the end, his mind drifted towards the what-ifs. Achieving a one-sided victory towards Goldar, who threw his life away, was like a rule breaker.

He even started questioning if he should have truly won against Goldar, as Kyle was quite frankly scared of facing Leyla in the finals. He already thought about this when he was forced to kill his former comrade Zentos, but he still had yet to find an answer.

“Do I..even have the right to save the world? Well, there’s no way I would have any right to kill Goldar..and Zentos for that goal.” Kyle started to question what he had been doing.

“Sup.” Seran entered the room without even knocking.

“Seran, huh..”

He seemed unharmed as always, so Kyle didn’t even bother to ask if he won or not, and Seran didn’t say anything towards Kyle’s match either. He simply grabbed a chair, and sat down next to Kyle.

“Say..did something happen between you and that lizardman?”

After a brief silence, only filled by the cheers of the audience, Seran asked with a nonchalant tone.

“We just talked a bit yesterday.” Kyle said only that, taking a stance along the lines of ‘This conversation is over’, and Seran must have felt that as well, as he stopped asking.

“..You know, you seem to be thinking too much about all this complicated stuff,” Seran spoke with an exhausted tone.

“You’re just not worrying about anything, ever.”

“Not really, I have my own things I worry about.”

“Really now..”

After that brief exchange, another silence emerged, as they simply sat next to each other. At the end of the day, Leyla managed to win without much difficulty, which only left the semi-finals tomorrow, and the finale the day after.

That night, Kyle went to bed early, but he kept his eyes open, still awake for a bit longer. He made a promise after all. Once it reached the designated time, a person appeared inside the room that should have been locked properly. Only Minagi’s eyes could be seen, her body otherwise shrouded in darkness. If Kyle hadn’t been informed that she would come to report this very day, he may not even have caught on to her presence, that’s how invisible she was. However, Kyle may have admired this, but he wasn’t shocked. He knew that this much she could do just fine.

“There you are..Still, I’m surprised you managed to get inside the imperial palace this easily.”

This should be the most secure location in the entire Empire.

“I told you, right. I did my thorough investigation and preparations..but to think they’d assist me in such a way.” Minagi showed a somewhat defeated smile.

“Just be glad that you didn’t waste all your time and money for nothing. And, how are things?”

“I’ve been following her all day, but nothing suspicious stood out to me. No people around her seemed to be plotting anything either. She should be perfectly safe.” Minagi spoke with confidence in her voice, letting Kyle sigh in relief.

“I see..Then there’s a chance it might have been an empty threat.”

“Right. Though, what’s especially troublesome about the Mera Cult is that they have crazy people all over, so you can’t ever let your guard down.”

Mera was known as the Goddess who used lies and secrets to make things move to her will. Since Barrel has become a follower of Mera, it was evident that the Empire had already been drenched in that darkness.

“Well, endlessly doubting won’t do us any good..Maybe we should change our approach? I can also be more of an aggressive guard if you’d like me to.”

An aggressive guard..sounded a bit like a contradiction, but it basically referred to taking immediate action against the threat, in other words assassinating Barrel instead.

“..No, don’t. Not for now.”

“Got it. I’ll be sticking with her for another two, maybe three days.”

As Minagi received special training, she could go an entire week without sleeping.

“..By the way, you seem to be a bit down, are you okay?” Minagi called out to Kyle in worry.

“Just too many things to worry about..”

Kyle showed a wry smile, never having imagined the day would come where she would show worry like this.

“Don’t force yourself, if you ended up losing during tomorrow’s match..the bet!”

“You’re worried about that!?”

“I mean, with the share I won yesterday, I bought the tickets..Ah, I should have bought some for the Crimson Ogre as well, she seems really strong after all.”

“You..You’re losing yourself in the betting business. Keep it to a normal level.”

“Fufu, I’ll be going back to guarding her then. Do your best tomorrow.”

Kyle let out a sigh when Minagi vanished, and the room went silent again. Through the open window, the moonlight shone inside the room.

“Tomorrow, huh..” Kyle muttered.

With his business done for the day, it would have been fine for him to sleep, but his head full of everything left him unable to.

***

Before the semi-final started, Angela, in a dress, came to meet the masked swordsman Seran in his waiting room.

“Seran-sama! Do your best! Ahh, I’m looking forward to your match with Kyle-sama today!” Angela looked like a child on Christmas Eve.

“I don’t know if I can make it that exciting..”

After all, it’s already a fixed match..But of course, he couldn’t say that, so he just gave a vague response.

“With this, we’ll finally be able to tell who is stronger!”

“Yeah..right..” Seran looked at his beloved Holy Sword Rand, muttering.

‘We’ve now made it to the first match of the semi-finals, held between participants Kyle and San Ferdes! Despite this being their first appearance in this festival, they’ve made it through various trials to reach this round. Who will make it to the finals!?’

The match was about to begin any second. As the announcer’s voice filled the arena, Lieze was oddly absent-minded.

“You seem to be awfully worried about them fighting, is something wrong?” Urza asked her.

Even before entering the arena, Lieze was oddly adamant and forceful as she told Kyle and Seran ‘You better make it a mock battle, okay!?’.

“..The last time those two fought was half a year ago, but..The last time they fought for real was more than a year ago.”

“Oh, and how did that fight end?”

Lieze was about to open her mouth, having made up her mind, but then—

“Kyle almost killed Seran..or rather, he pretty much left him half-dead.”

“Leyla-san!”

Their master, Leyla, arrived.

“They fought countless times before that, but they went all out for that final match..which is why things ended as they did now.” Leyla pointed at the two in the middle of the arena, and the moment Lieze saw what was going on, all blood was drained from her face.

Originally, Kyle was supposed to be the one to strike first. However, as soon as the signal for the beginning of the match came in, Seran was the first to attack. It was a high-speed attack that aimed for Kyle’s neck, but he calmly, almost like he expected that, accepted it with his own sword. The two swords of legend clashed, as sparks flew.

“Sorry, my body just moved on its own,” Seran spoke, no lie in his words.

Undoubtedly, he was planning on losing right before the match began, but as soon as he heard the signal, his body moved. As Kyle blocked Seran’s sword, he used a kick to blow him off, taking his distance.

“..Yeah, I know. My body did the same.”

As the loud cheers of the audience disappeared, the two read each other’s lips, holding a conversation.

“I thought that this might happen, but..We’ll go back to before at this rate. This time, there’s no guarantee we’ll make it out alive, and I don’t want to go through that again.”

“Back then, huh..” Seran gently caressed the scar on his chest, attacking Kyle again.

“What..are you doing?”

Seeing Seran attack Kyle with all of his might, Lieze’s lips started quivering, her expression pale, as she remembered the time Seran almost died. For three days and three nights, Seran was in a critical situation deciding between life and death. Kyle ended up devoid of any aspiration, like an empty shell of his former self, and Lieze still remembered the shock she had felt back then. Not wanting to go through the same experience again, Lieze was about to get up from her seat in order to stop the match, but Leyla held her down.

“..It’s okay. Let them do this.”

The sole reason Leyla even came to them was to stop Lieze like this.

“No way! It’ll end up the same way as before, I need to stop them....L-Leyla-san!?” She begged Leyla with tears in her eyes, but the moment she saw her expression, Lieze grew silent.

Normally, Leyla was an existence Lieze could rely on, always brimming with energy. And yet, she looked like she was close to breaking out in tears. Surely not even Seran had seen her like that.

“I’m sorry, Lieze-chan. I get that you’re worried, but..I want to grant my son’s wish. He wishes for this fight more than anybody else.”

As she observed the match, Leyla’s face was undoubtedly—that of a loving mother.

“I’m really sorry about back then.”

The person who had been brought to the brink of death—Seran apologized. Although he did it while aiming for Kyle’s vital point, it still came from his heart.

“Ever since I cheated death that day, you never went all out again. You stopped striving to become stronger, and just had the eyes of a dead, emotionless fish. Everybody looked at you like a good-for-nothing..and it’s all my fault.”

“You’re not wrong, but can’t you choose your words a bit more carefully..” Kyle muttered while defending against Seran’s frenzy.

However, Seran was right. At that time, Kyle practiced both sword and magic, feeling happy about getting stronger even if it was just a small bit. Despite that, in every mock battle, he could never once win against Seran. Almost desperate to win at least once, he continued his rigorous training, until he finally reached Seran during that mock battle. When he came back to his senses, Seran had collapsed in an ocean of blood.

Fortunately, Seran survived that almost lethal wound, but Kyle found himself unable to continue his training, losing his motivation to become stronger. Whenever he imagined that his goal of wanting to win eventually could lead to Seran’s death, he became scared.

“That’s why I don’t want to go through that again.”

Even now, the fact that he almost killed his best friend with his own two hands weighed down on Kyle’s heart.

“But, during the banquet the other day, we were discussing who was stronger, right? Like we were back to being small brats..And that made me really happy.” Seran showed a genuinely happy, and almost innocent smile.

Even Seran had his own regrets about what happened a year ago. However, not because he was almost killed by his friend, but rather because he felt guilty of stealing all of his best friend’s motivation. It was all because he was too weak, which is why he kept training rigorously like a maniac, all so that the same won’t happen again. However, when Kyle asked Leyla for another match half a year ago, his skills had already been outdone by Seran.

“Well, the biggest reason was also myself. I’m still hung up on what happened back then. If I don’t fight you with everything I have, I don’t think I’ll ever get over it..Hey, Kyle, I’m strong now. So strong that you won’t be able to defeat me with all of your strength. That’s why, don’t worry about anything, and come at me.” Seran showed an invincible and impregnable smile, the kind of smile Kyle liked the most about him.

Kyle let out a sigh, and clicked his tongue. After a brief moment, he muttered.

“The worst..I have a goal I need to accomplish no matter what. The first one being my fight with Teacher after this, so I can’t afford to waste any energy. Nothing good will come out of fighting you with all my strength right here, right now. And yet..” Kyle showed a similar smile to what Seran was flashing. “And yet, here I am, wanting to fight you for real..I really am the worst..”

At that moment, saving the world, worrying about the Mera Cult, the guilt for killing Goldar and Zentos, it all was blown away in his mind. Even the fact that he almost killed Seran didn’t matter anymore. Even if he were to regret this later, it didn’t matter. He simply wished to fight Seran with every ounce of strength he had, and then come out victorious. It was all he could think about.

“So it’s come down to this after all..Can’t help it, I’ll tag along for a bit.”

“Say what you want. Weren’t you the one who stopped me when I said I’d quit the festival?”

“Right back at you, you said you agreed to Princess Angela’s request because you were drunk, but there’s no way you’d be this careless in a foreign state, let alone the Empire.”

The two smiled.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

“Yeah.”

From there on out, no more words were needed.