“What a coincidence.”
Iris tries to scope out what lies behind Perv’s unsmiling eyes, but she can’t get a read on him.
“Is that the Annerose I’ve heard so much about?” asks Perv as he gazes down at the arena.
“The one and only.”
“She’s the talk of the town. I hear she left Velgalta and is currently in the middle of her journey of training, but I’d love to be able to invite her back to my country.”
“I agree. I’d love to invite a swordswoman of her caliber to stay here in Midgar.”
“Ha-ha. Midgar has plenty of talented dark knights already. Unlike Oriana…”
“That’s what our alliance is for.”
“It pains me that we’re so reliant on you, though.”
“Is that so…?”
Talking to him is exhausting. Iris sighs internally.
It feels like she’s trying to have a conversation with a puppet.
“What about her opponent, Mundane?”
“This is my first time watching him fight. The rumors about him aren’t flattering, though, and he doesn’t look particularly strong.”
“Then Annerose’s victory is all but assured.”
Iris’s tone grows vague. “Not necessarily. Something about Mundane seems…uncanny.”
“Uncanny?”
“There isn’t any other way to put it. He certainly doesn’t seem strong, but there’s one trait of his that makes it impossible for me to see him as weak.”
“…Oh? What might that be?”
“His absolute confidence. As far as I can tell…it’s as though he feels certain he’ll win.”
“Hmm… Could it just be hubris?”
“I’m not sure. But there’s no hesitation in his eyes. He sees…a path toward certain victory.”
“He sees a path, eh? Can you see it, Princess Iris?”
“No. You?”
“Me? Oh, I’m useless with swords. Don’t know my points from my hilts.”
“Is that so?”
As Perv plays dumb, Iris snatches a glance at his well-trained sword arm.
He laughs bitterly.
“I can’t hide anything from you, can I? Swordplay is looked down upon in the Oriana Kingdom, so I hope you’ll forgive me this little lie. To be frank with you, I’m decent with a blade.”
“Decent, huh?”
“Just decent, yes.”
Once again, Perv’s smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Now then…why don’t you show us how much this ‘absolute confidence’ of yours is worth?”
They look down at the arena.
“Annerose versus Mundane Mann!!”
The two names are called out…
“Ready? Begin!!”
And so it does.
As soon as the match starts, Annerose immediately charges into Mundane’s reach.
She’s well aware of his true skills, and she knows the secret to his strength is his overwhelming speed.
He destroys his opponents by moving so fast that not even a former member of Velgalta’s Seven Blades can track him. That’s the way he fights, and that’s what makes him strong.
She also knows, however, that in contrast to his speed, his technical skills are lacking.
In all his victories so far, he’s basically never crossed blades with his opponent.
Why is that?
One reason is they simply couldn’t keep up with him.
But Mundane’s stance is practically that of an amateur. She finds it hard to imagine he’s ever had any proper training.
What if the reason is that Mundane himself has avoided doing so?
What if he’s afraid his clumsy sword work will be exposed?
In other words, maybe he’s won all his fights without crossing blades to hide his own lack of proficiency.
If that’s the case, then all she has to do to win is avoid being dazzled by his speed. That’s the theory under which Annerose is operating.
The only thing that worries her…is those weights he took off.
If removing his shackles lets him move so fast that she can’t even react…she could end up losing.
As the fight begins, Annerose makes sure to crush that tiny fear of hers.
She’s fighting an enemy who wins with speed, so all she has to do is restrain his movements.
If she can do that, victory is hers.
“HAAAAAAH!!”
Having closed the gap in a mere instant, Annerose lets out a battle cry and slashes at Mundane.
There’s no way he sees this coming.
Even so, he blocks the blow.
He’s fast, all right.
It shouldn’t have been possible for him to block the attack in time, but Mundane manages to pull it off.
Because he’s blocking her attack, though, his legs are pinned in place…
…and those are what Annerose has been aiming for.
“Uragh!!”
While Mundane’s legs are still immobile, Annerose strikes at him again.
He blocks this attack, too, but Annerose’s tempestuous flurry leaves him no room to take advantage of his speed.
Annerose wears down Mundane’s guard a third time, then a fourth, then a fifth, and eventually his stance breaks.
She’s won!
Certain of her victory, Annerose launches a thrust at her opponent’s chest.
It pierces him…or does it?
“Huh…?”
His skin offers her blade no resistance.
In fact, his entire body vanishes lazily from her sight.
“…That was my afterimage.”
She can hear his voice coming from behind her.
A shiver runs across her shoulders.
Calm down. She carefully turns around.
She’s trembling but commands her body not to let it show.
“You’re even faster than I thought…”
Her voice is steady. At least, she thinks it is.
As she trains her sight on Mundane, she thinks.
What should I do?
His speed far surpasses what she can react to.
What can she do to overcome it?
Think of something.
Anything…!
Anything at all……!!
“What…?!”
Before she knows what’s happened, Mundane is gone again.
Annerose’s body responds faster than her mind.
Her ability to react to the subtle shift in the air isn’t birthed from skill or experience but dumb luck.
Kschhhhh!! She feels a terrifying impact and finds herself launched backward.
She can feel her consciousness start to fade and her sword toppling out of her hand, but she frantically reels them back in and stands up.
“Rgh…!”
A pained wheeze escapes her mouth.
She can see Mundane in her periphery. He’s holding his sword listlessly and standing stock-still.
His stance is nonexistent, and he’s making no effort to chase her down.
However, Annerose doesn’t see that as arrogance.
He’s just simply that strong.
“I’ll admit it: You’re good.”
Annerose steadies her ragged breath and steels herself.
Mundane is simply fast. Overwhelmingly so.
Annerose doesn’t find that fact unfair. After all, speed is just another form of strength.
Besides, she still has a shot at winning. Her odds are slim, but they aren’t zero yet.
If speed is all her opponent has…she just needs to catch him.
She needs to land a counter.
The moment Mundane attacks her will be her final shot at victory.
The problem is whether she’ll be able to react in time.
Luck was the only thing that let her block the previous strike.
She doubts she can pull that off again.
She can’t rely on chance to snatch this victory; she’ll need talent.
If her reflexes aren’t good enough, she’ll fall back on experience.
And if that won’t get her there, she’ll rely on intuition.
She’ll use any means she can get her hands on.
As long as she can land the timing…from there, all she’ll need to cut him down are the skills she’s spent her life building.
Silently, but with utmost concentration, Annerose waits for the crucial moment.
It comes.
There isn’t a shred of warning.
Mundane’s body vanishes, and the moment it does…a moment before it does, Annerose swings her sword.
Nobody is in its path yet.
But a second later, that changes.
She’s won!
Mundane appears, and Annerose is certain she’s got him.
Her blade is traveling on an intercept course with his body.
At that speed, dodging is impossible. She’s sure of that.
“What…?”
She gazes at his movement, dumbfounded.
He stops.
It’s as though he planned it ahead of time—right before he enters Annerose’s reach, he halts.
Her sword grazes the tip of his nose as it swings through the empty air.
This is no coincidence.
It is the product of perfect spacing.
It is the product of terrifying foresight.
Annerose thought she’d been timing her counter to match his attack, but that wasn’t what had happened. He had been timing his attack to match her counter.
“I see…”
It’s then that she realizes something.
After that fleeting exchange, she’s certain of it.
Mundane Mann…possesses superlative skill as well.
Her posture is broken, and his sword approaches her.
It’s the slowest move he’s performed that day.
But though slow…its technique is transcendent, almost to the point of art.
“Ah…”
It’s beautiful.
It’s also the last thing Annerose remembers seeing before she blacks out.
“He’s incredible…,” Perv hears Iris mumble from the seat beside him.
Down in the arena, Mundane has just taken down Annerose and starts to leave the stage.
Perv hides the unrest in his heart. “‘Absolute confidence’… It seems your intuition was right on the mark, Princess Iris.”
“I never imagined he’d be that good… I find it nigh impossible to believe a dark knight of his skill has gone unnoticed for this long.”
“I concur. Mundane Mann… I’d never even heard his name.”
“And I’ve never seen that technique, either. It was sharp yet beautiful beyond compare.”
“It doesn’t come from any established style, right?”
Perv has never seen a sword move so elegantly in his life. He doubts Iris has, either. Does this mean a practitioner of an underground style just made his first public appearance?
“Not that I know of, although there’s no way to know for sure without asking him directly. The surprises never end, it seems.”
Iris leans back in her seat, then lets out a sigh as though trying to relieve tension.
Nobody saw this result coming, so the reserved seating area is abuzz. Everyone’s attention has shifted from Annerose to Mundane, and the conversation is centered around his next opponent.
“Princess Iris, you’re up against Mundane in the second round, right?”
Iris smiles. “I am.”
“You sound confident.”
“I do plan on winning.”
“Oh…?”
“Mundane’s sword work was fast, sharp, and of unparalleled beauty. Sadly, mine doesn’t measure up to his in that regard. Looks, however, aren’t what decide matches. If his fight just now is the best he can do, then he’s still no match for me.”
“I agree.”
Perv nods, then adds a silent addendum. If that was Mundane’s full strength, Iris can still win. A little skill isn’t going to be enough to contain her magic.
But what if that wasn’t his true strength?
Iris continues, “In all likelihood, he’s hiding something. His posture, stance, and skills are all fake, yet he made it all this way.”
“Knowing all that, you still think you can win?”
“I may not know what his secret is, but I plan on taking him down, secret and all. I have a competitive side, you see.”
Iris beams as she stands. Her smile bleeds hostility.
“I see.”
“Now, I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me. I have a match to get to.”
Perv watches Iris leave, then sighs.
He investigated everyone who might pose a threat to the plan beforehand, but Mundane’s name never came up.
If Mundane is going to interfere, he needs to be disposed of quickly, but…there is no need to rush. He can leave that decision until after Mundane’s match against Iris.
Mundane Mann. A master of a beautiful, perfected style.
Perv can’t understand how he went unnoticed.
There must be some reason.
Some reason Mundane needed to hide his strength.
Some reason he’d never taken the spotlight.
He could belong to a school lost to history but passed down from father to son. Or no, he could be from the Lawless City and just have faked his papers.
The Lawless City doesn’t belong to any country—it’s a hive of evil and greed. The Cult has yet to worm its way into the inner circles of any of its three warring rulers.
If he comes from the Lawless City, that means Mundane must be a member of the Blood Queen’s family. Given his strength, he has to at least be part of the leadership. Perv realizes he needs to run more background checks…
There’s also a chance that Mundane is affiliated with the Shadow Garden. Mundane is a man, though, and the Shadow Garden should have no motive to do anything conspicuous at the Bushin Festival. All in all, it seems unlikely.
One way or another, though, Perv can sense something unfathomable about him.
He’s probably a member of the underworld, just like Perv…
“What’s his secret…?”
Perv’s murmur is lost in the stadium’s clamor.
“Mundane, wait!!”
Upon waking up, Annerose rushes down the corridor after him.
He turns around, and she stops in front of him.
“You trounced me back there. I was completely powerless.” She looks up at him and smiles. “I left my homeland to become stronger, and I like to think I’ve done so. It seems I got a little conceited, too.”
She holds out her hand.
Mundane looks down at it, then slowly extends his.
“I learned a lot today. Thank you,” she says.
“This was the first time I’ve had to remove my shackles. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“…That makes me proud to hear.” Annerose smiles again and exchanges a handshake. “Mundane, who exactly are you? How did you become so strong?”
He smiles sadly, then averts his gaze. He seems to be looking far off into the distance.
“I threw away everything… I’m just a fool who pursued strength and strength alone…”
“Mundane…”
Seeing his lonesome expression, Annerose feels her chest tighten. He must have had a tragic past that left him no other choice.
“You know…if you want, would you be interested in joining the military in Velgalta? I’m sure I could find a post worthy of you.”
Mundane just shakes his head.
“…I can’t walk a path that bright.”
He turns away and begins walking.
“Wait! I’m leaving to continue my journey tomorrow! If you change your mind before then, come find me!”
Mundane doesn’t stop.
Annerose watches him go, then turns around.
In this world, greatness is relative, and there’s always someone st
ronger. To her, fighting Mundane and watching his sword work in action was an irreplaceable experience.
His swordplay was polished almost to the point of being an art. To Annerose, it looked as though he’d put everything into it.
She’s certain he’ll win. Before long, the world will know his name.
He’ll climb to the height of heights.
Right now, all she can do is watch him rise, but she’s determined to become stronger. Mundane has shown her the path she needs to take.
Once she becomes stronger, they will meet again.
Until that happens, she pledges to keep fighting.
Ahhhhh, that went well.
Prettttty darn well.
I was able to focus on making my performance as elegant as possible. There was a time in my training to become a mastermind when I pursued a fancy brand of swordplay. It was a little bit too graceful, so I don’t use it these days as Shadow, but I’m glad the work I put in back then is finally paying off.
Thanks to Annerose, I’m able to check off about 70 percent of my goals for this Bushin Festival. All that’s left is figuring out how I’m gonna drop out. There are a bunch of choices, though, so I’m at an impasse.
The simplest route would be to just win the whole thing, but looking at the tournament holistically, this next match against Iris is the best place to stage the climax. One option is defeating Iris and then just vanishing. That one has a badass feel to it.
It’s the scene where the mastermind defeats someone widely acknowledged as strong, then disappears, leaving them with a simple My work here is done…
I’m digging it.
Also, if I defeat Iris and vanish, my sister has a decent shot of winning the whole tournament.
But a scenario where I go evil is pretty appealing, too.
Halfway through my match with Iris, I can go, I’m an assassin from the Assassins Guild…and now your life is mine! and start ignoring the rules to go all out. That scenario gets bonus points for giving me an elegant reason to exit stage right.
Still, winning the whole thing really would give me the biggest sense of accomplishment.
There are plenty of other exciting options to pick from, too. I need to give this some good, hard thought.
As my various choices fill my mind, I make my way back to the deluxe suite. When I get there, I find some guy I don’t know sitting in my seat, so I decide to bail.
The Eminence in Shadow, Vol. 2 (Light Novel) Page 17