"Wow!! Ríolíkin won!"
There wasn't a trace of pretense in Vigdís's cheering.
Like Reisir, it seemed she also wanted to continue staying with Ríolíkin in the future.
However, her admiration and joy at an acquaintance's victory were short-lived.
"By the way... can I win too...?"
It seemed she immediately remembered that she would have to go up on stage herself.
Vigdís's facial muscles stiffened instantly, revealing her anxiety.
Was she instinctively sensing her defeat? Or was she simply nervous?
"You've been training your body and learning swordsmanship for less than a year. Isn't it a bit arrogant to be worrying about things like that already?"
"...Huh?"
"It means it's too early to obsess over victory and defeat. Right now is the stage where you grow through the experience you gain by clashing, failing, and learning."
There is no loser's bracket in this tournament.
If you reach the semifinals, a 3rd Place Match remains even if you lose once, but if you lose in Round 1, you are eliminated without exception.
Even though the main tournament had only just begun.
'She's watching Ríolíkin, who used to be too scared to do anything during sparring, proudly display his skills and win immediately afterward, isn't she?'
If she lost right after seeing that, her mood would probably sink far beyond simple disappointment.
Because that thought crossed my mind, I unintentionally ended up giving advice-like words.
'Outwardly, Karvaldr is supposed to like Vigdís, so saying this much should be fine.'
Still, just in case.
I lifted my chin and looked at Vigdís with an expression that seemed to say, Refute me if I'm wrong.
Like Karvaldr.
As unpleasantly as possible.
"Ah...! I see. Everyone must have trained much longer than I have... Approaching the match with the intention of learning something from my opponent would be the proper attitude."
Vigdís relaxed and gave an awkward smile.
Judging from that reaction, it seemed she wouldn't become too dejected after losing.
"That's a good way to think about it. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just go out there and give it everything you've got."
Reisir stepped in with words of encouragement.
Since it was about time for Vigdís to head to the stage, it was an appropriate intervention.
"Thank you both! Then I'll be back!"
"Nyang, yaong myang~!"
After listening even to Yor's farewell, Vigdís left the audience seats.
Then she ran into Ríolíkin along the way, exchanged a few words with him, and was soon seen hurrying toward the stage again.
After pausing briefly, Ríolíkin also resumed walking and hurried back to our seats.
Then he opened his eyes wide and stared at me.
Until now, I hadn't bothered describing Ríolíkin because I had no intention of keeping him by my side for very long.
However, since I had just mentioned Ether colors during the match, I'll take this opportunity to briefly describe him.
Because his pupils are ivory-colored as well, they barely stand out from the whites of his eyes at first glance, so when he opens his eyes wide like that, his ferocious appearance doubles.
Even his hair is blood-red.
He truly looks like nothing less than a Yaksha.
'Yet despite looking like that, the reality is that he's just an adolescent eagerly waiting for praise...'
Internally clicking my tongue at the disconnect, I spoke in as composed a manner as possible.
"It was not a bad match."
"I-Is that all?"
"...You did well."
"A-And?"
"......It exceeded my expectations."
In the end, Ríolíkin managed to squeeze three entire phrases of praise out of me.
Only then did he grin broadly in satisfaction and sit down.
"Congratulations! Now you only have to defeat one more person!!"
"Ye, yeep...!"
Letting the sounds of Reisir and Ríolíkin laughing together pass in one ear and out the other, I turned my attention back to the stage.
Just then, Vigdís and her opponent had stepped onto the platform.
"Come to think of it, this is the eighth match, isn't it? Since there are sixteen Round 1 matches for each grade level, we're exactly at the halfway point! And what does that mean? It means exactly one student among those who have already appeared—or the two currently standing on stage—will advance all the way to the finals!"
The host threw out questions and answered them himself, whipping the crowd into excitement.
"Could the finalist already be sitting back in the audience after finishing their match? Or are they standing on the stage before your eyes right now?"
The latter is the correct answer.
"To find out, let's begin the match right away! Student Vigdís, Student Nidr. You're both ready, right?"
Vigdís and the expected runner-up, Nidr, nodded side by side.
Perhaps they had exchanged greetings while ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ the host had been busily talking.
I couldn't hear their voices, so I had no idea what was said.
In any case, they had already drawn their swords after exchanging a brief conversation.
After confirming the weapons in their hands, the host announced the start of the match.
The first person to launch an aggressive attack was Vigdís.
She didn't throw out a probing strike to gauge Nidr's abilities.
Instead, she swung her sword with all her strength at maximum speed.
She had said she would approach the match with the mindset of learning something from her opponent.
Yet she was doing exactly what she always did when sparring with Reisir.
Like the talented individual who became runner-up in the original novel, Nidr lightly deflected the incoming sword and immediately aimed his own blade at Vigdís's neck.
Under normal circumstances, the match would have ended right there.
Vigdís stepped forward without paying any attention to the piece of metal aimed at her throat.
Surprised by her action, Nidr tried to pull back his arm, but Vigdís's neck reached the sword first.
However, the sharp tip failed to pierce her skin.
It merely scraped across it, leaving a shallow cut.
'It's thanks to Vigdís's Ether Attribute.'
The skill registered in the Skill Window was called 【Iron Blood Steel Body】.
As an ability that greatly increases physical durability and makes the body resistant to blades and weapons,
it originally only hardened the skin.
However, due to the influence of {Tendency: Endurance}, an additional effect had been added, strengthening even her bones and internal organs.
Ríolíkin's 【Armor of Protection】 has an obvious weakness: the gaps around the joints.
Since 【Iron Blood Steel Body】 strengthens the body itself, it possesses no such weakness.
If I only explained that much, it would make Vigdís's ability sound vastly superior.
In reality, however, that isn't quite the case.
Unlike 【Armor of Protection】, which can automatically repair itself by consuming Ether, Vigdís's body accumulates damage unless she receives treatment.
Even its defensive power is lower.
'And most importantly...'
【Iron Blood Steel Body】 hardens the body.
It does not transform it into something fundamentally different.
It grants resistance to physical attacks.
That means it offers no resistance against things like fire or strong acid.
Against those, she suffers damage just like everyone else.
'It's fortunate that Ether, once filtered through attributes and compressed, is classified as a physical attack.'
Without that setting, it would practically be a useless skill.
In any case, that was why Vigdís eventually took on the role of Tank after becoming Reisir's companion in the original novel.
When she belonged to Karvaldr's Einheri team, which already had a Tank named Ríolíkin, she instead filled the role of Damage Dealer.
'Judging by how she just ignored a sword aimed at her neck, Vigdís's disposition is definitely much closer to the Damage Dealer side.'
Since Vigdís would eventually break off her engagement with this possessed body and join someone else's team anyway, it had absolutely nothing to do with me.
The thought simply came to mind naturally.
Even if she possesses a skill that protects her body,
very few people can overcome instinctive fear and willingly thrust their neck toward a sharp blade.
'Perhaps she moved unconsciously because she felt she would gain nothing if the match ended immediately... Even taking that into account, it's something extraordinarily difficult for a rookie who has never experienced real combat.'
Perhaps realizing that aiming at vital points would never make Vigdís surrender, Nidr coated his sword in ochre Ether and began launching a fierce barrage of attacks.
As expected, he was trying to secure victory over Vigdís.
Force her out of bounds.
Accumulate damage.
Make her drop her weapon.
Or deliver a physical blow powerful enough to overwhelm the defensive power of 【Iron Blood Steel Body】.
Those were essentially his only options.
'Ah, would overwhelming the defense of 【Iron Blood Steel Body】 through pure physical force even be possible? To accomplish that through strength alone, you'd need to be at least as strong as Ríolíkin.'
There was also the option of inflicting attribute damage, but I excluded that possibility because it didn't apply here.
Nidr's Ether ability is 【Earth Control】, and while it is classified as a physical attack...
'He intended to win this tournament using swordsmanship alone without relying on his Ether Attribute. Even if he possessed an attribute ability effective against Vigdís, he wouldn't use it.'
Still, if he faced Reisir in the finals, he would use it.
That was what happened in the original novel.
In other words, he wasn't refraining from using it because he couldn't.
He simply believed he could win comfortably without it.
As though proving that point, Vigdís was currently being pushed back helplessly.
"Uh, uuh...? T-That person... h-he seems r-really strong...?"
Ríolíkin, who would have to face Nidr in the next round, voiced his bewilderment.
Unlike Vigdís, who only had to fight him once,
Ríolíkin was in a position where he would have to defeat him.
Naturally, such a reaction was inevitable.
"Exactly. He doesn't even seem to be using his full strength."
"Y-You can tell even that?"
"More or less, judging from his movements and expression. More importantly, he isn't using Ether skills. That probably means he has that much room to spare."
Reisir answered with a surprisingly serious expression while fiddling with his eyepatch.
Given his personality, he normally wouldn't use the 【Truth Reading Eye】 on others just to win a simple tournament match.
A fair fight wouldn't exist if he did that.
'But the circumstances are different now.'
Ríolíkin stamped his feet and made a tearful face, lamenting that he should have defeated one more person during the preliminaries.
Seeing that reaction, Reisir let out a small sigh and slightly lifted the eyepatch covering his right eye.
I slowly raised one hand and extended my index finger.
'If he turns his head toward me without covering that silver eye again, I'm poking him.'
About two minutes passed while I watched Reisir and swallowed dryly.
Then he lowered the eyepatch back over his silver eye and looked toward me.
"...What's with that finger?"
"What about my finger?"
I hurriedly folded my index finger and hid my hand behind my back.
Immediately, Reisir narrowed the eye that wasn't covered by the eyepatch.
Anyone could tell he was suspicious.
"Considering you've been staring at me instead of the match, don't tell me it's that again..."
"Why did you suddenly lift your eyepatch?"
"H-Huh?"
"Weren't you supposed to keep that eye hidden?"
The moment I returned the suspicion to him, his left eye widened and his golden pupil trembled.
"That is, well... this eyepatch doesn't have very good ventilation. I have to let it breathe occasionally...! And with this many people around, who would even pay attention to my eye and look into it? So it's fine."
"Well... if you say so."
Even as I said that, I maintained an expression that clearly conveyed my continued suspicion and stared at his eyepatch for a moment longer.
The goal was to leave the impression that I didn't believe him at all, but was choosing to let it slide anyway.
Only then would Reisir be unable to keep pressing me about the finger.
