"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 over 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 in an instant, revealing her anxiety.
Was she instinctively sensing her own defeat? Or was she simply nervous?
"You haven't even been training your body and learning swordsmanship for a year. Isn't it too arrogant to worry about things like that already?"
"···Huh?"
"It means it's too early to obsess over victory and defeat. Right now is the period where you grow through the experience you accumulate by clashing, failing, and improving."
There is no such thing as a loser's bracket in this tournament.
If you make it to the semifinals, a third-place match remains even after a loss, but if you lose in Round 1, you are eliminated without exception.
Even though the main tournament had only just begun.
'She's seeing the coward Ríolíkin, who couldn't do anything during sparring because he was afraid of fighting, immediately after he confidently competed and won with his own skill, right?'
If she were to lose at this timing, wouldn't her mood sink past simple disappointment and into outright misery?
Because that thought occurred to me, I inadvertently ended up offering something close to advice.
'Outwardly, the setting is that Karvaldr likes Vigdís, so saying this much should be fine.'
Still, just in case.
I lifted my chin and looked at Vigdís with an expression that challenged her to refute me if I was wrong.
Like Karvaldr.
To look as unlikable as possible.
"Ah...! I see. Everyone must have been training much longer than me... Approaching the match with the mindset of learning something from my opponent would be the correct attitude."
Vigdís relaxed and smiled awkwardly.
Judging by that reaction, it seemed she wouldn't be despondent even if she lost.
"Good thinking. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just go out there and give it everything you've got."
Reisir cut in with a few words of encouragement.
Since it was about time for Vigdís to head to the stage, it was appropriate timing.
"Thank you both! Then, I'll be back!"
"Nyang, yaong myang~!"
Vigdís even listened to Yor's send-off before leaving the audience seats.
Then, she ran into Ríolíkin on the way, exchanged a few words with him, and was soon seen hurrying toward the stage again.
Ríolíkin also started walking after stopping briefly and quickly returned to our seats.
Then he opened his eyes wide and stared at me.
Until now, I hadn't bothered describing Ríolíkin since I had no intention of keeping him by my side for long, but since I mentioned Ether colors during the match earlier, I'll briefly describe him now.
Because his pupils are also ivory-colored, they don't stand out much from the whites of his eyes at a glance, so when he opens them wide like that, the ferocity doubles.
With even his hair being blood red, he truly looks like nothing less than a Yaksha.
'However, despite looking like that, the reality is that he's just an adolescent expecting praise...'
Clicking my tongue inwardly at the disconnect, I spoke in as composed a manner as possible.
"It was not a bad match."
"Is t-that it?"
"···You did well."
"A-And?"
"······It exceeded expectations."
In the end, Ríolíkin managed to wring three whole phrases of praise out of me.
Only then did he grin in satisfaction and sit down.
"Congratulations! Now you only have to beat one more person!!"
"Ye, yeep...!"
Letting the sound of Reisir and Ríolíkin giggling pass through one ear and out the other, I turned my gaze toward the stage.
Just then, Vigdís and her opponent had stepped onto it.
"Come to think of it, this is the eighth match, right? Since there are sixteen Round 1 matches for each grade, 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 to the finals!"
The host tossed out questions and answered them himself, stirring up the atmosphere.
"Could the finalist already be back in the audience after finishing their match? Or are they ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) on the stage you're watching right now?"
The latter was the correct answer.
"To find out, let's begin the match quickly! Student Vigdís, Student Nidr. You're both ready, right?"
Vigdís and the expected runner-up, Nidr, nodded side by side.
Whether they had exchanged greetings while the host busily talked away, I couldn't hear them, so I didn't know what was said. In any case, they had already drawn their swords after a brief conversation.
After confirming the weapons in their hands, the host announced the start of the match.
The first to launch an energetic attack was Vigdís.
Instead of probing Nidr's skill with a light strike, 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.
She was doing exactly what she always did during sparring with Reisir.
Like the talented runner-up from the original novel, Nidr lightly deflected the incoming sword and aimed his own blade at Vigdís's neck.
Normally, the match would have ended right there.
Vigdís stepped forward without paying any attention to the blade pointed at her throat.
Startled by that action, Nidr tried to pull back his arm, but Vigdís's neck reached the sword first.
However, the sharp tip did not pierce her skin.
It merely scraped across it.
'It's thanks to Vigdís's Ether Attribute.'
The name registered in the Skill Window was 【Iron Blood Steel Body】.
It was an ability that increased physical durability, making the body resistant to swords and blades.
Originally, only the skin hardened, but under the influence of {Tendency : Endurance}, an additional effect was added that strengthened even the bones and internal organs.
Ríolíkin's 【Armor of Protection】 has a clear weakness: the gaps around the joints.
Since Vigdís's 【Iron Blood Steel Body】 strengthens the body itself, it has no such weakness.
If I only explained that much, it would seem far superior, but reality wasn't quite so simple.
Unlike 【Armor of Protection】, which can automatically repair damage by consuming Ether, Vigdís's body can only accumulate damage unless she receives treatment.
Even its defensive power is lower.
'And most importantly...'
【Iron Blood Steel Body】 hardens the body. It doesn't transform it into something fundamentally different.
It provides resistance to physical attacks.
Which means it offers no resistance to things like fire or strong acid, so she suffers harm from them just like anyone else.
'It's fortunate that Ether, filtered through attributes and compressed, is classified as a physical attack.'
Without that setting supporting it, the skill would have been nearly worthless.
In any case, that was why Vigdís 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 in Ríolíkin, she served as a Damage Dealer instead.
'Judging by how she ignored the sword aimed at her neck just now, Vigdís's tendencies seem much closer to the 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.
Even if she possesses a skill that protects her body, a person capable of overcoming instinctive fear and pressing their neck against a sharp sword tip is rare.
'Maybe her body moved unconsciously because she thought she'd gain nothing if the match ended immediately... Even so, that would still be incredibly difficult for a rookie who hasn't experienced real combat.'
Perhaps realizing he wouldn't force a surrender from Vigdís merely by threatening vital points, Nidr coated his sword in ochre Ether and began unleashing a fierce assault.
As expected.
To seize victory against Vigdís.
Forcing her out of bounds, accumulating damage, making her drop her weapon.
Or landing a physical blow powerful enough to exceed the defensive capability of 【Iron Blood Steel Body】.
Those were essentially the only four methods available.
'Ah, would inflicting a physical blow strong enough to break through 【Iron Blood Steel Body】 even be possible? To do that through pure physical 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 it since it wasn't relevant here.
Nidr's Ether ability was 【Earth Control】, and while it was classified as a physical attack...
'He intended to win this tournament through swordsmanship alone, without using his Ether Attribute ability. Even if he possessed an attribute effective against Vigdís, he wouldn't use it.'
Still, if he met Reisir in the finals, he would use it.
Because that was what happened in the original novel.
In other words, he simply believed he could win comfortably without relying on Ether skills.
As if proving that point, Vigdís was currently being pushed back helplessly.
"Uh, uuh...? T-That person. H-He seems s-super 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 had to defeat Nidr himself, so such a reaction was only natural.
"Exactly. He doesn't even seem to be using his full power."
"Y-You can tell even that?"
"From his movements and expression, roughly. More importantly, he isn't using Ether skills. That probably means he has that much room to spare."
Reisir replied with an unusually serious expression while fiddling with his eyepatch.
Given his personality, since this wasn't a life-or-death battle, he normally wouldn't use the 【Truth Reading Eye】 on others just to win a tournament.
A fair match wouldn't exist if he did.
'But the circumstances are different now.'
Ríolíkin stomped his feet and tearfully lamented that he should have defeated one more opponent during the preliminaries.
Seeing that, 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'll poke him.'
About two minutes passed while I watched Reisir and swallowed dryly.
Then he lowered the eyepatch over the silver eye once more and looked at me.
"···What's with that finger?"
"What about my finger?"
I quickly folded my index finger back down and hid my hand behind my back.
Then Reisir narrowed his uncovered left eye.
Anyone could tell he was suspicious.
"Considering you've been staring at me instead of the stage where the match is taking place, surely not again..."
"Why did you suddenly lift your eyepatch?"
"H-Huh...?"
"Weren't you supposed to keep that eye hidden?"
When I returned his suspicion in full, his narrowed eye widened and his golden pupil trembled.
"That is, well... This eyepatch doesn't have very good ventilation. I need to air it out occasionally...! And with this many people around, who would actually take an interest in my eye and look into it? So it's fine."
"Well..., if you say so."
Even as I said that, I kept an unconvinced expression and stared at Reisir's eyepatch for a moment.
To make it clear that although I didn't believe him at all, I was willing to let it go.
Only then would Reisir be unable to keep pressing the issue of my finger.
