----Conan's POV----
Ouch... My whole body hurts. I feel like my head is going to fall off, and I can't feel my arms...
"Are you awake?"
"Anna..."
Along with Anna, the other kids came over, as well as Ophelia and Miss Hyeol.
"How are you? It looks like you can't move."
Ophelia spoke to me, laughing softly.
"I can't."
There's no point in lying, I can only let them laugh at me... Ah! What happened in my fight? Did I win? With that in mind, I got up suddenly, only to fall face-first onto the floor.
"Did you forget the pain? Is it because you want to know if you won?"
At Hyeol's words, I could only nod. Meanwhile, Ghisliane and Goon-woo helped me lie down on the bed again.
"It was a tie. But after hearing the judges' opinion, it was decided to give you the victory."
"R-really?"
"Yes! So be happy, you're moving on to the next round."
Ahhh, that's good... I'm sure Ophelia's punishment would have been worse if I had been the first to lose.
"While you were unconscious, the others already participated and advanced to the next round. Everyone except Oswin."
What? Oswin lost? To answer my question, I turned my head to look at Oswin. Now that I see him, I realize he's badly beaten.
"That's right, I lost..."
...He's missing a tooth... Well, at least only one of us lost. If we advance, we can free Oswin a little from his failure.
After a few minutes of talking, a woman in white clothes came in and gave me some medicine. Curious, I asked Ophelia what it was, and she replied that it was a substance that inhibited pain and stimulated the muscles. Apparently, they give this to the winners so that they don't lose their level.
What surprised me most was that I instantly felt full of energy. I would even say it was much more than that; I had to jump around the room to feel a little tired.
"Well, you'd better go get ready to go out, your fight is starting soon."
"Yes!"
Following Miss Hyeol's words, I ran out of the room, heading towards where the other participants were.
<<>>
A few hours had passed and, to my surprise, I made it to the finals! It wouldn't have happened if Ghislaine hadn't let me win in the semifinals.
So far, the fights went like this:
Me vs. Anna, where I won.
Goon-woo vs. the girl with thick blades, where Goon-woo ended up losing.
Ghislaine vs. Della, where Ghislaine won
Celdric vs. an extremely tall, green-skinned boy, where Celdric barely won
Adhel vs. a pink-skinned girl with horns, where Adhel lost
Isolde vs. a hairless boy wearing a uniform almost identical to ours, except his was orange and white, where the boy won
And two more that I didn't pay attention to, but I know a boy and another girl won.
After that:
Me vs. Celdric, where I won.
Ghislaine vs. the pink-skinned girl, where Ghislaine won.
The girl with the blades vs. the hairless boy, where the girl won. Something to note is that they weren't blades, they were fans.
And finally, the two boys, where the girl won.
To finish:
Me vs. Ghislaine, where I won after Ghislaine let me win.
The girl with the fan vs. the remaining girl, where the girl with the fan won.
<<>>
"Conan, are you ready?"
"Yes! I just have to win this fight and I'll win the tournament!"
I couldn't help but respond enthusiastically to Ophelia's question. The tournament had taken longer than I thought and I was starting to feel tired. Even though they were applying medicine and healing magic to us, I was starting to feel a little sleepy.
"Contestant, Conan, go to the arena!"
"Looks like it's time. I wish you luck."
This is the first time Ophelia has ever wished any of us luck. For that reason, I won't lose!
----Ophelia's POV----
"You guys, get up and let's go. We have to watch this last fight."
"Ugh..."
"Can we go...?"
"My body hurts..."
Apparently, not being given that medicine did affect them. All my students were sitting in a corner of the room, huddled together like bags of potatoes.
"If you didn't want this, you should have won!"
With a wave of my hand, I made them float and lined them up behind me. Without waiting for them, I opened the door and left the room, hoping they would follow me.
"Still, it's surprising that Conan is the only one who made it to the final."
I can't help but agree with Hyeol's words. Even though he's a child, he has a lot of stamina. Besides, being of the berserker race drives him even more.
"And every time he gets angry, the roots of his hair turn red."
"So you noticed it too? This only confirms that he will grow much more if he is under my wing."
... She's right, it's a shame to let him go, but it's better than him stagnating at a mediocre level.
----Conan's POV----
All right, here we are!
"This marks the start of the final battle of the tournament! Conan, a 6-year-old boy and member of the Fallen Sun Sect! Against Eun-ha, a 13-year-old girl and member of a small noble family from the north of this kingdom! Let's see who will be the victor!"
She's 13 years old? But she's only a little taller than me, why is she so small? Lost in my thoughts, I didn't hear the trumpet signaling the start.
Damn it! The girl stood in front of me, crouching and bending her body to kick me directly in the chin. The blow was so strong that it lifted me off the ground, leaving me vulnerable to another direct kick to the stomach.
-Pum!
"Kuagh!"
I ended up rolling on the ground, holding my stomach as I tried to calm down. But without letting me catch my breath, the girl appeared in front of me. Her fan, now open, made an upward movement toward my face, which I barely managed to dodge by leaning back.
-Swiish!
I need to get away! I jumped back several times, trying to get as far away as possible to catch my breath. As soon as I focused my gaze forward, the closed fan appeared in front of me. I had to bend backward to escape it, and I could clearly see that the weapon was attached to a thin string. Determined, I grabbed the string and cut it with my sword, causing the fan to fall to the ground.
Clink!
"How about that! You don't have a weapon anymore!"
I taunted her, bending down and picking up the weapon from the ground, raising it in front of me. To my surprise, the girl just smiled at me before inciting me to attack with a flick of her finger.
Huh? She's taunting me! Seeing her mock me, even though I had stolen her weapon, I threw it away before lunging at her. Propelling myself with a jump and closing in on her, I made several cuts toward her arms.
-Shhh! Shaa! Fshhh!
Each and every cut was dodged, and then she raised her knee slightly and hit me in the jaw again.
Angry, I moved my head down and pushed her leg down, leaving her vulnerable. I took advantage of the situation and threw an open-handed punch. I was so confident that I didn't pay attention to anything else, which caused my hand to be cut by a dagger.
"AHH-"
Before I could finish screaming, I received another punch to the face. Why does she always aim for the face!?
The blow was so strong that it broke my nose, causing a river of blood to flow from it.
"That's why you shouldn't fall for provocations."
"Don't give me advice!"
I yelled, holding my sword. The girl stepped on it and blocked it, before crouching down and repeatedly hitting me in the face.
----Ophelia's POV----
"Ishhhh!"
That must hurt!
"Poor Conan, he did well but fell so low."
"Well, it will serve as experience."
I couldn't help but agree with Hyeol. Conan was taking so many blows to the face that he was slowly becoming unrecognizable. The beating was so bad that the presenter had to stop it before naming the winner.
"W-well, as you saw, Miss Eun-ha won the tournament!"
-Woaaaahhhh!
Everyone celebrated her victory, while other people picked Conan up and carried him out of the arena.
"Come on, we have to go see him."
"Too bad... Conan lost."
"Yeah... I didn't even see that knife."
"Wasn't that the hand Adhel stabbed him with?"
"Ah... that's right, I stabbed him with my spear!"