176 - The Martial Arts Tournament Without Teo
When I invited Nils to the martial arts tournament, saying there might be a dream match between Leonardo and Bertrand, he was surprisingly delighted. I had thought Nils, who looks so gentle, would not have much interest in swordsmanship, but it seemed I was wrong. Regardless of aptitude, boys apparently admire the Black Knights. I had thought Lusio would be more excited given his personality, but he did not seem very interested in the Black Knights. Though he did say he would come along to help Mirshe change her mood, so it is hard to tell if he is really uninterested or just looking out for Mirshe.
...Whether I should have invited Mirshe-chan or not, that was a difficult judgement, you know?
Inviting her would be good for impressing upon her parents that she is being watched by Leonardo through my eyes, but Teo came to last year's tournament. There is a possibility that Mirshe might have memories of Teo at the martial arts tournament. If I considered that Mirshe might remember Teo and be sad, then not inviting her might have been a valid option too.
...It has already been over a month since Teo disappeared.
Leonardo looked into it a little, and apparently the merchant who bought Teo was confirmed in the southwestern towns and villages. They were able to track him that far, but judging from the direction he was heading, Teo will probably be sold as merchandise in the neighboring Empire. Leonardo apologized, saying it would be difficult to track his whereabouts after that.
Since Teo suddenly pulled my hair last year, I got permission to enter the fortress through the back gate this year. Basically, people other than the Black Knights' families can enter the tournament venue if there are empty spectator seats. As part of the Black Knight family, I can walk right through the main gate without lining up, but I somehow felt I should avoid that. Even if I know that is just how it is, if a child walks through the main gate without waiting in line, it is only natural for the people in line to feel displeased.
...Besides, I have a lot of extras this year.
I invited Nils because he is a fan of Bertrand. I invited Lusio too since he is in the same compound as Nils. And since Lusio was concerned about Mirshe, I invited her too after some deliberation.
That much was within expectations.
What was beyond expectations was that Elke and Petrona also started saying they wanted to see the tournament. I never thought those two, who are all about love and fashion, would want to see something like a Black Knights' tournament that probably only smells of sweat and blood.
...Well, when I asked, I understood the reason.
Precocious Elke, who is in love with love, was seeking handsome men, and Petrona, who is interested in fashion, wanted to observe the fashion of the young ladies who gather to see the Black Knights. Neither of them is interested in the actual matches at all.
...Not being interested in the tournament itself is not so different from me.
Having seats filled by people with impure motives makes me feel bad for others. There are other young ladies who come for the Black Knights, but boys who admire the Black Knights also come to the tournament. If they are not interested in the tournament itself, I would like to leave the seats open for other people.
Even though the number had grown a bit like this, today's meeting place was the entrance to the knights' residential area. I would meet up with Mirshe and the others here, then enter the Fortress Lord's Residence once. It is in the opposite direction from the fortress's main gate, but this route is actually closer to the fortress courtyard where the tournament is held.
When we moved to the fortress courtyard, this year too there were six fenced arenas set up in the center. The spectator seats surrounding the fences were built the same as last year.
I parted ways early with Elke and Petrona, who wanted to go to the spectator seats, and looked for Leonardo's tent. The Black Knights already know my face, so I have free passage wherever I go.
...Uuh, maybe I should not have come after all.
Even though I am just walking, the high-pitched sound of clashing swords startles me and makes my shoulders flinch. We are far enough from the arenas, but I cannot help imagining that a deflected sword or sword tip might come flying this way by some mistake, and it is scary.
...But I am the one who invited everyone today. Even if I am scared, I have to be patient, patient.
I walked, weaving through people while holding Mirshe's hand, and reached the tent set up in the same place as last year. After calling out, I went inside, and as expected, Leonardo was there.
"Leonardo-san, I am here."
Like last year, Leonardo was covered head to toe in armor. It is a look I am not used to, so he looks cool, but I know that if I told him that directly, he would have a face I could not show outside for a while, so I deliberately do not say it. Leonardo is handsome when he keeps his mouth shut.
...The inside is pretty disappointing, though.
Counting the number of children, Leonardo finally patted Mirshe's head. Mirshe's eyes wavered for a moment as she looked up at Leonardo, so I decided I would give Leonardo a customized shoe baptism later. I am probably wrong, but I think Mirshe, seeing Leonardo up close, thought Teo would have been happy.
...Was it a mistake to bring her?
I started to feel down, but Lusio brought up a different topic with Leonardo, perhaps as a way to cover for her, and Mirshe's face did not cloud over any further.
...You know, Lusio, you are being a better big brother than Teo.
And if I am going to say it, a better brother than my own brother too.
"Speaking of which, Leonardo-san, I heard you are fighting the vice-commanders from the other fortresses. Are you doing four matches all by yourself?"
Bertrand's application was also accepted since his paperwork had no issues. The match between Leonardo and Bertrand is scheduled as a special event at the end of the tournament.
"As if. Fighting the vice-commanders of all four fortresses in a row by myself would be exhausting. My opponents are Alf and the new vice-commander of Lugmilama."
The remaining two vice-commanders would apparently be handled by Alf, who is the vice-commander of Grenore Fortress. Since Alf is the strongest at Grenore Fortress after Leonardo, if someone cannot beat Alf, that proves they are weaker than Leonardo. On the other hand, if one or both vice-commanders beat Alf, then Leonardo would have to fight additional matches.
"This year's match between me and Alf is already over, so... my next match is with Rumeel of Lugmilama."
"Rumeel-san, the one who delivered the luggage from Lagarette the other day...?"
"That is the one. Rumeel apparently defeated the previous vice-commander at this year's Lugmilama Fortress tournament and won splendidly. If they beat me today, they will formally become commander of Lugmilama Fortress."
It seems that every year, the vice-commanders of the three fortresses compete for one slot to have a match with Leonardo, but this year, since Lugmilama Fortress's vice-commander was newly appointed, that slot was gentlemanly ceded to them. Apparently, every knight wants to fight Leonardo at least once.
...His overly high reputation outside and his incompetence as a brother just do not match up.
As a brother, he ignores his sister's stories and takes the side of other people's kids. Leonardo is such a disappointment, but his reputation as a knight is so high it sounds almost shady. The reason I think it sounds shady is because I see him as family. Since I see many of his disappointing sides as family, I cannot bring myself to worship him as an ideal knight.
Since I had come all this way, I sat down in the spectator seats, still not quite used to the atmosphere. It should be a safer distance than the people watching right next to the fences.
The serious matches of the Black Knights seen from afar are still scary. The sound of sword clashes in the bind, the clashing of blades, the sound of shields and swords colliding... all of it felt like it was echoing directly in my stomach.
...But maybe I am handling it better than last year?
Perhaps it is just that since Mirshe is next to me, I am stubbornly refusing to show a disgraceful side as the older one. Still, I should be better than myself from last year. Last year, I came to the spectator seats, but the atmosphere around me was so scary I stayed hidden behind Leonardo the whole time. Even though an adult (Kalisa) is with me this year too, I am not clinging to her or hiding behind her. I think I am gradually getting used to this atmosphere.
...Without his mantle, I cannot tell who is who.
In the arena before me, a match began between Leonardo, wearing a helmet and a crimson mantle, and a Black Knight in a short deep navy mantle. From the color of the mantle, the opponent must be Rumeel of Lugmilama Fortress.
"Eek!?"
I could somehow manage to watch the other matches, but seeing a sword swung down at my own brother was a different kind of fear. Leonardo was cleanly parrying everything, but every time Rumeel's sword came down, I felt my lifespan shortening. It felt like my heart was being squeezed, and I could not calm down.
In the end, I could only watch Leonardo's match partway through. I deliberately forced it out of my field of vision and just wished for it to end quickly, so I feel like I did something apologizable to Leonardo. I could not watch the match, but Mirshe and Nils gave me commentary, so I was able to learn the result. The new vice-commander of Lugmilama Fortress apparently fought well but ultimately lost to Leonardo. The master of Lugmilama Fortress was decided to be Leonardo again this year.
When I returned to Leonardo's tent, Bertrand arrived in full armor with a beaming smile. Alf told me that Bertrand's sword and armor had been brought from his own territory just for today. As expected, a familiar sword and armor are best, he said.
The sight of Bertrand, not even out of breath despite winning all his matches, was a little frightening. I am sure Bertrand is past fifty years old, but he took on multiple young Black Knights who should be in their prime and showed no sign of fatigue. There had been talk of arranging a match with Leonardo, but they had set the condition that he also fight other Black Knights first, since favoritism was no good even for a former hero. If he won through against the other Black Knights and made it to the finals, they would prepare a match with Leonardo. Since he had won through all of them, that meant a special match with Leonardo would be arranged afterward, and this year too, the third position at Grenore Fortress would remain vacant.
...At this rate, maybe Bertrand-sama will come out of retirement and take the third position at the fortress?
As I was thinking such things, Bertrand's eyes, which had been scanning the room, stopped right next to me. He had met Mirshe once before, so he probably remembered her. Bertrand, who had celebrated Teo's birthday in such a bold way, stepped on Mirshe's landmine with the same kind of surprise attack as that day.
"Ah, that girl from before. Where is Teo? Is he not with you?"
...That is the taboo word!
There was no time to stop him. I had deliberately avoided the topic of Teo, but Bertrand, whom I had not seen in a while, naturally had not been told what happened to Teo. In the first place, under normal circumstances, Bertrand and Mirshe should not even have met again.
...I never thought Bertrand-sama would remember Teo and Mirshe's faces!
Even if he roughly remembered the existence of children from what happened, I never thought he would remember each child's individual face. Before I could come up with a good idea for how to shut Bertrand's mouth, Mirshe's face crinkled up. Just as she had finally started showing us her smile again recently, Mirshe began crying profusely from Bertrand's harmless remark.
"Bertrand-sama, you are expelled!"
"Huh?"
Bertrand, who had been blinking at Mirshe's sudden crying, blinked again at my equally sudden anger, but he seemed to realize he was the cause. Normally he would not budge an inch under my strength, but he obediently let himself be pushed out of the tent.
"Leo, you absolutely must defeat Bertrand-sama!"
I turned back to Leonardo with my cheeks still puffed up in anger and firmly issued my demand. I honestly did not know how far Leonardo could go against Bertrand, who had proven to have monster-like stamina, but no matter what, I wanted him to win today.
"...I will do what I can."
"That is where you should say 'Leave it to me' coolly!"
Still angry, I pushed Leonardo out of the tent too. Since I figured I would not be able to watch the match anyway because I would be too scared, I stayed in the tent with Mirshe, and Lusio and Nils kept us company too. Nils had been looking forward to the match between Bertrand and Leonardo, but he chose to stay with Mirshe. He said that since he had already seen Bertrand's heroic feats in other matches, he wanted to prioritize his crying friend.
The match result was told to me by Alf. Alf knows I am scared of watching matches, so he just tells me the results concisely.
Whether due to age or a difference in ability, the dream showdown between the old and new heroes, Leonardo versus Bertrand, ended with the active-duty Leonardo's victory. Bertrand was apparently regretting that if only he had been a bit younger.
"...Ah, Mirshe. Even if I did not know, I said something insensitive. Like this, please forgive me."
After the match, Bertrand returned to the tent, and having heard the circumstances from someone, he properly bowed his head and apologized to Mirshe. Mirshe accepted his apology, saying that she was the one who caused trouble by suddenly crying, and she was sorry too.
Typos and errors to be fixed another day. I have corrected the typos and errors I found.
The March 7th update will be skipped.