kscans

Chapter 108 - Preliminary Results

"—Once again, I'm Rotta. Sorry for teasing you like that."

"N-No… um, I'm Haru's partner, Sora. It's a pleasure to meet you, Rotta-san."

After bowing her head to Sora, Rotta returned the gesture with a smiling "A pleasure, Sora-chan," then turned his gaze to me, sitting beside her.

"To have a partner after just a month and a bit, I'm impressed. It seems you've had quite an exciting adventure."

"I admit, it's been a journey full of turmoil, even by my standards."

And all of it connects to the miracle of meeting her on that day I dived into this virtual world.

Thinking about it now, it feels profound—no, it's a level of luck that can't be expressed in words. I'll continue to cherish it.

"Seeing those leather gloves and boots, can I assume you're a combat-build player as well?"

"Yes, um… I'm a s-swordsman!"

Sora-san's enthusiastic answer to Rotta's question is so cute. That's right… her dream has finally come true…!

Even though it was only for about three days, I recall the days of effort when she was a magnificent cloudy Sora. No, seriously… she's really become so respectable, truly.

"I see, a girl like you becoming a swordsman in just over a month—it seems there's a lot to this story as well, huh?"

Hey, why are you looking at me?

"Sora-chan, is there a reason you didn't participate with Haru this time?"

I couldn't just talk about Sora's personal matters without her permission, and Rotta probably had no intention of prying either.

After casually glancing away from me, he turned his attention back to Sora, who, despite still showing a slight nervousness, answered his question.

"I've been a little busy in the real world lately… and even if I weren't, I never even considered participating in the Four Pillar War myself."

"Not interested in PvP?"

"It's not that… um, I'm just not as aggressive as Haru."

Hey, I'm not that aggressive either… I'm just enjoying combat as a main theme of the game. Really.

"So, it's not that you don't want to participate. For example, what if you were to participate with your partner?"

"Uh… um, well…"

What's this? She's hesitating in a way that's a bit unlike her. It's not that she's tongue-tied, but rather—…hmm, I see?

"—Sorry, I didn't mean to press you like that."

Rotta, probably having read Sora's heart just as I had, offered an apology and smiled as if to brush aside his own question.

No, not at all—Sora's question time with the apologetic girl seemed to be over for now. Rotta turned back to me, showing signs that he was finally ready to get to the main topic.

"Well, we've strayed quite a bit… Haru, let's talk about what comes next."

"Yeah, please do."

Originally, this was supposed to be a lecture on the flow of events after I had passed the preliminary selection round.

Thanks to some prankster's foolishness, we'd taken quite a detour, but Rotta, who seemed to be serious about his duties, took the helm.

"You, who have passed the first selection preliminary round, will next participate in the second selection preliminary round… a one-on-one match against a player who, like you, has passed the first round—that is the normal procedure."

"…The way you put it, it sounds like that normal procedure won't apply to me."

As I gave Rotta a suspicious look for suddenly creating a sense of foreboding, he raised his hands as if to say, "What's so surprising about that?"

"Of course. There's absolutely no point in making you do something like that."

As he said that, one of his raised hands summoned a system window—Rotta's gaze swept over its surface, and a familiar, cheerful smile appeared on his face.

"It's been almost thirty minutes since the preliminaries started. Results from other blocks are starting to come in, but… well now, do you really think there's any other block that was dominated by a single player in just seven minutes?"

"………………There, might be?"

It's not that I'm thinking anything in particular, but being emphasized like that makes me feel uncomfortable for some reason…

I couldn't bring myself to boast deliberately, so I gave a vague response. In contrast to me, Rotta was in a great mood, as if he were enjoying my battle results, looking at the window that must have been displaying the preliminary results.

"First Selection Preliminary Round, Block 89, qualifier: [Haru]—Kill count: 65, Kill assists: 6."

"………………"

"Wow…"

In response to the results, which were read out with particular relish, I looked away and fell silent. And Sora-san let out a weak voice, as if she couldn't find the words.

"Do you really think there's any other player who has achieved such an outstanding battle record single-handedly?"

"…………Um, if Haru is number one, how much did the person in second place have?"

While I was at a loss for what to say, a question flew from Sora, who seemed to have been genuinely curious.

"In terms of kill count alone, the next highest is a player with 13."

Though he was taken down for being too reckless, Rotta laughed mercilessly, turning it into a joke.

Incidentally, the exact time until the battle in my Block 89 ended was 7 minutes and 12 seconds. The next fastest block to finish was apparently around 26 minutes.

"…Um, I understand that I produced some strange results, so if you could please move on."

No matter how you slice it, this is just going to lead to praising me.

I'm grateful to be expected of and praised, and I'm happy that Sora seems to be proud, but…

Being put on a pedestal like this just throws me off. I'm not used to being overly praised.

"Well, that's why you'll be treated as a seed in the second preliminary round that follows. Your next stage will be the main tournament of the selection match."

"The main tournament… a one-on-one tournament format, right?"

As far as I'd heard from Kagura-san and Nia, that should be it.

"That's right. Are you familiar with the outline?"

"Yeah, I've been taught the basics by some senior players."

Although it was called a tournament, it wasn't a case where those who won would be selected from the top.

Winning in the tournament meant increasing your chances to show off. The further you advanced, the more opportunities you had for appeal time, and in the end, the players who caught the eye of the 'Committee' would be selected as members for the Four Pillar War main tournament—or so I was told.

"For this Four Pillar War, Istia has set 150 'frontline' slots. The number of participants in the main tournament, including about 50 from the preliminaries, will be around 600… so, simply put, one-fourth will be selected."

"One-fourth, huh."

Is that a lot or a little…

"Because I have high expectations for you, I'll give you a warning—don't base your expectations on the preliminaries. The players who came up from the preliminaries like you are one thing, but the direct participants in the main tournament are on a different level."

His serious face sent a shiver down my spine.

"Uh… so I should just think of everyone as being on Rotta's level?"

I asked this quite seriously, but…

"—…Hah ha! I don't know what misunderstanding you have, but."

Upon hearing my question, Rotta laughed as if he found it hilarious—

"If you don't go in thinking that they're all opponents that someone like me wouldn't stand a chance against, you'll be in for a rough time."

His voice, as he uttered those terrifying words, held not a shred of a joke.