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“Hrahh!”

Barbaros forcefully swung his sword down, which Luvias dodged by the width of a hair. The speed of his feet and attacks were on a whole different level compared to before. Thanks to the rigorous training Luvias went through she was barely able to dodge everything, but a regular soldier would have died before knowing what had happened.

“So you can still dodge. But I’ll keep going faster! Let’s see how much longer you can keep you!”
“Khuh?!”

As if proving his words, every time he attacked his movements became swifter and precise, while Luvias had a harder time evading him. Her body began receiving shallow cuts, which increased at the same time as the audience’s view of her deteriorated. At that rate, she would keep getting chipped down until she lost, and she herself seemed to realize that as she jumped back and unleashed her magic.

“Flare Lance!”

So far Luvias could only use fire and healing magic. Her talent with magic was not the best, but luckily she was blessed with two of the most versatile types of magic, so if employed correctly she should be able to defeat stronger enemies than herself. We had also thoroughly trained her magic control, as well as making her practice shortening her chanting a disgusting number of times, so now she could unleash spells with one or two words. The lance of flames she launched packed quite a punch, comparable to Ciel’s spells in power, but Barbaros flicked it away with a single hand even though normally it would have burned down anything to a crisp.

“Wha-?!”
“I can also use magic! Just like this!”

Flaming orbs floated from Barbaros’ palm. Back when he fought against Karin he had also used fireballs, but now they looked a step above in size and heat. As soon as they were released, Luvias attempted to evade them, but the flames that burst from the ground when the fireballs collided with it managed to reach her feet, burning her skin and making it shrivel up.

“Gahh! H-heal!”

Her burns started to slowly heal as she cast her magic, but Barbaros would not give her enough time to completely heal, running at her with his sword ready. Luvias desperately resisted the pain as she confronted him, even though she had no way of winning anymore. Now that it had come to this, she would be better off by surrendering before things got nasty, but her pride would not let her do that.

I could only clench my fists watching Luvias refuse to give up, even when fully aware she would lose. I had never expected Barbaros would use something like that, the strengthening ability he mentioned… I had seen something similar in the past. Back when I went to the Haunted Lands as a hero and fought against the demons there.

Even though the demons all had widely different shapes, as opposed to other races, there was that one thing they all had in common. A strengthening ability just like Barbaros. Demons already had formidable strength which allowed them to fend off the humans who were much more numerous, and that was also thanks to the strengthening power which allowed a single demon to defeat many humans, even without the help of monsters.

The demons, inferior in number, were probably the first ones to figure out that a single individual with tremendous strength could overpower many weaker opponents. Though I also remember that before I retired there were a few humans who also supported the demons, though not many, but most of them ended up being able to use the strengthening ability themselves. So in other words, the fact that Barbaros could use it meant that Leble was supporting the demons. Then again, three hundred years had passed since then, so I was the only one who could tell those were demon abilities at a glance, and that was the reason why Barbaros could use it publicly like that.

“That’s enough… you’ll have to surrender Luvias. It’ll only get worse if you keep going.”

Even with many deep wounds, Luvias refused to give up and I could not bear watching that any longer.

–––Bandit’s viewpoint

I’m Bandit, hero of the seaside country of Barius. I barely have any accomplishments as a hero, but I believe I have what it takes to take that title. After all, I was not chosen because of my lineage, but because I won a countrywide tournament. That’s why I believe that if I keep fighting powerful foes I’ll eventually make up for my lack of experience and become even stronger. Because of that, I kept looking for strong people both in my country and abroad, asking for matches whenever I could, that way I would still learn something whether I won or lost. One day like that, I randomly received an order to go to Leble. On the surface, it was a friendly visit, but in reality, I was supposed to spy on them. They’re an ambitious empire with a growing army, so I could use this opportunity to find out what their objective is.

At first, I thought it would be way too bothersome for me and I wasn’t really psyched about it, but that changed when I heard the heroes from other countries would be there too. Meeting them and maybe learning something from them was good enough, but if I could even train with them I would never refuse such a good deal, so I instantly signed up.

My first impression of Leble was that of a somber country. Maybe it was my homeland that was too laid back and easygoing, but I barely felt any energy in the lives of people here. It might have been a cultural thing, or maybe the result of the oppressive government, but almost no one smiled publicly. Adults aside, not even the children were lively. As much as I tried, I could not get to like the overall ambiance of this country. The only event that sounded interesting was a mock battle between knights, and since the country focused so much on its military power I hoped for a really wild and interesting fight…but even then my expectations were thwarted.

Did the people there really think that average men randomly hitting each other was amazing? As I found out, not really. Only the nobles who had no experience with fighting whatsoever seemed to be entertained, but as far as I went I got so bored that halfway through I fell asleep. But when that battle ended something fun happened, their hero Barbaros started a fight with Luvias.

At first, I thought it was insane to think he would pick a fight with someone who visited them on friendly terms, not to mention they invited her themselves, but Luvias accepted his challenge and their match began.