Chapter 95

“Yo, Hibiki . Good job . ” (Sai)

Along with the end of the first round, there would be a slightly longer break time .

As Lux and I left the waiting room, we were greeted by familiar faces who were busy talking about getting some snacks .

“You have already arrived, Sai?” (Hibiki)

“Yeah, I was right on time for Hibiki’s match . ” (Sai)

Behind Sai there was Kuesu and the others, as well as Amy and Zir .

“Good work, master . ” (Amy)

“Yea, t’was quite a bout . ” (Zir)

The two of them praised me .

“That’s right . You were up against a hero candidate after all . ” (Gary)

“It was really amazing . ” (Baara)

I nodded at Gary’s impression, and smiled at Baara in reply .

“[Annihilation] is my disciple after all . ” (Kuesu)

Winning was only natural . Kuesu had made that sort of statement . I wondered where that confidence came from .

“…” (Seira)

Seira was still staring at me . Without worrying about it, I continued with the conversation .

“Lux was much more amazing than I was . ” (Hibiki)

Kuesu shook her head, while Gary and the rest smiled wryly .

“Lux, is Lux . ”

“That’s right, there is no point in cheering for Lux’s matches . ”

“He’ll still survive even if left alone . ”

Contrary to what they said, it showed how much they trust him .

All of us entered a nearby restaurant but it seemed that everyone else also had the same thought . It was packed .

“This, I guess we came a bit late . ” (Hibiki)

“Master and Mr . Lux still have some matches left after this, so we better get them something to eat now if we can . ” (Amy)

“Since that is so, we all can simply eat whilst viewing the matches . ” (Zir)

I’m not that hungry yet, but I appreciated everyone’s concern .

Fortunately, Lux and I were still able to eat the sandwiches and skewers they had bought earlier from a street vendor .

“Ah, that’s right, Sai . I’m sorry, even though you have just arrived but I have something to request of you . ” (Hibiki)

I spoke to Sai while biting on the skewers .

“What’s with this rough treatment of your employees? Then, what do you want to ask?” (Sai)

I asked Sai to gather information about my next opponent .

“By next, do you mean that lady with a lot of scars?” (Sai)

Apparently he watched the girl’s match as well . His face looked troubled .

“Sure she’s quite strong, but not as good as you, Hibiki . ” (Sai)

Apparently her opponent was wrapped in a fire pillar as soon as the match began .

Saying that I’m better than her after seeing that match was quite weird .

“It’s just in case . I’ll just do what I have to do . ” (Hibiki)

“I know . I’ll collect as much information as I can before the match starts . ” (Sai)

Sai immediately left .

My match will be the second match, so it couldn’t be helped since there was not much time left .

Break time was over and the second round began .

At the moment, there were two magicians clashing with their magic spells in the arena .

Those two seemed to be a part of the “exempt from the preliminaries group” and were rivals to one another .

Since the commentator talked about the match for quite a long while, Sai’s info managed to get to me in time .

The winner of this match, was the elite magician who was proficient in water magic .

Now then, my match came next .

Called by the official, I quietly rushed to the arena .

I was greeted with the live commentator saying that ”This girl has a better chance of winning the match” .

As the referee announced the beginning of the match, the [Sickly Girl] immediately shot fire and water balls with both hands .

The crowd cheered at that flashy attack .

I manipulated the wind to divert their trajectory, cladding my sword in flames then proceeded to use the fiery sword to cut the water ball .

I couldn’t completely deflect the fireball, but I managed to divert it enough to allow me some gaps to wade through .

I somehow managed to withstand the first wave without a hitch, and returned fire with my own fireball . To display that I’m her senior it should be a bit bigger than the girl’s fireball, don’t you agree?

The girl didn’t even try to dodge the fireball . It directly hit her in the stomach .

The crowd started booing at me . What’s with this difference in treatment?

However, the girl was still standing there . Upon closer inspection, her stomach was actually protected by a layer of ice .

Apparently that was what neutralized my fireball .

“Girls shouldn’t let their stomach’s feel cold . ” (Hibiki)

I approached the girl while spouting that light remark . It was to fight within sword range .

The girl seemed to notice my intention, she prepared an ice blade in her left hand .

I once again cladded my sword in flames like I did earlier .

Fire Sword VS Ice Sword, both swords clashed against each other at the blade’s midsection .

It seemed to be a draw at first glance, but it was actually my loss .

I quickly released my grip on my sword and retreated .

The next moment, a fire and ice blast bloomed at where I previously stood .

“You have deprived me of my weapon, eh?” (Hibiki)

Taking a quick glance to the audience seats, I noticed Sai waving at me .

“Apparently, it seems that he rescued her safely . ” (Hibiki)

I sighed, then talked to the girl .

“Leelan . That’s enough . ” (Hibiki)

When I pointed towards Sai, [Sickly Leelan] turned towards the audience seats .

“Para, thank goodness . You really helped me out!!” (Leelan)

The girl fell to her knees and started crying .

The referee looked at me with scornful eyes . It seemed that he suspected me of threatening the other participant .

He reluctantly declared me the victor . The crowd also seemed to have the same idea, thus they started booing at me again .

Leelan and I could care less about such a thing and the both of us returned to the waiting room .

“Thank you, thank you very much . Big brother . ” (Leelan)

Leelan kept saying that repeatedly on our way back .

Well, what had actually happened before the match?

Let’s return back to the time before the first match started .

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“Hibiki!!” (Sai)

It was Sai who came to the waiting room alongside of Kuesu .

Apparently, people other than those concerned were not allowed to get in, which was why he brought Kuesu along .

“The thing about that girl, after I looked around for a while, I found it, found it . ” (Sai)

He seemed to have various things to say so I allowed him to explain it to me .

=====

That girl, she was an experimental object of a magical research institute .

The name registered for this tournament was [Number 15] .

For me, I could only hear it as a number, but for everyone else it seemed that they heard it as something that rhymes with 15 .

In other words, there were 14 other people before her .

The institute was experimenting in order to be able to artificially produce a magician with a dual or even more element combination .

Apparently, they experimented by having someone live in extreme environments, like next to the entrance of a volcano or near a iceberg, in order to force them to awaken a new element of magic .

They were able to awaken something, but the result was weak in power .

They repeatedly tried and found out that the younger the person they experimented on, the greater the result .

However, they stalled there . Using younger people also meant that their magic before awakening was not that strong .

It would be no different than a single element magician .

The next method, was to implant body parts of a monster with a certain element into the human body .

Again, there seemed to be some success .

Since it was directly put inside the body, it didn’t take very long to take effect .

However, they also stalled here .

Some individuals did obtain the power, but they soon died .

It seemed that the human body couldn’t handle that of a monster’s .

From those two attempts, two studies were born .

Raising a human from childbirth in an extreme environment, making them capable of mastering 2 elements as they grew into an adult .

Grafting monster parts onto the human body to transfer their attribute .

Both showed results, but both also had limitations .

With a more than normal ability, but less than an elite magician, an amiable human chimera was created .

The researchers who weren’t satisfied with the result continued to try to find a better method .

Having lived in an extreme environment from their early years, combined with the surgery method .

That was, the chimera magician .

[Number 15] was the fifteenth result of such an experiment .

She was a chimera with her own elder twin sister, showing practically no rejection to the implants and adjusted to them very well .

The masterpiece of the research institute .

======

That was the story Sai managed to dig out .

It was information gathered in such a short time . So there were bound to be some mistakes .

But knowing this much about her was already good .

Looking at the girl who sat in the corner, facing down .

That man from the first round didn’t seem to be around .

I was standing before her when she finally noticed .

“Why do you not run away?” (Hibiki)

I tried talking to the girl . The girl lifted her face and looked at me .

“If you are that strong, why didn’t you try to escape?” (Hibiki)

The girl finally realized my intentions .

“Because, I’m a big sister . ” (Leelan)

So it was just like what Sai told me .

“No, it’s because I’m Para’s big sister . ” (Leelan)

Para, was the name of the chimera born at the same time as her .

It was probably a measure to prevent escape or rebellion .

They threatened to kill Para if she went against them .

“If I rescue her, then you won’t have to fight anymore, right?” (Hibiki)

The girl looked at me with a surprised face .

“…hm . ” (Leelan)

Hearing that reply, Sai left the waiting room .

She’s been waiting for this moment .

“That uncle over there will go look for Para . ” (Hibiki)

“Really?” (Leelan)

“Yeah . So please don’t fight me seriously to buy some time . It will be hard for me if you come at me as fierce as in your previous match . ” (Hibiki)

“Hm . ” (Leelan)

And with that, she wouldn’t fight seriously in our match .

Sai also seriously started searching . He’s a really good guy after all .

“Hibiki, we’ll also help . ” (Baara)

Baara and the others also offered to help .

“It’s difficult to speak about but the church officials are suspicious . ” (Lux)

Lux whispered into my ear so as not to be heard .

“Why?” (Hibiki)

“She’s still alive even with that many traces of implant surgery . Even if the rejection was small, she should’ve run out of energy and died . ” (Lux)

I didn’t know anything about this transplantation surgery, nor about this rejection thingy, but I did understand a little about the operation . Baara noticed what I wanted to say .

In other words, the surgery wouldn’t be successful without extensive use of healing magic during the process .

Only the church was capable of bringing together a large amount of healers .

Baara frowned but nodded her head, then followed the others accompanying Sai .

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Before our match began, I had been trying to get to know her better .

As long as she trusted me even just a little, it’ll be less risky for me .

Her name [Leelan] apparently came from her older sister’s [Lee] and her own [Lanfa] .

The researchers usually only called her with “hey”, ”you”, or “Number 15” .

She had never met her older sister [Lee] before . It was only natural as they were separated since childbirth .

She was called [Lee] on the day of the surgery, the first time they met these two people mutually gave each other names .

[Regardless of who will expire first, I will always remember you and you will always remember me . ]

Those were the last words of her older sister [Lee] who she met for the first time .

“Big brother will not forget about Leelan’s matter, right?” (Leelan)

Even after the match had concluded and we returned back to the waiting room, Leelan never left my side .