Chapter 27: A Match I Can’t Win

Elias climbed down from the arena after getting announced as the winner of the match.

He felt a little baffled that Lucien had gone down completely unconscious from just a handful of punches. His nerves and worry stemmed from the fact that Lucien was a noble’s son, and nobles like that were almost always ridiculously talented.

That’s exactly why he hadn’t given Lucien a single second of breathing room and just kept pressing the attack nonstop.

"Well... if I’d given him even a few seconds, I was worried he might pull out some move that could actually hurt me."

"No way~ the tournament rules literally say no magic or attacks above Grade D."

"But this is Lucien we’re talking about. You know he’s probably still holding a grudge against me, right?"

"But look, you didn’t even get a scratch."

"I can’t afford to get hurt, period. I’m a Caretaker, I have to look after and protect Lady Evelyn and Elysia. Besides, I need to keep getting stronger if I actually want to protect them both."

For a moment, Elias lowered his head, staring down at his own palms.

"On top of that, I’ve got someone waiting for me back home. My only family."

Felix fell silent when Elias suddenly brought up his only family out of nowhere. He didn’t know what to say, and besides, he had no idea who that family even was.

Sensing the conversation was about to drift into heavier territory he shouldn’t be wading into, Felix quickly switched topics.

"You’re up again in a bit, you know."

"Seriously? And here I thought I was done after that one..."

Elias let out a lazy sigh, munching on the snack he’d bought from Felix earlier.

"Well, since you won that match, you automatically advance to the next round. You should really be thanking me, you know."

Elias leaned his face in closer toward Felix, eyes narrowing like he was studying something.

"Hoo~ so that confirms it, you’re the one who signed me up, aren’t you?"

Felix, once again, just kept staring straight ahead with a perfectly flat expression, a faint sheen of sweat forming on his face.

"I have no idea what you’re talking about."

Elias let out a long sigh, figuring there was no point pushing this any further. The guy wasn’t about to admit it anyway!

"By the way, I had no idea you were that strong."

"Strong? Please... This is nothing compared to my Ladies."

"Y-yeah... That’s like comparing a pebble to a mountain...

But honestly, I’m genuinely impressed by how you fight. How’d you even pull that off?"

Elias paused for a moment, thinking over Felix’s question while sipping his drink.

"Hmm... I just had a feeling something like that would work. I mean, I just tried it."

"Huh...?"

"I don’t really know how to put it into words..."

"No! Wait, you’re saying you just tried it? Using your sword as a foothold in midair, that was also just you trying it out? For the first time?!"

"W-why are you freaking out like that? I just had a feeling something like that would work. Sure, keeping my balance is still tough, but I’m pretty sure I can smooth it out with a bit more practice."

"Whah the heck... Are you a genius?"

"I wouldn’t say I’m a genius..."

Elias stroked his chin, a smirk spreading across his face.

"But feel free to think of me that way."

For a second, Felix could’ve sworn he saw Elias’s nose stretching and growing right in front of him.

"Next up is the contestant who’s shocked everyone with his fighting style! Elias Veyron! Please make your way back into the arena!"

Hearing his name called, Elias got up from his seat and handed his snack and drink back to Felix. Then he walked toward the arena, scratching at his itchy scalp.

"Beat him, bro!"

Once Elias climbed back into the arena, his opponent’s name got called out next.

"And Elias Veyron’s opponent, the second daughter of House Nocturne! Elysia Nocturne!"

"W-what?!!!"

Elias froze in shock at the news that his opponent was Elysia. He hadn’t exactly been thrilled about the tournament to begin with, since he’d been dragged into it against his own will anyway.

But now his enthusiasm had sunk even further, leaving him feeling completely hollow, practically on the verge of tears.

"Isn’t the outcome already pretty obvious at this point?..."

Excited cheers started rising from the crowd as Elysia stepped up into the arena.

"A match between a Caretaker and his own employer!"

"Tch, boring. That guy’s definitely going to throw the match against his own boss."

"Even if he doesn’t throw it, isn’t the outcome already obvious? I mean, his opponent’s one of the geniuses among geniuses."

Listening to all the comments from the crowd, Elias genuinely felt like crying. He turned around, ready to step down from the arena and forfeit on the spot.

But right before he could actually step down, Elysia spoke up.

"If you back out just like my sister did, I’ll make sure to cut off one of your arms."

’God Damnit...’

"Yes... my Lady."

Honestly, Elias had no idea why he suddenly ended up facing Elysia. Hadn’t he already fought a few other people before this? Shouldn’t he be up against someone who’d also won the same number of matches as him?

Besides, Elias had only won one match so far. This felt exactly like some total newbie who’d just made their account getting thrown straight into a match against a pro player.

Elias ended up asking the referee why he’d been matched against Elysia before the fight even started.

"Oh, we use a random draw system to determine matchups. So whoever wins gets their name tossed back into the pool, and whoever loses gets eliminated."

’That explains it...’

"Don’t look so down, young man. Even though you’re up against your own employer, at the very least you’ll get to learn a thing or two from her.

Besides, the whole point of this tournament is for everyone to learn from each other!"

The referee’s words actually made sense to Elias. Sure, the outcome of this match was already pretty obvious, but he could still use it as a chance to get a read on some of Elysia’s abilities.

’I could try a few things out on her too.’

"Thanks for the reminder, cutie."

"C-cutie?! D-do I really look like that..."

Elias had no idea why the referee’s face had suddenly gone a little red, but figuring it wasn’t anything serious, he just let it go.

"Done flirting with the lady, huh?"

When Elias turned around, he found Elysia’s face looking absolutely livid. Her eyes bore into him sharply, her black pupils shrunk slightly, veins already starting to show along her jaw.

Feeling the killing intent radiating off her, Elias gripped the hilt of his sword, forcing out a bitter smile, sweat beginning to bead on his face.

"I’m not sure what you mean, my Lady."

"Hmph! I really am going to cut off one of your arms!"

Without warning, Elysia vanished from where she stood and reappeared right behind Elias, sword already poised to swing straight at his neck.

With no time to react, all Elias could do was layer his right arm with mana, stacking layer after layer, since he knew a single layer wouldn’t be nearly enough.

*TING!

Sure enough, the moment the blade struck Elias’s mana-coated arm, a shockwave rippled outward, sending a gust of air blasting in every direction.

Caught in a purely defensive position with zero preparation, Elias got sent flying sideways. His arm came out fine, but his whole body clearly took a serious hit.

He got right back up and drew his sword before downing a healing potion. Since letting her keep the initiative wouldn’t do him any favors, Elias decided to strike first instead.

Sure, his movements would be easy enough for Elysia to read, but at least he’d be able to track her position the whole time. Compared to not attacking at all and suddenly finding her right behind him again, this felt like the safer bet.

Elias channeled mana into his legs and shot toward Elysia in an erratic, unpredictable pattern, hoping to make his movements harder for her to read.

"Using that trick again... Works great against me, sure, but..."

Elysia raised her hand forward, and several Magic Circles bloomed into existence in front of her.

"That won’t work a second time!"

From within the Magic Circles, dozens of Fireballs burst out, rocketing straight toward Elias.

Elias managed to dodge quite a few of the Fireballs, while deflecting a handful of others. But if he kept this up, constantly dodging and defending, it was going to wear him down fast.

Besides, there was no question Elysia had a far bigger mana reserve than he did.

’The range isn’t that wide, but with this many coming at once, no matter where I jump to, I’m still going to run straight into a Fireball eventually.’

"Watch below you."

’What?!’

A tremor shook the ground beneath him, and roots burst up right in front of him, lunging straight toward Elias.

Luckily, he still managed to dodge them, but with the situation getting more dangerous by the second, there was no way he could keep standing on this path for much longer.

’First I need to get clear of this line of Fireballs, and these roots have to have a max length limit! Sure, they might be able to stretch further than normal, but that’d already put them past Grade D!’

Elias channeled mana into his sword, then wrapped his legs once more in a concentrated layer of mana before launching himself high into the air.

Once he was airborne, neither the Fireballs nor the roots could reach him anymore.

With mana gathered and spinning rapidly in his palm on the blade, Elias hurled his sword straight down at Elysia.

"Watch above you, my Lady!"

The sound of an explosion rang out as Elias’s sword rocketed toward Elysia.

"Got you."

"What?!"

Elias never expected it, Elysia had already prepared two attacks at once, like she’d fully anticipated him coming at her from the air.

* * *