Chapter 494: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: Awkward Ending to a Match

Many people in the crowd had been cheering excitedly throughout the fight.

Now, almost all of them had gone quiet.

The sudden silence spread across the Arena as hundreds of thousands of spectators looked toward the fight platform with expressions of surprise. Some of the ordinary spectators couldn’t even understand what had happened in the final exchange. To them, Veda had been moving around the platform while Sasha attacked him with flames, and then, in the next instant, the two were suddenly standing in a position that looked completely different from what they had expected.

The stronger Alchemists among the audience had seen more.

A few of them had followed Veda’s movement clearly enough to understand how he had closed the distance.

Patrick stood up from his seat, his eyes widening slightly as he looked toward the platform to make sure that what he was seeing was actually happening.

On the fight platform...

Veda had caught Sasha before she could fall.

His hand held her waist, keeping her body from hitting the ground, while his other hand held the Colt 1911 close to her stomach.

The two of them froze.

Sasha stared directly at Veda.

Veda stared back at her.

For several seconds, neither of them moved.

The Arena remained strangely quiet, making things worse.

Even Sasha seemed unable to immediately process the position they had ended up in.

The same confusion appeared across the audience.

Everyone who had been able to properly see the exchange seemed to have the same question.

Even the people who had only seen the aftermath could tell that something unusual had happened.

Patrick West.

The Professors watching from their own seating section.

The people seated in the high-power sections.

The Noble and Non-Noble spectators.

Even Sasha and Veda themselves.

Almost everyone had the same thought.

What is with this situation?

The question seemed to flow through the Arena without anyone needing to say it aloud.

Veda was the first to truly realize the danger.

A strange feeling crawled up his back.

He could feel several gazes landing on him at the same time, and none of them were particularly friendly.

His body stiffened.

The glare came from almost all the High-board members of Burnwick.

Some of the Elders were staring as well, especially the Elder who is the Grandmother of Sasha was among the most noticeable. Several young adults from Burnwick who were present in the Arena had also turned their attention toward the platform.

But the most dangerous gaze came from one particular person.

The Duke of Burnwick himself.

He didn’t glare at Veda.

Because he didn’t need to.

His gaze simply rested on the Young Lord of Ash without any change in expression.

His face remained completely expressionless.

Yet somehow, that made the situation worse.

Veda could feel the immense danger coming from him even though the Duke hadn’t moved a single muscle. When the pressure of that gaze was added to the other stares from the Burnwick family, Veda’s back became even more tense.

For someone who had faced powerful Alchemists of his family, not in combat but during speeches and other things expected for the Young Lord of Ash, it was almost ridiculous.

He had just managed to defeat Sasha Burnwick, and even did what a gentleman is expected to do, when he sees a girl in danger.

Yet standing there with his hand around her waist suddenly felt more dangerous than the fight itself.

Sasha continued looking into Veda’s eyes.

For a while, she remained silent.

Her expression wasn’t as calm or playful as usual. There was a faint trace of embarrassment on her face, although she tried to keep it under control.

The silence continued.

Several seconds passed.

Then more.

The position remained unchanged for almost a full minute.

Eventually, Sasha’s eyes narrowed.

"Let me go, idiot."

Her voice finally broke the silence.

She raised one hand and pushed Veda’s face away from her view.

Veda blinked.

"Ah. Sorry."

His face moved backward, and that small action seemed to finally snap his sense back into reality.

He realized what he was doing.

He immediately pulled Sasha upright with the same motion, helping her regain her balance.

Sasha straightened herself.

She immediately dusted her training cloth, brushing away the small pieces of snow and dirt that had gathered on it during the fight. Her movements were controlled, but the sharpness with which she brushed her clothes made it clear that she was still annoyed.

Veda stepped back.

The awkward silence of the entire Arena seemed to become even more noticeable now that he was no longer holding Sasha.

He could still feel the stares.

The people weren’t even looking at Sasha anymore.

Almost everyone was looking at him.

Some spectators looked amused.

Some looked confused.

Some young noblemen looked jealous.

And several members of the Burnwick family looked as though they were waiting for an explanation that Veda himself didn’t have.

Veda could almost feel the question forming in the minds of everyone watching.

Well, this is really awkward.

He rubbed the back of his hair.

"I’m sorry."

Veda said it while looking at Sasha apologetically.

Sasha continued staring at him with a serious expression.

For some reason, hearing Veda apologize only made her more annoyed.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"I should have just used Mass Alchemy immediately when the fight started."

Sasha muttered, clearly pissed.

She started the battle with the mind of holding back some of her stronger options, and now the ending had become something she could barely look at without feeling irritated.

"Humph."

She dramatically turned her face away from Veda.

Then she walked away from him.

She left the stage without even waiting for the winner to be announced.

Veda remained standing there.

"Haha... Haha... Ha."

His awkward laughter echoed faintly across the platform.

He looked toward the direction Sasha had left, with a helpless face.

"I guess..."

Patrick finally spoke through his table microphone after seeing Sasha leave the fight platform.

For a moment, even he seemed unsure about how to announce the result after what had just happened.

"The Winner is the Young Lord of Ash."

His voice carried through the Arena.

There was still an awkwardness in his tone.

The moment Patrick announced Veda as the winner, applause began to rise from the audience.

At first, the applause was rather restrained.

Low cheers followed it.

The loudest voices came mostly from the younger children in the audience, many of whom had not yet developed the understanding that the older spectators had about what the scene between Veda and Sasha could mean.

To them, Veda had simply caught Sasha when she was falling.

The children didn’t carry the same complicated thoughts as the Young Adults, Adults, and Elderly people watching from the higher sections.

"An amazing display, Young Lord of Ash!"

"Yeah! The Young Lord of Ash won!"

"Young Lord of Ash!"

More voices gradually joined the cheering.

"You are a true model, Young Lord of Ash!"

A young nobleman, a fellow first-year student of the Royal Academy like Veda, beat his chest with genuine respect as he shouted toward the platform.

Another young nobleman, who is a second-year student from one of the families aligned with Burnwick, pointed toward Veda.

"He was flirting with our Flower during the fight."

He looked toward the Professors seating section.

"Shouldn’t that be illegal, Profs?"

His accusing tone caused several people around him to laugh.

Then a young adult Non-Noble lady suddenly shouted from another section.

"That was a lovely way to end a fight, Young Lord!"

Another lady immediately raised her voice.

"Kayyyyy!!! The Young Lord of Ash and the Flower of Burnwick!"

"That was so beautiful!"

"A true gentleman indeed!"

"That’s how you should end a fight with a lady!"

More voices from young women filled the Arena.

Some were genuinely excited by the unexpected ending, while others were already imagining what kind of story could come from it. Several young men joined in as well, although their voices carried a different feeling.

Some shouted respectful words to Veda.

Some shouted words filled with jealousy.

And some were clearly unhappy that the Young Lord of Ash had suddenly become the center of attention surrounding one of Britannia’s most desired young noble ladies.

Veda waved awkwardly as he listened to all the cheers and comments.

His expression remained somewhat helpless.

He had fought Sasha, with no plan of any romantic ending.

He certainly hadn’t expected the entire Arena to interpret catching someone from falling as something else.

Still, there was little he could do about it now.

He finally stepped away from the fight platform.

In the high-power seating section...

The Queen looked toward the platform while the Craft-Based Academy staff entered the battlefield.

Several workers immediately began repairing the damaged sections of the platform, carrying Craft-Alchemy equipment toward the broken areas while others inspected the surface for damage left behind by the battle.

The Queen watched them for a moment before speaking softly.

"Oh, my scholars... this is youth."

Her voice carried a faint amusement.

The people around her looked toward the platform as well.

"I didn’t know the Young Lord of Ash was after the Flower of Burnwick?"

The Second Duchess of Bergwyn looked between Duchess Regina and the First Duchess of Burnwick, Sasha’s mother.

There was an amused curiosity in her expression.

Duchess Regina’s lips curved into a pleased smile.

"I will speak with Veda to know if he will be sending his marriage proposal soon."

Bale also smiled proudly.

He was clearly happy that it seemed his brother had found someone he might like, especially since that person happened to be a true beauty of the Kingdom.

Byron Ashenlocke, who sat on the left side of his mother, Duchess Regina, faintly looked displeased.

His eyes remained on the platform while the Craft-Based Academy staff continued repairing it.

There is no way he’s getting Sasha Burnwick of all people.

He thought quietly to himself.

His expression remained calm, but the thought itself was anything but calm.

The First Duchess of Burnwick noticed the conversation and replied with a soft smile and a friendly tone.

"You have to tell him fast, since there are already plenty of wonderful young gentlemen who have sent marriage proposals for my Sasha’s hand in marriage."

The Duke of Burnwick glanced at her expressionlessly.

He said nothing.

Instead, he turned his gaze back toward the fight platform.

The repair work continued.

Workers moved across the stage, replacing damaged sections and clearing away broken pieces left behind by the battle. The sounds of tools, Alchemy, and equipment gradually replaced the sounds of combat that had filled the Arena only minutes earlier.

Yet the conversation among the spectators didn’t disappear.

Time passed, and finally the fight platform was ready for the next match.

The stage once again looked prepared for another battle, but the atmosphere throughout the Arena had not completely returned to normal.

People were still talking.

The conversations centered on what had happened between the Young Lord of Ashenlocke and the Scarlet Flower of Burnwick.

Some spectators discussed the possibility that Veda really was interested in Sasha.

Others talked about their compatibility.

Some young noblemen argued jealously that Veda didn’t deserve Sasha Burnwick.

A few were already treating Veda as a new rival in the matter of marrying Sasha.

The same thing happened among the young noble ladies.

Some of them had begun looking at the Young Lord of Ashenlocke as a potential partner, and the unexpected scene at the end of the match had only made him more noticeable.

The Arena was filled with different interpretations of the same few seconds.

Some people had seen the entire exchange clearly because their Alchemist ranks allowed them to follow Veda’s movement.

Others had only seen fragments.

And the ordinary spectators had mostly understood the fight through the Holographic Screens, the sounds of gunshots and explosions, and the final image of Veda catching Sasha.

Yet regardless of what they had actually seen, almost everyone had formed their own opinion.

The match had ended.

But the story surrounding its ending had only just begun.

Then...

All those conversations gradually died down.

The voices lowered.

The attention of the audience shifted toward the fight platform.

The next match was about to begin.