Chapter 281: Brackets

A few days had passed since the joint-training session had its redebut. However, an issue quickly made itself clear by the second day.

Sparring with only both of me, Kyro, and Villius… was getting rather stale. Sure, they were fun to fight with, and each offered their own sort of challenges to fight, but I wouldn’t want my muscle memory to be tailored to just the two of them. I needed variety, some spice in the air!

So, I spent quite some time planning something with Lionne and Villius, something I had always thought about doing.

I needed new sparring partners, any sparring partners. And fortunately, I got just the group to approach and extend my hand to.

The Sareid Alumni, former students who had trained under Mother and Father before entering the Royal Knights, be it students who studied regularly, or students like Villius who only attended the crash course.

The reason I went for them was simple. Most of them know me personally and were less likely to run away in fear due to rumors.

With Lionne and Villius’s help, and with my own personal word, a few of them actually showed up, about a dozen. Some of them were even our upperclassmen.

Our joint-training session soon regularly featured them in our roster to bring some fresh air, and thankfully, it had worked. Even though they all practiced the Sareid style, they all wielded subtle variations of the Sareid style. Some wielded it by the book; some adapted to it loosely.

And though I ended up just fighting mostly swordsmen, it gave me enough action to not bore me to death.

The practice chamber lately felt more like an impromptu combat class at times, just without Instructor Liz.

So, all in all, the joint-training session was a mega success. I would’ve loved having a few more varieties in fighting styles, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

As for the ever-approaching tournament, there were some updates on that as well.

The arena, for one, was rather busy with workers, faculty members, and even student council members. From what I had heard, they were mostly there to clean the place up, check up on equipment, and make sure the past victim of Ricent, the wall, was up and tough again.

There were also changes made to the outside of the arena. Besides the decorative additions such as the banners and the flags, several temporary wooden stands were built all around the roads leading to the arena entrance, stretching all the way to the gates.

I ran into Clara the other day and asked her what it was about, and apparently, the board gave commercial permits for the event. So those stands that were being built? Soon, they would be food stalls, mini shops, et cetera, kind of like the pop-up market that would pop up from time to time.

Day by day, the tournament felt less like a campus event and more like a festival. I mean, it sure beats having the tournament done behind the scenes like the preliminary rounds, but it was still jarring to see.

But it only served as further proof that I couldn’t afford to mess around. Thousands of eyes would be watching me, and I had no doubt he would come and watch as well to make sure I kept my promise. So, I kept my training myselves with Kyro, Villius, and my former classmates.

—

We were two days before the tournament would start. As you would expect, we also had a joint-training session that day.

But nearing the end of the session, when everyone was readying to leave, a student came crashing in.

“The brackets—!” he wheezed, clearly out of breath. He took a second to take a breath before facing us again. “The brackets have been announced!”

Instantly, the practice chamber was filled with anticipation and excitement. Mostly coming from me.

Before the student could even finish panting, the both of me were already heading out the door. Kyro, Villius, Lionne, and Leila followed closely behind me. We all hurried over to the nearest bulletin board we could find, which ended up being the board near the western entrance.

There, a large piece of parchment was pinned to the center of the board, taking up most of the board’s space.

Thirty-two names were listed before me, arranged from top to bottom in tidy little boxes. Each name was paired with the one below or above it with a single line.

As soon as the parchment entered my vision, I found my names listed there. I breathed a sigh of relief… before being stunned as soon as I realized my placements.

Carine was placed at the very top of the bracket as Contestant #1.

Feyt was placed near the very bottom of the bracket as Contestant #31.

Both of my names were placed as far apart as possible in this bracket. In a standard seeded tournament like this, contestant #1 would fight contestant #32, while contestant #2 would fight contestant #31.

This meant that the only way for both of me to cross swords in the arena was if we both practically swept the floor on our respective sides of the bracket and met in the grand finals.

At first, I was relieved. I wouldn’t have to worry about fighting myselves in the early rounds, nor would I have to throw a match intentionally just to avoid that scenario. I could just focus on fighting normally.

But right behind that relief followed a deep sense of suspicion.

This… felt way too deliberate.

There was no way this was a random draw. Whether it was the board, the tournament organizers, or the Third Prince pulling strings behind the scenes, someone had deliberately rigged the bracket for maximum drama.

I get it; both of me were at the top of the gossip topic chain, be it amongst students or even their parents, thanks to my showing during the entrance exam.

But were they really that confident that both of my bodies could actually sweep through everyone and meet in the finals? Or were they just planning on milking the hype for as long as possible before one of us got knocked out?"

I let out a silent sigh before focusing back on the board. This time, I wanted to make sure who else I could potentially meet in the tournament.

There were, of course, the names of my friends.

Kyro, Villius, Clarissa, and Attila.

Then, there were also names I had expected to be there, even if I might not know their score.

Lechter and Ravilenna.

...I didn’t see Myura’s name anywhere, though.

Could she have failed to obtain the required points? But how? I thought for sure she would be able to qualify at the very least. Were her opponents during the preliminaries just that strong? If so, that only served to fuel my excitement for the tournament.

My eyes drifted back to the board.

Ravilenna’s name caught my attention. I couldn't help but wonder how a match against her would play out this time around. Like me, she had been training relentlessly ever since, or perhaps even before the preliminary rounds.

Had she improved since the last time I fought her as Feyt? How much sharper and faster had her dual-wielding gotten? Would it be a different story if I fought her as Carine instead?

Then, there was Lechter’s name.

To be honest, I was worried about him. If either of me ended up facing him in the later rounds, I wanted a real fight with him. The scores of his aptitude test told me he was well-trained and had great Talents. But it was clear that sword fighting wasn’t what he trained in.

I didn’t know what the circumstances of his choice of discipline were, but a part of me wished he would stop holding back. But whether or not that would happen, only time would tell.

I took one last look at the tournament roster. A small, anticipating smile began to emerge across both of my faces.

Finally, the tournament was here.

Just like Clara said, the opponents waiting for me in this arena were going to be the real deal. No more no-shows, and hopefully, no more people forfeiting right in front of my face.

It was finally time to see just how far both of my bodies could go.