Published at 27th of April 2021 9:33 am

Chapter 182.1: Rio Vs Hiroaki Ⅱ

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

「THAT’S ENOUGH! Winner, LORD AMAKAWA!!」

Alfred, the referee, declared the end of the match.

His voice did not reach the spectators, but seeing Hiroaki’s stiff figure with the tip of Rio’s sword pointed at his back, it was clear to everyone who the winner of the match was.

High level battle or not aside, a high speed and showy combat like this was the best form of entertainment for those bored nobles that allowed them to release their pent up stress.

Hence the loud cheers that erupted in the drilling ground, praising Rio for his victory in this match. Nevertheless, once their excitement cooled down, the nobles started to worry about the extremely prideful Hiroaki who most definitely would not be happy with this loss. Their worries, however, were put to rest when they saw the chief executive of Restoration, Christina give a standing ovation with a delightful smile on her face.

「Dear me, what a splendid match. 」

「Yes, Lord Amakawa’s ability, the man who defeated Lord Alfred, is the real deal. 」

「Nevertheless, even he struggled quite a bit to defeat hero-sama. 」

「But then, hero-sama was also at a disadvantage with his opponent being Lord Amakawa who, aside from owning his own demon sword, also has a great deal of real combat experience. It would have been difficult to predict the outcome of this match otherwise. 」

The noble spectators, who read the situation, praised both Rio and Hiroaki, and such talks began to spread around the spectators area.

「GUH……」

Hiroaki trembled as he clasped the Tachi in his hands. He was extremely ashamed right now to the point that the sounds of the cheering spectators sounded like they were only praising Rio. This was the first time he had felt this level of humiliation ever since coming to this world. On the other hand, Rio bowed silently towards the spectators to show his appreciation.

You bastard…

Hiroaki glared at Rio with a hateful look on his face. He couldn’t forgive Rio who had humiliated him in front of so many people. [TL : Wow, speak of an egoist] Rio nonchalantly sheathed his sword back into its scabbard.

「W-WAIT A MINUTE! YOU, YOU SAID THAT I’M THE WEAKEST HERO? HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT WHEN I’M NOT EVEN USING MY FULL POWER? 」

Hiroaki instinctively said, unable to let go of his pride.

「…. You’ve released your limiter and went all out, did you not say that before? 」

Rio asked, rather surprised, once he sheathed his sword. It was Hiroaki’s own proclamation done loudly in the middle of their match after all..

「T-That is………. That’s only for sword fights! A hero’s true power is displayed only when the special ability of the Divine Raiment is used. So, that wasn’t my full power! 」

As expected, it seemed that Hiroaki recalled that he had said those words himself, but then he tried to come up with an awkward excuse when Rio reminded him of his own words.

Nevertheless, Hiroaki’s sorry excuse sounded like the bark of a loser to others, just like a kid. And perhaps because he himself was aware of his childishness, he didn’t dare to look straight at Rio’s face, feeling abashed.

「So, you’re trying to say that you were only going all out with your swordplay? 」

Rio asked with a serious look on his face, completely unfazed by Hiroaki’s shamelessness. It was surely as Rio had just said, and yet――,

「Tch…… I can’t forgive you for saying that I am the weakest hero! 」

Hiroaki didn’t want to accept the truth and tried to shift the topic instead.

「Since Hiroaki-sama is also acquainted with her, allow me to use her as an example, if you were to fight against Satsuki-sama with the same format that we’re using today, 8 or 9 out of 10 matches, Satsuki-sama will come out as the victor. 」

「What? Are you telling me that I would lose to a woman? 」

When Rio gave an example of Hiroaki going against Satsuki in a match, Hiroaki’s body trembled in rage.

「Yes, You-Will-Lose. Should the two of you use the same level of physical strengthening, she will win the match, hands down, for the sole reason that she is far more adept in using her weapon than you. From what I recall from our fight just now I have to say that you, Hiroaki-sama, rely too much on your reinforced body. You merely swing your sword in abandon. Honestly, if I am to be blunt, your swordplay is no different to someone’s who has just swung a sword for the first time in their life. 」

「I’LL WIN AS LONG AS I USE THE ABILITY OF MY DIVINE RAIMENT! 」

「So, you still insist on that, huh. Seeing that you lost in terms of skill in using your own weapon, you thought that you can make up for it as long as you use your Divine Raiment’s ability. I think you’re too naive to even consider that but still….. 」

Rio said, amazed, as if he couldn’t believe Hiroaki’s sham.

「Well, you won’t know till you try right?」

Hiroaki said in an irritated voice.

He’s more stubborn than I expected. Just where in the world does his confidence come from? No, is this just him putting on airs since he can’t turn back at this point?

Rio thought, feeling that Hiroaki was even more troublesome than he expected. But, it was no wonder that Rio misjudged Hiroaki’s personality. After all, he rarely met Hiroaki.

Nevertheless, he was worried that if he merely pushed Hiroaki this far, it might not be enough to fulfill Christina’s request. As he thought about what he should do , Rio――,

「I see now. We certainly won’t know till we try it. Though in my opinion, it would be a foolish suggestion for you to fight against someone who has had proper combat training. Then again, it’s not my place to give a warning to Hiroaki-sama. 」

Rio said with a nonchalant face. He then removed his hand which rested on the hilt of his sword, as a sign that he wasn’t battle ready anymore.

「… Wait. This time, I’m really going all out. So, what do you think about a second round? 」

Hiroaki asked for a rematch, unable to let things end in this way.

「Hahaha, you jest. Don’t we need to change the rules of the match then? Her highness Christina might not be willing to allow this second round either. 」

Rio replied as he looked at Alfred, the referee.

「I am a hero. So I will allow it. 」

Hiroaki countered without a moment’s delay. But――、

「…………」

Rio shook his head in silence and just as he was about to turn around.

「Oi, are you trying to run away! ? 」

Hiroaki provoked Rio, voice desperate. At this rate, he would just make a joke of himself. Thus, no matter what, he had to defeat Rio with his power in front of everyone. To protect his pride.

「Why would I? The match just now ended with my victory. 」

Shrugging his shoulders, Rio flaunted his victory instead. His meaning was clear to all. ‘I won, why should I run?’, greatly incensing Hiroaki.

「…. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of my true power? 」

Hiroaki was at his wit’s end. Hence why he was picking a fight with Rio by uttering such childish provocations. Unaware…. that Rio had guided the conversation to his desired goal.

「Well then, let’s have a rematch, but let’s add a condition to hero-sama if I win the next match too. 」

「… What? 」

「The one who desperately wishes for this match is you and you alone, Hiroaki. I accepted the first match last night to save her highness Christina from embarrassment, so it’s fair for me to ask a reward if you wish to have another match against me. 」

Rio presented a condition to Hiroaki in order for him to accept the second match at the last possible moment.

「… Tell me already, what’s your condition for accepting this match? 」

Hiroaki asked as he glared at Rio with a cautious face.

「Naturally, I have no intention to ask for something impossible for Hiroaki-sama to fulfill. Nor do I mind even if a third party is the one to decide whether it’s impossible for you or not either. It’s an extremely simple wish after all. 」

Rio said, emphasising that he didn’t have any intention of making things difficult for Hiroaki with a light smile on his face.

「…. Fine then. Just in case, that condition is canceled if I win the match. 」

Maybe because Hiroaki still underestimated Rio, thinking that there was no way Rio could win against him if he unleashed the full power of his Divine Raiment, or because his pride prevented him from confirming the details of that “Condition”, he accepted Rio condition without thought.

「Since that’s the case, referee. We’re going to fight with the full power of my Divine Raiment unleashed after this. Ah, I don’t mind even if you use the power of your demon sword too you see? Well…. its performance might fall short of a Divine Raiment though. 」

Hiroaki boasted to Alfred and Rio as he laughed at them.

「…. Are you sure about this, Lord Amakawa? 」

Heaving a sigh, Alfred confirmed with Rio for the last time.

「Yes. It’s not that hard. 」

Rio firmly nodded.

「I understand. Well then, both sides, you may take some distance between each other and set your stance. Both of you are going to use your demon sword and Divine Raiment’s ability, but just in case, please refrain from causing useless trouble by using the kind of attacks that would kill your opponent. 」

After he bowed to Rio, Alfred resumed his duty as the referee.

「Acknowledged. 」

「Well our physical strength is strengthened after all. Half-baked attacks won’t hit the other party. So I’ll use an appropriate amount of power to hit my opponent. Naturally, I’ll control my power properly so that the chance of you being killed will be low. 」

In contrast to Rio who merely gave a brief nod to Alfred, Hiroaki deliberately said those vague lines.

Well I guess I’ve to let him do as he pleases to some extent.

That way Hiroaki couldn’t make any more excuses afterwards, was what Rio thought as he didn’t raise any objections to Hiroaki’s vague sentences.

「It looks like you plan to defeat me who has unleashed the power of my Divine Raiment, but I suggest you cease that king of plan, it’s still not too late for you to retract your statement about me being the weakest hero you know? 」

Hiroaki said so to Rio who walked towards his position.

「I’m looking forward to your show of skill then. 」

Rio replied with a smile on his face. And then, he looked at Celia who sat amongst the crowd. The spectators who followed his line of sight were quite bewildered by Rio’s sudden action. Though he said “I’m looking forward” to Hiroaki, the spectators who saw his actions thought that he was preparing to escape. Amongst those spectators, Celia who stood beside Christina was looking at Rio with a thrilled expression on her face.

「Are you ready? 」

Alfred reconfirmed with Rio and Hiroaki.

「Anytime. 」

Smiling as he looked at Celia, Rio replied so to Alfred.

「I’m ready too. 」

Hiroaki was fully prepared as well. Having kneaded mana in his body, he prepared to fire a large-scale magic attack along with the start of the match. The overflowing mana from Hiroaki’s body was in plain sight for Rio who could see mana.

「ENGARDE! 」

The second match began. Hiroaki raised the tip of his Tachi to the sky along with the start of the match.

「Behold, the reason why I called this Tachi “Yamata no Orochi”! 」

Along with his shout, a vast amount of water erupted from the point of Hiroaki’s Tachi. The massive amounts of water stayed in the air, and then split into five.

The scale of the phenomenon is around advanced rank magic. Though he had been cautioned by Alfred-san to hold back with his attack, he really wants to beat me black and blue. Yamata no Orochi, was he referring to that eight headed dragon? And yet, the water only split into five. Isn’t it named Yamata no Orochi since it will attack with eight water pillars? Or is he still hiding his power?

Rio recalled the myth of Yamata no Orochi from his previous life and analyzed Hiroaki’s power immediately. On the other hand――,

「Ceh….. As expected, this skill is still hard to use. 」

Hiroaki clicked his tongue as he looked at the column of water that was rising above his head. He wanted to split the massive amount of water into eight, the same as what Rio had expected, but Hiroaki lacked the experience and skill to realize the image in his head.

Nevertheless, the power of each of the five heads was in no way inferior to the upper rank of intermediate magic. If one of those water columns attacked at top speed, it had enough power to instantly kill a normal human who wasn’t strengthening his body. The tip of each of the water columns had a dragon-like visage, each of them moving as if having a will of their own.

「……!!!」

The spectators were completely overwhelmend by the five headed water dragon.

This isn’t the kind of power you use in a match. Just what the hell is wrong with that hero’s brain! ? Even if his opponent strengthens his body with a demon sword, does he really think that it’s okay to use that kind of over the top attack to hit his opponent?

The impatient Christina was looking at Alfred, the referee of the match. Alfred looked back at Christina and nodded in silence.

「Ha, Here I come! Make sure you don’t die in one hit! 」

Hiroaki swung his sword with a ferocious smile on his face. And as if it was responding to the swing of his sword, the water dragons fell down towards Rio.

Rio looked around at the water dragons that came at him from 5 different directions and sent a glance at Hiroaki.

The caster himself is full of openings. Is he asking me to attack him directly? Or not…….

The opening could have been a trap. Rio was overestimating Hiroaki’s skill but still, since the number of the columns wasn’t the same as in the myth of Yamato No Orochi that he knew about, it was better to err on the safe side. Moreover, Hiroaki was most likely going to make another nonsensical excuse if he ended this match with another swift victory. Thus, he decided to take a wait-and-see approach.

The water column shot like a cannon toward Rio. Rio waited till the very last moment before dodging the water cannons. Thus, a moment later, those five water columns collided with each other at the spot where Rio stood a while ago, causing the rise of a massive pillar of water along with a loud sound. Though the water pillars collapsed as if it was losing power――、

「So you dodged that one huh. But, don’t think that this is the end! ? The height of the stage in which I, the hero, stands at can’t be compared to common people like you. 」

When Hiroaki swung his sword, the water pillar split into five again. The five water dragons soared to the sky again. Maybe because he forgot the humiliation from the previous match, being allowed to exhibit his full power, Hiroaki’s voice had returned back to its usual cocky tone. On the other hand, Rio was looking at the soaring water dragon, analyzing the phenomenon caused by Hiroaki with a calm face.

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