Chapter 67:Round One-Martial Stage

Welcome everyone~and, for all of those who follow me on my wordpress, I have a special insider’s announcement: the next chapter will be completely out of your expectations.

To be honest, I’ve already realized that my story had started to be influenced by other stories and writing styles. And, yes, that includes a bunch of baloney that I probably should have thought twice about. But, I will not apologize.

Instead, from the next chapter onwards, the story will return to its original course-from which it has strayed slightly. I will not rewrite a single word of what is already there.

Well, mostly because it’s time consuming and you probably would hate it if I took another stupidly-long hiatus after coming so far. And also partly because I’m sure that most of you would rather want to know what happens next, instead of bothering with what has already happened.

Btw, I do NOT apologize for the japanese jokes. *coughi’msorrycough*

Well, here’s your next chapter: enjoy~!
——————————————-

Front-flipping in midair, Will let loose a flurry of thrusts from the staff, all aimed impeccably at Thera’s head in an attempt to knock her out quickly. His staff was a near invisible blur. But, no matter how well aimed his strikes were, Briar’s face avoided each thrust by a millimeter’s distance.

At this sight, many of Briar’s former mockers had to agree that Briar had some amount of skill. But, instead of admitting they might have been wrong, they adopted a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude. Grandpa Thur smirked as he watched the old gamblers’ eyes beginning to pay attention to Briar. Already they were probably wondering if they were mistaken. To regret is to have one’s liver turn green, after all.

“Then, how about this?!” Will tried sweeping her legs out from under her, but she just hopped over the staff that no normal eyes could follow, even humming a little tune while dodging and whirling about the stage. Watching from the audience, the fight seemed more like a perfectly choreographed dance than a real fight.

That being said, Briar’s red class was no joke. Briar’s eyes picked up the slightest shifts of gravity and form.  Will’s staff-work was completely visible to her, almost like it was in slow motion. Against these sorts of thrusts, no matter how well done or well-placed they were, Briar could easily dodge each and every one of them.

People were starting to boo and hiss from the crowd.

“Real men don’t run and hide!”

“Come on, face your defeat and let’s get on with it!”

“Stop jumping around, twinkle toes! Fight!”

Will, beginning to feel frustrated tried taunting her. “Do you hear that? It doesn’t look like you have a lot of fans out there. What’s the matter? Can’t take a blow from my staff?”

Briar grinned and dodged another thrust. “Hmm…that’s too bad. I prefer real friends to fake pansies who can only be obsequious toadies to the truly strong men.”

“With that attitude, I’m surprised if you’ll ever get a girlfriend.” Will taunted, as he feinted a left strike before switching to an overhead slash.

Briar’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “No need~ I already have one, and she likes me for who I am, instead of who people want me to act as.” Sidestepping the descending stave easily, she stood there, waiting for his next move.

Will laughed. “Hah! I think you’re bluffing!” He threw out a forty-eight strike combo, all of which ended up missing Briar by the same millimeter distance.

“Nope. It’s the truth. But, I admit, it’s probably not the truth that you’re thinking of.” Briar grinned saucily as she dodged all the incoming strikes..

To be fair, Will’s grasp of the concept of circular motions was pretty fairly done. Briar admitted that he had a fair bit of skill. In fact, if he had met anyone other than Briar, he would probably have won this match and continued through the tournament until the semifinals, even.

But luck is also a crucial part of any battle, and he had run out of luck the moment he was slated to face Briar.

Briar grabbed at the staff that was being thrust out at her again and pulled it towards her, causing Will to stumble and go off balance. Then she let the staff go. Will instantly jumped backwards warily, keeping his eyes on Briar.

“One hundred and fifty seven openings: seventy-nine times instant death, twenty-six times severely injured, thirty-four times maimed, and eighteen times where I could give you minor injuries that created a larger opening where I could still kill you.” Briar said, counting off all the missed opportunities.

“You’re bluffing!” Will cried, his face going pale.

“Why isn’t Briar fighting, Grandpa?” Rien asked, confused.

“She’s exchanging pointers.” Grandpa Thur replied, in a strangely solemn voice. “She’s performing the ancient and original honored exchange even—not the stupid childish brawls that it has devolved into nowadays.”

“Huh!” Rien watched as Briar dutifully dodged Will’s newest sequence of strikes.

To tell the truth, Briar could have ended it along time ago by using his weapon against him, but she was curious about different techniques and concepts that the battles here would be displaying.

As such, she hesitated to end the match before Will could perform all his signature moves.

And Will did not disappoint. If you were to watch, it would be like watching flippin’ D*rth M*ul against kid G*ku.

In the flurry of staff strikes, suddenly, his arm struck out, aiming to grab onto Briar’s clothes. Having used only a staff the whole time he was fighting, for him to change styles meant that he was getting serious.

Briar was impressed at his ingenuity. To fight solely with a staff gives the illusion that there are only two points of impact to watch out for. But, to suddenly add a fist into the mix was to change those two points of impact to three, thus increasing the number of things to pay attention to.

For most young people, this would have caused their rhythm to be messed up, causing them to make mistakes, but not for Briar. She had been on the lookout for something like this the whole time.

“Hup!” She somersaulted away from his outstretched hand, nimble as a cat, while his fist clenched upon air.

“Are you even a man!?” He shouted, angrily.

“Are you?” Briar asked, mirroring his question. “You know, you asked me earlier if I could even get a girlfriend. And now I’m wondering…are you able? Do you have a girldfriend? Come on, it’s only fair that we trade personal information equally.” She said, tauntingly.

“Why you!!” His face grew red as his anger and frustration spiked to new levels.

However, all of a sudden, his complexion returned to normal, and his face took on a disinterested expression-like a Bhudda. “Then, let’s see if you can take this next strike.” He said calmly.

Will stood up straight–as if in silent salute– with his staff placed in front of him, his forehead touching the wood.as it was held out straight up and down in front of him. Briar was curious about this stance.
Interesting…let’s see about this special skill. Briar thought to herself as she switched for the first time to the offensive.

The staff’s resting position was straight up and down, but once she approached, it flickered in and out of position like a snake, elusively striking fast and viciously. Of course, the blows never quite touched Briar, since this sort of skill was very similar to several forms of martial arts which she was proficient in.

The whole time, he was muttering, which Briar could have interrupted at any time, but she decided not to in order for him to release his ultimate skill.

But, while the audience thought he was muttering the activation key for the martial technique, Briar could actually hear him crystal clear.

“Ai! I can’t let things end like this! I must get a strike on this pretentious kid or else I won’t feel satisfied! Not even an adult and already has a girlfriend!? Stupid couples! They should just explode!” Will muttered continuously over and over again. “If I could just hit him once! Just once!”
Briar pretended that she couldn’t hear any of that.

Suddenly, the tip of the staff swiftly dropped, aiming straight at Briar, reminding her strangely of the aiming stance of gun-men on Earth. She quickly dodged to the side just as a red light shot out of the tip of the staff like a laser, brushing by Briar’s face and cutting a few stray hairs off her head.

“A lucky miss! Let’s see if you can continue to be impertinent!” He yelled, shooting again and again as Briar dodged the straight beams with practiced ease. Soon enough, though, his martial spirit had run too low for him to use it, and he stopped, to catch his breath.

He heard a single applause.

“Wow! Impressive!” Briar clapped her hands, laughing. “How did that go again? Something like this?”

She pointed her fingertip at the staff and a focused red beam shot out of it, blasting right through the staff, and drawing a small cut on Will’s cheek. “Whoops! Sorry about that~” She smiled unabashedly.

Silence reigned for a few seconds. Then Will stuttered, “But- how? You-I-you…HOW?!” He exclaimed in frustration, falling to his knees.

His ultimate move was actually the result of running his martial spirit through as series of amplifier spirit stones embedded in the hollowed center of his staff. These stones were placed in a coil shape so that the martial spirit could pass through more stones before exiting out the other side.

For Briar to not only be able to see through it so quickly, but also to replicate it in a matter of mere moments after displaying it-Will felt a small chill go down his back-this kid had such a monstrous perception.

His staff was broken and his ultimate moves were stolen…Even if he had more moves, bringing them out now, there was 100% chance of them getting stolen by the little terror in front of him.

“Well? Do you want to continue? Or do you have something more interesting to show me? Or are you going to give up?” Briar asked.

Will considered the question, then shook his head, exhausted. “I can already see that I’m no match for you. I admit defeat.” He stood up and brushed the dirt off his pant legs, then held a fist out towards Briar. “Just make sure you win. Being defeated by the champion isn’t such a bad thing.”

Briar blinked,  then bumped fists with Will. “Of course. Haven’t I been saying that from the beginning?”

Will just laughed as he walked away. “So you have! So you have! You really are an interesting one, aren’t you?”

Unfortunately, this would be Will’s last chance to participate in the Ten-Year Student Contest, as no one above twenty can join.

Although his chances of winning the Ten Year Student Contest were completely shattered to pieces, he stepped off the stage with a strangely lightened heart.

He was going to train even harder and harder, and the next time they would meet, even if he couldn’t fight in the contest, he would definitely ask to compare notes with Briar.

But it was not meant to be. After this contest, no one would ever hear about the boy named Briar again. He would vanish from history quicker than a ghost vanishes into thin air.

Briar sighed. The technique itself wasn’t even really a complicated one. It was just building up your martial spirit so that once it was released, it would have great speed and destructive power.

In layman’s terms, it was hardly even a technique. If not for the use of martial spirit, it would not even be labeled as such. Briar shrugged and waited on the stage, shoving a pastry into her mouth.

In the audience, faces paled, and unhappy words were being muttered. Many people had bet upon Briar’s defeat, only to find that they lost nearly all they had. But a few daredevils sat there with beaming faces. These were those desperate few who had bet upon Briar winning in the first round.

Among them, Grandpa Thur and Uncle Bradley were unabashedly grinning. Although Grandpa Thur already had a ton of money, he enjoyed gambling like some people enjoyed fishing.

He was already rich. Yet, oh, how he loved the feeling of reeling in a large catch. Already he had turned his initial bid of fifty thousand into a hundred and fifty million.

Bradley had taken after Grandpa Thur in this regards as they both laughed in their seats, eyes gleaming over their recent win. Rien watched the ring, not even noticing her Grandpa chuckling darkly in delight.

“He won!” Rien laughed gleefully. “Yeah, there’s no one that can beat our Briar-nii!” Karu agreed, looking over a recording of the match on a spherical crystal that his Grandpa had bought him.

It was able not only to record images, but also to play them back. However, any recordings over two hours long would only last for three days before the images began to fade away.  The one in his hand was guaranteed to last for at least a month-longer even, if his Grandpa Thur helped him extend the lifetime of the playback.
————–

Briar looked over at the announcer. “Well? You’re the announcer. Do your job and announce!”

Actually, she had been waiting several minutes for the announcer to proclaim her the winner of the first round.

This was just a lucky fluke. Next round he’ll definitely be kicked off the stage. The announcer told himself as he cleared his throat.

“It seems that we have a winner. The young sponsored youth of Mayor Pendrag, Briar, has won in the first round! But, don’t let winning make you overconfident! There are still many many strong opponents out there for you to face before you can even see the top!”

The announcer couldn’t keep himself from adding that part in at the end in order to satisfy his wounded pride. That country bumpkin wouldn’t know what hit him in the second round!

————–

Briar yawned noncommittally and returned to her room to take a well-deserved, much-desired nap.

Chapter 66: Either-Or? Nope. It’s Both-And.

I had lots of fun at Japanfest~

The only thing I regret was not being able to taste Taiyaki, not buying more Japanese snacks, and not getting more dango. Mostly food related.

It was a blast! I was able to hold a conversation in Japanese after such a long time, and got to witness artists actually drawing characters. There was a candy artist too, which was really sweet~. Definitely going back next year!

Here’s your next chapter, Enjoy~!

———————-

Briar smiled. She already knew what the announcer was up to since he began to announce her name. But what he didn’t know is that he had actually saved her some trouble.

“Heeh? I was found out, huh? You’re pretty good, Mister Announcer…” She replied in a lazy voice. Then she announced loudly so that everyone could hear. “That’s right. Today, I’ll beat everyone here, and take the top place.” She glanced at the other candidates. “That is, if no one here is strong enough to take it away from me.”

After all, it’s boring to win against people who aren’t doing their best. This ought to rouse them a bit. She thought to herself.

She didn’t say it in a boasting manner, but as a matter of fact. There were not many students who could counter her red class level two strength, regardless of her many other techniques. As such, winning the contest was actually quite reasonable to assume.

Moreover, from what she had seen, many of those on stage wouldn’t even count as a warmup. But those who did not know her mistook her logical conclusion for arrogance. And, by those who did not know her, what others could it be other than the other combatants, the martial masters, and the people in the audience. The audience began chatting even more loudly amongst themselves.

“Who does he think he is?”

“I said, just wait! He’ll definitely be the first person out!”

“My Little Ralph will knock him right out of the stage, hmmph!”

Bradley wiped the sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief and laughed gracefully. “Well, well! Everyone here has an equal chance of winning the contest, right? It’s that confident attitude of his that makes me intrigued, after all. Because if he did, then wouldn’t that be really interesting?”

Most people didn’t take the mayor’s words seriously, but a few old masters (cough cough Old Man Arthur’s gambling buddies cough cough) narrowed their eyes and began paying close attention to Briar, who appeared to be a skinny little kid.

The audience jeered. The Announcer followed up the mayor’s words. “You heard the man. Everyone has a fair chance to win at the ten year student contest. But…” He glanced at Briar, mockingly. “Only the strong shall win.”

The audience cheered in agreement, mocking the over confident fool on the stage.

In the stands, Rien, hearing all the surrounding people booing at Briar, turned to Grandpa Arthur with a worried expression on her face.

“Grandpa Thur, Briar-ni is going to win, right?”

The Old Man lowered his eyes to look at his cute grandchild and harrumphed. “Of course he’s going to win! Any candidate that I, your grandfather, put forwards has 100 percent chance of winning!”
Then he winked a bit and said, “But don’t tell the others, okay? It’ll lower the betting odds, after all.”

Rien nodded seriously, and returned to watching the stage.

On the stage, Briar shrugged and proceeded to ignore the announcer even more by sitting on the ground and unpacking her bento. “You won’t mind if I eat, right? I didn’t have any breakfast today, after all. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to lose too badly due to lack of energy~”

Everyone who heard this nearly fell over. The boldness of this youngster! To eat nonchalantly on stage during the commencement ceremony! Many were shaking their heads, believing that this person was just a huge idiot.

The announcer’s whole forehead was now throbbing with multiple veins, but he bore it through, ignoring the ignorant bumpkin, and continued introducing the other candidates. Haha, we’ll see who has the last laugh. I know I’ll be laughing my ass off when you lose! He thought, which made him feel a little bit better.

When the introductions were finished, the sponsors returned to their seats, while the sponsored contestants went to wait in their assigned rooms. Each room was equipped with a thin sheet of illusion crystal, which was shaped like a roughly-cut oval. This way, the contestants could be able to watch the battles from within their rooms.

For the first few hours, though, the contests between the non-seeded contestants would finish up in a grand battle royal, where the last fifty people standing would be able to participate in the actual contest. This way the possibility of garnering a black horse or two would be seen as fair opportunity for all.

Bored, Briar realized that this final preliminary battle would take at least an hour to finish. She had just decided upon taking a nap, when Madam Rothema burst through her door.

“There you are! Just look at you! I get you all signed up for the magic contest, and here you are wasting time at the dueling stage! Ah, with your appearance like that, everyone will laugh at me!”

“Then-” Briar began.

“No time to waste! Here, just put this on over your old disguise!” Madam Rothema handed her a scarf that went on top of her head, transforming her from a young man into herself with long braids, a blue gingham dress, and a white apron.
Briar was about to complain about the design, but madam Rothema would not hear anything as she dragged her to the other loop of the figure eight stadium. But, why a blue dress with a white apron?! Now I look like Kansas’s mascot book character, Dorothy!

She wanted to complain, but Madam Rothema wouldn’t understand. After all, it’s not like this world had ever heard of the W*zard of *z.

I’ll work on illusions next, to the point where I’ll be able to change even Madam Rothema’s illusions to something that suits me more. She decided.

The magicians’ side was about beginning to start their own commencement ceremony.

Due to the fact that many parties had interest in both the magic contest and the martial contest, the events were staggered so that once one event ended on one side, another event would begin on the other side.

Of course, battles themselves couldn’t really be timed that well, but for the most part, they would not start until the other side had ended. Briar learned about this on the way to the magician’s stage.
That’s right, I didn’t even think of that! She realized. It’s a good thing I still have a good opportunity then!

Slowly, an anticipatory gleam shone from her eyes.

Shall I go all out this time?

———————-

Having eaten her breakfast on the dueling stage, she was able to make it through the magic commencement ceremony without yawning or seeming disrespectful.

After the commencement ceremony, all the students had to draw a number. Briar’s number was 145, which meant that her magic duel would occur right before dinner. Perfect. Her martial duel was right after lunch, so she could take a nap before then.

After nodding her head respectfully, she went back to her room and took the head-scarf off. Then she glanced at the projection of the battle taking place. But, then she realized something seemed odd.

The two people up on stage should be the ones who battled right before her duel. She needed to start heading towards the dueling stage so that she wouldn’t be late. On her way there, she wondered: what had happened while she was gone?

————————————

Rien and Grandpa (Ar)Thur had seen it all. The Battle Royale hadn’t even lasted for half an hour. In less than ten minutes, only fifty people were left standing on the stage.

Of the fifty, the five strongest were all wearing the same uniform, black clothes with silver braid. If it weren’t for the fact that these had all been confirmed to be students under the age of twenty, then people would have mistaken them for experts the way they handled themselves.

Many of the audience had witnessed their exquisite teamwork on the stage as they knocked more than sixty members off the stage. For these few to be so strong together, surely they would be much weaker when it came to the one on one duels, right? At least, that’s what the audience was hoping for. Many of the audience favorites had been blown off the stage by these five. If they also took up the top five spots then that would be too domineering!

But, unfortunately, after the Battle Royale was over, These very five were the first to come out for the main contests’ first five duels. Their contestants were beaten into bloody pulps with broken arms and legs, and concussions from being thrown off the stage with great force. Not only were they strong together, it seemed that they were even more strong apart.

And, due to that, the times for the subsequent duels was moved up, hence the reason why Briar’s duel was up so soon.

Already people within the audience were starting to warm up to these five, and cheers for them erupted here and there.

*Whistles* “Briar might actually have a run for his money, this time.” Grandpa Arthur said, after seeing the five subsequent wins from the five contestants. “From what I know of that uniform, those should be The Dragon Clan’s five young masters. I’ve heard about them at the betting pools. Apparently they’re quintuplets.”

“What does that mean? Kwi-qui kwentupalets?” Rien asked.

“It means they were all born at the same time, from the same mother, like twins, except there’s five of them.” He explained. “From what I’ve heard, they’re projected to be the undefeated champions for this year.”

Rien looked worried. “Does that mean Briar won’t win?”

“No, the young masters themselves are nowhere near Briar, but don’t tell them that. The Dragon Clan is a very proud one. Anyone who lays a hand on their young masters would be given quite the bit of trouble afterwards. I hope Briar has a good place to hide after everything is done.” The Old man replied with a worried tone.

“You mean they’re gonna hurt Briar if they don’t win!?” Rien asked.

“Well, they’ll probably try, no doubt. But don’t you worry, little one. Me and Madame Rothema will go and scare them away so bad that they won’t touch a hair on his head.” Grandpa Thur patted Rien’s head reassuringly.

“Good! Make sure you blow them away farther than the mountains are high!” Rien replied, fuming over the thought of people trying to hurt someone who was like an older brother to her.

“Of course! After all the help he’s given us, it’s the least I could do in retur-.” “–Ah, there’s Briar now!” Karu interrupted, pointing out at the edge of the stage towards the figure waiting for his turn to duel.

——————————-

While waiting, Briar fished out another pastry to nibble on as she watched.

“Somehow, I really miss hot dogs and popcorn right now…” She muttered under her breath.

The match soon ended, and the announcer called each person to the dueling stage. Whether by sheer bad luck, or by behind-the-scenes manipulation, the person Briar was to fight against was a big brawny man of 19.

In fact, His birthday happened to fall upon the following week, so he was more like 20 years old, by his physique. But the fact was, he was still under 20, and therefore still qualified. His weapon was an ironwood staff capped at both ends with metal. From the cries of the audience, it appeared his name was Will.

Briar was still nibbling on half a pastry when she was called up.

“Don’t hate me for this, young boy. It’s just the luck of the draw. Too bad you ran out of luck. Don’t worry, I’ll win the contest for you.” He smirked from the other side of the stage, as he waited for the signal.

Briar shook her head, good-naturedly. “Nope, I don’t hate you. Luck is really like that, after all. But as for who will win…” She smiled mysteriously. “We’ll just have to wait and see about that.” She tossed the rest of the pastry into her mouth, finishing it in one bite.

“Still thinking you’re gonna win, huh kid? That kinda unnecessary thing-”

“START!” The referee called.

Will launched himself across the distance using his staff. “-you should just leave that up to this older-brother here!”

(Fun fact: The title is actually an English grammar pun.)

Chapter 65: Don’t Ignore the Announcer!

I apologize in advance, but I intend to leave that little cliff hanging for a while. Instead, I have decided to skip forward a bit to the time of the start of the Contest, in order to move the story along. Don’t worry, I will address the results of Briar’s experimentation as an explanation later on.

That being said, here’s the next chapter: Enjoy~!

————————————-

 

A month later, the plains surrounding the city had become as Briar had surmised: a suburb of tents and quickly-cobbled loose wooden structures built to house as many people as possible.

Some, like Madam Rothema, had a magical dwelling.

Of course, these would be warded with spells so that only recognized people could enter. After all, wherever there were large crowds of people, there were bound to be thieves. And no magician enjoyed having their research or books about ancient magical spells stolen.

The sounds of metal striking metal, dull thudding sounds, and cheering came from here and there among suburb of tents: a testament to the many small skirmishes between combatants daily taking place. The whole place was humming with excitement, for tonight would be the last night before the Ten Year Student Contest began.

Students challenged each other to duels, checked their gear, or went over their carefully-concocted plans and schemes. Masters gave advice, watched over their students, or went to a local bar and drank generously in silence, watching the moon as it slowly rose in the sky.

The moon was bright and full, shedding soft beams down over the landscape as it rose into the sky. That night, many people watched her path in anticipation: some with hopes, others with confidence, yet more with dread, and some with resignation.

Briar herself did not watch the moon. Instead she was using her time dilation barrier to catch up on all the books that she hadn’t read for the past three months, courtesy of Madam Rothema. Her preparations had been finished since three days ago, and so she had used these past three days to catch up.

As she snapped shut the very last book, the moon reached its zenith, and a clear calm bell tolled out. Although it didn’t seem loud at all, it could clearly be heard through the entire mountain, and far into the lands surrounding it, rippling invisibly into the distance.

After everyone had heard this bell, all duels were halted, regardless of winner or loser. Each returned to their own tent or room to rest up well in final preparation for the coming day. Even though most knew that they would not be able to sleep that night due to their taught nerves, they still kept up the appearance of preparing.

After the bell had struck, the students were not allowed to fight each other outside of the arena. If any were to be found breaking this rule, they would be banned from the ten year student contest for three generations of master and student.

Briar lifted her head as she heard the bell chime out, realizing that it was now late into the night. She had completely forgotten the time in her concentration upon her studies. She stretched her body and rubbed her near bloodshot eyes, thinking about how bothersome it would be to get back to the city now.

But, in the end, her desire for a real bed won her over. So she stretched, before hurrying back to the city, flitting from tree branch to tree branch at a speed which was quite fast to normal folks, but could only be considered a slow walk in the park for experts.

She continued her way until “Arah?” She noticed she was being followed. Briar narrowed her eyes as she contemplated confronting the stalker. But, after half a moment’s consideration, she decided to disregard it. She would lose whoever it was in the city easily.

Briar continued until she came to the plains and paused, surprised at how extensive the tent suburbs had extended. Then she smiled and waved as she glanced back towards the forests before vanishing among the tents.

….

After a few minutes had gone by a dark figure stepped out of the forest, chuckling, since he knew he had been detected.

“So you’ve grown that much, huh?” Master Thales muttered as he gazed in the direction of the city. Not only had she detected Master Thales, but she had also identified him.

“Soon enough, there will not be much else that I can teach you…” Master Thales sighed. At the rate Thera was growing, it wouldn’t even take her five more years before she would reach black class. He also set off towards the city, vanishing into the city surrounded on all sides by tents.

————————

THUD THUD THUD! “Hey Briar-ni! It’s time to wake up~!” Rien’s voice came through the door.

Briar lay quietly, hoping Rien would think she had already gone out.

“Don’t think I don’t know that you’re back! Grandpa told us you finally returned last night, and he also told us that you haven’t left yet, so GET UP!” She said in her childish 6 year old voice.

Briar groaned and turned over in bed.

Karu’s voice also came in through the door.

“Briar-ni! Uncle Bradley says that if you don’t get up now, then you’ll be late for the starting ceremony! You only have half an hour left!”

Briar sighed and sat up. All right, I guess there’s no more chance of sleeping this morning. Better get breakfast then. Rubbing her tired eyes, she decided she was going to eat as she headed to the dueling stage in order to save on time.

“Briar-ni-!” Rien was starting to yell, when Briar jerked the door open. “Yosh! I’m awake, you two cretins, so go get me something to eat while I get ready, okay?” Briar shooed them away.

“YAY! Briar’s up! Briar’s up!” Rien and Karu cheered as they scrambled downstairs, competing for who would complete their mission first.

Briar looked in the mirror at her unkempt hair and disheveled clothes that she had slept in last night, having fallen asleep as soon as she sat down on the bed. Then sighed and took out a large washbasin.

After locking the door and closing the window shades, she quickly showered using a combination magic of her own making. Using [Hot water] and [Heavy Shower] together, she was able to make the effects of a showerhead from earth. Then dried off with [Warm Wind].

Within ten minutes, she was showered, dressed, and downstairs, ready for breakfast.

Rien and Karu did not disappoint as they presented her with a whole heaping plate of pastries of different kinds. There were egg and sausage pastries, cheese pastries, fruit pastries, and a few veggie pastries that they had gotten from the kitchen-of course, after the Old Man had paid for them.

“Uwaah! They all look so tasty~ You two are life savers! Here’s your reward~” Briar said, relieving them of the heavy platter as she handed each of them some mochi that she had made a while back and kept in her time-freezing magic bag.

“It’s a sweet from my home town. Eat it slowly, or else you’ll choke.” She warned as she quickly sorted the entire platter of pastries into a nested obento box that she had made for herself while training under Madam Rothema.

“Uwah! What is this? This chewy, soft, sweet thing? So yummy!” Rien remarked as she immediately sampled the near fresh mochi.

“It’s called ‘mochi’ because it’s mochimochi.” Briar explained.

“Eh? What’s that?” Rien asked.

“It means that it’s squishy.” Briar replied.

“Oooh!” The two children replied, tucking into their newest favorite sweet.

“While sweets are all very good and all, we need to head towards the dueling stage, or you’ll be late for the beginning ceremony!” Old Man Arthur harrumphed as he approached the trio. “Bradley has already gone ahead, so you need to hurry if you want to make it in time.”

“Relax, I won’t be late—if I go by foot, that is.” Briar replied as she slid her bento into her magic bag. “There! All ready! I’ll see you three at the stage!” She called out as she left, jumping from housetop to housetop in order to head in a straight line towards the edge of the city.

————————-

Already there were almost no people left in the streets, as they had all headed towards the huge double-arena that was visible outside the city. The masters had been busy sweeping the arena from midnight to the ceremony to make sure that no foul plays, like pre-prepared traps, were set up.

Briar arrived by Bradley’s side just moments before the fanfare was blown, to signal the Sponsors and the Sponsored to move to the stage. Briar was surprised to find that Laura had been sponsored by a different sponsor, and stood at the other end of the stage.

She waved at Briar impishly, which caused Briar to roll her eyes. Get serious, you!

“We will soon commence the start of the Ten Year Student Contest, the matches that everyone has been waiting for ten years to see. But before we begin, I will introduce to you the people specially chosen by our proud sponsors.”

Briar yawned as she listened to the announcer introduce each sponsor and sponsored person’s name. Then, in answer to her growling stomach, she pulled out a pastry and began eating it.

Pachi! A vein throbbed on the announcer’s head. Who was this person to disregard the introductions which he was painstakingly making. What nerve! What impudence!

Feeling a bit petty, when it came time to introduce Briar, he decided to change the introduction a little and announced “The next group is sponsored by our very own mayor, Bradley Pendrag! And next to him is the young boy who is so confident that he’ll win the contest with relative ease, that he thinks nothing of his opponents: Briar!”

Heh! How do you like that, you brat! That’ll teach you not to be so rude during my introductions. Heheh! The announcer thought with savage glee as he instantly elicited a reaction from the crowds.

“How impudent!” “Hah! Overconfident, I say! Just look at him! He’s a scrawny little brat!” “You’ll see, they’ll fix him in the first rounds, mark my words.” The crowds had murmurings like that going around the stage.

Bradley’s brow broke out into a sweat as he remembered how easily Briar had trashed his prized guards, who were thought to be many times stronger than him at first glance. Hopefully the boy didn’t take things too hard…right?

He glanced sideways at Briar. But when he saw what happened next, his jaw dropped almost to the floor.