Chapter 95


“Yo, Hibiki . Good job . ” (Sai)



Along with the end of the first round, there would be a slightly longer break time .


As Lux and I left the waiting room, we were greeted by familiar faces who were busy talking about getting some snacks .


“You have already arrived, Sai?” (Hibiki)


“Yeah, I was right on time for Hibiki’s match . ” (Sai)


Behind Sai there was Kuesu and the others, as well as Amy and Zir .


“Good work, master . ” (Amy)


“Yea, t’was quite a bout . ” (Zir)


The two of them praised me .


“That’s right . You were up against a hero candidate after all . ” (Gary)


“It was really amazing . ” (Baara)


I nodded at Gary’s impression, and smiled at Baara in reply .


“[Annihilation] is my disciple after all . ” (Kuesu)


Winning was only natural . Kuesu had made that sort of statement . I wondered where that confidence came from .


“…” (Seira)


Seira was still staring at me . Without worrying about it, I continued with the conversation .


“Lux was much more amazing than I was . ” (Hibiki)


Kuesu shook her head, while Gary and the rest smiled wryly .


“Lux, is Lux . ”


“That’s right, there is no point in cheering for Lux’s matches . ”


“He’ll still survive even if left alone . ”


Contrary to what they said, it showed how much they trust him .


All of us entered a nearby restaurant but it seemed that everyone else also had the same thought . It was packed .


“This, I guess we came a bit late . ” (Hibiki)


“Master and Mr . Lux still have some matches left after this, so we better get them something to eat now if we can . ” (Amy)


“Since that is so, we all can simply eat whilst viewing the matches . ” (Zir)


I’m not that hungry yet, but I appreciated everyone’s concern .


Fortunately, Lux and I were still able to eat the sandwiches and skewers they had bought earlier from a street vendor .


“Ah, that’s right, Sai . I’m sorry, even though you have just arrived but I have something to request of you . ” (Hibiki)


I spoke to Sai while biting on the skewers .


“What’s with this rough treatment of your employees? Then, what do you want to ask?” (Sai)


I asked Sai to gather information about my next opponent .


“By next, do you mean that lady with a lot of scars?” (Sai)


Apparently he watched the girl’s match as well . His face looked troubled .


“Sure she’s quite strong, but not as good as you, Hibiki . ” (Sai)


Apparently her opponent was wrapped in a fire pillar as soon as the match began .


Saying that I’m better than her after seeing that match was quite weird .


“It’s just in case . I’ll just do what I have to do . ” (Hibiki)


“I know . I’ll collect as much information as I can before the match starts . ” (Sai)


Sai immediately left .


My match will be the second match, so it couldn’t be helped since there was not much time left .


Break time was over and the second round began .


At the moment, there were two magicians clashing with their magic spells in the arena .


Those two seemed to be a part of the “exempt from the preliminaries group” and were rivals to one another .


Since the commentator talked about the match for quite a long while, Sai’s info managed to get to me in time .


The winner of this match, was the elite magician who was proficient in water magic .


Now then, my match came next .


Called by the official, I quietly rushed to the arena .


I was greeted with the live commentator saying that ”This girl has a better chance of winning the match” .


As the referee announced the beginning of the match, the [Sickly Girl] immediately shot fire and water balls with both hands .


The crowd cheered at that flashy attack .


I manipulated the wind to divert their trajectory, cladding my sword in flames then proceeded to use the fiery sword to cut the water ball .


I couldn’t completely deflect the fireball, but I managed to divert it enough to allow me some gaps to wade through .


I somehow managed to withstand the first wave without a hitch, and returned fire with my own fireball . To display that I’m her senior it should be a bit bigger than the girl’s fireball, don’t you agree?


The girl didn’t even try to dodge the fireball . It directly hit her in the stomach .


The crowd started booing at me . What’s with this difference in treatment?


However, the girl was still standing there . Upon closer inspection, her stomach was actually protected by a layer of ice .


Apparently that was what neutralized my fireball .


“Girls shouldn’t let their stomach’s feel cold . ” (Hibiki)


I approached the girl while spouting that light remark . It was to fight within sword range .


The girl seemed to notice my intention, she prepared an ice blade in her left hand .


I once again cladded my sword in flames like I did earlier .


Fire Sword VS Ice Sword, both swords clashed against each other at the blade’s midsection .


It seemed to be a draw at first glance, but it was actually my loss .


I quickly released my grip on my sword and retreated .


The next moment, a fire and ice blast bloomed at where I previously stood .


“You have deprived me of my weapon, eh?” (Hibiki)


Taking a quick glance to the audience seats, I noticed Sai waving at me .


“Apparently, it seems that he rescued her safely . ” (Hibiki)


I sighed, then talked to the girl .


“Leelan . That’s enough . ” (Hibiki)


When I pointed towards Sai, [Sickly Leelan] turned towards the audience seats .


“Para, thank goodness . You really helped me out!!” (Leelan)


The girl fell to her knees and started crying .


The referee looked at me with scornful eyes . It seemed that he suspected me of threatening the other participant .


He reluctantly declared me the victor . The crowd also seemed to have the same idea, thus they started booing at me again .


Leelan and I could care less about such a thing and the both of us returned to the waiting room .


“Thank you, thank you very much . Big brother . ” (Leelan)


Leelan kept saying that repeatedly on our way back .


Well, what had actually happened before the match?


Let’s return back to the time before the first match started .


=====


“Hibiki!!” (Sai)


It was Sai who came to the waiting room alongside of Kuesu .


Apparently, people other than those concerned were not allowed to get in, which was why he brought Kuesu along .


“The thing about that girl, after I looked around for a while, I found it, found it . ” (Sai)


He seemed to have various things to say so I allowed him to explain it to me .


=====


That girl, she was an experimental object of a magical research institute .


The name registered for this tournament was [Number 15] .


For me, I could only hear it as a number, but for everyone else it seemed that they heard it as something that rhymes with 15 .


In other words, there were 14 other people before her .


The institute was experimenting in order to be able to artificially produce a magician with a dual or even more element combination .


Apparently, they experimented by having someone live in extreme environments, like next to the entrance of a volcano or near a iceberg, in order to force them to awaken a new element of magic .


They were able to awaken something, but the result was weak in power .


They repeatedly tried and found out that the younger the person they experimented on, the greater the result .


However, they stalled there . Using younger people also meant that their magic before awakening was not that strong .


It would be no different than a single element magician .


The next method, was to implant body parts of a monster with a certain element into the human body .



Apparently, they grafted the monster skin onto the subject’s skin and waited to see if there was a power transfer .

Again, there seemed to be some success .


Since it was directly put inside the body, it didn’t take very long to take effect .


However, they also stalled here .


Some individuals did obtain the power, but they soon died .


It seemed that the human body couldn’t handle that of a monster’s .


From those two attempts, two studies were born .


Raising a human from childbirth in an extreme environment, making them capable of mastering 2 elements as they grew into an adult .


Grafting monster parts onto the human body to transfer their attribute .


Both showed results, but both also had limitations .


With a more than normal ability, but less than an elite magician, an amiable human chimera was created .


The researchers who weren’t satisfied with the result continued to try to find a better method .


Having lived in an extreme environment from their early years, combined with the surgery method .


That was, the chimera magician .


[Number 15] was the fifteenth result of such an experiment .


She was a chimera with her own elder twin sister, showing practically no rejection to the implants and adjusted to them very well .


The masterpiece of the research institute .


======


That was the story Sai managed to dig out .


It was information gathered in such a short time . So there were bound to be some mistakes .


But knowing this much about her was already good .


Looking at the girl who sat in the corner, facing down .


That man from the first round didn’t seem to be around .


I was standing before her when she finally noticed .


“Why do you not run away?” (Hibiki)


I tried talking to the girl . The girl lifted her face and looked at me .


“If you are that strong, why didn’t you try to escape?” (Hibiki)


The girl finally realized my intentions .


“Because, I’m a big sister . ” (Leelan)


So it was just like what Sai told me .


“No, it’s because I’m Para’s big sister . ” (Leelan)


Para, was the name of the chimera born at the same time as her .


It was probably a measure to prevent escape or rebellion .


They threatened to kill Para if she went against them .


“If I rescue her, then you won’t have to fight anymore, right?” (Hibiki)


The girl looked at me with a surprised face .


“…hm . ” (Leelan)


Hearing that reply, Sai left the waiting room .


She’s been waiting for this moment .


“That uncle over there will go look for Para . ” (Hibiki)


“Really?” (Leelan)


“Yeah . So please don’t fight me seriously to buy some time . It will be hard for me if you come at me as fierce as in your previous match . ” (Hibiki)


“Hm . ” (Leelan)


And with that, she wouldn’t fight seriously in our match .


Sai also seriously started searching . He’s a really good guy after all .


“Hibiki, we’ll also help . ” (Baara)


Baara and the others also offered to help .


“It’s difficult to speak about but the church officials are suspicious . ” (Lux)


Lux whispered into my ear so as not to be heard .


“Why?” (Hibiki)


“She’s still alive even with that many traces of implant surgery . Even if the rejection was small, she should’ve run out of energy and died . ” (Lux)


I didn’t know anything about this transplantation surgery, nor about this rejection thingy, but I did understand a little about the operation . Baara noticed what I wanted to say .


In other words, the surgery wouldn’t be successful without extensive use of healing magic during the process .


Only the church was capable of bringing together a large amount of healers .


Baara frowned but nodded her head, then followed the others accompanying Sai .


=====


Before our match began, I had been trying to get to know her better .


As long as she trusted me even just a little, it’ll be less risky for me .


Her name [Leelan] apparently came from her older sister’s [Lee] and her own [Lanfa] .


The researchers usually only called her with “hey”, ”you”, or “Number 15” .


She had never met her older sister [Lee] before . It was only natural as they were separated since childbirth .


She was called [Lee] on the day of the surgery, the first time they met these two people mutually gave each other names .


[Regardless of who will expire first, I will always remember you and you will always remember me . ]


Those were the last words of her older sister [Lee] who she met for the first time .


“Big brother will not forget about Leelan’s matter, right?” (Leelan)


Even after the match had concluded and we returned back to the waiting room, Leelan never left my side .


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