CHAPTER 323: END OF THE PRELIMINARY ROUND

 

Nearly six hours had passed since the preliminary round of the Shurasaki Festival began.

Having secured the seventh of the thirty-two places in the main tournament, I let out a quiet breath as I gazed at the battlefield shrouded in white mist beyond the eastern gate.

The ceaseless clash of steel and battle cries shouted through nearly hoarse throats could still be heard in the distance.

Countless battles had unfolded across the Battlefield of Scattered Blossoms since the preliminary round began.

Even after collecting all my Oni Tags, I had crossed blades with several more opponents. But honestly—it had been easier than I expected.

The warriors of this country were by no means weak. If anything, many of them possessed strength befitting Bukyo, the nation of warriors.

But compared to the enemies we had faced until now, none of them had given me that much trouble.

And apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

「Looks like it’s almost over.」

「Mm. There are nearly thirty people here already. Only a few more and every place in the main tournament will be filled.」

「Still, you qualified pretty early, Kinu.」

「The rules probably favored me the most.」

「Now that you mention it, you’re right… So, what number were you?」

「First.」

「Seriously?!」

「Heheh♪」

Looking thoroughly pleased with herself without coming across as the least bit smug, Kinu proudly puffed out her chest.

Her tail was whipping back and forth, displaying even more joy than her expression.

Let me bury my hands in all that fluff right now.

「I saw you from a distance, but I didn’t think you’d open with such a wide-area spell.」

「But there were lots of them clustered together.」

Kinu said it without the slightest hint of remorse.

Several minutes after the preliminary round began, she had unleashed a spell at a large group of warriors gathered in one place.

I had seen a dragon made of flame crash into the ground, but apparently the resulting blast had blown away every participant in the surrounding area.

She had then collected the Oni Tags from the unconscious warriors.

And just like that, she had all five.

She had wiped them out in one fell swoop.

「But some people blocked the spell.」

Kinu’s cheeks puffed out slightly as she spoke.

「Those people were strong.」

She turned her gaze toward the warriors who had already returned to the eastern gate.

They had taken Kinu’s spell head-on and remained standing, so there was no way they were weak. It also meant they possessed some means of defending themselves against magic.

I had known that this preliminary round wouldn’t be decided by strength alone, but Bukyo truly was filled with warriors who couldn’t be underestimated.

As I was thinking that—

「Mm. Zen’s back too.」

A man approached from the direction Kinu was watching.

Long black hair.

A katana hanging at his waist.

And a white tiger walking by his side.

「All three of us made it into the main tournament.」

I raised a hand, and Zen lightly raised his in response.

「As expected. Did you have an easy time?」

「Not particularly. I was apparently only the twenty-fifth to qualify.」

Zen answered in his usual matter-of-fact tone.

But one look at him was enough to tell.

His kimono was slightly dirty, but he had no visible injuries.

Remaining almost entirely unharmed amid such a chaotic melee was no simple feat.

There was nothing flashy about the way Zen fought.

He didn’t unleash some massive technique and wipe out his enemies all at once.

He observed his opponents’ movements and minimized the damage he received.

Whenever an opening appeared, he struck without fail. If he sensed danger, he didn’t overextend himself and instead created distance.

His skill, 【Four Spirit Beast Summoning】, completely covered his blind spots, making him an all-rounder capable of dealing with multiple opponents by himself.

Methodical and never arrogant about his own strength.

That was probably how he had collected his Oni Tags without taking more than a few hits.

「 It seems you weren’t in any danger.」

Zen shrugged at my words.

「I made sure I was fully prepared. Still, this was only the preliminary round.」

「…Figures.」

I couldn’t help but laugh at such a characteristically Zen-like answer.

He hadn’t shown his true strength yet either.

But the same applied to Kinu and me.

There were probably other powerful warriors in the preliminary round who had similarly conserved their strength.

And that was precisely why—

「I’m looking forward to the main tournament.」

Zen turned toward me.

「As am I.」

It was a brief answer.

Yet a faint fighting spirit had appeared in his eyes.

Just then, the booming voice of an official stationed at the eastern gate reached us.

「Only one place remains in the main tournament!」

The atmosphere around us instantly changed, and a roar of excitement erupted from the crowd.

Every warrior still on the battlefield began rushing toward the eastern gate at once.

Some had collected all five Oni Tags.

Others were still one short.

Whatever their situation, not a single one of them had given up.

Warriors of every kind raced through the white mist.

The moment the first among them passed through the eastern gate—

—Gooooooong!!

The tremendous tolling of a bell reverberated through the white mist.

「The preliminary round is over!!」

The official’s voice rang out.

「As of this moment, every participant within the eastern gate shall be recognized as having qualified for the main tournament!」

Cheers erupted from inside the gate.

Meanwhile, outside it, some warriors sank to the ground and bowed their heads in frustration.

「I-I only needed one more…」

「Damn it! Damn it! Daaaaamn it!!」

「My strength proved insufficient… How regrettable…」

Separated by nothing more than the eastern gate, the expressions on either side couldn’t have been more different.

It had only been a six-hour battle.

But for the warriors who had lost, those six hours had forced them to face the reality that all the effort they had poured into this tournament had come to nothing.

Watching them, I quietly exhaled.

The preliminary round is over. From this point on comes the main tournament—the stage where the truly strong finally clash.

That was when—

「…Huh?」

I heard someone’s voice.

「What’s wrong?」

「No…」

The man who had spoken was looking all around him.

「…Where’s Hozuki Retsuma?」

「…」

His words sent a ripple of unease through the surrounding crowd.

I turned in his direction as well.

Hozuki Retsuma.

The man widely considered the most likely to win this year’s Shurasaki Festival.

A former Shurasaki Festival champion and a survivor of the Naraka Dungeon.

Even though this was my first time visiting Amane-kyo, I had heard his name countless times since entering the city.

At the very least, he wasn’t a man who should have fallen in the preliminary round.

「Retsuma must’ve returned ages ago, right?」

「No. I haven’t seen him once.」

「Neither have I.」

「Isn’t that strange?」

More and more voices joined in.

I turned toward the official checking the list of qualifiers.

「What happened to Hozuki Retsuma?」

Someone asked him.

The official examined the list in his hands.

Then—

「Hozuki Retsuma is not among the preliminary-round qualifiers.」

For a moment, the entire area fell silent.

「…How is that possible?」

「No way… Was he unable to collect five Oni Tags?」

The word ‘Impossible’ nearly escaped my lips.

I couldn’t imagine the man I had seen before the preliminary round failing to collect a mere five Oni Tags.

Then—

「Come to think of it, I heard something from a man who saw Retsuma during the preliminary round…」

A voice came from behind us.

Everyone turned toward it at once.

With every eye in the area focused on him, the man carefully continued.

「Apparently, Retsuma was lying face-down on the ground.」

「Does that mean he lost to someone?!」

「But… if he lost, then who beat him?」

The man shook his head.

「That, I do not know.」

「You don’t know…?」

「I didn’t see it myself. I merely heard it from someone who witnessed the battle from a distance. At the time, I dismissed the information because it sounded utterly implausible, but to think it was actually true…」

The man continued.

「Apparently, Retsuma fought someone while returning to the eastern gate. His opponent was a wandering swordsman dressed in a kimono.」

I felt one of my eyebrows twitch.

「A wanderer…?」

「Yes. He had long hair and an unkempt beard. He was carrying sake and… I believe he was smoking a kiseru.」

「…」

「That’s absurd…」

Everyone around us had fallen silent without even realizing it.

The story certainly lacked any semblance of credibility. But this man also had no reason to go out of his way to lie.

Still, his description gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.

When I returned to the eastern gate, I had noticed one of the participants who had already secured a place in the main tournament.

Come to think of it, I remember seeing a tall man in an indigo kimono smoking a kiseru by the roadside.

I hadn’t paid him much attention at the time.

Perhaps because he had already qualified, he had seemed far too relaxed.

He gave off the air of someone out for a casual stroll—enough that I had almost mistaken him for a spectator.

Perhaps that was precisely why he had stuck in my mind.

「…So? What happened to Hozuki Retsuma?」

Another warrior asked the official.

「I heard he was seriously wounded.」

「—!」

The sound of people sharply inhaling could once again be heard throughout the crowd.

「The medical team carried him away, and he is apparently receiving treatment at a clinic.」

「How serious are his injuries…?」

「I don’t know. However…」

The official lowered his voice.

「According to the healer who examined him… the injury was apparently inflicted by a single slash.」

That single statement defied all common sense.

No one could find the words to respond.

And neither could I.

Retsuma had lost.

That alone was shocking enough, but for it to have happened with a single slash…

Someone had seriously wounded a man as powerful as Hozuki Retsuma with just one strike.

「…Who the hell did it?」

Someone muttered.

But none of the participants possessed the answer.

The officials probably knew his name, but they seemed to have no intention of revealing it here.

「I’ve never heard of anyone matching that description.」

「Is he from Bukyo?」

「Who knows? Still, if he uses a katana, there’s a good chance he hails from Bukyo.」

The rumors spread in an instant.

But my attention gradually drifted away from the commotion around me.

Only one man occupied my thoughts.

The wanderer who had been drinking sake and smoking a kiseru.

He had collected his Oni Tags and reached the eastern gate before I did, securing his place in the main tournament.

And he had done so after defeating Hozuki Retsuma.

「Heh.」

A smile naturally spread across my face.

「Aun, you look happy.」

Kinu’s voice brought me back to my senses.

「Yeah. Looks like this festival’s got one hell of an interesting guy in it.」

I gazed beyond the eastern gate.

The fighting had ended, and now the only movement came from the mist drifting slowly on the wind.

A feeling I hadn’t experienced in a long time welled up inside my chest.

It wasn’t the exhilaration I felt when encountering someone overwhelmingly powerful.

If anything, it was the opposite.

I still knew nothing.

And that was exactly why I wanted to know.

Who is that man? How skilled is he? And what would happen if I fought him?

That pure curiosity filled my heart.

「Looks like I can’t let my guard down.」

I had safely cleared the preliminary round.

But apparently, something I never could have imagined had slipped into the main tournament.

I still didn’t know what that something was.

There was, however, one thing I knew for certain.

—The Shurasaki Festival’s main tournament is going to be even more fun than I imagined.