Chapter 10: Tanya’s Revenge

*1*

“Mmgghh! Hnngg! Nnngggh!”

I forfeit. I give up. I surrender. Ryan tried again and again to get the words out, but for some reason his lips remained firmly closed against his will.

“What the hell...?”

And yet, for some reason he could say anything else with no trouble at all. What’s going on? Is this a curse? I’ve never heard of a curse that forbids you from saying specific phrases!

“...Mmmggghhh!” I GIVE UP! “MMMMGGGHHHHN!!!” I FORFEIT!!!

No dice.

“What’s the matter, Ryan? Cat got your tongue?” Tanya sneered.

Meanwhile, far behind her on the bench, Laplace sat with an amused smirk on her face. Naturally, it was she who had cursed Ryan to be incapable of forfeiting. And of course, her spell was extremely powerful.

“Heh heh heh... Anything’s a piece of cake for the Great Sorceress!”

“Nom nom... Tha’sh incredible, Laplashe,” Nadine exclaimed through a mouthful of food. Currently she was leaning back with her feet up, enjoying a plate of bone-in sausages. Apparently, no one had ever taught her not to talk with her mouth full. “Do you want beer or wine? I’ll call someone over for us.”

“Oh, I’d love a glass of wine, thank you.”

“Okay! Let’s get some appetizers while we’re at it. The food here is actually really good!”

Evidently the two of them were planning to treat Ryan’s humiliating defeat like the spectacle it was, complete with popcorn.

“...Now then, are you ready, Laplace?”

“Oui, oui. Let’s do it!”

Surrounded by carnival food and alcohol, Nadine cleared her throat. Then she picked up the spoon they’d given her with her chicken fried rice, turned it around, and held it to her lips.

Laplace snapped her fingers—

“Alllllright, ladies and gentlemen! Here we are at the Sparring Tournament championship match, round three! Reporting to you live, I’m Nadine Amaryllis! And for commentary, I have here with me—”

“Stone Cold Stunner, unrivaled beauty, at your service! Bonjour!”

—and so the two began their high-energy coverage of the match. As Nadine’s voice boomed across the stadium, the audience came alive with confused murmurs.

“Wh... What’s going on?! How is her voice so loud?”

“Maybe it’s some newfangled magical artifact...?”

Meanwhile...

“Oh my! Ryan’s flung himself onto the ground! Perfect form, arc—yes, and he’s stuck the landing! It’s like he was born to prostrate himself!”

“Mmm... But you can’t really sense any sincerity in it, can you?”

“Indeed... My report here says Ryan’s spent his whole life thinking a half-assed apology will get him out of anything.”

“Oui, oui. And I’m told he still hasn’t paid Tanya that 50,000 seculs he borrowed from her back in adventuring school! He’s just not very responsible, is he?”

Murmurs of “Wow...” and “What a dick...” could be heard throughout the crowd.

“Whoa! Realizing his apology isn’t working, Ryan’s now started to lick her boots!”

“Talk about a lack of dignity.”

“WOW! Tanya just kicked him square in the face!”

“Hahaha! He should’ve seen that one coming. Nobody wants your nasty saliva on their shoes!”

“That’s an extremely good point, actually! Nothing about that seemed apologetic in the least! Oh... It seems Ryan’s crying pretty hard out there.”

“...Nope! Crocodile tears.”

“And there it is! HE’S FAKING IT, FOLKS! This grown man is FAKE CRYING!”

“Oh, and now he’s mad that we saw through it.”

“He’s literal trash!!!”

At this, the crowd burst out laughing, at Ryan’s expense, of course.

“Good lord! Is this seriously the team that placed second last year?”

“Well, Tanya was on their team last year, so.”

“This dude sure loved to brag about being the party leader. What a joke!”

“I think I’m done hiring them for quests...”

“Yeah... I’ll ask the Guild to blacklist them.”

And so the market value of Ryan’s party took a sharp nosedive.

“Oh! Tanya’s shot off a Fireball!”

“You see, normally a Magi-Knight’s mana circuits are optimized to pass mana through their sword. But Tanya’s so talented, she can still cast the regular way! She never ceases to amaze!”

“Uh-oh! Ryan’s clothes have caught fire! You’re on fire, sir! Now he’s running around like a chicken with its head cut off! That won’t help you, Ryan! Get with the program, come on!”

“Aha! This must be part of Tanya’s strategy.”

“How so?”

“Did you catch that statement from Ryan just now? ‘I’ll do whatever you want, so please, help me!’”

“He did say that, didn’t he? Ooh, Tanya just swung her sword! She’s fired a massive torrent of Water Magic straight at Ryan!”

“Oof... The hydraulic pressure just sent him flying. And what a spectacular flight it was!”

“You know, Ryan’s technically supposed to be a Knight, but I’m not seeing any Knight skills.”

“Oh yeah, about that. Apparently he cheated or hired proxies for all his tests in adventuring school. He’s less of a Knight and more of a Gambler, if you ask me!”

With Nadine’s commentary and the ravishing Stone Cold Stunner’s analysis, the crowd’s opinion of Ryan began to sour like old milk.

Meanwhile, Ryan staggered to his feet, clutching at his ashen, hole-ridden clothes.

“Mmmgggaaahhh!” Please, just let me forfeit!

But Laplace’s magic held fast. What a fearsome curse it was.

“Now then, Ryan...” Tanya walked up in front of him, grinning. “What was it you said just now? You’ll do anything?”

Ryan took one look at her sinister sneer and shrieked. “I’ll do anything! Just don’t hurt meeee!”

Around them, the arena reverberated with spectators screaming Tanya’s name. Holding her naked sword, she readily shifted into a fighting stance; Ryan stumbled backwards and fell onto his rear. And as Tanya slowly inched closer, he shrieked and scrambled back even further.

Then, finally, his back collided with the wall. The crowd’s cheers began to swell in anticipation of the knockout blow. He was just such a pushover—completely incompetent. And in a match between the woman who had done all the heavy lifting and the man who had lazily foisted it upon her, it was plain to see who would come out on top.

His voice came back to her: I’m sorry, but you’re off the team. You’re a woman, Tanya.

“Heh heh... Don’t think for a minute I’m going to make this painless for you.”

“Aah... aaah...!”

The look in her eyes was cold. Unfeeling.

He shrieked and trembled as she lifted her sword high into the air—

“IT’S SHOWTIIIIME!”

*2*

“...I’ve never been so humiliated...”

Ryan fell to his knees as laughter and ridicule rained down upon him. This was all so cruel and heartless.

For some reason, Tanya had kept his poetry notebook from seventh grade, and now she was forcing him to read it aloud. Yes, that’s right—his dark past, brought to light in front of a giant crowd! Pure evil!

And the audience was loving it.

“†The Scarlet-Black Fallen Angel†...? Pick a color and stick to it!”

“Oh my god, my SIDES! Hey, ‘Ebon King of the Cursed Eye’! Can you speak up a bit? Some of us folks in the back can’t hear you!”

“Somebody get this guy a book deal!”

“The love interest has ‘thorny lips’? Sounds like she needs some chapstick!”

Tears welled in his eyes as he looked at Tanya, practically doubled over and shrieking with laughter. How could you do this to me, you monster? Behind her, the audience was radiating second-hand embarrassment. At his expense! Ugh, kill me now... Goddamn it... I need to get back at her!

He lowered his hand into his pocket—the one section of his pants that mercifully remained intact. Sure enough, he still had his trump card... Summoning his resolve, he grabbed it and pulled it out.

“Fuck it! TAKE THIS!”

“Whoa!”

It was a spherical object approximately the size of his palm. This magical artifact contained a mixture of mana and a Fire Magic spell, all carefully compressed within; in other words, it was a bomb.

And when he flung it at Tanya’s feet, it exploded with a small, rumbling BOOM.

The spectators screamed in fear and anger. These bombs were reserved for clearing passages through dungeons or in fights against large-scale monsters, like dragons. It was certainly not the sort of item a Knight was meant to smuggle into a sparring match.

“Ha... hahaha... I did it... I did it!” Ryan laughed triumphantly. This was the laugh of a man who reacted to a little roasting session by throwing a literal bomb at his own childhood friend and former teammate. “It... It was all her fault... She pushed me to it! Well, that’s what you get when you act like a bitch! Haha! Hahahaha!”

Meanwhile, the audience was in an uproar over his unfair tactics. But just as they were starting to think he’d stolen the win out from under her—

“Whoa there! Last I checked, †The Scarlet-Black Fallen Angel† was supposed to be a Knight, but here he is throwing bombs!”

“Beurk! Yikes! Cringe! Don’t be a coward, †The Scarlet-Black Fallen Angel†! Fight her fair and square!”

Once again, Nadine and Laplace had started broadcasting their commentary across the stadium. The alcohol must have kicked in, because their enthusiasm level was at an all-time high. Indeed, they didn’t even sound remotely worried.

After all, it would take more than a point-blank explosion to bring down Tanya Artemiciov, the leader of Lilium.

*3*

Sure enough, as the flames crackled and the dust settled, she slowly came into view once more.

“Wow, that was rude.”

“Eeeek! Tanya?! Wha... wha...?!”

“What was that for, asshole?!”

She was completely unharmed. Not even a scratch.

“Aaaand Tanya’s okay! No damage taken, folks!”

“Heh heh heh! All thanks to her custom armor hand-made by yours truly, Stone Cold Stunner! That measly bomb could never put even a dent in it!”

“Fascinating! I doubt traditional women’s equipment could measure up to that!”

“Oui, oui! Nice and warm around the midriff, too!”

“I love it!”

“Place your orders today and you’ll receive a bonus Stone Cold Stunner mini-poster absolutely free!”

The women in the crowd began to murmur excitedly amongst themselves, while the men’s ears perked up at the prospect of a pin-up poster.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Goddamn it!” Ryan wailed, digging around in his pocket once more.

“What’s next? Gonna spam me with bombs? Not a great look.”

“Shut up! This is my last resort—a little gift from Goliath himself! And it’s totally badass, just FYI!”

“Right.”

Indeed, the bomb wasn’t his only trump card. This time he pulled out a little scrap of paper.

“Wait... That’s—!” A split second later, Tanya recognized the pattern drawn onto it. “Stop!”

It was a summoning talisman, a magical artifact with a magic circle drawn onto it. As the name suggests, these were used to summon all manner of monsters, mythical beasts, spirits, and so on. Ordinarily, a talisman of that size could be expected to summon a familiar spirit at most, but—

“It’s so detailed!”

Indeed, this elaborate magic circle painstakingly covered every last centimeter of the scrap of paper. The most adept summoners were capable of forcibly teleporting magical beings across even time, including powerful creatures that had gone nearly extinct in recent years, such as dragons or unicorns. However, it generally required forming a contract with the beast or otherwise taming it beforehand, and as one might expect, Ryan had no such ability.

“Are you out of your mind?! Stop!”

But the hard look in his eyes told her he was going to do it anyway. Sure enough, he raised the talisman high into the air.

“Mwahahahaha! Bow before me!” He pricked his finger to produce the drop of blood necessary for the summon spell to activate. “Ouch! That really smarts! Ugh, now I’m bleeding... Gross...”

As he smeared his blood across the magic circle, a strong wind kicked up as the mana circuits within the talisman began to activate.

“Ryan! Stop!” Tanya screamed.

“Make me!”

“Stop this now, and you won’t be a villain—you’ll just be another loser. But if you go through with this, and summon a freaking dragon in a public space with thousands of innocent people present? There’ll be chaos!”

“I know—that’s why I’m doing it! I summon you, dragon! Crush this harlot who dared to make a mockery of me!”

As the summon talisman floated out of Ryan’s hand and up into the air, it spontaneously caught fire. This tiny flame grew bigger and bigger until—

“Oh god... A Red Dragon...!”

Tanya swallowed hard. Of all the breeds, he just had to summon the one with the worst temperament—and in terms of strength, it was number one with a bullet. The Red Dragon was also considered to be an endangered species, and as such, it was grossly inappropriate to summon one in a battle.

Screams broke out all across the arena. The parties here were almost all Rank C or below; they were all vastly under-equipped to handle a Red Dragon.

“What the hell?!”

“A dragon?!”

“†The Scarlet-Black Fallen Angel† summoned a damn dragon!”

“Oh god, we gotta get out of here!”

However, as the spectators started to panic, two loud (but oddly calm) voices joined the fray:

“Hey, folks? Everything’s alright! Let’s all settle down!”

“Everyone please remain calm. There’s no need to panic.”

Laplace and Nadine each spoke directly to the audience.

“You have nothing to fear! Not while Tanya’s here to protect you!”

At this, the crowd began to murmur, perplexed.

Wielding her oversized sword, Tanya held her ground, and stared directly into the dragon’s eyes. As it roared, flames burst forth from its maw—

“Gyaaah! Hot, hot, hot!” Whimpering, Ryan abandoned all pretense of composure and hastily put some distance between himself and his summon. As usual, he refuses to take responsibility for his actions...

“Oh, no... Look out!”

The stream of flames was rapidly closing in on the spectators. They wouldn’t escape in time—

Water Magic, engage!

Tanya swung her sword, firing a torrent of water that blocked the fire’s path. Someone in the audience screamed as a cloud of steam rose up with a loud hiss.

“Ugh, I’m so sorry... You poor thing. You weren’t expecting to have to do this... You must be scared to death right now,” she murmured to the dragon. She knew she could probably take it down with an Explosion, the same way she’d done with the rampaging Wyvern in the Western Wasteland. But when she thought about it, this Red Dragon was really just another of Ryan’s victims, and she couldn’t help but empathize.

Cast debuff! Water Magic, engage! Add Earth Magic support!

She quietly circulated her mana to her sword. In addition to its offensive abilities, Water Magic was known for its robust variety of buffs, debuffs, and recovery spells.

“I’m sorry about this, Big Red.”

She swung her sword in an upward motion—

“Rrrrgrrroooarrr?!”

—and a cloud of mist engulfed the mighty creature. Instantly, its eyelids drooped, and with a dull WHAM, it collapsed to the arena floor, sound asleep.

*4*

“Wh... What just happened?”

“Did she just cast Somniferous Mist?”

“What? But that’s only an intermediate-level spell! There’s no way that would work on a dragon unless you had a whole platoon of Court Grand Mages!”

“It’s not supposed to take effect that quickly, either... Have Magi-Knights always been this overpowered?!”

As the Red Dragon snored softly, the spectators buzzed with a mix of trepidation and relief.

“Incredible... She’s a saint...!”

Just then, the two commentators cut in:

“Is everyone alright out there? I know that was pretty intense, but lest you forget, this match isn’t over just yet!” Nadine exclaimed.

“Oui, oui! The show must go on!” said Stone Cold Stunner—er, Laplace.

At this, the crowd’s attention returned to the competitors once more.

Meanwhile, in the ring, Ryan had officially dug his own grave.

“Ryyyyyaaaaannnn?”

“Wait! Look, um... I wasn’t...!”

“Hahaha! Relax! I wasn’t really expecting you to fight me fair and square. I mean, that would just be embarrassing for you. But here’s the thing—there’s a line, and you definitely crossed it.”

All around her, the earth itself pulsed with invisible energy as she stared down at the ground, her hair hiding her expression from view.

“Hee hee... hee hee hee...”

Then he heard her giggling creepily to herself, and he knew he was going to die.

“From twilight I summon the ultimate destruction.”

She was casting Explosion, an Arcane-level spell. Depending on the skill of the caster, it was the sort of spell that could single-handedly demolish a castle or an entire army.

“Eeeegh! You’re using that on the dragon, right?! Right, Tanya?!”

Meanwhile, she continued her incantation. Ordinarily, as a Magi-Knight, all she really needed to do was focus her mana into her sword... and yet...

“Ashes to ashes.”

She wasn’t going to catch him off-guard with a surprise attack. She was going to come at him head-on and crush him solely with carefully honed skill.

With her mana circuits optimized for the Magi-Knight class, she had to be more careful and precise than she ever was as a regular Mage. She used her sword in place of a staff, refining her mana and steadily converting it into magical energy.

“Dust to dust.”

Seeing Ryan go weak in the knees and start crying for his mama filled Tanya with deep glee, and the corner of her lips curled in a smirk.

“Heed my call—”

“S-Stop! Don’t do this, Tanyaaaa!!! I’ll... I’ll pay you back all the money I skimmed from your wages!!!”

“—and unleash your might!”

A gleam of light flashed from the tip of her blade—

“EXPLOSION!!!”

“STOP! PLEASE! I’LL BUY YOU A DESIGNER PURSE OR SOMETHING!!!”

“THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF SHIT I’M TIRED OF, RYAN, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!! GO TO HELL!!!”

But the instant she swung her sword down—for some reason, she thought she heard Laplace snap her fingers.

There was a moment of silence... and then a thunderous BOOOOM erupted as a pillar of light shot up into the sky. The crowd screamed—whether out of fear or excitement, she couldn’t tell. Fortunately, the spell was masterfully contained so as to avoid causing any collateral damage.

And so Ryan vanished into the beam of light, leaving Tanya standing there in a dust cloud ten times more impressive than his measly bomb, her skirt fluttering in the blast, her pink hair flying.

*5*

After a prolonged silence, the audience began to buzz once more. The dust settled, and there lay Ryan, charred black, groaning under his breath.

But just as they were about to celebrate Tanya’s victory—a low growl rumbled across the arena. The Red Dragon was awake once more.

“Wha...?!”

Dark red flames flickered in its mouth. And the flames of a Red Dragon were purportedly so hot they could melt steel.

“Oh god... Run! The Red Dragon’s awake!”

The crowd’s joy quickly turned to panic. After all, there was no telling whether the Somniferous Mist would work a second time. Tanya hastily dropped into a fighting stance—

“Gah...!”

—but her legs buckled.

She was out of mana.

While Tanya’s mana capacity was higher than the average Mage’s due to her rigorous training regimen, she had used it all up over the course of the tournament, and that final Explosion had officially drained the last dregs.

I have to do something!

Desperate for a solution, Tanya’s gaze wandered in search of the Great Sorceress.

“Come, Your Highness. We must get you to safety,” said Maxwell, the Court Grand Mage.

“No.” Arianora answered quiet, yet firm. “Not until my citizens are safely evacuated. Get word to the Imperial Knights and call for a magical platoon to be dispatched at once!”

Maxwell’s eyes narrowed as he stared out at the hulking Red Dragon. “As the Crown Princess of our great Empire, your safety comes first and foremost.”

“No, my people come first. Besides, it’s my duty to bear witness to the events that transpire here today.” After all, few would think highly of a noble that thought first of saving her own skin.

“Personally, I would prefer not to risk any damage to your body,” Maxwell spat under his breath. He snapped his fingers, and a force field activated around the entire stadium.

“Whoa... Very impressive, Your Eminence!” one of the arena guards exclaimed, awestruck. While all he really did was flip the switch on an existing security measure, it normally required the mana of five to ten Mages to activate.

“Hmph. They’re lucky I haven’t completed my research on a personal-sized barrier. Otherwise I would’ve used that for just the two of us,” Maxwell sneered, staring down at the arena below.

How could one little girl possibly hope to defeat a Red Dragon?

The air around them grew more and more tense as the dragon’s mana steadily built. Tanya could hear Nadine’s voice in the background, calmly and precisely directing the spectators to help them evacuate. Meanwhile, she ran through a handful of mental scenarios, desperately searching for a solution to this crisis.

Just then, something soft touched her cheek. “Tanya.”

“Wh... Laplace?!”

Laplace’s velvety fingers wiped the soot from Tanya’s cheek. “What’s your plan? If you’re out of mana, I can lend you as much as you need.”

“But...!”

Back in the Western Wasteland, extenuating circumstances had forced her to slaughter the Wyvern. But this Red Dragon was an innocent creature summoned into servitude at Ryan’s behest. The last thing she wanted to do was end its life. It deserved better than that.

“Hmm... That spell you used earlier—that was Somniferous Mist, non?”

“Y-Yeah...?” Normally this spell was only strong enough to tranquilize enemies.

“I see, I see. It appears my invention has been watered down quite a bit.”

“Wait, what?! You invented Somniferous Mist?!”

“Oui, oui. And I believe your beloved Explosion originated from one of my creations as well.”

“Oh my god, that’s incredible!” Tanya gushed gleefully. She was always ready to geek out over magic, regardless of time or place. “We should talk more about this som—mmmph?!”

Just then, Laplace pressed her lips to Tanya’s, cutting her off. She could feel mana flowing into her body—wait, what are you thinking, Laplace?! Not here! Not in front of this huge audience!!!

“Mmm... There you go. You see, Tanya, Somniferous Mist wasn’t originally meant to put the victim to sleep. It was designed to nullify their mana entirely.”

“Nullify their mana?!” But mana’s the source of all life! You can’t nullify it! That’d be like cutting someone’s arm off and expecting them not to bleed!

Indeed, it was a near-impossible feat... in terms of modern magic, anyway.

“I admit, using it on human subjects led to some... significant side effects, so I stopped testing on them... but surely a creature of that size could handle it, no problem.”

With that, Laplace snapped her fingers, summoning a giant magic circle beneath their feet.

“Holy crap... How did you create such a complex spell formula in an instant?!”

“Hee hee! Because I’m the Great Sorceress, of course! And this is a very old spell.” Grinning, she floated into the air. “Now go on, Tanya. Cast Somniferous Mist again. My custom-made magic circle is here to support you!”

“Oh... uh, okay...” Tanya focused her mana once more. Cast debuff! Water Magic, engage! Add Earth Magic support! “Ready!”

She could feel mana flowing into her from the massive, complex magic circle at her feet and steadily gathering in her sword as if drawn to her spell.

Then she kicked off from the ground, leaping straight at the Red Dragon’s head, its scarlet flames still flickering at the ready.

“GOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

She raised her Not-Excalibur over her head, then swung it down, slicing the empty air as it fired off a second round of mist.

In the next moment, the dragon’s fire breath... was summarily snuffed out.

“Grrrff... rrrfff...!” The Red Dragon writhed to and fro, its eyes glassy. “Grrroo... arrchoo!!!”

A strong wind kicked up, blustering in Tanya’s ears. Riding the air current, she landed a short distance away.

But this “attack” carried no mana, no destructive force. It was simply—

“Was... Was that just a sneeze...?”

“Grrrnnn... grrrph...” Its eyelids drooped... and then the Red Dragon returned to a cozy slumber once more.

Meanwhile, the sneeze had landed a direct hit on Ryan’s unconscious body, knocking him away and blowing off the last unburnt scraps of his clothing. He landed squarely on his back—naked as the day he was born.

“Would you look at that, folks? For shame! You’d never guess he was an adventurer with a body like that!”

“Hahaha! I have to say, †The Scarlet-Black Fallen Angel† looked a lot better with his clothes on!”

The fervor of the crowd grew so loud, it nearly drowned out Nadine and Laplace’s commentary. The contrast between Tanya’s smart, efficient dragon takedown and Ryan’s sheer incompetence was frankly overwhelming.

“Not to worry, everyone! Tanya appears to have ‘defanged’ the Red Dragon once again!”

“Oui, oui! That overgrown lizard is now as harmless as your grandma’s pet cat!”

“Feel free to come by and pet him before you go!”

The relief in the air was palpable. At last, the nightmare was over.

“And that’s a wrap, folks! This is Nadine Amaryllis, signing off!”

“Ethereal beauty Stone Cold Stunner, signing off!”

Then someone in the crowd shouted something that sounded like, “Man, fuck that guy!” Whoever it was, Tanya was tempted to buy them a beer.

“W-W-We have a winner!” the referee stammered. “This year’s champions: Lilium, led by Tanya Artemiciov!”

At this, the audience exploded into cheers, the din rattling the entire stadium:

“TANYAAAAA!”

“HELL YEAAAAHHH!!!”

“YOU DID IT!”

“WHAT UP, DRAGONSLAYER!”

“Dude, she didn’t slay it! More like... DRAGON TAMER!”

“You still alive down there, Fallen Angel?!”

After all the middle school poetry and general incompetence, Ryan had essentially committed social suicide, so it was safe to say that Tanya had won the leader match by a landslide. And with her victory confirmed, Lilium were declared the champions of the Sparring Tournament.

For the first time in the history of their proud nation, an all-woman party had won first place in the Sparring Tournament—and on their very first try.

Together, they had made history.

*6*

“Lord Maxwell!”

He turned at the sound of his name. “Oh, it’s you.” He had been watching the events of the tournament unfold from the VIP box, and he was entirely unamused.

“Yes, milord. It is I, Goliath.”

Evidently his protégé informant was here to see him. He snorted. “I’m not in the mood for a chat. What do you want?”

“I’m here to make a report. It’s about the Wicked Dragonwhore.”

“...Laplace?”

He hadn’t spoken the name in an eternity, and it soured on his tongue. The woman he’d seen down in the arena, and her magic circle—there was no mistaking it.

Meanwhile...

“Tanya!”

“Laplace!”

Back at the bench, the three women were engaged in a ferocious group hug. Tanya couldn’t stop smiling. Her revenge was now complete.

“Hahaha! I still can’t believe he summoned a Red Dragon! And those poems were something else!”

“I know, right?! Hee hee hee! Scarlet-Black! Fallen Angel! And the little crosses!”

“Oh my god, Nadine, stop! I can’t breathe!”

They were all giggling uncontrollably.

“Hey, Laplace?” asked Tanya.

“Mmm?”

“You gave him a force field, didn’t you?”

Laplace grinned mischievously.

Tanya was, of course, referring to the moment she cast Explosion on Ryan. She’d sensed that there was a force field protecting him, but knew there was no way he could’ve cast it himself. And not just because he was a failure of an adventurer, either. Tanya only knew of one person who could create a force field without the aid of a magic circle or incantation.

“Oho, cat’s out of the bag. I should’ve known you’d catch on.”

“Duh! I mean, otherwise the whole arena would be covered in his viscera by now!”

“Hahaha! Now there’s a mental image I didn’t need! You’re hilarious, you know that?”

“Glad you think so.”

“I’m also pretty sure you weren’t actually planning on killing him.”

“Eek...”

“You’re too much of a softie for that.”

“Oh yeah, total softie... except for the part where she dug up his cringey old poetry and made him read it in front of a live audience,” Nadine snarked under her breath.

“Besides, what sort of Great Sorceress would I be if I didn’t at least enable you to beat him black and blue to your heart’s content?” Laplace continued.

“Hee hee... How very thoughtful of you.”

Laplace must have known how Tanya would react to the presence of a force field—more specifically, that she’d crank up the dial on her mana output in order to hit him with the biggest blast she could manage. And it felt fucking amazing.

“Thanks, Laplace.”

“Heh heh... All in a day’s work for this Great Sorceress!” Throwing up a peace sign, she kissed Tanya on the cheek.

Then a voice came over the loudspeaker:

“We will now begin the awards ceremony. Champions, please report to the arena!”

“Laplace! Nadine! That’s us!” Tanya held out a hand to each of them, and once they had taken hold, she declared: “Let’s get out there!”

“Oui, oui!”

“Right you are!”

And so Lilium walked out to tumultuous applause.

*7*

“Hello, everyone. We’re your winners for this year’s tournament. Thank you so much for your support! Things got pretty hairy for a minute there, but more than anything, I’m glad to know that no one in the audience was injured. Anyway, uh... I just wanted to say that... this victory belongs to more than just Lilium.

“Take a look around you. Notice just how many adventurers there are in this town. And then ask yourself: why is it that the gender ratio for the average party is so heavily skewed? The smallest parties usually only have one female member, and even the larger ones with 20-plus members still only have about three women on the roster, max. On top of that, it’s almost unheard of for a woman to lead a party herself.

“We work hard to be a part of this society, all while that same society tells us to ‘shut up, show some skin, and don’t complain.’ But if you think about it... how many female adventurers stay in the field into their 30s? Into their 50s? Hardly any of them, right?

“Anyway, uhh, so my point is, um... the way things are right now kinda sucks! And I think we should change it! We need to stop holding ourselves back because we’re female, or because we’re a certain age, or because our skin is a certain color. Your big adventure is still out there! Don’t let anything or anyone keep you down!

“We can be anything we want—Healers, or Mages, or even Knights. And it’s up to us to forge that path for the next generation of little girls who will follow in our footsteps. So I ask you to hold your head high and proudly continue your journey well into your 30s! Or your 50s! And to all the little girls out there who dream of adventure—this victory is for you.”

And so, on that historic day, Tanya’s speech received a standing ovation.