C278: A UNIQUE COMBAT

Thus, the election of the representative of the human race and the demon race studying at the farm has begun.

It’s a contest to decide which race is superior.
It’s nonsensical.
It’s nonsensical, but… I guess it’s the youth’s privilege to involve themselves with nonsensical things more than anything else.

They’re here to be educated as the next generation of youths.
It’s only natural that there would be unprecedented racial troubles.
Those are just bound to happen when you’re young.

…
I make it sound like this farm only ever has old geezers and hags!
Those in their twenties are still considered young!
Those in their thirties? Barely!

“You lowly humans! I’m going to make you realize your social worth!”

The demon’s representative is Eryngear, as always.
An uncompromising, energetic, and elitist warrior.

The other elitist demons already had their confidence dampened when they saw the transcendent battle between Veil and Horkosfon, though.
Only one of them remains persistent.
On the other hand, the human representative is…

“…Why me?” asks Ritheseus.

It’s probably because he showed his wit in our earlier exchange.
He caught his peer’s attention and was nominated because of that.

Eryngear vs. Ritheseus.

The battle for the pride of each race begins!

“I don’t want to fight!” complains Ritheseus, on the verge of tears.

He has already lost heart.

“I was a mere chamberlain before I came here! I’ve never been in a fight before!”
“Don’t worry, I know you can do it,” I half-heartedly encourage him. “Your opponent is as inexperienced as you are. She may be part of the Demon King’s army, but she’s still a novice.”
“Hey! I heard that!” shouts a voice from the other side.

It’s Eryngear.

“Why the hell do you keep supporting them?! It’s not fair! Are you on the human’s side, after all?!”
“I think anyone would side with Ritheseus after seeing him, regardless of his race, if you ask me.”

The surrounding spectators nod their heads in agreement.

“Damn it! So, I’m going to be fighting alone and unassisted?!”
“Character and attitude make enemies, you know.”

Both sides hold something that resembles a sword—a bamboo sword.
I anticipated something like this to happen, so I made them out of the bamboo I got from the dungeon orchard in advance.

“You’ll be fighting with these bamboo swords.”

The battle would be over in a flash if they used real swords, so…
I’ll be their judge.

“Heh-he-he… I’ll make you realize our racial superiority. No matter what match we have, the demon race will never lose to the human race!” says Eryngear, licking her lips.

She’s like a cat going after her prey.
Ritheseus shakes like a cornered rat…
…or so I thought.

“…”
“…? What’s wrong?”
“You’re cute.”
“Excuse me?!”

Eryngear has the characteristically bewitching allure of a demoness appropriate to her age.
However…

“He suddenly started flirting with a girl on the battlefield?!”

Ritheseus’ popularity, which had been rising steadily until now, crashed in one go.

“T-That’s not it! I was just expressing my first impressions!”
“I hope you lose, Ritheseus! Die!”

His supporters have turned into his bashers.
A slip of the tongue is truly frightening.

Meanwhile, the person Ritheseus complimented turns beet-red and says, “How disgraceful! To be acting like this in a real battle! Humans are a stupid race, after all! I’m going to get rid of you here!!!”

The match hasn’t even started yet, but Eryngear begins to charge with her bamboo sword.

“I’ll slay youuuuuuuuu!!!”

Er, you can’t really slay people with a bamboo sword, no matter how hard you try.
Eryngear’s movements are very stereotypical as if she had learned them in training.

My judgment of her as an inexperienced rookie is correct.
However, it was the Demon King’s Army that had trained her.
The strongest army on earth has accumulated a lot of know-how in slaying people, and if someone were to learn it, they would be keener than someone used to fistfights.

This is too much to ask an amateur to deal with this.
The image of Ritheseus being beaten to a pulp is in everyone’s mind.

But!

“Huh?!”

Ritheseus intercepts Eryngear’s sword that came slashing downward.
He applies force from an unexpected direction, making Eryngear lose grip.

“H-Huh?!”

Even she’s surprised.
How unbelievable for a Demon King’s Army soldier to be agitated and full of openings during a battle.
As a result, she was unable to intercept Ritheseus’ incoming attack.

“We have a winner!” I declare, seeing that the tip of the bamboo sword stopped just in front of Eryngear’s throat.

Ritheseus probably did that out of consideration.

“Woaaaaaaaaaaaah! He won!”
“I can’t believe he won!”
“A totally unexpected result!!!”

The people around us are hyped up by the surprising result.

“No… I can’t believe I lost…”

Eryngear is shattered by the outcome.
She flimsily collapses, knees on the ground.

“No way, I won…”

And the person who won is the most surprised, bamboo sword still in his hand.

I walk up to him and say, “Good job, Ritheseus. But you used a pretty unfair strategy.”
“Huh?”

That’s right.
While you said that you’re a complete amateur who has never fought before, the way you intercepted Eryngear’s attack was precisely like a professional.

“You deliberately pretended to be an amateur to catch your opponent off guard, didn’t you?”

He doesn’t mind lying for the sake of winning.
Such dirty tricks give me shivers.
Could it be that he also called her cute just before the match to provoke her?

“That’s not true! I’m really an amateur! I’ve never held a sword in my life!”
“Huh?”
“My body moved on its own! How am I supposed to explain that?!”
“Huh?”
“Huh?!”

What’s going on?
Is he really an amateur? But he was able to move like a professional…

“Then what about when you called her cute?”
“Those were my true feelings.”
“Tsk.”

I unconsciously clicked my tongue.

Our farm’s project to educate the youth of all races has somehow started.
But it seems that we have an exceptionally talented person with us.

“Don’t get the wrong idea!” shouts Eryngear, teary-eyed. “Don’t think you’re superior just because you won one fight! That was just a coincidence! A fluke! I’m still going to prove to you that I’m better than you!!!”

What obvious excuses from someone unwilling to admit defeat.

Ritheseus, overflowing with extraordinary brilliance, and Eryngear, who reacts most predictably at everything.
This is probably going to follow another cliché pattern.