C331: The Match Between the Students and the Farm’s Five Strongest Residents – Part 4

My name’s Ritheseus, a human studying at the farm.
I’ll be continuing the story from my point of view this time.

It’s been nothing but hell so far.

Five rounds between the farm representatives and us students started with the idea of finding out the farm’s strength level.
We’ve lost all three matches so far.
All one-sided losses.

Teacher Belena, Princess Letasreit, and Lady Platy, our opponents, had strength beyond comparison and overwhelmed us all.

Since coming here, I’ve experienced things I’ve never experienced before and thought that made me stronger, but… that confidence was shattered instantly.
This farm is unfathomable!

I, as well as most of the other students, were brokenhearted and dejected.

“How did things turn out like this…”
“It’s because one of you guys said something uncalled-for!”
“Who the hell asked them who’s the strongest on the farm?!”

Now, we’re looking for the dumbass who said something they shouldn’t have.

“Now, now, everyone. It’s too early to be throwing in the towel!”

Lady Platy takes over Lord Saint, who’s babysitting, as the host.

“This battle is far from over—two matches still remain! As for the evaluation meeting, it will be held once you’re done.”
“We’re still doing this?!”

Our hearts are already shattered to bits and pieces!

“But of course. If anything, the real fun starts here. Whatever you had just now was a simple warm-up!”
“We couldn’t even do anything during ‘warm-up’!!!” exclaims one student, but I don’t blame them.

“Your opponents are waiting someplace else, so I’ll take you there. I wish you the best of luck. Tata!”

With that, Lady Platy dashes a potion on us.
Is this… forced teleportation?!
The potion’s effect forced all of us to be transported somewhere.

And then, we arrived.

Uh… where are we?

“The forest?!”

Trees surround us in a dense atmosphere, with foliage blocking the sunlight.
I sense a lot of people around me, so it seems we were all sent here together.

“Forced teleportation of this many people is too unconventional!”

And the farm has nothing but unconventional things.

“Okay… but why are we here?”

The three matches so far happened in open spaces.

…No.
Everyone is aware of it, even if only faintly.
That’s why we’re tense.

We all have a pretty good idea who our next opponent will be.

It’s funny when you think about it.
The opponents that have appeared in the past three matches were the farm’s strongest human, demon, and mermaid.
And yet, there are five rounds.

So what criteria were used to select the remaining two?
Are they based on an entirely different criterion?

Yes, there was a statement that led to this.
And who were they talking about in their statement?

“I know you two are the best buds, so this seems unlikely. But if you ever fought, who’d win? Orkubo or Gobukichi?”

In other words, the other two opponents waiting for us are…

“Here he comeeeeeeeeeees!” says one of my friends.

His voice is filled with dread and confusion.

I turned my head in the voice’s direction, and sure enough, there he was.

A bright blue knight wielding a scythe!

“It’s Gobukichiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!”

He’s one of the two invincible monsters that unite the farm’s army—Gobukichi the goblin.
Astride his beloved horse, Mimic Octobus, and carrying his favorite farming tool, a scythe, he looks exactly like a death god-cum-knight.

I knew it, he and Orkubo would be our last two opponents.

“Run for your livessssss! There’s no way we’re a match for Gobukichiiiiiiiii!!!” screams one student as he tries to escape, but…

Gobukichi is already right behind him, scythe on his neck.

“Don’t move… If you do, this mana metal mowing scythe will cut your head off like weed.”
“This is for mowing?! But it’s a scythe!”
“The bigger it is, the more you can cut with one swing, you know.”

No one can move even a finger when told that.
The student with the scythe by his neck looks like he’s about to piss his pants.

But when did Gobukichi get in close contact with him?

There was a distance of more than fifty steps between the point where he first appeared and the student who screamed.
I can’t pinpoint where he closed their distance.

Normally, he would’ve had to run or walk to get to him, but he had moved in an instant without showing any such movements.
It was as if he had teleported.

“All right, let’s move on to the next one.”

As soon as he said that, he disappeared!
…Or so I thought, but he’s behind another student!

Is he not teleporting at all?

“Hm… So, you guys can’t tell what happened at normal speed…” says Gobukichi, stunned. “I’ll slow down a bit in that case. You won’t learn anything if you’re kicked around without comprehending your surroundings.”
“Urk…”
“You are students, so you must learn from this battle. I won’t let you lose without understanding how or why you can’t win against me.”

That’s kind of harsh…

“The first thing you need to do is look at my horse, Mimic Octobus’ legs.”

Legs?
What about his horses’ legs?

His horse is small like his rider and has a donkey-like build.
Nothing seems to be strikingly unusual about him…

…?

Eek! W-What the heck?!
His legs started to bend.
But not just any half-baked bend!
His legs bend, and bend, and bend… to the point of forming a circle!
It doesn’t stop there; it goes on forming more circles!

“My Lord says this is called a spring. Mimic Octobus is a homunculus horse created by Madam Zoth Syra, the mermaid. He has the characteristics of a certain octopus monster and has the flexibility and instantaneous power unexpected of a horse.”

Gobukichi’s horse had accumulated instantaneous power with all four legs as springs… And sprang after a moment.
He leaped with tremendous force and soared high above our heads.

“He’s considerably slower this time. Do you see it now?”

That’s considerably slower to you?!
I can barely follow him with my eyes!

This is a dense forest, so there isn’t much altitude to jump up.
If they jump too high up, they’ll hit the spreading branches and leaves.

However, this didn’t pose an inconvenience to Gobukichi.
He and his beloved horse jump onto one of the tree trunks and use the recoil to dive toward the ground at great speed.

“Ahh!”

At the end of Gobukichi’s dive, the student screams in fear and surprise.
But by then, he had landed softly and taken his place behind him, scythe by his throat.

“And that’s how it goes.”

So that’s how he went from one student to another.
We somehow understood it at the speed he showed us, but if he were serious, we wouldn’t have any idea what happened to him or us.
Truly a super speedy goblin!

“Now that you understand, it’s time to get serious. I’m going to stop last minute, so don’t make any bad moves. My scythe is meant to cut grass; I don’t want it to suck people’s blood.”

With that, Gobukichi disappears from our sight again.
Well… he was just too fast for us to see him.

We were trampled down at breakneck speed.
Actually, this has been happening too darn often! How many times have we been trampled down today already?!