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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Chapter 175: Turning Pale

As the opening ceremony concluded and the participants retreated to the back of the arena, the teachers acting as judges conducted their final checks.

The rules of the martial arts tournament were the same as the ranking battles, involving combat while wearing a substitute bracelet.

The match ended when an opponent could no longer stand, lost consciousness, or surrendered; otherwise, the fighting continued.

However, if someone attempted to pursue the attack while their opponent was unconscious, the judges would forcibly halt the match.

With about 30 minutes’ rest before the matches began, the surrounding spectators headed off to buy easy-to-eat snacks and drinks.

“Eel. We’re going to check out the stalls. What about you?”

“I’ll stay here.”

“Got it.”

“Shuvina.”

“What is it?”

“This academy has a lot of delicious and easy-to-eat food from the stalls, but don’t buy too much.”

“Wha?! If you say that, I won’t buy anything for you!”

“Haha. Sorry about that. I’ll apologize, so please just get me some sweet treats.”

“Understood.”

“Sephiria, keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t overspend.”

“Understood.”

Fiera, Shuvina, and Sephiria stood up and exited the arena, swapping places with a young man who approached.

“Mind if I sit next to you?”

“…Kamael, yeah, go ahead.”

“Thanks. Here goes.”

Kamael sat next to me and let out a sigh, staring blankly at the arena.

“By the way, I noticed you didn’t join the tournament either.”

“Of course not. Participating in something so troublesome goes against my principles. Plus, it’s bound to be boring anyway.”

“True. There’s hardly anyone who could handle us at full strength.”

“Hmm. You’re overestimating me. I’m not that strong.”

“Really?”

I didn’t actually know how strong Kamael was right now, but considering his future strength, he should be strong enough to keep things somewhat interesting for me.

“More importantly, you know that your absence made Teacher Lime cry, right?”

“Ah, that was honestly amusing to watch. Just seeing that made me think skipping out was the right choice.”

“Wow, that’s kind of mean. But I get it! I’m probably as mean as you.”

A month ago, on the day the martial arts tournament was explained, Fiera, Shuvina, and I immediately told Lime we wouldn’t be participating.

“Why not?! You smiled just a moment ago! Didn’t that mean you were going to participate?!”

“Nope. I smiled to indicate I wasn’t joining. You misinterpreted, didn’t you? I never said I’d join.”

“Ugh. W-well, that’s true… But! Smiling like that in that context means you were joining! So I thought I could relax for once!!”

“That’s what you consider comforting? Or is that just something to laugh about?”

“Both deal a massive blow to my heart, so don’t touch on it!”

“Got it.”

“Ugh… Why can you only be understanding during times like this? Seriously, are you not joining?”

“Sorry. It’s just too much hassle.”

After I said this and smiled again, Lime lost it and started crying.

“Ugh!! Do you find it fun to bully me like this, you problem child?!”

Back then, Lime’s reaction was seriously amusing and a great source of entertainment, and just recalling it makes me smile now.

“Man… you really have a great personality, you know that?”

“Mutual, right? Look, you’re smiling too.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

Kamael touched his cheek and realized he was also smiling, giving a small, joyful grin.

“Well, leaving Teacher Lime aside, you’ve noticed, right? There’s a phenomenal presence in this arena.”

“Ah, yeah. The person seems to be hiding it, but it doesn’t work on us.”

“What are you going to do?”

“That’s one of my clients, so I intend to meet them tomorrow. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Got it. If you’re handling it, I really won’t need to be involved, huh?”

Kamael yawned, stood up, and stretched lightly.

“Heading back?”

“Yeah. I hate noisy places. Plus, I’m sleepy, so I plan to head back to the dorm and sleep.”

“I see. When you get bored, come hang out. You don’t have many friends like me, do you?”

“Fufu. You might not even be a friend, to begin with.”

“That’s a bummer. I considered us best friends!”

I crossed my legs and smirked at Kamael, and he sighed in exasperation.

“Sigh. I can’t deal with you. Well, if I get tired of sleeping, I’ll come by.”

“Roger that.”

“Well, goodnight then.”

“Ah, goodnight.”

Kamael lazily waved his hand and left. After a bit, Fiera and the others returned with bags full of food.

“Back!”

“Welcome back. You really got a lot, huh?”

“Do you think so? I reduced the quantity, you know?”

Shuvina claimed that she’d bought less while showing off the food, but the three of them all came back with bags in both hands, so could it truly be said they lessened their purchases?

“Sephiria.”

“I’m sorry! Being with the two of you makes it hard to grasp what is normal anymore. Before I realized, it ended up like this…”

It seems Sephiria got confused by the actions of the others, even with her true sight, and had lost track of what normal was.

“Well, whatever. Sonia will be here soon anyway, and Shuvina and Fiera can finish it all themselves.”

“Sure. No problem.”

“I bought only what we can eat, so don’t worry. Plus, Dōna will join us for a meal today, too.”

“Yay! I’m gonna eat lots!”

Shuvina’s cheerful voice echoed above her head as Dōna, lying belly down with her arms raised, was gearing up to eat a bunch as well.

“Oh, it smells great. Timing couldn’t be better.”

“Sonia!”

“Welcome back, Sonia.”

“Good job at the opening ceremony!”

As Fiera prepared the food for everyone to eat, Sonia sat down next to Shuvina, having returned from the arena.

“Is Iris in the waiting room?”

“Yeah. Unlike me, Iris and Sharueina have matches today, so they should be in the waiting room preparing for their first match.”

On the first day of the martial arts tournament, there would be a match between Iris and Sharueina, while Sonia had her first match on the second day, leaving her free to watch the two fight with us.

“Ready?”

“Alright, let’s eat!”

“Let’s do it!!”

While Sonia was chatting, Fiera and the others finished setting up the food for easy eating, grabbing what they wanted and digging in.

Dōna was no exception, casually settling down in my lap and delightfully munching on the small pieces of meat cut up by Shuvina.

“Oh. Looks like the matches are starting.”

As we were eating, it seemed students began to step onto the two stages, and a teacher acting as the judge stood in the center.

After reconfirming the rules, both parties readied their weapons, and the martial arts tournament finally began.

After a while into the tournament, once we had finished all the food, Dōna succumbed to post-meal drowsiness and dozed off on my lap. Soon after, Iris made her entrance onto the stage.

Iris’s first opponent was a sophomore male student who was also a magician. Judging by his magic power, he seemed to be a Class A student.

After the boy said something to Iris, her expression transformed into a beautiful, terrifying smile.

The two of them stared each other down for a moment before the judge signaled the start, and the sophomore began chanting a spell, while Iris slowly pointed her finger at her opponent and quietly uttered the spell’s name.

“‘Water Strike!’”

“Ugh?!”

A small ball of water shot from Iris’s fingertip, striking the opponent’s head and creating a shockwave that slightly knocked him back.

“Gah! Not yet…!!”

“Water Strike… Water Strike… Water Strike… Water Strike…”

“Ugh! Ugh! Gah! Hic!!”

The opponent, having endured repeated careless water strikes from Iris, collapsed to the ground, unable even to chant a spell.

“Damn it!”

“‘Water Blade!’”

The boy tried to stand up but was denied by Iris, who conjured 15 water blades above him, unleashing an unforgiving rain of blades.

Pinned to the ground by those blades, the sheer fear caused him to faint, thus ending the match.

“That was pretty unforgiving.”

“Yeah. Especially that last hit. The blade practically grazed his vital point.”

As Fiera pointed out, the final blade had nearly pierced the boy’s vital area, causing the men in the audience to turn pale and tremble at the mere thought.

“I can imagine what went down. I would’ve burned him to a crisp.”

“Iris-san is a cute one, so it’s no surprise she’s popular. And it might have been a strategy to lure her opponent into lowering their guard. It did backfire, though.”

While Sonia made a remark that could be considered quite vicious, Sephiria calmly analyzed the earlier battle.

Before long, Sharueina, with a sword at her waist and her light blue hair tied back, made her appearance on stage.

“Kyah! Princess Sharueina!!”

“Princess Sharueina!!”

She was extremely popular among the populace, regardless of gender, and just her appearance drew enormous cheers from the venue.

As I cast a soundproofing spell over Dōna to keep her from waking up, I focused intently on Sharueina, who stood poised on stage.

(Now then, let’s see just how much she’s capable of right now.)

I knew her future abilities, but I was uncertain of what she could do at this moment.

Due to the long summer break, we had to journey together to Saramāju, so I needed to gauge her prowess in this tournament.

(Let’s see if you can entertain me a bit.)

 

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