Ranking Tournament [2]

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the annual freshmen ranking battles! I, Elizabeth Rose, will be your host for today, and with the help of the expert A-rank hunter Tom Stone, we will be here to explain everything you need to know!"

'What the fuck is this...'

I knew it would be broadcasted but this was just... Ridiculous.

Currently sitting with the rest of the B-class in a waiting room, we were staring at the big screen showing the model-looking host energetically talking about what would go down today.

It had been made into such a spectacle that it made me nauseous; A giant arena so the people who could afford a ticket could watch in person, a host and commentator had been hired to boost the quality and on a small platform above the bleachers there was a very imposing looking man with brown hair and a crown.

Yes, they had even gotten Sarah's father to attend the tournament, the king of Mensch.

"Now, as per tradition, the king will be the one to start the tournament with a speech! Everyone, make some noise for our royal highness, King George!"

*Woooo!*

King George took a stand, wearing a serious face as he began to vocalize his speech, his words probably boosted in volume by some kind of magic.

"Beloved citizens of Mensch, I welcome you to the 457th freshmen ranking tournament of Ainu! This tournament is a symbol of hope for our country, an event where we get to lay our eyes on the future of our country. However, this year is even grander than that! This year, we are not only getting to witness the future of Mensch, but we are also getting a glimpse of what the future alliance of Mensch and Aldon might come to look like!"

'So he is using this as a chance to spread some political propaganda? Disgusting, but smart.'

"For the very first time in the history of Ainu, a noble of Aldon is attending the academy, and not only a noble, but royalty!"

Suddenly, Adriana walked out on the platform from behind the king, having been hidden from the sights of everyone.

'Wait! Wasn't she here with us?'

I quickly spun my sights around the room, with Adriana nowhere to be found. 'Guess not?'

"This is Adriana Aldon, 1st princess and royal heir to the kingdom of Aldon, currently a freshman at Ainu!"

Taking these words as her cue, Adriana also began speaking, "Greetings, people of Mensch. I am the royal heir, princess of Aldon, Adriana Aldon."

And that's where I couldn't take it anymore, my mind completely zoning out because of how boring it was to listen to the two political parrots.

The worst part was that everyone else seemed to love this, clapping and yelling like they were watching some famous rock star do a show.

Everything they had to say could be pretty easily summarized in just a couple of words.

The alliance between Mensch and Aldon, good. The threat of demons, bad. Hope for the future, good. Many challenges, struggles.

'Luckily, I have found something else to keep my mind busy...'

Focusing my consciousness on my main body, I was currently having a bit of a breakthrough with my scythemanship.

As it turns out that no one else actually wielded a scythe as a weapon, it was after all a farmer's tool, I had to create my own techniques. A feat that was pretty difficult, and would have been even more so if I didn't remember the movements my character did in the game.

Because of the length and weight of the weapon, I had to always utilize centrifugal force and momentum to attack efficiently. As soon as the scythe stopped moving, my attacks would weaken.

So there were two ways to create this momentum. The first one was to spin the weapon itself, which was scary as I often dropped it mid-spin, making it fly uncontrollably in the air. These strikes could be used to inflict a flurry of rapid strikes.

The second way was to spin my own body to launch one bigger attack, a strike that could end the fight instantly if it connected. Or at least it might if my strength was a bit more potent.

I had already gotten quite a bit stronger during my two weeks here, though, and I had a feeling that I could probably break through to E-rank strength in a month or two if I continued. A feat I was pretty sure would also lead my body to grow a bit.

After all, as the god had stated, the body is a reflection of the soul and, in turn, the soul is a reflection of the stats.

It was also pretty much confirmed to be the case, as I had been doing quite a lot of research on the subject, on the internet. However, it looked like different bodies had different reactions, most likely due to the innate traits they carried.

Suddenly, the voice of the king brought my focus back to sub-me, "Now, before we officially begin the tournament, I would like to award the winner of the survival event with an item token! Please come up, here!"

Suddenly, a man in a black suit and shades grabbed my arm and warped us to the platform where the king was seated. I felt my heart shake as I was all of a sudden stuck high up in the air, the king standing in front of me and the arena filled with people staring at me.

'What the fuck! No one told me about this shit!'

"Greetings, young man! Now, as I understand that this might be a bit uncomfortable for you...

'I'm straight up having heart palpitations right now!'

"... I won't drag it out too much."

In his hand, he had some sort of token with the symbol of Mensch, a lion, which he gave to me.

"Ah... Thanks?"

It was all going so fast. I had no idea what was happening. Then, out of the blue, he leaned down and hugged me.

Now, I am not the kind of man who didn't appreciate a good old hug, but this was not the time nor the place for it. Making it even worse, he started to whisper into my ear, "I already heard about you from Sarah young man, and although you seem to be an impressive student, I just want you to know this."

'Please, just say it for Theia's sake! You are dragging out the hug for no reason! Everyone is watching! I might puke on your royal tunic!'

"If you are going to date Sarah, you will have to fight me first!"

"Oh... okay?"

Then everything happened in, what felt like, the speed of light. We ended our hug, I got some applause, and then I was warped back into the waiting room.

Taking a seat in the same chair as before, ignoring the stares from my classmates, I had only one thought.

'What the flying fuck just happened...'

****

[Sophie's Pov]

'I am so excited!'

As I wasn't exactly happy with my performance in the survival competition, I was eager to get a chance to show everyone here what I could do when I had the right prerequisites. After two weeks at the academy, I was sure that I was at least one of the strongest freshmen, if not the strongest, right now.

It was weird, thinking about the radical changes my mind had done in so little time. Just a bit over two weeks ago I was a frail and innocent woman, lying in a hospital bed waiting for my end. Now, I was a strong fighting addict! Anyways...

The one thing that might make me fall would be if I had to fight Arthur early on in the tournament, as he had almost a 30% win rate against me during our spars. So even though it was more likely that I would win, there was still a very real chance that he would defeat me.

Not even seeing the moron getting a hug from the king could take from my good mood right, however, there was someone else next to me who thought otherwise.

"That's so embarrassing... James got a hug from my father before I could hug him..."

Even if she was speaking quietly, my heightened dragon senses had no issues hearing the smitten maiden, but as a good friend, I chose to ignore him. Anna, however, did not.

"Pfft! Sarah, you are such a virgin, you know that?"

As always, her words were rough and uncensored, always speaking her mind no matter what. For me, that was not a problem as I knew her well enough to know she didn't mean to make anyone feel bad.

"What are you saying?! Preposterous! The sanctity of a maiden is something to be revered, not something one might base a haughty insult on!" Sarah entered royalty mode as a defense mechanism, unable to cope in any other way.

Though, what Anna just said irked me as well, after all, I was also still a virgin. On earth, I did have a boyfriend but because of my upbringing, I was waiting until we were married to do the act. Because of my illness, we never did. So now that I had gotten my youth back, as the god had made our bodies 17 years old, I couldn't say I wasn't eager to try.

However, I already knew who I wanted to do it with.

"Arthur Luminary!"

'Yes, Arthur Luminary was the one I was thinking about!'

"James Jackson!"

'Wait, what is happening right now?'

The voice that I heard was the female host, calling up the first combatants in the tournament! And it just so happened that my darling and the moron were going to fight first! Somehow, this led me to have a pretty bad feeling in my gut, knowing just how weird and unpredictable James could be.

'James, I swear to god! If you do anything weird to make Arthur feel bad, I swear I will break all of your bones!'