Ishura - Volume 3 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Matchups

The Eighth Minister, Sheanek the Word Intermediary, was included among the names of the Twenty-Nine Officials for abilities laid out in his second name. He could understand the Order’s script, seven different family’s systems of nobility script, and two types of scripts from the Beyond.

Studying for many years, even abroad in Nagan Labyrinth City, he was well-known to be a prodigy when it came to deciphering letters and giving written accounts, even surmounting Third Minister Jelky.

Having finished with the work he had been entrusted with that morning, he entered the Provisional Chambers in Aureatia’s Central Assembly Hall.

In there was someone still continuing with their work.

“Minister Grasse. I’ve already sorted all the meeting minutes. How are things on your end?”

“Just wait there a moment.”

“…Oh my, are these the pairings?”

Due to his abilities, Sheanek also served as virtual secretary for the First Minister of Aureatia, Grasse the Foundation Map.

The match pairings for the Sixways Exhibition were, until the opening day, information of the greatest, most critical secrecy, but the two of them were in positions that allowed them a look.

“I more or less got consent from all of the Twenty-Nine Officials sponsoring a candidate. This’ll likely be set in stone.”

“…But…this is—”

“Strange, isn’t it?”

“Indeed.”

The sense of incongruity, understood with a single glance, was something Grasse had also felt, too.

The period of preparation given to all the participants of the Sixways Exhibition—based on the information that each of them gained from spying on the other candidates…should have created a great amount of opposition and adjustments from among all the supporting officials regarding the pairings. Neither Grasse nor Sheanek had full knowledge of all of these different motives and intrigue. Nevertheless.

“Is it really okay to put Lucnoca the Winter in this position?”

“…If you put it that way, it’s the same for Kuze the Passing Disaster. Using an easily beatable pawn like this doesn’t make any sense.”

“The Twenty-Seventh General really did a good job, didn’t he?”

Their interest was centered, naturally, on Rosclay the Absolute.

The authority to decide on this pairing’s bracket was the very foundation of his power in the first place.

In which case, the truth behind the list of names was—

“…You came at the perfect time, Sheanek. Can you transcribe this down in northeastern script for me? I can manage to some extent, but after all these years, I’ve forgotten the grammar, you see. It’d end up eating a lot of my time.”

“That’s your job, isn’t it, Minister Grasse? It’s not mine. Especially not for free.”

“Pfft. Impudent fellow, aren’t we? I’ll take you out to Fog Phoenix next time.”

“Ah well, what else am I going to do? Fine, then.”

He smiled slightly and sat down in the seat diagonally across from Grasse.

Grasse let out a brief yawn and then began to read aloud from the top.

Each one would become a pairing to decide all the candidates’ fates.

The battle to determine one lone Hero—the Sixways Exhibition.

All eight matches would become the supreme and climactic Royal Games, the likes of which were only seen once in a thousand years.

“Match one. Psianop the Inexhaustible Stagnation and Toroa the Awful.”

Ooze versus dwarf.

Unarmed and unlimited, against full-clad swords and pure technique.

“Match two. Alus the Star Runner and Lucnoca the Winter.”

Wyvern versus dragon.

A legend-slaying champion and a champion-slaying legend.

“Match three. Ozonezma the Capricious and Soujirou the Willow-Sword.”

Chimera versus minia.

Enshrouded visitor hands and an enshrouded visitor sword.

“Match four. Rosclay the Absolute and Jivlart the Ash Border.”

Minia versus minia.

The weakest, feigning strength, and the strongest, feigning weakness.

“Match five. Kuze the Passing Disaster and Tu the Magic.”

Minia versus unknown.

A spear of mysterious, absolute death and a shield of impenetrable, absolute arrest.

“Match six. Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge and Zeljirga the Abyss Web.”

Golem versus zmeu.

Perfected iron machinery and perfection-destroying shadow mechanisms.

“Match seven. Shalk the Sound Slicer and Mele the Horizon’s Roar.”

Skeleton versus gigant.

Speed that denied evasion and an attack range that denied evasion.

“Match eight. Zigita Zogi the Thousandth and Uhak the Silent.”

Goblin versus ogre.

Reason-controlling tactical strategy and reason-destroying natural law.

“……”

After copying down everyone’s matches, Sheanek thought for a brief moment.

“…Rosclay chose the fourth match, after all.”

“Handling things as cleverly as expected, it seems. Either the fourth or the eighth. While he’s still at full strength and not exhausted from his own match, he can confirm how those in his bracket are battling—and use that info to prepare properly. On top of that, while the next set of matches are going on, he can then prep for the second round, too.”

“Choosing Jivlart for his first-round opponent is appropriate, too. The problem is…here.”

Sheanek traced his finger along the pairings list. Bringing him pause where his finger landed was the winner of the third match.

The winner would be one of either Soujirou the Willow-Sword or Ozonezma the Capricious.

Presenting a problem here was not the combatants, but their sponsors. The Twenty-Seventh General held the authority to wield Aureatia’s largest contingent of soldiers—the chief administrator of the country’s military affairs.

“Hardy the Bullet Flashpoint, eh.”

“General Hardy is the biggest challenger to Rosclay’s faction. He’s about the only one among the Twenty-Nine Officials who’d be permitted to openly fight against Rosclay. He’s going to try to crush him with everything he’s got, for sure.”

“…Ol’ Hardy managed to maneuver around and trap Rosclay where he wanted him. Either that or Rosclay plans on stamping out all the factions opposing him at once.”

“So you think the idea that it’d be best to clean up everything in the early stages is what’s making them apprehensive?”

“Hmm, hard to say.”

Grasse and Sheanek were a completely neutral camp within the current Sixways Exhibition.

Though it did mean they were choosing to be disadvantaged within the political strife, for Grasse, who planned to enjoy every moment of it all, his bird’s-eye view of the situation was truly the most convenient place for him. With it, he was also able to stand in the center of the games’ operations as well.

“What about the thought that they’re preparing themselves against Ozonezma the Capricious?”

The opponent for Hardy’s candidate, Soujirou the Willow-Sword, was Ozonezma the Capricious.

The one backing this candidate was Yuca the Halation Gaol.

“Yuca’s a simple man. He won’t be besting Hardy with any stratagems. He’s really doing a good job, but he’s not bringing any ambition to this kind of fight.”

“Today he was apparently serving as Jelky’s bodyguard. He doesn’t seem to be putting much effort into the Sixways Exhibition, as even Ozonezma’s arrival in Aureatia is behind schedule.”

“…Then it’ll only get harder and harder for Ozonezma to advance to the second round.”

With Ozonezma, both his true identity and his actual abilities were a complete mystery, but this fight wasn’t going to be an easygoing affair where someone without adequate support behind them could hope to advance.

This would be a true duel. If they fought without exhausting all options available to them, beyond plain fighting strength, they’d be easily outmaneuvered and face defeat in their match, even if their actually fighting prowess was superior.

“Then, for the third round…”

Continuing, Sheanek’s finger trailed over to the pairing for the second match.

The two seen as the strongest among all sixteen combatants. Alus the Star Runner and Lucnoca the Winter.

“…One of these two is sure to advance that far.”

“I’m thinking the same thing. This…isn’t great, either.”

“It’s impossible to win against a dragon.”

Rosclay the Absolute was a dragon-slaying champion. That was how he was seen in the public eyes.

However, should he exhaust every one of his true avenues to victory, the ones unbeknownst to the world at large, would he really be able to win against Alus or Lucnoca?

Whoever confronted them, be it Psianop or Toroa, couldn’t possibly be able to hold either of these two dragonkin back.

Let alone Toroa, who had already been defeated once by Alus and had his enchanted sword of light stolen. A man of Rosclay’s caliber must have arrived at a similar prediction himself.

“Well, now. Here I was thinking that you’d definitely be able to win one and advance, Rosclay.”

Thus, the truth behind the list of names enumerated here was clear.

He hadn’t been able to show his strengths at the time this was all decided.

Just what sort of unforeseen circumstances had cropped up, it was impossible to say.

Rosclay the Absolute had failed. He had lost the political battle and was forced into an unwinnable fight.

“Should we wrap things up here?”

The first round of matches.

Psianop the Inexhaustible Stagnation versus Toroa the Awful.

Alus the Star Runner versus Lucnoca the Winter.

Ozonezma the Capricious versus Soujiro the Willow-Sword.

Rosclay the Absolute versus Jivlart the Ash Border.

Kuze the Passing Disaster versus Tu the Magic.

Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge versus Zeljirga the Abyss Web.

Shalk the Sound Slicer versus Mele the Horizon’s Roar.

Zigita Zogi the Thousandth versus Uhak the Silent.