And finally, the day of the end of year academy tournament had arrived. The locker room of the training ground was filled with a tense atmosphere, so much so, that it felt like sparks were being scattered among the students. 

During the tournament, the top ranking students in the grades were subjected to strict marking.

　Amidst my preparations, I suddenly became aware of someone watching me intently. Immediately turning in the direction that the off feeling was coming from, I saw Jill-sensei, beckoning me from the shadows.

“I want you to increase the amount of mana you use today.” She said.

“What do you mean? You have been teaching me to hold back all this time.”

“Everyone gets excited about a fight on such a big stage. And that increases the quality of their mana.”

“Right…”

“I just need your assurance that you will not get too excited.”

I nodded to her in confirmation.

While I walked down the aisle, I began to ask myself a lot, like; ‘What if the opposite happens and I end up being the one who is killed?’ 

　There were 10 arenas where the matches were being held simultaneously, and if I win first, I will always use the 1st arena.

　When I entered the venue, according to the directions of the staff, the inside was more spacious than I had imagined. There was a huge fighting space, surrounded by bowl-shaped spectator seats.

　I looked around while bathing in the gaze of everyone. There were quite a lot of people.

　“Ah, there is Princess Lizteles.” 

‘I didn’t expect to see her here before the first games. I needed to push myself so that I can impress her. But, Jill-sensei said that I shouldn’t get too excited. But what if I suddenly feel too excited, huh? What should I do then?’ I continued asking myself.

‘Well, whatever. I’ll do my best.’

 I immediately became tensed, as the door on the opposite side of the arena began to open.

My opponent was a male. He was in his mid-teens, but his physique was almost the same as that of an adult. I remember seeing him at school several times. I didn’t even know his name.

‘Ah, that’s right. I haven’t seen the combination table.’ I slapped my head at my forgetfulness.

But more than that, this person… was visibly nervous and stiff. Furthermore, the mana he wore was also somewhat fragile.

“Let’s begin!”

　At the signal of the referee, announcing the start of the match, we ran at each other simultaneously.

　First, I tried to block the opponent’s wooden sword with my shield, but, the quality of his mana kept declining. So I reduced my mana to respond properly to the decline of his.

‘Just push him back with your shield.’ I said to myself.

　And instead of using a wooden sword, I stunned him by punching him in the stomach with my bare hands. And with that, the match was won in an instant.

And slowly, the applause began.

　“Huh?”

　Even though they came all the way here just to see a fight that ended in an instant?

　Come to think of it, Jill-sensei said that the spectators are all practitioners of Alchemy, so the matches that the experts like will be highly evaluated.

　And suddenly, Princess Lizteles stood up and continued to applaud. And one after the other, the remaining spectators followed her lead and began to rise.

　And so, the five-second match received a standing ovation from the audience.