Echidna is participating!
This news was relayed to all those who challenged Queen’s Blade through the crystal balls. All those within 3 days’ distance to Sheldan aimed to watch it live, and those who weren’t waited expectantly for the crystal balls to broadcast it.
“I want to see Echidna's fight”. If you challenged Queen’s Blade, you’d naturally think that.
One carriage ran at full speed through the highway to make it there. It was not your ordinary carriage, though. All the four horses pulling the carriage, decorated with lavish ornaments, had a very good build. The coat of arms displayed on it was the Earl Vance house’s white tiger. Only the family of the Earl could use a vehicle with such an emblem.
An impressive maid with short cut blue hair held a whip in her right hand, held the reins in her left hand, and led the four horses in balance.
“Looks like at this rate, we could be in Sheldan by nighttime.”
“Yes, Milady.”
The maid never turned around, concentrated on driving the horses.
The mistress-like girl who spoke to the maid wore a white tiger headdress, proof that she was the one who controlled the Royal Guard of the Earl Vance house.
The Captain of the Royal Guard Elina, who despite being the youngest daughter in the Vance family was considered to be the bravest of the sisters, continued talking to the maid.
The maid sitting at the coach stand nodded silently.
“Maybe Sister thinks so too. Let’s grab her quickly, and bring her back to Father.”
Capturing her Sister, Leina the Exiled Warrior, and bringing her back to the Earl Vance territory, was the mission she had been assigned.
“Say, Irma?”
“What is it, Milady?”
“You really have lots of talents. I never thought a carriage could be handled so wonderfully.”
“Thank you very much.”
[I found someone good.]
That would succinctly express what Elina thought of Irma at the time. She might be too serious, but she had no objection about her looks when it came to going around with her in public, and she had suitable skills to be her personal assistant. She had been lucky to find someone like her working under her Father.
“Milady…”
“Whaat?”
“Are you interested in how Echidna fights, too?”
“Of course.”
Elina answered flatly.
When one spoke of the Veteran Mercenary Echidna, what would usually come to mind was undefeated legend, but she was also infamous amongst a few people as being the one who organized the “Assassins of Fang.”
Incidentally, some intelligence had turned up about thugs from the “Assassins of Fang,” that very assassination troop under the direct supervision of the Queen, apparently aiming at the Earl Vance’s life. As the leader of the Royal Guard in charge of the Earl’s personal safety, she wanted to see how the warrior once in control of them fought, in order to protect her father from the assassins.
“Aren’t you interested, Irma?”
The maid didn’t answer her question.
“Silence again?”
“Excuse me.”
“Well, it’s fine. As long as you keep up the good job.”
Elina leaned back into her seat, pouting a little as if she was sulking. Irma was an excellent maid, but didn’t make for a good chattering partner.
“I should have chosen someone with better conversation skills among the Royal Guard.”
It was too late for regrets now. For Royal Guards and knights to operate outside of the Earl Vance territory, prior consultations with neighboring countries were required, which would take months. If she waited for those to end, she wouldn’t be able to capture Leina.
That was why she had decided to work with Irma as a maid. However, what Elina didn’t know was that she had accidentally separated the assassin sent after the Earl Vance’s life away from him in the process.
“Please sit down tightly, there will be shaking.”
Irma spoke from the coach stand.
“Got it. Do get me to Sheldan by sunset.”
At the same time she sat down, the carriage bounced lightly. Not long after, it began dashing through the highway at breakneck speed towards Sheldan.
***
The morning of the fight came.
In a private waiting room, arranged at the arena’s basement, Tomoe was getting ready to fight Echidna. She imbued spiritual power into her talismans, she cleaned her beloved sword, she focused her spirit.
Recalling her six matches, visualizing her winning pattern, she began meditating in order to ascertain her victory.
[I hear Echidna is a master of dual-wielding. I should be wary of throwing daggers. Besides the snake sword she uses all the time, she’s equipped with 3 daggers. Which means, if I can dodge her dagger throws three times, I should take the chance while she can’t do it to jump in. After that, I can fight as I have just fine.
I was even able to best Risty, who took pride in her strength. Echidna can’t overpower me.]
Feeling a path to victory, Tomoe suddenly opened her eyes wide.
In front of her, was a crystal ball containing an emblem that identified her as a Queen’s Blade participant. The image of the goddess, two swords crossing by her chest, was flickering.
The only things that could materialize that goddess of swords, which served as Queen’s Blade’s symbol, were the crystal balls given to the participants qualified for the tournament.
Tomoe reached for the crystal ball, and put it away to her bosom.
Today, the opponent she would fight was Echidna.
With her previous opponents, she had been able to form a camaraderie after the fight. Among those battles, the one that had left her with the most vivid impression was the duel against the Exiled Warrior Leina.
Of all her fights at the Continent, she thought about the one against Leina, the only one which had ended in a draw, and then she closed her eyes.
***
In another waiting room at the arena’s basement, covered with a luxurious fur nice to the touch, there were about 6 crystal balls. Displayed in them was the figure of Tomoe as she fought at Sheldan.
Each of the balls was replaying one of her matches, from her first one to the last one against Risty. Normally, only one’s opponents could view one’s combat record during the preliminary period, so in this case only Tomoe or those she fought such as Risty should be able to watch their respective skirmishes… but Echidna seemed to have a trick to view anyone's combat records freely.
She was lying down in the bed, surrounded by the crystal balls displaying Tomoe’s battles, when she felt a strong presence and came to her senses.
“Who is it?”
No answer.
At once, she threw a dagger by her bedside in the presence’s direction. After a high-pitched sound of metal striking each other–*ching*– , the dagger fell to the floor.
“You were going easy on me, right? Teacher.”
A blue haired girl appeared, holding a sword. Her features bore a striking resemblance to those of the maid who was serving under Elina.
“Aw, Irma. Look what the cat dragged in”.
Stark naked, Echidna slowly got up from the bed.
When Irma picked up the fallen dagger, she smiled with a hard to read expression: her teacher had thrown a dagger with a crushed blade. It would never have pierced her.
“Checking the opponent’s data ahead of a fight, you’re unusually earnest.”
Irma sheathed her sword, and carefully approached the elf.
“I’m always earnest.”
“That said, you seem to be more in a playing mood this time.”
The maid tossed the dagger Echidna threw to her bed.
“Well yeah, preliminaries are meant to play around, do you think I’m third-rate or something, to try and kill my playmate?”
Echidna shrugged her shoulders and chanted a spell, stopping the balls’ image projection.
“So, what did you come to do? Surely you didn’t come to assassinate me?”
“If you keep participating in Queen’s Blade, Teacher, I might have to.”
The maid answered in a harsh tone, her expression unchanging.
She might have been pretending to be a maid under Elina, the youngest daughter of Vance, but the Assassin of Fang Irma was the most skilled killer in the “Assassins of Fang,” the secret assassination squad under the Queen. Tasked with disposing of those resisting the current regime.
“I’m not as foolish as to get offed by someone I trained, you know.”
Echidna tied up her hair while grinning.
“If you came to kill me, tell the Queen this. I’m not really interested in the throne. Even if I win the championship, I'll wrap up the throne with a pretty little bow for her."
As she told her that, she was getting prepared for battle.
“What made you decide to participate in the tournament then?”
The final aim, for those participating in Queen’s Blade is to become the next Queen, however the acting Queen can choose to fight the winner in a final battle for the throne. Between Echidna having not participated in the last couple of tournaments in the past, and her saying she wasn’t interested in the throne, Irma couldn’t help but be suspicious and curious of her old mentor’s true motives.
“Do you want to hear why?”
“Yes.”
Irma insisted with a straight face. Her look wasn’t that of an assassin. It was the same kind of look as back when she used to study under the elf.
“To kill time.”
Echidna winked at her.
[Whether she’s telling the truth or not, only she herself knows.]
Suddenly, the crystal ball at Echidna’s hand shone, and magic symbols appeared. The time for the preliminaries had come.
“Well, time to battle. If you feel like watching, do go back to your seat.”
After saying so, she went into the magic circle that started to expand around the crystal ball.
***
Sheldan’s arena was crowded; not only the seats, but even the corridors were full with standees. Elina glanced at the jam-packed general admission seats with cold eyes, then turned her gaze to the center of the arena.
A raven-black haired swordswoman dressed in an impressive exotic costume where bright white and scarlet contrasted, versus a brown elf dressed in a revealing silver armor; even before the battle, the audience was already taken with them.
The woman with black hair was swinging her sword, cheers arising from the audience every time she displayed her techniques.
“Ah sheesh, those peasants at the general seats are unbearably noisy.”
Elina was currently at a special seat the ruler of Sheldan had arranged only for the nobility and the rich. The chair had a proper cushion, the seat surface was wide and didn’t feel uncomfortable, either. Her easily obtaining a special seat and getting to watch the Tomoe vs Echidna preliminary, which had become a platinum ticket, was all due to nothing else but the influence from the Vance house.
As the chants for Tomoe surrounded them, the other protagonist of the battle crossed her arms coldly, staring at her opponent.
“I wonder if we’ll be able to see the essence behind that undefeated legend. What do you think, Irma?”
Elina called out to her maid, who supposedly was by her side.
“Irma?”
No answer. Letting out a small sigh, she turned around.
“Oh my?”
Irma was nowhere in sight.
“Where did she go?”
[Well, it's okay. Even if the maid’s not here while I watch the game, it won’t matter.]
“If she’s not around, this is my chance.”
Elina muttered to make sure, then brought to her mouth the sausages she had been hiding.
“Meat, you gotta have meat!”
[Sheldan’s specialty, crab, isn’t too shabby either, but eating meat is what gets me through the day.]
“Aah, this mellow taste… I’d like to feed it to Big Sis.”
She sank into the luxurious special seat, and looked around the arena, full of spectators.
“Big sis, come out if you’re here.”
Her tone was more akin to a younger sister who loved her elder sister, than a cool-headed Captain of the Royal Guard.
***
“Tomoe! Tomoe!”
The priestess waved her hands in response to the people calling her name.
“So, Tomoe.”
Echidna called out to her as she kept on waving.
The preliminaries wouldn’t start until they showed the crystal ball, proof that they were participants of Queen’s Blade, at each other. For that reason, the parties involved were able to talk normally before the match.
“What?”
“Don’t you think fighting normally is boring?”
“I wish for nothing other than victory.”
“The stoic type, right.?”
The elf remarked as if disgusted, then kept talking.
“Well, you don’t have a one in a million chance, but if you beat me, I’ll do any one thing you ask. How about that, Tomoe?”
“If so, I’ll have you change your vulgar looks.”
“Vulgar? Where so?”
“There’s a snake around your body instead of underwear!”
The silver snake around Echidna’s waist shook a little.
“Oh my~, Keltan, she said you’re vulgar.”
Joking around, Echidna wriggled her hips and petted the snake’s head.
“In any case, if I defeat you, I’ll have you wear modest clothes.”
“You mean modest like you’re wearing now?”
“Feel free to think of it that way. Whatever the case, please put on clothes that don't expose so much skin."
Spitting that out, Tomoe looked away from Echidna.
“Well then, if I win, Tomoe…”
Echidna snapped her fingers. After she did so, a magic circle rose in a corner of the arena, and a life-size doll appeared.
“Shall I have you wear this?”
The doll had been dressed with a costume of the exact same design Echidna was wearing. The only differences were the color and the fact that there was no snake around its waist.
“I tried to go with a color that matched you, Tomoe. Think yourself honored.”
She put on a grin.
“W-What a shameless…”
Tomoe’s voice shook when she involuntarily imagined putting on such a costume.
“I know, it's a pity I only have one Keltan.”
“I won't let a snake get anywhere near *down there*!”
Tomoe flatly declared so, and took out the crystal ball from her bosom. From it, a statue holding swords in both hands crossed by her chest appeared… the symbol of Queen’s Blade.
“That’s enough introductions. Let’s begin the preliminary.”
Since Tomoe had shown the ball only held by those engaged in Queen’s Blade, there was no need to continue talking.
“Impatient too, huh?”
With moves as if imitating a magician retrieving a pearl from his palm, Echidna held up her crystal ball as well.
The two crystal balls gave a dazzling shine and left their hands, floating in the air. They projected magic symbols:
“Skirmish approved.”
The crystal balls would rise up in the air, and only return to their owners after the battle was over. The pattern indicating the valid scope of the battlefield shone only for an instant and disappeared, and the light emitted by the stationary crystal balls materialized a stone statue of the woman holding the swords tightly. It was the umpire image serving as judge for the fight.
“The preliminary will begin. I expect both of you to devote yourselves to the fight and give it your best effort.”
The umpire image declared the start of the fight, and the arena was surrounded by excited cheers.
It wasn’t only at the arena. As would be expected, that day, at that very moment, all those currently in areas where they could watch the images projected by the crystal balls were watching this match closely, almost without exception.
Would the Veteran Mercenary Echidna’s undefeated record prove true? Or would the Warrior Priestess from Hinomoto break the legend?
They won’t know that unless they fight.
***
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