104 – The Day Of The Tournament (First)
Posted on May 20, 2017 by crazypumkin
Edited by Poor_Hero
Splashes of water could be heard immediately after the Headmaster’s words.
Everyone at the opposite end of the pool dived in vigorously and started swimming. The intensity of this scene was, instead of watching the swimming segment of the Olympics, it was more like watching the starting of a horse race.
And as expected, the Senpais seemed to be using magic. The speed they showed at the start had a remarkable difference. And right now, in the center of the field of my vision was Selphy’s back.
Ah no, no no no no. I was not looking at her. No I was not.
I mean, Zen was trying his darnest in swimming over right now.
At when the rest of the competitors were swimming ferociously, Zen had raised his hand and shouted ” 召喚！” at another place as he fell into the water and ‘gulp gulp’ for a while before his summoned beast, Dogg, finally appeared and started swimming as it pulled Zen along by his swimming trunks.
And Zen right now was struggling to keep his face above water as he floundered around, being pulled along by Dogg. Yep, what a magnificent doggy paddle.
……Yes, Zen was not the one swimming though!
” Try your best, Dogg! Zen! ”
But let’s just cheered him along. Will, who was looking out for Zen’s pride, had given up explaining. Let’s just stop at informing everyone that Dogg was pulling Zen along by his trunks. As for the rest, well everyone, it was up to your imagination.
” ….Phew. ”
I didn’t know if he, who was still struggling in the water, read what I was thinking, but I put on a ‘don’t-blame-me’ look as I continued to cheer for him. Thanks to Dogg’s effort, there was only about 3m to the end and they were head to head with the other competitors.
Seeing that, Selphy raised her hand up vigorously. Mana gathered around her fingertips rapidly as her hair danced in the wind.
“《召喚》！ ” [TN: Summon]
She shouted, as the magic activated above her head. Looking at how her hair was dancing about, I knew the wind was swirling around her. As I stared, feathers started appearing, swirling in the wind, before her summoned beast appeared.
Selphy’s summoned beast was Lilisu-chan of the Asuka species.
After confirming that Zen’s hand had touched the wall, Selphy dived in. Lilisu-chan then landed on the head of the swimming Selphy and started fluttering its wings, as it jetted air out and propelled Selphy forward.
She kept advancing.
And what was left was a large amount of bubbles/froth, looking like water jet pack just went by.
Yes, our strategy this time round was a collaboration between our summoned beasts.
…..Well, for Zen, there wasn’t enough time to practice. Oh well. You did your best, Zen!
As for Selphy, she was instructed to use the power of the Asuka species to the fullest. And during the practice before the tournament, she had achieved perfecting the coordination between the both of them.
The first thing we had to practice was how to summon our beasts smoothly. The practice of the gathering of mana, the pronunciation of the chant, etc.
Yep. For me, it was the Japanese I was already very familiar with, but for foreigners whose language had a completely different set of intonation, it was rather difficult. And it seemed like a clear and precise pronunciation will highly improve the rate of the magic activating. Which was why we practiced chanting multiple times as I corrected them.
Next, was the cooperation between the beasts. If they were given instructions beforehand and had perfect cooperation with their owners, the loss of time would be greatly reduced.
And, thanks to all these, we were very prepared when we entered this tournament.
” Try your best, Selphy! Lilisu-chan! ”
I shouted.
Not mentioning the help given by Lilisu-chan by reducing the water resistance via wind magic, Selphy was too, giving her all in moving her legs.
I was impatient at how I can’t do anything to help but the only thing I could do now was to believe in them, and to cheer them on.
Oh, and I forgot to mention but the pool was about 25m long. If this was created by the First Founder, it was to be expected. Because the pools in school were all around this size. And Selphy had about 5m more before the wall.
” Fiiigghhhttttt!!!! ”
I shouted after taking a deep breath, cheering them on with my all. Because somehow, I was very fired up at the moment. Because anyone would get excited when it was a competition.
But, it seemed like I was a tad too excited.
Having forgotten that my body was strengthened with my ‘super cheat’ abilities, every student around jumped and covered their ears at my shout and directed their gazes at me all at once.
…..Sorry.
I would try to control myself a bit more as I get fired up over this tournament. So please stop tsukkomi-ing me.
As these thoughts were filling my brain, Selphy was speeding towards the wall. Another 1m… 30cm. My cheat-eyes were allowing me to view it in detail. I gulped as I stared and finally, Selphy’s fingers touched the wall. And the next person who dived in immediately was no other than Mi-sama.
Well then, I wondered what was going to happen next!
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