Editing Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi: Volume 6 Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 2===
After a one hour break, the first round of the <Dragonar’s Gunnar Bout> began in the afternoon. All of the contestants had gathered in the centre of the arena. This included the President Rebecca, Vice-President Oscar, Disciplinary Affairs member Silvia, Secretary Lucca, Accountant Max, and Ash of General Affairs. The Pals of the contestants were also present in a line, creating a spectacular scene. Amidst the gathering of Maestros with silvery-white fur, the presence of Eco and the Asia Brigid was rather odd and unexpected. The next step would be to draw lots, so that they could determine who would face each other as opponents. The tournament was in a knockout format, the winners of the first, second and third rounds would be able to advance to the last day of the Dragon Riding Festival — they would qualify for the final round in five days’ time. The final round would be between the top three contestants; this information had been published three days ago. The audience in the stands were all extremely passionate, and their cries reverberated throughout the arena.

“Rebecca-sama—! Cú Chulainn—!”

In every kind of festival in the past, Rebecca had always stayed behind at the back, so it was rare of her to personally compete, thus Rebecca’s supporters were all wearing bright red shirts, and held horizontal banners in their hands as they shouted out their cheers of support for her.

“Silvia-dono—! Lancelot—!”

As a Princess of the Knight Country, the cheers that Silvia received were not inferior to those of Rebecca. While one side of the audience was composed of deep crimson, the other side was composed of ice blue colours.

“Our Lucca Sarlinen! The star of Ecbald! The Rider of Gawain!”

Amidst the flurry of red and blue in the arena, the cheers for Lucca also began to rise in volume. The sounds of their cheers were like the recital of a poem. One corner of the arena had ‘exclusive seats for Ecbald people’, and a cheering squad of the Ecbald led by the Chief, causing Lucca to feel so embarrassed that she couldn’t lift her head.

“Kyaaah! It’s the <Baron of Sonic>!”

“He’s as handsome as always!”

“Tristan is also so heavenly and elegant!”

The high-pitched and birdlike cries of the girls were cheering for Oscar Brailsford. Compared to everyone else, the cheers or cries for Ash and Max were barely audible.

“…What, is no one cheering for us right now? You’re obviously a real Dragonar as well.”

The sound of Eco’s complaints made their way into Ash’s ears.

“It can’t be helped, the popularity of us and those four simply can’t be compared.”

Ash smiled wryly as he placed his hand on top of Eco’s head.

“In this world, results are everything. As long as we can advance into the final round of the <Dragonar’s Gunnar Bout>, we’ll definitely garner attention, and I don’t have any intention of being defeated by anyone either.”

Max adjusted the position of his glasses with his finger while he calmly explained his opinion. Because of the Ashley incident earlier, the relationship between Ash and Max became somewhat rigid, but the two of them were slowly able to speak to each other naturally again, taking a load off Ash’s mind.

“What Max said is right.”

“Then, let’s draw lots now!”

After Rebecca made that announcement, silence enveloped the arena. In front of Ash and the others, there was a wheeled round table and wheeled blackboard, while the lottery box was placed on top of the round table. Jessica had a piece of white chalk in her hand, and a nervous look on her face as she stood beside the blackboard. Led by Rebecca, the contestants took turns at drawing lots. Every time a piece of paper was pulled out, Jessica would write down that person’s name on the knockout tournament draw. After a while, the draw was completed. The cheers of the crowd became even more sensational.

“No way…!”

With an expression of disbelief, Ash stared at the draw in a daze.

(1) Rebecca Randall VS. Ash Blake

(2) Silvia Lautreamont VS. Lucca Sarlinen

(3) Oscar Brailsford VS. Maximillian Russell

“For such bad luck, I really feel sympathy for you. It seems that unless the sky was to fall, you won’t have any chance of facing off against me. Let me remind you first that in the slim chance that you do defeat Rebecca, you won’t win unless you defeat me as well.”

After the matchups for the tournament were unveiled, Oscar immediately began to provoke Ash. Behind her, the down-spirited Max could be seen. Ash clenched his teeth. His first opponent would be Rebecca — the Academy’s strongest <Scarlet Empress>. In addition, Ash’s mount was Brigid. No matter how one saw it, it seemed like there was no chance of winning…

''—No, I can’t put down my own self-esteem!''

After Ash firmly shook his head, he cheered himself up. Oscar was a Dragonar who was on par with Rebecca in terms of strength. If he couldn’t defeat Rebecca, then he wouldn’t be able to defeat Oscar either. As soon as Ash turned his thoughts around, he was able to muster up his fighting spirit. Even if his opponent was Rebecca, all he could was to go all out. Moreover, Ash also had the honourable Princess of Avalon’s Holy Dragons’ Emperor Family — Eco standing here…

“Hey come on, why aren’t you saying anything? You aren’t thinking of giving up before the battle has even started, right?”

A ridiculing sneer emerged on Oscar’s face. When her noble-like beauty revealed such an expression, she evoked a very strong sense of courage. Ash clenched both of his fists, and faced Oscar as he stared back.

“You should worry about yourself first, it’d be a shame if you lost to Max, right?”

“Hmph. You should judge yourself before speaking.”

After Oscar laughed with a ‘humph’, she elegantly turned around and left.