Kenshin no Keishousha:Volume 1 Chapter4

The curtains were raised for the second day of the elimination matches.

What was shocking was things went about as usual as if yesterday’s disturbance within the warehouse never happened. The elimination matches stayed on track and resumed as usual.

Because of the agreement between Kurou and the sun cultists, they did not pursue them. In consideration of Lima’s honor, the matter of her being wounded by a human was never disclosed. However, it was quite unimaginable that the incident’s follow up was conducted in a way as if nothing ever occurred.

Lars’s cover up of the incident was quite horrifying. You wouldn’t want this guy as your enemy.

“......However, this is such a pain. The waiting time is so long.”

Kurou heaved a heavy sigh.

At the assembly place where the elimination matches were held, there was a lounge accessible to the many participants waiting on their matches. Kurou and Hinako were just staring on as they sat on a couch within a corner of the lounge.

“Kuro is really quite laid-back.”

“I don’t need to hear it from you.”

“However, everyone else seems to be in a nervous wreck.”

The students who were about to take the stage stayed close to the side of the lounge that was towards the arena. As a result, an air of tension clouding over that place was probably to be expected.

“It’s now round three, the competition has become more fierce. Everyone has probably forgotten about the assault incident already.”

“Even those words sound quite carefree. Eh? That said, I haven’t seen Sefi or Lars.”

“I already told you, don’t directly call them by their names. Also, since when did you start directly addressing Sefi-sama by her name as well?”

Hinako was too unsophisticated in these matters. It didn’t matter much for a guy like Lars, but if she were to call Sefi, who was the princess of the four generals and possessed outstanding swordsmanship, by her name directly, then it would cause a huge commotion. Although that was the case, no matter how many times he warned Hinako it was probably a fruitless endeavor.

“Jeez......since Lars always wanders off as he pleases, even I have no clue where that guy is. However, there’s a special lounge for distinguished students so perhaps Sefi-sama should be in there.”

If your grade was good, it would result in better treatment. Since this school was organized by competing for ranks, it wasn’t a bad thing to bestow special treatment to those with superior grades.

“Ah, it’s Sefi’s turn.”

Hinako was watching the large display screen installed in the lounge as she spoke.

The large display screen broadcasted multiple sections of the arena, allowing it to capture many matches occurring at once.

“Can Sefi win?”

“Last time during the tournament she attained third place. As long as she doesn’t fool around she won’t lose.”

As he was saying this, Sefi’s wooden sword heavily struck her opponent’s shoulder and the wooden sword fell out of her opponent’s hands. Just as he was considering whether or not the girl looked a bit shaken up————she toppled over. She hadn’t lost her fighting spirit from the beginning, but her body was unable to withstand Sefi’s attack.

Sefi comforted her opponent and then departed from the tournament stage. She was very gentle towards her own gender. If only she was that gentle towards me as well, Kurou thought along these lines.

“It still isn’t Kuro’s turn yet?”

“No, there’s still around ten minutes left.”

Kurou responded while being fixated on the display screen. It was just as he said, once at round three, those that were present were all the students with excellent swordsmanship. They weren’t fully developed yet but after two or three years, who knows to what extent they would mature to.

Although there were Swordies who blossomed early on, there were also many who developed slowly. Among those kinds of people, they could perhaps become one of the Seven Swords of the future as well.

Kurou suddenly recalled, if the number one ranked student from year one, Migune, was still alive————

“Ahhh————!”

Suddenly, the cry of a girl’s voice sounded from somewhere.

Kurou did not spare a moment of hesitation. He grabbed the hand of Hinako, who blankly stared on, and ran out.

Everyone within the lounge had heard the cry, however Kurou was the fastest one to respond.

Kurou held Hinako’s hand and raced towards the sound of the cry.

Although it was quite a foolish thing for a bodyguard to specifically lead the person he was guarding to peril, Kurou would rather confront the danger than run away.

Based on the circumstances, in many cases he had to actively eliminate the danger factors to create a safer environment as opposed to running away. Kurou judged based on his own intuition, hence having fallen under this state.

Afterwards, they ran through the intricate paths leading around the arena.

As Kurou and Hinako arrived at the entrance of a room, there were many female students gathered around and chattering away indistinctly.

Kurou instantly noticed the red colored liquid flowing out from the room to where he was standing.

As he made his way through the crowd of female students and caught a gander of what was in the room, he noticed that what was lying there was just as he expected.

It was a girl covered in blood.

Although her face laid downwards, there wasn’t even a need to confirm who it was.

The number two ranked swordswoman, Freya, was dead.

“All of a sudden, a strange person stormed into the room......”

One of Freya’s supporters, with tears in her eyes, stated as such.

In order to inquire more about the situation, Kurou brought one of the girls standing by Freya’s corpse out of the lounge. Right now, gathering information was absolutely essential.

However, she appeared to be inattentive towards Kurou who was asking her questions. She was still in a state of confusion so grasping the main points of her explanation proved quite difficult.

Even so, this was what he understood after organizing what she had said: When Freya was in the lounge, she was ambushed and killed with one strike.

“She appeared to be wearing......black, loose fitting clothing. I couldn’t discern her appearance due to the hood she was wearing......”

“Is that so.”

Basically, it must have been the same arts user that Kurou had encountered a couple days ago or perhaps an accomplice of hers.

The number one ranked student of his grade, Migune, was murdered, the third ranked Sefi was attacked, and now the second ranked Freya was killed. The chances of her targets being the exceptional students were quite high.

What if, the arts user wanted to conveniently finish the task left undone from a couple days ago after she slayed Freya————

“Tch.”

Kurou clicked his tongue and hightailed off once again while pulling Hinako along.

However, he instantly stopped in his tracks and returned to the sobbing girl. Kurou then grabbed her shoulders.

“People are gathering here due to the fervent crowd. Freya probably wouldn’t want herself to be seen like this. Forget about the safety of this crowd for now, just have her body set down properly and cover her with a blanket.”

After the girl confirmed with a nod of the head, Kurou set off once again.

Although it felt like Hinako wished to say something, Kurou remained silent as they continued to dash forward. They only knew Freya from their brief conversation so their silence wasn’t because either of them were in deep sorrow over her loss.

Despite that, Kurou wanted to protect Freya’s honor. That was all the reason he needed considering this was expected from him.

Furthermore, he must put an end to the number of victims. Thus, he had no choice but to immediately head towards his destination.

“......”

However, Hinako wasn’t a fast runner. It was obvious that she didn’t have adequate exercise since she had always been imprisoned in a sun cult facility. Nevertheless, there was no way he could just ditch her.

“Kurou-kun.”

“What!?”

Suddenly, from the corner of his vision came a girl wearing a red long coat————it was Manaka.

Kurou stopped and unwaveringly stared at his boss.

“Manaka, what are you doing here?”

“Oh nothing. I received an invitation from the principal asking if I would like to watch the elimination matches. Furthermore, I also had to send two squads over to the academy out of courtesy, and I was told that ‘the students would be quite happy if one of the Seven Swords could come’, so there’s various reasons why I’m here. That said, why are you in such a hurry?”

“I don’t have the leisure to explain right now. However, you came at the perfect time. Please take this child off my hands for now.”

“Ha? You’re asking me? You want me to train her to have your favored tsundere attribute?”

“Why would I request my boss for something like that!? I’m asking if you would take my place as her bodyguard for now. Taking her somewhere where there's a lot of people would probably be more suitable. Well then, I’ll be taking my leave!”

Kurou did not even wait for Manaka’s response and just handed her Hinako.

Although it was very unexpected that Manaka would come here to watch the competition, it could only be said as good fortune for him. There was probably no one more suitable than having her take his place as that child’s bodyguard.

However, there were still matters that needed to be attended to————

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