WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 70: Champion

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My fist came down with all my strength, Iron Wall activated.

The blow landed squarely on the High Elf Knight, powerful enough that even a helmet could never have withstood it.

Of course, my opponent was an elite Non-Player Character stronger than the Floor 7 boss. I couldn't bring them down with a single hit.

"Kh, ughhh..."

Still, with their jaw completely shattered, the High Elf Knight couldn't get back up easily.

The High Elves quickly started handling the situation. They hurriedly dragged the injured knight away.

"H-how could a human do this? What vile trick did you use...?"

The High Elf Knight babbled as they were dragged away, unable to accept what had happened.

They came at me with a sword first, and now they were calling me vile? What a joke.

There was a reason High Elves were called fucking assholes in the Community. Shameless bastards.

"Be-Berit..."

The High Elf prince who had come to greet me muttered Berit's name, his face pale.

Was he shocked by his subordinate's rampage? Or was he surprised that I was much stronger than he'd expected?

"Ahem. There was a brief disturbance."

In the tense atmosphere, one of the High Elves cleared their throat and tried to smooth things over.

I didn't know if that could be dismissed as a brief disturbance, but I didn't want to make things any uglier either.

It had been ugly from the start, of course, but there was no point in getting worked up before the duel.

Once things had settled down, we headed for the designated dueling ground.

[Where Life Circulates]

When we reached the center of the High Elf village, a system message announcing the map change appeared.

Where Life Circulates. It was probably named that because the World Tree, said to circulate the elves' souls, stood here.

Then was that gaunt tree over there the World Tree?

True to its name, it was enormous, but it looked like it had lost its strength and was withering away.

Yet despite its appearance, I could feel incredibly powerful mana from it.

If it had this much power while weakened and withered, just how powerful must its mana have been in the past?

"Hmph. It seems even a human recognizes the majesty of the World Tree. That must be why you keep coveting our forest."

As I looked up at the World Tree, lost in thought, the High Elf guiding me clicked their tongue.

I'm not the one after your forest. The Kingdom Army faction is.

Lumping all humans together like that was no different from real-world racism.

The dueling ground was an open space about twice the size of the training ground Rizmel used.

It wasn't just a bare patch of land. It had been properly maintained, with rows of seats for spectators.

Given the circumstances, many High Elves had taken their seats to watch the duel.

Among all those elves, the one who stood out the most was an expressionless male elf wearing a crown and sitting in the seat of honor.

Seeing how close he sat to the Dark Elf queen, who had arrived before us, he had to be the current High Elf king.

Then again, were all long-lived elves like that?

The Dark Elf queen and the High Elf king both gave off the impression of old, weathered trees.

It felt like looking at rigid statues rather than living people.

They had probably lived far longer than the other elves, so I could understand why they seemed so detached.

Would Eleanor become like that someday too?

I couldn't imagine it.

* * *

There were many elves attending as observers, but the High Elf king was the official observer.

"It appears everyone is ready, so we shall proceed."

The one who received a duel request got to set the rules. Since I had challenged him, that right belonged to the prince.

He'd already gotten his ass kicked by me once, so he probably wouldn't choose a direct fight.

More precisely, that was what Eleanor had said.

I didn't agree, though. The prince who had come to greet me earlier had looked like he was burning with rage and hostility.

He had the exact expression of someone who wanted to beat me into a pulp.

I understood. Some nobody from who-knew-where had challenged him to a duel over his fiancée.

"All weapons and magic are permitted in this duel. It shall end only when one side declares defeat or becomes unable to fight."

Just as I expected, the High Elf king announced a simple one-on-one fight as the rules of the duel.

Yet the prince standing in front of me didn't have even a trace of fighting spirit.

"Goddamn it, goddamn it..."

Instead, he was nervously chewing his nails. I could roughly guess why.

He'd seen that knight named Berit get their jaw smashed to pieces by me.

The combat ability he'd expected from me was probably what I'd shown a few weeks ago.

My pure swordsmanship had been terrible, but I'd pressured Berit with an unconventional fighting style that used all kinds of weapons.

He'd probably thought he could win by invoking his right as the challenged duelist and requesting a handicap that restricted weapon use.

Or maybe he'd intended to fight while decked out in some High Elf treasure or other good items.

But over those few weeks, my ability had improved by an absurd amount.

He'd noticed that too. No matter what handicap he imposed, he couldn't win.

"May the sacred earth and the grace of the World Tree stand with the righteous. Let the two duelists stake their honor and-"

Just as the High Elf king was about to declare the start of the duel.

"M-me!"

The prince squeezed his eyes shut, shot a hand into the air, and shouted.

"I, Elruion Praxinus, will invoke my rightful authority as a duelist and name my Champion!"

The prince suddenly declared that he would name a Champion, a warrior to fight the duel in his place.

* * *

Murmurs spread among the elves. This clearly hadn't been planned.

A Champion was a representative called upon when someone lacked the ability to duel or was too noble to fight personally.

As a High Elf prince who had received the challenge, he certainly had the right to call a Champion.

Even so, there was only one reason the crowd was murmuring like this.

"Good grief. What a coward..."

He looked fucking pathetic.

"To think someone like that is my fiancé. It makes me sigh."

I could hear Eleanor sighing heavily all the way from the stands.

Calling in a Champion because he was scared stiff in a duel over his fiancée, could he look any more pathetic?

Even the High Elves who had come to watch seemed to think this was too much, judging by their expressions.

Still, the worst expression belonged to the prince himself. At least he knew this was shameful.

"My Champion, who shall act in my stead, is the noble First Knight of the Praxinus Knights, Mercedes!"

With his face bright red from humiliation and shame, the prince finally called out his Champion's name.

If it meant I got to fight a proper opponent instead of this weakling, I welcomed it.

The problem was that this was the prince's sudden decision.

I wasn't even sure whether Mercedes was here, let alone whether she would accept.

-Step. Step.

A High Elf in a white dress uniform rose from the seats and walked forward, wiping away those concerns.

In their place, a new worry began bubbling up inside me.

The prince stepped back with a twisted expression, and the elf in the dress uniform drew her sword and stood before me.

She probably hadn't expected to become a Champion without warning, because she wasn't dressed for battle. Her clothes looked incredibly inconvenient to fight in.

Even so, I couldn't help tensing up.

"As His Highness commands."

It was because of the color of the Console floating above Mercedes's head, the knight who had stepped forward as the prince's Champion.

A pitch-black Console that meant an overwhelming difference in level.

An irregular powerhouse with stats far beyond the others, even among the countless elite Non-Player Characters on Floor 7.

"You've thrown away the good fortune of being allowed to leave unharmed after hurting His Highness Elruion."

Mercedes, the High Elf Knight I'd met before, stood before me.

* * *

This wasn't the first time this damned Tower of Trials had shown hostility toward me.

On Floor 2, a field boss had suddenly started using elemental attacks; on Floor 3, Lizardmen had used electric barriers that were deadly to Warriors; and once I reached Floor 7, I was attacked by an elite Non-Player Character stronger than a boss.

Since I was climbing a Tower no one had ever touched before, all alone, most of that couldn't be helped.

This time was the same. If it was because I was taking an abnormal route, I didn't really have anything to say.

I'd forcibly cleared an early forced-defeat event and received an Epic Quest based on my affinity with Eleanor.

"Ha, fuck. Isn't that bastard embarrassed at all?"

"His Highness made a wise choice."

When I muttered my complaint, she immediately shot back with a frown. Her loyalty was impressive, both in accepting the role of Champion and defending him.

He'd called in his strongest ally to face an enemy he couldn't beat, so it wasn't exactly wrong.

Honestly, I didn't even feel that much like insulting him.

"You don't seem to have any intention of abandoning the duel."

-Shing.

"Of course not. I'm not a coward like someone."

My heart pounded as electrifying tension spread through my body. It was a feeling I hadn't had in a while.

I'd been curious exactly how strong I was, how strong I was compared to other Challengers.

The Ranker I'd fought directly had happened to be an idiot who could only thrust, so it had been hard to make an objective comparison.

But this female knight likely had better stats than Choi Gilhyeon and far greater skill.

In other words, if I beat her, it would prove that I was stronger than the Low-floor Rankers on Floor 25.

"If you wish to take back that statement, this is your last chance. Though it doesn't look like you have any intention of doing that either."

Even if it was a legitimate use of his right, suddenly changing the opponent naturally required an agreement.

Eleanor even seemed to be protesting from over there.

"You said you'd tear my ears off the next time we met, didn't you?"

But Mercedes and I needed no formal procedure to agree that we would defeat each other.

Footnotes:

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