The face of the winner looked rather pitiful, but if we call these ‘glorious wounds,’ it wasn’t so bad that we couldn’t look at them…
Hmm. I tried to put a good spin on it, but it was a bit excessive.
Fortunately, as soon as the winner was confirmed, the people who had been waiting to the side of the stage, presumably from a medical team, rushed up and approached the two individuals.
Some tended to Anne, while others went to Lunessa who was lying down, beginning the necessary treatment.
One of the senior priests, it seemed, had divine magic that, merely grazing over Anne’s face, reduced the swelling of her puffed-up eyes and stopped the trail of blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
Even the hand clutching her side as if to check if any ribs were broken had let go, indicating that most wounds had healed successfully.
Lunessa, lying on the ground, was in much the same shape after the treatment, getting up almost instantly. It appeared that she had merely collapsed from exhaustion, not actually fainting.
Despite losing a power struggle in which she had confidence against a first-year, Lunessa did not appear upset. In fact, she smiled as brightly as Anne, looking incredibly delighted. It was such an exaggerated reaction that the priest treating her even used divine magic to check if she had sustained a head injury.
From a distance, it wasn’t easy to hear, but Lunessa, seeing Anne waving toward me, quietly mumbled something while reaching out her hand.
Anne also responded to Lunessa’s words before stretching out her hand and giving her a light handshake. That must be what people call strengthened friendship after a battle.
“Hero? Then, shall we go now?”
Soon after, a staff member called out that preparations for the award ceremony were about to begin, and Mariel stood up first, extending her hand to help me up.
“My friend won, so as promised, I’d like a splendid blessing from you.”
Some might inquire if this counts as a favor through connections, but isn’t this world ultimately all about networks? If anyone gets mad, just say we are acquaintances of the Saint.
“Right, right. Originally, we’d have to charge extra for the glitter option and the halo option, but since it’s a friend of the Hero, I’ll give it to you for free.”
“…Was it really about charging money?”
“Hehe, who knows?”
As I pondered Mariel’s ambiguous statement, we continued walking and soon reached the end of the path leading to the stage.
During the brief wait as instructed by the staff, I noticed that the stage, which had been left in disarray from Anne and Lunessa’s match, was already restored impeccably through magic. Additionally, a formal podium had been quickly installed.
“Go ahead.”
Upon receiving the staff’s cue, I walked to the brightly lit stage with Mariel, and the murmurs of the spectators discovering us grew louder.
“Kya! Hero! Please look this way!”
“Saint! You look splendid!”
The murmurs soon turned into cheers, mixed with various odd and strange comments.
“Hero! Marry me!”
Amid those sounds, including loud and bold voices piercing through, I pretended not to notice and continued walking alongside Mariel.
At the very least, it made me wish that they’d consider my feelings—wanting to direct the “marry me” comments toward a female hero. Of course, with the current reality that I’ve become a woman, it’s hard to imagine who’d direct such requests at a woman.
As we ascended to the central podium, Anne already spotted me and waved. Though it felt awkward to acknowledge her openly in such a public setting, I gave her a polite smile in return.
Thus began the award ceremony.
There was no separate determination for 3rd and 4th rank; first, two unknown figures side by side were given commemorative trophies and necklaces for their joint 3rd place achievements.
Regardless of any additional awards to be bestowed, compared to the scale of this tournament, the prizes appeared rather modest. However, a much brighter future awaited these two, since being in the top ranks of the Heavenly Martial Arts Festival essentially marked them as the talents all organizations across the continent vied to secure.
Next was the runner-up, Lunessa’s turn.
As I moved closer to Lunessa, her unusually tall height became apparent.
I had to raise my head quite a bit just to meet her gaze.
“Congratulations. May blessings be with you along your path.”
Mariel was about to hang a necklace around Lunessa’s neck after offering her congratulatory words, much like with the previous recipients. However, due to the significant height difference, as well as the tournament gear Lunessa was still wearing, Mariel was stretching her arm high while struggling a bit.
After observing that scene for a moment, Lunessa graciously bent her neck to make it easier for Mariel to hang the necklace.
“Really… you did the same thing last year, didn’t you?”
“I’m graduating next year, so it’s a pity I won’t see this sight again.”
After listening to the quiet exchange between the two, it seemed Lunessa had been pulling these pranks on Mariel since last year.
Well, thanks to it, I at least got to enjoy Mariel’s endearing looks, which is something to be thankful for in my case.
Finally, the last recipient.
A freshman who caused an upset by capturing the championship—today’s star.
Even Anne, who was standing in the middle of the crowd, seemed to realize it was her turn, and her nervousness was evident.
I chuckled at how different this was from the Anne before the tournament, who seemed not a bit nervous.
Even Anne gets nervous sometimes, I thought.
As Mariel and I stood together in front of Anne, she appeared even more nervous, licking her lips with her tongue that were now bone dry.
The sound of her swallowing her saliva was audible above the audience’s cheers, clearly showing how anxious she was.
“Anne Clein. Your valor is something even the Goddess would be proud of. May blessings accompany you along your path.”
“Uh-huh.”
As predicted, Anne was rewarded with a trophy and a necklace. Unlike the other recipients, Mariel didn’t simply finish with words but also approached Anne and gave her a light kiss on her forehead to bestow her personal blessing.
Sure enough, she hadn’t forgotten our agreement; adding a visual effect through divine magic made the surrounding cheers even louder.
However, Anne, despite receiving such an elaborate blessing directly from Mariel, showed no real expression of joy. She just gave a formal nod, as though expecting something more.
Recalling our discussion yesterday, I remembered she had been looking forward to Mariel’s blessing, so what was missing?
It was like Anne’s eyes kept glancing at me, demanding more.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t personally do anything more for her excessive greed since I hadn’t prepared anything.
Having delivered all that I was supposed to, I couldn’t just stand there doing nothing, so I was about to move to give the brief concluding speech when Anne suddenly held out one hand, palm facing up.
When I looked at Anne, surprised by this unexpected gesture, she seemed disappointed with me for not preparing a separate gift and had turned her head in the opposite direction, avoiding eye contact.
What did she mean by the gesture? Perhaps it was a request for her famous blessing instead of a present.
Putting it a bit kindly, it might mean she was willing to forgive this shortcoming.
Knowing this would calm Anne down, and since giving her a blessing seemed like a reasonable exchange for her satisfaction, I naturally dropped to one knee in front of her and gently lifted her hand to kiss her palm.
Thankfully, it seemed this act appeased her, since she soon turned back toward me and grinned with satisfaction.
Since Anne looked content and there was nothing more to delay, I moved alongside Mariel to deliver the closing speech and wind up the ceremony.
Although there was a prepared script from the event staff, reading it verbatim might make everyone fall asleep, so I delivered a condensed and more casual version instead.
By my improvisation, Mariel was giggling beside me, and far off, the event coordinator was shaking his head with crossed arms, silently asking me not to. But hey, if it’s bothersome, why not let you folks be the Hero?
*
“To the champion Anne, cheers!”
“Woo!”
After leaving all the backstage cleaning to the staff and parting ways with Mariel, Anne and I quickly returned to our dormitory room.
Celian, Yuli, and Linne, who had already returned ahead of us, appeared to have finished all the preparations. As soon as we entered, they burst fireworks to celebrate Anne’s victory.
Even though we agreed to hold a party just among ourselves after tomorrow’s closing ceremony, there was no rule forbidding a party today. In fact, a celebration marking Anne’s victory was far more important than the official closing ceremony party.
Given our ages, we celebrated with soft drinks instead of alcohol, getting drunk on the lively atmosphere and chatting noisily with louder-than-usual voices.
Even though our room has soundproofing magic, the dorm supervisor might scold us and give us demerits if they found out about the racket, but even that couldn’t dampen our spirits.
“Ah, come to think of it, I’m sorry.”
“Hm? What about?”
I said while holding a glass of soda, making fun of Linne who was playing around with Anne.
“Back there, at the award ceremony, I’m sorry I didn’t prepare a separate gift as you seemed to expect.”
“Oh…”
At last, Anne understood what I was saying, but she didn’t look angry or upset.
“Nah! Umm… I’ve already received enough, so…”
Fortunately, what could’ve been a touchy situation was diffused simply with a blessing from the Hero.
Hmm… I didn’t know what significance lay in the Hero’s blessing, but I made a mental note that giving a blessing could appease Anne when she’s sulking.
I wondered if it would work on Celian or Yuli as well, but since they aren’t as straightforward as Anne, it was probably wishful thinking.
