Fake Saint of the Year

Translator: Tsukii

Editor: Geli

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 20: Fighting Tournament

The fun summer vacation has passed, and now the academy resumed its activity.

Well, I was free all that time though.

Speaking of, after what happened, Rutin Kingdom sent a letter of gratitude along with gold and silver jewelry. Furthermore, their whole royal family personally visited to give their thanks, and so, the fact that I went to rampage on demons that day got found out by Leila.

Bad deeds will eventually be found out, I guess.

Anyway, let’s reflect on it.

1, 2, 3… ok, I’ve reflected. I will do it again next time.

I am the kind of bad person who forgot anything that would inconvenience me.

Bullying demons was one of my few entertainments in this world. If you take it away from me I will die from boredom.

Since summer break was over, what came after was the event I talked about before, the fighting tournament.

The fighting tournament was done twice a year. The first one was segregated by grade, while the second one was an All-grade mixed tournament. This means students will have 6 tournaments in total.

However, since the game’s story only focused on the protagonist’s year as a freshman, you didn’t really have to think about what happened after.

As such, any participants would only participate in 2 tournaments.

This fighting tournament was not just an event battle, it was a normal one, and it tested how much the player had trained their Vernell.

In the finals, he will fight against a super strong girl named Mary. Most players will end up losing here, and would only rank as a  runner up.

If a player wanted to win against her on their first run, they’d have to ignore all the heroine events and spend 90% of Vernell’s free time on self-training, she was that strong.

(Yet once she became an ally, she became weaker than Vernell. Typical)

Needless to say, this Mary was also one of romance-able Heroines.

She was a kuudere1 with semi-long blue hair and was very popular amongst fans.

Kuuderes were always favorites, regardless of the players’ generation.

Once the tournament was over, regardless of the result, there would be an event where the Witch’s subordinate would try to attack the Saint. This was considered as a mid-boss battle.

The mid-boss in this event was a small fry that failed to become a Great Demon, with low intelligence and fighting power. Even Vernell could beat it at this point.

In addition, Mary helped along during this fight, so unless Vernell was super weak, he would win without much trouble.

And this mid boss… due its low intelligence, it ignored the real Saint, Eterna, and instead would attack Elrise (true).

Elrise (true) was invited to watch this tournament on a VIP seat.

Because Elrise (true) had not yet been revealed as a Fake Saint by this time, Vernell’s party would protect her from mid boss out of their obligation as knights.

 “If only you could just let her die…” was the voice of many fans. Even I had thought so, but it’s a forced event so it can’t be helped.

There were also many players who would lose on purpose just to let the demon reach Elrise(true). I was one of them.

But even if you lose, Leila would beat it in your stead. In addition, losing this battle would break your flag with Mary, and she would no longer appear from that point forward, so it was only a demerit there.

In other words, whether it’s in the game or now, the event’s attack would still be aimed at me.

But it’s a small fry who failed to become a Great Demon after all. It’s not worthy of becoming my enemy.

Well, I could end it in an instant once it appeared.

If I had to compare it to something, it’s only at the level of a morning exercise?

Nah, that’s not really an accurate comparison I guess. Morning exercise was good for one’s health.

The problem was… well. When it appeared, several mob knights would challenge it and end up dying from it.

Really, this world was unkind to mobs.

“Elrise-sama, it’s about to begin”

My thoughts were cut short by Leila’s comment.

Ah, it’s about time?

If that is so, let’s go now.

For me, these battles were all pretty similar with each other, but watching them was fun in its own way.

And when I was a man, I didn’t hate seeing martial arts fights.

The battle right now was not limited to martial arts, but also included magic and sword skills. Unlike a mock battle, it’s quite a serious fight so it’s quite fun to watch in a way.

By the way, I had already been called as a guest for these kinds of fighting tournaments since I was 10 years old, so I had already seen it several times.

The place Leila guided me to was a fighting arena located next to the sports ground.

Stones were cut into square shapes and were arranged into a square ring, with a length of about 30 meters from end to end.

It was built to be slightly elevated, which would make the spectator have to look at a slightly higher angle.

A fence was built around the arena, and beyond the fence were chairs that lined up.

Image wise, it’s similar to a pro wrestling arena.

Then, at the farthermost block there’s a slightly elevated seat that was decorated more luxuriously compared to others.

That’s my VIP seat, but… it’s quite far. Usually for a VIP seat, front row seats would come to mind.

Why the farthermost? Were they idiots? Was this bullying?

If there was no good reason for it, then let’s go to the front instead.

“My sincerest apologies. This is related to a safety issue. There might be stray magic or a sword might accidentally fly towards an audience seat, so we’d like Elrise-sama to watch from the safe distance”

My complaint was brought down by the academy principal’s explanation.

By the way, the principal was an old man in his late 40s.

Because he was the previous Saint’s Prime knight, he was trusted by many.

The truth was, he was actually connected to the Witch behind the scenes, and would be fought as one of the boss characters.

He’s one of the major characters.

His name was Diaz Diaz. Both his surname and first name was Diaz.

It’s like the Japanese name Yamada Yamada.

Even so, considering there was also Perverted Glasses Bastard, was there really no decent teacher in this academy?

And so the fighting tournament began. Well, I quite enjoyed it.

If I would compare it to when I first watched these competitions , I would’ve said something like “that’s an otherworldly level of speed” kind of thing, while they swiftly moved and fired magic. It would’ve been a nice fight to watch.

But if I would compare it to my standards now… I could only say that it’s low level.

It couldn’t be helped since my standard was Leila and the other Guard Knights2, but if I had to compare them then Leila was just extremely strong in comparison.

Rather, Leila was amazing since she was still a student. She won all the tournaments she had participated in. It was a serious business.

Oi, who was it, who was the one who called this capable girl Stocco?

Oi, Stocco, what do you think about these fights?

“My opinion was it? Let’s see… this year has several high level students, I think. I guess I can’t let my guard down”

Eh? Seriously?

Well, they were indeed stronger than those Rutin Kingdom Soldiers I saw before.

“Especially those 4 people… Vernell, Aina Fox, John, and Mary Jet especially stand out compared to the rest. Vernell is slightly lacking in technique, but he has splendid basic capability. Aina Fox doesn’t have any stand out skills, but her moves are polished. I can only say that it’s as expected of the daughter of Guard Knight Fox. John is a former soldier. He is more experienced in fighting compared to the others. Finally, there is Mary Jet, whose magic and sword capability are well balanced. While her power doesn’t stand out, her technique is already at the level of knights. In my opinion, she is the top candidate to win.”

The names Leila mentioned were protagonist Vernell, Strong character Mary, the Aina Fox I had forgotten about recently (the one who was supposed to assassinate me in future) and… Mob A.

So that mob was considered strong huh…

Even so it’s kind of sad that the real Saint, Eterna, was not taken into account.

Well, it can’t be helped, since before her power awakens, she was merely a character with immunity to most damage types.

The final battle was as expected, it was between Vernell and Mary.

Well, it’s common for a first run game to make it this far.

And many players would end up crying here.

It’s hard to beat Mary on the first run. Even I was beaten by her during that run.

During TAS play3, you could win even using a joke weapon like Daikon, but it’s hardly possible during a normal run.

Well, I think this world’s Vernell would still lose though.

New game+ Vernell would inherit his previous run levels and skills, but this Vernell didn’t seem to have anything like that.

If Vernell wished to win on the first run, he would have had to spend the majority of his free time focusing on self-training, but doing that would neglect the heroines’ favorability and ignore most events.

…………。

Ah.

Now I think about it, this world’s Vernell, he was doing things like it was a joke run…

“And the victor is decided! The champion is Vernell!

As the commentator’s loud voice echoed, I was left surprised with such a development.

Ah… he won, on the first run.

He seriously only spent his free time doing self-training…

It made sense if you think about it. If he had done things normally, he should have already raised flags for 5 or 6 heroines at this point, yet he didn’t have other girls besides Eterna near him.

Fiora? Nah, she didn’t appear in the game so she didn’t count.

And no matter how you looked at it, she’s not interested in Vernell. Instead she got along with Mob A.

Vernell… seriously, who are you aiming for? 

If this goes on, you will really get the “Body Builder♂END”. Seriously.

Capture the heroine please.

Build some relationships, and be a person accepted and loved by many girls.

Kah, pathetic. And you call yourself a Galge protagonist?

Whatever.

Now that the fighting tournament was over it should show itself soon.

5、4、3、2、1……。

And here it comes-! A jumping giant appeared from the sky, crushing the ring as it landed.

“FuU-… WhErE iS Saint… Saint, KiLl… kIlL… I… WiLl bE PraISeD bY Witch-sAmA…”

You’d know right away that it lacked intelligence from its first sentence, but this was the current mid boss. Its name was Pochi.

It was a 4 m tall wolf man, a so-called werewolf.

Its whole body was covered with black fur. It had a wolf’s head, while the rest of its body was a furry humanoid shape.

It had a strong appearance, but its words ruined everything.

It was similar to the Great Demon I had killed back then, which was an ogre-like monkey. Pochi had also been created by killing a large number of fellow demons.

…yet it was lacking in the brains department.

The dog had absolute loyalty towards the Witch, but it also meant all it thought about was how to be praised by the Witch.

All it thought of was its current situation, it didn’t think  about the consequences of its actions, and it never ever thought that “the Witch might end up in a disadvantage because of my action”.

It’s like a pup who saw its master acting happy after being bitten lightly, so it would do the same once it became a big dog and then injure people instead.

Basically, the Witch didn’t train her dog properly. She tried to turn said dog into a demon to use as a component to create a Great Demon, but somehow it survived and turned into a failed Great Demon instead

On top of that, its power was clearly lacking compared to that ogre monkey back then, it’s just slightly stronger than a regular demon.

If one paid attention, its body was covered in wounds. This was the result of the Witch’s punishment, or maybe from being treated as a sandbag by the other Great Demon.

In other words, that’s all it was good for.

Even so, it acted independently for the single goal of being praised by the Witch.

But as the result, the fact that it appeared made the idea that “the Witch was within the academy” become more believable.

Witch-san sure has it tough. Because she had a useless underling, one that only had motivation without ability.

This small fry found me, and strode towards me.

“Saint… Kill… I, PrAIsed. I… NoT… TraSH…”

Hah.

I~diot. You think small fry like you could win against me?

Know your place, fool.

I already strengthened myself with magic. I wouldn’t get a scratch even if you struck me.

Or rather, since I already deployed my barrier, you will kill yourself by attacking me.

As I still sat in a composed manner, I looked at the small fry like he was a loser dog.

Hm… poor fellow.

“StoP… DoN’t LooK aT Me wITh… FulL oF PItyyYYY!”

Small fry made a noise and raised its fist.

Leila grasped her own sword, but it wasn’t needed.

The moment it touched the barrier, a counter will activate and spell its end.

“Elrise-sama!”

Yet before its fists reached me… Vernell jumped over and hit the small fry with a sword to its face.

Even as the small fry looked frightened, its face was not cut.

Wa… Vernell you, that competition sword has a dull blade you know?

You can’t cut small fry with that thing.

“Don’t… DistURB mEEEE!”

Small fry shouted and aimed its fists toward Vernell, but its arm got hit by Mary’s ice magic and froze.

In addition Eterna, Fiora, Mob A, and Perverted Glassed Bastard came forward to support Vernell, and the six of them faced the small fry.

I heard things like “everyone…!” “I won’t let you look cool alone” “We will protect Elrise-sama together” “You aren’t forgetting about me right?”, but… Err I don’t need to be protected, I can protect myself, you see?

Or rather, if you guys hadn’t gotten in the way, it would already be long dead, okay?

Why do you say that I have to be protected, like I was some kind of small fry? I got pissed off.

Should I ignore the atmosphere and kill it anyway?

Ah, that’s good. Let’s do that.

And so with light magic, BO-…

“Please wait a moment, Elrise-sama. Would you please leave it to them?”

Eh-…

Stocco-chan what are you talking about? Are you serious?

“They are now trying to fulfill their duty as knights. It is easy for Elrise-sama to end it right away, but… Could you please let them do it out of respect for their will? Right now, they are about to grow greatly as knights… that’s how I feel.”

That’s definitely just your imagination.

In fact, even after this event, there was no particular power up.

Rather, players would say “just let it kill the scum!”

But it was Stocco-chan’s own wish, so let’s just grant it.

But at this rate, Vernell would be in danger. Their weapon was for competition use after all.

Game wise, they would get their normal weapon stats despite using a competition weapon, but this was reality so it wouldn’t work that way.

And so, I decided to present him  with a weapon.

Ok earth magic BOOM! I manipulated the molecular composition of the earth I created so that it was the equivalent of light but hard metal, and then formed it into a sword.

Oi use this Vernell! It’s just a random toy I made in 10 seconds though, so you don’t have to give it back!

“Thank you very much, Elrise-sama! With this… I will win!”

With the sword in his hand, he moved towards the small fry and pushed it back into a corner. Oh, amazing.

While I was admiring the scene before me, I felt Leila’s gaze on me for some reason.

Hm, what? Is something wrong?

“Ah, no… it’s nothing”

So it was nothing. What a weird Stocco.

Soon the battle reached its end.

Vernell and his pleasant allies finally defeated the small fry and it collapsed on the ground.

Let’s just call it a loser dog already

“Witch-saMA… I… wORk HarD fOR Witch-SAma… WoRK HarDEr… AgAin… I… EmBracE Me, PLe… A…”

No, that’s impossible.

You are too big to cuddle with.

Sorry. I liked small dogs, but big ones scared me so I hated them.

A Shiba Inu was my limit. Anything bigger than that was no good.

Besides, wouldn’t your fur feel stiff now?

…O? Ooo? Wow, it’s surprisingly fluffy.

You could cuddle with this. Rather with this size, you could use it as a carpet substitute.

Unexpectedly, a big dog might not be so bad. Fluff fluff.

“Elrise-sama… this monster…”

Leila looked at it in wonder. Perhaps she meant to ask “isn’t this too weak for a Great Demon?”

So I told everyone, it was just something that failed to become a Great Demon.

In addition it was originally a puppy, just an idiot that only thought of getting praised.

Of course, since it would be weird if I knew all about this, I told her it was just my speculation.

“Witch… SamA…”

Oh, you’re still awake huh.

You can sleep now. No one will be angry even if you sleep.

Ok good night, good night.

As I said that, the loser dog became quiet.

Well, there are others watching, so let’s stop cuddling it for now.


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Cruelsanto
Cruelsanto
3 months ago

Bruh I might drop this if vernell keeps acting like that. It’s really irritating and the MC is just riding along the misunderstanding, I wish he would put bro in his place

Catman48
Catman48
11 months ago

I truly respect elrise’s determination to not remember John’s name.

RayREI
RayREI
1 year ago

Re-reading it I just noticed but it really seems as if she reserve the Mob A position to John huh. Even when his name is mentioned MC associated it with Mob A. I’m pretty sure every time he ever said Mob A he’s referring to John, wasn’t he?

Alixiron
Alixiron
1 year ago
Reply to  RayREI

Yup

SoulsTogether
SoulsTogether
1 year ago

A TAS can aid in most games. For example, assuming that this game’s combat system really was turn-based, then a TAS could easily mess with RNG mechanics in order to make all of Mary’s attacks miss, or at least make Mary only attack with weak patterns. There might also be a block mechanic in this game, which the TAS could easily perform perfectly. And, again, that all assumes that the game’s combat system is turn-based instead of live-action. If it was live-action, then the TAS would have an even greater time.

Anyway, even Stocco, huh? It’s possible she was just jealous, but it really seems like she suspects something that’s not there. …honestly speaking, even if Elrise rejects Vernell’s inevitable confession, I feel like the situation would turn into an “I do love you…which is why I cannot accept it. I cannot hurt you when my destiny is to die” type of event!

You turned yourself into the perfect wifu Elrise! There is no escape!

Anyway, thank you for the chapter!

sleeplessknight
sleeplessknight
1 year ago
Reply to  SoulsTogether

I’m pretty sure it’s just jealousy over Vernell getting a weapon from Elrise. I can’t think of anything that could make her suspicious.

Ved
Ved
2 years ago

Poor John. His name has been mentioned several times already but she can’t ever seem to remember it.
=/

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  Ved

she refused to remember, just like how she referred Supple as perverted glasses bastard

Spirit
Spirit
1 year ago
Reply to  tsukii

She described it early in the story in a way that implies she has almost eidetic memory, so it is pretty likely it is willful act of ignorance rather than actually forgetting the person

tsukii
tsukii
1 year ago
Reply to  Spirit

yeah, she actually remembered, as the later part of novel suggested, she just do it at willful act of ignorance.

IWuv2Read
IWuv2Read
2 years ago

The dogs gonna get a power up ain’t it?

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  IWuv2Read

too bad, but nope. he out of stage after the battle

sleeplessknight
sleeplessknight
1 year ago
Reply to  tsukii

I think they mean that the fight against the dog was a power up.

3rd Citizen
3rd Citizen
2 years ago

Ahhh, i want to see an illustration of elrise patting and laying to rest the pitiful overgrown puppy..

Rest well fella, the first witch is a complete ruinous bitch who never deserved your fluff.

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  3rd Citizen

there would be such illustrations(technically) so don’t worry.

why first witch came out there? maybe you mean previous witch?

exqalph03
2 years ago

— Thanks for the chapter!!!!

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  exqalph03

thx for your comments too

Gitami
Gitami
2 years ago

Once she became an ally, she would became than Vernell.

weaker than Vernell.

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  Gitami

thx for the suggestion!

NickMaster
NickMaster
11 months ago
Reply to  Gitami

Be one with the Vernell. Muscle reins supreme!

Freigus
Freigus
2 years ago

Midgame boss? Nah, it’s a puppy.
Thanks for translation!

Last edited 2 years ago by Freigus
tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  Freigus

its pup for elrise, but still formidable mid boss for others

o_O
o_O
2 years ago

huh. in the mtl, her name was marie… why did it change to mary?

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  o_O

her raw name was マリー, which mtl would translate as marie, which not wrong, per se. it just some other marie マリエ (like that char from otome game mob) exists, so i took mary for safe bet

thx for your input too

Fitoor
Fitoor
2 years ago

Has Stocco joined the ElriseXVernel club?

Freigus
Freigus
2 years ago
Reply to  Fitoor

I think she was just jealous because of a sword.

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  Freigus

yea, and she ship herself with elrise, it seems

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  Fitoor

i don’t think so. she won’t ship elrise with anyone but herself