After the tense, unwanted meeting with Aria in the hallway, I sat down on the couch and began to meditate.

Although my fear of Aria had disappeared, my heart was still a bit shaken from the exchange. So to calm myself down and stabilize the flow of mana, I began meditating.

My turn was still in a few hours since I still needed to wait for six other matches before the semi-finals started. So I have plenty of time to meditate and refocus my attention on the tournament.

I took a deep breath, and released it slowly through my nose. I relaxed my body and focused on the flow of mana within me, and slowly, I began to feel the normally imaginary sensation of water that is mana in reality.

As expected, they were flowing very quickly, like a river rushing quickly down a mountain. So I took a deep breath and slowly tried to slow them down.

Fubuki, who would usually stay around my neck, had gotten off and also began to meditate on her own. She was also a bit agitated back when she met Aria, so she must also be trying to calm herself down. And slowly, I can feel her mana slowly regulating back to normal.

That's good... Good job, Fubuki~

I praised Fubuki silently and continued to meditate.

As time passed, I observed the matches that had been going on by sensing the fluctuations in mana. While I'm meditating, all my senses sharpen, especially my magic sense, allowing me to sense a lot of things even from far away as long as they have mana.

It's like I can feel the change in atmosphere and the air from just the fluctuations in mana alone.

Lawliela-sama had conducted an experiment with me in the past, right after I told her about this. She wanted to know how far I can sense magical fluctuations, the precision of my magic sense, and how big of a fluctuation it needed to be for me to sense it.

Turns out, I can sense someone lighting up a candle with a super small fire elemental spell in the castle from my room.

When I told her the result... there was a terrifying glint in Lawliela-sama's eyes. And since then, she had increased the difficulty of my magic training and made a new training regiment that would force me to use that enhanced sense even when I'm not meditating.

Thanks to that, my magic sense had become even more sensitive and accurate. But... I wouldn't want to go through that again. After all, how can I live with the grand magus herself terrorizing me at every waking moment by firing lightning spells at me randomly wherever I go?!

Hah... I remember I couldn't even fall asleep for a few nights when we just started and I became super paranoid...

But well... Thanks to that, I could sense magic very accurately. Even though I'm in this room, by just sensing the mana fluctuations, I can observe the ongoing matches as if I'm watching it on tv.

Hmph, so Wilhelm won his match, huh? I guess the little dirt boy got some skills after all~ Kukuku~

Ah! It's Evelyn against Keith! Go Evelyn~!!! You can do it~!!! And Keith, if you dare touch a hair on her head, then I'll turn you into an ice statue, okay~

Ooooh~!!! Nice spell, Evelyn~! Kukuku~ Keith must've been super shocked by that, huh~?

Hm? Why is nothing happening now...? Are they talking...? Hm? Why did Keith's mana suddenly fluctuate like he's surprised?

Oh, he must be surprised by Evelyn's skills, huh~? Fufufu~ Take that, you reformed playboy~!!!

Yaaaaay~!!! Evelyn won~!!! Good job, Eve~!!!

Hm hm... Who's next~? Ah, it's Lu-nii versus Noir, huh...? Uuuuhhh... Lu-nii, don't you dare hurt her, okay? And Noir, do your best~! Kick that guy's butt~!

That's right! You can do it!!! You can do it, Noir!!! Do your best!!!

A-Aaahhh... G-Good job, Noir... You did your best... You managed to keep him far for so long... Unfortunately, Lu-nii got you beat once he got close... Don't worry, I'll comfort you later, okay?

Ah... It's Alex's turn... Well, this would be boring...

Yep, he won that quickly... No surprises.

Then... Oh, it's Luke, huh? And against... a second-year male student... If I'm not mistaken, that magic signature belongs to the Kasiel Viscount household, right? So that must be... Dimandius Kasiel-sama.

Ah... He already lost... Well, as expected from the stoic sword idiot. No mercy as usual.

And now it's... Ah! It's Valerie-chan!!! Gooo!!! Burn that guy!!!

Wooooo~!!! That's amazing, Valerie-chan! I can even feel the heat from here!!! Fufufu~ As expected of my sister disciple~!!!

And just like that, I continued to enjoy the tournament through my magic sense.

--------------------------------X--------------------------------

The quarter-finals had finally ended, and the participants that had passed to the semi-finals have been decided.

I will be fighting in the first match against Illya, which I am looking forward to. I want to see how much she has grown and have a great match against her. She's one of the most hard working girls I know. From the timid little girl, she grew into a chivalrous, noble, and strong girl. I can't wait to fight against her.

After that, the next match will be between Wilhelm and Evelyn. And I swear, if that broccoli-haired dirt boy dares to dirty Evelyn's uniform, I'll make him pay by freezing him into a statue.

Then, there's Lu-nii versus Alex. This I'm actually very interested in watching. After all, both Alex and Lu-nii are known for their prowess with both magic and the sword. Unfortunately, I can't since I'm also a participant in this tournament.

But, it seems like Lu-nii wasn't taking this tournament seriously. After all, his only concern is to just get to a good ranking to maintain his image and the Lorya household's prestige. Other than that, he's not concerned with this. In fact, he had said that he'd rather visit Lily and hangout with her than doing this kind of thing.

Fortunately, he'll be going against Alex, so he could retire early since losing to the crown prince won't damage his prestige.

Then, there's the match I'm most interested in... The strongest young knight and the greatest young mage in the kingdom; Luke vs Valerie-chan.

Personally, I'm cheering for Valerie-chan. But as much as I want to make fun of him and his skills since he lost to me often, I can't deny Luke's skill with the sword.

If Valerie-chan could kite him well and rain spells down at him for long enough, she'll definitely win. But if she let Luke get close to her a few times, then she might lose...

And to make it worse, Luke also has affinity to wind and earth magic. Meaning, he could enhance his speed with his wind magic, and make obstacles that would make running very difficult for Valerie-chan with his earth magic.

Hah... He's a troublesome guy, alright... Now that I think about it, a big reason why I could defeat him one on one is because I changed the ground into ice and made it slippery for him while I skate around.

Freezing up the ground and creating ice blades under her shoes to skate around had always been one of my primary strategies. With this, I increase my mobility while decreasing my opponent's mobility at the same time. That's why Luke, Lu-nii, and even Alexus always had a tough time against me.

But Valerie-chan, who has no affinity with Ice element, couldn't use this strategy. She could only use her fire spells like "Wall of Flame" and "Ring of Fire" to control and limit her opponent's movement. But in front of a brute like Luke, who would ignore the fire with his wind shield, it'd be tough for her...

I turned towards Valerie-chan and looked at her briefly.

The girls and I were spending lunch time together. The quarter finals had ended, and the semifinals and finals would be held after lunch. So, we're here together, having fun and eating our meal while talking.

Thankfully, Valerie-chan didn't seem nervous at all. She's acting just as usual. And as if she knew what I was concerned about, she declared with her usual confident smile.

"Fufun~ I have a secret spell that I've made especially when I go against swordsmen! So, I'm sorry Noir, but I'll definitely win against your brother!"

"Hehe, good luck, Valerie. But my brother is also very strong. So please do your best. I will be cheering for both of you."

Noir, who was sitting by my side and holding my hand, turned towards Valerie with a gentle smile and smiled courteously.

She had been a bit depressed about losing her match since we met up for lunch. But fortunately, I managed to cheer her up by petting her head, hugging her, and holding her hand like this on my lap.

"Mm. Luke is very powerful at close range, and he has many ways to get close to his target, so please be careful, Valerie-chan."

"I know! I'll do my best, Risa-chan!"

"Evelyn, I wish you good luck on your match against Wilhelm too."

"Yes, thank you very much, Risa-sama~ I'll be sure to do my best~"

Evelyn smiled at me and I smiled back. She looks confident and determined, but not complacent. That's a good sign.

Then, I turned my eyes towards Illya, who was looking at the direction of my and Noir's hands.

She looked like she was... pouting? But before I could confirm it, she sensed my gaze and looked up to me.

"Alterisa-sama?"

"Illya, let's do our best and have a lot of fun in our match."

"Yes! Although I am aware of my shortcomings, I will still do my best so that I can stand by your side!"

Mm~! What a beautiful, determined expression~ That's my Illya!"

"I will be looking forward to it. Show me your improvements, Illya!"

"Yes!"

"And after the tournament ends, let's review our match and train together~"

"Y-Yes! I would love that!"

"Alterisa-sama, I want to train with you too..."

"Me too! Or rather, if we can't meet in this tournament, let's have a duel after this, Risa-chan!"

"Uhn~ Let's all practice together so we can become stronger~!"

Mm~ It's good to have such amazing friends~





AN: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter~! Please vote and comment your thoughts~!