As expected, the battle between the four remaining contestants was terrific, and all of them were quite fierce. Within those four, it may be rude to say this, but the winner wasn’t the one who I had expected…… and it was the Gun Rock Dragon.
The first battle between the Nidhogg and the Black Dragon was a fierce one, and the match seemed to be very close.
The Black Dragon had the upper hand in the early stages of the battle, focusing on long-range attacks and thoroughly making sure not to let the Nidhogg approach, but the tide turned in the middle of the battle when the Nidhogg made a reckless charge, prepared to receive damage.
In the end, after taking a lot of damage, Nidhogg was able to win the battle.
In the next battle between the Tempest Dragon and the Gun Rock Dragon, it went just as Lilia-san had predicted. The Gun Rock Dragon had the upper hand from start to finish.
The Tempest Dragon hardly had any attacks that could penetrate the Gun Rock Dragon’s defenses, and even the few attacks that could have been effective weren’t able to do any real damage, as after seeing the battles his opponent had done, the Gun Rock Dragon had already prepared countermeasures against them.
Then came the final battle between the Nidhogg and the Gun Rock Dragon. What made the difference between the battle between them was how worn out the two contestants were in their battles up to this point.
Although their wounds had been healed and their magic reserves had been replenished by Eingana-san, they haven’t mentally recovered at all.
As a result, the Nidhogg’s movements were a bit sluggish in the early stages, and the Gun Rock Dragon’s took advantage of this, dealing them a painful counterattack.
The Nidhogg did recover after that and put up a great fight, but the early damage took its toll on them, and in the end, it was the Nidhogg who had fallen.
It may have been the result of lucky match-ups, but I felt that the Gun Rock Dragon’s victory was due to the fact that they were able to keep to their defensive strategy, which is their forte, and seized the slightest opportunity open for them.
[……It was a great fight.]
[Yes, it was a really close battle, but in the end, mental strength could decide the difference between victory and defeat.]
While applauding the victorious Gun Rock Dragon, I exchanged a few words with Lilia-san. Anyway, the Dragon Carnival was more of a showcase for the young dragons’ abilities. Even so, it was a great honor to win, and the rocky face of the Gun Rock Dragon seemed to be happy.
“Umu, it was a good battle in which each of us made the most of our abilities. The momentum of the youth really is great. Especially the finalists, Nidhogg, Tempest Dragon, Black Dragon and Gun Rock Dragon had trained well. The winner, Gun Rock Dragon, was particularly impressive. I expect each of you to continue to improve as future squad leader candidates.”
Magnawell-san announced with a majestic voice. Incidentally, it was apparently the tradition of Dragon King’s subordinates to be referred to by their species names instead of their individual names.
This is apparently because when a subordinate was appointed as a squad leader, they would receive a name from Magnawell-san, and until then, they would be referred to by their species name.
It seems that it’s a great honor to be named by their King, Magnawell-san, and thus, everyone is working hard to receive a name from Magnawell-san and to be called by that name.
However, because of this tradition, even though Magnawell-san doesn’t speak out their name, it seems that he remembers the names of all his subordinates.
Anyhow, the winning Gun Rock Dragon and the three other dragons that received compliments left a lasting impression on Magnawell-san, and they were on their way as candidates for future squad leaders.
“From here on out, it would just be socializing with everyone. You can use this opportunity to get to know people from other units that you don’t normally get to know or people you have fought with earlier.”
In other words, even though the battle has ended, as Magnawell-san said, there aren’t many opportunities to get involved with different units, so there are many of the younger dragons are looking forward to this opportunity to interact with others.
……Well, from what I’ve heard, this event was also to search for their mates, so I guess it’s beneficial in many ways.
“Now then, go and enjoy yourselves…… is what I’d like to say, but there is one thing I need to tell you before this time. Both Miyama Kaito and Lilia Albert will be participating in this exchange as guests of mine. Everyone should already be familiar with the name Miyama Kaito, but Lilia Albert here is a strong person with abilities equal to Count-ranks, so I’m sure many of you would want to interact with her.”
Pausing for a moment, Magnawell-san slowly moved his head to look at the dragons that had gathered.
“……However, if you allow everyone to greet them, there will be too many. Therefore, it is forbidden for you to go to Miyama Kaito and Lilia Albert to greet them. Only when they come to you will you be allowed to interact with them. Bear this in mind.”
Errr, in other words, the dragons won’t come to greet us, but it’s alright for us to go greet them.
Indeed, there’s a large number of dragons of differing species gathered here, and if we were to greet them one by one, there would be no end to it, so this is very helpful.
But well, looking at Lilia-san’s eyes filled with expectation, it’s likely that we’ll be visiting a good number of dragons……