Is there any need for a mediocre author who writes clichéd plots?

Originally, Kefir had only been holding her sword horizontally, passively enduring Louise the Twenty-Third’s wild, violent, and savage attacks.

After creating some distance and muttering something to Louise the Twenty-Third—words I couldn’t quite catch—she suddenly “switched to offense.”

Sword flowers danced through the air, and then Kefir ran her hand along the blade.

This was no pretentious gesture, because in the next instant, the slender sword in her hand was coated with a faint crystalline sheen.

Cold air radiated from it, swirling as she moved, growing more and more intense around her, until half the training ground was filled with a blue storm that lifted all the sand and dust into the air.

Louise the Twenty-Third, who had just been strutting so proudly, had never seen such a sight.

She froze on the spot, her legs beginning to tremble.

“W-what… what is this?”

“I don’t know either.”

Kefir gently swung her blade, and the frost clinging to it seemed to “lead” the whirling storm around her, making it spiral and crash against the barrier.

“You…”

“Because this came to me in a dream yesterday.

I realized how wasteful it is to have two different types of power and use them separately.

So I wondered—what if I combined them?”

Kefir explained calmly, as though the person in front of her wasn’t an opponent, but just a training dummy she used for practice.

As for Louise the Twenty-Third, her expression changed dramatically—not anger, but panic.

She hurriedly shouted in our direction!

“W-wait! Pause! Kefir is cheating! She’s cheating!”

The peanut gallery of judges around me fell silent, their faces stiff.

Everyone collectively ignored all the praise they had just lavished on Louise the Twenty-Third.

After all, even I, an outsider, could tell that Kefir wasn’t cheating.

Louise the Twenty-Third’s outburst only exposed her own cowardice and mediocrity, her state of mind completely unworthy of her supposed strength.

“Kefir is cheating? Tell me, Louise the Twenty-Third—who’s the one who really cheated?

And by the way, let me tell you this: mere strength is useless.

Even if you drug yourself up to Ninth Tier ‘Saint Sealing,’ I still… won’t lose to you.”

Kefir swung her blade.

At the same time, the blizzard behind her exploded outward in an instant, sweeping in all directions.

Not only did it swallow Louise the Twenty-Third in a heartbeat, but it even slammed against the barriers around the training ground.

In the blink of an eye, sharp cracks spread across the barrier, frightening Louise’s attendants so badly they rushed over to reinforce and repair it!

Well, as an ordinary person, I couldn’t understand what exactly happened.

But based on my “script experience,” I could guess: Kefir must have combined magic and martial arts—what’s known as…

“Advanced Enchanting!”

One of the dumbstruck judges shouted, jumping to his feet—and stealing my line in the process.

Immediately, the other peanut gallery judges seemed to forget they had just been saying “Kefir can’t do it,” and started praising her instead.

“If it were just adding an effect to the blade, that would be nothing special.

But this—this is clearly the seamless fusion of magic and sword aura!

To reach this level—there’s no doubt she’s secured the title of ‘genius’ in our empire!

I haven’t seen such a prodigy in decades!”

“The last one was Zerola, wasn’t it?

Truly, like father, like daughter.

Though honestly, why does their family always love hiding their strength like this…”

That’s called “the protagonist playing weak before devouring the tiger,” you bandwagon-hopping fence-sitters.

Another clash echoed from within the arena, silencing everyone.

Inside the barrier, a blizzard had descended, obscuring the view so much that all we could see was Kefir’s steady, goddess-like silhouette.

Moments later, the storm dispersed, and silence returned.

Kefir, completely unaffected by the biting chill that had nearly reached the judges’ stand, shook off the frost from her shoulder and walked slowly toward Louise the Twenty-Third.

By now, Louise the Twenty-Third was shivering violently, her body covered in ice flowers, curled up in a corner with her head down, trembling so badly she couldn’t even speak.

And this was clearly Kefir holding back.

If that blizzard had focused on Louise the Twenty-Third instead of raging in all directions, we’d probably be looking at an ice sculpture right now.

“The duel requires us to stop at the point of victory.”

Even after coming this far, Kefir stayed calm instead of indulging in some over-the-top moment of triumph.

Truly a real protagonist.

After all, the result was already beyond question.

Kefir pointed her sword at Louise the Twenty-Third in a purely symbolic gesture, then turned to face us.

“Sister Queen, I think the result is clear.”

That’s right—my script had changed too.

【Kefir deliberately acted weak at first, then played the pig to eat the tiger and easily defeated Louise the Twenty-Third.】

“Sister Queen?”

Seeing no response from Louise, Kefir called out again while walking toward us.

“……”

I turned my head to look—turns out Louise’s blank expression earlier was just an illusion.

She immediately grabbed Kefir’s hand with sparkling enthusiasm and cheerfully announced the result!

“I think there are no objections, right?

Then the victor this time is Kefir! Congratulations~”

“Thank you, Sister Queen.”

“Ah~ You really scared me just now.

I didn’t expect you to have gotten so strong.

Now I’m going to have a hard time finding you a suitable husband~”

“Sister Queen, could I exchange that ‘kindness’ for something else…”

As they chatted, Louise the Twenty-Third—who had finally come to her senses inside the arena—not far away, started shouting.

“Wait! Your Majesty! She cheated! I clearly already…”

You clearly already cheated, and yet you still couldn’t win—so that means your opponent must have cheated too?

What kind of magical logic is that?

“Ah~ Alright, alright, Twenty-Third. I’ll comfort you later, okay~”

Louise cut off her nonsense with those words, walking over to support her.

Louise the Twenty-Third, who had been thrashing angrily just moments ago, suddenly went limp, letting Louise and the maids hold her up.

“Sorry, Kefir. I need to take care of Louise the Twenty-Third first.

But the winner this time is you.

Make sure to start preparing for the journey—the Queen will soon have the paperwork ready for you as the final candidate to explore the ruins~”

“Thank you, Sister Queen!”

Even the normally “cool” Kefir was all smiles now.

Then, tilting her head in puzzlement, she looked at me.

“Hey, conman priest, why are you staring at Sister Queen?”

“N-no reason…”

I averted my gaze.

【Louise the Twenty-Third nearly blurted out her cheating but was knocked out by Queen Louise and taken away.】

That wasn’t “supporting” her just now…

But I have no desire to get involved in Louise’s schemes—those are all death flags.

Kefir’s story is back on track, and now I can happily cling to her thigh and clear the next dungeon together.