! I’ll get it eventually!”
I thought that it would be an easy hit because of its size, but suddenly the bow broke in my hands.
“T-t-this…I’m very sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m prepared for things like this, it’s no problem. Though, Ojou-chan, you really do have terrible aim. In the 5 years that I’ve run this shop I have never seen something like this.”
“Ryua-chan is purely strength after all.”
Roel declared that nonchalantly while chewing the gold apple candy she had in both hands. I ended up challenging the game 5 times but I never hit the sword once. I was so mortified I wanted to cry, but the owner seemed to sympathize with me and gave me a recovery item as a consolation prize.
“Using a bow is pretty difficult…Mai is amazing for being able to hit moving monsters.”
“Ryua-chan, besides using a sword you’re totally hopeless…”
Her words stabbed into me. By the way, Roel had challenged the game twice and was able to hit an item with a magic ice effect as well as a royal jelly. The jelly was already deep inside Roel’s stomach. It’s possible that Roel has some talent with the bow. Wouldn’t she have more ways to fight if she seriously practiced with it?
“Hi~ you two lovely girls over there! Why not take a look at my shop for a while?”
Just like she declared yesterday, Cynthia had set up a shop. She has recovery items, royal jelly, and some things I have no clue about all line up in a row.
“Cynthia-san, what kind of shop is this?”
“A shop for adults.”
“Oh.”
“Ku! I was expecting your face to turn red! You pure person!”
“What’s a shop for adults anyways?”
There are times I don’t understand Cynthia. Whenever I try to ask about the ‘adult shop’ she avoids the topic. Since there isn’t anything here that looks like food Roel wasn’t too keen on looking around. The only exception was the jelly.
“Royal jelly, 200g each is a steal!”
“Expensive…Ryua-chan, let’s go that way.”
“W-what?”
Cynthia had been expecting Roel to buy some but she just turned away and pulled my hand. It’s seems finances are more important than her appet.i.te. She’s been eating a lot here and ther though…will it be fine?
“Ah, that’s right! The Tougi Taikai!”
“Waaaaah! That’s right! C-can we still make it?!”
“20 minutes…”
“If we walk we won’t make it…okay!”
I carried Roel on my back.
“W-w-what!? Ryua-chan!”
Roel clung onto me as I jumped on the roof of a house. Jumping from roof to roof I aimed for the castle.
“What’s that!? Part of the festival?”
“Ama~zing!”
“Hold me!”
The people below us seemed like they were cheering but I couldn’t care less. ‘Hold me’, I don’t know why someone would say that. Roel tightly held onto me while staying quiet.
“Ryua-chan, this is embarra.s.sing…”
“We’ll be there soon, just hold on.”
We reached the castle in about 5 minutes. I landed in front of the two guards and they brandished their weapons in surprise.
“Y-you people are?”
“I’m a partic.i.p.ant in the Tougi Taikai.”
“S-so that’s it. If you are partic.i.p.ating go to the left entrance.”
The soldier gave me directions for being both a contestant and a spectator. There seemed to be a fence dividing the two with long lines on both sides.
“Um, please don’t b.u.t.t in line~! Please do- mugi!”
A short female soldier was swallowed up by the crowd as she tried to guide them. With a small build like hers it would be pretty hard to fight back if you were pushed.
“Ah, are you a partic.i.p.ant? The entrance is -gyu!”
She was taken by the crowd again as she tried to guide me. You could only see her red hair popping out of the crowd here and there. Some other soldiers dragged her out of the sea of people and chewed her out for a while. The girl hung her head in shame.
“I wonder if she’s the same age as us? Regardless, what’s up with the soldiers here?”
“She was scolded pretty hard…it seemed serious.”
‘Do your best!’ I thought. I had separated from Roel and followed the route for partic.i.p.ants. The waiting room had already filled up with the other contestants.
“This is just for the preliminaries, right?”
“Yo, just as I thought! You came!”
Metal-whatever was here. The weapon I broke yesterday had been repaired. …Actually it just seems to be a new one.
“My stomach was acting up back then so don’t let it get to your head! Look, the B block contestants work out perfectly!”
“B block? What’s that?”
“A-aah?”
*thump* Metal-whatever was on the ground.
“Ah, my name is written here.”
“Y-yeah…”
“What’s with this weird net like thing drawn here?”
“Seriously? Listen up, since your name is written here and ‘Benkei’ is written there, your first opponent will be him. If you win against him then you will fight whoever won over here.”
“Hee~”
“Did you sign up without even knowing that…?”
“The village I lived in when I was younger never had anything like this. And since my parents are also dead…”
“I-Is that so…I’m sorry.”
Suddenly metal-whatever became kind. I wonder where the wild part of him went?
“Don’t worry too much about not knowing these things. Ryua, right? Unfortunately your opponent is me, Benkei.”
Behind us appeared a young looking person carrying a lot of weapons on his back and he was wearing a m.u.f.fler on his shoulder. He had really large and baggy armor on, it looks like it’d be really hot to wear.
“Geh! A ranked Benkei!”
“Are both of you C rank? b.l.o.o.d.y tournament officials, not declining amateurs. If you’re just here to test your strength, forfeit.”
“Just having a lot of weapons doesn’t make you strong you know.”
“W-what did you say? You, don’t you know my name!? Benkei the !”
“Did you forget your crushing defeat last year?”
A hand was placed on Benkei’s shoulder. Hekaton appeared behind him.
“He-hekaton…”
“Shouldn’t you say Hekaton-san? You low tier A rank.”
“Uuu…”
Hekaton showed up and b.u.t.ted into our conversation like that. Mere moments pa.s.sed before the room fell silent and all eyes were looking at us.
“So…are you Ryua?”
“I-I am”
Hekaton suddenly turned towards me. He has a pretty big body, but Grundom’s is still larger.
“…so Seigel lost to a kid. The elite A rank doesn’t mean much it seems.”
“Wait, just now, what…?”
“We will now begin the preliminary round. All contestants in the first match for each block please come this way.”
A soldier announced that in a loud voice. First match…ah that’s me.
“Now then, I look forward to seeing you in action.”
Benkei looked at me and laughed like I was a fool. I don’t know what he meant by ‘seeing me in action’ but I know that he was making light of me. I’ll make you see…
It seems like the grounds were specially set up for this, it was a coliseum set up far from the castle. The spectators were set up in a ring around us, almost like this was a sport to them. Blocks A and B even had their own dedicated fighting areas.
“Block B, first match will start now. If your opponent surrenders that will signal the end of the match. Killing is instant disqualification.”
“Ryua-chan! Good lu~ck!”
“Ryua-chan! Fight!!”
I could even hear Cynthia’s voice. I wonder what she did with her store?
“Seigel-san please sign this!”
“Please shake my hands! Please!”
“Now now, I don’t want to ignore anyone or hurt any feelings but I only have two hands. One for handshakes and one for signing things.”
A group of female spectators were making a fuss around Seigel’s seat. I want him to leave, that gaggle of girls is distracting. Why isn’t he partic.i.p.ating though?
“Are you sure you have the time to be looking away?”
Benkei’s hands were already holding weapons, in one hand a sword and the other a spear. As he got into his stance I wondered if he would use all the weapons on his back? Though a person can only effectively use one weapon in each hand, so aren’t the rest just dead weight?
“I have but one thing to teach you: The strength of an adventurer. This match serves as a perfect teaching tool. I’ll even go easy on you because I want to avoid killing you.”
“Now then, Battle start!”
“It’s sad that it had to end this way, but think of it as a type of experience.”
As soon as the signal went off he approached me with his spear, keeping me at a distance. He kept trying to thrust it at me, but his moves were so sloppy it’s barely grazing me. As I lazily avoided his attacks, Benkei became agitated.
“Why do you keep running away? I was considering how you would approach me but too bad!”
As if showing off, he flicked the sword on his right hand. It seems if I get close to him he’ll use that sword on me.
“Furthermore!”
As he threw his sword into the air, his now empty hand grasped a weapon on his back and threw it. As it carved the air flying at me I noticed it was sharp and circular.
“Moonring blade! I have more! Take that!”
Suddenly 3 of those ‘moonring’ weapons were flying at me as well as Benkei with his spear.
For him to be so skilled it seems he’s put considerable effort into learning how to use all of those weapons. Though ‘skilled’ is the only impression I have of this person. The crowd began cheering with excitement as he moved like an acrobat and closed the distance. Benkei caught the sword he had thrown in the air as the moonrings reached me. ‘There is no escape’ seemed to be expressed with his eyes. Just before his weapons made contact I moved to his side at a speed he couldn’t keep up with. His moonrings fell to the ground, cutting through empty air where I previously was and his spear thrust into nothing. Benkei was a beat too slow to realize where I had moved to. For his sake I waited until he noticed.
“So all of those weapons are for moves like that huh?”
“W-what!? Just when did you…?!”
He lost his balance as he turned towards me.
“Like you, I’m here to fight and win. Unfortunately I’m stronger.”
I moved behind Benkei again and lightly struck his neck. *Jolt*, Benkei flinched and fell down without making a sound. The spectators had been in an uproar till now, but all of B block went silent.
“Ryua-chan! Congratulations!”
“It was pretty easy…”
“See! Just as I antic.i.p.ated! That girl is like an unripened fruit, steadily growing into something beautiful!”
That last part was unnecessary. Roel and Cynthia were the only ones cheering amongst the tension.
“L-let’s see…B block, first match… the victor is Ryua!”
The crowd began cheering with that declaration.
“Geh! What’s with that! I bet a lot on Benkei you know!”
“A dark horse is HEEEEEEEEEEERE!!”
I don’t know what that means but it seems everyone is surprised.
“That girl didn’t even draw her sword!”
“Was that a throw by Benkei? He stopped for a moment!”
“Haa!? Of course! That explains it! Return my money!”
“Well then…onto the second match!”
Am I supposed to go back to the waiting room? I wanted to watch the other matches from here…if I stood in the corner would that have been fine?
“Yo, just as I thought. You’re a partic.i.p.ant.”
“Ah, Gantetsu-san?!”
Gantestu appeared in the spectator seats. ‘Heigh ho’ he said as he sat next to Roel.
“So you travelled out here huh? If you had called me I would have arranged a cheap inn for you.”
“Eh, seriously?”
This should have been the first time Cynthia met him yet she was already getting familiar with Gantetsu. Maybe they already knew each other?
“Oh? You’re the girl from the Kwimill item shop…and why are you surprised? An A rank like myself can easily do something like that.”
“But we didn’t even know where you lived…”
“Oh, you’re right! Gahahahaha!”
“Are you not going to partic.i.p.ate, Gantetsu-san?”
“I’m not a young’un anymore, and there are some decent Champion candidates here.”
I hadn’t been watching but the fight in B block with Metal-whatever already concluded…he was on the ground, defeated.
“B block, second match finish! The victor is Baste!”
“Fufu for someone with muscle for brains, my weakening magic is super effective. I can easily shut you down. You see, fighting is all about brains.”
The person speaking wore circular eyegla.s.ses and magician robes. He was waving in an exaggerated fashion towards the audience, clearly showing off.
“The Baste. He doesn’t rely on offensive magic but rather suppression type spells. His strength is around that of an average A ranker. He’s also your next opponent, Ryua.”
“Hmm, Metal Rod-san wasn’t able to win and was completely crushed. Just as I expected…”
“Weakening magic huh? Ryua-chan is going to be fighting against that?”
“If his opponent was an average combatant he can completely seal their movements. He’s a specialist.”
The person from the ring seems to have more than one side to him. He was walking toward me with a really confident expression.
“You’re Ryua-kun right? I saw the match earlier, but you won’t beat me by relying on brute force. I suggest you pack up now and drop out.”
After that brief speech Baste walked off somewhere. So he’s my next opponent. Since Metal-whatever was kind enough to teach me things, I feel like I owe him one. I’ll beat this guy up for him. Oh, it seems the next match is starting…
“Ah, just a moment…”
“What Roel? Toilet?”
“I’ll be back shortly…”
Roel left her seat and quickly walked to somewhere.
“Well she did consume 10 drinks after all.”
“It seems that no matter how much she drinks or eats she doesn’t get fat. Though I’d prefer someone cuter that can restrain themselves…” (TL: 「しかし、あれだけ飲んで食べてよく太らないよな。オレとしてはもう少しかわいこちゃんにはその辺を自重してもらいたいものだが……」)
“Let’s see, I’m sure it was around here…kya!”
Two people crashed into each other at the corner of a hallway.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
“……..No, it’s fine.”
Roel felt guilty about the collision and lowered her head several times, much more than what was needed. After she returned to her hunt for her objective, the person she collided with silently saw Roel off. He wore a deep black robe which covered his whole body. The snake that was engraved onto his body could be seen.
“Ah how nice, that girl…”
He licked his lips and slowly chased after Roel.