"I concede." After some time, the undefeated champion of arm wrestling suddenly conceded in defeat. His sudden declaration made Tora arched her brows while the crowd had tons of question marks in their cloud of thoughts. Nani?
"Huh," Insulted by the man"s action, Tora scoffed in ridicule. "A free meal for me then," Despite that she felt insulted, Tora didn"t provoke him or press on the matter. After all, her opponent already backed down, hence, there was no point in prolonging a one-sided battle.
Just like in a war, if the enemy raised their white flag, that only meant the war was over and they won. Alas…
Just then, when Tora was about to retract her hand and relaxed her shoulders, the man suddenly grabbed her hand and pressured it down. However, instead of taking her down while she wasn"t on guard, it remained firm on its stand and only moved a little.
"You jest," Smirking, Tora clutched on his hand, stilling it on the right arm-wrestling position.
Just like in the war, even though the enemy raised the white flag, that doesn"t mean they would lower their guard. Contempt was one characteristic to consider in a war thus, Tora, though showed she believed him. She didn"t — not a bit.
Therefore, to a general like her, everything could relate to the war tactics one way or another.
"Haha," Surprised, the man shook his head as he chuckled, revealing his small teeth. "My apologies, I can"t lose. Alas, I underestimate you." Tightening his grip on her hand, the man exerted strength to her overwhelming energy emanating from her.
By the looks of it, if not for the fact that they knew her current situation, the crowd would think that she was just relaxing under a tree with the wind brus.h.i.+ng past her face. However, that wasn"t the case as Tora was now battling on an arm"s strength and she was more relaxed than anyone.
"Just who was this woman?" They thought in unison.
"You have a good eye. However, we have a mutual comprehension of losing and winning. Regardless of whatever cheap trick we must use." Grinning like a madwoman, Tora added pressure on her elbow to strengthen her hand. At the same time, the man did the same with a smile.
Ten minutes had pa.s.sed, and their linked hands didn"t move a muscle. One would think that they were just playing. But, because of their trembling hands and their protruding arm muscles beneath their skin, they knew that there was an overwhelming power to defeat one another.
Unbelievable!
The crowd was in awe, rendered flabbergasted by the woman"s strength. Those who challenged the man earlier knew the man"s strength, or rather, just the slight of it. After all, he easily won, looking all relaxed as if he didn"t need to use even half of his strength.
Yet, this woman was keeping up with him. Despite that, he caught her off guard earlier, she matched the man"s strength. Therefore, with the long time they were like that, more and more audience filled the open-air restaurant.
"Young Miss, I must say I"m impressed. May this lowly one know your name?" Beads of sweat formed on the man"s forehead as his back was already sweating buckets. Although he was smiling, gritting his teeth, he must admit that she was giving him a hard time.
She"s strong, no doubt.
"My lord, isn"t it improper to ask for someone"s name without giving yours?" Just like what the man, Tora must admit that she never met someone who could par her strength — he"s just as strong as her. Although she was never complacent about her capabilities because she knew that someday, someone would match her in terms of strength and tactics.
However, she was more inclined to know this man who piqued her interest. She wanted to know more about him.
"Suzuki Akihito." Akihito smiled, without lowering his guard.
"I must remember your name, Suzuki Akihito." Nodding her head, Tora acknowledged him. "Yamada Hanako." However, although it was improper for her to give a false name, Tora wouldn"t be that stupid to reveal who she was.
After all, Chisaka Tora was known across the whole kingdom. Even the neighboring country must be wary of her. Furthermore, she came there to keep a low profile to survey the progress of the border unannounced. Although the soldiers must have known by now that the general was present, the citizen didn"t.
Besides, she didn"t want to cause fear in this small town because aside from being a known war hero, rumors about how ruthless the current military ruler was attached to it. Hence, the people had some vague fears implanted deep down.
"Shall we end this and see who"s the victor, Yamadsan?" Aki nodded his head once as he acknowledged the name she gave him. His grip tightened even more, and so did she.
"Little one, your head out of the table." Without turning her gaze away from the man, Tora uttered. She was referring to the child whose arms rested on the edge of the table with her chin over them — she was too small that the crowd didn"t notice her watching on the front line.
"Ah? Alright!" Glancing up to Tora, Churu saw the evil grin from the side of her lips before she s.h.i.+fted her gaze to the man who bore the same expression. Since she heard that they would end this match, Churu knew that she must keep her distance.
She didn"t want to be caught in the middle of the crossfire.
"Distance, keep your distance!" Using her little hands and tiny voice, Churu commanded the crowd, which they did for some unknown reason. Perhaps, it was because they sensed the aura emanating from the two that they took a few step backs.
"It"s nice knowing you, Suzuki-Kun." Stating her last words, Tora"s arm muscle stretched as she has gone all-out.
"It"s an honor, YamadSan." Just like her, Aki went all out.
Their hands trembled as Aki pressured her hand down, but to no avail, Tora would get her momentum and pressure him. Their hands continued to go back and forth for a minute before they heard a crack that was immediately followed by the sudden break of the wooden table.
It split in half because of the amount of pressure their elbows caused.
Everyone: …
Aki: …
Tora: …
The restaurant"s manager: "Oh, good lord! What have you done? Pay for the table, quick!"