Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes
《Match Set! Please stop fighting!》
My wish was not granted.
They gave up.
《【Fire Magic】Level Up!》
《You have acquired the【Fire Magic】spell【Enchanted Fire】!》
《You have acquired the【Fire Magic】spell【Enemy Burn】!》
Well, I was grateful for the level-ups.
The more spells, the better.
But I still felt like something was missing…
Yeah…
It was definitely frustrating.
What feelings would I see in the eyes of my opponents?
Regret?
Disappointment?
Anger?
I couldn"t really figure it out.
But we exchanged bows anyway.
《You have advanced to the third round of the qualifiers! The third round is scheduled for 9:30 am tomorrow, at the new training ground B.》
I had to move on.
I could have some fun tomorrow.
Right?
It had to be so.
Yeah…
I just had to believe.
The temporary arena was wider than the new training grounds.
There were a lot of seats too.
I changed up my Summon Monster team.
Helix, Obsidian, Heather, and Ninetails.
I decided to summon Loewe too.
I picked a random seat to watch the next match.
Loewe was lying down at my feet.
Both NPCs and players avoided me.
That was an unintended effect, though.
I enjoyed the games until lunchtime.
Yep.
It was just fun to watch.
Information gathering?
a.n.a.lysis?
No, I was just enjoying myself.
But there was one team that was especially interesting.
A team of 3 summoners and 3 Summon Monsters.
Wait, what?
A team I saw yesterday?
I was cheering for the summoner team, but they were unfortunately defeated.
It wasn"t a bad fight.
It was just that the team they were up against were really good.
Everyone was at Job Lv.7.
Of course, before the Cla.s.s Change.
But they worked together very well.
It was a shame I didn"t take a video of the fight.
Hmm…
Level wasn"t everything.
It all depends on the match-up.
A single “best” Job probably doesn"t exist.
Even though you could make relative comparisons between two Jobs, anything beyond that would be too complicated.
Don"t make mistakes.
Know your opponent"s habits and read them.
Take any gaps to attack.
Build an advantage.
It really was an entirely different animal to the first tournament.
It was a team fight, after all.
I didn"t know why the admins would want to hold such an event though.
What were they looking to do?
It was definitely an interesting choice.
Anyway…
I wasn"t going to complain, I was having fun.
Thinking about strategy in a fight was fun too.
In my case, I didn"t have any other players in my party that I had to work together with.
I thought of that as a good thing.
It was easier to carry all the responsibility on my own.
My plans would vary wildly from battle to battle, after all.
Working together with others wouldn"t really be advantageous in that sense.
Hmm…
What should I do to expand the range of parties I could deal with?
I wasn"t really thinking about it too seriously.
I was just enjoying thinking about it.
Just as usual, I enjoyed the matches.
Just as usual.
The time was 11:50 am.
I moved to eat lunch when I realised the match was just two defensive focus parties slowly grinding one another down.
I had to meet Adele and Irina.
Should I send a message? Or use【Telepathy】?
『Keith, you"re late~』
『How was your match? Ours was tough, but we made it.』
『I made it too.』
Not a very satisfying win though!
『Let"s meet up near the stall!』
『I think Rick has the stall set up in the usual place.』
『Well, let"s meet up there.』
『Sure.』
『Cool, talk to you later.』
I cut off【Telepathy】there.
Hmm.
I kind of felt like watching more matches after eating lunch.
Rick"s stall looked different.
There was another stall next door.
It was Yuka"s.
A player I"d never seen before was helping her cook.
「Oh, Hi Keith.」
「h.e.l.lo. You"re managing a stall too now?」
「Yes. Although all of my equipment is borrowed stuff.」
I looked at the male player next to her.
He looked like a beginner.
Looked like I was wrong.
Yuka was doing most of the stuff by herself.
「Adele and Irina will be coming soon.」
「You"re having lunch?」
「Of course.」
「Well then, sit back and relax.」
Tables and chairs were lined in the stall.
About half of the chairs were occupied.
I took a corner seat.
Maybe because of Loewe, NPCs didn"t come near me.
I kind of felt guilty.
「We won!」
「Good work, you two.」
Adele and Irina came by..
Along with their fluffy squad and Toggle.
The surrounding NPCs were putting even more distance between us and them now.
「Thanks. Here"s your food.」
Yuka gave us all lunch.
Thank you.
「Where"s Rick?」
「He went to watch the games with Fudo.」
「Gone to watch the games, huh…」
「Yep. I"m going to go watch with Margrid in a while too. I"ll switch with Rick then.」
I see…
We came by just in time, then.
After we finished our lunch, some familiar faces came by.
Margrid, Reina and Helga.
Ah.
I remember.
I should probably ask for some equipment for Loewe.
「Oh, if it isn"t the tournament partic.i.p.ants. Good work today.」
「Yo!」
「Thanks. We managed to snag another win today.」
「What about yours, Keith?」
「Well, It went alright.」
I was still a bit bitter about it.
I couldn"t help myself.
「Do you have another match today?」
「No, but we"re going to go watch some more matches after this.」
「Ah, then could you wait a minute? We could all watch together.」
「Sure, why not?」
Somehow.
Somehow the day"s schedule was already decided.
I wasn"t really concerned with the fact that I was the only man.
All the affection was going to Heather and Ninetails, after all.
「Hey Margrid, could I get a collar for this one?」
「This one?」
「Yes. He"s my new Summon Monster.」
「A lion, hmm…」
Margrid started cautiously petting Loewe.
She slowly got used to it.
And then started violently caressing him.
It didn"t look like she could control herself.
「He"s so cute~」
Hey, hey.
Could you help me measure his sizes, please?
「Sorry, but I don"t have the materials right now…」
「Ah, alright…」
「No, no I do have something else for you though.」
She pulled out something else.
A Demon"s Nose Ring.
And not just one or two.
But more than 20.
「These don"t really have a use anyway.」
Right…
I had a premonition.
I had a feeling that it would turn into something like “Collar of Torture”.
The Summon Monster measuring party continued until Rick and Fudo returned.
It was almost like a festival.
Not wrong either.
Adele and Irina wanted similar equipment for their Summon Monsters too.
Hey, hey.
I wanted to avoid collecting the Torture items.
I had a bad feeling…
But I asked for collars for Volff and Tigris too.
I wanted all my beast monsters to be specialised for attacking.
「Wait, what?」
「Oh, everyone"s here!」
「Cool, I"ll leave the rest to you!」
Rick and Fudo returned from watching the games.
At Reina"s signal, we all left.
We headed towards the temporary arena.
We were guaranteed to find empty seats there.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv17
Job Grand Summoner Lv3
Bonus Points Remaining: 24
Skill Sets:
Staff Lv13 Punch Lv10 Kick Lv10 Joint Lock Lv10 Throw Lv10 Evade Lv10 Block Lv10 Summon Magic Lv17 s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv9
Light Magic Lv9 Wind Magic Lv10 Earth Magic Lv9 Water Magic Lv9 Fire Magic Lv10（↑1） Dark Magic Lv9 Ice Magic Lv7 Lightning Magic Lv7 Tree Magic Lv7 Dust Magic Lv7 Lava Magic Lv7 Steam Magic Lv7
Alchemy Lv8 Pharmacy Lv7 Gla.s.smaking Lv6 Woodworking Lv6
Synergy Lv12 Appraise Lv12 Identify Lv12 Discern Lv4 Cold Resistance Lv6 Grab Lv10 Horsemanship Lv10 Precise Manipulation Lv12 Jump Lv5 Acrobatics Lv2 Heat Resistance Lv7 Climb Lv6 Balance Lv1
Dual Wield Lv9 Disa.s.sembly Lv7
Physical Reinforcement Lv8 Mental Reinforcement Lv9 Speedcasting Lv11 Spell Effect
Amplification Lv8 Spell Range Amplification Lv8
Equipment:
Staff of Torture x1 Tonfas of Torture x2 Capture Rod of Torture x1 Enraged Pickaxe+ x2 Silver Necklace+ Snow Leopard Push Dagger x1 Sturmtiger Push Dagger x2 Snow Leopard Bagh Nakh x1 Plains Lion Bagh Nakh x1 Fighting Bull Leather Armour+ Set Bracelet of Torture x2 Anklet of Torture+ x2 Rabid Horse Belt+ Rucksack Item Box x2
Items:
Survival Knife Woodworking Set
t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Knower of the Middle Path
Spell Glossary
Martial Arts Fighter
Companions:
Adele, Irina, and the others