The completion of the portal made it possible for Yuko, Doranjan, and the other monster to travel to Ekatoe City. The Astros was slowly forming into a decent organization that could stand on its own. Although it wasn't at that level yet, it was slowly crawling up.
"I want to see everyone's improvement."
With those words coming from Souta, the entire Astros became busy in an instant. They were running back and forth while carrying various things.
After three days everything was complete.
Souta was sitting at the top while looking down at the huge arena before his eyes. The person who was sitting on his left side was Alice and the one on his right side was Yuko.
He glanced at Alice and asked, "Do they have to create this tournament?"
Alice smiled and said, "Torkez said that it is important for Astros. We need some sort of festival or similar to that event. That's why it became a tournament. Everyone is free to join and the winner will receive various rewards from the leader."
"From me?!" Souta widened his eyes. "I don't have anything right now! I'm just a fucking broke monster!"
"Torkez already prepared the rewards." Alice paused before she added, "By the way, I've joined the tournament. It will be a good job to show superiority to other chiefs."
"Hmm..." Souta rubbed his chin before glancing at the arena. "This will be a good chance to create a squad exclusive to myself."
Yuko suddenly tackled him as she stuck out her tongue and licked his face. "Master!! Yuko joined too!!"
The two of them fell to the ground but Yuko didn't stop. She kept licking his face with a happy expression.
"Okay, okay, I know," Souta smiled wryly as he patted Yuko's head. He just stayed on the ground with her. He hasn't seen her for a long time so he knew that she missed him.
It took ten minutes before Souta returned to his seat. He picked up a tissue and wiped the saliva on his face.
"Hu~"
He took a long sigh and noticed that Alice was chuckling on the side.
"Hey, you know what." He put up a plain look as he stared at her.
Alice raised her hand while her other hand was covering her mouth. "You don't have to explain. I know."
Looking at her, Souta couldn't help but sigh once again. He focused his attention on the arena.
A lot of people were around it preparing for the start of the event. All of them were members of the Astros. Monsters, demis, and humans were all present around the huge and wide arena.
The host of the event was a beautiful witch. She looked like a person between 23-27 years old. She had long eyelashes and long bright red hair fluttering on her back. She was wearing a short skirt with a thigh high socks.
She walked onto the stage and introduced herself as Meina. She was holding some sort of mic in her right hand.
"Hello, everyone! I'm, Meina Amenikari, your host for today's event, the Tournament of Astros!"
She had an attractive voice and her charm was high.
Charm?
Souta raised his eyebrows as he observed this woman. Meina was just an ordinary C-rank expert and the object in her hand must be her soul weapon. It has the power to enhance sound and create a powerful soundwave to attack her enemies. The characteristics of the sound that she make depends on her.
'Hmm... So that's the reason why I felt the charm.'
He said inwardly before he glanced at the lower rank people and noticed that they were staring and listening to her words attentively. He understood why Torkez choose her to become the host of the event.
"Hmm... Can you give me the rundown of this event? I want to know where did you get all the money to set up this kind of event."
While Meina was entertaining everyone, Souta asked Alice. He could see that there were monster orbs on each corner of the arena. It must be a powerful supply of the barrier that would protect the audience when the tournament started.
Alice nodded and she slowly explained everything to him.
Torkez accumulated various resources in the past while they were in the Champion's Den. He bought weapons from merchants and sell them again to other merchants. Sometimes Gragras would produce high-quality equipment and he would sell it for a high price. Also, they would raid dungeons that they discovered and plunder everything.
He wasn't the Chief of Finance Department for nothing. Torkez was the leader of the rebel army and he was also the one who's managing their resources in the past. So he had vast experience.
"Dungeons? So that's why the number of monsters had grown. Doranjan must have taken them under his wing. As for Torkez's way of gathering wealth, I have nothing to say except for incredible." Souta said with a nod.
"Also, the tournament is divided into two categories. The upper and lower." Alice said.
Souta watched the battle at the arena. It was between two witches and their battle power was only at B-rank. He could guess that this was what she called "lower".
"The lower is for the ordinary agents of Astros. Torkez divided it so that people with low power levels could join the fun. It would be bullying if we let them enter the tournament when the contestants are Franklin's level." Alice explained.
The battle at the arena continued. Soon, Remina appeared and she quickly defeated her opponent. She was quite strong compared to the time in the sub-world.
The battle arrangement was only known by the host herself. The audience and the contestants didn't have any idea about the next battles. It was to add thrill to this tournament.
The lower had finished all the battles. It took three hours before every battle was concluded. This was just round one of the lower tournament and it would continue tomorrow.
Now that the round one of lower was concluded, it was time for the upper tournament. Of course, there's a fifteen minutes break before it started.
Souta and Alice talk casually as they let time pass by. Soon, the audience gathered around the arena once again.
It's time for the main event.
"Oh," He looked at the arena with interest.
Meina paused as she stared at the piece of paper in her hand. She then raised the mic and said loudly, "The first battle of round one of the upper tournament is between..."
The audience also grew silent as they listened to Meina's words.
"Sir Eztein and Lady Eilish!!!"
There were only twenty-four contestants. Although the witches had a lot of S-rank experts, only a few of them joined the tournament. They only choose a few people to represent the witches in the league.
"Oh, this one..." Souta grinned when he heard the name of the two people.
"Who do you think will win?" Alice asked.
"I don't know but... This will be an interesting battle." Souta replied to her.
At the side of the arena, Eilish was a little bit surprised. She didn't expect that the first battle would be hers and it was against Eztein.
She looked at the two children at her side and said, "Anzu, Aina, Big Sister had to enter the arena so I'm going to bring you to Sister Alice."
"Okay," Anzu, the little boy, nodded his head.
"A-Are you going to hurt yourself, Big Sister?" Aina asked as she looked at Eilish with her round eyes.
"No, I'm not going to hurt myself. I'm simply going to teach Eztein a lesson." Eilish smiled gently as she patted the little girl's head.
"A lesson?" Aina tilts her head, looking confused.
"Yep, let's go now." Eilish nodded but she didn't explain anymore. She brought the two children to Alice, Souta, and Yuko.
"Brother Souta! Sister Alice!" The two children greeted them with a huge smile on their faces.
"If isn't Anzu and Aina. You have to stay here for a while since Eilish has something to do." Souta said to them.
"Yes!!" Anzu and Aina nodded as they raised their hands.
Alice carried them and let the two children sit on her lap.
Souta shook his head gently. These two were protected here. They had accessories on their bodies and all of them were orange grade. It was protection for the best feram that leaked out of his body.
"I'm going now." Eilish waved her hand before she turned around and left.
...
Eztein was sitting in one of the audience seats with his eyes closed. His arms were folded in front of his chest.
When he heard his name and the name of his opponent, he slowly open his eyes and grinned.
"Wahahaha!! I've longed for this opportunity! That bitch is drinking my wine without my permission back in Champion's Den! Hehe~ I'm gonna show you a defeat you haven't experienced before! Mwahahaha!"
Eztein laughed as he strode toward the arena. It was an opportunity for him.
"This battle is personal!"
