Chapter 83: Strong-armed flash
「That being said, senpai, you sure have gotten really famous quickly thanks to Yumir-san. There we go.」 (Siesta)
「Whoa! Y-You are right…」 (Hind)
「You even got a weird nickname right!? If I remember correctly it was…」 (Lycoris)
「True Self, yup…」 (Cineraria)
「We watched the replays! My hands got sweaty during the group finals…what’s wrong, Hind-senpai? You are looking all restless there.」 (Siesta)
「That’s…obviously because Siesta-chan is sitting on top of my lap!! Both of you stop her, the stares I’m getting from our vicinity hurt, they are piercing me!」 (Hind)
When I set her down against her will and made her take a seat, the three of them placed a hand behind their head and stuck out their tongues.
I can’t really accept just how in sync they are at times like these…
On top of that, since they were that cheerful, I got tired from dealing with them alone.
I wonder if someone will come soon…
「…」
As I was thinking that, a suspicious person wearing a hood and a robe stood up in front of us.
Like that, she stood with her arms folded and didn’t move for a while but…since I stood there without saying a word and just looking back at her, she began to shake.
Say something, at least react, those kind of emotions were leaking from her.
Hah…
「Yumi-」(Hind)
「Tadah! Who would have thought? It was me all along!」 (Yumir)
She probably couldn’t hold back anymore, Yumir took off her robe and showed herself before I could even finish saying it.
The moment they saw her, Lycoris-chan and Cineraria-chan, who were just looking at the situation, smiled like blossoming flowers.
「「Yumir-san!！」」 (Both of them)
Like that, they started getting loud and having fun, so I left them to their own devices.
After sitting down again in my seat, I let a big sigh out.
Finally, a weight has been lifted from my shoulders…
Siesta-chan quietly approached me right away, but I should be able to deal with one of them.
「Senpai senpai, why is Yumir-san wearing a robe? Those are the robes that you get when you create a char and are used to conceal your identity right?」 (Siesta)
「Yeah. That girl, she’s way more known by other players compared to someone like me.
「It was done just to make sure she didn’t cause an uproar.
「Besides, in order for her to not do anything stupid, she was supposed to be accompanied by someone that didn’t like standing out but…」 (Hind)
「A person that dislikes standing out…senpai, isn’t that person over there?」 (Siesta)
I followed where Siesta-chan was pointing at…
The person wearing a robe just like Yumir, was far behind from our seats…since her path was being obstructed by players chatting, she couldn’t pass through and was panicking.
「S-Selene-saaaaaaaan!!」 (Hind)
Somehow, I was able to push all those players aside, rescue Selene-san and managed to return to our previous seats.
After exchanging some basic introductions nervously with the 3 girls, Selene-san sat limply on her seat.
「Good work out there, Selene-san. Thanks for bringing Yumir here.」 (Hind)
「I-It’s fine. I’m the one that suggested it.」 (Selene)
Since it doesn’t look like there’s been an uproar, it seems like they were able to move around well.
But it looks like at the end, Yumir saw us and broke into a run, which ended up with her being left behind.
「Are you fine? Having 3 people you’ve seen for the first time here, Mitsuyoshi-san is also going to come later though.」 (Hind)
「I’m sort of fine with girls younger than me…besides, Mitsuyoshi-san looks like the calm type and it’s the second time we’ll meet, so it’ll probably be fine.」 (Selene)
…Ooh, Selene-san sure is working hard to improve on her fear of strangers.
By the way, the one that said 「Don’t mind me and invite your friends.」 was her.
「The one that made Yumir-san’s armor was Selene-san!?」
Having her name called out suddenly, Selene-san showed signs of feeling nervous.
It seems like they were currently talking about Yumir’s defensive gear.
「Umu. Secchan is a top class blacksmith! If you want to hear about it in detail, you should go ask the person itself!」 (Yumir)
「The design is also beautiful…so, Selene-san. Would it be fine if we talked to you?」 (Cineraria)
「Hyaih! G-Go ahead!!」 (Selene)
Having been called by Cineraria-chan, Selene-san’s shoulders trembled as she replied.
Like that, they asked questions about the armor and praised her. While she was really nervous, she was able to properly reply to their questions.
It’s going…well, yup. For some reason, It feels kind of lonely.
「Senpai, you are making the face of a father sending his daughter to wed.」 (Siesta)
「You are kidding! Wait, what kind of face is even that!? Have you even seen it?」 (Hind)
「An uncle of mine made that same face when he was at his daughter’s wedding. It was exactly like yours.」 (Siesta)
Eeeeh…to begin with, it seems like Siesta-chan wants to treat me like an old man no matter what.
If I’m being told it over and over, I’ll really start getting old so I wish she stopped, really.
After that, Mitsuyoshi-san was the first one of the remaining three to appear.
When he saw that the lineup was full of girls, he let out a 「So glamorous.」 and in a blink of an eye, he was already part of the group and participating in conversations.
Then it was Tobi and the last one was Riizu but…
「…」 (Riizu)
「…?」(Siesta)
Riizu arrived and without moving, she stared at Siesta-chan, who was seated next to me.
I’m pretty sure I told her these girls were coming beforehand though…
Then, as if she had thought of something, she headed towards Siesta-chan and said one word while pointing at her.
「Out.」 (Riizu)
「Wait a moment Riizu, come over here!」 (Hind)
It was the same as that time with Selene-san, but it was far too rude for a first meeting.
As expected, Siesta-chan looked a bit offended.
I took her to a place a bit far from there and after giving her a sermon, I had her do it again from the beginning.
「…I apologize. Nice to meet you, I’m Hind-san’s little sister Riizu.」 (Riizu)
「Eh, so you are the little sister. Fuun…I see…」 (Siesta)
「H-Hey, Sai-chan. Aren’t those two a bit scary?」 (Lycoris)
「Y-Yup. I wonder what’s going on?」 (Cineraria)
Like that they exchanged greetings and, leaving aside their inner thoughts, nothing happened on the surface.
However there was a change in the seating order, on both of my sides, instead of Siesta-chan and Yumir, it changed to Tobi and Mitsuyoshi-san.
The one that said it was better that way and assigned the positions was Mitsuyoshi-san, who said 「Hind-kun’s human relationships are terrible!」, while laughing. Are they…terrible?
Meanwhile, the first participants appeared on the stage.
The favorites made a grand entrance in the first battle of the tournament.
「Ah, he’s here!! Uooooh!! Aniki!!」 (Tobi)
「Tobi-kun sure is in high spirits. Aniki?」 (Selene)
「Ah, we met him before. Since then, he’s been a fan of Mercenary Albert. He has him in his friend list too.」 (Hind)
「I see. However, isn’t he betting on Hind-kun?」 (Selene)
「This and that are different matters! Degozaruyo!!」 (Tobi)
A big muscular guy carrying a big sword and a twintailed little girl carrying a big axe.
So that’s Philia-chan huh…seeing both of them, the entire venue started cheering excitedly.
And it seems like Albert Aniki was still using the sword we sold him.
If we are talking about that strength he had when he pulled out the sword, even if he didn’t switch weapons during this event, it should still hold more than enough destructive power.
This is just me talking about the weapon in terms of weight and how hard it is to handle though.
On the other side of the stage there was a section with seats for the nobles, it seems like that’s where the NPC leaders of each nation are seated at.
Unfortunately you can’t really see them from here, but it seems like the emperor and the queen, alongside all the rulers of each nation are lined up there.
Let’s hope that the players that are seated close to them will share screenshots of them later on.
Well then, let’s turn our eyes back to the stage…
「The opponents are Thief Edward and Archer Iris…a duo of a Light Warrior and Archer. The same as Tobi and Mitsuyoshi-san then.」 (Hind)
「That being said, it doesn’t seem like there’s not going to be a live coverage of this…isn’t this the same as the preliminaries?」 (Tobi)
「No, wait. Isn’t the situation at the royal seats weird?」 (Mitsuyoshi)
Right after Mitsuyoshi-san said that, a red silhouette jumped out from the royal seats.
Like that, it vigorously landed on top of the stage.
The being that stood there as if nothing had happened, was none other than the emperor of the Grado Empire.
There was no way to mistake that deep red figure even from this distance.
As if to calm the commotion that was taking place in the venue, the Emperor opened his mouth along with a big gesture.
『Ladies and gentlemen! I’m declaring here and now, that the one that will judge the 7 last matches of this tournament will be none other than me! …In other words, you could say that there’s no seat more special that this one.』 (Emperor)
In reaction to those words said in jest, the audience let out some laughs and some people voiced their agreement with him.
The voice was transmitted really well, it reached every part of the colosseum.
『Fufu, I bet you guys are jealous! Well, even if the scenery we see is different, we only have one wish tonight…that is for our blood to boil and our flesh to throb, that is, to watch some intense fights! Well then, let’s enjoy this feast to our heart’s content!!』 (Emperor)
The Emperor raised both hands and the venue trembled along with his loud voice.
Immediately after, loud cheers that didn’t lose in volume to him resounded throughout the venue.
Following that excitement, the Emperor said the following words.
『First match of the quarterfinals, Mercenary Albert・Philia vs Thief Edwards・Archer Iris…begin!!』 (Emperor)
Both duos started to move at the same time as the Emperor’s hand was lowered.
…However, the match was cruelly decided in an instant.
Against Edward, who was aiming for a hit and run tactic, Albert ran towards him without hesitation after the match started.
Edward got flustered and tried to keep him in check by landing a hit, but thanks to the hit stop resistance, he couldn’t stop his charge and then…
「U-Uwah!?」
「Ooh!?」
In front of our eyes, Edward’s slender body was struck violently.
It collided with the invisible field and like that, along with a splash of blood, the body slowly fell down.
Edward, who was on the ground, didn’t show any signs of moving again.
While dumbfounded, I returned my sight back to Albert, and he was standing still in the posture after having swung his large sword.
I wonder just how strongly he swung that, there were a large amount of cracks around his feet.
「T-This is surprising…watching it live, you can see again how uncanny that is…」 (Hind)
「Even if there’s the weight correction for Heavy Warriors, that wasn’t the speed at which you’d usually swing that weapon.
Other than that, to swing that stupidly big sword…it has to be the result of the physical strength of the actual person…」 (Mitsuyoshi)
「Even if it was a critical hit against a Light Warrior, for him to die in a single normal attack…I, I’m getting chills…」 (Tobi)
Even Tobi, who was cheerfully cheering for him until a while ago, was left in this state.
The girls didn’t utter a single word and the venue was enveloped in a strange air.
Albert didn’t do anything else, Philia cornered Iris and the match ended.
『…That’s it for the match! …I was shown overwhelming strength that went against the concept of the tournament! The winner is the duo of Mercenary Albert・Philia!』(Emperor)
