Chapter 11 - The Match Begins
I postponed our departure for a week to challenge the arena.
I spent most of my time gathering information, because it's the most basic thing to understand the enemy's strength.
But there are those who don't understand that.
「Alec! When are you leaving? If you're just going to play around with Sarah, I'll finish her work right here and now.」
Jamie came all the way to the inn and yelled into my room.
I don't want to see a big, muscular man or woman when I wake up.
I replied, biting back a yawn.
「*yaaaawn* ......! Whew, don't be so frustated, Jamie. We're leaving tonight as planned. Besides, if you kill me, your escort mission will be a failure, and it will affect the credibility of "Laughing Goddess of Fortune". You're a worthy bounty hunter, too.」
「Hmm, good for you. Sarah, we're leaving now. Get dressed.」
「Nnnn, *yaaawn*. Yes, yes.」
Sarah, who was asleep in my arms, finally wakes up and starts to get dressed.
I get dressed too and go downstairs, and sit down at the table first.
「Get me breakfast, landlady.」
「I thought it was time for you to say so, so I heated up some soup. But there's a special price of 20 gold.」
Ada brought me the soup, but I didn't like the price.
「Twenty times more, or I can start a rumor that this inn is a rip-off.」
「Don't speak ill of me. It's top-A VIP treatment, and I'm sure people will envy you your 20-gold breakfast, Alec.」
「But it's the same old thing, right?」
「No. I've added a piece of bacon and a few grains of corn. That's our real special menu.」
I'm sure I'm being ripped off, but I'm satisfied with that and sip the soup with a wooden spoon. Oh, it's delicious.
「By the way, Alec, I heard that Jouga made it through the preliminary round.」
Ada also seemed to be interested in the arena match, and brought it up.
「Oh, yeah. If he's good enough, he should be able to qualify. The problem is the seeded players.」
Today is the main tournament, and it's a big annual title match. For Jouga, it's the best stage in the world, but of course, that's how many fierce competitors will be there. The difficulty level is the worst.
The qualifying round was held three days ago.
「Seeded, huh? The Mad King, Jake, Marouk, and who else...」
The landlady said a name I was unfamiliar with, so I stopped my spoon and asked.
「What kind of a man is this Marouk?」
「He's an axe-wielding warrior. He was the winner before the Mad King came out.」
「What? Sarah didn't seem to know who he was, but ......」
It's a pain in the ass to leak information here.
「That's because he's already dead.」
Saki came from outside the inn.
「Oh, yeah, he's' dead, huh.」
「Marouk was badly injured in the semifinals against the Mad King two years ago, and he just fell apart. To be honest, I'm worried about Jouga.」
「Well, if he's no match for him, he'll just give up when the time is right.」
I've been telling my party members that adventurers are only as good as their survival.
「That said, the last time the Mad King and Marouk fought, Marouk gave up, but the Mad King still attacked, and the judges tried to stop the Mad King, but even the judges turned on the Mad King! I heard that some people died.」
「I don't know how the Mad King can continue to fight like that.」
「Well, The Mad King's a popular guy, and they gets paid to fight. That's why Darling, you should tell Jouga what to do.」
「I'll do that. I told him to take it easy.」
「Don't you think Darling will win the championship, if you participate the Arena?」
Saki said, I don't know if it's a sure thing or not, because there's also Jake, who is A-rank, but I'm confident that if I use my skills to the fullest, I can win.
But, I said.
「That would be like crushing Jouga's dream. All I need to do is make up for the loss of the bet.」
「Oh no, I'm falling in love with you all over again, darling. Well, it's almost time for the match. Let's go to the arena after you finish eating that soup.」
「Yeah.」
After finishing the soup, I called Meena and we headed for the arena together.
The huge circular arena came into view across the street, and even from a distance I could hear the passionate cheering and shouting of the spectators.
「...... Master, we have two more who's following us」
Meena said while worrying about the back.
「Don't worry about it. It's probably some nobleman anyway. They might try to contact us, but we're just going to play in the arena and go home.」
I said in a loud voice so that the people following us could hear.
「Yes, sir.」
「We'd better stay close, too. The legionnaires will be there, too, and if they take you hostage, we'll be in trouble.」
「Well, I don't think we need to worry about that. In this world, slaves are not worthy of being hostages.」
「Oh, that's right.」
Meena looked a little stiff when she heard that, so I hugged her and told her.
「Except for you, Meena.」
「Y-yes, Master.」
「That's right. Darling will protect his friends. That's just what the others think.」
When we entered the Colosseum, there seemed to be standing room only, so we had to wade through the crowd to proceed.
「There are so many people here. I don't think we'll be able to see much of the match.」
「Don't worry, we've got VIP seats. As you can see, we couldn't fit the whole clan in there because of the number of people.」
「Nice work, Saki.」
「Fufu, I'm aiming for the position of a useful mistress.」
「I-I'll do my best too!」
「Fufu, Meena is already useful in the search for enemies.」
「That's right. You don't have to compete with her too much. Which seat is it?」
「That way. All right, all right, move over. Let us through.」
We walked down the corridor and found a door with a soldier guarding it. A soldier?
「Hmm? Is the Royal Castle running this place?」
I was curious about the soldiers, so I asked Saki.
「I don't think so. But today is the big title match, a preliminaries match.」
「Hmm? Oh, I see.」
I walked in and saw a man wearing a magnificent red cloak. It's the king.
「Yo, Alec. Well, have a drink. A drink on the run.」
The king, with a cheerful red face and a bottle of wine in his hand, seemed to be ready to go.
「This is not a tavern. Are you sure you want to do this in front of all these people?」
「This is fine, this is fine. No one's looking at me. They're all here for the match. No noisy ministers, with rude lecture.」
「Then, I'll just have a drink.」
The king's bodyguard, Guard Chief Gareth, quickly hands me a glass without saying a word. I'm worried about his skill as a bodyguard, but the king himself can use a sword, so there's no need to worry about that.
Even now, the king has a sword hanging from his waist. It's a rugged sword that looks like it's been used for actual combat. It is undecorated.
「Alec, isn't Sarah with you?」
Lunette, a mage who was there, asked, and it seemed that Sarah's party had also taken this VIP seat. However, there was no sign of Sarah and Jamie.
「Nope. Jamie took her from the inn earlier.」
「Yeah. I wonder if she's making a detour.」
「Something like that. You guys aren't playing, are you?」
When I said that casually, Lunette got a little angry and said something back.
「You're kidding, right? There's not even that much prize money. For a magician to go one-on-one in this small space with no place to hide is like asking them going to die.」
I was going to say, why not Jamie or Sarah? Well, I guess the arena isn't really in the cards for Sarah and the others who like adventure and escort missions.
「Stop it, stop it, Alec. If you ask Sarah and the others to participate in an arena match, they might cut you down from behind. First of all, the people in the arena guild wouldn't approve.」
The king says as he puts his shoulder around me. Let go of me, you drunkard.
「Hmm? Yeah, I heard there was some trouble before.」
I think Sarah and the others told me that they had a dispute with the marketers in the arena.
「Just so you know, we didn't do anything wrong over here.」
「Yes, we are not it the wrong. We did a few people, but it was the other side that was at fault.」
Lunette and Sierra came right out and said it, but I didn't doubt them.
The crowd cheered loudly, and the match seemed to be in motion.
I walked over to the railing that jutted out like a balcony. Lily and the others were leaning over to watch the match.
「The winner, Jouga, from the Black Cat of the Wind! With his overflowing guts and power, he's been winning steadily up to this point. That's what I call an A-rank party for you!]
An announcement was made in a voice that was loud due to skill or magic. A girl with cat ears holding a microphone that looked like a magic tool was reflected on the magic bulletin board, not the electric bulletin board in front.
「Oohhh, you're not bad, Jouga!」
「Nice fight-no desu!」
In the ring below, Jouga was smiling and looking at us with his hands up.
「Good job! Jouga!」
I cheered him on.
「Uhyioohh, the odds are four to one, so that's 40,000 gold! Aahhh, I should have bet more!」
Letty was holding her pointy hat in regret, but there was always a chance that she would lose, so that was fine. There is a rule in the arena that if a party member participates, you can only bet on the winner.
I bet 100,000. Phew.
「And now, for the fifth match, the seeded players are finally here! And it's another member of the Black Cat of the Wind! But, oh, what a surprise, this match is a tragic duel! The bloody battle of hot women is about to begin!」
「What?」
The Black Cat of the Wind is going to fight each other?
Ash from my clan wanted to participate too, so I let him, but I believe only two bastards, Jouga and Ash, who's participate.
And a seeded too?
What does that mean?
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