CH 555

11-14 minutes

Inside Gilm’s guild. On the ground floor, a woman was processing documents in a bad mood, visible on her face.

「This document……is okay. The signature is a little faded here, we’ll need to check it, this one is fine.」

Even though she was in a bad mood, the reason she was able to continue to process documents swiftly was because she was very much accustomed to her work as a guild receptionist.

That said, even if there were no problems with her work, coworkers would rather not be near someone who was in a bad mood.

「Hey, Kenny, it’s not like Rei-san is going to do anything to the guild master.」

Kenny stopped moving after hearing Lenora’s words.

Her cat ears twitched as she turned towards Lenora.

「……」

Seeing her silent protest, Lenora averted her gaze as she tried to think of something to say.

「See, you’re just as sexy as the guild master. Even though her breasts……that is, they are……bigger than mine.」

Looking towards her own chest, which she had a complex of sorts about, her words gradually lost their energy.

Did she feel pity for Lenora? Or maybe she realised that it was immature to continue displaying her bad mood? Either way, Kenny let out a small sigh as she bowed towards Lenora.

「I’m sorry, I wasn’t being a good receptionist just now. ……But you know.」

Saying that, Kenny glanced towards the ceiling……or more precisely, towards the office of the guild master, Marina.

「You said I’m as good as the guild master, but I’m really no match for her. She has both beauty and ability as the guild master……」

「Hmm, then, are you going to give up on Rei-san?」

Kenny shook her head in shock at Lenora’s words, but the atmosphere around her finally seemed to have lightened up.

……Lenora’s cheeks twitched as she saw Kenny’s chest shake, but she suppressed her frustration without showing it on her face.

「It’s true that the difficulty might be on the higher side, regarding Rei-kun. But, I definitely spotted him first, so there’s no way……that I’ll give up on him. I have to go on the offensive here.」

「……I-I see. Don’t go too gar.」

She’s not as disciplined as I thought.

Thinking that in her mind, Lenora tried to imagine a more aggressive Kenny than before. It seemed Rei would have a lot of work ahead of him.

(Good luck, Rei-san. If you’re not careful, you’ll be caught.)

Lenora cheered for Rei in her heart.

「Woah-!」

Rei, who had been conversing with Marina, let out a sound as he felt a cold chill run down his spine.

Seeing that, Marina looked at him questioningly as she asked.

「What’s wrong?」

「……No, I just felt a sudden chill.」

「Hey, there’s only a few days before you leave Gilm, right? Take care of your physical condition.」

「I should be fine with regards to that……」

His body had been created by Zepairu and his companions. Rei didn’t think he would be taken down by any random illness.

It was very unlikely for him to catch a cold.

「Would you like me to warm you up?」

Although confused about Rei’s sudden chill, Marina suddenly spoke up.

There was an inviting smile on her face.

Her appeal was strong enough that an ordinary person of Rei’s age would have been very tempted to accept.

For a moment, Rei was almost swallowed by it, but he quickly shook his head before responding.

「I’m sorry, but let’s refrain from that. There are various preparations I have to make.」

「Oh sorry.」

Her inviting smile from a few seconds ago disappeared and her tempting aura vanished as she gave a bright smile.

「I would like it if you didn’t tease me so much.」

「It’s not like I’m teasing you. ……Well, anyway. How much do you know about the tournament?」

Rei had a confused expression at the sudden change of topic, but he spoke up as he recalled what Theorem and Vihera had explained to him.

「If I remember correctly, it’s one of the largest tournaments held in the Bestir Empire and fighting with tamed or summoned monsters is not allowed. At the finals, the upper echelons of the empire, including the royal family, will come to watch……that’s what I know.」

「……Is that all you know?」

Rei looked puzzled as Marina asked with an exasperated expression.

He honestly had no idea why Marina had that expression.

Eventually, Marina seemed to realise that it was really all he knew. She gave a small sigh before speaking up.

「Listen up okay? The tournament, or rather, the Bestir Tournament as it it called, is different from other tournaments in many ways. Because it’s such a big tournament, the number of participants is also very large.」

「……Well, that makes sense.」

Rei nodded at Marina’s words.

The Bestir Empire was one of the most powerful countries in the world. Moreover, as it was a tournament for the whole empire, a large number of strong people would gather.

If all those people were to compete in a normal tournament format, no matter how much time there was, there would never be enough.

「What do you think then?」

Rei thought about Marina’s question.

There wasn’t enough time for people to fight one at a time. It meant that they needed to lower the number of people drastically quickly. In other words, a format where many people fought at the same time would be needed. Such as……

「A battle royale.」

「Correct.」

Marina smiled like a teacher to a well behaving student.

At the same time, she unconsciously displayed her sex appeal, which made it uncomfortable for those dealing with her.

However, she continued to speak, as if not realising it.

「Although there will be a battle royal, if you’ve won other competitions, are a seeded fighter from nobility, or a high ranking adventurer, you can be exempted.」

「A high ranking adventurer?」

Rei was a B rank adventurer, which was sufficient to be called high ranking. Because of that, Rei didn’t think he would need participate in the battle royale.

He turned to Marina with a hopeful look, but the person in question just smiled seductively as she shook her head.

「When I say high ranking adventurers, in this case, this means A or S rank adventurers. ……That said, S ranks in the empire are not usually interested in these kind of competitions, so they will seldom attend it.」

「If that’s the case, it might have been better to send Elk instead.」

Rei said that, but immediately reject the idea in his mind.

Considering the events tied to Theorem, there was no doubt that Elk would be furious about the events from last winter.

Furthermore, if Rei told Elk to participate in the tournament for the sake of Theorem and Vihera, Elk might even kill him before Theorem.

Although she didn’t know the details, Marina must have gotten a rough idea that Rei had rejected the idea of Elk participating in his place. She continued on with a small smile.

「Well, that’s why you’ll have to fight your way out of the qualifying rounds.」

「……But, well.」

Rei hesitated.

He was quite proud of his own ability.

He didn’t think he would lose to monsters, adventurers, soldiers, or knights at his level. However, all his attacks were high in lethality……too high in fact.

For example, Rei often used the shaft of his Death Scythe to attack. It was an attack that combined Rei’s physical strength with the weight of the Death Scythe, which was over 100kg.

(If they’re participating in the fighting tournament, they will probably have a certain level of skill. But, even so, I really don’t like killing people for the spectacle.)

Marina guessed what Rei was thinking by the expression on his face as she lifted a finger to get his attention.

「Don’t worry, there will be minimal deaths in this tournament.」

「What do you mean?」

「It’s a simple matter. The arena in the Imperial Capital uses excavated ancient relics.」

Ancient relics. Hearing those words, Rei thought of the transfer device that had been installed close to the entrance of the dungeon in the Labyrinth City Exil.

「What kind of effect does that ancient artifact have?」

「It seems to create a special field. Any injuries that occur inside will disappear once you leave the field.」

「……Huh?」

Rei was stunned by Marina’s words.

He wondered if he had just misheard what she said.

However, it seemed that Marina had expected such a reaction as she shook her head with a wry smile.

Rei had no misheard her.

「Seriously, there are some pretty outrageous ancient relics.」

「However, the field can only handle injuries, it can’t do anything about deaths. That’s why it is considered foul play to intentionally kill your opponent. And……」

A smile appeared on Marina’s lips.

But, this time, it was closer to a grin than her previous wry smile.

「Do you think that an ancient relic with such an ability can be used without a price?」

「……A price?」

「Yes. It seems that a considerable amount of magic stones are required to activate the relic. That is to say, the magic stones of B and A rank monsters are needed.」

Rei thought of Set at the mention of A rank monsters, but immediately shook his head.

「It’s only natural that such a price would be needed. If they could use it as much as they wanted, it would probably have been used for military training.」

If if they fought to the brink of death, there wouldn’t be a problem as long as they left the field. There was no better place ot train soldiers and knights.

(If we had fought people trained like that, in the Spring War, the odds would have been against us.)

Rei thought that in his mind. But, that said, even if their troops had been more elite, they still wouldn’t have been able to do anything once swallowed by the flames from Rei’s tornado. In addition, the large amount of metal fragments Rei had thrown into it shot out like bullets. Even a more elite force would have been helpless against it.

「Anyway, it seems that quite a number of people die in the tournament each time for that reason. ……In the end, it can’t be helped that there will be some deaths.」

Marina shrugged her shoulders as she continued to explain while smiling at Rei’s look of astonishment.

「So, winners from the battle royal will advance to the main round……from that point on, the fights will take on a tournament format. Since the number of participants is different each time, I don’t know how many people will participate in the main rounds, but they will all have a certain level of skill. ……Although I don’t think there will be many opponents that you will struggle against.」

Even if things hadn’t quite gone as expected, Rei had still beaten Elk, an A rank adventurer.

That being the case, Marina didn’t believe there were many people Rei would struggle with.

「I hope so. It would be a lot easier for us if that’s the case.」

「Fufu, that’s true. ……I think it’s time for you to leave. There’s going to be a commotion downstairs if you don’t.」

「……A commotion?」

Rei looked confused as Marina said that with a smile.

However, she didn’t say anything more as she just stood up from the sofa she was sitting on.

「You’ll understand when you go down. ……That aside, there will probably be many people in the Bestir Empire who hold a grudge against you Rei. Please be careful when you go.」

Rei nodded lightly as he also got up from the sofa.

「There are connections between the guilds, but I don’t have much contact with the guilds in the Bestir Empire, so I can’t help you. However, since you’re an adventurer, the guilds should be able to lend a hand if anything were to happen.」

「Understood, I’ll let you know if I need anything else.」

「……Please take care. You’re a big rookie who has just come up, we would like it for you to continue being active in Gilm.」

「No problem. I will have Elk with me, and most importantly, Set. If anything happens, we will have the strength to handle it.」

「I hope you’re right……」

Although worried, Marina eventually smiled as she saw Rei off.

It was better to send him off with a smile rather than with worry.

That was why she ended up smiling, but strangely, Rei didn’t seem to sense any of the sex appeal that Marina would usually give off as she smiled.