Volume 1 - CH 5.7

She regulated her breathing and focused her attention on the three median points below her stomach.

As soon as her excitement subsided, her sensitivity to her surroundings sharpened and she could feel tranquillity filling her body.

For the <Black Haired Princess>, a match like this is nothing more than child’s play.

Her opponent is said to be a martial arts champion, but how strong is he? This is just a game.

A fight where lives are not on the line is of little value to the <Black Haired Princess>.

She longed for a man; his surname was Bu, his given name was Lu and his courtesy name was Fengxian. People called him Lu Bu.

It was a crazy feeling.

She has read anything with the name ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ starting from the manga, ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’.

She wanted to train her body.

She wanted to see the horizon that Lu Bu had seen with her own eyes.

However, that wish didn’t come true.

She had a weak body in her previous life and had already abandoned her name.

She spent her days staring at the white walls of the hospital and thinking about the spacious fields.

When she learnt that she could die and be transmigrated, she was prepared to give up everything.

She wanted to live a direct life just like the former Lu Bu, without fear, without regret and without hesitation.

She gave up on many things to achieve this.

She gave up honesty, integrity, gentleness, and womanhood.

She gained strength in exchange for everything.

She wanted to gain more strength. She wanted to aim higher.

She will do whatever it takes to gain power. Truthfully, she didn’t have time to waste here.

But she accepted the offer to challenge the champion for the sake of her petty pride.

Warrior.

The strongest warrior.

She felt a bit repulsed that someone other than herself was calling themselves that.

She felt a bit irritated as if her feelings were fraying.

She came here to get rid of those feelings.

Victory is a given, and she felt no pleasure or joy over winning.

She didn’t feel like letting a less skilled person practice with her and if she had to pick an emotion, it would be ‘pity’.

She didn’t know how good the champion is, but he is just a power fighter. He is destined to sink into the ring without being able to land a scratch.

She closed her eyes.

She listened carefully.

The cheers became louder. Her opponent must have entered the ring.

A presence entered the ring.

She opened her eyes.

There stood a bear.

He took off his stuffed animal costume.

Edward-kun, who was standing in the ring, was not a stuffed bear about three metres tall; he is a real bear.

A sharply built bear standing on two legs.

He took off his cloak and championship belt. He was only wearing boxer shorts and gloves.

His majestic appearance made the audience in the arena even more excited.

Edward wasn’t excited at all.

“Edward-kun is serious.”

“Yes, I didn’t expect him to take off his stuffed animal costume.”

Honestly, I was surprised to learn that the stuffed bear is not his real body.

This is the Divine Realm, so I was thinking it might be possible, but when I thought about my previous life, is it a stuffed animal tsukumogami?

It was a relief to know that a bear was inside, but it also made me feel uneasy.

Even though her body had been modified, the <Black Haired Princess> was still a former human. Could she win against a bear?

“The <Black Haired Princess> will win, won’t she?”

“I don’t know. I guess all we can do is hope that she will.”

Yoshinaga-san was eating the popcorn that she had bought from the vendor.

She was skilfully picking half salty and half caramel popcorn from a large cup.

“Aren’t you worried?”

“There’s nothing we can do even if we worry. This is a match between them. Let’s just sit back and watch.”

“You’re very detached.”

“Gods are like that. After all, we can only watch this match until it ends. It’s still up to the person themselves to do something even if you can help and set things up. It doesn’t matter if that person is human, a demon or even a God.”

I couldn’t say anything back to her.

Draco had said the same thing.

I really wanted to help him, but I couldn’t.

I could do nothing but observe.

Her lips relaxed.

The <Black Haired Princess> was admiring Edward the <Left> whom she had met for the first time.

In front of her wasn’t an opponent for entertainment. He was an enemy, and a strong one at that.

“You’ve done well to train this much.”

She found herself muttering.

Gratitude filled her heart. She had never been filled with this kind of emotion before even when she fought with the demons in the lower world.

For those who train and seek martial arts, encountering a strong person was the ultimate pleasure, the supreme joy.

“I thought I was strong, but you’re strong too, Onee-san.”

Contrary to her expectation, the bear’s voice sounded young.

He sounded young, but his tone was full of confidence.

“Yes, I am strong. I am strong. Come at me with all your strength. I will do my best to fight you too.”

“I can use all my strength?”

“It would be disrespectful to fight a strong person and not give it your all.”

She looked into Edward’s eyes.

He still looked a bit confused. He wasn’t sure if he could really give it his all. On the other hand, she was full of hope that she could release all her strength.

“Is it really alright, Onee-san?”

“I already told you it’s alright. You’ll be belittling me if you think you could win without giving it your all.”

“I don’t think that. But I’m going to win for the sake of the werebears who believe in me.”

“Is that your conviction?”

“Yes. I will be strong for my believers. I don’t think the werebears will forget to perform their rituals if I am strong.”

The <Black Haired Princess> snickered at his determination.

It was silly. A really trivial matter.

“Do you really think you could beat me with such tiny resolve?”

“It’s not tiny. It’s important.”

“It’s a small, trivial, meaningless and silly belief.”

“It’s not!”

“It is.”

The <Black Haired Princess> stopped snickering and readied her sky piercer.

She lowered her stance and lowered the tip of her weapon so that it touched the ground.

She didn’t pay attention to the spectators or the judges around her.

“You’re looking for an external reason to improve your martial arts. That is the reason why you can’t beat me.”

“That’s not true.”

Edward also readied his stance.

His fur ruffled. His whole body filled with ki. He must have learnt a lot of kung fu.

Each moment the two of them were facing each other and crashing their ki together was irresistibly comfortable to her.

“Stop doing this when I win.”

“Why?”

“Fighting here will not give you true strength.”

“I am strong.”

“Yes, you are the strongest here, but your strength is a sham.”

“It’s not.”

“It is.”

“You’re wrong!”

“… Become strong for real, and then fight me again.”

Edward’s fighting spirit exploded.

He didn’t use his right fist, but his <Left>.

It was a serious blow.

The two of them rushed at each other.

I didn’t know what had happened.

I noticed that their positions had switched.

Yoshinaga-san was also standing there in a daze with popcorn in her mouth.

The venue was quiet.

Edward the <Left> slowly fell over with a thud.

Edward had lost.

With a single blow.

The <Black Haired Princess> was standing.

She was standing but she wasn’t okay. The sky piercer in her hand had broken in half from the middle of the handle.

The <Black Haired Princess> turned around and climbed down from the ring with the broken sky piercer in her hand.

She didn’t glance at Edward who was still on the ground.

Seeing this, the spectators finally understood the situation.

“THE WINNER IS THE <BLACK HAIRED PRINCESS>!!”

The MC announced in a loud voice.

The crowd erupted in cheers but there were some disappointed voices mixed in with the cheers. They must have lost their bet.

Their losing ticket fluttered in the air like confetti.

“Yoshinaga-san, she won.”

I called out to Yoshinaga-san who was still in shock.

But there was no response.

“Yoshinaga… san?”

“I WON!!”

Yoshinaga-san suddenly stood up and hugged me.

“Yoshinaga-san!”

“Master, I won. I won! Wow!”

She took out a bundle of betting tickets from her pocket.

I don’t know when she brought it, but she had quite a lot of tickets.

“Gosh the bookmakers are blind. They put stupid ratios in the pamphlets, so I made a lot of money!”

“Yoshinaga-san, you were betting on the match?”

“Yeah, I was praying and praying. I needed the <Black Haired Princess> to win.”

“Earlier when you said that you would pray for her to win…”

“Hmm? Oh, don’t get me wrong, Master. My prayer was pure. I was purely praying for her to win since we’ll be troubled if she doesn’t. This profit from the bet is just an additional gain.”

“You don’t need to explain yourself.”

“You don’t have to say it like that!”

That’s right. This is who Yoshinaga-san is.

She is the sun and I’m the moon. That’s fine.

“Edward-kun is more important right now. We have to go persuade him. I hope he’s not hurt or anything.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I can get the money later. I hope the bookmakers don’t hide…”

“It’s just an additional gain, right?”

I pointed out and Yoshinaga-san pouted a little.

“Master is so mean.”

Yoshinaga-san already started walking as she said this.

I followed after her.