"Oh..."

I responded emotionlessly. Although I now had complete faith in Aetina's judgement, her words of encouragement still felt lacking.

"By the way, how did Nicola's competition go? Did you watch it?"

I suddenly remembered the original purpose of coming here.

"Of course I watched it. She exceeded my expectations and got third place!"

When it came to the swordsmanship finals, my conversation partner immediately switched to a wry smile as she replied.

"No way! That wind slash is useless against angels, isn't it?"

I said in surprise. Based on the level of strength, an eight-winged angel had already surpassed a 6th-order light elf. Logically, Nicola shouldn't have stood a chance, and it would have been impressive for her to not finish last.

"It's useless! But we underestimated her control over the wind element. Even if the wind element can't injure an angel's body, they can still be affected by the force of wind-based skills."

According to Aetina's explanation, I gradually understood the situation of the swordsmanship competition.

Since it was a battle royale, although Nicola had the reputation of a newborn angel, the top dogs with eight wings didn't see her as their primary target. Their focus was more on opponents of similar rank.

So in the initial period, she was able to relax and hide around the edges of the arena. For a six-winged, although her swordsmanship was lacking, she could still barely hold her own.

However, the situation soon changed.

After a period of mutual attacks, those eight-winged angels finally calmed down and agreed. They decided to first eliminate the weaklings before fighting among themselves at the end.

At this point, Nicola could no longer hide. With her inadequate sword skills, she had no chance against the top contenders. So in desperation, she used that new killer move.

Unlike with the male light elf, this time her "XXX Hurricane Slash" directly struck an eight-winged angel in the chest. Although it didn't injure him, the tremendous force still blew her out of the arena.

According to the rules, leaving the designated area meant failure. So that angel who had chased after her was inexplicably eliminated.

This gave Nicola a taste of success, and of course, she wouldn't stop there! After a few more slashes, violent winds whipped up across the entire arena. The vast majority of contestants were caught off guard and "blown" out of the field, leaving only two eight-winged angels who relied on their formidable strength to remain inside.

There's not much else to say after that. With her killer move rendered completely ineffective, faced with the fierce joint attack of two top contenders, Nicola decisively chose to surrender, easily securing third place...

"How could no one suspect she was using magic?"

I asked in disbelief. This outcome was just too outrageous. If I were the referee I would have disqualified her as a cheater.

A ban! Banning her for a few hundred years. No, a few thousand more like it!

"I already said, theoretically speaking, that her move doesn't count as magic. Besides, it wasn't the first time the referees saw her use it."

Aetina shrugged and explained.

"Furthermore, we angels generally judge the use of magic by sensing the flow of elements within the opponent's body. Although some angels noticed Nicola's skill seemed related to the wind element, no one in Edenmere could detect whether she had wind elemental energy flowing in her body. After all, no one had ever heard of an angel using wind magic before. So in the end, like in the preliminaries, this move could only be treated as battle qi."

I don't know what to do with Nicola. She's just too ostentatious, making it difficult for the rest of us to get by. No wonder I felt an unusual number of strange looks after returning here.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"So where is she now?"

I looked around but still couldn't find any trace of her.

"Not sure. Right after the match ended she disappeared. I thought she went to find you."

Aetina also shook her head cluelessly.

"Uh, I didn't see her on the way here!"

I figured we likely missed each other while I was en route. After all, Nicola probably didn't even know where the magic competition venue was.

"Why don't we wait here? If she can't find you she'll probably come back."

Aetina suggested to me.

"Also, the flying competition will be starting here soon. Because of the large number of contestants, there will be preliminary group rounds first. You might as well stay and watch."

"It's beginning now?"

I recalled Aria telling me before we parted that her flying competition was tomorrow. That girl seemed to have joined every event, with such an abundance of energy!

Before long, at the direction of the competition organizers, a group of angels arrived in the air above us. They were the first group of contestants for the flying competition.

"It's starting!"

Aetina looked up and said. The surroundings were already crowded with angels, so congested that we couldn't even fly up. We could only watch from the ground.

"Looks like this is the starting point. Doesn't that mean there'll be nothing to see after they fly away?"

I suddenly realized there didn't seem to be much point in staying here to watch the competition unless I followed along behind the contestants the whole way. But I might as well participate myself then.

"The route goes around half the continent of Edenmere, so this is also the finish point. But it is rather boring in between."

Aetina conceded.

"But everyone's just here to liven things up!"

With the referee's signal, the first group of angels shot forth like arrows, accompanied by the clamorous cheers of quite a few spectator angels trailing behind to spur them on.

"I recall they can attack each other mid-race. That does sound interesting..."

As I watched the angels recede into the distance, I suddenly remembered this rule. Unfortunately, I didn't have the free time to follow along.

"Alright, I'm going to head out first! Nicola will probably just return to the palace herself if she can't find me."

Taking advantage of the dispersing crowds overhead, I rose into the air again to look around one more time. Confirming no sign of Nicola, I bid Aetina farewell.

"See you for lessons as usual tomorrow!"

Aetina reminded me before I left.

"Let Cyra know too, don't forget!"

"Oh...okay!"

The mention of Cyra gave me a headache. She was probably still upset with me...

But I had already apologized once, so buying her a gift was probably the only option left! After all, plucking out some of her feathers warranted more than just a verbal apology.

But what gift would be good? This question plunged me, a chronically indecisive shopper, into distress once again.

Based on Cyra's preferences, she would likely be overjoyed if I gave her something religious like a cross.

But they don't sell those kinds of things in Edenmere!

Or should I get her some equipment? But that might be expensive, I worried. Weapons and armour weren't cheap commodities in Edenmere, and I was reluctant to fork out too much.

After long consideration without an answer, I happened to notice the two restaurant discount vouchers still in my grasp. That sparked an idea...

"Waiter, two orders of ** roasted duck legs to go!"

Standing in the lobby of the 'Cloud Pinnacle' restaurant, I called out loudly while pointing at the menu.

"And one of these...yes, the braised goose wings with lime and tarragon as well!"

"Angel, are you certain you want to order the goose wings?"

The light elf waitress timidly confirmed again. With her remark, I did feel it seemed a little inappropriate for an angel to order goose wings as food.

"It's fine, you are what you eat!"

I nonchalantly replied. After all, these were gifts, meant for the glutton Cyra to eat.

Maybe eating them would make her grow an extra pair of wings, who knows!

"...You are what you eat?"

The light elf had probably never heard this notion before. She swallowed nervously and couldn't help sneaking a few more peeks at me. Not daring to say more, she hastily rushed back to the kitchen.

"The decor here is not bad!"

While waiting for the food, bored, I looked around admiring the restaurant's furnishings.

To be frank, it felt much more upscale than the place we dined at last time. No wonder they could afford to sponsor the martial arts tournament.

Just the name of this place reminded me of a certain famous dining brand back on Earth...

"Please come again!"

After a long wait, my order finally came out. The wait staff respectfully held the discount voucher I had given them and escorted me to the door.

The few items only cost a little under 200 silvers after the discount, completely affordable.

"Whoa, watch out in front!" En route, just as I was imagining Cyra's reaction to the gifts, a sudden shriek came from the distance ahead, frightening me. I looked around in all directions but only caught a glimpse of an angel darting out from somewhere, shooting swiftly over my head.

"What was that about?"

How dangerous! I nearly lost my balance in the air from almost being grazed. I was about to go reason with her, but she had already flown far away. From the direction she had come from, several more black dots seemed to be zooming rapidly toward me.

"You in the way, move aside!"

What a coincidence! Did I happen to pass through the flying competition route?

Sure enough, these were precisely those contestants who had taken off from above my head earlier. They were now flying over me again, interspersed with the silhouettes of attack spells...

So fast! They had already nearly circled back in this short time.

I couldn't help but be amazed. Although Edenmere's land area was smaller than the Dark Lands, it was still about the size of the Astralrealm Kingdom.

But this competition didn't concern me. After watching from the ground for a bit, I hurried on toward the palace again. Delivering the gifts was the priority, or the takeout would get cold and not taste as good.