The tournament registration turned out to be a lot easier to navigate than the paperwork. There was a line of beautiful oneesans taking registration. It cost 5 gold coins, so it wasn’t cheap to enter.

“You will register a team of five, but only the leader will be eligible to win the grand prize.” The woman explained once I handed her the money. “Preliminaries start tomorrow morning. Then, it’ll be the top 100, 25, and so forth until a final winner is decided.”

I looked around and noticed a meaty looking man surrounded by four other men. I noticed their slave insignia right away.

“So, are the opponents strong?

“It’s the only way for a commoner to become a lord in this country. Many town heroes fight for this right every year.”

I bitterly thought about the lordship request form the mayor had given me. He had given me this task in earnest. I think he would have been just as shocked to learn the reality was harsh. You couldn’t just become a lord if you asked nicely, even if you had a lot of followers supporting you. It looked like there were a lot of small cities like Chalm looking to gain a lordship. It seemed like a vicious cycle in this country. While those born as lords fought to become the hero of a town, those that became town heroes fought to be recognized as lords.

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“Alright, Deek, please return tomorrow and wait for your name to be announced. Magic items and potions are allowed. The preliminaries are a group battle, so make sure your entire team is ready to fight.”

“Ah… you girls okay with this?” I asked.

“Yes, Master!” Lydia nodded.

“Mm!” Miki agreed.

“I Agree!’ Celeste raised her hand.

“I will protect Master…” Terra smiled subtly.

“You’re going to go into the fight tomorrow with a bunch of girls?” A voice said beratingly.

I spun to find the big guy with four slaves eyeing me disdainfully.

“Ah… well, they are important people I depend on.” I explained.

The girls started blushing and acting cute, which seemed to further enrage the big guy.

“Why you… I’ll have you know… my slave right here is a swordsman, level 30! He will easily crush any of your girls.”

“Oh… is that… um… impressive.”

I was going to say was that all, but I realized that It would probably set him off. He must have taken my response as sarcastic because he was glaring at me angrily anyway.

“I’m going to crush you personally!’ He snarled. “Call me, Lark the Brave. I’m an adventurer and the strongest man this year!”

He spun around and walked away, gesturing for his fellow men to follow him. As for me, I let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

“Master, are you really worried about fighting that guy?”

“Eh? Who? Him?” I blinked. “Ah… no… actually, I was lamenting. It’s getting dark and it looks like we’re going to need to book an inn. With this event, they’ll probably have the prices jacked up too.”

“How much is an inn?” Lydia asked.

“Should be about 2 silver a night,” Miki answered.

“Didn’t Master just spend 1 gold coin for information and then 5 more for this tournament?” Terra asked.

I sighed. The girls just didn’t seem to understand being thrifty at all.