I scratched my head. “What’s in the Ost Republic that has any importance?”

“Oh? You haven’t heard? I mean, it’s still a month away. If we decided to finish the tournament, we’d have just enough time to get there before it starts.”

“It?”

“That’s right! You don’t know! Well-” One of the boys suddenly elbowed her, and her eyes shifted to him, and then she snapped her fingers. “Ah, that’s right, she liked… um… I mean the princess of the Ost Republic is getting married. That’s the news!”

“The princess?”

“Mm…Hmm!” Her eyes turned from the left to right. “Anyway, you should come to the Ost Republic, but you must arrive early! Alyssa will want to see you!

“Alyssa will be there?”

I felt stupid as soon as I asked it. She was some kind of general’s daughter or something. It was clear she had status in the Ost Republic. Why wouldn’t she also be invited to this wedding?

“Yes, she’ll be there, and she definitely wants to see you!”

“I see…”

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I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Our last meeting had been at the beach. I had somehow managed to cheat my way through a victory against her. I cheated, and frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was angry about that. As to how I felt about her, I didn’t have any strong feelings one way or another. She was a strong opponent, yet even though she tried to kill me on two occasions, I struggled to see her as my enemy. Maybe it was because she had always been honest and straight forward with me, but I didn’t find myself hating her at all.

“So, you’ll come?”

“I-” I was going to say I was busy, but after seeing the strangely hopeful look on Harem’s face, I couldn’t bring myself to shut her down completely. “I’ll see if I can in two weeks.”

Two weeks was a long time, but between the end of the gladiatorship and the battle against the Bandits, I didn’t see myself having time to go down and visit. Well, I guess I had a full month before this wedding officially began, but she said she wanted me there early. If I couldn’t be early, then I probably wouldn’t bother to show up at all.

“Good… good…” She looked strangely relieved for some reason.

“Master! Carmine’s about to start!”

The voice in my head was from Miki. Usually, I needed to open up Slave Communication with a Slave to be able to talk to her. It was like making a phone call, where their side could only forcefully receive it. However, as Miki’s mental powers grew, she had found a way to send me messages as well.

“I need to go.”

“Ah? Are you in the competition as well? I didn’t see your name?”

“It’s… a friend. I’ll tell you about it later, at the wedding!”

“it’s a promise!”

She gave a bright smile that caused her face to shine, and I was stunned for a second. She really was a beautiful girl when she smiled like that. My heart started to beat faster. Then my eyes landed on the men all around her, who were now glaring with hostility at me. I’m not after your girl, you can all stop glaring at me!