「…Begin!」
The announcer throws his arms down, signaling the start of the quadrennial summer martial tournament…
Gonnnnnnnng…
The echo of a struck gong resonates throughout the arena. The mercenary takes it as his cue to dash ahead towards his foe, kicking up clouds of dust as he gains speed. Once he's about halfway to his opponent, Yorick the nervous fighter begins to run as well. This seems to come as a minor surprise to Cadrick. Straf can see the merc's eyes narrow a little, but he continues to charge regardless.
As the men come almost within striking distance of each other, the merc pulls his sword arm back for a horizontal slash at his worried opponent. His teeth are clenched, and the disdain on his face has been replaced by battle fury. He swings his sword at the nervous man with all his might…
Swoosh!
His eyes widen when he realizes that not only did he miss, the enemy in front of him is now physically missing, too. He quickly glances left and right with a sharp gaze, and he still can't find the slightest trace of the nervous man he was about to cut open. His eyes widen again in shock, as a realization coming from his combat experience dawns on his face. The mercenary quickly pulls his sword up, and behind his neck for an awkward block.
Clang!
A clamor of metal on metal rings out. The mercenary stumbles forward, almost falling over after blocking a slash aimed at his neck coming from above and behind him. As soon as Cadrick recovers his footing, he slides his foot along the ground and rotates about to face his enemy again.
「Wow! Did you see that, Straf!?」
「…Yeah.」
Cycelia asks Straf, her eyes glued to the fight below. Straf answers with mild surprise in his voice as he observes everything in full detail. He pulls his hand up to his chin and starts rubbing it again.
《Huh. So the guy was actually just pretending? But why- Oh. Clever.》
Straf thinks as he looks at the fighters, their positions and expressions from before the battle are almost a mirror image of the other now. Almost, because while it is now Cadrick sporting a nervous expression on his face, it's tempered by his combat experience. His opponent Yorick is sneering, spreading his arms as if to ask him where did his confidence went.
《So that Yorick guy was acting like he's going to get rolled over in order to skew the odds just before his fight. That's not a bad idea for some extra money… Maybe if things go well-》
「He jumped over him and almost took his head off in mid-air! I told you he's faking!」
Cycelia comments on what just happened, while hitting her thick thighs with her fists in excitement, interrupting Straf's thoughts. Straf glances at her for only a second with a slanted mouth, and he returns his gaze back to the arena down below.
「Yeah, I saw.」
《Huh. Maybe she's better at reading people than I thought.》
Cadrick the Merc shouts something at his opponent in anger, and dashes forward, slashing at his vitals in a practiced motion. Yorick the deceitful man deflects his sword aside and stabs for his neck. Cadrick dodges away at the last second despite seeing it coming. The blade slashes his cheek, leaving a shallow but painful bleeding cut, and perhaps adding another scar to a face already full of them. Should it ever have a chance to heal, that is.
「What a turn of events! Now the projected underdog has his opponent on the back foot! As you can all see, no tournament is the same!」
The announcer comments on the battle as it's unfolding. Yorick the formerly nervous man gives his enemy no respite and advances forward as Cadrick backpedals, clenching his teeth and blocking Yorick's attacks by a hair's breadth.
「Really? I wonder about that…」
Clang! Clink! Tink! Clang!
Straf raises his eyebrows at the announcer's remark. While Cadrick is still stumbling and recovering from the last blow he blocked, Yorick repeats the move from before. He jumps over Cadrick, spinning around his axis while inverted upside-down. Just as he's about to land on his feet, he slashes at the mercenary's back while Cadrick is guarding his neck instead.
A painful grimace appears on his face, he stumbles forward a few steps and falls onto the ground. Blood splatters behind him as his back now has a vicious diagonal slash across its entire length. Despite his injury and pain, he shoves his elbows ahead of himself and digs them into the ground, shakily attempting to prop himself up and get up. He freezes when he feels something cold poke him in his neck.
He looks up, still tightly gripping onto his sword with fear apparent on his face. Yorick is standing over him, pointing his blade at his neck. He glares at Cadrick with cold eyes and no discernible expression, calculating whether or not his opponent is still a threat. The mercenary looks at his sword, then lets go of it. He lifts his open hands up as much as he can through the pain.
Gonnnnnnnnnng!
「Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! Yorick Bugrum secures his place in the tournament in a stunning upset! Will this be a theme of the tournament, or did the underdog get lucky!? The next match of the day will be…」
The gong reverbs again, a man in white robes runs out from the arena entrance closest to the fighters and begins to heal Cadrick's grievous wound. The crowd gathered goes wild, clapping and cheering as Yorick turns away to leave. Cadrick shouts something at Yorick, making him momentarily pause as he's walking to the exit.
He doesn't appear to say anything, and smirks at the wounded mercenary on the ground. He moves on, ignoring his shouting former opponent. Cadrick slams the blood-stained ground with his fist in frustration.
「That was so cool! What do you think, Straf!?」
「I think it's still just a regular tournament arc. Some guy will come and wipe these small fries out soon enough.」
Straf says with bored eyes as he's watching Cadrick limp out of the arena while being healed, and refusing to lean on the healer. The announcer pulls out a folded slip of paper from his shirt. He unfolds it with a flick of his hand, and reads it.
「I'm going to collect my winnings-」
Cycelia's sentence is interrupted by the announcer again, she looks up in no direction in particular as she listens.
「Louche Rubylight! Versus! Straf Katastrof Vindict! We humbly request the named fighters to appear at the arena entrance to avoid a loss by forfeit! The bets are now open again!」
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
「Ah! So soon!? Good luck, Straf! I know I don't need to worry, but… Stay safe, okay?」
Cycelia looks at Straf with huge eyes full of excitement, holding onto her medallion with her fingers. Straf gets up.
「Yeah, yeah. Remember, don't bet on me. Bet on the other guy if you want, but you're going to lose all your money.」
Cycelia takes a step up the stairs, and she's surprised to see that Straf is coming with her.
「Huh? Aren't you going to fight?」
「Yeah, but I'm going to bet on myself first.」
「Wha- Didn't you forbid me from doing that?」
「Yeah. I forbid you from doing that. I can do what I want with my money.」
He shrugs, they walk up to the betting table all the way up the stairs. Straf pulls out a gold coin and lifts it up above his head.
「Hey! Look everyone! I'm Straf and I'm betting a whole gold coin on myself!」
He shamelessly announces to the crowd. Cycelia's eyes widen and her eyebrows rise, but she remains silent.
He puts the gold coin down on the iron-barred betting desk. A man behind the desk takes it, drops it into a box of gold coins, and notes something down in a large ledger on a desk behind him. He then gives Straf a small, thick black metal square that states 「Contestant B 1 gold」. The crowd starts murmuring louder among themselves as Straf walks away from the desk.
「Well, I'm heading off. Remember what I told you.」
「Okay…」
Straf says as he walks down the stairs, and Cycelia waves him off…
Around the same time, at the city's market…
A woman walks up to an ice cream stall, holding a little girl by her hand.
「Good afternoon Mister Kuul, can I get a strawberry ice cream for my Anne?」
「Ah…」
The mustached man rubs his neck with his hand, his mouth stretched and brows furrowed.
「Sorry, I'm already packing up for today.」
「Huh? So soon? But didn't you open your stall just an hour or two ago?」
She cocks her head to the side and asks the ice cream vendor. He spreads his arms to explain his predicament.
「I'm out of stock. A man came and bought all my ice cream in one go.」
「What!? Did he hand them out for free, or did he just let them melt!?」
「Neither! He opened some sort of magic hole and threw them all in as I scooped them!」
「…No ice cream?」
The little girl asks the woman with rapidly wetting eyes and voice on verge of tears.
「Uh, look girlie… I'll be back tomorrow, how about I get you one for free then?」
「But I want one now! Waaaaaaaaaah!」
「Ah…」
The man's arms and shoulders slump as the girl starts loudly tearing up.
「Those damn mages! How dare they!? They're getting too full of themselves! Who do they think they are!?」
The woman crushes the air in her fist, grinding her teeth…