The Long Vacation (10)
The first day of the tournament came to a close. We had settled into a rather luxurious inn and were now holding a celebration dinner in the dining hall. It wasn't exactly a party to congratulate our advancement to the main bracket, though.
"I'm just glad Ligret was more restrained than I expected. A triumph of human reason!"
"Ligret is still a young lady in her prime, after all! I'm truly happy to see that hidden mercy of hers finally revealed."
"Does it hurt less when siblings go at each other?"
Oh, how terrifying. But the situation was two against one. If I pushed with my words, I had more than enough chance of winning!
"I'm sorry, Ligret. My brother forced me to do it, I had no choice...! Sob sob."
Huh? A stab in the back right here? As I stood there stunned by the lightning-fast betrayal, Ligret gave me a look that said she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"No matter what, there's no way I'd do the exact same thing here as I did at the academy."
No, honestly, considering the aura you gave off when we first met, it wouldn't have been strange if you'd wiped out the entire—
Ligret's eyes sharpened dangerously, so I decided to drop that train of thought. I wanted to live a long life.
The academy might seem like it treats its students harshly and doesn't care if some of them die in the process, but in truth, it takes very good care of them. While unavoidable accidents in real combat are one thing—honestly, I still have a lot of questions about that part—losing talented individuals during training would be an enormous waste. Especially when their numbers are already so small.
Not to mention the bracelets we used during previous assignments. Every single practical class comes with a whole army of potions, medical staff, and priests on standby, ready to jump in at the first sign of danger. Even if an arm or leg gets blown off, even if a broken rib pierces something vital, even if skin is burned to a crisp, they pour money and mana into healing it by any means necessary.
Of course, the students aren't all psychopaths. They do exercise some restraint among themselves. But it's impossible for that environment not to leave an impression. The subconscious belief that 'this much should be fine, right? I won't die from this' gets firmly planted in their minds.
And naturally, you can't expect the same level of academy-grade medical service at a public tournament like this. After all, there were over a thousand participants in the preliminaries. If they handed out potions to every single one of them and deployed high-class personnel like priests, the cost would be astronomical.
The Mars Duchy is wealthy and does pay attention to taking care of its athletes, so they've prepared a decent amount of medical staff and supplies. Still, compared to the academy—which can somehow fix almost any injury as long as the person is still breathing—it's inevitably lacking.
"Even so, it's quite the hot topic that four out of the sixteen who advanced on the first day are from the academy."
"Aside from the unlucky cases where academy students had to face each other, almost everyone made it to the main bracket. It'll probably increase even more once tomorrow's preliminaries are over."
The host had gone on and on about new waves, symbols of a new era, and so forth. The words still rang clearly in my ears. There were even people on the streets worrying that all non-academy mana users would soon be out of a job. That one was definitely an exaggeration.
Of course, academy students are strong. Even someone with average talent will undergo a complete physical transformation after a year of consistent training. When you take kids who already have exceptional base stats and talent, push them to near-real-combat levels with brutal training, and then actually throw them into real battles in the latter half of the program, their rate of improvement is bound to be insane.
But that doesn't mean every student is strong enough to dominate active professionals. The ones who entered this tournament are the so-called upper-tier geniuses within the academy—those with absolute confidence in their own abilities. It would be wrong to take them as the average.
"The main bracket matchups will be announced after tomorrow's preliminaries, right? I'm curious who you two will face first."
"If it's Chrome, that should be fun."
"Don't say such horrible things. Even if my opponent is Crow or Akasha, I'd have to accept death with a smile."
"You'll probably try to win by any underhanded means necessary if you actually face them, so what's the point of saying that?"
"There are levels where underhanded tricks work, and levels where they don't."
More importantly, even setting aside whether I could actually pull it off, I'd bet a fortune on you winning. I have no interest in putting a gun to my own head and pulling the trigger.
Fiore turned to Ligret.
"Are there any opponents besides my brother that you're interested in?"
"Hmm. Akasha, I suppose?"
"What about Crow?"
"We fight all the time anyway. I'd rather not clash with him even here."
Poor guy. He'd already been demoted from rival to mere annoyance.
I asked Fiore,
"Any other notable candidates?"
"If we're talking about people competing in tomorrow's preliminaries, there are two that stand out. Lord Riven Bane, who happens to be Crow's older brother, is one of the top three talents among the younger generation of the Grand Duchy. And Sir Daniel Richter is practically the face of the Mars Duchy right now. Both are strong contenders for the championship. Sir Daniel even defeated Legion Commander Dietrich six years ago in this very tournament."
Ligret's expression grew intrigued at Fiore's words.
"He beat that greatsword idiot?"
"Greatsword idiot...? Ah, so the Eastern Legion Commander's weapon is a greatsword. Yes, they clashed in the finals of the martial tournament back then, and Sir Daniel came out victorious. He won the next two tournaments in a row as well. There are some who say he's past his prime given his age, but you'd be a fool to underestimate him."
"Whether I should let my guard down or not, I'll find out when I see him. Anyway, this should be pretty interesting..."
Suddenly, Ligret's words cut off.
Following her gaze toward a corner of the restaurant, I saw... well, how should I describe it? A mountain of plates?
Chomp. Chomp. Gulp. Gulp.
A single customer had completely taken over one table. Every time their hands and mouth moved busily, the food piled on top vanished at an alarming rate. People often say that someone who eats heartily without being greedy is 'eating with fortune,' but at this level, it looked like the fortune itself was trying to run away only to get caught and devoured.
This would go viral if they filmed an eating show.
The other customers in the restaurant were staring blankly as if hypnotized, and honestly, it was understandable. Even a large-built man eating like that would draw attention, but when a petite girl was doing it, how could it not stand out?
She looked about the same age as us. Her hair, which reached all the way to her waist, was a very deep black. The clothes she wore were loose and baggy, with sleeves so long and wide that they completely covered her hands when her arms were down.
Ligret ate quite a lot for her size too, but this was on another level entirely.
"Owner! Another order over here!"
Whether she noticed the stares or not, the girl shouted energetically. The owner approached with a somewhat awkward expression.
"You really eat well... I'm glad you're enjoying the food, but could we settle the bill for what you've had so far?"
"Huh? Don't you usually pay at the end?"
"That's the rule, but with large orders we sometimes tally up midway to avoid confusion."
He gave an excuse because saying it outright was awkward, but it was obvious he was suspicious she might try to dine and dash. The black-haired girl seemed to notice as well and answered with a disgruntled look.
"I have money! Here!"
She confidently pulled out a cloth pouch from her clothes and handed it to the owner. Handing over your entire wallet isn't exactly the best payment method, though.
The owner peered inside the pouch for a moment, then made a subtle face and said,
"...It's enough to cover most of what you've eaten so far, but it's still a bit short. Roughly the price of one more plate."
"Huh? Really?"
The girl looked momentarily flustered, but then grinned again and puffed out her chest.
"It's fine, it's fine! I have about five hundred more gold coins... Wait, where did it go? I'm sure I put it right here... Gasp."
As she rummaged through her clothes again, apparently looking for a spare pouch, her face suddenly froze in shock as if she'd just remembered something. The owner, guessing the situation from her reaction, scratched his head and said,
"You've given us plenty of business already, so I'll comp you one plate. But no more additional orders, alright?"
"Ughhh..."
Her entire body seemed to scream I still need more! The surrounding customers burst into laughter, but honestly, the owner had been quite generous. If it had been a complete dine-and-dash, that would be one thing, but this could just end as a funny little incident.
Fiore flashed a mischievous smile.
"How about treating her, brother?"
"Mind your own business."
I spend money on the kids because there's always something to gain later—whether it's using them or receiving help. There's no reason to do volunteer work for no reason at all.
At that moment, Ligret casually tossed out,
"By the way... that girl. She's strong."
......
"How strong?"
"Probably stronger than Crow."
............
"Owner, I'll cover the bill, so just let her order more. She eats so well it's a pleasure to watch."
"Huh? Really? Thank you!"
"As long as I get paid, I don't mind."
I don't do volunteer work without reason. But if it's an investment, that's a different story. I don't know what this is about yet, but let's scatter some bait first.