Chapter 186: Tournament 2
Chapter 186: Tournament 2
It turned out the Unfading Giant Tree wasn't the only one eagerly anticipating this tournament.
Her eyes had sparkled as she talked about the Incarnation she had her eye on.
But the fervor she'd shown was mirrored by the intensely heated atmosphere around everyone else.
"So, in the Round of 128—"
"The talent is there, but that heavy armor—"
"Don't you know there's a separate technique called Armored Combat?"
From cadets whose breathing had steadied during the warm-up run
to instructors passing the time by observing the cadets—
men were a minority, women the vast majority, and they chatted about a variety of topics.
It ranged from the classic spear-versus-sword debate, which anyone could grasp just by passing by,
to magic versus sorcery, which required specialized knowledge to understand.
I knew it was a huge festival, but how was it that the majority of pedestrians were talking about nothing else?
"It's because this is the first big tournament of its kind."
"...Why?"
I'd assumed in a world full of espers, something like a 'Best Under Heaven' martial arts tournament would naturally be held.
But listening to Han Ye-ji, there'd never been a mixed martial arts competition like the one I opened.
Competitions inevitably produce winners and losers, so maybe that was just the nature of things.
Anyway, the events for selecting Academy instructors were always held between the same weapon types and disciplines.
Swordsmen sparred only with swordsmen, knights only with knights. Apparently, a massive tournament like this was unprecedented.
Add to that the wounded pride of the defeated Incarnations—there was no way they'd ever open it to the public.
Besides, everyone was too busy fighting monsters to death. Where would they find time to fight each other?
Moreover, while some Incarnations blossomed their talent right away,
this continent was filled with just as many who manifested their talent a beat slow and grew explosively later.
If emotional grudges were born during a tournament and the tables turned later, it'd be a massive headache.
'So if a faction, or rather a Constellation, stands to lose even a little, they just drop it.'
It was amazing how these bastards barely even made personal trades because of their pride,
and yet they'd apparently never held a light event like a tournament throughout their entire history.
They'll do a continental tour of a space battleship, but not a tournament between Incarnations? Does that make sense?
—Which meant, that this narrow-minded assumption of mine was proven wrong in under five minutes.
"Y-you worthless little punk! If you weren't a man, I'd have gnawed you to pieces!"
"Hah, all bark and no bite. So you were a young master after all. Instead of stuffing padding into that flat chest of yours, maybe I should hang something heavy between your legs?"
A flat-chested beastkin woman stood there, her ears and tail stiff and bristling, issuing a low growl.
In front of her stood a tall human man, his arms crossed defiantly.
The beastkin woman went wild, ranting about chewing the man up, until the guards seized her by both arms.
The man hadn't been grabbed, but he kept spouting a ceaseless stream of gender-reversed insults.
Private violence was strictly prohibited within the Academy.
Yet even so, they couldn't control their anger, their faces flushed red as they seethed and raged.
The beastkin woman's furless cheeks were bright red, and the man had bulging veins running up his neck.
"No matter how excellent the swamp-dwellers are, how could they possibly win a head-on fight against a knight on dry land!"
"Even if the variables are reduced, it's only natural that a dull-witted prey can't escape a hunter!"
The argument continued even as the guards dragged them away.
Curious, I skimmed through Lee Ha-rin's report and then focused my attention on the guards hauling the pair off, eavesdropping on their story.
The two who'd been dragged off—veins popping, spit flying, throwing around sex jokes and childish insults about each other's parents—turned out to be an Academy instructor and a tournament official.
In other words, they were both over thirty years old, fighting over whose Incarnation was stronger.
And that kind of disturbance wasn't just a one-off incident of a couple people acting out.
In the distance, a goat-head and a deer-head were so close they were practically rubbing horns, jabbering away.
If you turned your head, you could see several chaotic group brawls, people spitting as they hurled insults, not just one-on-one fights.
The bottom line was, I was the only one in this world who took the significance of Constellations and their Incarnations lightly.
All I'd considered was who would win and become my test subject. That was it.
The psychological warfare between Incarnations and their followers, the wounded pride of the defeated—
I hadn't even imagined these would escalate into full-blown social issues.
'Well, I'd expected arguments and online flame wars at least.'
Up to the spicy cyber ghosts running wild on the internet, I'd seen that coming.
Those bastards were the type to talk trash about Constellations and Incarnations even in a world like this.
But I hadn't expected fan clubs—no, oppa battalions, or rather unni battalions—to form and roam around inside the Academy.
These were mostly groups of men, cadets for the most part, but also mixed with Academy instructors and visiting Incarnations.
It was a hardcore fan club, pushing the female cadets and calling them "unni, unni," just like idol fans.
Groups of four or five, sometimes up to a dozen, swarmed around during every break.
If anyone nearby said the slightest negative thing about the Incarnation they were pushing,
they'd glare with axe-sharp eyes and start subtly ripping into the other Incarnations.
"What a sight..."
"Ahem, this isn't something you should be seeing, my Constellation. I'm terribly sorry."
Then, well, the result was obvious.
The women would snap into a rage like that beastkin woman from earlier, man or not.
Their last shred of reason held them to the rule that they couldn't beat a man up in the Academy,
but they couldn't stand a dozen men talking trash about their favorite Constellation.
Amidst the chaos, shouting back while surrounded by men was getting off easy.
Women who got so angry they simply pushed their way out
had false accusations of sexual harassment thrown at them by the men, who covered their chests, collapsed to their knees, and started blubbering.
'Honestly, watching those bastard men act like that just disgusted me.'
A strapping man who looked like he could crush a small car in the gym
sat there delicately on the ground, covering his chest with his arms and sobbing.
Amidst all this, I had the sudden urge to snap those demurely gathered knees of his the other way.
And when I got back, these bastards had pulled the same shit near my quarters.
So now a beastkin noona watching my door was busy gauging my mood for no good reason.
A sharp-featured beauty with slightly broad, dog-like ears stood there, her tail drooping low.
In many ways, it was an unavoidably awkward situation.
Still, watching a fidgeting beastkin beauty with drooping ears and tail
was a hell of a lot easier on the eyes than watching some middle-aged man dab at his tears with a handkerchief.
"Should I chase them away?"
"No, just ignore them and guard the door. The room's well soundproofed anyway, so closing the windows should be enough."
Because things were like this, the walk with Han Ye-ji was canceled.
I holed up in my room to avoid catching any stray sparks, and called her over.
While I was chatting with the beastkin security noonas, waiting for her,
utterly absurd news came in instead of Han Ye-ji.
A fox beastkin next to the tail-drooping dog beastkin pressed her ear to the radio on her ample chest.
Then, she approached me with an expression so awkward that even someone as obtuse as me could pick up on it.
"Um, my Constellation? The thing is..."
Because I treated them like pretty ladies watching my door rather than bothering with formal rituals,
the guards around my quarters showed me respect without fearing me too much.
For the usually easygoing fox beastkin to choose her words this carefully—that was a bad sign.
The look on her face and in her eyes was a palpable mix of anxiety, fear, and sheer disbelief.
The anxiety and fear seemed to stem from worrying I'd react hysterically.
What the hell did a professional noona like her hear to look so baffled?
"The Incarnation Han Ye-ji, who was headed this way, is currently being detained by the Guard Corps."
"...Why?"
"Well, the matter is... a sex crime... apparently."
"Motherf—"
※
The sudden nonsense made me reflexively let out a cuss about her mom instead of her dad, making the two beastkin women doubt their ears.
No, looking for dad with a gender-role-reversed insult isn't what's important right now.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, it came directly over the Guard Corps' radio."
She tapped the radio on her chest with a finger.
The wire was pushed aside by her large breasts.
Normally, she should have had an earpiece in, but maybe it was different because she was a beastkin.
As I stared at the neckline of her uniform, its plunging depths threatening to reveal hidden treasures,
she once again misinterpreted my gaze and lifted the radio between her thumb and forefinger.
"We're assigned to the Security Team, but we also share a public channel with Academy guards for delivering urgent messages. This was relayed directly from the Academy's Public Order Maintenance Team."
Academy Public Order Maintenance Team?
"Isn't that Han Ye-ji's team?"
"Yes, it is."
"So, what, Han Ye-ji was arrested by her own subordinates?"
"...Yes."
With nothing else to do, Han Ye-ji and some guards had been assigned to manage captured Fallen Incarnations.
Then, because of me, they ran out of work again, and for this tournament,
they'd been reassigned to a team monitoring outsiders who visited the Academy.
So why the hell would they arrest Ye-ji?
What the fuck is going on?