“Hohoho.”
Facing the excited Milin, Feiyin covered her mouth and let out a laugh completely devoid of any melody or tone.
“What are you laughing at? Your laugh sounds so weird.”
“It’s nothing. I just remembered that not too long ago, a certain young lady was wiping her nose in my arms, crying out things like ‘I absolutely refuse to admit she’s my sister,’ ‘I couldn’t care less if that woman’s daughter lives or dies,’ and ‘You’re the only real sister I have’—”
“Sh-shut up! At that time, I just didn’t understand what she was here for, so I misunderstood her a bit… Anyway, she’s not a bad person…”
Milin’s face flushed bright red in an instant. She tried to punch Feiyin on the shoulder, but Feiyin easily dodged by leaning aside.
“Oh? But I never said who that ‘young lady’ was, did I? Seems your relationship with Miss Lian has gotten quite close while I wasn’t looking. It’s almost on par with my own! How wonderful. In that case, I can finally trust Miss Lian with your future—”
“Be quiet! That person—there’s no way she thinks of me like you do… It’s more of a warm feeling, like how I feel with Mother…”
“Hohoho.”
“I told you to stop laughing like that!”
Frustrated, Milin started chasing after Feiyin, throwing clumsy punches while Feiyin ran away laughing.
…
……
………
After a brief warm-up, the two finally stopped in front of a building and looked up together at its sign.
“‘Aifulaimu Tavern’—ugh, why does it feel like there are dozens of hotels and inns with this name all over the city…”
“It’s because that’s the name of Hero’s sword—the ‘Explosive Flame Holy Sword.’ I recall there are even facilities in the palace named after it.”
“Ugh! Why is it always about that person, everywhere I go!” Milin stuck her tongue out fiercely at the sign, drawing odd glances from passersby.
“I thought you’d be used to it by now. Let’s go. If we stay any longer, someone’s going to recognize you.”
“People will recognize me during the fight anyway…”
“Better to be recognized inside than out here.”
Before they attracted even more attention, Feiyin, deeply concerned for the safety of the public, pushed her mistress inside the tavern called “Aifulaimu.”
The tavern wasn’t particularly large. As Milin had said, there were at least several hundred places of similar scale and purpose throughout the city. But this one had a truly unique feature—
“What… what’s going on here?”
Upon entering, Milin was left somewhat dumbfounded by the scene before her.
The front hall was a large pit sunken at least a floor below ground level, and the surrounding walls were full of cracks, recently reinforced and patched with lime mortar and metal fittings.
“Ah, customers. Welcome to Aifulaimu Tavern. If you’re here to eat or drink, please go up to the second floor; if you need lodging, the third…”
Climbing up from the pit via a ladder, a young server with a weary face greeted them.
Seeing that his customers were two young girls in the farmer hats typical of northern tourists, he naturally directed them toward the dining and lodging areas.
“No, we’re here to participate in the Martial Tournament’s Preliminary Competition.”
Feiyin bowed to him, then glanced at the tournament venue tag projected onto the tavern wall by a Magic Stone Projector.
“This is the Twelfth Sub-venue for the preliminary competition, isn’t it?”
“Martial Tournament Preliminary Competition?”
A look of confusion flashed in the server’s eyes, but it was quickly buried under fatigue and misfortune etched on his face.
“Then please follow me down the ladder. It’s the same one I just climbed up—”
“Hold it right there!”
Milin, her face full of question marks, stopped Feiyin and the server from going any further, and asked in disbelief:
“Before you take us anywhere, shouldn’t you explain what’s going on here first? This place looks like it could collapse at any moment…”
“An earthquake.”
“An earthquake?”
Milin repeated.
“A minor earthquake.”
“…Are you kidding me?”
“I wouldn’t dare. And please rest assured about our venue’s stability—we completed repairs under the guidance of the Sage’s avatar, using materials from the Klaudias Manufacturing Company.”
“That’s great, it’s the Sage. Now we can rest easy, Miss Milin.”
“I’m not reassured at all!”
…
……
………
The tavern server—Aier—walked through the sunken main hall, which was already packed with guests who had come to participate in or watch the Martial Tournament Preliminary Competition.
Spectators were shouting and drinking, while contestants who hadn’t yet competed checked their weapons or did warm-up exercises in the waiting area full of weapon racks.
No matter what anyone was doing, it was all centered on the fighting stage at the pit’s very center—where a pair of contestants were already battling it out.
Are these two girls really here to compete?
He kept glancing back to make sure the two girls were still following. The younger-looking one glanced around curiously, while the other followed him in silence, almost like a doll.
Judging by their clothing, the quiet girl seemed to be the other’s maid. As for the mistress… just the fabric of her clothes alone looked expensive.
The skill level at the preliminary competition wasn’t that high—this was one of the randomly assigned “lowest-tier” venues.
While the tournament didn’t officially rank the venues, contestants who were mercenaries, famous adventurers, or from the military or knight orders tended to be assigned to certain arenas.
Their collective level was certainly higher than the rabble gathered here.
But even so, most of the contestants were strong or skilled young fighters—these two girls couldn’t be older than sixteen or seventeen, and were so slender and frail…
Aier really couldn’t believe they were here to compete.
He preferred to believe he’d misheard, and that these noble girls were just here to watch and experience life among the commoners.
“That’s the arena up ahead. There’s a match going on right now. If you don’t need anything else, I’ll take my leave—”
“Wait. You should be taking us to the waiting area. We’re here to compete.”
“That’s right, that’s right. Lead the way.”
The two stopped him before he could slip away. He let out a deep sigh, resigning himself as he led them to the competitors’ waiting area.
“The match is decided! Denno Miles from Mines Town, Foothills Province, defeats Raven Jett from Riverbed Town, Pine Forest Province! His next opponent will be—”
At that moment, the match on the stage reached a conclusion.
A sturdy young man with tanned skin, dripping with sweat, raised his pickaxe high in victory over his fallen opponent, while the weary tournament announcer read out the results and announced the next match-up.
“……”
The announcer froze. His eyes went wide as saucers. Mouth agape, he stood in a daze, unable to say a word.
“Hey? Why’d you stop? Hurry and announce the next match, we’re waiting to place our bets here!”
A bettor on the sidelines shouted impatiently, but the announcer didn’t move.
In fact, the list of contestant names slid from his hand, fluttering slowly to the floor.
“Senior? What’s wrong?” Aier hurried over, concerned.
But as soon as he touched the announcer, the man collapsed backwards, foaming at the mouth.
“What the… Guess I have no choice.”
Who would’ve thought—after being a bartender, now he’s back to being a server and an announcer too.
Feeling unlucky, Aier picked the list up off the floor, found the name of the contestant set to face the Mines Town youth, and read it aloud:
“Uh… His next opponent is… from the capital, Seles City, of Honglian Palace—Milin Klauschur.”
Wait.
What did I just say?
Aier looked at the name on the list again, starting to wonder if his eyes or his mouth was malfunctioning.
“Hey.”
A girl lightly hopped onto the stage. It was the mistress of the two girls who had followed Aier in earlier.
She casually tossed aside her straw farmer hat, revealing a cascade of bright red hair like blazing lotus flames.
Aier and the young miner, Denno, both looked toward her as she twisted her neck, stretching her muscles.
“Why are you just staring? If you don’t announce the start, I’ll go first, you know.”
“…”
Aier rolled his eyes and fainted on the spot.
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