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Chapter 2 – 11 (part 1)

Settlement

The place where the duel was to take place was completely sold out. There would probably be more than 20,000 people there. Some of the staff working there were visibly relieved that everything it worked out.

In fact, the venue for the duel, located outside of the city, was constructed in a hurry especially for this occasion. Although I just said it was constructed, really it had been made by some mages and quest takers from the guild by digging up a nearby hill and then hardening it. It looked similar to a soccer field. There was nothing underground, such as paths or rooms, so the spectator areas were separated by fences. Some tents had been set up to subst.i.tute for waiting rooms.

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Although Gunjo City did have an arena, compared to its population of 50,000 citizens, it could only accommodate 5,000 of them. Therefore, the city's government had decided on making an outdoor venue, so more of the citizens could see, even if it was only a little.

This decision was because the Duke had made the necessary preparations behind the scenes. He had arrived in the city, and the very next day it was both proposed and accepted.

Also, because of the co-operation of the Guild, the venue had been completed in 3 days, an exceptionally fast pace.

The duel was set to take place a little bit after noon, when he would have to go to the venue directly.

After he woke up up, Tenma took his time. There was still close to three hours before noon, so he went to the Knight's Headquarters and entered the training room. He decided to do some light sparring practice with s.h.i.+romaru.

s.h.i.+romaru and Tenma were about 50 meters apart, facing each other. Right as Primera gave us the signal to start, s.h.i.+romaru closed the gap between us in the blink of an eye.

With his mouth opened wide he leaped at me. Without a moment of delay, I slipped beneath his jaws and grabbed his front left paw using my left hand. At the same time, I grabbed the fur below his throat and yanked downward.

It was similar to a judo throwing technique, but a really strange one. s.h.i.+romaru immediately kicked the ground with his back legs and jumped forward. I had the chance to predict his next move though, and quickly rushed to where he had landed.

s.h.i.+romaru had readied himself, and braced his body to defend against my attack.

Almost at the same time I stepped forward with my right foot, and struck with the bottom of my right palm. s.h.i.+romaru had braced himself with all four of his feet firmly planted on the ground, but when my palm struck him on the top of one of his shoulders, the shock of the blow caused him to fly into the air.

s.h.i.+romaru flew about 5 meters up, then landed on the ground just as if nothing had happened. It seemed likely that s.h.i.+romaru had flown through the air on purpose. Proving that theory, right as he landed he sprung back up toward me while slas.h.i.+ng alternately with his right and left paws.

In the small gap where I was preoccupied by his slas.h.i.+ng limbs, he brought his face right up next to mine and head b.u.t.ted me square in the chest. This time it was me who got knocked about 10 meters away, but I (half) chose the way I flew. I decided to make a neat landing too, appearing undaunted by s.h.i.+romaru.

Primera and the other spectators let out a big cheer as I landed, but then settled down immediately after. It was due to me being concerned and starting to move closer to s.h.i.+romaru. s.h.i.+romaru was crouched down in front of me, with a paw on the spot on his head he had used to headb.u.t.t me.

“Wha! Oh, it's over.”

Primera didn't understand why exactly, but understood that the duel had ended.

“s.h.i.+romaru, are you okay?”

“Kyuun, Kyuun”

s.h.i.+romaru reacted to my voice with a weak sounding cry. Primera then approached us.

“Tenmsan. What just happened?”

She asked. While I used some healing magic on s.h.i.+romaru, I replied,

“The moment he headb.u.t.ted me, I countered him.”

I showed my right hand to Primera, which had become red. It was because when I was. .h.i.t by his headb.u.t.t, I had struck out at his head.

After I finished tending to s.h.i.+romaru, I used healing magic on my own hand. I had spent maybe 5 minutes sparring with s.h.i.+romaru, but it had been more tiring than the time I took on Banza and his underlings.

I paid no attention to the stunned Primera, and started my cooldown exercise routine. Then, after wiping my sweat away, I had a light meal and killed some time by taking a nap.

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I woke up about an hour later, gently loosened my muscles up some, washed my face and then decided to leave the Knight Headquarters. It wouldn't even take 30 minutes to get to the venue, so I walked there at a leisurely pace.

On the way there, a number of people called out to me. They were mostly people concerned with their bets. Surprisingly some of those who had bet on the semi-Baron cheered me on. There were still people who thought I was seriously stupid, others who just silently glared at me, and finally those who just laughed in the distance.

I arrived at the venue and spoke to a Guild staff member who was acting as receptionist, and they guided me to the tent where I was to wait. My tent was about 10 meters away from the spectator seating. There were about 10 knights surrounding the tent, there to keep unauthorized people out.

It looked like a lot of my acquaintances and supporters had gathered near my tent. They threw a lot of supportive words to me until I went into the tent.

Inside, for some reason Lilly and her sisters as well as Flute were waiting there.

“Ah, he finally came.”

“You're late~ Tenma!”

“We waited almost an hour!”

The catgirl trio said.

“Tenmsan, we're here today to give you our support.”

said Flute. They were each holding things like towels, drinks and potions.

“I can understand Lilly and her sisters being here, but why a Guild employee? Why is even Flute-san here?”

I didn't understand the reason why Flute, a guild employee who should be in a neutral position, was here too.

“Strictly speaking I shouldn't be here but a complaint (more like a false accusation) came in from the semi-Baron's side. That's the reason why I'm here.”

“A complaint?”

I tilted my head to one side.

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“It seems the semi-Barons side said that, 'Tenmsan is close with me, yet I (the guild, that is) should be neutral. You understand how unfair that is, don't you?' So, I was temporarily suspended from the guild. Because of that, I decided to wholeheartedly support Tenmsan.”

‘I'm just an ordinary citizen now' she said, while smiling. Past that facade though, I could see there was a dark aura coming from her, with an equally terrifying expression similar to a hannya mask. 1 She seemed to have a considerable amount of rage bottled up. Even the catgirls looked pretty scared.

“O-oh, is that right? Thank you for your kind support today! From Lilly and her sisters too!”

” ” ” Yeah! ” ” ”

“Yes!”

All four of them replied.

Not long after that, a large cheer arose from the opposite side's tent area. The semi-Baron had probably just arrived.

After that I chatted with the four of them and tried to keep my muscles loose while waiting.

As it became closer to noon, the murmur of the crowd became increasingly loud. It must be nearly time, I thought.

“We will begin shortly. Please finish your preparations and head to the center of the venue.”

A staff member from the Guild had come by to notify me. I took my sword out from my bag, then we all left the tent. The moment we did, a great cheer erupted from the spectators.

With their cheers at our backs, we walked to the center of the venue. Right in the middle stood a man I hadn't seen in quite some time.

“Place your contracts here.”

“As you wish, Guild Leader.”

This rather listless man works as Guild Leader of the Gunjo City Branch Guild a.s.sociation. The man named Max Bellcap.

Name: Max Bellcap

Age: 41

Race: Human

t.i.tle: Guild Branch Leader ・ Former A Rank Adventurer

The Guild Leader normally appears to slack off while he works, but during emergencies he transforms into a very quick witted man… or at least it seemed like it.

“Yes, just like that.”

Next, the semi-Baron also stepped forward and handed over his contract in the same way. The semi-Baron had 30 lowlife looking men behind him as if they were guards.

I tried using Appraisal on them and 13 were C rank, 16 were B rank and one man alone was A rank.

“The verification of the contracts is finished. Would both sides please have their escorts step down, and wait next to the wall.”

After his instruction the catgirl sisters and Flute stepped down while wis.h.i.+ng me good luck. On the semi-Baron side, everyone remained.

“Semi-Baron Regil? Please have your escorts step down quickly.”

The Guild Leader encouraged him to be quick, but Regil smiled.

“What are you talking about, Guild Leader? Those present here are representatives of the Wend squad. Nowhere does it say that your representative must be a single person.”

He replied with an unthinkably frivolous objection.

“But, this is a duel. Just what kind of n.o.ble are you, exactly?"

“You dare mock me?! I am only following the rules in the contract! Now, are you going to give the signal or start or what?!”

Regil rattled on and on. The Guild Leader, unsure of what to do looked at me. Just then,

“If it's like that, then we're going to help!”

“If it's Tenma and us together, then it'll be an easy victory!”

“Yeah~ yeah~! How can we lose to a guy that makes arguments like some kind of nitpicking child?”

The three catgirls had gotten angry and came back to support me while agitated.

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“I'm not that great, but I'll try my best to help you too!”

Flute said, making a ridiculous claim.

“I could let that slide…….”

The Guild Leader was holding his head in frustration. Seeing this, Regil said,

“Even if you add in three or four little girls, I don't think that will change the outcome.”

and laughed boorishly. A large amount of booing and jeers erupted from the spectators. In one section of the audience, the men from the girls' fanclub were hurling death threats.

“You guys, don't try to take on the impossible.”

I let out a sigh as I spoke to the group of girls.

“Things are fine, so go back down by the wall.”

I spoke in a rea.s.suring way, but the four of them wouldn't agree. So I tried once again, adding magic power behind my voice this time,

“First of all, do you really think I'd lose to these kinda guys?”

It came out a little stronger this time. The four of them jumped a bit and trembled, then reluctantly walked back to the wall.

Hi, Refulgent, your translator here, if you like my translations, you can show your support by leaving a comment or constructive feedback at Four slimes . com I'd love to hear from you directly~

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get more @  Translator's NotesHannya mask: A noh mask of a grinning, horned demoness (represents a woman's rage and jealousy)