NBAA Vol. 6 Chapter 3 Part 1
CHAPTER 3
When Reito returned to the waiting room after the match, Ferris was already there expecting him.
She welcomed Reito in a good mood, and the other humans in the waiting room applauded.
“Wow! I was watching you! I didn’t think you could pull off a crushing victory against an A-rank adventurer!”
“You were awesome! I was in the audience!”
“Good job in the competition.”
“Oh, thanks so much.”
Most people in the waiting room seemed to have watched the match and praised Reito’s victory. Ferris, who had come to pick up Reito, held out her right hand to hand over the gold coins paid by the fighting pits as a reward for his victory and his bet winnings.
“I’m glad you made it through the first battle. Sorry to rush you, but can we start talking about the next battle?”
“Um, yes. But how long do I have to fight for?”
“Usually, you have to fight for five rounds. The system seems to have changed recently… Normally, a representative of our trading company could participate in the main tournament without competing in any of the smaller battles.”
“The system changed?”
“This arena is a cooperative effort of the major merchant associations in the Adventure City, but it’s actually the monster merchants who provide the most funds.”
“Monster merchants…”
A building that had been converted from an “abandoned castle” that existed in Adventure City came to mind. The building, which he had once broken into to steal the holy sword Caledfwlch, was managed by a monster merchant. According to Airis, the merchant was a wealthy arms enthusiast, and from what Ferris had told him, he was the person who provided the most funds for the construction of the arena.
“The man who manages the monster trade in this adventure city is a man named Kahne. He is a nobleman of the kingdom, but he is a very eccentric person and famous as a weapon collector. But a while ago, he suddenly became involved in the monster trade business. About a month ago, he built an arena in cooperation with other monster merchants. He informed the king of the royal capital, who officially approved the new business using their monsters and created an organization called the “Battle Association. You know this much, don’t you?”
“Well, um…”
Reito was completely unaware of this, but he figured he’d just follow along.
Ferris continued speaking as if Reito’s reply had fallen on deaf ears.
“So, to return to the topic at hand, we are actually planning to invite the king and important people from various countries to the arena. There are martial arts tournaments in other countries, but in this arena, we will let the athletes fight against monsters as well, which has become a hot topic of debate. They said they wouldn’t accept anyone who was a half-assed fighter since they were inviting important people from other countries. Thanks to this, the conditions for participating in the festival became much stricter.”
After Ferris’ explanation, Reito understood the significance of why he had to perform well. He was once again aware that he must continue to win matches in the arena, but he did not expect to face an A-rank adventurer from his first match, and he was anxious to see what kind of opponent he would have to fight in future matches.
In the previous match, Reito did not have the opportunity to handle both a broadsword and a longsword at the same time, and in the end, he won the match using the skills he had cultivated up to that point. However, he needed to master the dual swords technique for the future and review his swordsmanship before the next match.
“When is my next match?”
“Right, well, tomorrow is too soon, so how about the day after tomorrow? I’m sure we can decide your next opponent by then.”
“I’ve been wondering for a while now, what criteria do you use to decide who to play against?”
“I leave that to the Battle Association… But you see the bulletin board in front of the reception desk? The names of the competitors will be posted there, so you can check them out and sign up for a match with the opponent you want to fight.”
“Otherwise, the arena decides.”
“That’s right. But, in these battles, anything is allowed. You can even bring in recovery medicine. If what you bring in is too big, you might be too easy to hunt down, though.”
Unlike in doubles matches, the rules are very lenient in singles matches. For example, the use of storage magic was not prohibited.
Hearing this, Reito considered what would happen if his opponent somehow blocked his “magic” and wondered if he should also prepare a recovery medicine.
“Well, you’ve really outdone yourself today. Shall we celebrate today? I know a great place.”
“Oh, no… I have some unavoidable business to attend to, so I’m going home today.”
“I see… but first, we have to go back to the store. You’ll stand out in that outfit…”
Ferris’s statement made Reito check his outfit. He had forgotten that he was currently dressed as a woman.
Reito agreed with Ferris. Thus he decided to return to Ferris’s trading company to remove his disguise――
“I’m home.”
“Welcome back.”
“Woof!”
“Purupuru”
Kotomin and his pets, who were bathing in the garden, greeted Reito, who had returned safely to his home after changing from his disguise. Reito hugged Ullr and rested his body on him to relieve some of his exhaustion.
“Phew… I’m happiest while I’m feeling this fluff.”
Ullr whimpered.
“Pururun.”
“Reito, Suramin, and Hitomin want to play.”
The two slimes stuck to Reito, who hugged Ullr’s body and stretched out a small part of their bodies like a tentacle to pat his cheeks as if they also wanted to be doted on. However, Reito, who had been called out early in the morning and was in need of sleep, now wanted to rest his body as soon as possible, so he went back inside the house with the slimes and lay down on the sofa.
“I’m sleepy… be my pillows?”
“Pururu?”
Using Hitomin as a pillow, Reito rolled over and was about to leave for the dream world when he was lured out of sleep by Kotomin shaking him.
“Reito, you promised to play with me today.”
“Eh… can we do it some other time?”
“No, I’m gonna spank your butt.”
“No, don’t do that…”
Kotomin forced herself on top of Reito’s body while speaking in a strange tone. In doing so, her breasts were pressed against him. Normally, he would have enjoyed the sensation, but he had no interest due to his exhausted state. He wanted to rest his body somehow, so he tickled her side to try to fool her.
“Kuchikuchiku…”
“Unyah… payback!”
“Ouch, ouch.”
Kotomin nibbled on Reito’s ear like a dog after being poked in the side. The other pets also doggy piled onto Reito.
“Purupuru.”
“Woof!!!”
“Geez… stop it! You’ll break the couch!”
“I’m suffering too…”
The couch he had purchased began to creak as soon as Ullr got on it, and Reito pushed them all off. As he was about to play with them, there was a knock at the front door.
“Huh? Who’s that? It’s not those guild guys again, right?”
“I’ll get it.”
Kotomin headed for the door.
As Reito tried to repair the sofa, which was sunken from the earlier commotion, the sound of a door being opened reached his ears.
“Who are… Nyah!!”
“Kotomin!”
“Woof!”
As Kotomin’s cat-like scream echoed through the air, Reito started running toward the front door.
He witnessed her being grabbed by large blue arms and pulled out of the house.
Seeing this, Reito rushed out with great vigor while activating his spatial magic and took out his Reflection Sword.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Kyororo!”
“Whoa!”
Just as he ran outside, a familiar voice rang out and Reito’s body was grabbed. Then the figure of a one-eyed giant appeared before him.
It was “Ain,” the cyclops, who had gone on a mission because of the Rotten Dragon had appeared. She gently held Reito and Kotomin up in her hands.
“Ah~ it’s you, Reito! It’s been a long time~!”
“It’s been a while.”
As Ain grabbed him, he heard a voice from below.
Looking down, he saw two people with hoods covering and concealing their entire bodies.
From the sound of their voices, Reito figured that they were “Tina,” the princess of the forest elf tribe, and her escort, “Linda.”
“Oh, um, hello…”
“It’s been a while.”
“Kyororo♪”
Although he could not hide his surprise at the appearance of the two women, who were supposed to have taken refuge in their home country during the decisive battle against the Rotten Dragon, Reito decided to calm Ain down for the time being.
“Ain, it’s time to let go of me… and SIT!”
“Woof!”
“Not you!”
Ullr was the first to react to Reito’s order and sat down.
“Kyoro?”
Ain put them down and changed targets upon noticing Ullr’s presence. She hugged him with just enough strength so that he didn’t feel uncomfortable.
“Purupuru.”
“Pururun.”
“Kyoro?”
Ain also noticed the slimes and tilted her head at the two that had climbed onto her shoulders. Not knowing that Suramin had split to create Hitomin, she looked curiously at the new red slime.
Reito looked at Tina and Linda and noticed that there were no others this time.
“Hmm? Where are those old men?” Reito asked, and Linda answered.
“The other guards are at the inn. We have returned to this city because we have received an invitation to a festival called the “Battle Tournament” that takes place in this city.”
“Today my father, brother, and sister are with me!”
Unlike the last time, it seems that not only Tina but other royals were visiting the city.
It seemed Tina and Linda snuck out of the inn to come say hello to Reito.
While speaking, Reito decided to bring Linda and Tina into the house.
With Kotomin’s assistance, Tina and Linda were led to the sofa in the parlor. The four sat on the couch to chat while the pets played in the yard because it felt too small to let them inside the house with company.
The four were happy to see each other again after a long absence.