82-Chapter 5-5 Importance of Information...

The man who had blackmailed the noblemen who had rushed to Temma's door was....

""The Duke of Sangha!"

He was a high-ranking nobleman and one of the country's leading great aristocrats, the 'Duke of Sangha'.

As expected, the aristocrats who rushed over to me did not seem to have any idea that the Duke was walking with me, and all of them had pulled faces.

That is completely wrong, but in the circumstances, it can't be taken that way.

''If I was here on a public matter, then your actions earlier are something that could have been cut off without question!

The Duke of Sanga raises his voice even more. But since I had heard that this was a 'play by the Duke' and that this was the 'countermeasure' that the attendant was talking about, I was not surprised, but rather looked at the nobles who were being scolded by the Duke with cold eyes.

''Gosh, it's a misunderstanding, Duke. I am your........''　

The duke, who felt that no matter what he said, he wouldn't listen, turned his gaze to the nobles with a low voice that sounded even colder and heavier.

The nobles, seeing the Duke's attitude, were kneeling on the ground begging for forgiveness as if begging for their lives.

''Father, isn't that enough already.......We all make mistakes.

The aristocrats have expressions of relief that their lives have been saved.

Duke Sanga gave me a look and walked out of the place, ignoring the weakening nobles.

''Even though I'm the cause.......Duke Sanga-sama is a bad person too.

'No wonder people are so bad. I'm a nobleman, after all. And it must have been a good lesson to those guys about how important it is to gather information... by the way...

The duke shifted his gaze once to Primera. Primera seemed nervous for some reason and didn't notice the Duke's gaze.

I nodded lightly to the duke and moved in front of Primera to greet her.

''It's a pleasure to meet you for the first time, my lady. I am Temma the Adventurer, who has been good to the Duke of Sanga for a long time. Henceforth, please be familiar with me....

I knelt down in front of the Primera, a little uncomfortable, and took her hand and greeted her... although I didn't kiss her hand, as expected...

The primera's eyes are black and white at my actions. When I take her hand, she says, "Hiya! He made a strange noise, but he didn't make any pretense of shoving it in there.

'Te, Temma-san! What a joke! Please don't be embarrassed!

Turning red in the face and waving her hand away, Primera took a couple of steps backwards. Apparently her nerves were relieved, but instead she seemed a little angry.

I've seen Primera many times before, but until now Primera was always wearing armor, so I had the impression that she was a 'Knight's Primera', but this time she was wearing a dress I've never seen before, and her appearance as the 'Primera Lady of the Duke's House' was extremely rare, and it ignited my mischievous mind a bit. ...with the Duke's encouragement!

The duke, such an accomplice, laughed aloud from his position where he could not see the primera.

''Though this kind of dress certainly doesn't suit me.......there's no need to tease me.......''

Primera seems to be under the mistaken impression that the dress was teased because it didn't suit her, when in fact it suited her quite well.

Originally, as the daughter of a duke family, Primera received a very good quality education among the nobility, and she was born with a well-rounded face. In addition, because she is a member of a knightly order, her body is toned through training, and because Primera takes care of her health, her skin and hair are in very good condition.

Therefore, if I were to rate Primera, I'd say she's definitely a "beautiful woman" ... However, that doesn't include her personality.

As an aside, according to what Primera's friend Leena told me, some of the girls were quite jealous of the fact that people around them told them they were beautiful even if they weren't paying attention to them (which Primera herself thought was flattering).

When I tried to clear up Primera's misunderstanding, the Duke came in between us.

'Primera. Temma, you are in no way teasing me! I can see that. After all, your behavior earlier, Temma, is almost exactly the same as the one I just described when I hit on your mother! Of course, Temma, you didn't hit on him, but a man is a creature that can act like one when he sees a beautiful woman!

And then the Duke began to talk about his own experience, and with a sideways glance, he asked me for my consent.

It's a good thing that you can't say, 'I had no intention to do that, I was just teasing you,' as expected, so I nodded vaguely.

"Is that so........

Primera muttered and her cheeks were stained with a different feeling than before.

I couldn't bear to stay in the weird air like this, so I asked the duke what was bothering him.

''It was the king's idea for the dukes to come for me, wasn't it?

Yeah, well you know exactly what I mean.

The Duke readily admits it. However, that raises a new question. That is.........

'But then, wouldn't the King or Lyle or the Grand Duke or someone else want to come?

Because of the nature of those three people, there is no way they would miss something like that (for the three of them) that would be interesting. When I asked him that, the Duke gave a bitter smile.

''You say it as if you've seen it all.......you're right. I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on in the world, but I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on in the world, and I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on in the world, and I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on in the world. ...Your Majesty, Master Lyle, and Grand Duke looked like all three of them were chastised by the Queen.

The Duke and Primera, who were called in at short notice, seemed to take a bit of time, mainly to change Primera's clothes.

''Well, consider this a thank you from me,''　

Are you thanking me?　

The Duke said that he had apparently placed a bet on my game and it paid out quite a bit.

My odds of winning the main tournament were initially about 30 times my odds. I was the lowest favorite in my group, but the odds dropped to 3 times soon afterwards, and I was eventually the most popular in the group.

The reason for this is the Duke of Sangha, the Marquis of Samoens, my friends, and myself.

I heard that it is an unspoken rule in this tournament that royalty does not take part in bets, so they were only multiplied by this factor.

Later I heard that the Duke, Marquis and I had bet one million g, and my grandfather had bet 500,000 g. By the way, it is permitted for players to participate in the betting against themselves, but if they are involved in the betting, they are basically (...) slave-degraded.

After that, there was no trouble and we were able to return to the mansion safely.

The next day, today is also the qualifying round for pairs in the arena, but since I'm not particularly interested in it and there are no acquaintances in the arena, today is just a light confirmation of the cooperation for tomorrow's team match, setting up a boundary in the courtyard.

The confirmation of coordination was to see how it would be with the addition of Nami Talou, but in conclusion, it wasn't much of a task.

At any rate, Nami Taro would get into a bad mood, Shiroumaru would get caught and joke around, Solomon would join in and frolic, Slarin would get angry, and so on and so forth, and then it was all looped up, and finally the plan was decided to be called 'fighting on the fly'.

So I decided to cut it off early and relax in the mansion.

The inside of the mansion today is very quiet and it was just right to relax.

At any rate, the three girls, Primera and Chris' team didn't come to the mansion to check on the coordination, so while we were there to see how they were doing.

Jeanne and Aura had been taken and squeezed by Aina, and Grandpa hadn't returned even now after being called by Ernest-sama to go out in disgust.

It might be nice to take a leisurely stroll on a day like this, but the royal capital is too busy in the middle of a festival, and certain people (........) have been passing by the mansion deliberately since a while ago.

There are three main types of people passing by.

The first is the ordinary people who are casually peeking into the mansion with a favorable interest in me after seeing the battle yesterday.

The second is a person who wants to make my acquaintance. This includes nobles and their messengers.

And the third group of people who are hostile to me is the problem. Among them were those who seemed to be messengers of the nobility, adventurers, and even those who seemed to be backstabbing ordinary people.

Probably, but most of the adventurers and ordinary people are just guys who lost money on a bet, who know where I live and stare at me in passing, but the nobleman's messengers and backstabbing guys are probably connected to the reformers... or that's all I can think of.

I'll do an appraisal and make a note of some of the people, and I'll discuss it with Grandpa later.

I don't think they'll be able to get to this mansion so easily since they have security mechanisms everywhere, but I'll put more golems in place just in case.

Placement was concentrated outside near the windows and doors and behind the mansion, while inside the mansion, more placement was made in Jeanne and Aura's rooms and guest rooms.

To be honest, it feels like overkill. At any rate, the increased golems alone are about 100, and if the previous ones are included, the total number of golems will be about 150. With the addition of security equipment for magic and magic tools, even if a thousand knights attacked, they wouldn't be able to drop them so easily.

After the security was reinforced, I went straight to sleep. And when he returned, his grandfather found out about the security reinforcement as fast as he could and was taken aback by it.

''Temma I wonder what you're going to fight against? This isn't a mansion, it's a fortress disguised as a mansion...

I feel like I've gone too far, but I'm not remorseful about this one!

Incidentally, the kings who came to visit later said exactly the same thing as Grandpa's impressions.

Incidentally, Jeanne and Aura hadn't noticed the fortification of the mansion at all.

Furthermore, the next day, the tournament would be held for the preliminary round of team competition.

There were 136 teams participating in this tournament, the third largest number of teams ever. The qualifying round was divided into 16 teams.

However, it is not possible to hold all of the preliminary rounds in the arena, so the teams are gathered in the arena in the morning, and then they are divided into groups to fight at the temporary qualifying sites set up throughout the capital.

In this team competition, the participants of my acquaintances were the three girls and the temporary team of Primera "Gunjo's Flower", the "Sword of Dawn" led by Jinn, the "Demon Soldiers" with Gulliver, the Marquis of Samonsu's subordinate, the "Seigenteamers A", "Seigenteamers B" and "Seigenteamers B" created by the Teimers Guild of Seigen. The "Seigenteamers C", that is.

And as if the teams I know were all opportunistic, they were all split up, which was good, but unfortunately, me and "Seigenteimers B", "Gunjo's Flower" and "Oniheiheiheiheiheihei", "Sword of Dawn" and "Tamer's Guild C" were all in the same group! This was the case.

The Tamer's Guild was A with three grappler ape of Agri and his family, B with two hardlinks of Light and his family, and Ted and his family, Thunderbird, and C with the Sakarat brothers and his family, Flame Tiger and Mountain Turtle.

When this pairing was decided, Light and Ted were quite depressed.

''It's over........''

That's what the two of us were talking about, Aguri told me after the preliminary round.

My team consisted of eight teams, and the venue was an empty lot outside the royal capital. I rode in the shuttle carriage with Ted and Wright.

"We're unlucky to have Tenma in the same group, aren't we, Light?

''Well yes but it can't be helped. Our real goal is to raise the profile of the Tamers Guild!

'That's true too. I'd rather have Temma around so I can lose without a care in the world!

It's pathetic, but...

As we listened to their backward remarks, the carriage we were riding in headed towards the venue.

The temporary venue wasn't very large, but there were quite a few spectators in it.

As I was wondering about this, one of the attendants spoke to me coyly.

'You seem to be wondering why, but it's the Tenma player.

When I nodded my head at the words, he told me more about it. According to the attendant, I'm regarded as one of the "hottest players", and many of the customers came to see me because they were curious to know what kind of guys I'd be partnering with when they heard I'd be participating in a team competition as well.

When the attendant told me that, he went back to work.

There are three different types of tents in the venue, one for each participating team.

Around the tents, the teams that have already arrived are doing their preparatory exercises.

Spectators are watching them and trying to decide which team to bet on. Simply put, they are acting as a paddock for horse racing.

However, there are some teams that are just trying to show off their own performance.

Anyway, since the eyes of the audience have been on me for a while now, I decided to introduce some (...) of my members.

'Slarin, Shiroumaru. You can come out now.

I've been waiting for you to hear what I have to say! Shiroumaru jumped out of the bag.

Shiroumaru's collar had been removed beforehand, so he was about three meters long.

As soon as Shiroumaru jumped out of the bag, there were loud cheers and screams from the audience.

The cheers came from people who knew I was a tamer, and this was on the pamphlet because I had written it down when I registered the team.

The screams came from people who hadn't read the pamphlet and seemed to panic at the sight of the demon that suddenly appeared.

However, the screams soon stopped and were soon replaced by cheers of praise for Shiroumaru.

But in the next moment, the loud cheers stopped in a flash. The cause was Slarin.

After all, in general terms (........) slime is one of the weakest demons.

Such a slime came out after Fenrir (Shiroumaru), who is said to be the highest-ranked species of wolf-type demon, so the appearance of Shiroumaru caused a sudden increase in tension in the audience, and the audience wondered what was going to come next! The weakest demon (slime) came out in a way that betrayed our expectations, and the tension in the crowd dropped dramatically.

And the appearance of Slarin was not only stopped by the crowd, but also by our first round opponent.

All five of our opposing teams were visibly "brainy", with muscles that looked like they had been torn to shreds, and each was equipped with a large sword, hammer, axe, club and shield.

And when their opponents came to themselves, they pointed at Slarin and started laughing. It seems that it's even stranger to have a slime participate in the tournament.

I was annoyed with my opponent's attitude, but the one who was more annoyed than me was Shiroumaru.

When I was surprised, Shiroumaru started snarling and threatening his opponent.

Just as he was wondering if this was a bad idea, Slarin stood in front of Shiroumaru, shaking his body a few times to tell him something.

Shiroumar saw this and gave his opponents a quick glance at Guillory and then pulled back.

Apparently, Slarin saw that Shiroumaru was about to jump on him and convinced him... although it's unclear how he convinced him...

Then Slarin went back to the tent prepared for us, with Shiroumaru in tow, as if nothing had happened.

'Hey Temma is Slarin really a slime?'　

Ted, who had been asking about the situation, asked me what I was wondering too.

Ted and Wright looked the same as usual, but our opponents and most of the crowd seemed to be frightened by Shiroumaru's roar and the way he was seriously threatening them, so they didn't shout and kept quiet.

''Oh, poor Tenma's opponent too... it's going to be a disastrous fight since he's incurred Shiroumaru's wrath...''

Light was clasping his hands together in sympathy for our opponents.

While Wright was clasping his hands together, an attendant informed us that it was getting close to the time for the preliminaries to start, and we all rushed back to our tents to get ready.

The first match of the first round was between Ted and Light's team and a team of fledgling adventurers.

The battle was played at Ted and his team's pace from start to finish. First, Wright and Ted's subordinates, Hard Lynx and Thunderbird, held the adventurers behind and above them, while Wright stood in front of them.

Ted prepared his magic from behind Light, providing support.

As the adventurers tried to attack the light, the Hard Lynx behind them moved around to keep the light from facing them.

When the adventurers try to deal with the Hard Lynx behind them, Light and Ted will try to exploit the gap.

In the beginning, the adventurers had been working together, but then one of the adventurers became numb and jumped out and headed for the Hard Lynx.

But this was the worst move of all. As the adventurer swung his sword at the Hard Lynx, the adventurer was suddenly taken into the air.

It was the work of the Thunderbird. From earlier, this Thunderbird had been standing still, not giving the adventurers a good check on them.

It was probably waiting for the adventurers to jump out, just as they were doing now. The adventurers who flew out were grabbed by the Thunderbird's thick, sharp claws and flew through the air.

The grabbed adventurers managed to attack the Thunderbird, but the one being grabbed was the right hand that was holding the weapon and couldn't move the sword in a fragile manner.

The adventurers were also concerned about their friends who had been taken into the sky, but were unable to move to help as Light and Ted were coming towards them.

Just as Light slashed at the adventurers, one of his friends fell from above the adventurers' heads (........).

The adventurers weren't dropped from so high, so it wasn't too disastrous, but the fellow companion who fell on the man in armor ended up taking quite a bit of damage.

The moment the companion fell, Ted's wind magic, Light's slash, and Hard Lynx and the others' body blows attacked him, and the shape of his body tilted at once.

It took some time, but the result shows that "Seigenteimers B" won the match. It took some time, but looking at the result alone, it was an overwhelming victory for "Seigenteimers B". After all, the opposing adventurers couldn't attack properly, so the lights didn't suffer a single injury.

The audience was excited by this result and praised the lights.

The other adventurers also got up and went back to their tents without any other serious injuries, except for the man who had been dropped with a broken leg.

As the crowd was getting excited, we were immediately called out.

Me, Shiroumaru and Surarin were the only ones from my team that would be participating in this match, while Solomon and Namitaro were off.

I feel like it's a bit of a waste to put Solomon in the qualifying round, and since the festival is still going on, if I put him in now, he won't be in a place to enjoy the festival. As for Namitaro....

You're overpowered if you let me out too.

So he decided not to participate in the first round.

As far as my opponent's adventurers were concerned, I felt that Nami Taro's statement was correct.

It's not a matter of detail, but when it comes to major injuries, it's too dangerous to trust your own life with them, but your opponents don't seem to be aware of this.

My opponents don't seem to be aware of this and are focusing on appealing to the audience. They seem to be aiming for a gold star.

They know my strength from the individual qualifying rounds, but they think that if they can push me with their numbers, they can get by, and the problem is Shiroumaru.

I've been glancing at Shiroumaru from earlier... Slarin is completely ignoring him and doesn't even give him a glance.

In the midst of all this, the referees are standing between us and explaining the rules in a simple manner.

The rules are like those of an individual match minus the out-of-field losses, so it's not something I'd care about now.

'Then let the match begin!

With a declaration, the referees get far enough away. At the same time, all of my opponents were closing in on my Shiroumar opponent at the same time.

As me and Shiroumaru readied ourselves to intercept, Slarin stood in front of us.

''Are you going to do this alone, Slarin?''

Slarin nodded at my words? Me and Shiroumaru flew wide back. It was to keep out of Slarin's way.

However, the spectators and opponents were surprised by the strong attack at the start and seemed to have used the slime as bait to keep their distance.

The opponents were smiling and trying to attack Slurin with a wry smile.

The moment the opponents raised their weapons, a surprising change occurred in Slarin's body.

The change was so surprising to the audience that not only my opponents, but me as well.