CH 318.1

『The elven village is destroyed. The World Tree has been set on fire and continues to burn.』

In the eyes of the world’s leaders, it is a serious event. But when asked if all the people on the continent are concerned about it, that is not always the case.

Many people were living their lives as usual.

「Five days from now, the main competition of the royal capital tournament will finally begin. The contestants will start training harder from today onwards.」

A girl with short-cut hair in a blue bikini said in a serious tone. She is probably in her mid-teens.

This is the flower arrangement arena at a certain school in the royal capital.

She is the captain of the girls’ flower arrangement club. Standing with her hands on her hips, she looks at the members of the club seated in front of her and continues.

「Because it’s tongue and fingers, we will have an advantage in reach. But the same also applies to the opponents. That’s why we’re going to be doing a lot of endurance training from now until the day before the tournament.」

Women’s Flower Arrangement Club is a kind of women’s wrestling, with the goal of making the opponent’s body tremble with pleasure.

The current popular fighting style is to use one’s tongue to lick the opponent’s vital points. It is probably due to the influence of the legendary legend, Long Tongue of the Eastern Country, who keeps winning the world championships in a row.

「Even if they grapple you, crawl on and suck your tongue, draw a character on their back with your finger to make them relax and gain some distance. I think that as long as you have a lot of endurance, you can buy yourself more time to do the job.」

The club members nodded in unison. Unlike the popular fighting style using tongue, these girls in blue swimsuit uniforms use their fingertips.

It was a technique handed down to them by the senior with a cold expression who had coached them until the other day. The 『Eight Basic Strokes』 is their pride.

「Start with the vanguard!」

The girl with long frizzy hair was called out. And the members of the club around her seized her by the arms and legs, pulling the strings and stripping off her top and bottom bikinis.

「Keep your mouth shut! Don’t let out your voice! You’ll end up giving the enemy leeway if you make them think what they’re doing is effective. You need to make them fluster, not the other way around.」

The specialty of the opposing school that they will face in their first match is Mamezanmai, which is a fighting style in which they only attack the beans.

Long frizzy hair, who had always had difficulty in protecting herself, trembled at the attacks of the three-tongues which can’t be done in a tournament.

「Don’t let her rest! Keep going until she passes out.」

The captain, like a demon, gave instructions to the club members who were burying their faces in her crotch.

Not long after, the Long Frizzy hair’s eyes turned white as she began to let out a nonhuman scream.

「Stop there! Next!」

Changing the target from the vanguard, which no longer responds, they start another Mamezanmai onto the next person.

「Captain sure changed since the coach quit, didn’t she?」

A member that began taking care of the Long Frizzy hair whispered.

「Yup. It feels like she’s mentally stronger. I guess she’s trying to get as close as she can to the coach as her substitute.」

Tauro called her the Unicorn, the monster of the Doom Squad. She’s a graduate of this school, she was the ace of the Flower Arrangement club during her school days in the golden age of the school.

「The Eight basic strokes that the coach taught us. Using that, I can never allow myself to lose, can I?」

「I can see why the captain is so desperate.」

They nodded to each other. Behind them, the captain was sending out instructions to the remaining members of the club.

「You guys, lick between the vice general’s toes. When you’re dealing with a 『General』, there’s a good chance they’ll go that far.」

Even after getting three of her beans licked and sucked, the vice general with a Young Lady cut still kept her mouth closed and suppressed her voice. As expected, not long after she let out a scream and rode on the course of losing consciousness.

After confirming this, the Short-cut captain sat down on the floor and told everyone.

「Come on, I’m next. And just ignore everything I order you guys to do while we’re doing it.」

She, who was the Captain, is going to be the general of the team in the upcoming tournament.

She added, 『If I lose consciousness, pour some water on me to wake me up and resume the training. Don’t stop licking until I’m completely gone and can’t wake up.』, probably her way of being strict with herself.

The Captain’s series of cries echoed until nightfall, though they were intermittently muffled by the club members who faithfully followed the instructions.

***

Meanwhile, this is the men’s flower arrangement hall, built in another part of the same school.

「It’s better than I expected. You have some talent using this part of you.」

A man in his thirties with a clean-shaven face, wearing only blue leggings, pulled down to his knees, said.

The one who he said it to, was a boy in his mid-teens, head down on a mat on the floor with only his butt raised high. He is a newcomer to the men’s flower arrangement club.

「….T-Thank you, very much… coach.」

The first-year student replied with a muffled sound as his coach arranged his flower with his “Kenzan*”.

Until recently, this boy had been a problem child. His racket, which rests on the front of his crotch, is so sensitive that he cannot even handle practice matches between members of the club.

「*TL Note: Thick needle used in Ikebana (flower arrangement) to fix the root of the flower.」

「Go participate in the upcoming rookie tournament. There has never been a freshman cut man before. Everyone will be surprised for sure.」

The term 『Cutman』 is used in contrast to 『Driveman』 who actively attacks the opponent from the front and indicates a style of receiving the attack from the back and countering it thoroughly.

They are players who obtain a victory by challenging the opponents to a long rally and making them spit out their juice first.

「Me!? Really!?」

A current of joy and exultation flowed down his back, and the freshman gripped the coach’s racket tightly with his hand.

Those were words that he thought he, who had almost given up, would never hear because he liked the game but lacked the qualities to play it.

His coach was a great man who recognized the boy’s potential in the process of disciplining him and encouraged him to play by turning the tables on his opponents. The coach, with his clean-shaven face, smiles as he traces his finger along his back.

「It seems you’re still weak to praise, huh? During the tournament, watch out for sweet whispers from your opponent.」

He smiled because he was not as worried as he said he would be.

The adult flower arrangement tournament that he participates in aside, it’s very rare for someone with that kind of talent in the student tournament.

Satisfied with his strong smash, he pulled out his racket and raised his leggings to his waist.

(Now, I wonder how the other side is doing?)

Then he turned his eyes toward the newest member of the team, who was being coached by two senior club members.

Even a southpaw is fresh for the opponents in flower arrangement, so it can be an advantage. But to his surprise, he was a cross-dominant.

『I will definitely become a member of the club.』

With such strong feelings, it is not surprising that the coach kept hitting on him from behind for a long time.

「You need to use your wrist, like when you’re holding a pen. Right, like that.」

「For this one, imagine doing it like when you’re shaking hands. And… shake! Good, good.」

He’s holding his seniors’ rackets in each hand, left and right, and is being taught the basic gripping technique.

From the voice he can hear from them, they seem to be doing well. After a few moments of watching, the coach clapped his hands and said in a loud voice.

「Alright, that’s it for today. Everybody gather around!」

The coach folds his hairy arms in front of the students, who are sitting on their knees in a triangle and continues.