Chapter 215: The Tournament Draws to a Close

Chapter 215: The Tournament Draws to a Close

The day’s second match wasn’t able to start even after the first ended. It was originally scheduled to begin about an hour afterwards, but it couldn’t. The massive, gaping hole we’d created ended up ruling that option out in its entirety. The necessarily repairs simply couldn’t be completed in time.

「Looks like the finals will be starting soon.」

「Mmph.」

「Are you still eating?」

「Mmmphrrnnph」

「Yeah, yeah, I get it. You can eat as much as you want.」

The Beast Lord had once again summoned us to the VIP room, which turned out to be real convenient seeing as how we’d planned on checking in with him anyways. He seemed to have caught onto the fact that Fran was a foodie, as the room was filled with all sorts of extravagant dishes laid out much in the same manner as they would be at a buffet.

She, being who she was, had naturally ended up falling victim to their appeal. That is, she did as the Beast Lord wished and decided on watching the finals together with him and his associates — which, in and of itself, wasn’t really a bad thing. Their invitation was actually one that took Fran’s convenience into account. She’d become extremely popular, especially amongst her fellow beastkin.

I was almost certain that there wasn’t a beastkin present in the arena that wouldn’t want to talk to her, especially seeing as how she’d finished all her matches and raked in the third place prize. They’d been rather patient and calm up until now, but it didn’t seem like they could hold themselves back much longer. Some had even began to seem to want to stalk her.

People, as a whole, had the tendency to be rather stupid regardless of where or when. From that understanding came the assumption that she would most likely be approached by one or more nobles that wished to use their positions in order to extort her.

In other words, staying in the Beast Lord’s vicinity benefited us because it would likely prevent any less morally sound individuals from acting out of line.

The Beast Lord had taken a decent liking to Fran, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was free of ulterior motives. She, as an evolved Black Catkin, was definitely someone that could be of use to him. Thus, his invitation had likely been extended because he didn’t want any other noble stealing a march on him and doing something that would cause Fran to feel ill will towards the Beastkin’s Country or its residents.

Of course, not all the benefits the Beast Lord could derive from having her around were longer termed ones. Seeing him with her would likely lead onlookers to view him in a more favourable light.

Being the world’s one and only evolved Black Catkin was something that, by nature, granted Fran an incredible amount of attention.

I wasn’t actually sure whether or not Fran knew just how much attention she would be getting, but she was at least roughly aware of the consequences of revealing her identity. The reason I could say that with certainty was because Fran had wanted to use the tournament as a means of becoming famous in hopes of bettering the world’s treatment of the Black Catkin race.

That was why she’d purposefully awakened under public scrutiny. She was more than willing to draw attention to herself so long as she managed to bring benefit to her tribesmen.

We’d been a bit worried that nations and nobles would end up eyeing her, but acquainting ourselves with the Beast Lord had at least mitigated that concern to an extent.

「Here. Take this.」

「Nn. Thanks.」

「No problem.」

Her looking rather vexed in spite of that made it clear that she’d been aiming for his head, and that he’d somehow managed to dodge.

The whipmaster’s weapon immediately began to crumble, a result likely in part brought about by the fact that it was a backup weapon and, relatively speaking, an inferior good.

Because she lost her weapon, Amanda also ultimately ended up losing the battle.

「And the winner, the one man that triumphed over all his peers, is Hundred Blade Forrund!」

Fran regarded Forrund with a serious look on her face as the caster named him the tournament’s victor.

『He sure is strong.』

(Nn! But will surpass one day. Both Amanda and Forrund.)

『That we will.』

Likewise, the Beast Lord was also starring Forrund down. His eyes, however, expressed a much different emotion. It was almost like he was a predator observing its prey.

「So Forrund won? Man... I really would like to give sparring him a go.」

「Please ensure you stay calm and rational, Your Majesty.」

「Make sure you don’t suddenly jump at and attack him, alright, Lord Rig?」

「Well yeah, no sheet! Just what the hell do you guys take me for?」

「I guess the best way to describe it would be to call you a combat enthusiast.」

「I’d say a battle maniac.」

「Oh come on...」

It seemed not even the seemingly ever arrogant Beast Lord was a match for Royce and Roche combined. Getting called out by both had caused him to shut up.

「It’ll soon be time for the awards ceremony. You should probably get ready, Fran.」

Royce reminded us of something that’d totally slipped my mind. Fran had managed to rank herself in at third place, so she wouldn’t be able to skip the ceremony.

The tourney had actually contained three different types of contests. The first was the restrictionless one one that we participated in. The second only allowed those at or under level 20, and the third was open to parties between three and five people strong.

Both the other two types had already ended. The type we participated in was the one that tended to house the greatest number of, and the most skilled participants, so it ended up dragging on the longest. That said, all the awards ceremonies were set to take place at the same time.

That was nice and all, but I had a pretty major concern with the whole scenario. I didn’t actually know how I was supposed to get Fran, who really hated boring ceremonies, to actually sit still and behave herself throughout the whole godd*mn thing.