Chapter 708

Fran, the victor the match, walked down the aisle to the special spectator seats.

She used Brilliant Lightning Rush so her magical and physical strength were exhausted. She must've taken a lot of damage too. I'd like to let her rest at the inn if possible, but it is also important to gather information on the matches.

I'll give her a good rest tomorrow, and let her watch the matches in peace today.

As Fran walked silently, I asked her what had been bothering me about the Mordred match.

『Hey Fran, can I ask you something?』

「What?」

『How did you detect Mordred's metal spheres in the lava? The magic was masked and it was hard to get a read on them, right?』

「Did you feel a tingle?」

『A tingle?』

「Nn.」

I don't know what you're talking about…… You mean you you sensed something with your natural instincts? Or is there something else to it?

『A tingle, huh? Can you be a little more specific?』

「Nn… a little bit of the magic I used left a tingle on the sphere.」

『Oh, really?』

If Fran's magic made the ball tingle, it must be lightning magic.

So it seems that when it blocked the lightning magic, some of that magic remained in the metal ball. I guess you could say it was electrified.

Fran's senses sharpened by Brilliant Lightning Rush seems to have caught that slight lightning attribute. It may not be unrelated to the fact that Black Heavenly Tigers have a high affinity for the lightning attribute.

I wonder if I can do something like that if I try hard enough.

『Even so, you won even without my help.』

「Nn.」

Last year, when we fought against the B rank adventurer Colbert, I helped her out and we won by sheer brute force after using physical attack immunity.

But this time, Fran won all by herself.

However, Fran seems a bit unhappy.

『……Are you frustrated?』

「Nn……」

『Well, he's a veteran so of course he'd be taking the lead. That's one thing that just can't be helped.』

「I know. But it's frustrating. Besides, I was a bit overconfident. I'll do better next time.」

Although she outplayed Mordred in the end, she had been at Mordred's mercy until that point.

He was not only skillful, but also anticipated Fran's personality to enjoy the battle.

In a sense, everything had been foreshadowing, and until the final Volcanic Geyser, the game went all according to Mordred's plan.

He probably prepared several plans in advance, and simulated what he'd do if Fran moved a certain way.

Even though Fran won, it was a disappointing match for her.

「He was great.」

『Yeah, he was.』

Brilliant Lightning Rush, Sword God Transformation, Dimensional Magic, Sword-King Arts. If we had went all in, there's a possibility that we could have won in the first few seconds of the match.

But all things considered that would just be brute force. If we were up against a veteran with the same level of power, it might not work. At least, it wouldn't be an easy victory.

And I know one such an opponent.

『Diaz will be even worse.』

「Nn.」

I can't come up with any counter measures for him but it was a great experience for us to fight Mordred here. We must make the most of this victory in the future.

As we were walking along, we heard some commotion in front of us.

「I'm sorry, sir!」

「Damn! If you're going to apologize, don't start acting like a fool from the beginning!」

Someone was making a scene with the adventurers. At first glance, it looks like the adventurers were the ones at fault, but the soldier who rushed into to the scene was angry with the man who was on his knees.

Perhaps he's a recruiter from the Kingdom of Shallus. As the guild told us, they were causing a ruckus in many places.

The guards were giving him an exasperated warning, but the people of the Shallus Kingdom didn't show any remorse. In any case, their apologies were all lies and are probably going to keep trying to recruit us.

『Fran, let's get out of here before we get caught in the middle of this.』

（Got it.）

I wonder what the Shallus Kingdom are really after. They're gonna make it really hard for the guards. Maybe they'll be banned from the venue soon.

Back at the spectator seats, the game has not started yet. Since Mordred has turned the whole playing field into lava, and since Fran has stowed away all of it away.

But it was almost ready. Several magicians who could use earth magic proceeded to clear the ground and set up the stage. The workmanship was quite good.

And so the second match began……

『It's settled! The mercenary Biscot has pulled off a brilliant coup de grace to win the match!』

「It's over!」

Biscot had finished him off in seconds. I couldn't check out any of his moves or skills but oh well, complaining won't help.

But more importantly, the next match was coming up. After a few okayish games between unknown fighters, we have a must-see game coming up.

Fran knows this. She put away her food and snacks and took her hands off Urushi, who was getting smothered. She straighted her back and stared quietly into the arena.

After all, the next match was between Sibylla and Colbert.

『Here comes the rank B adventurer, Colbert the Iron Claw! He is said to have left the School of Dimitris, so what kind of fight will he show us? The first round was almost an instant kill, but what about the next round?』

As expected, the commentator wouldn't use the negative word "expulsion". Still, I would like to see how Colbert will fight now that he no longer has the Dimitris style.

『Against him is the red-haired mercenary Sibylla! Like Colbert, Sibylla showed us an impressive first-round KO finishing the fight in the blink of an eye! Let's see how close she can get to Colbert in this match!』

Listening to the commentary and the reaction of the audience, it was clear that Sibylla was being treated as a lower rank. This is how unknown mercenaries are treated, I guess.

However, the two fighters themselves seem to have a different view. Sibylla lets out a chuckle of amusement, while Colbert glares at Sibylla with a stern expression.

If you were at Colbert's level, you'd know what she was capable of. The amount of magic he's weaving in his body is a sign of his utmost vigilance.

「Colbert is starting off at full power?」

『Yeah, seems so.』

「Sibylla is just like me.」

You mean as in how she's going to wait and see at the start. Let's see what happens.

『Let the games begin!』