CH 18

When I arrived at the entrance of the waiting room,  I encountered Etoile-san in front of it.

So this person is an A-Rank adventurer and even has the title of 《Preaching Princess》.

「Ara? Toto-san what are you doing in this corner?」

「Nn,  eh? wrong place?」

「Toto-san is supposed to be on the other side」

「Ah,  that so,  thanks」

「Toto-san,  I’ve watched the way you fight from before,  but…… ah no, don’t mind it, it’s not something I should talk about right before our match」

After thinking about it for a bit,  Etoile-san shook her head and closed her eyes for a bit to confirm her thoughts.

「Nn,  don’t really know what want but,  will do my best」

「Ee,  I will also be expecting a good fight」

◇Etoile’s PoV ――――――

My name is Etoile・Donie, the eldest daughter of the Former Duke Donie Household, and I will be turning 22 years old this year.

When I was young, our country was attacked and destroyed by Magicians, and it was only me who was by chance saved by someone who was called 《Sword King》 that passed by.

After being saved, I  gradually learned a lot of things from her as we traveled from place to place. Though I had my regrets I still look up to and respect her, and to some extent I was also helping out as an adventurer…… And when I turned C-Rank, well, that happened.

「It seems like you can take care of yourself now, from now on you have to live strongly on your own and do your best to stay alive」

After saying that, she disappeared and I was left all alone again. However, right now even if I am living alone, I can do quests that normal solo adventurers can’t, and because that person was my goal I continued to do my best. Without noticing how, I rose up to fame.

While continuing the things that I normally do, I came to be known as the 《Preaching Princess》 and without even noticing it my guild card already showed A-Rank.

And as a matter of course, I continued my days doing the same thing I did like helping people in need and lending others a hand. Then one day, I met a travelling fortune teller who suddenly told me,

「Head towards Aries, the capital of Eresbell Kingdom, and from there you should join the battle tournament. I am sure that there will be people who would be in need of your assistance」

The content of the message was too precise, and I didn’t believe it at first. It is just a fortune but aren’t some of the details too concrete?

And of course, at the beginning I just looked over it and completely ignored that fortune teller’s remarks. But the reason I did so is that there were many people in need of salvation even in the place where I worked at.

However, I noticed something strange when I took a request. I am not needed anymore in most of the requests that I usually do, and those that do need me would make me to go towards Eresbell Kingdom.

Then I remembered what the fortune teller said to me again, 『Enter the battle tournament』, those strangely specific words.

After that, while doing some quests along the way, I finally arrived at Eresbell Kingdom and then entered the battle tournament. I was thinking of enjoying the festival at the beginning, but…… Looking at the participants list, I found out that there were also a lot of named adventurers who joined in, and that gradually shifted my motivation to wanting to test my skills against them.

And then I met her at that moment.

Her name was Toto, a seemingly frail looking child.

She had red eyes and jet black hair which rare to find in this continent. Also those red eyes that are tinted like blood, so at first I was in doubt, thinking that she might be an undead. I was thinking 「why is a monster participating in this competition」 and could only laugh about it.

I was talking about it to an acquaintance of mine who was dressed in town girl outfit and was watching along with me together in the audience. I should mention that her specialization is in exterminating undead.

「That girl, maybe she’s human」

Well, I sure am interested in why she said 『Maybe』 but I understood immediately why, when the battle started. This is not a power that a normal human could wield.

At the same time, it’s also not a power that you could find from demons, and if you don’t point her out as an undead, then she would be nothing more than just a strong Human.

Then that power would be nothing more than just a《Blessing from God》.

Her movements were also the same as an amateur, and it made me think that she might be quite confident about her strength. She looks like a sweet and polite child so I don’t really understand why she is doing this.

With that strength alone, she is already paving her way towards her future and will be regarded as a high-profiled warrior. I don’t know if she will join the knights or become an adventurer or maybe try to be a 「Heroic person」, and while watching her fight, I thought of it. I was probably called out here to be a tall Wall for her to climb.

「There’s also a way to beat beasts with superior armor and speed, Toto-san」

On my waiting room, I took out a specialized kind of whip from my tool bag and sighed deeply to ease my tension.

◇――――――

When I and Etoile-san climbed up the stage, we were introduced briefly and a short explanation about our specialties was given in order to hype up the audience.

Etoile-san was wearing the same gorgeous armor that she wore when I saw her the first time, but her rapier was nowhere to be found, and instead she’s now donned with shoes that were like a mirror and a whip in her hand.

「Gek, that I know of it」

If I’m not mistaken, it’s something that is used for torturing and killing in my previous life.

If I remember correctly, that whip is called「Cat o Nine Tail」, and is a whip usually made out of strong rope with different lengths. There are also several knots placed on each of its tangles. In addition to its lashes, it also gives more damage at the points where the knots hit, strong enough to pop out muscles.

And there were nine tangles of such. It was written in many history books that the pain of its lashes would make someone almost faint from it and being hit several times usually ended up killing it’s victims.

Is she going to try and discipline me or something, I don’t remember doing anything that would warrant that though.

There’s none right? Well I shouldn’t really think about it, it’s not like there’s really anything substantial that happened in the past 10 years, right?

And also, I noticed that contained within the knot like parts, it’s something resembling Iron balls that were contained inside. It seems like something that be really difficult to deal with, and I understood that the purpose for its use is not for torture, but for it to be used like a type of blunt weapon with the objective of destroying things.

Etoile-san probably switched her weapon in order to deal with my defense. I was almost able to invalidate Benihana-san’s slashing power after all so she might have thought that her rapier would be useless against me.

If you can’t cut it then crush it, and I think that’s a good decision if it was me.

I’m also concerned about those boots of her. When I was talking to the adventurer maniac Uncles yesterday, they mentioned about equipment with specialized enchantments.

『If you notice that something seems out of place or it feels like you’re being cheated, make sure to check the opponent’s equipment. It may just be minor effects but enchanted equipments can still become something troublesome』

That is what the uncles said, and they also taught me how to distinguish them from normal equipment.

The easiest way is to check if there is magical power flowing around them. Well, it would also be necessary for me to train until I can properly see magic power though.

In general, equipment with enchantment would usually have distinctive characteristics like their color, shape and many others. An example would be a sword with golden color or a rainbow colored blade, or a shield with strange distinct colors.

However, that is only how you would distinguish it, and the effect it would do would still be unknown.

There seems to be an expert appraiser in most weapon shops, and that they would easily be able to understand the effects, but since I don’t have that ability it would be almost impossible to know.

Etoile-san who was in a good pose seems to be quite confident about her abilities.

As an A-Rank adventurer, she would be on par with the adventurers that I’ve fought like Vergil-san and Paranoia-san, but they were easily defeated with a surprise attack from me. This be the first time that I would properly fight an A-Rank adventurer who is quite confident about their skill.

「Well then――」

The referee the raised his arm, probably checking to see who will be going to attack first as the the game starts.

「Start!!」

The referee then swung down his arm, and with the sound of a gong, the match started.