CH 112

Episode 112 – Deciding Opponents 

“Welcome back, you three!” (Lyra)

“More than that, what an amazing smell!” (Porta)

“Not only the smell, you can look forward to the taste! ….Hey Lewin, did you remember our promise?” (Lyra)

Lyra was greeting us as we returned, when she asked me this with a smug look on her face.

Mmm. It was a bit frustrating to admit when she had this expression, but it was true that I was the one who forgot.

“…….Yeah. That promise we made when we were on the way back from Clive’s store?” (Lewin)

“That’s right! You said that you wanted to try tasting different kinds of curry, so I even went out of my way to buy the ingredients to make it… but you forgot about it!!” (Lyra)

“Well… I mean, that was a pretty long time ago. But, thank you Lyra and Nina! Not only for remembering it, but also for making it for me like this!” (Lewin)

When I conveyed my sincere gratitude, Lyra beamed like the sun.

“Nyehehe. Hearing your gratitude makes me think that it was worth it to have made it for you. Come now, the food’s ready, so let’s all eat together! I made the meat curry, and Nina made the vegetable curry!” (Lyra)

“Man, I’ve been looking forward to this! This is my first time eating this dish!” (Porta)

“This is also my first time. Now then, let’s hurry up and dig in!” (Byrne)

In this way, I sat down at the table with the members of [Iron Gear] and ate curry. Since I was always used to eating Dumbbell Weed curry, whether it was Lyra’s curry that was full of meat, or Nina’s lighter veggie curry, both were extremely delicious to me. I was able to more or less get rid of the bitterness of the Dumbbell Weed curry with the Glutamate Herb, but as expected, there was nothing better than a curry without any off flavors in it.

After eating this tasty curry, the thoughts I had earlier of treating them to Dumbbell Weed curry vanished completely. It might be better to treat them to it tomorrow morning, when their memory of curry was a little less clear in their minds. With these thoughts in mind, I tucked into these two first-rate types of curry while enjoying the beautiful nature of the surroundings.

“Man, that was so good. It worked out well that even though they were the same dish, they had pretty different flavors!” (Byrne)

“Yeah, I agree. I could still taste the flavor of the meat and the vegetables separately.” (Porta)

“Thanks again, Lyra and Nina! It was a real treat.” (Lewin)

The three guys in the group gave their impressions and expressed their gratitude to the two girls for cooking the meal. I was really full… It was a really satisfying dinner.

“I was wondering how it would turn out since we were cooking in an unfamiliar location, but I’m glad it turned out well! Now that I know that curry is pretty suited for cooking in a campground, I think I’ll try it again next time.” (Lyra)

“……I agree. It was comparatively easy to make, so I think it’s a good option.” (Nina)

If it was curry again next time, I’d be happy with that.

“Alright. Now that we’re all full thanks to the curry, let’s have a mock battle tournament,” Byrne said suddenly with a strange smile on his face. Lyra and Nina tilted their heads in confusion while Porta made a sour expression that made him look like he swallowed a bug. I said this before, but I felt that it was fine for Porta to not participate.

“Eh? What’s that? A mock battle tournament?!” (Lyra)

“While we were out gathering, Lewin suggested that we should have a mock battle. After that, we came up with the idea of having a mock battle tournament.” (Byrne)

“What the heck?!! That sounds super interesting! I wanna join!” (Lyra)

When Lyra heard what Byrne said, she grinned excitedly and jumped around in high spirits. That left Nina, but… unexpectedly, Nina had a slightly hopeful expression on her face. Since she was part of the rearguard like Porta, I totally thought she would be opposed to it.

“Alright, I guess we’re all in then! Do you wanna do a tournament format or a round robin format?” (Byrne)

“Okie, sounds good. I’m getting hyped up about this! But… why did you suddenly want to do a mock battle, Lewin?” (Lyra)

“I’m being taught swordsmanship by someone, and they told me to spar with all kinds of people, so I’m just taking their advice.” (Lewin)

“Heeeh?! So you have a master, Lewin! Who is it?” (Lyra)

“A Knight of the R― I mean… uhhhh… look! It’s already getting late, so let’s hurry up and start the matches!” (Lewin)

In response to Lyra’s question, I almost said Kirty’s name, but I held myself back. She was going so far as to hide her identity earlier, so I thought that it might be better not to reveal that I was studying under her. I almost said it without thinking about it, but I was glad that I was able to cover it up.

“Kinda suspicious… but oh well! Then let’s decide our opponents! Should we decide our opponents by matching with rock paper scissors?” (Lyra)

“That sounds good, right? Then everyone, hold out your hands. Let’s do rock paper scissors.” (Byrne)

“Ah…. Anyone but Lewin…” (Porta)

“Uwahh… Fighting Nina in the first match…” (Byrne)

The moment the opponents were decided, Porta and Byrne cried out pessimistically. There was nothing out of place hearing Porta’s gloomy remark given our earlier exchange, but surprisingly, Byrne also sounded discouraged. Judging by Byrne’s attitude, did that mean that Nina was strong…?

“Uwahhhh!! I’m the only one left! But… looks like I got a bye, so lucky me!” (Lyra)

“Okay, then Lyra, you can be the referee. Now then, who wants to fight first?” (Byrne)

“Can we start first then? I wanna hurry up and get this terrible experience out of the way,” Porta declared in response to Byrne’s question. I felt bad about making him do this when he disliked it so much, but it was probably better to just do it since Porta said he was okay with it.

“Okay. Then the first match will be Lewin versus Porta.” (Byrne)

In this way, my mock battle against Porta was decided. Most likely, he was the weakest opponent among the members of [Iron Gear], but by no means was I going to let my guard down.

In the last month, I’ve been diligently taught the downward slash from Kirty. Let’s use everything that I learned from yesterday’s mock battle to win at all costs!