“There!”
“Aaahn!”
“Um…what?”
“Oh, that feels so good! Give me more!”
The metal hoop smacked Elza in the rear and she squealed with pleasure. Her reaction startled Charlotte and threw her off balance. Transmute Pain allowed its user to convert pain into pleasure. As if that wasn’t enough, this particular user was a masochist at heart, and I doubted Charlotte had ever encountered anyone like her. She kept up her assault as best she could until a kick from Elza sent her flying.
“I see you!”
“Urgh! How did you—”
“Your feints are getting a little predictable, honey.”
When Elza broke through Charlotte’s illusion-inducing dances, the fight was as good as done.
“Haaa!”
“Kyaaa!”
Dodging Elza’s gigantic mace took everything Charlotte had.
“Hee hee. Gotcha!”
“Agh! No! I can’t get away…”
“You have some nice moves, dear. Just needs a little more oomph.”
“Wait, what are—aaaaah!”
“Buh-bye now!”
Elza caught Charlotte by the back of her neck and flung her out of the ring. With that, the match came to a satisfying end. Both combatants had given it their all.
We learned a lot from the other matches, too—including the creative use of skills I’d never even thought of. For example, there was a bandit who intentionally buffed his opponent’s sense of smell before throwing a stink bomb. We might never need to use that, but it was interesting to see a status buff used to inflict a disadvantage.
We also learned a lot about Steel Magic after seeing it in action. You could melt your opponent’s weaponry and control the arena by heating up parts of the ground, for example. And the subtle usage of Compound Magic made me want to invest a few points in it.
As for Fran, she was more than sufficiently motivated. She fidgeted so much I could feel it through my sheath. She was like a schoolboy watching his friends play a videogame, waiting for his turn.
There’s a lot of strong fighters here.
Hm!
The sun was setting by the time the scheduled fights were over.
Let’s go back to the inn.
“Hmm…” Fran tilted her head.
Or is there somewhere you want to check out first?
Fran took a sword from her Pocket Dimension. It looked familiar. Where had I seen it before?
“I accidentally took Zehmet’s sword.”
Zehmet’s Azure Dragon Fang Shortsword. The one he threw at her in calculated desperation. I’d wondered where that went. The blade was quite strong and would sell for a decent price.
Yeah, we should probably give that back.
“Hm.”
As hostile as Blue Pride was, we couldn’t say the same about Zehmet. I kind of liked him, and Fran seemed to feel the same way.
Jet, can you track his scent?
“Woof!”
No problems there. We followed Jet for a good twenty minutes before he led us to the city outskirts.
Is this the place?
“Woof.”
The empty lot didn’t have much in the way of housing, but there were tents set up here and there. They were tied down with logs, and looked intimidating. Blue Pride probably couldn’t get a place to stay, and so had set up their own little base camp. Paying for the entire crew’s accommodation took money, and the mercenary band was probably used to camping.
How were we supposed to find Zehmet in all these tents? I wanted to avoid contact with the other Blue Cats as much as possible. Suddenly, someone came towards us.
“You!” a girl in her teens shouted furiously. I remembered her pointing her finger at us outside of Aurel’s mansion, along with the rest of Blue Pride. Fran had Intimidated her into submission and left her to Elza’s mercy.
“Do I know you?”
Of course, Fran didn’t remember. But she still hated Blue Cats in general, especially the weak ones.
“Hmph! My name is Selen! Lieutenant of Blue Pride!”
This girl was their lieutenant?! She had terrible stats, although she did have Rhetoric and Threaten under her skills. Maybe she conspired her way to her position? Then again, she didn’t look that smart, either…
“I’m Fran.” Fran had been openly hostile to every Blue Cat she had ever met, but her encounter with Zehmet changed her. She was giving the girl a chance to convince her she didn’t deserve to be ruthlessly beat up.
“I know who you are! You’re only here to mock us! What more could you want?!” Not that Selen was going to return the favor.
“I wanted to give this back.”
“This is…my brother’s sword! You thief!”
So much for preserving civility. But…was this Zehmet’s sister? That explained how she got her position.
“How did a Black Cat like you beat my brother, anyway? It doesn’t make sense!”
“I’m stronger.”
“You’re lying! Black Cats are nothing but trash! You couldn’t have beaten my brother in a fair fight! You must’ve cheated!”
“I didn’t.”
“I know you did! My brother would never have lost to a Black Cat!”
Her angry stomping made her look even more childish than she already was. She really hated the Black Cats. I had a hard time believing that she was related to Zehmet.
“Look, I don’t know what dirty trick you pulled, but give him your spot in the second round and I’ll forgive you!” she said, sounding like she was doing us a favor.
Fran narrowed her eyes. “No.” Her mood was worsening with every word. Zehmet’s fool sister was exhausting all the goodwill her brother had built up.
“Is that supposed to be a joke? Did you not hear what I said? You’re supposed to thank me for forgiving you!”
Was this girl really his sister? She acted nothing like him. Either way, Fran had decided that she wasn’t worth talking to. She pursed her lips and tossed Selen an ice-cold stare.
“…”
“This is the problem with you stupid Black Cats! You don’t know your place!”
“…”
“What are you staring at me for? Do you know what’s going to happen if you don’t resign from the tournament?”
“I don’t.” Fran was furious, but she held back because this girl was Zehmet’s sister. It was admirable, though I didn’t know how much longer she could last.
“Hmph. You Black Cats are only around because we Blue Cats allow you to exist.”
“Urgh.”
“If you don’t retire, you’re not the only
