I caught a cold. Everyone, please take care of yourselves.
"How is the food tasting?"
"Everything is delicious."
"I'm glad to hear that."
The banquet had started, and after a few dishes had been served, Hana arrived together with Sana. Normally, it should have been Baron Robo who came with Hana to see me, but he had apparently made one excuse after another, so Hana had no choice but to bring Sana instead. Incidentally, Amour had tried to come in Sana's place, but Baron Robo had stopped her. The words I'd faintly caught at that time were something like, "Those who might end up facing each other in the tournament shouldn't get too friendly." Amour clearly hadn't been convinced, but Baron Robo had been so persistent that she hadn't been able to take Sana's place.
"I tried serving some things with stronger flavors than last time, but it seems they were fine. Still, I put out dishes that even many people in the south have trouble with, and you were able to eat them all."
What Hana was pointing at as she said this was the sashimi and
kusaya
Both had originally been served in small portions, but since I'd eaten them without any problem, additional servings had been brought out several times.
"As for raw fish, I've eaten things similar to it on several occasions. And as for this kusaya, I've eaten things with even stronger flavors and worse smells than this."
Well, the biggest reason was that I'd eaten these things in my previous life. But in truth, as for raw fish, I'd previously (when leaving Kukuri Village) learned from Namitaro which fish could be eaten raw, and I'd frozen and eaten them several times as a way to supplement my vitamins. As for the kusaya, I'd eaten similar preserved foods in rural villages — things like beast meat that hadn't been fully bled, preserved in salt or in liquids with sterilizing herbs. Incidentally, since the whole point of preserved foods was nutrition and long-term storage, the taste had been absolutely terrible. Compared to that, this kusaya was practically a delicacy.
"It's only natural that unfamiliar things would abound when you come from a different place with a different way of life, but I can hardly believe there are things out there even smellier than that."
"I'm a little curious... but if it were actually placed in front of me, I probably wouldn't be eager to try it."
Hana and Sana showed interest in the foods I'd described, so the conversation kept flowing, and they asked me about the best things I'd eaten so far.
"There were all sorts of things... but if I had to limit it to just ingredients, the best would be the White-furred wild ox, and second would be Bicorn."
The reason I'd limited it to ingredients was that, because of the differences in cooking methods between my previous life and this one, things I made myself were generally tastier — though it felt a bit too self-congratulatory to say so. Beyond that, if I were being truly honest, the best would be what my mother made, but admitting that would be even more embarrassing. As for everything else outside of those, the best would be the cooking from the old man at the "Manpokutei."
"Both are the kind of premium ingredients that are absolutely top-notch. I've never had either one."
"Now that you mention it, Amour told me that she'd 'landed a hit on a Bicorn with Seigen!' I wonder... did that girl and that person actually eat Bicorn?"
As Sana murmured those words, Amour and Branca seemed to sense something, and they both shuddered.
"Yes, after we defeated it, we had yakiniku together with some acquaintances, so the two of us ate it too. They were gnawing on the meat around the bones."
Since there was no point in lying, when the two of them admitted they'd eaten Bicorn as well, Hana and Sana looked at them with envy. There seemed to be some dark emotion mixed into their gazes, but that was probably just their imagination.
"We still have some Bicorn and White-furred wild ox left. Shall we let you two have enough for a meal?"
At this proposal, Hana and Sana answered in unison, their voices overlapping: "Please!" He figured it wouldn't be appropriate to hand over raw meat right there, so he promised to cut some portions and deliver them another day.
"Hehe. Well then, this isn't exactly a return favor, but I suppose it's about time we had the main course brought out."
"Oh, that fish dish. Tenma will definitely be surprised!"
At Sana's suggestion, Hana put on a slightly scheming expression and signaled to the serving staff.
"Main course?"
The one who reacted to their words was Amour, who had slipped past Viscount Robo. Apparently, she'd said something along the lines of, "It's embarrassing when the household doesn't greet its guests, so I'll come say hello as
a reasonable person."
Incidentally, Viscount Robo, who naturally tried to stop Amour, had no choice but to let her go in front of his subordinates.
"Yes, it just so happens that a very large fish was caught in the river right near a village I'm acquainted with. Apparently, it put up quite a struggle when it was caught in the net, but the village chief struck it between the brows to knock it unconscious, and in that opening, they delivered the finishing blow. They brought it to me this morning, saying it was their usual thank-you."
"It was really huge! After all, it was over three meters long!"
Hana and Sana told the story with excitement, but upon hearing it, me and Amour, and even Gramps and Branca who had been listening in, all froze at the same time.
"A fish over three meters long..."
"I've got a bad feeling about this..."
"Don't tell me, Nami..."
"Don't say it, Amour!"
I quickly clamped my hand over Amour's mouth to stop her from raising any flags, but I'd had the same bad feeling as Gramps from the moment I heard the story. Apparently, when Viscount Robo saw my actions, he'd tried to lunge at me, but Branca—just as lacking in composure as I was—had slammed him into the tatami floor.
"You all look so curious!"
"But, sis, am I imagining things, or do you look more anxious than excited?"
"You're imagining things! Ah, here it comes! Sana, on the count of three — when I say 'go,' I'll pull the cloth off, okay?"
"Got it."
Ignoring us as we froze in place, Hana and Sana took positions at either end of the enormous fish dish concealed beneath the cloth,
"One, two, three!"
And pulled the cloth away. The result was...
"Thank goodness, it's not Namitarou!"
"Safe!"
That's what it was. The enormous fish had been roasted whole, and the charred spots here and there made it look somewhat similar in color to Namitarou at first glance, but the shape was clearly different. It seemed that while Namitarou was a "carp," this giant fish was more like a "salmon" or "trout." It was probably the same species I'd caught on my way here.
Gramps, Branca, and I all slumped down involuntarily, but Amour alone stood with her arms spread wide to the sides like a baseball umpire signaling safe. Who had taught her that gesture and its meaning? Well, she was almost certainly a reincarnator, so that probably explained it.
"Hm? What's wrong with everyone?"
Seeing us collapse like that, Hana and Sana looked puzzled.
"Mom, Sana sis, you see, the thing is..."
Amour, the only one who remained composed, explained the situation with Namitarou to Hana and Sana. After hearing Amour's explanation, the two of them said, "Come to think of it, there was a report that"
Tenma's
"team had a Monster like that."
"In normal circumstances, anyone who could deal with Namitarou would definitely enter the tournament," Amour said,
but...
"When I reunited with Namitarou, he'd been caught by some ordinary fisherman who clearly had no idea what he was dealing with and was being put up for sale. That guy is pretty much an idiot, so..."
"Hmm... I can't really deny that."
Amour listened to my story and seemed to connect the dots on several related points, crossing his arms in understanding.
"Well, let's save that story for later. Let's eat this while it's still hot. It's best when it's piping like this."
At Sana's words, the attendants who had been waiting stepped forward and began carving up the giant fish one by one. After thinking of Namitarou earlier, I was a little hesitant at first, but once I tried it, it was quite delicious. The dashi-zuke served as a final touch—fish bone broth poured over rice instead of tea—was the absolute best.
"Tenma, about the tournament, the details are mostly set. It's happening in five days. The final is planned to have up to sixteen people, including you. As for the other rules: bladed weapons must be dulled, projectiles need special covers applied beforehand to ensure minimal safety, and biting, eye-gouging, and groin strikes are prohibited. The rules are mostly similar to the Royal Capital's tournament, but to save time, no weapons are allowed other than the ones you initially bring in. Victories are decided by ring-out or a referee's call. There's one head referee and two sub-referees. Plus, there are three recorders who also serve as standby referees."
I also heard there were rules like prohibiting the use of tools other than weapons and armor. The standby referees apparently only offer advisory opinions if the head and sub-referees can't make a call. The details, along with the rules written out, will apparently be distributed during registration starting from the day before the tournament's day before yesterday (yesterday being the day of the Preliminary).
Right now, about eighty people are gathered, and they said it might exceed two hundred at this rate. Well, even if it increases, it doesn't really concern me since I'm exempt from the Preliminary, but Branca and Amour both wore exasperated expressions.
Four days after that banquet—
"I won easily!"
"That was brutal..."
Amour had, true to his words, crushed his way through the Preliminary to advance, while Branca was forced into quite the struggle.
"Why did a bunch of guys like that end up in my group..."
According to Branca, the people he defeated were reassigned to other groups, and the guys who made it to the final from those groups were all strong as hell. Among them, there were apparently a few who Amour wasn't sure he could even beat. When Amour saw the lineup for that group, he silently pressed his palms together towards Branca in a gesture of respect.
"Just so you know, other than separating Amour and Branca, I didn't interfere with the assignments."
"That figures. If you said you messed with it after that, I'd have to think you wanted me to lose."
If the Southern Autonomous Zone had a strength ranking, Hana-san would be first, Branca second, Viscount Robo around third, and Amour somewhere around eighth. But Branca's group had not only him, the second strongest, but also people said to be ranked fourth through seventh, plus a smattering of those thought to be within the top twenty.
"The only saving grace was that it wasn't a bunch of guys who all teamed up to target me."
The Preliminary was held in a battle royale format, but the top-ranked fighters each went straight for their own rivals, so only those clearly weaker than Branca rushed him in a group.
Well, eventually, those who defeated their rivals also came charging at Branca, and when no one else could fight, everyone threw down their weapons and it devolved into a fistfight. In the end, Branca, who had the most stamina left, was declared the victor. As of now, Branca's face is all swollen and bruised.
In contrast, Amour's group was clearly made up of people weaker than him. They all attacked him at once, but he easily defeated all of them.
Incidentally, the group assignments for this Preliminary were decided by a public lottery, so there was no way to pull any strings other than the setup to separate Amour and Branca. Because of that, every time a strong fighter was placed in Branca's group, the cheers from the crowd anticipating a clash between powerhouses turned into groans of disappointment as they beat each other up, and finally into laughter at the sheer absurdity of having so many strong people gathered together.
"Looks like the draw is about to start."
After the final round of the Preliminary ended, I was resting in the place that served as the Waiting Room when Grandpa came by to tell us that the draw for the main tournament was about to begin. During the Preliminary, Grandpa had given himself the title of my manager and was watching the matches from the officials' seats.
Hearing Grandpa's words, Branca rose to his feet with a weary look, took several deep breaths to psych himself up, then set off with steady steps. From a distance, he might have appeared unscathed, but up close it was obvious that his legs were trembling. He was probably gritting his teeth and holding it together so as not to show any weakness to those who would soon be his opponents.
Branca kept bumping into Amour in that state, Amour pretending it was an accident each time, but just before they were about to head out to the draw venue, Branca dropped a fist on his head. As a result, Amour had to appear before the crowd holding his head in pain.
The moment we showed up at the venue, the audience erupted in cheers. Most of them were aimed at the local favorites Branca and Amour, who had both performed well earlier, but a portion of the cheers seemed to be in anticipation of my performance as well. Incidentally, when the spectators saw Amour clutching his head, murmurs spread wondering whether he really was uninjured after all — but it seemed I was the only one who heard that, so I had to burn extra energy holding back my laughter.
I was the first to draw in the lottery. I thrust my hand into the box full of lots — no funny business had been done to it — and grabbed the first wooden tag my fingers touched.
"Number'one'!"
The number written on the tag was'one'. I held it up for the audience to see, then headed to the spot at the far left that the official had designated.
After that, the remaining Preliminary group representatives drew in order. Fifth up, Branca drew'four'. In other words, if things went as expected, we would face each other in the second round. Both Hana and the audience were surprised by this matchup, but Branca, unexpectedly, was brimming with fighting spirit.
"Nice draw. This way I'm already warmed up and I don't have to worry about conserving my stamina."
Hearing this, Branca's assigned opponent — the man who had been targeting Amour — flushed red with anger, but the audience loved it. However, what surprised Hana the most was……
"Number'two'!"
Amour had been drawn as my first-round opponent. This shocked not only Branca and the audience, but even more so the other fighters who had made it through to the final tournament bracket.
All of these fighters were men who had previously been beaten senseless by Amour, yet they believed that if they won, they could claim Amour for themselves. Having Amour lose to me in the first round would be most inconvenient for them.
"Nice draw. From this moment on, I am Tenma's — body and soul."
Amour declared loudly right beside me, though that could also be read as a declaration of intent to deliberately lose to me. Because of that, complaints poured in from every other fighter except Branca, and an official came over to question the true meaning of her statement. But Amour replied:
"If I lose, I become Tenma's bride. If I win, I make Tenma my husband. When two strong people have a child together, the child should be even stronger! Bye-bye, Nanbu!"
The audience fell silent for an instant at Amour's utterly nonsensical script, and the next moment, for some inexplicable reason, they erupted in thunderous applause. Especially the senior members of Nanbu — the same group as Branca, all of them married men — were overjoyed at the prospect of stronger fighters potentially joining Nanbu.
"What are you talking about?!"
"Boo! ……Hic!"
"H-Hiccup?"
Just as I was about to voice my complaints about her remarks, Amour cheerfully flashed a peace sign and then let out a hiccup. Sensing something off about that hiccup, Branca and I approached Amour, and—
"She reeks of alcohol!"
"That girl—she's drunk!"
For some reason, Amour was drunk. While I was trying to figure out why, Branca suddenly began rummaging around his waist.
"My recovery medicine is gone!"
he exclaimed. We couldn't just leave Amour in her current state and let her up into the arena, so Branca made up some excuse to the staff and had Amour sent to the waiting room.
As for why Amour had gotten drunk on recovery medicine—turns out Branca's recovery medicine was actually high-purity alcohol. Apparently it also served the purpose of numbing the senses, and you had to regulate the dosage using the cap of the small bottle (even Branca, who could hold his liquor and was built like a tank, only took one to two capfuls per use). When they later found the small bottle in Amour's pocket, it had been less than half full.
Amour had known Branca used the recovery medicine often, so she must have been aware of its existence—but she apparently had no idea what was actually inside. Normally it would have been dangerous, but luckily Amour hadn't suffered acute alcohol poisoning, and thanks to a genetic resistance to alcohol and prompt treatment, she would be able to compete in tomorrow's tournament without any issues.
After questioning Amour once she sobered up, she explained that Branca had always drunk that stuff to make his pain go away (in reality he was just numbing it or toughing it out), so she thought that if she drank a whole lot, the pain would disappear even faster.
Aside from the Amour incident, the lottery draw finished without a hitch, and all that remained was to wait for the tournament to begin the next day.
The day of the tournament arrived, and despite the fact that the first match hadn't even started yet, the voltage in the arena was climbing at an incredible rate. The reason was that a series of exhibition matches were being held featuring fighters who had been eliminated in the preliminary round.
Even though they were called exhibition matches, these were bouts between top-ranked fighters from the Southern Autonomous Zone who had lost to Branca. The level of combat on display was something you might not even get to see in the main tournament itself. In other words, it meant the bar for us main-tournament participants had just been raised.
Making my way into the arena under those circumstances, I wore a wry smile at the bizarre atmosphere surrounding me as I faced off against Amour, who was loosening up a few meters ahead while waiting for the referee's signal.
"Both fighters, are you ready! The rules are the same as those presented beforehand—any malicious foul results in immediate disqualification! Now, fight without regrets… begin!"
"Hmph!"
"Ha!"
This time, the organizers were providing weapons for all participants, so everything was factory-made with dulled edges. Among the available options, Amour had chosen a spear. It seemed slightly longer than the one she normally used, but she was wielding it without any trouble.
I, on the other hand, had chosen a katana. This one was also a bit longer than my usual Kogarumaru, with a more pronounced curve, but since it was closer to what I had used in my previous life, I swung it a few times to get a feel for it and confirmed there would be no problems. However, because a katana was inferior to a spear in terms of weapon durability, I had adopted a two-sword style with a second blade of the same length strapped to my hip as a spare. It made movement a bit more difficult, but if push came to shove, I intended to discard the scabbards and fight with both blades drawn… Fortunately, I didn't think anyone here knew the tale of Ganryū Island, so I wouldn't get called out on it… probably.