"I never really thought Rei would lose. I mean, his opponent was an S-Rank adventurer, so it’s not exactly a mystery, but it still feels... you know?"
"You mean you can’t quite bring yourself to accept it?"
In the arena's VIP room, Elk muttered to himself as he watched the retreating figure of Noise, who had walked away carrying Rei and the Death Scythe.
Min spoke with a faint smile, glancing at him as she asked the question.
As far as Elk was concerned, since Rei had beaten him, he hadn't wanted the boy to lose in a place like this. On the other hand, he understood that winning was a tall order given that the opponent was an S-Rank adventurer. While he had much to say on the matter, the result had already been decided.
"To be honest, since he beat me, I wanted him to win this fight too if possible."
"...But the opponent was Noise the Immovable. Even just watching from the sidelines, it was obvious he wasn't being serious at all. As an A-Rank myself, I hate to say it, but he’s in a completely different league."
A-Rank and S-Rank. Numerically, there was only one step between them, but the actual gap was immense.
(No. In this case, it’s far too large,) Min whispered to herself as she looked at her husband.
Rei had fought Elk and won. Even Min, who was also an A-Rank, didn't believe she could win against him. In fact, the very idea of being the enemy of someone with that ridiculous magic power was absurd. At the very least, Min’s personal takeaway was that she absolutely never wanted to be Rei’s enemy.
Yet Noise had defeated that very same Rei while visibly holding back. Though the rank difference was only one level, she felt deeply that the gap in their actual strength was far wider than their titles implied.
"Rei beat Elk. For now, we can consider him to be an A-Rank equivalent... or perhaps even higher. If the definition of S-Rank is simply having combat power above A-Rank, you could even describe him as S-Rank."
There were various conditions for S-Rank, but one of them was combat power exceeding A-Rank. Since that was one of the bare minimum requirements, the combat power within the rank of S-Rank varied wildly from ceiling to floor. In this case, Noise would be at the ceiling, and Rei would be at the floor.
...Though, in areas other than combat power, Rei likely fell far short of S-Rank standards.
"Hmph. I might have lost to Rei, but that was only once. If we fight again, I’ll show him a much better match."
For Elk, remaining the loser was frustrating in many ways. However, Min let out a small sigh at her husband's bravado.
"You lost to Rei even back then, so do you really think you can win against the version of him who’s mastered a new power?"
What flashed through Min’s mind was the Armor of Magic Power—the magic power Rei had compressed and worn until it became visible. Anyone with the ability to sense magic power would have lost the will to fight... no, even the will to resist, just by looking at Rei in that moment. He had exuded an unbelievable, gargantuan amount of magic power.
(Though he didn't seem to have very good control over it.)
It had been shocking to see him use the same skill as Noise, but his performance and control were still immature at best. Even so, the fact remained that Rei had mimicked Noise’s skill, and that undoubtedly meant he was stronger than he had been before.
Elk was sharp when it came to combat. There was no way he hadn't noticed. Thinking this, Min turned her gaze toward him, only to find him wearing his usual grin—the smile of a mischievous brat who had grown into a man.
"Heh. I definitely lost back then. That’s a fact, and I ain't making excuses. But just because I lost once doesn't mean I'll lose next time, right? If anything, since I've seen Rei’s tricks now, I know how to deal with them. Besides... Rei isn't the only one getting stronger."
He was claiming that he had grown even more than Rei had. Min let out another small sigh. She knew he had been training in secret, and she knew he was getting stronger because of it.
But even so, if Elk and Rei were to fight, it would undoubtedly turn into a life-or-death struggle. Rei’s battle had been taking place on the arena stage until just a moment ago. That fight hadn't become quite so absolute, but that was only because Rei’s opponent was an S-Rank adventurer. If it had been Elk, it certainly would have been a fight to the death.
"Personally, I don't really want to see such a sight. Besides, if he saw that, Rhodos would only get more obstinate."
They already knew where Rhodos was, thanks to Rei. Min could easily imagine that he had been watching the final match alongside the members of the First Prince Faction.
Infiltrating a group thought to be the enemy—she felt that this wasn't a job Rhodos should be doing, no matter how she looked at it. But since the boy himself insisted it was necessary, she had reluctantly given her approval. No, it was more accurate to say she was forced to accept it after Daskar and Elk told her there was nothing they could do since he had already infiltrated them.
"Rhodos, huh... I hope that kid is doing okay."
"...Is that all? Your son has infiltrated a group of suspected enemies, so couldn't you show a little more concern?"
Min spoke with a hint of displeasure, clearly annoyed by Elk's casual tone. In response, Elk merely gave a bitter smile and shrugged his shoulders. It was the path Rhodos had chosen for himself; no matter what hardships awaited him, he would have to face them.
(Is this the difference between a father and a mother?)
While Min mused to herself, she sensed someone approaching and turned her gaze in that direction. There stood Daskar, wearing a wry smile.
"I’m in quite a bind. As soon as Rei lost, the number of people requesting meetings suddenly skyrocketed."
"...Skyrocketed, you say?"
Min interrupted her exchange with her husband to ask the question, and Daskar let out a sigh.
"Yeah. Well, Rei had a perfect winning streak until now. I suppose those watching had various thoughts about it."
"I see. So they want to establish a connection now. It’s natural, I suppose, since he put up a decent fight against Noise."
"Exactly. There were even some who said things like, 'If Rei is feeling down, I would love to offer him my consolation.' It’s a nuisance. I don't think for a second that Rei is the type to get depressed just because he lost once. Besides, Rei’s true strength lies in acting together with Seto. Thinking of it that way, didn't he actually come out ahead in this fight?"
Daskar wore a smirk, clearly pleased that Rei—who was based in his territory—had grown even stronger by acquiring the skill called Overlord's Armor, though Daskar and the others didn't know its name. Since Rei's home base was Gilm, his growth was something Daskar, as the Lord of Gilm, welcomed. Especially since Gilm was on the frontier, they could never have too many strong adventurers. The more, the better.
As he watched the preparations for the award ceremony proceeding on the stage, Daskar pushed aside thoughts of the nobles who had flocked to him the moment Rei lost, seeing it as a golden opportunity to cozy up.
(Ideally, I’d like Rei to become a noble... but that’s probably impossible. He doesn't have the personality to survive in noble society. Even if he became a noble by some mistake, knowing him, it’s obvious blood would be shed the moment nobles from the Noble's Faction or the King's Faction tried to mess with him.)
To Daskar, Rei was certainly an irreplaceable ally and a reliable force. But that was strictly as Rei the adventurer. It was because of his position—where he could be cut loose at any time, to put it bluntly—that Rei's personality could be managed without issue.
When he first met Rei, Daskar had considered making him a noble and bringing him into his own camp, but by now, he had completely abandoned that idea. An adventurer and a client—he believed that was the appropriate distance for their relationship.
However, as an adventurer, he evaluated Rei extremely highly for his combat power, his status as an Item Box User, and his high quest completion rate. This was a judgment typical of the pragmatic Daskar. If it had been an ordinary... or rather, a typical noble of the sort Rei hated, they would have certainly tried to absorb Rei, only to face a violent counterattack. And then they would hold a grudge, eventually ending up like the Azoth Firm, which had suffered devastating damage at Rei's hands.
The reason it hadn't turned out that way was because Daskar understood Rei and maintained a healthy distance.
(If any of those people who swarmed me earlier actually tried to hire Rei... it would undoubtedly turn into an uproar. At best, they’d throw Rei out; at worst, Rei would take their lives.)
Normally, it was absolutely impossible for a mere adventurer to oppose someone with power, such as a noble or the head of a major firm. But for better or worse, Rei had the strength to defeat an A-Rank adventurer like Elk—and he had beaten Digma too, though that had been a restricted match—and he had enough power to trade blows with the S-Rank Noise. The moment you became his enemy, you had already failed.
Trying to use authority to shut him out of towns and villages was an even bigger mistake. In the first place, since Rei had a Gryphon tamed monster like Seto, he didn't necessarily need to spend his nights in civilization. With Seto around, the monsters in the area were nothing more than ingredients. And if Rei absolutely needed supplies, he could just go to a village isolated from information, or in the worst-case scenario, he could simply flee the Kingdom of Mireana.
If that happened, the Kingdom would not only be losing Rei for nothing; they might even end up with him as an enemy. Considering the massive damage the Bestia Imperial Army had suffered in the Spring War, that was something to be avoided at all costs. At the very least, for Daskar, who had seen the Flame Tornado on the battlefield with his own eyes, the option of opposing Rei was out of the question.
While Daskar was lost in these thoughts, preparations for the award ceremony on the stage were steadily being completed. Even though it was called an award ceremony, what was being held today was only a simple, preliminary one. Since the formal award ceremony would be held at the castle at a later date, there was no need for it to be overly ceremonial. The fact that the Emperor would participate in the ceremony from the VIP room rather than on the stage also simplified things.
Because of this, the primary task for the management committee members was to clean away the stones and fragments scattered on the stage and wash away the blood. They worked to maintain a minimum level of decorum, and the majority of the committee was deployed to finish the task quickly.
"To everyone who has come to the fighting tournament! The award ceremony will begin shortly! When Participant Noise and Participant Rei appear from the participants' entrance, please welcome them with a round of applause!"
The live commentator's voice made the announcement. This was the same person who had worked the crowd into a frenzy before every match until now, but his tone was now serious and professional. He was clearly reading the situation correctly.
Everyone turned their gaze toward the participants' entrance that Noise had exited through earlier, waiting for the two men to appear. When would they come out? Now? Not yet? A heavy tension hung over the spectators, and just as that tension was about to reach its peak—
Boom!
The sound of an explosion suddenly rang out. It wasn't near the arena, but clearly came from far away.
Those who understood this tilted their heads, wondering what it was, while those who didn't understand stood up, trying to flee the area immediately. It was the same in the VIP seats. Those with a certain level of wit, those accustomed to the battlefield, or those with courage judged from the distance and direction that there was no immediate danger and remained in their seats. However, the nobles who were not like that were either running around in confusion or had even fainted from sheer terror.
"...Has it begun?"
In the midst of the chaos, Daskar muttered softly so that those around him couldn't hear. His gaze was fixed on the sight of a noble—the same one who had approached him a short while ago wanting to take Rei into his service—now unconscious from fear.
(If he hired Rei, situations like this would happen almost every day. ...I can't believe someone like that actually claimed they wanted to hire him.)
Daskar let out a sigh, gave a small nod to Elk and Min, and began to carefully observe the shifting atmosphere of the city.