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36

Chapter 36 – Avangard Tougi Taikai Part 4
The 2nd day of the Tougi Taikai, the finals of the tournament.
The crowd is incomparable to the amount of people that showed up for the preliminaries.
From the castle to its gate, all the way up to the coliseum, no matter where you go it’s so packed with people you can’t move freely.
I was eventually able to make it to the participant waiting room after being pushed and mobbed by the crowd.
I wonder if Roel made it to the spectator seats safely?
The only people left in this room were the participants for the finals.
Nikka and Hekaton were both here, but for some reason Tifelia was absent?
Perhaps she just slept in…
As I entered the room, I was approached by a woman wearing very revealing armor.

“You’re Ryua, right?”

“Y-yeah, why?”

“To be a finalist in the tournament at such a young age, not bad. I am Amane, an A-rank adventurer and the Guild Master of <Johyo-dan>.”

It seems there’s an adventurer-run guild that’s comprised of individual adventurers and entire parties of adventurers. They’re unique in that aspect. It works more or less like the guild Roel and I go to, except the war spoils for this guild are managed by the entire group and are used as funds for journeys and such. Seigel explained it to me while he was killing time in the <Kizel Canyon>. It was a long and boring talk but I listened to some of it.

“I really like strong women. If you’re okay with it, why not join <Johyo-dan>? No matter the time, you’ll be welcomed with open arms.”

“T-thanks for the offer but…”

“It’s fine. There’s no rush.”

Knowing that the A-ranks aren’t filled with people like Hekaton and are all disagreeable gives me some peace of mind. There are some nice ones as well.

“Keh, it’s a Guild that just throws away men…”

“Haa!? Did you say something?”

A man with long bangs covering one eye was standing in the room. He had a mysterious air about him and was stroking his sword’s scabbard. He has an air of self-importance.

“I know about it. You only let women who’ve been traumatized during a journey or from some other source in the past join your Guild. It’s a gathering of losers.”

“Do you want to start something before the tournament?”

Amane had a gentle face up until that moment, but now she looks like a different person, filled with hatred. Her blood vessels popped out and her body swelled, it makes you wonder if Amane is actually a woman? Though what did that guy mean by trauma? Is he talking about being betrayed by your party?

“You’re Kweed, right? Looking down on me just because I’m a woman…I’m still an A-rank you know? You’ll experience a lot of pain if you keep this up.”

“Now that I think about it, I did something similar in the past. A woman with no knowledge about the world approached me to form a party, and in the end I unintentionally did her. I wonder how things turned out for her afterwards….gehehehehehehahahahaha!”

Amane looked like she was ready to pounce on Kweed due to that provocation, but Nikka came between the two of them to interrupt.

“If you cause trouble in the waiting room you’ll be disqualified, you know that right? Settle your argument in the ring, ok?”

Nikka winked as Amane and Kweed calmed down.
Amane was still very agitated and was glaring at Kweed.
As if making a fool of her, Kweed laughed and returned to his seat, stroking his scabbard. Amane slowly sat down with a scary expression on her face.
Kweed said they were losers, but if you get up after being defeated, you’re not a loser.
Even I have lost many times. If you make fun of someone just because they’ve lost once, I’ll be the one to beat you down.