At a section of the dining area in the Eternal Sky Pavilion.

Currently, everyone in Daska’s group was celebrating.

Their reason for celebration was, of course, Rei and Rhodes’ successful victory in the tournament’s qualifying rounds. Rei and Rhodes were the main characters of this celebration……but, for some reason, Luzi, Vaycul, and Mosst from Wind Dragon’s Fang were present as well.

Daska had invited them as well because they had trained alongside Rei and Rhodes, even if it was only for a few days.

Vaycul and Mosst were hesitant at first as Daska was the leader of one of the Mireana Kingdom’s three major factions. However, Luzi didn’t seem to mind at all as he accepted Daska’s invitation, dragging his other reluctant party members along to the celebration.

「Well, anyway, I heard from Rhodes that your party is quite strong.」

「That’s right, that’s right. Even though we look like this, we’re still a C rank party. However, the name of our party probably hasn’t reached the Mireana Kingdom.」

While enjoying cold beer, skewers, stew meat and beans, Luzi gave a toast to Elk as they bumped glasses.

「No, no, wait a moment. Isn’t that the Axe of the Thunder God, a famous A rank adventurer from the Mireana Kingdom? How is Luzi talking so normally?」

「There’s no point asking, Vaycul. It’s because it’s Luzi, isn’t it?」

Mosst spoke to the agitated Vaycul in a tone that showed he had given up.

It had been nearly two years since the three of them formed a party, but even so, Luzi still seemed to say and do whatever he wanted without thinking.

「Well, my dad doesn’t care about etiquette at all. As long as he doesn’t do anything stupid, nothing will happen.」

Rhodes spoke to the two of them while holding a glass of beer in his hand.

Vaycul bumped glasses with Rhodes as she replied with a smile.

「Oh, Rhodes. Congratulations on getting through the qualifying rounds.」

「Yeah. Well, there were a lot of issues to get through in my victory. Your entire party also made it through the qualifying rounds, right? You’ve done quite well yourselves.」

「Ahahaha. Having said that, it’s true that Luzi made it through without much issue, but I had to stay as low down as possible. I felt like I only survived by taking advantage of the gaps in other people’s battles……as for Mosst.」

Hearing Vaycul’s hidden meaning, Mosst gave a wry smile as he sipped some watered down fruit wine.

「Well, that was a natural choice for victory.」

Seeing Mosst’s response, Vaycul looked at him with exasperation.

However, Rhodes nodded as if it were natural, contrary to Vaycul’s response.

「For a mage to win, he absolutely needs a barrier. Considering that, it’s not that strange to team up with people nearby on stage. There isn’t a rule that participants can’t team up with each other.」

Yes. What Mosst had done to pass the qualifying rounds was to recruit participants who were physically large and confident in their defensive strength.

While they protected him, Mosst would use his magic to take out the other participants.

Of course, not everything went to plan. Only three people from each block could advance. Because of that, he couldn’t increase his guards unnecessarily.

In addition to the one warrior who Mosst found to protect him, he could have added one more ally. But, because he couldn’t find anyone else suitable, the two of them ended up forming a team on their own.

With that happening, the other participants naturally wanted to take Mosst out as soon as possible, attacking him relentlessly. There was no way for his lone guard to hold everyone off, but while he was forced to use the dagger Rei had taught him, he was able to survive somehow.

In the end, Mosst, his guard, and a thief, who had actively avoided fighting to the very end, succeeded in qualifying from their block.

「Ahahaha. As Rhodes-san said, there was no problem this time. However, it was only possible because it was a battle royale. What should I do in the main tournament? Maybe I should try swinging a scythe like Rei-san?」

「That can’t be possible……hey, wait a minute. Did you just……」

Hearing words that Mosst would usually never say, Vaycul snatched his cup and sniffed it.

The scent of alcohol from it was unmistakable.

「Haaah……as expected. It looks like he’s had too much to drink, it’s fine, but he’s not that good with alcohol, so he needs to be careful.」

「Hm? Is Mosst not good with alcohol as well?」

Rhodes asked as if he had just heard something unexpected and Vaycul tilted her head in response.

「What, are you weak to alcohol as well?」

「No, not me, it’s Rei. Of course, it’s not like he’ll collapse immediately after one or two drinks. He just doesn’t seem to enjoy the taste of alcohol.」

「Wow, isn’t that just losing out on 30% of life.」

「I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s a shame that he can’t appreciate how good this is.」

「Seriously. I can’t resist having a drink after work. And in a high class inn like this, you can drink cold beers.」

Mosst looked at the two of them, who were drinking beer happily with disappointed expressions.

「I don’t think something that bitter is nice to drink.」

「No, weren’t you just drinking earlier? ……It is certainly stupid to go out of your way to drink something that doesn’t taste good though.」

Mosst was startled when he received a reply to words he had said to himself.

Turning around, he saw Rei coming over with chicken thighs on his plate.

They had been steam roasted with plenty of herbs and an appetizing scent wafted all the way to Mosst.

Because it hadn’t been directly roasted, he could tell just by looking that the surface of the chicken was moist and not crispy.

「That’s right. When you consider people who get drunk and mess around with others, it’s pathetic. Especially people like Luzi.」

Mosst glanced over at his party leader, who was laughing with Elk, as he spoke. Rei shrugged his shoulders as if to say he felt the same way as he handed a plate of chicken thighs over to Mosst.

「Well, you’ve had a hard time today.」

「Eh? Is this okay?」

Mosst knew that the food he was given was quite expensive, although it was served at the inn’s dining area.

It was no surprise as the chickens were specially raised and marinated with rare spices and herbs.

However, Rei didn’t seem to bothered by Mosst’s words as he handed him a plate.

「Making it through as a mage. It’s good for your self promotion. And, in case you’re wondering, I’m also classified as a mage.」

「Rather than a mage……aren’t you a magic warrior? In the first place, a normal mage would never use a scythe.」

「Hmm, then you don’t want this? If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it.」

「Ah, I’m sorry. I was just joking. Rei-san is a very good mage.」

Rei smiled at Mosst’s sudden change in opinion as he placed the plate in front of Mosst.

As he did that, there was no way that Vaycul and Rhodes, who were drinking at the same table, wouldn’t notice.

「Hey, that’s sneaky. Why are you the one getting the best food?」

「That’s right, give some to me too.」

「Stop being noisy. This is a congratulatory gift for mages. It’s different to warriors and thieves like you.」

「You’re playing favourites.」

「Not at all. Isn’t he always super strict with me?」

Mosst had to be quite intoxicated. He banged on the table over and over again while speaking with a weak voice he normally didn’t have.

「It’s not like that, so shut up.」

Even though it was their victory celebration, it was still being held in the Eternal Sky pavilion’s dining area. Of course, the dining area wasn’t reserved for private use, so there were still many other guests.

Of course, most of the other guests had come to the Imperial Capital for business related to the tournament and some were participating in the tournament as well.

Many were celebrating just like Rei and the others.

That said, since Rei and the others made it through the qualifying rounds, there were naturally others who didn’t.

No, considering the number of winners, it was only natural that there were more people who had lost in the qualifying rounds.

What would it seem like to those people if those who advanced to the main tournament, like Rhodes, were shouting out loudly.

Naturally, quite a number of them were not amused and some even looked at them unpleasantly.

Still, the reason no one went up to them was probably because Rei and the others were known to be part of Daska’s party from the Mireana Kingdom, not to mention that Daska himself was present.

At the same time, the fact that there were five people who had made it through to the main tournament was also a deterrent.

After all, only 60 people would make it to the main tournament from the qualifying rounds. That meant that the five people here made up over 8% of all total preliminary round winners.

「Hmm? It’s fine. Even if something happens, I’ll take care of it, I’m participating in the main tournament after all. Haha!」

「Haaaah, that’s great! But I won’t lose either!」

The two of them shouted happily as they stood up.

 

 

 

The two of them……or more precisely, Mosst, looked at Vaycul as he ate the chicken thigh before turning to Rei.

「Ah, this is no good. Rei-san, I’m sorry, but could you please help me hold Vaycul down? If this continues, we’ll get into a lot of trouble.」

「……Trouble?」

At first, Rei didn’t get what Mosst was saying, but then he casually picked something up that had fallen on his head.

It was clothes. It was clothes that he recognised from a few seconds ago.

「Huh?」

It couldn’t be. Thinking that, he looked up and saw what he had expected.

Vaycul was now just wearing something like a running shirt.

The clothes she had been wearing on top were now in Rei’s hands.

Getting to this point, it wasn’t difficult for Rei to understand what was happening.

「Rei-san, please.」

「Ah……well, I guess it can’t be helped.」

Almost everyone participating in the celebrations were drinking and making noise.

The only people who were sober or close to sober were Rei and Mosst.

Even Min, who normally wouldn’t go too far, was enjoying the wine. Probably because Rhodes had made it to the main tournament.

Rei looked around before giving a sigh.

It would have been better if Vaycul had been wearing her leather armour that she had used in the qualifying rounds, but this was a dining area. Moreover, it was a place for celebrating. People usually wouldn’t wear armour in such places unless there was a very good reason.

「Hey, don’t go crazy!」

「What? I’m just going to show you a nice side of myself, so it’s fine. Don’t you want to see too, Rei? At your age, you should be at least a little interested in women, no?」

「It’s not that I’m not interested, but it really is difficult to deal with someone who’s drunk.」

While replying, Rei held down Vaycul’s hands, which were reaching for her black shirt.

Then, as Rei restrained her, Mosst swung his cane at Vaycul’s head.

A dull thump echoed out.

(No, I guess that does work.)

Rei muttered to himself as he watched Vaycul fall down unconscious.

Instead of carrying a dagger, wouldn’t it be better to teach Mosst some kind of staff technique?

It was only natural for Rei to think that way after seeing how Mosst handled the cane.

(Come to think of it, Min also uses her cane as a weapon. Moreover, it’s strong enough to take down Elk in one hit.)

As he thought about that, Mosst put the clothes Rei had been carrying back onto Vaycul, who had collapsed on the floor.

「Seriously, I wonder if anything can be done about her habit of over drinking.」

While muttering to himself, Rei caught a glimpse of Rhodes.

Rhodes, who had seen everything happen, silently nodded several times, as if instantly sobering up.

Of course, if he had been serious about it, he would be able to avoid a similar attack. But that was only under normal circumstances. If asked to dodge an attack with such speed and power while in a drunken state, he wouldn’t have been able to respond.

Especially since Rhodes had seen many such attacks from Min against Elk, it had been ingrained into his mind that he shouldn’t dodge out of instinct.

Mosst didn’t fully understand Rhodes’ feelings, but he spoke with a slight smile on his face.

「I’m not saying you shouldn’t make a fuss at a victory celebration. But please enjoy it in moderation, okay?」

At his words, Rhodes could only nod again silently.

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