He avoided the battle axe that swung in front of him with plenty of time to spare.

After making sure it had missed him, he stepped forward and swung his longsword.

His sword was aimed at the right hand holding onto the battle axe, but his attack was caught by the shaft of the battle axe as it was swung again, knocking him away.

「Damn it, you and your stupid strength.」

Rhodes spat out as his opponent spoke back with an equally disgusted expression.

「What about my strength? My attacks just can’t to hit you at all.」

He swung his battle axe as to show of his strength, but Rhodes’ annoyed expression from a moment ago disappeared and his smiled as he replied.

「Unfortunately, the guy I trained with was even stronger. After dealing with someone like that, you’ll get used it even if I don’t want to.」

「Tch, what a troublesome person. Hey, let’s go!」

The man let out a roar to raise his spirits before closing the distance to Rhodes.

The sight of a muscular man well over 2m tall charging towards him gave Rhodes the impression of a wall closing in.

Perhaps because Rhodes himself wasn’t that tall, to many spectators, it looked like an avalanche swallowing up a child.

However……

(If it’s a full power strike, I’ll take advantage of the moment after the swing!)

On the contrary, Rhodes was waiting for this moment.

His opponent was certainly strong. However, he had been training against someone even stronger……an opponent who could beat his father, an A rank adventurer. There was no way he could lose here.

More than anything else, his goal was to defeat the person he had been training with for the tournament.

That was why……

「I can’t afford to lose in a place like this!」

He shouted as he watched the battle axe swung down.

The man seemed to be putting his all into it as well. It was his sharpest strike of the match so far.

However, Rhodes jumped back to avoid the attack.

As a result, his stance collapsed as the battle axe struck air instead of Rhodes’ body, which was his target.

Rhodes was so nice as to let this long awaited opportunity go by.

「OHHHHHHH-!」

The man dashed forward with his axe as he rapidly closed the distance.

In response, Rhodes did what he did best, a series of continuous thrusts with all his might.

The man tried to block Rhodes continous thrusts, over 10 attacks in just a few seconds, with the shaft of his battle axe. However, he was only successful in stopping the first few attacks.

After that, having lost his balance from his previous attack, Rhodes longsword pierced into his body.

Seeming to decide that this was the best opportunity, Rhodes continued his attack with all his might.

「HAAaAa-!」

Arms, legs, shoulders, body. Each attack struck his opponent and the man with the battle axe eventually collapsed onto the stage.

He had placed more emphasis on the speed of his attacks than usual and his opponent was also wearing metal half-plate armour, so the wounds were deep but not deadly.

……Only if the injuries were taken care of immediately of course.

If left alone, the man would definitely die from blood loss.

At the same time, the referee, who saw that the man had fallen and was unable to get up due to the pain, shouted out loudly.

「And the winner is, Rhodes!」

The referee’s voice echoed throughout the arena and the next moment, cheers exploded out.

『WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-!』

At the same time, the betting cards of those who had bet on the man with the battle axe were scattered into the air.

Although they were called betting cards, they weren’t actually made of paper or parchment. Instead, they were wooden slips with the amount they had bet carved into it with a magic item. Because of that, the betting cards didn’t stay in the air for long and quickly fell to the ground.

Rhodes let out a deep sigh as he witness a scene that could only be described as a typical feature of a fighting tournament.

「Phew. I managed to win, huh?」

He watched as his opponent was taken off the stage to recover from his wounds.

(A strong opponent……yes, he was definitely a strong opponent. There is no doubt about that. But it’s also true that it was still a level of strength I could still deal with.)

He had felt danger during his fight, but not a hopeless level of danger.

On the contrary, he had felt a greater sense of crisis while fighting with Rei.

(I wonder what that really means though.)

Rhodes stepped off the stage while thinking like that and the wounds he had sustained from the fight naturally healed.

As he thought about that, he felt someone approach him.

Turning to see who it was, he saw the man with the battle axe that he had been fighting just a bit earlier.

However, there was no malice in the man’s expression. In fact, the man was even smiling.

「You’re strong, I guess as expected of the son of the Axe of the Thunder God. ……You beat me. I won’t ask you to win everything, but please go further. If you do that, even if I did lose to you, I’ll feel a bit better about it.」

「Of course. I don’t know how far I can go, but I’m aiming to go even further.」

Well, at least until he could fight and defeat Rei.

The man with the battle axe grinned as he patted Rhodes on the shoulder, even if Rhodes’ intentions weren’t fully conveyed.

「Hahaha. A man should be like that after all. Well, I’ll be rooting for you, so do your best.」

「……Sure.」

Rhodes nodded at the man’s words as he smiled and left.

Seeing him leave, Rhodes started to recollect himself.

 

 

「……Phew. He won, did he?」

Min, who had been watching Rhodes’ match from the guest seating, breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Min usually tried to push Rhodes to be independent as much as possible, she still seemed to be concerned about her son’s match.

「Well, it was a good match up since his opponent used a battle axe.」

Rei, who had come back from his meeting with Tangu, muttered out loud.

Rhodes had learned under Elk, a top class battle axe wielder in this world. There was a high likelyhood that Rhodes probably knew more about what battle axes could and couldn’t do than people who used battle axes themselves.

「It’s all thanks to my good education.」

「Huh, well, you’re not wrong, but it’s not something easy to pick up either.」

As Elk and Daska conversed with each other, Elk suddenly felt like someone was looking at him as he glanced around.

It was the same for Rei, but the person looking at them seemed to realise it as well. He immediately felt the eyes on him disappear and he looked at Elk before the two of them shrugged their shoulders.

「For some reason, they’ve become quite active. Is this also due to your infamy?」

At Elk’s somewhat teasing words, Rei looked away and back towards the arena.

Below, an old man in his 60’s was demonstrating his high level of skill with a spear, which belied his appearance.

Up against him was a man in his 20’s, wielding a giant hammer. But, regardless of the hammer’s strength, spears were a lot easier to wield in comparison.

When the younger man tried to swing the hammer, the older man would immediately fall back and distance himself.

The older man fought consistently at the range of his spear and the man with the hammer could only be one sidedely attacked.

「It’s not a good matchup. There are ways to deal with a spear’s attacks, but……seeing the old man’s skill, it seems like it would be difficult.」

Following Rei’s line of sight, Elk muttered as he looked at the ongoing match.

Although both of them had made it to the main tournament, there was still large differences in physical strength……and above all, their experience in battle.

「I guess so. In terms of basic strength, the man with the hammer is probably better, but……」

Both Rei and Elk used weapons that were hard to handle, scythes and battle axes.

That was why they understood the importance of distance.

「Ah, that idiot. If he held back a little longer, he might have been able to turn things around.」

Elk spoke regarding the man with the hammer as they plunged forward to meet the spear.

「Really? I guess they thought that if things stayed the same as they were, they would eventually be pushed through. Especially if you consider their attacks and defense up until now, the man with the spear is overwhelming superior in terms of skill.」

However, contrary to Elk’s thoughts, Rei praised the actions of the man with the hammer.

Of course, he didn’t mean it was the best response, but it was still a better response.

「Idiot, that’s why he should have endured a bit longer.」

「Hmm, I understand what father is thinking, but I think Rei’s thoughts here are still correct. Since he’s losing in terms of skill, he has no choice but to take the chance.」

The person who interjected was Rhodes, who had appeared back at the guest seating before anyone had noticed.

Elk smiled for a moment at Rhodes returned before immediately sulking, feeling a little annoyed that his son had decided to side with Rei instea of himself.

「Hmph, seems like my son has gone completely to Rei’s side after training with him……that hurts-!」

Before he could finish his words, a cane was swung down.

The owner of the cane was, of course, Min, Elk’s wife.

「Seriously, you really shouldn’t hide your embarrassment.」

「What!?」

「Hide his embarrassment?」

Rhodes tilted his head in confusion as Elk let out a voice of surprise, as if he had just been exposed.

Seeing Rhodes’ reaction, Min spoke with a small smile on her face.

「Well, as the male parent, he has many thing to think about. Rather than that, look. It seems like the other side has settled things as well.」

Min pointed her cane towards the arena, where the man with the hammer had been skewered in the stomach by a spear.

However, the old man hadn’t come out unscathed either. The final attack from the man with the hammer had smashed through the armour on his left shoulder, causing his arm to just hang there helplessly.

The damage was so great that you could tell at a glance that the bones in his shoulder were definitely broken……maybe even shattered.

In the end, the old man with the spear was declared victorious and both were taken down from the arena.

As a side note, the spear was pulled out of the man with the hammer before he was brought off the arena.

The next moment, their wounds disappeared completely, as if it had been all a dream.

Voice of relief could be heard spread out through the audience.

No matter how much they enjoyed fighting tournaments, it was only because they liked watchin the fights, not because they actually wanted to see people kill each other.

……Of course, there were always those who did prefer watching fights to the death.

「In the end, the man with the spear won, but his opponent also got his revenge. Whose opinion was correct in this case then, Elk’s or Rei’s?」

The two of them were at a loss for words when Daska asked in a teasing manner.

Elk had said that he should have endured a little longer, but the man with the hammer had ended up succeeding in making his attack.

Rei had said it was a good decision, although not the best, and while the man with the hammer had succeded in his attack, he had ultimately still lost.

The reason why the two of them were at a loss for words was because both of them were in a position where their answer had seemed correct but weren’t in the end.

「……Oh, it’s Vaycul.」

Rhodes’ voice broke the awkward atmosphere between the two of them.

Hearing those words, Rei turned his gaze towards the arena and, sure enough, Vaycul was there.

However, among them, the only people with a close relationship Vaycul were Rei and Rhodes, who they had trained with.

Elk and Min had heard some stories from Rhodes and Daska had also received reports about Wind Dragon’s Fang, so at the very least, they knew the name.

Vaycul’s opponent was a similarly lightly dressed man.

Like Vaycul, he emphasised ease of movement and didn’t even wear leather armour.

「Those clothes……they’re probably quite tough.」

Hearing Elk’s words, everyone turned their attention to the man’s clothes.

From a distance they didn’t seem like any different from normal clothes, but to Elk, who had been an adventurer for many years, the differences were obvious.

In fact, Min, who was next to him, nodded similarly.

Since this was their judgement based purely on experience, Rei had no words to refute them.

However……

「Hey, that guy……he seems like he’s giving off murderous intent.」

Those words leaked out of Rei’s mouth.

He couldn’t sense magic like Min, or speak from experience like Elk. Even so, from Rei’s eyes, he could clearly see that Vaycul’s opponent was giving off murderous intent.

Of course, it wasn’t that uncommon for someone to give off murderous intent during a match. Especially in a situation like this, where their opponent was of a similar skill level, it wasn’t uncommon for matches to be decided based on factors like that.

However, there was something different about the man facing Vaycul on the arena. Yes, it was pure intent to kill, rather than to fight, as would normally be seen in a tournament like this.

Vaycul must have sense it as well. Her expression was filled with tension.

「Begin!」

As the referee called for the match to start, the man closed the distance to Vaycul, hoping to strike first.

His speed was without a doubt top class for someone with the skills to compete in the main tournament.

……However, the tip of his dagger was pointed straight for Vaycul’s head.

「What!?」

Shouts of shock echoed throughout the guest seating area at the man’s actions.

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