「I never thought Rei would lose. Well, it’s not that surprising since his opponent was an S rank adventurer. Still, for this to happen……」

「Is it something you’re struggling to accept?」

Inside the the stadium’s guest area. Elk couldn’t help but mutter as he watched Noiz carry Rei and his Death Scythe off the arena.

In response, Min asked with a small smile on her lips.

Elk hadn’t wanted Rei to lose here, seeing as he had lost to Rei himself, but as he had said, it would have been a difficult task to beat an S rank adventurer.

And, despite there being many things to think about, the results had already occurred.

「Since he had beaten me, I had wanted him to win this fight too, if at all possible.」

「……But, the other party was the Immovable Noiz, right? Even watching from the side, it was obvious that he wasn’t serious at all. As an A rank adventurer myself, I still see him as an order of magnitude greater in strength.」

A rank and S rank. Despite there being only one level difference in rank, the gap was huge.

(No. In this case, the gap is too big.)

Min thought to herself as she looked at her husband.

Rei had fought against Elk and won. Even though she was an A rank adventurer herself, she didn’t think she could defeat Rei either.

On the contrary, there were many issues to being the opponent of someone with such ridiculous magic power.

At the very least, Min felt that she never wanted to make an enemy out of Rei.

And, as they could see, Noiz had defeated Rei even while holding back. Even though the difference was only a single rank, Min felt that the difference in strength was much greater than what the rank indicated.

「Rei defeated Elk. Provisionally, it’s safe to consider him to be A rank……or even higher. If the definition of S rank is higher than A rank, you could consider Rei to be S rank.」

There were various conditions to be considered an S rank adventurer, one of which was having combat power at A rank or higher.

Since that was just one of the minimum requirements to be an S rank adventurer, their actual combat power varied a fair bit.

In this case, Noiz was at the pinnacle while Rei was at the lowest end.

……However, in terms of anything other than combat power, Rei probably didn’t meet the requirements for S rank.

「Hmm, it’s true that Rei lost, but it’s only the first time. The next time they fight, he’ll be even stronger.」

As expected, Elk would be disappointed in many ways if Rei continued to lose. However, seeing her husband like that, Min let out a small sigh.

「Even back then, you already lost to Rei. So, do you think you can defeat Rei now with his new skill?」

What flashed through Min’s mind was the compressed magical armour Rei had formed around himself, compressing magic power to the point it was visible.

Someone with the ability to sense magic power wouldn’t be able to fight Rei in that state……no, they would even lose the ability to resist.

That was the unbelievable amount of magic power she felt from Rei at the time.

(Although it seems like he wasn’t about to control it very well.)

She was surprised to see Rei use the same skill as Noiz, but in terms of performance and control, it could only be described as primitive.

However, it was still true that Rei had used the same skill as Noiz, which meant that Rei was certainly stronger than before.

Elk was quite sharp when it came to combat. There was no way he didn’t notice that……thinking that, Min turned to face Elk, but what she saw was the same mischievous smile he always had.

「Heh, it’s true that I lost that time. That’s a fact and I can’t make excuses for it. But, just because I lost that time doesn’t mean I’ll lose again, right? On the contrary, I’ve now seen what he can do. So, I know how to deal with it. And……Rei isn’t the only one who’s gotten stronger.」

Rei wasn’t the only one to have grown stronger, he had grown stronger as well. Min let out a small sigh after hearing her husband say those words.

She knew that Elk had been secretly training, hiding it from her. She also knew that he had become stronger as a result of that.

However, even so, if Elk and Rei were to fight, it would definitely be a life or death battle.

Rei’s earlier fight on the arena was not at that level, but only because his opponent was Noiz.

If it had been Elk, it would definitely been a life or death battle.

「I really don’t want to see that kind of scene. Besides, if Rhodes were to see it, he’d probably become even more stubborn as a result.」

They already knew where Rhodes was from Rei.

It was easy to guess that he had probably watched the final match with the members of the First Prince’s faction.

Infiltrating their supposed enemies. No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like a job that Rhodes should do, but Min had to admit reluctantly that it was something necessary for Rhodes to do.

……No, rather, Daska and Elk had told her that there was nothing they could do at this point since he had already infiltrated, so she just had to accept it.

「Rhodes, huh? ……I hope he’s doing okay.」

「……Is that all you have to say? Your son has infiltrated a faction that can be considered our enemy, can’t you be a little more concerned?」

Min didn’t seem to like Elk’s words as she spoke with displeasure.

Seeing his wife like that, Elk just gave a bitter smile as he shrugged his shoulders.

Since it was the path Rhodes had chosen for himself, no matter what hardships awaited him, it couldn’t be helped.

(Is this the difference between fathers and mothers?)

While muttering to himself, Elk sense a presence approaching them and turned to look up.

There, he saw Daska with a wry smile on his face.

「Hah, it’s been overwhelming. Just when I thought Rei had lost, the number of people requesting a meeting with him increased suddenly.」

「……It increased?」

Hearing Min’s question, Daska, who had interrupted the conversation between Min and Elk, spoke with a sigh.

「Yeah. Well, Rei had been winning consecutive matches up until this point. I’m sure those watching must have had many thoughts.」

「I see. That’s why they want to get to know him now. It might only be natural, considering he put up a decent fight against Immovable.」

「That’s right. Also, in the event that Rei was feeling down, there were some people who said they’d like to comfort him as well. It’s quite the nuisance. I don’t think Rei would be depressed from just losing once. In the first place, Rei’s true strength lies in working with Set. Considering that, this match might actually be a good thing?」

The reason for the grin on Daska’s face was probably because Rei, who lived in his territory, had learned the skill known as Overlord’s Armour, although Daska and the others didn’t know it’s name, becoming even stronger.

Given that Gilm was his home base, Rei’s growing strength was a welcome addition to Daska, the lord of Gilm.

That was especially so as Gilm was in quite a remote location. It didn’t matter how many stronger adventurers there were, the more the better.

As he watched the preparations for the award ceremony proceeding on stage, Daska threw the people who had come for Rei out of his mind, thinking it was a good opportunity.

(If possible, I would have liked Rei to become a noble……but I don’t think that it would be possible. To begin with, he doesn’t have the personality to be functional in an aristocratic society. Even if he became a noble due to some accident, he would only have his past experience to rely on. Thinking about it, if the aristocratic or royalist faction nobles got involved, we would definitely see blood.)

For Daska, Rei was certainly a valuable ally and reliable fighting force. However, that was only Rei as an adventurer, and although it was a bit shameful to say it, Rei was in a position where he could be discarded at any point in time, which was why he was able to make use of Rei’s personality without too much risk.

When Daska had first met Rei, he had wanted to make him a noble and draw him into his faction, but he now no longer had any intention of doing so.

An adventurer and client. Daska felt that this was an appropriate distance to keep his relationship with Rei.

However, as an adventurer, he held a very high opinion of Rei for his combat power, item box, and high request completion rate.

It was a decision typical of Daska, who valued practical benefits. If he had been an ordinary noble……the kind that Rei hated, he would definitely have tried to win Rei over and would have suffered the consequences as a result.

He might have harboured a grudge and ended up like Azoth Firm, which suffered devastating damage from Rei.

The only reason that hadn’t happened was because Daska understood what kind of person Rei was and got along well with him.

(Even if there were some people who wanted to hire Rei, like those who flocked to be me earlier……it would definitely lead to a commotion. At best, they would throw Rei out and, at worst, Rei would kill them. That seems like what would happen.)

Normally, it was safe to say that it was impossible for a mere adventurer to antagonise someone with power such as a noble or the president of a company.

However, for better or worse, Rei had the ability to defeat A rank adventurers such as Elk and Digma. An, while it had been a restricted match, he had the ability to handle an S rank adventurer to a certain extent.

The moment you made Rei your enemy, you had failed.

Using their power to shut him out of towns and villages was an even bigger mistake.

In the first place, since Rei had a tamed Griffon, Set, he didn’t need to spend nights in towns or villages. With Set around, monsters were simply food to him.

And, if Rei really need some kind of equipment, he could just go to a village isolated from such information. In the worst case scenario, he could also simply leave the Mireana Kingdom.

If that happened, the Mireana Kingdom would not only be forced to let go of Rei, who was strong enough to defeat A rank adventurers, but if things went badly, he might even become an enemy.

Considering the huge amount of damage the Bestir Empire’s imperial army had suffered during the Spring War, that was something that should be avoided at all costs.

At least, for Daska, who had seen the fiery tornado on the battlefield, the choice of facing Rei on the battlefield was something to be avoided.

As Daska was thinking about that, the preparations for the award ceremony to be held on stage were completed.

Even though it was an award ceremony, what was being held today was just a simple one. The official award ceremony would be held in the castle at a later date, so there was no need for this one to be that formal.

In addition, the fact that the Emperor would participate in the award ceremony from his viewing room rather than on the arena had an impact.

Since that was the case, all the management committee had to do was to clean up the stones and debris lying on the arena and wash away any blood.

That way, they could maintain a minimum level of appearance.

With most of the management committee participating, the preparations were completed quickly.

『To everyone who came to the tournament, the award ceremony will begin soon, so when Noiz and Rei appear from the participant entrance, please greet them with a round of applause.』

The voice that spoke up was definitely the same voice as the commentator that had been stirring up the audience in every match up to now.

However, he was now speaking in a serious manner, not the provocative tone from during the tournament.

It probably meant that he understood the current situation.

Then, everyone turned their eyes to the participant entrance where Noiz had come from earlier and waited for him……and Rei to appear.

When would they come out? Would it be now or later? Such tension started building among the audience and, as the tension reached its climax.

Boom-!

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard.

But, it wasn’t from the arean. The sound of the explosion seemed to come from far away.

Those who realised it seemed confused, wondering where the explosion had come from, while those who didn’t understand stood up, trying to escape the area immediately.

The same was true for the VIP seating. People with a certain level of intelligence, those who were used to the battlefield, or those with greater courage, judged that there was no immediate danger based on the distance and direction from which the explosion was heard and stayed where they were. But, some nobles were not like that, some were confused while others even fainted from fear.

「……Has it started?」

Meanwhile, it was Daska who muttered something in a voice that others around him couldn’t hear.

He caught sight of a noble who had wanted to approach Rei previously, looking to hire him, fainting from fear.

(If he hired Rei, this kind of situation would happen on a daily basis. ……How dare he ask to me to hire Rei when he’s like this.)

Daska sighed as he gave a slight nod towards Elk and Min and carefully observed his surroundings.

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