Huh... two days passed in no time. I barely realized how much time passed, honestly. Before my eyes, it suddenly became the day of the Tournament...
Yes! Finally! I was really bored, so I've been excited for this moment!
So, what have I been doing in preparation? I've been training! And doing a lot of it, at that! Training what, you might ask? My skills, of course!
I've learned that most skills like Gust that you need to activate level up much faster when in combat, so I went to the forest close to The Capital and fought a bunch of monsters there! None of them had a mana core, though, if you were wondering.
Okay, so, I got 'Increase' to level five, 'Gust' rose all the way up to eight, Expert Tactician actually levelled up to three, too, and I got icicle blast to level seven! I'm surprised they didn't level up more, but apparently, skills level up slower when they get higher.
Oh? You're wondering what that new level in Body Manipulation lets me do? Well... I can control my colour! Yes, finally I won't have to constantly be wearing a face mask, gloves, and hood to conceal my very blue tint!
It was a bit difficult, but I was able to emulate the same general skin colour almost everybody else in The Capital has. So, as anybody else would, I burned my mask and gloves to ash. Listen, I had no use for them anymore! And, they were really annoying to constantly wear, okay? Anyhow, I kept the cloak with a hood I usually wore since I kinda liked how they looked.
Right now, I and Ai are in the same inn that we stayed in before the whole goblin request. I bought us a few more days, as you can probably guess. I told Ashin and the others where we were staying, so they should be here any moment...
Oh, and would you look at that? There's a knocking sound at the door! It's almost like I can see the future, huh? Well, I'm just that good at prediction!
Since I was already leaning against the wall right by the door, I move a bit to the front of the door and open it.
And what would you know? Behind the door was Ashin, Theca, and Quenilla.
"Hey! How--" Ashin stopped speaking abruptly, staring at me for several seconds then going to look back at the other two, "Guys, did we go to the wrong room?"
Seriously, he can't recognize me? Yeah, I know I'm not wearing my usual full outfit, but it's not like my body looks any different! And I'm still wearing my typical clothes, so he obviously just has to be blind or something.
"That's Shiro." Theca thankfully is aware enough to know who I am.
"Huh? Really?" He took a closer look at me, up and down and such, "Oh, yeah! It is him! I couldn't even tell, haha!"
Hmph, yeah, yeah, buddy, maybe I'll forgive you just this once! Another great example of how benevolent I am!
"Right... so, anyway! We came because the tournament is today, as you probably know!" Ashin continued speaking, telling me exactly what I did indeed know.
And, strangely enough, with not even one more word spoken, we left to go to the colosseum.
...
After just a bit, and by bit, I mean at least half an hour, we reached the colosseum I mentioned earlier.
Seriously, though, this colosseum is super big! Like, huge! Maybe as big as the castle in overall size! Well, maybe not in height, but every other measurement.
Anyway, turns out, we're gonna be the first ones to compete! The tournament works like this, there are three categories, lower, middle, and high. The lower category competes first... wait, doesn't that mean we're in the lower one? Hey! I'm not that weak!
Well, I guess that just means we won't have to wait! Let's get up on there and see who we're gonna face!
Eh? What the hell is this? These guys are super normal looking, like, to the point they're boring. Even so, they seem to be a pretty balanced team, someone who tanks damage, two people who'd deal the most damage, and someone who'll be healing. And, that's exactly what their status results tell me if you were wondering...
Worse of all, though, none of them are even over level twenty. This won't even be a challenge, more so, it'll be boring... Let's just hope that the rest of the fights won't be the same.
Alright, I really don't want to use my magic for the fight so that I can conserve my mana, so, I won't, of course.
"Good morning everybody!" An incredibly loud voice erupted from above us, "and welcome to our first match of today!"
Okay, what? Above all of us is a person... flying. Like, he's just in the air. I'm assuming he's the announcer or something? Anyway, his voice was met with the cheering of the crowd.
"Aha! A nice crowd we have today! Well, let's get right on to it! On one corner, we have team 'Dest'! A party of five that seems to have a few interesting faces!"
Eh? What does he mean by interesting? And also, is our party seriously called Dest? That's literally Ashin's last name! He wasn't even the one who decided it, Theca was! I would somewhat get it if the party was called 'Webb', but no, it's not. Why? I have no idea.
"And, on the other side of the colosseum, we have team, uh..." From down here, it looks like he looked at the palm of his hand, "Team Ultimate Four! Uh, haha! Quite the intimidating name, huh?"
Heh, even he couldn't stay serious hearing that name. What kinda people name themselves 'Ultimate Four'? Especially when you're not even over level twenty... This seriously has to be some sort of joke.
"Alright! Without further adieu, Battle... start!"
Okay, let's see... what should our plan be? Hm... Huh? Ai's casting a spell, already. Well, let's just see what it is, first of all, probably some enhancement magic.
"Earth Magic: Earth's Skewers."
In just a moment, long spikes made from the very ground stabbed through the armour and clothes of our opponents, pretty much ensuring the win without even injuring them.
... wait, what?
[Chapter 39, end.]