"Here, Master…" Lydia handed me a hot cup of what appeared to be this world's version of coffee.
I took a sip and nodded. It tasted a little different, but it was good enough. I normally didn't like my coffee black, but given the circumstances, I decided it was necessary. Our next battle was supposed to be in an hour or so, so it was enough time to get something to eat, wash, shave, and improve upon my appearance.
Feeling a bit better after getting something to eat and cleaning up, I finally decided to ask Miki and Lydia for any details they found out since this morning.
"The battles today are all group battles. That narrows things down to the top 20 groups. These groups will be invited to a banquet tonight. Tomorrow the next round of battles begin." Lydia explained. "Tomorrow, each battle will be a one-on-one match. Each group will pick three to verse another group. It's the best of three per round, but the same person cannot fight twice in the same round."
I scratched my freshly shaved chin as I thought about what she was saying. It left me a little worried. Terra and Lydia were my two fighters. That meant that at least for one battle every round, I'd need to depend on either Celeste's wind attacks or Miki's spiritual attacks. I guess I could go up instead, but that sounded really scary. Perhaps, if my opponent wasn't that intimidating. That left me with another thought.
"How is the battle's order decided?" I asked.
"On the spot," Lydia answered. "The order and who picks first is decided by you. It's considered cowardly to wait for the other team to call someone up before you select. According to someone I spoke with, it's typically a race to put someone out for the 1st fight. Otherwise, you may gain some of the ire of the crowd."
I understood the mentality, but I didn't really care that much how the crowd thought of me. The previous event was slightly embarrassing, but it wasn't like it mattered. As a guy who had been harassed and teased a lot in my life, if I had such a weak skin I would have fallen apart a long time ago. That was basically nothing in my mind. As for the crowds, this was the first round, so I didn't have that many watchers. Most of them were fans of the Dragonmight anyway, so they weren't exactly ever going to be cheering for me.
The point was, I barely had the attention of 1/100th of the crowd, and most of them wouldn't even recognize my part by the next match. I foresaw no long-term repercussions because of my initial bad impression I put on the crowd. With time, hopefully, they will ignore me and it will be the elegance of the girls I am with that is remembered.
Besides, I wasn't the only slave owner fighting alongside slaves. Dragonmight just happened to be an adventuring team notoriously anti-slavery. Naturally, their fans would hold the same sentiments. I think the short of it was that I needed to start building up a fanbase too. Definitely, with this next fight, we needed to start doing something flashy and really get people's attention.
"Deek Squad, you're up!" Someone yelled into the tent we were resting in.
Looks like it's time to start making waves.