Heroic Martial Arts Tournament

The main competition began.

Gospel was bustling with people.

It wasn’t just Heroes.

To witness the extraordinary strength of the Heroes, nobles, merchants, and commoners alike visited Gospel.

“So this is…”

Eldora had come to Gospel.

The streets were filled with people.

Being short, she was jostled by the crowds and first tried to secure lodging.

The innkeepers said:

“We’re fully booked.”

“No vacancies.”

“Impossible.”

Or, “If you pay 50 times the usual rate, we can reserve a spot when one becomes available.”

But Eldora had almost no money left.

“Then I guess I have no choice.”

“Haa…”

“By the way, you’re quite short.”

“So what if I am?”

Eldora pulled her hood down low.

But a hood without Magic Enhancement couldn’t hide her face.

The Auntie innkeeper greeted a new guest who arrived behind Eldora.

“Amel, you’re here. Welcome. How was the match?”

“So-so.”

Eldora went to look for another inn.

“A kid?”

Amel briefly mistook Eldora for a child due to her small stature.

The Auntie innkeeper offered her guess.

“Could she be a Dwarf?”

“W-Who’s a Dwarf!”

“Then she must be an Elf. Elves always react when you say that.”

“Ugh…”

“Wouldn’t it be okay to reveal you’re an Elf? There are several Elves in Gospel for the tournament.”

“….”

Realizing she’d been baited, Eldora turned sharply and left the inn.

“If you have nowhere to stay, want to use my room?”

“Really?”

“I’ll be staying at the castle for a while anyway. I was here to ask them to clear out my room since there are so many people.”

“Hey, Elf. Did you hear that?”

Eldora couldn’t refuse.

Sleeping on the streets in the middle of town was dangerous.

“…Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. Even for an Elf, you’re still a kid, right?”

“I’ve probably lived longer than you, though?”

“Sure, sure.”

Eldora was patted on the head.

She managed to borrow a room.

After Amel left,

The Auntie said,

“You should know you’re lucky. Getting a room in this situation is like plucking a star from the sky.”

“This is the 21st place I’ve tried.”

“Just know it.”

Eldora looked in the direction Amel had left.

“By the way, who was that person earlier?”

“You mean Amel? She’s a Hero.”

“I know that, but…”

She was a pretty human woman wearing a Nun Outfit.

But more than that, what stood out was the Killing Intent she felt all over her body.

The Elf’s sensitive senses felt like they would be cut by her aura.

A human who emanated such a distinctive Magical Power. Eldora felt a much stronger aura than her father’s for the first time.

A feeling of being cut.

No, it was different.

It was closer to the feeling of having her neck cut.

Her father had said:

When you reach the realm of a master, a Blade dwells in your eyes, and you can kill people with just your gaze. That was called Mind Sword.

“That person you mentioned, she’s competing in the tournament, right?”

“So?”

“Do you know which event?”

Swordsmanship, Magic Combat, Tactics, All-Out War.

“She probably just finished the Swordsmanship competition.”

“….”

Eldora might be able to see the match of someone who might be a master.

She needed to unpack first, but she remembered something she wanted to ask before that.

“Can I ask you one more thing?”

“I’m busy. Do you think I have time to deal with you?”

“I heard the person I’m looking for is in Gospel…”

The Auntie went to do her work.

Eldora entered the room that had been Amel’s.

It smelled nice for some reason.

She unpacked,

And sat on the bed to relieve her fatigue.

“I think I came at the wrong time.”

She had come to find someone.

Before her father passed away, he left a will that she should become that person’s disciple.

Americano, who resided in Gospel.

The Tower of Trials her father always talked about.

It was a connection made there.

“I have a bad Premonition.”

Yuha said.

Amel, who had gone out to clear her inn room and returned to the castle, asked,

“About what?”

“According to my intuition, the tournament won’t end normally.”

“Huh? Why?”

Amel thought back to when she fought Force.

“At first, I thought it was because Amel and Little Heavenly Demon were fighting so fiercely, but I don’t think that’s it.”

“…That also means that Little Heavenly Demon and I fighting will cause a lot of collateral damage, though.”

“If you don’t use your Awakened Ability.”

Amel thought of Chun Yura.

She hadn’t seen her since then.

Where did she go?

Was she training before the tournament?

“Then if it’s not that, what is it?”

“I don’t know either. That’s why I’m asking. I’ve been asking everyone who knows my intuition, but I can’t find an answer.”

So she was asking Amel for help.

Amel was basically alone.

She had met Skilla, but Skilla had scheduled her training intensity much harder than before, making it difficult to meet.

Nabi scolded her for that, but anyway.

“Hmm…”

The source of the bad Premonition that would prevent the Hero Tournament from ending normally.

Yuha’s intuition was almost Foresight.

“Is it an inside job?”

“No.”

“Is it an outside job?”

“Yes.”

“Then is there a force outside that can attack and win in a place where Heroes are gathered and the best forces are assembled?”

“If Chris, Jua, and Amel were there, they could have overthrown the country a long time ago. But the culprit’s goal doesn’t seem to be winning.”

“Then?”

“I don’t know.”

Winning isn’t the goal.

But they will attack.

“Is the goal to ruin the tournament?”

“That’s not it either.”

Then what is it?

Yuha had an Awakened Ability that was like an answer sheet, but she could only confirm the correct answer.

It was difficult to know about unpredictable problems.

She continued to reason,

But the answer didn’t come.

“By the way, how was the match?”

“So-so.”

It was difficult to be good from the first match.

They said he was level 50.

She finished it in one Blade.

The next match would be back tomorrow.

The scale was too large.

‘Usually, the World Cup starts from the round of 64.’

Since the Hero Tournament’s purpose was to replace war, 64 seats were too few.

“Well, there’s a month left until the tournament ends, and there won’t be any problems until the finals.”

“….”

This is what I think.

“In addition, you’ll figure out the culprit within that period?”

“…There’s a high chance I’ll figure it out. But it seems I can’t stop it even if I do.”

You know even such details?

Yuha’s intuition was amazing.

But who would benefit from ruining the tournament? It was obvious that they would be opposed by the participants.

“Will the Heroes who didn’t make it to the finals go on a rampage?”

“That won’t happen.”

Well, the tournament was held through the mediation of the Emperor and the King, so even if they interfered, they wouldn’t get their money’s worth.

“I’ll tell you as soon as I find out.”

“Please.”

The next day.

Waiting room.

Amel entered the waiting room for the Round of 64 match in Group A.

“..?”

No one was there.

She checked the waiting room for Group A Round of 64 participants by looking at the sign on the door.

‘Am I the first one?’

That couldn’t be?

She was an hour late than scheduled.

It didn’t make sense that no one was there.

Heroes had a system clock, so it wasn’t easy to mistake the time.

Still, she shrugged it off.

‘I thought I was lazy.’

It seemed she was considered diligent even if she was this late.

The waiting room was decorated in a modern style.

Decent chairs.

Decent desks.

She sat in any seat.

As she sat and waited,

Rumble.

People came in.

“Huh?”

Dozens of people rushed into the waiting room at once.

She was startled for a moment.

They all blankly came in and took their seats, and she asked a muscular warrior sitting nearby.

“Where did you all go?”

“A little inspection.”

“Inspection?”

“They said if you use drugs to Enhance yourself in advance, you’ll be disqualified, so they had us get inspected.”

They all seemed drugged for that.

It was a suspicious atmosphere.

It was a minor anomaly that she would have overlooked if it were reality,

But this world was a game.

She couldn’t overlook the trivial.

Amel closed her eyes.

She closed them, then opened them.

Her eyes turned red.

An eerie atmosphere filled the waiting room.

Amel didn’t notice.

The eyes that she thought were just surprised when she glared with her eyes wide open.

[Killing Intent] filled her gaze with murderous intent and radiated it in all directions.

That murderous intent. An intention filled with hostile intent and the will to kill. The scenery flickering before Amel’s eyes appeared like a hallucination of how to kill the people there.

Mostly, it was about beheading them.

Thoughts on how to behead them.

How would the other person react in that case?

Amel didn’t know.

That her will to explore how to kill the other person was reaching them.

[Killing Intent] engraved a hallucination of Amel beheading them in the minds of the people touched by her gaze.

Shiver.

The warriors gathered in the waiting room.

They were warriors who had made it through fierce competition in the preliminaries, but it wasn’t easy to endure while witnessing death.

They were sweating coldly.

Like frogs in front of a snake.

“[The Round of 64 Swordsmanship competition will begin soon, so Heroes, please gather in the waiting room.]”

The broadcast rang out.

Amel averted her gaze.

“….”

She seemed to have found out.

The culprit Yuha was looking for.

‘Well, there probably won’t be a day when so many people gather like today.’

Amel could look into the information window while glaring at the waiting room.

[Vampire].

All the guys here.

‘Velosa?’

Amel left the waiting room.

Thinking back to the sound of footsteps, it was in this direction.

She walked out,

And met someone.

It was a man who was holding his hands behind his back like a noble, and behind him, beautiful women were following the man like servants.

‘Vampire?’

She couldn’t tell.

She could activate [Killing Intent] and glare at them, but he looked like a noble. If she provoked him for no reason, it could lead to an unnecessary fight.

There was another way.

If they were Vampires, they wouldn’t be able to pretend they didn’t see this.

She took out the Bloodstained Dagger from her Inventory.

“…?”

“….”

Wasn’t it?

Pretending to examine the item.

She passed the trio.

They were surprised to see the Bloodstained Dagger, but it felt like they were surprised because it was a Blade. It wasn’t a look that they wanted the Bloodstained Dagger.

They might simply not know about the Bloodstained Dagger.

‘Vampire, huh.’

She had to tell Yuha.

“You there.”

“….”

The noble man called out.