Adventurer Kumara said, “Should we just forfeit?”

At the party’s ranger and leader’s words, Magia and Sitar thought.

Here he goes again.

The mage, Magia, said incredulously, “If you’re going to forfeit now, why did we even participate in the tournament? We might as well have just eaten snacks in the audience seats.”

The warrior, Sitar, added, “The prize money and rewards start from second place, right? It’s a bit of a waste to run away after coming this far.”

Despite the cold reactions of the two, Kumara didn’t stop grumbling while clutching his head, “Gaaah! Why do we have to meet that person here of all places!? Couldn’t they have come out just one match later!?”

“You’d have said the same thing if we met the Lennart trio or the protégé of the Witch of the South… Anyway, our fame has increased, so our value should be higher from now on.”

“But it does seem like there was value in participating, as the branch manager said. While doing adventurer work, experience fighting people is… not non-existent, but often it’s just dealing with mediocre guys rushing in groups. Opportunities to compete with skilled individuals like this are rare.”

“You guys are unnecessarily positive,” Kumara grumbled, asking if he was the only pessimistic one.

After rolling around on the floor like this for about ten minutes, Kumara suddenly got up, sat at the table, and rested his chin on his interlocked hands.

Seeing that their leader, who had suffered a temporary malfunction, had returned to normal, the other two also straightened their postures.

“In the end, what decides this match is one thing. Whether we can take down Sir Knight or not. If we can’t do that, whatever we do will be blocked.”

Magia objected, “Isn’t it easier to target the two watching from behind? There’s a rule that if even one team member is out, the whole team is out after 10 minutes, right?”

“I was aiming for that at first, too. Originally, that rule itself was established to prevent one-man shows by specific team members, like Sir Knight’s team is doing now. But seeing everyone who rushed in with that strategy get completely crushed, I realized it won’t work.”

Kumara was convinced.

It’s impossible to target the two behind while excluding Sir Knight.

All those who targeted Dorothea and Sophia, either because they were annoyed by the sight of the two just watching from behind as if on a picnic, or for strategic reasons, were defeated without breaking through the Tin Knight’s wall.

“Tactics where two people tie up Sir Knight’s feet while the other one targets the back, or tactics trying to blow away the opponent with area attacks, all failed completely. Rather, because their attention was divided like that, they collapsed even faster. So, we’re going the opposite way. The three of us will put all our effort into targeting just that monster.”

After that, Kumara laid out various strategies, and Magia and Sitar either agreed or stated their own opinions, reinforcing the details.

The efforts of humans to face a monster were truly beautiful.

***

[The ‘Tin Knight’ rejoices that it seems like it will be an interesting match!]

“Sir Tin seems to value those people unusually highly.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says that these days, it’s surprisingly harder to find such a well-balanced orthodox party!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ expresses regret that it would have been perfect if there was just a cleric among them!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ complains that while healers are originally nobles, this is too extreme!]

“Clerics have been a symbol of the upper class in society since ancient times.”

The two non-humans, who were having a conversation that was ambiguously matching or not matching, suddenly turned their gaze to the only human in the party who was maintaining a strangely profound silence.

“Haa.”

Dorothea’s condition was serious.

They say moderate dark circles enhanced decadent beauty, but in Dorothea’s case, it had gone beyond decadence to the realm of horror due to its extremity.

It was to the extent that a ghost coming to scare might hesitantly greet her instead. It was certainly not a visual one would want to encounter in the middle of the night.

Perhaps lacking even the energy to speak, Dorothea was slumped in a chair in the waiting room, and the Tin Knight expressed his doubt.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ wonders if staffs are originally supposed to be made in such a difficult way!]

“Well, it’s about processing a tree containing enough mana to completely distort the ecosystem, claiming an entire forest the size of a large domain as its territory. It’s not an easy task.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ prays that Dorothea’s hand doesn’t slip!]

At that moment, someone knocked on the waiting room door.

“Everyone, you can go out now!”

The Tin Knight stood up.

An enjoyable match was waiting for him.

***

The appearance of the arena was neat.

It was hard to believe that just a day ago, it had been smashed beyond recognition.

As the knight and two beauties entered the arena restored by the blood, tears, and overtime of civil servants, the audience members whispered among themselves.

“Are they going to just watch from behind this time, too?”

“Being a mage must be comfortable. Just have the magic doll do everything for you.”

Contrary to Adelaide gaining favor from many spectators, public opinion about Dorothea’s team wasn’t so good.

While there were those who cheered at the appearance of a mage with outstanding beauty—and a hot level of exposure—they couldn’t help but be disappointed, as that mage didn’t even shoot a single fireball and just watched from behind.

There were not a few who cursed it as an act insulting the traditional martial arts tournament, and among them, some even made extreme claims that they should be disqualified by judgment.

However, these complaints decreased as days passed, specifically as Dorothea’s team continued to win.

“Anyway, ignorant guys talk a lot. Do they think the mana to move a familiar comes from digging the ground?”

“I heard that originally, magic dolls aren’t that strong, and their detailed judgment is inferior. When you look from the audience seats, it might look like they’re just watching from behind, but isn’t it actually all about giving instructions?”

The Tin Knight’s strength was that groundbreaking.

Beyond fighting evenly in a 3-vs-1 situation, his skill in not even allowing other teams to approach the two behind was overwhelming.

Befitting its name as the City of Struggle, Thracus was overflowing with critics who prided themselves on their eye for fighting, and they each expressed their opinions on the Tin Knight’s mysterious strength.

Theories ranged from the magic doll being fake and actually having a person inside, to it being a secret weapon created by the imperial family, to it being one of the legendary magic beasts called a Death Knight, to Dorothea being a Tin Knight trainer, to the Tin Knight actually being the weakest of the three and if one broke through his defense and reached the two people, Sword Master Sophia would draw her sword.

“Both teams, prepare for battle!”

Hearing the referee’s words, Kumara’s party each tightly gripped their bow, staff, and axe.

While only the Tin Knight took a stance on Dorothea’s team and the other two remained in a natural state, even the referee seemed used to it now and didn’t say anything special.

And then, the starting whistle blew.

Whoosh!

The arrow shot by Kumara cut through the wind.

It was on a trajectory aiming for Sophia and Dorothea, right next to the Tin Knight.

The Tin Knight nonchalantly moved his body to block that trajectory, and the arrow that could pierce even rocks bounced off the Tin Knight’s shield in vain.

Sitar, who had been waiting for the Tin Knight to move in reaction to the arrow, swung his axe with all his might.

Thud!

The decisive blow with the weight of his entire body behind it bounced off with an incredibly light sound.

“This is really too much…!”

Seeing him deal with an attack swung with both hands using just a one-handed sword, Sitar broke out in a cold sweat.

Slash!

As if in return for the previous attack, the Tin Knight’s sword cut Sitar’s body.

Red blood spurted from the center of Sitar’s chest.

The Tin Knight was unrelenting, attempting to launch additional attacks, but was thwarted by Kumara’s second arrow catching his foot.

Sitar, who had barely escaped the attack range, tumbled backward, as if rolling.

Boom!

A huge fireball shot from the tip of Magia’s staff directly hit the Tin Knight.

Seeing the explosion covering a third of the arena, cheers erupted from the audience seats and heated commentary flowed from the broadcast booth.

Kumara shouted, “Sitar! Status report!”

“I’m fine!”

Although Sitar’s chest had been cut, the wound wasn’t as deep as expected. He had managed to strengthen his armor, clothes, and body with mana at the moment of impact.

While sword energy was often thought of as the flower of the warrior class, such defensive ability was just as important.

The conversation wasn’t long.

Magia was already preparing a new spell, Sitar was moving forward for defense, and Kumara was measuring his arrow while predicting the opponent’s attack route.

No matter what people around them were saying, they knew best that the Tin Knight wouldn’t fall just from this much.

Watching such quick judgment and role division, Peter in the audience seats muttered, “As expected, those guys are useful.

“That only makes it all the more regrettable,” Peter sighed.

Even if they did everything they could, even if they didn’t let their guard down, even if they squeezed out every iota of wisdom and courage in their being.

As if lamenting the fact that there was an unbridgeable gap with just that.

Bang!

The sound of something tearing through the air.

Immediately after recognizing something flashing in the smoke left from the prior explosion, Kumara, almost by instinct, brought the bow he was holding in front of his body.

The sensation of the bow breaking with a crack transmitted through his hands, and then, a dizzying pain shot through his stomach.

“Kuhek!”

The air forcibly expelled from the stomach was discharged through the mouth.

Without even realizing what had hit him, Kumara’s body folded into a “ㄱ” shape and rolled backward.

“Kuk!”

The second to be hit was Sitar.

Although Sitar had tried to endure in the face of the Tin Knight’s onslaught, it was impossible to face the Tin Knight one-on-one without Kumara’s support.

After exactly three exchanges, the Tin Knight’s kick struck Sitar’s shin, flipping his body upside down.

Just before Sitar’s head reached the ground, the Tin Knight swung his shield to send Sitar flying.

Like a baseball hit by a bat, Sitar’s body flew towards a certain point in the arena.

Magia, who was moving sideways to adjust the angle of her attack magic, happened to be at that certain point.

“Kyaak!”

Sitar and Magia’s bodies overlapped and rolled all the way outside the arena.

Kumara tried to stand up once more, disregarding the arrow that was stuck in his stomach, but before he could draw his sword instead of the broken bow, the Tin Knight’s sword was pointed at Kumara’s neck.

After flinching at the blade that came up to his chin, Kumara quietly raised both hands.

“That’s it!”

With the referee’s declaration, another match was settled.

Team Dorothea. Advance to the team competition finals.

***

“Will you continue?”

At the question that reached her ears, Maris von Lennart suddenly looked around.

Algind’s two escort knights were on the ground with severe injuries.

In contrast, while Maris and her knights were each injured, there was no major problem in continuing the battle.

After confirming this, Maris answered, “No, I’ll forfeit.”

Algind silently nodded.

There was almost no change in expression, but to Maris, it looked like she was smiling as if to say it was a wise decision.

Right after that, the icicles that had densely formed in the air above the arena like stalactites all disappeared at once.

Maris broke out in a cold sweat.

This is too monstrous. What on earth did the Crown Mage raise?

From her perspective, while it was somewhat regrettable to be eliminated midway through the martial arts tournament, it wasn’t that big of a blow.

It was nothing more than something that could be laughed off, saying she lacked ability this time and would do better next time.

But the terrifying skill Algind had shown was by no means something to be laughed off.

After all, Duke Lennart and the Empress were in political opposition, and the Witch of the South was a close friend of the Empress.

Maris sighed, thinking that there would be a lot more to report to Father about this tournament.

Algind’s team. Advance to the team competition finals.

***

That night.

“…Finally, it’s complete.”

After leaving just those words, Dorothea collapsed with a thud like a corpse.

Wooong.

The pitch-black staff cried softly, like a newborn child.

***

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