Chapter 13 Out of Standards (Patreon)

The Merchant who was selling tickets – Zasuka awakened, and an unfamiliar ceiling entered his sight.

「……Here is?」

Feeling a slight pain in his shoulders when he raised his body, he remembered the situation which lead to his condition. It seems like he was carried to a room of a nearby medical facility to rest.

「Oh, you have finally woken up」

Turning towards the source of the voice, there he found a soldier dressed in red light armor relaxing and drinking coffee.

「Walcoz-kun, was it you who brought me here? Thanks」

「Although no kind of trauma was found, I have requested a recovery magician to assist just to be safe. A small amount of pain might have remained though」

Recovery magic is convenient when recovering wounds or easing put pain, but it’s not versatile enough to completely remove it and will have to be recovered over time.

Since it was not really an emergency, it would be fine if Zasuka woke up suffering only a little amount of body pain.

After rotating his shoulders for a bit while his face was distorted in pain, he moved to the place where Walcoz was seated. Walcoz then prepared another cup of the same coffee he was drinking and offered it to Zasuka.

「Even so……『I can’t participate in the competition because Zasuka-san collapsed』 is what she said so I’ve given her a participation ticket, but is it really fine to do that?」

「Oh, if it’s that then there’s no problem……By the way Walcoz, you know that I’ve been a peddler for many years, and during those times I’ve fought thieves, bandits and monsters on the way. If I was registered as an adventurer, which rank do you think would represent me?」

　Walcoz immediately answered without thinking much about it, believing it was some sort of joke.

「Because I don’t really know about Zasuka-san’s peddler era, I could only give a guess based on the time you have settled down here, and it would probably be around C Rank or lower B Rank is what I could think of」

「Certainly it would be around that rank now since I have become a bit dull after I settled down, such a thing is just inevitable」

　Zasuka had a lot of experience in combat, especially interpersonal fights, not to mention he joined the training of the knights several times.

There are no mistakes to his guess, because Walcoz was also a part of the Royal Knights and there were times when he also saw Zasuka joining their trainings.

After gulping down his coffee, Zasuka heaved a deep sigh.

「It is A Rank. Some even said that I was close to those of non-standard ranks, though I don’t think I belong to that side. Well, that’s only what the people I know of said…… 」

「What are you trying to imply?」

Being directly asked by Walcoz, Zasuka began to talk about what happened while placing his shoulders on the desk and started laughing.[ED: How do you place both shoulders on the table?]

「It was because that child said that she would like to participate without any weapon or armor, and at first I was thinking what is wrong with that child. Then as a little threat I said to her 『This is not a place you should try out and enter just out of your curiosity』 that is to show her just what kind of competition she will meet by participating」

「Well, thinking about it, it is quite rare nowadays to find a fist fighter, one that doesn’t use any kind of weapon」

「And then I said to her 『If you really insist in joining, then you have to defeat me first』. Honestly speaking, it was just a joke, and if she really attacked me then I would threaten her a little more. But she said 『That’s convenient』 and I blacked out after that」

「Is that so, then if she defeated you, does that mean that she would be on upper B Rank in terms of skills and power?」

「No, I didn’t even last a second」

「What are you trying to say? 」

「You see Walcoz-kun, I did not even last a second when I fought that little girl. I was certainly negligent thinking it was just a little barehanded girl, not even wearing armor. But honestly, even if I prepared myself and wore my best weapon and armor to fight against her, I don’t think I would last even 10 seconds against her. That’s just how out of the norm that little girl is」

「You did say that you were A Rank before, and close to a nonstandard rank right…?」

Remembering what Zasuka told him before Walcoz once more asked for confirmation.

They were wrapped in silence for a moment and the cheering from the Arena could be heard.

Zasuka the lifted his face and asked.

「So how long was I out, and what’s going on with the tournament? 」

「The sixth set have just started before, and now that there’s cheering maybe it’s about to be settled now」

「What about the tickets 」

「I have made arrangements, I have called for personnel from Zasuka-san’s firm」

「Is that so, thank you…… Walcoz-kun, don’t you still feel like coming back home? You know, you have just the right discipline to be a merchant」

「No, though I am thankful for the offer, but right now I am a member of the Royal Knights」

「……By the way, at what group did she belong to? 」

「Well, the participation ticket that I’ve given her is green so 8th group」

「okay…… but anyway, we need to be careful. You know, it is about 『That Girl』 which is bad news, so we really need to watch over 『That Girl』. Especially if the fight becomes a magic battle, though the stadium can somehow help with injuries, attacks with instant death won’t be recovered」

「I understand」

　After finishing their discussions, they both stood up at the same time and went back to their respective duties. 

At that time, the matches for the sixth round had ended and the battle for the seventh round was about to start.

◇――――――――――

Now then, what should I do, the seventh round just started.

If I remembered correctly, that soldier-san said that I should meet him at the entrance of the waiting room.

It will be too awkward to tell mom about it, and I will easily be noticed if I suddenly slip away, so what should I do now?

Once she witness how I fight, I don’t think she would not allow me to participate, but right now she probably won’t let me enter.

「Mom, pickin flawers」

「Flowers? Why are you talking about that now, are you tired of watching?」

Hmm, don’t they use that term around here? Well, I didn’t hear anyone say something like that before so I didn’t really know.

When I said I will go picking flowers, the 『Adventurers』 were thinking, fufufu……you also want some money is it.

「No not that, wait for it」

「Fine, you can where you want, but do you know where you need to go? 」

「daizobu, can find immediately」

「Be sure to return immediately」

「Nn」

　If I’m not mistaken, it should be close to the stairs. Mom returned her sight  to watch the next round. I then immediately moved towards the waiting room.

There I found the soldier who was wearing a light armor standing in front of the waiting room probably confirming the tickets of the participants.

I took out my green ticket and showed it to the soldier, it was the same person who gave me the ticket.

「Merchant, all right? 」

「Aah, if it’s Zasuka-san then he’s fine. He also confirmed that you can participate」

When the soldier received my ticket from me, he handed me a written notice.

But well, I can’t read letters yet.

「This, what is?」

「It’s a memorandum given to all participants, be sure to properly read and follow it then put it in the collection box after」

「but you see, me can’t read」

「Can’t read? What, really?」

「Un」

　This reaction, wait, could it possibly be that in this world everyone is almost a hundred percent literate?

Looking at Rikka-chan reading a book since we were young, I was having a misconception that she might be a genius. 

Because I didn’t get something 『Language Learning』 skill or the like, I am thinking that this is really a hard core game or just something else. But well, I’m not really sure if this has that same game mechanics or the like.

To send to a world such as this without even the skill to easily learn language!?

I don’t really know what to say, I absolutely didn’t receive any skills like that…

「If that’s the case, then let me read it for you」

「You fine?」

「In this case, it just couldn’t be helped you see……」

「Certainly」

And so, the soldier-san explained to me the rules on the written memo. 

First, there is an automatic recovery magic circle set up on the stage, it can easily help anyone recover, as long as they didn’t receive any instant death attacks. It sure is convenient since if you damage someone to the point that the recovery effect will activate, the person recovering will be declared disqualified or defeated by the referee.

Light wounds would be fine but if it’s deep enough to hinder mobility like for example, how the Assassin person disables his opponents in the third match and finishing them while lightly pushing his blade to their throats, even if the participant don’t admit it they will be forced to withdraw. Defeat will also be determined on the level of recovery needed to treat wounds.

However, in the case that the recovery didn’t activate and the person who was stabbed in his throat died, the assassin will be disqualified as an overall decision and then both sides will be made to go outside the stage.

Speaking of instant death attacks, they would be those that would be strong enough to blow away or destroy the head or the heart. Something like the attack I used when obliterating those Warwolves in the past I guess. That certainly blew off not only the head but even the upper part of its body.

Next will be conditions for defeat.

It includes, stunning, disabling, or immobilizing your enemies. Making them surrender or throwing them out of the ring is also included.

Unn, very easy to understand.

In addition to that, it is possible to use any kind of weapon or support and attack items in this tournament that the participant brought in.

The soldier-san greatly implied that I should take care not to easily be targeted by those things or be very careful about them since I look like I didn’t really have defense. 

「Because everyone can bring just about anything including dangerous materials, be sure to pay careful attention to everyone」

「Understand」

　Soldier-san kindly taught me everything I need to know, but what I was thinking about more is that recovery magic sure is amazing. It can deal with just about anything (Maybe), but I wonder why it couldn’t be of help in the case of Rikka-chan’s disease. 

Well, there were certain conditions upon usage that complicate with the disease and that made the recovery ineffective to Rikka-chan.

When all of the explanations were finished by the soldier-san, the seventh round has ended and now the eighth round will begin.

Since I was talking with soldier-san close to the entrance, as soon as everything ended I thank the soldier-san and then I went straight to the waiting area for the participants.