Unwanted Trouble

The next day marked the start of the second part of the tournament. Kies decided to go on ahead while everyone else ate and arrived at the colosseum just as the sun was about to reach its peak. Unlike yesterday, which was packed with people, the tournament was scheduled to start at its normal time since they managed to eliminate a good portion of the competition.

When Kies got there, he found Nell, Rui, and Nyana already there waiting for the tournament to start. Nell instantly recognized him and went over to cheer for him. "Ya-hoo~, nice morning isn't it?"

"I guess." Kies felt really uncomfortable about being approached by her since her loud voice attracted almost everyone's attention. The royal guard and the elf both turned their heads and saw that Kies was here now.

"..." Kies began walking away from the crowd, prompting Nell to follow him. While they walked to a less crowded spot, Nell began asking him a couple of things about his fight yesterday.

"So, I heard that you took a bunch of people out with your ridiculous 'strength...' By any chance, did you use your artifact for that?" Nell asked Kies.

"Sort of..."

"And the referees didn't detect it?"

"I concealed it."

"So you cheated?" Kies had no response to that. Nell scratched her head, a little distraught by what she heard. "I mean, they did gang up on you so I guess it's fine," she justified a reason for Kies' cheating by using an illegal magic item during the fight. "Furthermore, it's not like I'm in charge of any of the tournament stuff so I don't need to report this... And you are helping us out by trying to flush out the thieves and it wouldn't do for you to get eliminated right here..." Nell mentioned a few other reasons why Kies' cheating was considered 'fine.'

"Anyhow, at least today you're allowed to go all out. People can't say anything no matter what you do. Your own weapons and magic are allowed, and that includes magic items," Nell said on a positive note. She didn't know how Kies managed to get away with it in the first round, but it was okay for him to use whatever he wanted now. But still... "I think there may be something wrong with those referees. How did they not bat an eye when they saw you flinging sand everywhere with every swing?"

Kies didn't understand it either, neither did anyone else in the arena. The only people that did understand the thought process behind the referees' decisions would be the referees themselves.

"Actually..." Nell suddenly figured the reason why the referees may not have suspected Kies. "We often get fighters of other races such as beastmen who have unreal physical strength despite how they look. While most don't bother concealing their identity, a couple do, and it isn't uncommon to see something like that, I guess."

"Really?" That was interesting to hear considering how he hasn't seen a single beastman yet in the entire tournament. Kies asked Nell about it and she explained to Kies the reason for this.

"Ever since the beastmen from Otane were 'freed,' the beastmen here have been leaving to help rebuild their city. That's the same for almost every other race here. It used to be so diverse, but after most of them left, it's just us humans again," she said in a sad tone. "But there are still a few here. Like that one," she pointed at a male beastman with cat ears and a tail standing behind the rest of the crowd.

He was rather young and looked like he was in his twenties. As for why he chose to stay instead of leaving with their fellow beastmen? They would have to ask him to find out. But judging from all the luggage he is carrying on him, it is likely that he traveled here for the tournament and would leave after it's over.

"By the way, I don't see the other three with you. Where are they?" Nell curiously asked Kies.

"About that..." Kies sighed.

"What? Did you get into a fight or something?" Nell asked concernedly, seeing Kies reaction to her question.

"Something close..." It was less of a fight and more of an awkward interaction he would have with Iris if they met. Kies didn't understand what the h*ll was going on through her mind last night when she did that. Actually, he had no idea what went on in her head regardless. It hasn't even been a week since they met and yet... It just made no sense to him.

"Hey, how common is it to fall in love with someone you've only just met?" Kies asked Nell out of wonder. He wanted to know if this was a normal thing in Otane or if it was just Iris.

Nell raised an eyebrow at Kies' question and smiled. "Is there a reason why you're asking that question?"

"No," Kies immediately answered her.

Nell crossed her arms and said, "You're way too obvious. So, which one is it?" she eagerly asked Kies, somehow knowing exactly what had happened.

"Ugh, never mind," Kies changed his mind. Asking her wasn't a good idea. He should've never brought this up in the first place.

"No, I want to know!" Nell was enthusiastic to know. She wasn't going to pretend like she never heard it. "Who is it!? Is it the red-hair girl, or is it Wompa!?"

"I'm not answering that." Kies sped up his pace and tried to get away from Nell but she also sped up to keep up with him. She was determined to get the answer from him. Kies sped up his pace even more to a sprint but Nell continued to chase him. No matter how fast he tried to run, he couldn't get away from her. There was no outrunning the guard captain. Unless...

Kies called upon the winds to aid him and they boosted his speed. He ran as fast as he could away from Nell. She tried to keep up but eventually fell far behind. Surprised at Kies' sudden burst of speed, she couldn't do anything other than call out to him. "Hey, slow down!" But Kies didn't pay any attention to her. He didn't look back and ran until he was back to the entrance of the colosseum.

"Welcome back," Nyana greeted him when she saw him approaching the group. "Had a good jog? It's never a bad idea to get some warmup in before a fight, but just don't overdo it," she advised him.

"Um... Got it?" Kies wasn't running around to warm up. He was running around to escape Nell, but there wasn't really a point in explaining it.

"Also, how are you not hot wearing all of that?" the elf asked, noticing his outfit.

"Hm? Do you not know?" Nyana knew what he was, but did she not know anything about his race other than for the name?

"No. Other than your name and wind magic, I don't know anything," Nyana told Kies, confirming what he thought.

"Oh."

"Yes, and one more thing, where are the other three? Aren't they on your team?"

"They are. They'll arrive soon."

"That's good to hear. It'd be a shame for me to heal them only for them to not show up. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck, I have something to attend to. I'll see you in the tournament." The elf waved goodbye and walked away.

Right after Nyana left, Rui approached him and also greeted him. "Hello there," she saluted him.

"Hi."

"The first person you were talking to, I believe that was Nell, right?" she asked.

"Yes."

"And that second person was the elf that everyone was talking about... Fancy for you to know her. But I guess it isn't that surprising for you two to know each other considering how you both caused an uproar in the tournament." Rui waved her hand around them and Kies looked around and saw that a lot of people were staring at them, or more specifically, him. They already knew Rui's strength since she was a famous royal guard, but for someone whose name is completely unknown to be this powerful, it was very uncommon.

Kies lowered his head. Even though he was wearing the mask that Iris made, he felt uncomfortable attracting this much attention. Rui noticed it and told Kies, "I know it's not my place to say this since practically everyone in Otane knows me, but don't be afraid to hold your head up." She paused for a moment to look around and saw that there were even more people looking at them now. "Well, Unless of course, you're trying to keep a low profile. In that case, you're not exactly doing a good job..." she blatantly put it. And it didn't help that he was standing next to a royal guard.

"Sorry, but I think I'll go find a less crowded place," he apologized to Rui.

"Wait. Before you do that, are the two girls okay?" she asked in a worried voice.

"Yes. A healer took care of their wounds. They're up on their feet again."

"That's great to hear..." Rui's tense expression disappeared when she heard that. She had been so worried about them and blaming herself for their injuries that she hadn't slept well last night.

"Okay, I'll leave now," Kies told Rui. He wanted to separate from her before he drew too much attention. The entire crowd was now looking at Kies, wondering what his relationship to the royal guard was. He needed to get away from her before something happened.

She nodded her head and Kies left the crowded entrance just in time as Nell came running back around, out of breath and searching for Kies. He quickly walked away before she could spot him. As he turned the corner, he saw that there were some contestants approaching him and they looked angry for some reason. Unsure of what they wanted from him, Kies waited for them to get close to him so that he could hear them out.

"Brat, I heard that you cheated in your fight," one of the men shouted at him, notifying him what this was all about.

"The referees don't agree with you," Kies responded, pointing out that if he had cheated (which he did), the referees would've caught him (which they didn't). If even the referees couldn't tell that he was cheating then there was nothing that the other competitors could do about it. All he needed to do was to ignore them and it should be fine.

But, it didn't seem like the men liked his response. Before Kies could walk away, they surrounded him. "Do you really think we're going to let you off? Grabbed the attention of three beauties right in front of us and you want to leave?"

"Huh?" Three beauties? Were they talking about Nell, Rui, and Nyana? Oh... So that was what this was really about. It was true that the three women were stunningly beautiful, but it wasn't like he wanted contact with any of the three. His work and mission just happened to involve contact with them. In the first place, they were all a lot older than him and they were more likely to be his mother than anything... Well, maybe except Nell. She was younger than him by some good number of years. Even still, he didn't see her that way, and neither did he see him in any other way either.

Kies didn't want trouble and wanted to explain this to the men, but from the looks on their faces, it was unlikely that they would listen to him so Kies decided that there was no point and didn't bother doing so. He didn't say anything and drew his sword. The best way to deal with these people was to beat them up.

"Now you're talking." The men all laughed and drew their weapons as well. "If you want attention that badly, we'll give it to you."

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