Face Off

The year turned, and it was now January 2. Allen and Krena were heading back home from the residential district.

"They gave us so much!"

"They sure did."

Krena looked happy as she trudged along, her hands filled with leftover food.

This world also had a tradition of celebrating the New Year. Allen had been under the impression that it did not, as his own family never did anything special for the occasion.

However, while he was catching a break during a play knight session and chatting with Pelomas, he learned that the commoners had such a tradition. The Village Chief would invite all the commoners over on New Year's and host one big feast. Dogora had also participated every year.

Partly meant as a celebration of the success of last year's great boar hunts, the New Year's celebration this year was even grander than usual. The Long Spear Newcomer Induction Plan devised by Allen had been a resounding success, and the hunting party successfully met their quota of fifteen great boars.

In fact, not only did they succeed, they went above and beyond, taking down eighteen great boars without a single person suffering major injury.

The Village Chief did invite Rodin and Gerda, whom he saw as the key figures behind this achievement, to the New Year's celebration. However, the two of them declined his offer, citing their young children who needed constant care. Thus, participation fell to Allen and Krena instead. Since at least the children of the leaders of the hunting party showed up for the celebration, Deboji was spared public humiliation.

"We're back!" Krena called out right before she reached her house's front door.

Her younger sister, Lily, toddled out and grabbed her older sister, exclaiming "K'ena!" in welcome. The two looked very close. Krena pinched her cheeks gently as Mash also walked out of the house.

"Welcome back," Gerda said. Mathilda was right next to him.

Additionally...

"Did you have fun at the Village Chief's house?"

"Welcome back."

Rodin, Theresia, and Myulla were also present.

"I'm back, father, mother, Myulla. Mm-hm, I had lots of fun."

Tonight, both families were spending the night together at Krena's house.

Allen and Krena handed over the meat and fruit they had been carrying.

Mathilda and Theresia accepted it all and began preparing for dinner.

As these were leftovers from the feast, the food was gourmet compared to the fare that usually graced Allen's and Krena's families' dinner table. Great boar and some of the Albaherons Allen had caught were also being served.

Soon, the two families' feast, much humbler than the village chief's, kicked off. Four adults and six children were a very tight fit in this house, but even so, they all enjoyed themselves immensely.

'I really do love sleepovers at Krena's house.'

As everyone ate, Allen regaled them with stories from the feast, such as how Deboji had repeatedly voiced his gratitude toward Rodin and Gerda.

Krena, for her part, did not remember much of this, as she had been occupied with eating from start to finish.

Slowly but surely, Gerda started growing listless. Eventually, he asked, "Say, Allen?"

"Yes, Mr. Gerda?"

"The thing behind you...is it what I think it is?"

One of the things that Allen had brought home with him today was a small wooden cask with a capacity of only a few liters. It was currently set down behind where he was sitting. Unlike everything else that he had carried back, he had yet to hand this over.

"Do you mean this barrel? It's filled with wine, yes."

Both Rodin and Gerda inadvertently went, "Ohhhhh!" in excited voices.

'They took the bait. I knew they liked wine.'

Ignoring the response from the adults, however, Allen turned to chat with Krena, evoking two bewildered "huh?!"s. The two men could not understand why Allen had just glossed over the topic. They had fully expected the conversation to develop toward them getting the wine.

Allen turned back, his head tilted in seeming puzzlement. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Uh, Deboji gave that to you, right?" Gerda returned, somewhat haltingly.

"Yes, the village chief gave it to me," Allen responded, the confusion on his face deepening further.

Unable to hold it in any further, Gerda blurted, "You can't drink it, though!" Next to him, Rodin nodded several times to show his support for Gerda's outburst. Theresia and Mathilda turned toward Allen, their attention drawn by the ruckus the men were raising.

"Awww, okay. It's my wine, but I guess if you beat me in a contest of strength, I'll give it to you."

"Huh?!"

"Contest?!"

"If you don't want to, I don't mind. I'll just keep this to myself."

Silence filled the room. Krena looked around curiously, still shoveling food into her mouth.

Eventually, Gerda adopted a fierce grin and flexed an arm, showing off his biceps. "All right, you've got yourself a contest!"

Noticing Allen's querying look, Rodin replied, "I can't very well lose in strength to my own son, can I? Count me in."

"Okay! A contest of strength it is, then. If I beat both of you, then it'll be my win. Is that fine?"

Slightly taken by surprise at the terms that seemed so advantageous for himself, Gerda stopped for a brief moment, then nodded. "Someone's confident... Sure, that works."

After seeing Rodin nod as well, Allen continued, "So, if I lose, then I'll give this wine to both of you. What do I get if I win?"

A "huh?" fell from both men's lips at the same time. They had apparently not even considered the possibility of themselves losing.

"Well, I need motivation too!"

"I mean, is there anything that you want?"

Allen put a hand on his chin, acting as though he was deep in thought, and eventually said, "Mmm... How about, if I win, then I get to join this year's great boar hunts?"

"HUH?!" three voices cried out at once as Theresia joined in.

Rodin and Gerda had finally realized that they had fallen into a trap. Allen had asked Pelomas ahead of time if wine would be served at the feast.

Everything that had happened afterward, including this overnight stay, had been a part of Allen's plan all along.

"You won't lose, though, right? This is a contest of strength, after all."

Allen made sure to emphasize the word "strength." This was not any old contest, but a contest of strength. Rodin and Gerda exchanged looks as if asking each other what to do.

Eventually, it was Rodin who responded, understanding that this was his call to make. "Fine, we accept those conditions. If we win, we get the wine. If you win, you get to join this year's hunts."

"Honey?!" The person most shocked at Rodin's answer was Theresia. She had not expected him to go along with what she thought was sheer madness.

Rodin calmed his wife down by assuring her that he would not lose, then turned to Allen. "Exactly what do you have in mind for this contest?"

"Arm wrestling."

All the adults echoed the words, "Arm wrestling...?" in a confused tone as Krena alone went, "Arm wrestling!" in recognition. In order to demonstrate what it was to the adults, Allen had explained it to her at Deboji's house. In fact, they even had an arm wrestling competition with all the kids present.

"Krena and I will show how it's done. Krena, can you come over here?"

"Sure!"

Allen and Krena picked their way over to the earthen-floored area, then laid down on the ground, facing each other. There wasn't enough space to do this in the main room right now, with how packed it was. Everyone else looked on curiously as the two kids gripped each other's hand.

"Now all we need is someone to tell us when to start. Mother, can you shout, 'Start!' for us?"

"Huh? St...art?"

Theresia's drawn-out word was accepted as the signal, prompting Allen and Krena to start pushing with their arms.

Although Krena went red in the face from the exertion, Allen still handily pushed the back of her hand to the ground, claiming victory.

"Allen, you're so strooong! I lost agaaaain!" Krena cried in frustration.

She had also lost just now at Deboji's house, making this two losses in a row.

"And that's how it's done," Allen said, turning to the adults. "You win by pushing your opponent's hand to the ground. That's why it's a contest of strength."

The rules were simple, and both Rodin and Gerda caught on quickly.

They did look extremely astonished, however, to see Krena, a Sword Lord, lose.

'She is still only Lvl. 1, after all. Her Attack isn't actually all that high.' Allen kept his thoughts to himself.

Krena was strong in a fight because of how high her Sword Mastery skill was. The power that she could muster, however, was unremarkable, as she had yet to kill any monsters.

"All right," Gerda said. "Who do you want to face first?"

"You, of course, Mr. Gerda. Then father is next."

Thus began the battle, Allen's wine and right to hunt on the line.

***

Gerda descended from the main room to the earthen-floored area. Because of how big his body was, his feet protruded a little out the front door. He and Allen clasped hands.

'Now, can I actually win this?'

By this point, he had caught so many albaherons that he had reached Lvl. 6, and there was not a single person in the village who did not know of him now.

...So much for not standing out.

Part of his renown also came from his continued attendance at all the boar hunting party's hunts the past year. Of course, he did not merely watch while twiddling his thumbs—he provided instruction to commoners and serfs alike, and there was new equipment scheduled to be completed by autumn this year that he had designed.

The way Allen saw it, he had only two options to survive: either go full throttle on leveling, even if this made him stick out, or remain a low-level weakling.

In this world, Allen was the only person in Hell Mode. His stats would still remain rock-bottom if he only did as much as the next person. No, he would have to work a hundred times harder than everyone else for the appraisal values that Elmea had specially added to his grimoire to even become relevant.

After considering everything, Allen had concluded that the first option was the way to go. One major factor behind this decision had been Rodin's injury.

It had helped Allen understand that he needed strength to protect those closest to him. He did not mind being a little conspicuous, as long as it did not draw unwanted attention from the nobles or the royal family—he was banking on the results of his appraisal to act as a damper on any waves he created.

Allen wanted to seize the right to participate in the great boar hunts by his own hand. For the sake of this day, he had filled all thirty available card slots with Beast F cards.

Gerda was somewhat hesitant, but when he saw the resolution in the eyes staring back at him, a serious expression came over his face. Both sides meant business in this contest.

"This all right?" Gerda asked, getting down beside Allen and digging his elbow into the ground.

Allen nodded. "Krena, be our referee."

"Okay!" Krena placed her hand where Allen's and Gerda's were clasped.

She had also learned the "proper" way of refereeing at the Village Chief's house just now. "Ready...and Start!"

Both sides grunted "HMPH!" and started pushing with all their might.

The muscles on Gerda's arm seemed at risk of bursting as both contestants' faces grew redder and redder.

Shock filled Gerda's face. Rodin simply watched on. Theresia and Mathilda both exclaimed in surprise. The strength that Allen was displaying was far beyond that of a normal seven-year-old. And slowly but surely, he started gaining the upper hand. Before long, Gerda's hand hit the ground.

Allen had won.

"NOOOOO!!! I LOOOSTTT!!!" Gerda howled in frustration. The two women's faces made it clear that they could not believe what they had just witnessed.

'Oof...that was really close. Based on this, I'd say Gerda's Attack stat is between 150 to 200.'

Allen flapped his hand about, trying to shake away fatigue in preparation for the next round. Rodin studied him with a severe look on his face, then got up and took off his pale brown jacket, exposing the well-developed muscles that he had gained from swinging his hoe day after day, morning to evening.

He was going to go all out.

"I'll wait for your arm to recover," Rodin said, indicating that he wanted to face Allen in top condition.

"Th-Thank you, father."

***

Several minutes later, Allen had rested enough and was good to go again.

He was ready for what would be his fourth match of the day. He and his father both lay down on the bare earth facing each other, dug their elbows into the ground, and clasped hands.

'I feel like this is the first time we've held hands so firmly before.'

Rodin's hand was rugged and calloused, conveying just how hard he had been working for his family's sake. Allen's heart overflowed with appreciation. At the same time, Rodin also looked as though he wanted to say something. It had been years since he had held his son's hand properly.

However, Krena, who saw that the two of them were settled, came forward to place her own hand over theirs.

Allen shot a quick look at his mother and found her earnestly praying for his father's victory. It was only natural, of course, as Rodin losing meant Allen taking up a spear and fighting in person this autumn. Clearly, Theresia had zero intention of cheering for Allen in this contest.

"Okay, ready?...Start!"

Right after the signal, both father and son let out a "HMPH!" and pushed with all they had. Rodin's face turned red and the veins on his arm bulged.

'Shit! He's this strong? Uh-oh...'

Thanks to the +150 boost from his thirty Beast F cards, the total value of Allen's Attack could now be rounded up to 200, but Rodin's was apparently much higher than that. Little by little, Allen lost ground, and soon enough, he was thoroughly beaten. He did not even have a chance to make the slightest comeback.

Three voices cheered in unison—two in elation and one in relief. Rodin had defeated Allen, who had beaten both Sword Lord Krena and Gerda. The man pumped his fist in a rare show of childish excitement and basked in the glory of his victory. He was extremely happy about winning, to put it mildly.

'Damn, I didn't stand a chance. His Attack is probably somewhere between 250 and 300, isn't it?'

Allen mentally estimated Rodin's stats using his own as a benchmark while graciously passing the wine cask over.

"WHOO! WINE!"

"HELL YEAH!"

Rodin and Gerda helped themselves with zero hesitation. They filled each other's wooden cups to the brim. Rodin exclaimed about how delicious his drink of victory was.

'When they went through the Appraisal Ceremony, father's Attack probably showed up as "C" and Gerda's as "D," I'd venture to guess.'

Of course, Allen had had every intention of winning. However, there was something else that he wanted to confirm—specifically, just how strong someone in Normal Mode was.

The more monsters someone killed, the higher their level would be. Now, exactly how strong does someone who leveled up under Normal Mode become? And thanks to the arm wrestling session just now, Allen had learned that even someone without a Talent would easily raise their Attack above two hundred.

"Gosh, you're being immature!" Mathilda scolded, seeing how blatantly both Rodin and Gerda were celebrating.

"Your father's just too strong, Allen," Theresia said to Allen in a comforting tone.

She had apparently taken his silence as a sign of him feeling dejected, even though he was actually just occupied with analyzing what had just happened.

Still, although she was trying to console Allen, she seemed happy with the result.

"That's right, Allen! I'm strong! And if you can't beat me, then I can't let you take part in the hunts!"

In other words, Rodin was telling Allen that he needed to beat Rodin first if he wanted permission to participate. His cheeks were flushed, indicating that he was already slightly intoxicated.

'Yes, he said it! I'll hold him to it. If I manage to raise Summoning to Lvl. 4 by autumn, I might still have a chance! Father, I won't let you say you don't remember all this because you were drunk.'

"Okay. I won't ask to participate in the great boar hunts anymore, not until I can beat you, father," Allen conceded, making a face and adopting a tone that made it seem like he was giving up.

This face-off between father and son had ultimately ended with Rodin's victory.