On the arena, the six contestants were fighting each other fiercely in the arena.
　They attacked, defended, dived, ducked, blocked, thrust and slashed. Before long, one by one they fall.
　Those who fell and fainted were immediately transferred out of the arena and given recovery magic by the nurses who were waiting for them.
　That arena is equipped with various tricks to protect the lives of the contestants. That transfer out of the arena is one of them.
　The last two contestants are the last two left to cut it off. An adventurer with a large sword and a young man with a sword at the ready.
　The young man is Yae's older brother, Kokonoe Jutaro.
　The contestants' weapons are on loan from us. However, even though the blade is drawn, if you were to eat a large sword like that, at best you could break your bones, at worst you could die.
　Well, as long as it's not instantaneous death, it's possible to recover, and if it's really dangerous, the referee, Morobane Sis, will stop you.
　Fluttering and dodging the great sword being swung around, Shigetaro-san retreats.
　It looks like the big sword wielder is pushing, but at the moment I thought that was just me trying to find the right moment, Shigetaro suddenly stepped forward.
　The sword released from the lightning-like step catches the opponent's body accurately.
　Dong! And at the same time there was a sound of impact, the Great Sword Master fell forward and transitioned out of the field.

''That's it! G Block winner, Kuju Shigetaro!

　The crowd cheered and applauded from the spectator's seats as the referee, Morobane Sis, called out to her.
　Shigetaro bowed on the spot and left the arena, which was raised about a meter or so, towards the contestants' waiting room.

'You won without a hitch,'
My brother has a lot of room to maneuver, that he does.

　Yae is nodding proudly at the words that Yumina let out, and Yae is nodding unhappily.
　Me, Yumina and Lou, who came to watch the qualifying round of the martial arts tournament, joined Yae and Hilda and the others who were already in the spectator section of the venue.
　The qualifying tournament seemed to be going well, and nearly half of the contestants had been selected for the main tournament. Due to the large number of contestants, the preliminary round had turned into a battle royale, but this was going to be a lot of fun.

''Knight King Restia.......Reinhardt-san got through the preliminary round, right?
'Your brother would have been in Block A, so it was early. I'm sure he's downstairs watching the game now.

　Hilda points to the first floor of the match hall, a Colosseum-type arena, where the waiting room is located.
　Ah, I see. So, depending on the combination, Yae and Hilda's brother could fight each other? Which one should I support? I know it's a bit of a monthly thing, but all I can say is good luck with both of them.

Who else I know has qualified?
"Knight Commander Gaspar of Regulus, General Leon of Belfast, and my Lord Baba, that is.

　Old Baba's old man is a winner too........ He's too old for this kind of thing, so he shouldn't be pushing himself too hard.
　Even in his old age, he is indeed one of Takeda's Four Heavenly Kings.

''Fuyao-sama, that was........''

　In the direction Hilda points, I find a familiar face among the next H-block qualifiers standing in the arena.
　Red-copper skin with pointed ears and scaly patterns floating in the air. A thick tail on two horns extending from the head, indicating that they are of the dragon race.

'Sonia-san was on the show too?'

　She is a female martial artist of the dragon race. She's an adventurer, and we met at the "Pruning Ceremony", a martial arts tournament in the Great Sea of Trees, and after the collapse of Euron, we hunted down the False Celestial Emperor together.
　After defeating the False Heavenly Emperor, I heard that he's been working as an adventurer in our dungeons and such, so it wouldn't be surprising if he participated in this tournament. It seems that he originally traveled around the world to train in the martial arts.
　That means his partner, Rengetsu-san, is also participating in this tournament, for sure. I pictured the face of the skinhead stick-artist. He said he was also training to be a samurai.
　While I was thinking about that, a match had begun in the arena, and in the blink of an eye, a brawl was taking place.
　The axe user who attacked Sonia-san took a decent hit from the gauntlet's fist and was sent flying to the very edge of the battlefield.
　I thought I had managed to hold my ground, but the axe wielder was blown out of the field with a sudden impact that I couldn't see from the front further. Of course, if he fell outside the field, he would be disqualified.
　Sonia-san's signature "HaKei"? That's a tricky one, isn't it?
　In the end, Sonia was the sole survivor of the H Block tournament, and she narrowly qualified for the main tournament. The same martial arts fighter, General Leon of Belfast, is competing, but even so, the General is still better....
　Well, victory is the luck of the hour, and we won't know until the time is right.

''I would have liked to participate in the contest too, that I did.......''
Me too....
Hey, hey, just in case something goes wrong, we're the backup in case something goes wrong, so don't let up, okay?

　Yae and Hilda, who all let out a disappointed voice, are warned with a wry smile.
　However, this is like a construction, and these two, and Else as well, are a little afraid that it would be a terrible thing if they all participated in the competition.
　They are the favorites of many gods, even if only for free. If it's not possible, Brunhild could monopolize the first three places. That would be boring as a festival. I don't want people to think I'm an eighteen-year-old.

It's a good idea to go around to other places, since the martial arts competition is looking okay for now. Come to think of it, the cherry blossoms at the school...

　And just as I was about to tell everyone about the reading, a telepathic message popped up from one of the summonses I was releasing around town.

''I'm sorry, I have some urgent business to attend to.''
What?

　Leaving everyone behind, I transferred to just outside the arena with the Instantaneous Movement 《Teleport》.
　Since I shifted to the shadows of the building, there was no commotion. As it was, we went straight to the main street of the town that was crowded with people, right next to it.
　We saw a man wearing a black bandana walking towards us from the front through the crowded streets. Behind him, a rat under amber is following him in a hurry. It's this guy.
　I silently stand in front of the man in the bandana.

''Huh? What's up with you?
I'm going to need something from you.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Do you have one? The wallet you lifted from the ground.

　When the man in the bandana sticks out his tongue, he pulls out a knife from his pocket instead of a wallet and thrusts it at me. You should have run away right away, but apparently he's not very smart.
　I duck the approaching knife, take its hand and twist it outward. The pain of the arm bent in the opposite direction of the joint caused the man to drop the knife and crawl to the ground.

''Guh! You! What the hell are you doing?

　You're not going to do anything to me after you attack me. Mr. Rat pulls a wallet from the pocket of the man he's assembled. A wallet made of an expensive looking fabric, which does not look like this punk.
　According to the report of Mr. Rat, this seems to have been lifted from the pocket of a traveling merchant a while ago. I happened to be the closest one, so I flew over to catch it.
　After a while, my knights who heard the commotion came over and arrested him again.
　At first he was ranting about whether there was evidence that he had stolen the wallet, but when I told them about my identity, read the rat's memory with the Recall spell and projected the moment of the crime on video, he gave up and calmed down.
　After watching the knights take the pickpocket away to the jail, I decided to return the wallet in my hand to its original owner. Since there was quite a bit of money inside, the owner must be in a lot of trouble.
　Fortunately, the owner of the wallet had been picked up by a rat, so I knew who it was.
　I did a map search, and it was easy to find him. I decided to return the pickup as soon as possible, since it seemed to be in front of a stall a little further down the road.
　When I came to the front of the stall, a small, fat merchant-like man and a woman who looked like the owner of a buckwheat noodle stall were arguing with each other. The merchant was dressed in a lot of red, although I couldn't make out the black and white color of his clothes in the video footage of his memory, but the merchant was wearing a lot of red. It's a flamboyant merchant again.

What do you mean you have no money! If you were going to eat away from the beginning...
'No! My wallet was missing! It may have been dropped or lifted....

　Oops, I think I'm about to eat and drink without a wallet and without money. That was close.

Excuse me. Is this the wallet you lost?
'What? Oh, my wallet!

　He calls out from behind and offers the merchant the wallet in his hand. It seems to be the right thing to do.
　I told the proprietor of the stall what happened, I explained that I never had any bad intentions, I was convinced and received the money from the merchant.

Thank you. Thank you for your help.

　The merchant said and bowed his head. There is one thing that has been bothering me since I first saw the merchant.
　I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm not the only one who's been in this situation.
　I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm not sure if I should call him a red man or not. This person by any chance.........

''Are you, by any chance, the Red People.......the Arcana race?''
'Oh? Do you know my family?

　I knew it. An ancient tribe that said red was their sacred color. They sealed the Frays in the basement of the former royal capital of Belfast and left behind a mysterious secret script. A mysterious tribe that also visited the ice country of Elfrau about a thousand years ago. This merchant must be their descendant.

''If you are of the Arcana tribe, I have something I would like you to take a look at.
"Huh?

　I pull out a couple of photos I had stored in my 'storage'. The secret letters on the wall that I took when we first encountered Fraise.
　This person might be able to read it.
　Looking at the photo handed to him, the red merchant snorts at the thought.

''This.......is a secret character that has been passed down in the Arcana tribe since ancient times. Almost no one in my clan uses them now, right?
You still can't read?
'No, I can read. My grandmother was a priestess of the family, so I was taught these characters. Nowadays, though, there aren't more than five people who can read, including me.

　There are so few of them. Maybe these letters were ancient and only used to inscribe something sacred or important. It's probably not a script that was used on a daily basis.


''Well ... 'We the Red People hereby show you ... 'We, the Red People, hereby present to you a cluster of shining demons from the pit of the demon world, who shall sacrifice your grasses. When the city falls, the two little knights, black and white, who followed the king, will slay the demons at the end of time and space, seal up the holes in the demon world, and go away. At the end of time, if the hole in the world is not opened again, they will leave behind a corpse of a demon to destroy it. Do not pour your life on it.......

　I twist my head again at the content of that read to me.
　I think the shining demon is probably Frase. The hole in the demon world is probably a crack in the warding.
　But what is the black and white knight?

Where did you get this?
It was left behind in a small ruin under the old royal city of Belfast.
'I see.......I have heard that in the olden days there was a group of men who had been separated from our clan and settled in Belfast. Perhaps they left it to them.

　More than a thousand years ago, the Frays attacked the old royal city of Belfast. In order to tell the future generations about that time, that ruin was created by the Red People, the Arcana people. But for some reason, it was buried in the darkness of history and forgotten...or was it?
　It could have been the king's instructions at the time, or it could have been forgotten over the years. No, the Red People may have single-handedly used the basement of that ruin to seal up the Frays.... But that's not the problem.
　Perhaps what is written here is true. Frase attacked the royal capital and the city was in unprecedented danger.
　There are certain to be those who have defeated it or driven it back.
　The Black and White Knight. Those two are the key. It's hard to determine if it was the golems and messengers summoned from the "underworld" or if they were really a pair of knights.
　I don't know. The pieces of the puzzle are in place, but it's as if I don't know how to put them together. I'll have to go back to the 'underworld' after all.

Thank you very much. You're a lifesaver.
No, thank you. The money for this purchase would have cost us dearly. I'd like to thank you again.

　It seems that the Reds, the Arcana, have drifted away and found a safe haven on the island that floats between the kingdom of Hannock and the demon kingdom of Xenoas.
　It seems to be an island close to Xenoas in terms of location, and it is said that demonic tribes also live together on that island.
　A merchant........Polunga-san left the island when he was young and entered the business world, and now he seems to be a full-fledged merchant, touring the world. The reason he came to Brunhild was to stock up on rare products that are only available here.
　If that's the case, I introduced Orba's Strand Trading Company to him. They have a great deal of rare and unusual goods over there.
　After parting ways with Mr. Polunga, I remembered again his words from earlier.

''The two knights ... hey.''

　Well no, I still don't understand. Let's put it off for now.

''Ah, there you are. Fuyao-san!

　When I turned around at the call, I was just about to see Yumina and Lou coming through the waves of people, waving to us.

'How did you find this place?'

　Even though it was close, the two of them came right after the "instantaneous movement [teleportation]". I wondered about that, so I asked them, and they both looked at each other and tilted their heads in a small way.

''Umm........I don't know why, but I can usually tell where Fuyao-san is lately, can't I? I hear it's the same with Lou-san........
Somehow, I feel like it's this way... and I hear everyone else has the same feeling.

　Wait, what's that sensor? Is this another one of the effects of being attached?
　It is true that such things may be possible if the connection with me is stronger. It's probably the same kind of power that Amber and the others have.
　But to have your wives know your whereabouts for sure........isn't that bad? You can't even have an affair! No, I won't, though!

What about Yae and Hilda?
He's going to continue watching the martial arts tournament. Else-san will be there later.

　Well, that's what would happen if it was our three martial artists.
　Needless to say, the martial school is Else, Yae and Hilda. Linse, Lean, and Sakura are the magicians, and the remaining Yumina, Lou, and Sue are the royalists? No, though Hilda and Sakura are both royalty.
　Then we watched Sakura and her friends recite, enjoyed the amazing skills of traveling street performers, and chastised a drunk who was rowdy and violent during the day.
　I was impressed by the Demon King's uncanny power to speak to the children at the recitation. Why does he speak in such an evil tone? There were some children who were so scared that they cried, and the Demon King was very angry with Sakura.
　Before I knew it, it was getting late in the evening, so I decided to go back to the shogi hall. I thought the final was about to start.
　When we arrived at the venue, all four large monitors set up were showing the same game. It seemed that the final game had already started.

'Well ... oh, it's King Paloof and Mr. Dolan? This is awesome.

　Even some of the audience members around them let out a cry of surprise.
　Ernesto Din Paloof, the young boy king of the Paloof Kingdom, Ernesto Din Paloof. He seems to be using an alias here and calling himself El-Pulse.
　Due to the effect of the badge I gave him, everyone else may see him as a completely different person, but his age should be the same.
　A boy of only 10 years old, mixed in with the adults, made it to the final. It's amazing.

'He's definitely a genius too.... Just like Itko's Rachel, they are two terrifying people.

　I looked out into the audience and saw Rachel watching over her fiancé's boy. I can also see the Paloof Guard around him.
　Rachel continues to watch with bated breath. From time to time, she seems to be asking her father, Duke Rembrandt, who is sitting beside her, to explain the game to her. He must be worried after all.
　Whether he knew it or not, the boy king was concentrating all his attention on the pieces on the board.
　His opponent, Dolan, the owner of the leaflet inn "Silver Moon", also stared at the pieces on the board with an even more stern expression on his face. It's scary. If it was a normal child, he or she would have run away at once, right?
　The pieces had already turned gray and the time limit was approaching. Then, Dolan-san's hand reached out to the piece and the 'silver' moved diagonally to the right.
　The next moment, the boy king frowned and began to think. Mr. Dolan turned over the hourglass next to his desk. The pieces have returned to their original color. Now it's the Boy King's turn.

'Who's winning?'
'Hmmm, from what I can see on the board, it looks like Mr. Dolan...'

　That's what Lou asks, but to be honest, I'm not sure. It depends on the opponent to make a move from now on.
　In the empty space in the spectator's seat, there are people who are replaying their game with the pieces in hand and talking about this and that.
　Even those who did not know much about shogi seemed to be absorbed by the seriousness and spirit of the two men.
　Once again, the pieces turned gray. The time limit was approaching.
　King Paloof's hand moved. His "horse" on the board flew at an angle.
　The moment the piece is placed with a snap, the color returns again. This time the boy king turned the hourglass over.
　Mr. Dolan's face grew even more grim. 'Oro? Is this the boy king pushing it? I'm not sure. Hmmm...maybe next year we should have a commentator stationed by the bleachers.
　Mr. Dolan's piece, which had been troubling me until the last minute, moves again. In an atmosphere that made us hesitate to say "Go for it", all we could do was watch them compete seriously.