"Hey Conan, have you chosen your weapon yet?"
"Yes!"
"...What are you doing with that?"
Hmm...? What do you mean? It's a weapon, after all.
"Don't make that face. You have no experience with axes."
That's right, I decided to choose one of the axes there. It's a little awkward because it's bigger than me, but I really like it. On the other hand, Anna and the others, who chose swords, are looking at me strangely.
"We can choose whatever we want."
"Yes, but choose something sensible."
Huh? Even Ghislaine turned against me? But your sword is bigger than what we usually use! I shook my head and started walking toward the arena, ignoring what the others were saying behind me.
But I ended up stopping when I heard Ophelia's voice in front of me.
"Remember, if you lose, I'll make your lives hell until you come of age."
Yuck! That's true... I'd better choose a sword. With that in mind, I left the giant axe on the wall and grabbed one of the weapons from the basket. Now that I look at them more closely, they don't seem to have those wooden sticks sticking out from the beginning of the blade. What a strange sword...
"Participants, you must go to the arena."
From in front of us, the goat woman began to speak to us, pointing her finger at the arena.
Well, it's time to go. I hope I don't lose in the first round. It didn't take me long to get down to the arena, which seemed bigger now that I was below it rather than above it.
"She will be your opponent."
In front of me stood a girl much taller than me, her fists bandaged, looking at me with a smile. Why is she smiling at me? I don't like it.
As I stretched, I began to see the seats surrounding the arena fill up with more people. In the lower section, I saw Ophelia and Miss Hyeol, with Anna and the others next to them. They all gave me a thumbs up when they saw me.
"Looks like you get along well."
The girl in front of me spoke. Now that I looked at her more closely, I realized that behind her was a tail, just like a snake's.
"This is the first fight of the tournament. Conan, from the Fallen Sun Sect, will face Anastasia, a D-rank adventurer. Begin!"
After finishing her speech, she gave a signal, which was followed by a trumpet sounding from above us.
"Come on, kid, let's put on a show!"
The snake girl didn't even wait a second before lunging at me, appearing in front of me and punching me hard in the face. The blow was so strong that it sent me crashing into the wall surrounding the arena, causing me severe pain in my back as well. God, that was really hard.
Leaning on my sword, I stood up, only to be greeted by another punch aimed at my side. This time, even though I couldn't cover myself, I was able to stick my sword into the ground and stop rolling.
"Conan, get up!"
Shut up, it's not that easy! Even though I wanted to yell at Ghislaine, I stopped short as soon as I could feel blood in my mouth. I had to spit on the ground to get rid of the taste. Leaning on my sword, I stood up, focusing completely on the girl.
When I saw her lunge at me again, I did the same, slashing downwards, right where her fist was. But to my surprise, the girl just smiled at me, opening her palm and releasing a strong wind that pushed me backwards.
"Was that magic?!"
"That's right!"
-BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Several explosions came from the girl's feet, which she used to push herself toward me and give me a strong kick that I barely covered with my sword. Even though I covered the blow, the pain in my hands made me drop my sword.
"Look up!"
-FSHHH!
Hearing Goon-woo's voice, I looked up, only to find a jet of water approaching my face. So I stood up and covered myself, planting myself on the ground so she couldn't push me.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you,"
said the girl, her voice disappearing as the water hit my body.
It burns! The water is hot! I clenched my teeth to keep from screaming in pain, jumping to the side to escape the stream. But even so, the water had hurt my arms, burning them so badly that several drops of blood were coming out.
As if things couldn't get any worse, the girl lunged at me again, raising her fist to hit me.
"Agh, stop it!"
I jumped and stepped on the girl's fist, propelling myself backward to retrieve my sword. As soon as I had it in my hands, I lunged at the girl, slashing in all directions where her body was. She, on the other hand, dodged all my cuts with a smile, as the same sparks as before began to form in her palm.
Not this time! I ducked as soon as her palm approached my face, completely evading the explosion. Thanks to her attack, she left her hand exposed, so I went straight for it.
"Don't get too confident."
As she spoke, she pointed her other hand at me, causing an explosion that hit me squarely in the face.
Boom!
I gritted my teeth and ignored the blood dripping from my cheek. I released my sword and grabbed it with my other hand, leaning to one side and cutting cleanly through his body.
-Kugh
Due to the abnormal movement of my body, I ended up rolling on the ground, but I didn't stop, lunging again as I threw my sword at his face.
"Arrogant child, I used my fists from the beginning!"
He leaned back to dodge the sword, then lunged forward, getting on the same level as me and throwing a punch at me.
-Booom!
The blow we exchanged echoed throughout the place like an explosion. I was thrown against the wall, kneeling on the floor as I spat blood. It hurts, my whole body hurts! From the blow, my whole back felt broken and everything in front of me was moving. I'm dizzy.
When I looked up, I saw that the girl was kneeling on the floor as well. I thought my blow had pushed her too, but when I looked closer, I saw that blood was pooling beneath her. It seemed that the wound I had inflicted on her earlier had been reopened by the blow.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
We were both kneeling on the floor, staring at each other. As if we had agreed, we stood up and walked towards each other, facing each other.
With my last ounce of strength, I threw a punch, which collided with the girl's fist, just like before. But we both fell to the ground after the blow, panting and staring at the ceiling.
"The fight is over!"
"Wooooooaaaaah!"
----Ophelia's point of view----
Ahhhh, so that's why he's not very talented with the sword, his style is much rougher. It reminds me of the Berserkers race. Could Conan be one of their descendants? Although it's strange that he doesn't have their characteristic red hair.
Anyway, I'll have to buy things like axes and war hammers if I want to exploit his full potential. Even so, no one in the sect knows how to handle that kind of heavy weaponry... Hmm... I guess I have no choice but to enroll him in a guild, as that's the only place where I can exploit his full talent.
"Conan is a descendant of the berserkers? That's the only way I can explain why he gains strength when he gets angry."
"I thought so too, but if that's the case, he must be a very impure descendant. He doesn't even have the characteristic red hair."
Judging by this woman's smile, she must know what we're going to do with Conan. I let out a sigh before saying what Hyeol wanted to hear.
"I'll leave Conan in your care. I hope you can nurture him."
"Hahaha, it will be my pleasure."
"Yes, yes, take your head off my shoulder."
"Why~? You're very comfortable."