Chapter 45: The Great of Browns ②

To be honest, I had no idea what kind of battle this was going to be.

Doha and Gymnema—those two actually knew each other.

Doha was someone I’d once shared a table with at Cidre’s Inn Second.
And Gymnema was the fish-headed man I once saved from drowning.

And now, those two were facing off in an Exhibition Match.

“Hey, you! Today we settle this, yo!”
“What a coincidence. I was thinking the very same thing, de aru.”

The two squared off.
Alhazard Abramelin stood between them—apparently serving as the referee too.

“Now then, the Exhibition Match between Doha of Earth and Sea Lord Gymnema Sylvester shall begin. Victory is decided by surrender or incapacitation. Killing your opponent is strictly forbidden. Understood?”

“Oh, yo.”
“Umu.”

“Then—begin!”

At the signal, both jumped back.

“Hey, hey, yo! Come on!”

Doha swung his right arm like he was dancing.
The ground beneath him swelled upward and shaped itself into a massive earthen arm.
He clenched its hand into a giant fist.

“Starting with that, huh?”
“Fly away, baby!”

The earthen fist launched forward.
A rocket punch!?

No—another followed, and another—fist after fist fired like artillery.

“He’s rapid-firing rocket punches made of earth!?”

Even one shot from that would be devastating.

“Roke…?”
“Ah, nothing. But… it’s all earth?”
“Yup, Doha’s got only one Relic—just Earth. That’s it. But he’s mastered it completely.”

A man who reached the pinnacle with a single Relic.

“Wouldn’t even one hit from that kill someone?”
“Mmm, well, yeah, probably.”

Chive chuckled wryly.

“Isn’t that… kind of bad?”
“Eh, it’s fine. If they died from that, they wouldn’t be First-Class.”

Fair point, actually.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, foo you! Fooo!!”

Doha began leaping and dancing, his moves sharp and rhythmic— he was completely feeling it. Surprisingly, the crowd’s cheers turned shrill—mostly women, somehow.

Meanwhile, Gymnema was barely dodging the barrage, running in wide arcs, slipping away just in time. That alone was impressive. If it were me, I’d probably just erase the projectiles one by one with Vanish.

Then I noticed something strange— the arena floor was wet.

In the blink of an eye, the water level rose to knee height.
This wasn’t natural. A Relic, maybe?

It had to be Gymnema’s doing—he did have a fish head, after all.

“Ooooh, you think that’ll stop me? My earth fists won’t quit, baby!”
“We’ll see about that.”

A massive earthen fist lunged toward Gymnema.

But just as I thought it would crush him—it split cleanly in half, vertically.

Before anyone realized it, Gymnema was holding a blade.
A simple wooden-handled sword—looked like a Japanese-style knife.

“Ah, there it is—‘Sashimi Knife.’”
“Huh?”
“That’s Gymnema Sylvester’s beloved blade—‘Sashimi Knife,’ you know?”

‘Sashimi Knife’…?
Just hearing that made my chest feel oddly conflicted.

“Hey, hey, you think one cut is gonna—woah!?”

Doha jumped back in surprise.
Something enormous and four-eyed lunged from the shallow water toward him, sending up a spray.

It dove beneath the surface, revealing only a dorsal fin.
That silhouette—!

“A shark!? Why is there a shark!?”
“That’s the ‘Sea Lord’s’ Relic—pretty sure they’re called Sea Stage and Marine Master.”
“What kind of Relics are those?”
“Sea Stage creates an ocean, and Marine Master lets you summon and control sea creatures.”

So that’s why the arena had flooded—and why a shark appeared.
That’s what Sea Lord meant. But wait—Gymnema couldn’t swim, right?

Anyway, something still bugged me.

“You seem to know quite a lot about their Relics.”

The rarer a Relic, the more secretive its owner is about it—like me.
So how did she know? Not that I doubted her, but… still.

Chive answered casually.

“First-Class Explorers’ Relics are kinda public knowledge, y’know?”
“R–really?”
“You look confused. Well yeah, hiding them’s one way—but there are advantages to making them public too, Wof-chi. Get it?”
“No, not really…”

She flashed a grin, showing her jagged teeth.

“Deterrence. When people know, it keeps certain trouble in check.”
“…Ah, I see…”

So, they reveal it on purpose to ward off conflict.

“In fact, everyone knows my Relic too.”

Her Relic—the black beast armor Flazerei—was famous, along with its terrifying strength.

By letting others know, she turned her power itself into a warning.
I’d learned something valuable again.

The shark circled Doha, its fin slicing through the water like a blade.
Four-eyed, massive, monstrous—clearly not a normal shark.

“Hey you, that’s a real pain, yo! But I ain’t done yet!”

Doha crumbled his massive earthen arm and reshaped it into a boat,
then stood atop it, gripping a harpoon of packed soil. Clever.

“I don’t think so!”

Gymnema sheathed the Sashimi Knife at his hip and charged forward— his stance looked like an iaido draw, but… how was he moving like that?

Then I noticed—beneath his feet, a dark shadow glided along the water’s surface.
He was riding something.

“Ohhh—It’s a turtle!”

A turtle?

Ah, so that’s what he was riding on.

As the turtle approached the boat, it suddenly leapt—and at the same time, a shark attacked.

In that instant—BANG!—the shark was sent flying out of the water.

“Waooooh!”
“Jennifer!?”

Next, the turtle Gymnema was riding was also launched high into the air.

“Haaaoooh!”
“Madonna!?”

Apparently, he’d named them Jennifer and Madonna.

Gymnema immediately jumped off the turtle’s back and landed on the small boat.

The two now faced each other, glaring, on the cramped deck.

Doha had formed a sturdy earthen protector around his body—his hands were encased in round, rock-hard gauntlets.

That must’ve been what he used to punch the shark (Jennifer) and the turtle (Madonna).

He raised both hands to cover his face, lowered his stance slightly, and began to step lightly across the narrow footing.

That stance… that’s—boxing?

“Hey! Hey! Hey hey! Hey hey hey hey!!”

Doha lunged in and unleashed a furious rush.
Blows came from every direction—a relentless, raging flurry.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!

The crowd went wild. Gymnema was forced entirely onto the defensive.

“Guh—impressive, as expected. But!”

He slipped just past a jab with perfect timing and drew his Sashimi Knife.

The blade flashed.

“One-Slash Exorcism!”

That technique—wasn’t that Agaro’s!?

A single slash—and Doha’s earthen protector and the round fist covering shattered cleanly.

“Waooooh! As expected, yo! Thanks to you, I’m fired up now, yo! Hah-haaa! Hi-haaa-toaaahhh!!”

Overcome with excitement, Doha dropped his Relic techniques altogether and punched Gymnema barehanded right in the face.

“Guhhhooooh!?”
“Hey meee, slippery yo, got scales on yooo!”
“That’s ‘cause I’m a fish!!”

Gymnema shouted back and slugged Doha across the face with his bare hand.
Both of them staggered apart, spitting blood.

“Gymneeeemaaaaa!!”
“Dohaaaaaaa!!”

And from there—it was nothing but a slugfest. No guard, no defense, just fists.

“Uwooooooooohhh!!!”
“Deeeeeeehhhhh!!!”

They punched faces, punched stomachs, punched faces again, then more faces—
like the classic last scene of a B-grade action movie—a pure brawl of flesh and fury.

“Ahhh, it’s started again,”

Chive muttered in exasperation.

“Started?”
“Wof-chi—once it gets like that, those two won’t stop.”
“They’re really going at it…”

It was so gritty. No elegance, no Relics, no First-Class composure—just raw fists.

And yet, the crowd was going insane.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!

The roaring cheers shook the entire arena.

“Ah—yep, here it comes—see?”

It happened almost simultaneously—
Doha’s fist and Gymnema’s fist smashed into each other’s faces at the same time.

The sound was so loud you could feel it.
Both men collapsed backward, falling still.

“…A draw?”
“Yep—same as last time.”

Referee Alhazard Abramelin approached on another small boat, checked both fallen fighters, and gave a nod.

“Both fighters down! Match overrrrr!!”

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

The arena exploded with cheers, the sound shaking the whole place.

And thus, the first day’s Exhibition Match ended in tremendous success.

That night, I stopped by Cidre’s Inn Second.

Doha and Gymnema, both covered head to toe in bandages, were sitting together—having a drinking contest.

I guess they weren’t using any potions tonight.