Kays Translations

Chapter 345: Tournament Schedule

"Beastification!"

"..."

"Sorry for the wait."

"You made me wait!"

"Onii-chan, good work."

When Bequa and I arrived at the training grounds, Carina and Shana had just started their mock battle.

"Carina, you've become quite skilled at beastification."

"Yeah."

Carina's beastification made her elbows and knees resemble cat limbs. She actually wanted to fully beastify her entire body, but it seems that this was her limit for now. Even when she's beastified, Carina only has one tail.

"Ha!"

"..."

During her beastification, Carina's attacking methods included punches, kicks, and scratching with the sharp claws on her hands and feet. Despite the claws being sheathed, they had enough hardness that they wouldn't get scratched even if they clashed against my Suiyami or Suikou.

"...That's it."

"...I give up."

The mock battle ended with Shana's victory.

"It's still a bit challenging..."

Carina still hadn't mastered the use of her cat limbs. When she moved on instinct, they moved just like her normal limbs. As a result, she moved more than she intended, leaving openings.

"Carina! I went ahead and entered you in the tournament without asking."

"Huh!?"

After the mock battle ended, Bequa said that to Carina, who was sitting and resting.

"I'm not telling you to win or compete in the main tournament. I just want you to fight against others who can beastify and learn the tricks of beastification while battling."

"...Alright! I understand."

Carina must have wanted to improve her current situation of not being able to fully utilize beastification. So, even though Bequa entered her in the tournament without permission, it might turn out to be a good thing.

"Speaking of the main tournament, when does the qualifying round end and the main tournament begin?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention that."

I hadn't asked Bequa about the schedule of the tournament.

"The tournament will take place starting from one week from today and last for 23 days, including the qualifying rounds."

"23 days!?"

It was a much longer duration than I had anticipated.

"First, there will be a 14-day qualifying round. During those 14 days, 16 matches will be held each day. The qualifying round matches have a time limit of 30 minutes. If a match doesn't reach a conclusion within the time limit, the one with the shorter total time from previous matches will be declared the winner."

"Huh? How many participants are there in the tournament?"

By the way, if there's a draw in the first round, both participants will be eliminated, and the person who was scheduled to face them in the next round will receive a bye.

Still, having 16 matches per day seems like a lot, doesn't it?

"This year's participants... I think there were about 250 of them?"

"That's a lot..."

So there are that many participants in the tournament...

"In the main tournament, except for the two days of the semifinals, finals, and third-place match, there will be four matches held each day. Of course, there is no time limit in the main tournament."

That means, if we calculate... there will be 32 people who can participate in the main tournament. The best 16 will be determined in the four days of the main tournament, and then the best 8 will be decided in the following two days.

"Of course, there are many spectators even during the qualifiers, but the number more than doubles for the main tournament. Look forward to it."

"Well, I hope I don't face Bequa in the qualifiers."

If I'm going to fight Bequa, I want it to be in the main tournament.

"Don't worry, you won't fight me in the qualifiers. If we ever fight, it will definitely be in the main tournament."

"Huh? Does that mean..."

Come to think of it, I hadn't asked Bequa how they determine the matchups for the qualifiers. Could it be...

"We adjust the matchups for the qualifiers so that strong participants don't eliminate each other. It's kind of like an unwritten rule among the beastmen. Even if the qualifiers' matchups are determined, everyone wants to see fierce battles in the main tournament. Besides, it's a common understanding that those who can't make it to the main tournament even after a little tweaking of the matchups won't be able to win the championship."

Well, if the beastmen, who are the citizens themselves, are okay with it, then I suppose it's fine.

"Just so you know, the matchups in the main tournament are determined completely at random."

"Of course, that makes sense."

Well, there's no reason to determine the matchups for the main tournament.

"This year, Zeros and the demons have secured their spots as strong participants. Carina didn't make it, though."

"The demons are also participating?"

Perhaps my simulated battle yesterday was also a way to confirm if I should be included as a strong participant.

And I was slightly surprised that the demons were included as strong participants. I thought maybe they wanted them to battle each other in the qualifiers.

"To prevent the demons from throwing any strange tantrums, I want them to win in the qualifiers as expected and then lose in the main tournament, where there will be stronger security measures. Besides, don't you want the demons to lose in front of a large audience during the main tournament?"

"That's mean..."

"Tell that to my old man who decided this..."

It seems like it was the king who came up with the idea of including the demons as strong participants.

"Well then, I'll train without complacency to make sure both Zeros and I can participate in the main tournament. Come on, let's have a mock battle."

"Sure thing. Sophie, please be the referee."

"Understood."

We trained at the royal castle's training grounds every day leading up to the tournament, focusing on mock battles between me, Bequa, and Carina. Since we only used beastification in the mock battles in preparation for the tournament, I think we made significant progress in that aspect.

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