Kays Translations

Chapter 347 - Bequa's First Fight

"I'm off then."

"Good luck!"

"Do your best."

"Yeah!"

Carina and I saw off Bequa as he headed towards the waiting room for competitors in the arena.

"Carina, shall we go watch Bequa's match?"

"Yes."

Having that conversation, the two of us headed to the VIP viewing room, which was made of glass and reserved for important individuals. It was situated even higher than the regular spectator seats.

During the preliminaries, there were no seats provided for the participants to watch the matches, as the number of participants was too high. However, I heard that seats for the competitors to watch the matches were prepared for the main tournament, where the number of participants would be reduced.

So I thought I wouldn't be able to watch the preliminaries, but Bequa said we could use one of the VIP viewing rooms. Since there were no opponents for us in today's match among the participants, it was fine for us to watch, he said.

"The glass seems quite sturdy."

"It would be bad if it broke."

I heard that this glass was made quite sturdy. It was indeed reserved for important individuals. By the way, the room's interior couldn't be seen from the outside.

"Oh, Bequa has appeared."

Without any particular announcement, Bequa appeared. Due to the large number of participants, announcements were kept to a minimum during the preliminaries.

"Wow!"

"The cheering is intense."

"His Highness is not only a contender for victory but also a candidate for the next king."

For the citizens who didn't know that the demons were participating in this tournament, it was surprising to see Bequa, who was considered the strongest among the royal family, becoming a contender for victory.

"His Highness has the lowest odds."

In this tournament, people other than the participants could place bets. It seems that betting is allowed starting from the main tournament. You can place bets for each match in the main tournament, and sometimes large sums of money are involved. By the way, there are also options such as predicting the winner (single bet) or predicting the top three places (trifecta).

"Zeros-san, you can't afford to lose, right?"

"That's right..."

Sophie and Shana placed bets of 10 gold coins each on my victory. 10 gold coins would be equivalent to about 10 million yen in Japanese currency. They could have waited until the main tournament started to place their bets, but they chose to do it from the first day of the preliminaries... I wonder how much has been bet on Bequa, who has the lowest odds.

"Oh! He transformed into a beast."

The match hasn't started yet, but Bequa and his opponent have already transformed into beasts. It seems that in this tournament, it's allowed to transform before the match even begins. Truly fitting for a tournament of beastmen.

"Begin!"

With that announcement, a beast-like creature, resembling a rhinoceros, charged at Bequa. He countered by punching the rhino head-on, sending it flying out of the arena. The arena stage was quite large, with a radius of about 30 meters, and about 10 meters of that was designated as the out-of-bounds area. In other words, Bequa managed to punch the opponent, who had transformed into a rhino larger than 2 meters, and sent them flying over 30 meters.

"Match over!"

"Wow!"

"That was fast."

I recently learned that in the beastmen's transformation, those who have not yet mastered it take on the form of a complete beast. When it is truly mastered, they take on a form that combines the power of the beast and the agility and dexterity of the beastmen, resembling something in between the two.

And that's exactly what Bequa is right now. He has white fur resembling that of a polar bear all over his body, and his arms and legs have become those of a bear. However, he only has sharp fangs in his mouth, and his face remains human. It seems that there are quite a few who can transform, but only a few can achieve this state.

By the way, the guard I fought before was able to transform.

"Bequa should be able to win even without transforming, right?"

In fact, in last year's tournament, even without being able to transform, he could defeat opponents in a beast-like state using his natural combat skills and ice armor. By the way, those who can use attribute armor are much rarer than those who can transform.

"Well then, shall we go to Bequa?"

"Yes, let's do that!"

Since the match is over, we headed towards Bequa.

"Good job."

"Well done!"

"Yeah! It was a good workout!"

Bequa came out with a refreshing smile.

"Should we go to where Sophia and the others are?"

"Well..."

The reason Sophia and the others are acting differently from usual is that they are in the royal castle for a meeting regarding security for the main tournament. I could go to the royal castle as well, but the heroes and the saint are there too, and I have no desire to meet them.

"Then, come with me for a bit."

"Where are we going?"

"Just to hunt some monsters for a bit."

The three of us, me, Bequa, and Carina, killed some monsters just enough to pass the time without affecting the tournament. Since Carina has her match tomorrow, we disbanded and returned to the inn before evening.

When we returned to the inn without stopping by the royal castle, Sophia and Carina, who had already returned earlier, lightly scolded us.

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