Chapter 100: The Proposal of a Match

Ren watched in a flustered sort of way as Fred and Loren argued with the other boy adventurers in the dining hall.

(What am I to do…. That’s the letter boards at the bottom of it, isn’t it…. Is it my fault…?)

It seemed the quarrel had started because the black-haired boy, Larc, had taken a letter board off Loren. Thinking that something he had made was what had touched off the commotion, Ren turned over in his mind whether he ought not to do something.

A thin, lanky man with grey hair came and stood behind Mikaila and spoke to her in a murmur, close to her ear. Mikaila gave a small nod and looked round at the boy adventurers.

“You lot haven’t laid a hand or a foot on anybody yet, then. Lucky for you. You haven’t got yourselves barred.”

“Eh?” the three of them said together.

Not only the boy adventurers but Fred and Loren too gave voices of surprise. Mikaila narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice a little.

“Violence in the dining hall means being barred. Didn’t you know?”

“Eh, but…, quarrels between adventurers are the adventurers’ own affair…”

“It isn’t a question of adventurers or otherwise. It’s that if you run riot in here it gets in the way of the dining hall doing business. Any more noise and I’ll have you out.”

The air went cold and still.

Fred shut his mouth, and the boys of the Black Wolf Band pulled faces as well.

But they weren’t satisfied by it.

Fred and the others and the members of the Black Wolf Band went on throwing looks at one another with their irritation smouldering.

“Er…, um…”

What broke the silence was a small, diffident voice.

Everyone looked that way.

Ren was standing a little way off from the disturbance, looking somewhat at a loss.

Under the sudden attention he drew his shoulders in as though he couldn’t bear it, and yet he spoke.

“Wh-what about having a match…”

The three of the Black Wolf Band looked dubious. Fred and Loren too were looking at Ren with a puzzled sort of expression, as though wondering what was about to start.

Ren’s eyes wandered restlessly, and then he looked at the cards on the table.

“If it’s a matter of fighting, I thought it might be better to settle it with the cards…”

As he spoke, perhaps because he wasn’t altogether sure of it himself, his voice grew smaller and smaller.

Mikaila raised one eyebrow, amused.

“Oh?”

Ren hurried on.

“Errr… setting proper rules…. A contest between parties, or something…”

“That’s not a bad idea!”

Victor came in on the side of the words Ren had squeezed out.

“The Young Branch Squad against the Black Wolf Band, at the letter boards. Fred and the rest have learnt a good many letters, so we shan’t lose.”

“Hold on a moment!”

Larc raised his voice. Mikaila’s eyebrow twitched up. Feeling some sort of pressure from her, perhaps, Larc dropped his voice a little.

“That gives your side too much of an advantage, doesn’t it. We don’t even know how they’re used. We can’t read the letters. Where’s the fun in winning a match like that?”

“Well…”

Victor’s face turned troubled. Ren spoke up to Loren.

“Loren. You said you were faster than Colette at running, didn’t you?”

“Eh? …Er, yes. I think I did say that…”

Having the question turned on him so suddenly, Loren nodded, rather at a loss.

“What if the rule were that you run to go and take the card? When you don’t know which letter it’s, you get told first and then run.”

Larc looked doubtful at Ren’s suggestion.

“Even then we’re at a disadvantage if we can’t read the letters, aren’t we.”

“Eh? I thought it would do, because you look fast on your feet…”

“Well, I’m fast, but…”

Being told he looked fast on his feet, Larc worked his mouth about, not looking at all displeased. Ren, taking it that running alone was going down badly, began to think whether there was some other idea.

“If it’s running you want, use the training ground. No more of a racket in here, thank you.”

Mikaila pointed towards the training ground beyond the door.

Victor followed the direction of her finger with his eyes, then turned back to Larc and the rest.

“Right then, shall we have a match? What do you say?”

“Well, all right, I suppose…”

When Larc agreed to Victor’s words, the dining hall, which had gone quiet until then, suddenly broke out in an uproar.

“The kids are having a match on the training ground!”

“Shall we bet on which of them wins?”

“No betting, thank you!”

“I’d say Black Wolf.”

“Young Branch, surely. Word is Black Wolf can’t read the letters.”

For some reason the adventurers in the dining hall had every intention of seeing the match through. Not only Ren but Victor’s lot and Larc’s lot too were bewildered by the change in the air.

But the bad feeling of a moment ago seemed to have thinned out a good deal, and Ren, relieved, felt the weight come off his chest.