"How did it come to this..."
"Give it up, Tenma. That's a kind of illness, you know. Lots of beastfolk are the type who can't resist testing their strength."
The only one who reacted to my muttering was Grandpa. The rest were enthusiastically cheering on me and Amour's mother (whose name, apparently, was Hana) as we faced each other.
Hana was swinging around the spear she'd used to take down Viscount Robo and Amour without a care in the world, treating it like a warm-up exercise. I took out the stick I always used for practice and did some light stretching just to loosen up.
Honestly, I had no intention of fighting Hana for real, but watching her movements, I was pretty sure that kind of half-hearted attitude would get me killed. Both Amour and Branca had said she was the strongest among them. If I fought her the same way I'd fought Branca, this time it wouldn't end with just one arm.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
"Then let's begin. Branca, the signal, please."
"Sure... Before we start, let me go over the rules. Biting, eye gouging, and attacks to vital areas are all prohibited. Striking a downed opponent is also prohibited. The match ends when either side Surrenders or I determine that one party is unable to continue. If both sides agree, take your positions and prepare... Begin!"
Throughout the rule explanation, Branca kept making apologetic faces toward me. He was probably hoping in his heart that something would come up to cancel the match, but as expected, nothing so convenient happened.
"Sei!"
Almost simultaneously with Branca's hand coming down, Hana thrust her spear at me. She'd only called out once, but the spear actually struck three times, all within a single breath.
This was the third time I'd seen this attack (the first two had come from Amour), so I'd anticipated it opening the exchange. However, I hadn't expected all three thrusts to land simultaneously, so I couldn't mount a counter.
"Oh my? Did you think I missed...?"
"Tch."
Hana seemed momentarily thrown off that I'd dodged her opening attack entirely. But that itself appeared to be a trap — when I moved in to press the opening, she tried to intercept me with a sweeping horizontal slash of her spear.
I quickly thrust my stick up to block the strike, but the sheer force still sent me flying. I'd expected her to have considerable strength since she was Amour's mother, but I hadn't anticipated this much.
"Getting a little rough, maybe?"
"You don't look worried at all, though — here!"
Even as Hana answered my quip, she kept her distance at spear range and continued thrusting. What's more, she varied the speed of each strike, making it nearly impossible to find the right moment to slip inside.
Against Hana's relentless assault, I was gradually driven backward, ending up on the defensive.
"What's the matter, what's the matter?! Scared?! I can't acknowledge someone like that!"
The one making the biggest commotion was Viscount Robo. Seeing that I couldn't mount a counterattack, he was heckling as though he were the one in the fight.
"Shut up!"
"Guh!"
A stone suddenly struck Viscount Robo in the face, and he toppled backward, unconscious. It was Hana who'd thrown it — she apparently found the Viscount just as irritating as I did. And as if to follow up on the fallen Viscount, Amour appeared from somewhere with a rope and tied him up. She wound it around him dozens of times so he couldn't get free, then flung him off into the distance like she was tossing out the garbage.
"Oh my? You could have used that opening to come at me, you know."
"That opening seemed kind of scary, so I held back. Besides, the Viscount was bugging me too."
During that commotion, I'd frozen in place right where I was when the attacks stopped, waiting for things to settle. Hana seemed to find my behavior and words amusing — she let out a chuckle, then reset her spear stance.
It had inadvertently turned into a reset, but as long as she couldn't close the distance into my range, it would just play out the same as before.
(Strength on par with Branca, explosive speed above Branca's. Agility equal to or greater than Amour's... This is going to be trouble.)
Running that analysis through my head, I decided to take a gamble.
So far, Hana had been thrusting from a distance and switching to horizontal sweeps when I tried to close in. I could dodge the thrusts, but the sweeps — I had no choice but to block those with my staff, and I couldn't absorb the full force, getting knocked back every time.
So rather than try to deal with the sweeps that gained power from centrifugal force, I decided to aim for the thrusts I could actually dodge. Narrowing my focus, I raised my staff high and baited a thrust. Hana hesitated for a moment at my sudden stance change, but then thrust straight at my now-exposed torso.
"Seiyaah!"
My strike, swung downward with a battle cry, cleanly deflected Hana's spear. The staff slammed into the ground with such force that it snapped clean in two around the middle.
"Too bad!"
Hana, who'd clearly seen that I was targeting her spear, pulled it back to match my attack, then immediately thrust forward again. But I—
too—
Just as I'd predicted.
"Hmph! There!"
I dodged the thrust by halving my stance, then hurled the stick I'd been holding at Hana. The tip had snapped off jagged, making it impossible to block with an arm. Sure enough, Hana twisted her body wide to avoid the stick and, for the first time, showed a genuine opening.
"Ha!"
I planted my foot on Hana's spear and used the momentum to whip around a roundhouse kick. However, Hana released her spear in the nick of time, and my kick ended up merely grazing her cheek.
"Now we're even on range, wouldn't you say?"
But everything up to this point had unfolded exactly as I'd predicted. Well, part of me had hoped that last kick would settle things, but naturally it wasn't quite that easy.
"You read this far ahead... But you see, I happen to like this range too!"
Hana closed the distance on her own initiative and launched into close-quarters combat. True to her word about favoring this range, her strikes were razor-sharp and devastating, but the attacks themselves were ones I'd been seeing a lot of lately, so handling them wasn't all that difficult.
"Amour's style."
The answer was simple — her attacks bore a strong resemblance to Amour's. They were certainly a cut above Amour's, but I'd expected as much, and besides, every time I'd sparred with Amour, I'd won without dropping a single round. This was far easier than fighting against a spear.
"Then how about this?"
With that, Hana grabbed my lapel and the opposite sleeve, attempting an inner reap throw — a judo technique — but—
"Huh?"
By locking my arms stiff and pulling back the foot she was trying to sweep out from under me, I turned the tables and sent her flying through the air instead. In other words, she'd fallen for a failed inner reap counter.
"...I surrender."
I pressed my fingertips to Hana's neck as she lay slammed against the ground, and she immediately declared her surrender.
"It's over! The winner is Tenma!"
Branca announced my victory, though the relief on her face at the fact that everything had concluded without any real incident was plain for all to see.
"Now that settles it, right?"
"That's right. You've shown me your strength."
As I offered Hana a hand to help her sit up, she wore a knowing smile on her face.
"Te~n~ma~"
Amul, seeing this, came barreling toward us, so I shifted sideways to dodge and avoid interrupting their reunion, then gave Amul a light push toward Hana.
"Oh my, quite the passionate embrace. But it hurts, you know, Amul."
"Urgh, g-give, give~"
Hana caught the charging Amul with ease and, as if returning the hug, squeezed her in a bear hug. Amul could take it no longer and gave up, but Hana refused to let her go.
"Contents... leaking..."
Several minutes later, the released Amul lay sprawled on the ground mumbling something, but no one other than me and Hana nearby seemed to be able to make it out.
"Then it's my turn. Let me avenge Hana!"
"Enough already, big brother."
"Let go, Branca!"
Viscount Robo declared his challenge, but Branca promptly restrained him from behind in a half-nelson. That was a huge relief. If I got into some unnecessary fight here and created bad blood — on their side, unilaterally — it could jeopardize Lady Maria's request. Well, technically the request was over the moment I handed over the letter, but I had no idea what was written in it, so at the very least I wanted to behave until I got a reply.
Completely ignoring my wishes, Amul and Hana began whispering to each other with growing excitement. I had a bad feeling about this, so I averted my gaze and turned to head back to the carriage, when I happened to catch sight of Branca wearing the exact same expression, abandoning Viscount Robo and walking toward the carriage as well.
"I've decided! Tenma will be Amul's husband!"
"Mama, that's wonderful!"
"Wha—!"
I was so stunned that a strange sound escaped my lips. Though I wasn't the only one — Grandpa, Branca, and even Viscount Robo all let out equally strange sounds of surprise.
"They're both just the right age, and if he's this strong, he's a perfect match for Amul. Amul agrees, of course?"
"Sure do~"
While the two of them were getting worked up, Branca's face had gone pale and Viscount Robo's face was bright red. Grandpa was counting off on his fingers, and the soldiers who had been surrounding us were engaged in some kind of betting. In the middle of all this,
"I'm getting more and more the urge to fight, kid..."
Viscount Robo came up behind me, draped an arm over my shoulder, and grinned. But his face was beet-red, his eyes were bloodshot, and blood was seeping from the corners of his mouth. His appearance was so frightening that I nearly blurted out, "Red demon?!"
"Would you stop making such a scary face near Amul's future husband?"
"I won't accept this!"
The moment Viscount Robo shouted, the hand on my shoulder tightened, his fingers digging into me. It hurt like hell, and on top of being dragged into this mess, I reflexively squeezed Viscount Robo's hand back with all my might. When I squeezed,
Hegu
—the pressure point near the base of the thumb—and Viscount Robo let out a scream.
"Tenma beat even Father... Ha! I've eliminated the obstacle!"
"Impressive. Taking him down in just an instant."
"No, none of that matters. But
sister-in-law,
Amul, I'm also against the marriage."
"G-good... Branca."
Viscount Robo rose to his feet, agreeing with Branca who had called a halt to the other two. Before long, the confrontation had taken shape as Amul and Hanasan versus Branca and Viscount Robo, and sparks began to fly between the two factions. Watching this pair-up, the soldiers surrounding us were getting fired up... mostly on the betting front...
"Grandpa, tiger beastfolk really are hot-blooded, aren't they..."
"Even I'm surprised..."
Watching Amul's pair start fighting two-on-two, and the tiger beastmen soldiers going wild over it, Grandpa and I both took a step back. The fight itself was quite fierce — since they knew each other's moves inside and out, it was a spectacular battle. Even in the pair tournament at the Royal Capital's martial arts tournament, there probably hadn't been a match this intense.
Watching the four of them, Hanasan appeared to be the strongest, with Branca and Viscount Robo second and third, and Amul in fourth. On the surface, the balance seemed even. However, compared to the other three, Amul was considerably lacking not so much in physical ability, but in match management and technical refinement, so overall the pair of Amul and Hanasan was being pushed back.
"Here!"
"Nngh!"
Seizing a momentary opening, Branca body-slammed Amul and sent him flying back hard, creating a brief situation where it was just Hanasan versus Branca and Viscount Robo. In those few seconds, the two of them surrounded Hanasan, and just as Branca drew her attention, Viscount Robo managed to lock her in a full nelson from behind, freezing her in place... From the sidelines, it was quite the scene that reeked of criminal activity.
Once Hanasan's movements were pinned, Branca neutralized Amul as he charged in, and the match was decided. However, Hanasan had resisted fiercely right until the very end, so the damage Viscount Robo sustained from maintaining the full nelson was considerable. To put it simply: his legs had been kicked and stomped on repeatedly, his nose and mouth were bleeding from headbutts, and he had black eyes on top of it all. That he still refused to let go of Hanasan even under those circumstances — I had to hand it to him, that took some real backbone... He must really despise the thought of Amul getting married.
"Branca! I can understand her opposition, but why are you against it too?!"
"Sister-in-law, when it comes to marriage, shouldn't the wishes of the other party — Tenma — also matter? Besides, Tenma just received a noble title directly from the Royal Family. Try taking him as a son-in-law under those circumstances, and the Royal Family won't be pleased about it. On top of that, it seems like the Queen has something in mind regarding Tenma's marriage. So we should avoid doing anything careless that might create a rift between the South and the Royal Family."
After hearing Branca's explanation, Viscount Robo was grinning despite his battered face. He really looked like someone who'd suit the role of a yakuza villain. Honestly, I thought Hanasan must have felt relieved that Amul was born with a face resembling her own.
"The Royal Family gave him a noble title? Is Tenma a noble?"
At Hanasan's question, I shook my head in denial.
"Tenma himself never wanted a title, so he didn't become a noble, but there were even rumors in the Royal Capital that if he desired one, an earldom was practically guaranteed. Of course, the Royal Family fully intended as much. For the record, Tenma's parents are close friends of the King and Queen, and his grandfather standing right there is the renowned Sage Merlin. As for Tenma himself, he's achieved the double victory in both the Individual Battle and Team Battle at the martial arts tournament, subjugated the Earth Dragon that appeared near the Royal Capital, helped thwart a coup d'état, and on top of that, he's said to have saved the King's life in the past and nearly single-handedly slain an ancient dragon that had turned into a zombie. If anything, it'd be stranger if he hadn't become a noble. Honestly speaking, to the Royal Family, he's probably a more important figure than his older brother."
I hadn't heard the earl talk about it directly, but I knew that if I wanted it, those people would set everything in motion immediately. I understood well enough that I'd earned that level of accomplishment. When Hanasan saw that I didn't deny any of it, she seemed to conclude that what Branca had said was true and fell into thought for a moment...
"Then if we send him out as a bride instead of taking him as a son-in-law, there shouldn't be a problem, right? If he's close enough to being a noble, it shouldn't matter how many brides he has."
She went on with something like that, and when Branca responded with "Well, that might just barely be okay...," Amul erupted in joy while Viscount Robo wore a look of absolute despair.
"Then it's settled. If I have a child with Amul, there's no problem."
While I was being ignored and the conversation carried on without my input, Viscount Robo's face grew even more ghastly. He apparently still had enough rationality left not to act immediately upon hearing about the Royal Family connection, but even that was probably just a matter of time.
"Anyway, let's head back home — oh wait, I had business in that village up ahead, didn't I?"
"Is it about the goblins? If so, there's no problem. We stopped by and took care of them on the way here. We did send a few people ahead to check on the situation, just in case, but we killed the boss and his top aides, and less than ten percent of them managed to flee. Even if a few remained, the villagers should be able to handle them."
"Right. Then I'll send half the squad to deal with the aftermath and survey the area around the village. If Branca says it's fine, I'm sure it is, but it doesn't hurt to be extra careful. The rest will head back from here."
After hearing Branca's assessment, Hanasan immediately split the squad in two and sent one half toward the village. The other half would return with us, but before that, she said she wanted to confirm the kills, so I pulled the specimens out of my Magic Bag and set them down in front of Hanasan and her people.
"To achieve a complete victory against this many higher-ranked specimens — that's truly incredible."
"Hmph! Something like this would be a walk in the park, even for me. Nothing worth bragging about."
While Hanasan was praising my battle results, Viscount Robo tried to one-up me, but he was glared down by Hanasan and quickly fell silent.
"Are you being serious? I'm sure you could take them down, sure, but could you really win with the specimens in such pristine condition?"
"Well, probably not. My brother is the same as me and Amour — he's better at fighting with brute force. One-on-one might be fine, but when dealing with multiple opponents at the same time, the higher-ranked materials would end up in tatters."
After being told off by Hanasan and Branca, Viscount Robo silently glared at me. The reason he was glaring so hard was that Amour had been standing by my side this whole time. Whenever he glared, it was always at moments when Amour averted her gaze from Viscount Robo, and she would quickly look away whenever their eyes were about to meet.
"Viscount Robo."
"O-oh. What is it?"
Perhaps he hadn't expected me to address him — Viscount Robo answered with a slight stutter. I pulled out the letter entrusted to me by Lady Maria and presented it to him.
"This is the letter I received from the royal family."
"Hmm, well done. I'll write a letter confirming the completion of the request, so wait a moment."
Viscount Robo had a nearby subordinate bring him paper and pen and was about to write something right then and there, but —
"Hold it right there."
Hanasan snatched the paper from the side and crumpled it into a ball.
"Receiving the letter is one thing, but writing a certificate here is absurd. The contents need to be reviewed, and depending on the situation, a reply may need to be written. In that case, it would be far more convenient to entrust it to someone heading back in the same direction as the Royal Capital."
With those words, the scheme between me and Viscount Robo fell through. His plan to separate me from Amour, and my plan to roam the Southern Autonomous Zone freely. Well, for me it was just that the latter option seemed easier, so honestly I didn't care whether it succeeded or not — but unlike me, Viscount Robo had been dead serious about it. As a result, he was visibly dejected.
"In any case, you'll be coming with us to our home."
With that, Hanasan climbed into our carriage for some reason. Incidentally, since Viscount Robo had his soldiers with him, he would be traveling separately on horseback rather than with Hanasan.