Following the preliminaries, the first day of the main event also concluded without incident.
His display stirred the hearts of the audience, gripping them with genuine emotion.
Well, he was apparently shouting "I give up" over and over, but
"Ohhhh, wait! He's saying something! What's this — 'I can still do this… Don't look down on me!' Player Gabiru is fired up! The man who never gives in — Gabiru! He hasn't given up yet!!!"
He very clearly had given up, but the announcement was being handled by Souka, so that was just his luck running out.
In the end, he was made to face
The audience never caught wind of any of that, though, so he went down in their minds as "the unyielding man, Gabiru."
Whether that was a good thing or a bad one, I really couldn't say.
All I know is that I was damn glad it wasn't me!
When the match ended, everyone headed back to their respective lodgings.
I stood up, planning to invite Masayuki to dinner, and started to walk off.
"Hold on a moment. There is something I wish to ask you."
Someone called me to a stop.
The girl I'd been thinking earlier might be from some sort of Half-Ear Tribe.
Slender silver hair tinted pale blue, with jade-green eyes. She was an impossibly beautiful young woman.
"Oh, there you are! Wait — Lady Rimuru, it's been a while!"
I was about to respond to the girl when another person came hurrying over, still catching their breath from running around. It was Duke Elalurd.
"Ah, Duke. It's been a while. How have you been? And do you know this young lady?"
The person the Duke had been running all over to find…
I had a pretty good guess, but I asked anyway.
"Allow me to make the introduction.
This is Her Majesty Elmesia Elryu Sarion, Empress of the Sorcerous Dynasty Sarion.
Your Majesty, this is the one I have spoken of at length — Demon Lord Rimuru."
He'd introduced me to the Empress before introducing her to me, presumably because I was the host nation's ruler and deserved that courtesy.
"Hmm. I know full well. I am Elmesia Elryu Sarion, Empress of the Sorcerous Dynasty Sarion.
I shall be counting on your cooperation henceforth."
She was a beautiful young woman, but there was a divine quality to her bearing — an elegance beyond the ordinary.
Up until a moment ago, she'd seemed to be holding it in check, but now, with this person standing right before me, there was no mistaking that she was the Empress herself. Not a shadow of doubt.
"A pleasure. I'm Rimuru, ruler of the Monster Nation. The pleasure is mine!
I'm afraid I'm rather unversed in the etiquette expected of a king, so please forgive any discourtesy."
We exchanged introductions.
Well, I was nothing more than an upstart outlaw. Formal pleasantries weren't really my thing — honestly, the fact that she was an Empress dressed as an adventurer told me I didn't need to worry too much about that.
"Hmm. No matter. That sort of thing is entirely irrelevant.
What I want to know is — what is the military strength of this nation? That is the question!"
She leaned in as though pressing me for an answer, her words tumbling out in a torrent.
Beside us, Duke Elalurd was holding his head in his hands.
We relocated and continued the conversation over dinner.
I'd wanted to invite Masayuki, but the Sarion Empress took priority this time. A shame, but it couldn't be helped.
According to the Empress: She herself was a master of magic, yet she had been utterly defeated by a demonic being so powerful she couldn't lay a finger on him.
Not only that, but a single opponent had wiped out an entire group in one fell swoop. She was stunned by the sheer absurdity of the foe.
And yet, that same demonic being had been tossed aside like a helpless infant by one of the Monster Nation's executives.
She was incensed, saying she simply could not accept it.
Incidentally, the Empress had transferred her consciousness into an artificial body to make the trip here. So there was no need to worry about injuries or anything of the sort — but losing clearly gnawed at her pride.
"After all, Her Majesty had been undefeated until now. She's the foremost authority on magic, so…
Your Majesty, this is exactly what I told you, wasn't it? I said that with a Demon Lord in attendance, this tournament was going to be far from ordinary."
Duke Elalurd tried to placate her with a tone of weary resignation.
Because she was in an artificial body, there was no real physical danger — which only meant the Empress's demands grew even more unreasonable.
That old man wasn't exactly one to talk, either. He was hardly in a position to lecture anyone, but the Empress was on yet another level above him.
In the end, the grumbling continued well past dinner.
But thanks to that, we actually got to know each other better, and it seemed like we were on track to build a friendly relationship. That was more than worth it.
That evening, I enjoyed my conversation with the Empress of Sarion, and I even managed to secure a verbal agreement on a future technical pact.
It was only a verbal promise, but it was a pact between sovereigns. There was no way it would be broken.
Having reached an agreement with the Sorcerous Dynasty Sarion as well, the tournament was already a success on that front alone.
I was in excellent spirits over this, confident that relations with humanity were heading in a positive direction.
And then the night wore on, and the morning of the second day of the main event arrived.
———————————————————————— The second day of the main event.
Match five — Arnaud vs.
A highly anticipated bout.
Arnaud had claimed he would register as the "Masked Knight" to conceal his identity as a Holy Knight, "Wait, isn't that just a handicap? The strongest Holy Knight and Guardian of the Law — he can't exactly fight like a coward, can he? If you're a man, fight fair and square! Isn't that right, Arnaud?"
—only to be met with a beaming smile and that pointed retort from Souka.
He'd frozen, speechless, before blurting out, "Ha ha ha, of course! A Holy Knight never flees from any battle!"
Whether out of desperation or just deciding that winning was all that mattered — he'd been cornered into dropping the act entirely.
He was like a little rabbit that had fallen into a trap.
No, wait — I don't think hiding your identity was really the issue here, was it? Oh, well…
I could practically see Souka's dark smile in my mind's eye.
Come to think of it, when she'd been serving as Abil's bodyguard, she'd seemed like a perfectly sweet, straightforward young woman — but ever since she stopped hiding the fact that she was female, she'd undergone a complete transformation.
Was it her true personality all along, or had she been corrupted by someone's dark influence (probably
Or perhaps both.
She had grown into a terrifying little demon.
It was too late to do anything about it now. I'd just have to be careful not to fall into any traps myself.
"Begin!"
While I was busy worrying about poor Arnaud, the match had already started without my noticing.
Arnaud kept his distance from Beretta, sword at the ready, never letting his guard down.
At least he wasn't foolish enough to rush in blindly.
"Oh, it's started! The day has finally come for me to show everyone Beretta's true power!"
Startled!
Veldora and Milim had come up behind her as well.
"W-Weren't you two supposed to be busy with the underground dungeon?"
"Fufufu, Rimuru! It was just completed a short while ago. You have every right to be期待 (expecting great things)!"
"I had an interest in the matches as well. You see, yesterday I used my King of Investigation to manipulate the probabilities.
Don't you think the first day's matches just happened to pair up fighters of fairly similar strength?
And the less interesting matchups were concentrated into today instead?"
Wh— What?!
No wonder the pairings had seemed oddly well-matched. She'd manipulated things so that yesterday's bouts featured closely contested fights, while today's lineup was stacked with the truly compelling matchups.
Indeed, today's matches had far more看点 (highlights).
The Arnaud vs. Beretta bout and the Lion Mask vs.
I'd assumed they weren't interested, but they'd been keeping close tabs all along. So they weren't going to miss out on entertaining events like this after all. Impressive.
"Well, I'm not particularly interested in who wins or loses, but watching gives me useful参考 (inspiration)! Kua ha ha ha ha ha!"
Veldora cackled proudly.
Unlike in the old days, he'd become more interested in the substance of a fight than in who was stronger or weaker. Must be the influence of manga.
Nowadays he was apparently studying "beautiful ways to win." What a nerdy thing to do.
Well, it was only because he was so overwhelmingly powerful that he could afford to obsess over such trivial matters.
While I was still recovering from the surprise of Ramiris's group showing up, the match was already taking a new turn.
Beretta was deflecting Arnaud's sword strikes with his bare arm, effortlessly. This had been going on for some time when— "Oh! Player Arnaud's attacks are having absolutely no effect! Is he holding back? If this is his best, the title of 'Strongest Holy Knight' is in real danger!"
That was the spark that lit the fuse.
The idea that Arnaud would be rattled by a little trash talk — well, he wasn't quite that far along yet.
"Hmph. Every attack up to now was just preparation. Take a look at my feet!"
Arnaud struck a dramatic pose and pointed down at Beretta's feet.
There, a magic circle had appeared — apparently drawn at some point without anyone noticing.
He must have been scattering fine silver powder between strikes to etch it in secret.
Clever, the man.
So he had more up his sleeve than just brute force after all.
"Activate!
Holy Purification Barrier — weak!"
Arnaud hurled shuriken embedded with barrier tags in all directions and shouted the command.
The handles of the shuriken had crystals set into them, apparently storing magical energy that enabled a short-duration barrier activation.
Even if it was the weakened version, deploying a Holy Purification Barrier single-handedly…
Arnaud was not a man to be underestimated.
Still, the real credit for building that device — using Arnaud as a test subject — belonged to Kurobei, in my opinion.
Kurobei had apparently been running all sorts of other experiments with Arnaud as well. The two of them must have really hit it off.
Thanks to that, the quality of the Monster Nation's equipment was likely to improve as well. A thoroughly positive outcome.
Normally, being trapped inside a Holy Purification Barrier — even a weakened one — should have been enough to end the fight for most opponents.
The only ones who could dispel that barrier were a handful of executives.
Even
That sort of thing came down to ability compatibility and couldn't be judged on raw strength alone.
And in this case, that compatibility was terrible. For Arnaud, anyway.
"It's futile. The ability bestowed upon me by Lord Rimuru renders me immune to the effects of the Holy Purification Barrier."
Beretta delivered that line in a flat tone, then launched into his first real counterattack against Arnaud.
You could tell from the fact that Arnaud's sword strikes up until now hadn't fazed him at all — Beretta was completely immune to physical attacks.
And his body was constructed from
The fists he launched were wrapped in a helix of Demon Aura and Spirit Energy channeled through his Unique Skill, "Holy-Demonic Hybrid," producing a bizarre hybrid energy unlike anything else.
Its properties were identical to those of a Fighting
It could also be fired at high speed.
He hadn't refined it to the point of the focused penetration seen in Benimaru's strikes, but the fighting energy that enveloped his entire body in a uniform shimmer was beautiful to behold.
It was on an entirely different level from the inconsistent fighting energy Dagura had emitted.
Given that its power dwarfed ordinary Demon Aura or Spirit Energy, every single punch was essentially a finishing move.
Now fully on the offensive, Beretta unleashed attacks of frightening precision.
It must have looked like a competitive fight to the audience, but my eyes weren't so easily fooled.
Beretta was nowhere near full power. He was fighting at roughly thirty percent.
"Nyahaha! How's that?! How do you like it?! My Beretta is seriously amazing, right?!"
Ramiris flew circles around me, showing off with a smug grin.
Not content with just me, she also bragged to Milim and Veldora.
Veldora's response was something along the lines of "Hmm, impressive — but I'm still stronger, you know!" but Milim, never one to lose, shot back: "Hmph! Enjoy your moment in the sun while you can.
Tomorrow, my Lion Mask will take your precious Beretta apart!"
"Oh, give me a break. Children's squabble.
I should really be worrying about poor Arnaud instead.
That ruthless announcer has backed him into a no-retreat situation yet again, and the situation is completely hopeless.
Seriously, how does this man's spirit not break under all of this?
That alone deserved serious respect.
By the time Ramiris and Milim finished their argument, the match had come to an end as well.
Naturally, it was Beretta's victory.
Arnaud had unleashed his finishing move — something called "Meteor Slash" — but the sword that made contact with Beretta's body simply shattered.
Well, if you keep hammering against a block of solid steel, it was only natural that a sword's durability would give out.
No matter how much fighting energy you wrapped around a weapon, the damage accumulated little by little.
With his sword broken, there was no continuing the fight.
Arnaud conceded, and the match was over.
That was just the official story, of course. In truth, he'd been completely outclassed.
The audience probably couldn't tell, though, and Souka had skillfully woven in commentary that gave Arnaud a dignified exit.
It was unfortunate that his sword had shattered, forcing him to reluctantly forfeit — that was the narrative the audience accepted.
I'd apparently had to beg Souka through tearful eyes, promising to treat her to a meal, before she agreed to spin it that way, but I was willing to overlook that part.
Arnaud's honor had been preserved. That was what mattered.
And so, the fifth match drew to a close with Beretta's victory.