“Well, although things often don't go as planned, we must now congratulate our winning contestant.”
“So, let us congratulate the ‘Witch of Fresh Blood,’ Ursula, on winning the first match!”
The Transparent Man walked over and gestured for Ursula to raise her hand in celebration as he cheered.
However, Ursula completely ignored his gesture and simply remained standing where she was.
Well...
The Transparent Man felt quite helpless seeing no reaction.
With a snap of his fingers, a small mana vortex appeared on the arena stage, instantly cleaning up the corpse of the Wailing Banshee, who hadn't received a single glance from the Transparent Man from start to finish.
With that, the first match of the Racial Competition Tournament officially came to an end the moment it was announced.
To be honest, the Transparent Man, who had finally managed to stir up the audience's emotions with great effort, was now feeling a tiny bit annoyed.
After all, this sort of thing wasn't what he was best at, and he felt he had done quite well to get things to this point.
But no matter how angry he was, it was useless.
He was merely the master of ceremonies, the host, and had no authority to lecture the contestants.
Forget it. If they fight fast, it just means he can get off work early.
Comforting himself with this thought, the Transparent Man waved his hand, sending the winner, Ursula, back to the resting area. Simultaneously, he summoned the participants for the second match.
“Welcome, you two. I believe you've already seen the previous match, so we won't waste any words.”
“The second match, Alisa, the Witch of the Workshop, versus the Blue Ogre Imp, Mayuzono Mitsuaki, officially begins!”
As if nothing had happened, the Transparent Man had already forgotten the previous incident. After pulling Alisa and Mayuzono Mitsuaki onto the arena, he announced the start of their battle with eager haste.
There was no other way.
The first match had been far too brief, but the atmosphere was already set.
So, he simply treated the second match as an extension of the first. This way, the excitement stirred up by the first match could be maintained.
Crucially, it would also allow him to complete this task faster and get off work early—truly killing two birds with one stone.
And so, without any sense of tension, the battle between Alisa and Mayuzono Mitsuaki began.
In fact, because it was so perfunctory, the two of them hadn't even fully processed it by the time it started.
Mayuzono Mitsuaki was a large man weighing about two hundred pounds, with thick hair and a full beard. He didn't look like someone from Sakura Country at all.
It took him about five seconds after the Transparent Man announced the start to snap back to reality.
When he looked up at his opponent, Alisa, he found that she had long since recovered and was even standing there with her arms crossed, waiting for him.
“Are you that confident?”
“I simply dislike attacking fools. It would go against my pride.”
“Haha, you certainly aren't polite.”
Although Mayuzono Mitsuaki looked like a shut-in, he was surprisingly gentle. Even after being mocked, a sunny smile remained on his face.
However, Alisa did not lower her guard against Mayuzono Mitsuaki in the slightest because of this.
“Put away your little tricks. Let's start early and end early.”
The same principle applied.
How could someone whose name was remembered even by Lan Qingyou—who rarely cared about world events—be some kind of innocent soul?
Rather, none of the eight people who had made it to the knockout rounds were saints.
“Oh my, it seems witches of the Workshop faction aren't very fond of talking.”
Seeing Alisa speak like this, Mayuzono Mitsuaki stopped pretending.
After all, he had killed a white-robed Witch of the Workshop in a previous battle, so he had intended to see if this leader, the only one who showed her face, would be any better.
As expected, she didn't give him any face.
“In that case, let's begin.”
To avoid a situation like the previous match, Mayuzono Mitsuaki hopped back two steps. As he hopped, he pulled out a liquor bottle and started chugging.
“Pfft!”
While moving, Mayuzono Mitsuaki would occasionally spray or spill some liquor from the bottle in his hand.
However, he spilled it very carefully, making it look as if it had accidentally splashed out while he was jumping.
“Is this distance enough? If not, I can give you some more room.”
Even though the opponent was hopping away, Alisa made no move to stop him. After he came to a halt, she even very kindly and politely asked if he needed to wait a bit longer.
But this wasn't kindness, nor was it politeness.
At least, Mayuzono Mitsuaki couldn't feel a shred of it.
The only thing he could feel was probably this witch's arrogance.
No... it wasn't just him on the arena.
Even in other parts of the Kalim continent, many people could feel Alisa's arrogance through the screen.
“Tsk, tsk. What ‘Witch of the Workshop’? I thought she'd be different from that supercilious Witch of the Tower, but it turns out she's just as arrogant.”
“You might not believe it, but I can feel her looking down on me even through the screen.”
“Well, they are witches, after all. To be honest, they've never looked at us transmigrators as equals.”
“Exactly.”
“Sigh, forget about witches. In the eyes of evolved beings, we transmigrators are practically no different from lower animals.”
“I heard that someone in the Supreme Council is researching a way for transmigrators to get attribute corrections without having to evolve.”
“Really?”
“It's just a rumor, who knows. But I'd rather believe it's true.”
“If it's true, then the Supreme Council has finally done something human for once.”
“Heh.”
Just then, someone nearby who overheard the conversation let out a cold laugh.
“What are you laughing at?”
The person didn't understand.
“Rumors are everywhere these days. I've heard this kind of news countless times. I remember the last version was that a group of mad alchemists was planning to create an alchemy item to boost the attributes of transmigrators.”
“In the end, weren't they all just wishful thinking born from everyone's dissatisfaction with the status quo? They've almost become urban legends.”
The person who laughed shrugged.
“Sigh... yeah... just wishful thinking.”
Reminded by the cold laugh, the people who were originally excited by the rumor immediately calmed down, looking so dejected they didn't even care about the match.
“But you don't have to lose heart.”
Seeing that he had dampened everyone's enthusiasm, the man stepped forward.
“While those rumors are false, I have something real here.”
As he spoke, the man who had been laughing coldly just a moment ago now wore a warm, enthusiastic smile. He pulled several test tubes containing a golden liquid from his pocket.
“What is this?”
Someone asked curiously.
“A potion that can correct your attributes...”
Rate on N.U.
