“Then get another plate so we can eat together.”
Lan Qingyou gave Ursula a thumbs-up and followed it with a bright smile.
Lan Qingyou was never stingy with her smiles toward those who were good to her.
It was just that her way of expressing it varied from person to person.
Of course, in the past—especially during her time in the hospital—such a thing would have been unthinkable.
After all, she had encountered nothing but scumbags back then.
Receiving the order, Ursula immediately handed the cake in her hand to Lan Qingyou, then quickly fetched another plate so the two of them could start eating together.
Although Ursula's expression couldn't be seen through the black veil...
...to her, being able to dine with Lan Qingyou was the greatest honor.
However, she wouldn't be like those fools who wore their “dying of happiness” emotions on their sleeves.
Being clever, she knew that doing so would surely earn the deity's distaste.
“Ah...”
Just as Lan Qingyou opened her mouth to take her first bite of tiramisu, she paused.
Someone had been teleported in about three meters away from her.
The horns on the head and the hooves on the feet made it easy to recognize who it was.
Xin Tianle...
How long had the battle lasted? Three minutes? Or five?
Li Huai, the SSS-grade talent holder who spent every day shouting “Fighting is great!”, had actually lost to someone with an A-grade talent?
It was honestly a bit hard to take seriously.
“Heh, looks like Li Huai lost.”
Once she saw who it was, Lan Qingyou swallowed the cake she had intended to eat slowly and politely in one gulp. Without even wiping the cocoa powder from around her mouth, she pulled out her card.
Tower: “@Death, are you dead yet?”
Justice: “Don't you watch the fights?”
Tower: “I didn't. They're all the same. I just didn't expect Death to lose.”
Death: “Not dead. I'm fine. I didn't even get hurt.”
Tower: “Oh, you lost without even getting a scratch?”
Death: “...If you don't know how to hold a conversation, you don't have to tag people.”
Lan Qingyou's words were indeed a bit irritating.
It was one thing not to watch the match, but to come into the group chat just to annoy him was another.
The fact that he had lost without being injured was objectively true, but she could have at least been a little more tactful.
So the stonemason master Li Huai snapped back, but Lan Qingyou didn't reply.
“She's already on the stage,” the High Priestess reminded them. Li Huai looked up, and sure enough, she was already standing in the arena.
It felt like punching a bale of cotton.
Forget it. He had lost anyway; there was no point in watching the rest of the tournament.
Because of this loss, the overachiever decided he needed to improve his combat experience further.
After a brief review of the match, he had identified his shortcoming: a lack of actual combat experience.
Specifically, experience in fighting other people.
Ever since being forcibly pulled to the Kalim continent, Li Huai had been fighting constantly, but he mostly fought monsters to maintain his top rank.
Since he rarely fought humans, he had almost no experience in PvP.
This was the reason he had lost so quickly. No, it was the primary reason.
No matter how cunning a monster was, it faced only death against Li Huai's overwhelming brute force.
But as a member of the demon race, Xin Tianle seemed to have an innate talent for manipulating people.
In just a few minutes, he had been outmaneuvered to the point where his only option was to surrender and withdraw.
To be honest, it was incredibly frustrating.
Not just because he was forced to surrender...
...but also because of the helplessness of wanting to strike but being unable to land a hit.
Now that he had cooled down, his analysis was that Xin Tianle likely knew she couldn't beat him in a straight fight, so she chose a combat style specifically designed to be obnoxious.
Anyway, it was just a racial blessing. He wasn't the clan leader of the Wind Elves or anything. If he lost, he lost; no one could blame him.
While losing the blessing hurt, no one actually knew what it was yet.
So, for most participants, the tournament was less about the rewards and more about seeing how the world's heroes stacked up against one another.
A competition like this was often a prime opportunity to make a name for oneself.
For those lucky enough to become evolved beings, there was no better stage.
That was why so many had signed up despite the risk of death.
Especially the evolved beings within the Supreme Council.
Most of them had been selected and ordered to compete.
Consolidating power was a long-term issue that couldn't be handled carelessly.
Fortunately, many witches had already cut ties with the council thanks to Lan Qingyou; otherwise, many of them would likely have been forced to participate.
In fact, Lan Qingyou had seen a few witches during the earlier hours of the tournament. Every single one had been sent by the Supreme Council.
Although most of these council witches belonged to her own lineage, Lan Qingyou didn't care what happened to them.
If they chose to stay with the Supreme Council, that was their choice. Consequently, they had to take responsibility for their own lives and deaths.
On the arena stage, the transparent person was nearly driven to madness.
What was wrong with these people? Why was everyone so obsessed with one-shotting their opponents in a perfectly good knockout round?
At least the previous match had been decent, lasting a few minutes and giving the audience some large-scale attacks with wind effects.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have known how to wrap things up.
“Hoger, why don't you just surrender? That way, we don't have to waste time. I know your time is more precious than mine, isn't it?”
As soon as she entered the arena, Lan Qingyou spoke with a laugh, perched atop her flying magic broom.
“Aha, I didn't expect even the famous Witch of the Tower to know who I am. No wonder you kept giving me those strange looks earlier.”
Addressed by Lan Qingyou, Hoger—who was dressed in plate armor and currently fastening his pauldrons—stopped what he was doing and greeted her with a smile.
“Haha, you're joking. Who wouldn't recognize Hoger, one of the four great knight commanders of the Knights' Guild and the captain of the Spade Knight Order?”
“Is that so? I've become that famous, have I?”
A smile spread across Hoger's face at the compliment.
“That looks like it's hard to put on. Do you want some help?”
Seeing him still struggling with his pauldrons while talking, Lan Qingyou asked with extreme kindness. She even drifted forward a bit as if she genuinely intended to help.
However, the transparent person nearby was having none of it.
Rate on N.U.
