So there!
Amid all the commotion and eager anticipation, with Eileen deliberately keeping quiet and Laofen playing along, Kanne, who was lively and a little reckless, and Lawine, whose tone was stern but who shared the same spirit of exploration, reached out almost at the same time to touch the shell of the arena model. The two childhood friends had attended the same magic school.
And then!
As everyone watched, Frieren and Fern hesitated, Eileen looked on gleefully, Laofen blushed with embarrassment, Ehre watched curiously, and Übel smiled with a hint of amusement and suspicion. In an instant, Kanne and Lawine felt the world spin around them.
Fortunately, the sensation was brief. It passed in less than three seconds.
"..."
"..."
When their vision cleared and they came back to their senses, they found that they were no longer in the warm, comfortable lounge of the carriage. They were inside a huge arena.
"Whoa!"
"That's amazing!"
Kanne let out an awestruck cry, then stared wide-eyed around her in disbelief.
They were standing at the very center of an enormous circular arena, larger than they could have imagined. The ancient stone bricks beneath their feet were weathered but still hard, each one massive and heavy-looking.
All around them rose towering stone walls, dozens of meters high and covered in marks from countless attacks. The walls separated the arena floor from the empty spectator stands.
By Kanne's rough estimate, the arena had a radius of at least two hundred meters. It was so grand it inspired awe, and the air was filled with a strange, ancient dryness, mixed with dust and a faint smell of blood.
"It really..."
"It really feels real!"
She even crouched to scrape at the floor. When she couldn't scratch it, managing only to dislodge a few crumbs,