Platinum the Tool

(Celebrating 1.4 million words)

"The next match is a team battle... two versus two."

Zofia handed the schedule to Maria and Bai Ye.

"Oh? This format is pretty rare, isn't it?" Bai Ye browsed the schedule, frowning slightly.

After watching so many qualifying matches in Kazimierz, he had never seen a match like this.

"That's right." Zofia snapped her fingers, and the crisp sound startled the drowsy Maria into jumping.

"You didn't sleep well last night?... This format is unusual. To showcase a knight order's division of roles, it should at least be three versus three or four versus four."

Listening, Maria nodded somewhat sheepishly.

"I was watching recordings of Leithanian knights' matches last night, and before I knew it..."

"You... forget it..." Zofia had intended to lecture the girl a little, but in the end, she merely sighed and gave up.

"No matter how many people are on each side, you don't have a knight order. You'll need to find a partner," Zofia added.

"Want me to do it?" Bai Ye jokingly offered. "I'll fight alongside you."

"Master Bai Ye!" Maria's eyes immediately lit up. If it was Bai Ye...

Zofia's face darkened.

"It's probably too late now... Bai Ye, you never applied to become a competitive knight, did you? Even if you registered now, there's no way you could compete the day after tomorrow."

"Tch, what a hassle..." Bai Ye shook his head helplessly.

"Who are the opponents?" Martin approached from the side with a wineglass in hand. Whenever no one came to the bar, the retired old knight spent the whole day fiddling with those glasses.

"The schedule says the Snowheel Knights." Zofia took the glass from him, but did not drink from it.

Martin nodded, rotating his mechanical arm.

"They've got several skilled archers, plus one