The venue for the fighting tournament Esdeath had organized in the Empire.
In the past, operations bearing Esdeath's name had mostly been organized by the palace's upper ranks-namely, Minister Honest.
But this fighting tournament arranged by the Empire really was being organized by Esdeath herself, and only she knew the reason.
"Our morning matches have concluded! Our current winner is the strongman Akuzan!"
A burly man with a thick beard stood in the circular arena, shamelessly showing off his muscles to the spectators below.
In his hand was his weapon-a chained iron hammer weighing a full hundred jin.
The burly man had smashed a huge crater into the hard jade arena with just one blow. Although his opponent had suffered only a few scrapes, he was as timid as a mouse and had chosen to surrender outright.
"Any more challengers? Anyone else delusional enough to think they can beat me? Bwahahaha!"
Esdeath watched the giant from the viewing platform, her eyes filled with contempt and disdain.
"Trash like this thinks he's worthy of becoming the champion of my fighting tournament?"
Several guards heard Esdeath's complaints from a distance and approached in trepidation, speaking in trembling voices:
"General, he's already the strongest contender we've had in these three days. There's only this afternoon left before the tournament ends. I'm afraid it'll be difficult to find..."
"Silence!"
Esdeath's rebuke left the guards feeling as though thorns were digging into their backs.
"Are you saying our great Empire has no capable men or mighty warriors? I refuse to believe a punching bag with nothing but stupid brute strength, without a shred of speed or technique, can win the championship!"
"If no one can defeat this piece of trash by this afternoon, I'll personally put an end to this tournament!"
The guards gestured that she absolutely must not do so,
but Esdeath merely glared, and the piercing chill radiating from her eyes made them shut their mouths on their own.
"How boring..."
After watching the crude, overbearing man rant in the arena for quite some time, Esdeath began to question more and more what point there had been in holding this tournament.
"I'll head back for now. I'll return to watch through the end of the afternoon session!"
Inside the tournament's Imperial rest area.
A kindly-looking civil official approached Esdeath, who was drinking black tea, in tiny steps, carrying a booklet written in elaborate foreign calligraphy.
"General, you certainly are of an age to choose a partner. It's just that these requirements..."
"Hmm? Is there something wrong with them?"
Esdeath looked at the official and asked, thoroughly puzzled.
As it turned out, Esdeath's real reason for holding this fighting tournament was to choose a suitable partner for herself.
In short, Esdeath wanted to fall in love.
Precisely for that reason, this tournament was one of the rare events that Esdeath had truly managed herself from start to finish.
"First, he must value future potential above all else and aspire to hone himself with the general as his goal."
"Second, he must be courageous, willing to accompany you on hunts for Danger Beasts even when unarmed..."
The combat requirements alone were enough to put off a great many people.
"General, it's certainly understandable that you want your beloved to be strong. It's just these later conditions..."
"And what's wrong with the later conditions?"
"Someone who grew up in a frontier region rather than the Imperial Capital... younger than you... and he must have an innocent smile... aren't these last few conditions a little too demanding?"
In this world where the strong preyed on the weak, expecting a man from the frontier who was accustomed to hunting Danger Beasts to have an innocent smile really was a little unreasonable.
If such a man truly existed, merely not going mad and slaughtering people in towns like Zanku would probably already count as having considerable mental fortitude.
"I don't care. These are my requirements, and whether they can meet them is entirely their problem!"
Esdeath took a sip of the black tea at her lips. Wisps of pale steam rose, making her already snow-white face look even more translucent and flawless.
"Indeed. With your strength, General, you certainly deserve to set higher standards."
Just then, a guard outside gently pushed open the door, interrupting Esdeath's conversation with the official.
"General Esdeath, the final afternoon session is about to begin. Please take your seat to watch!"
"Bwahahaha! Who else?! Who else can stop me?!"
A man foaming at the mouth knelt at the burly man's feet, almost completely unconscious. It looked as though the iron hammer had struck him hard in the back of the skull.
The burly man kicked the man beside him away, his booming voice grating even on the announcer, who was preparing to introduce the next contestant.
"Next, let's welcome the third contestant of the afternoon session to the arena. His name is-"
"Lin Feng!"
A youth whose eyes glowed a dim, dark red stepped onto the circular platform of the dueling arena. He seemed to possess an aura of his own, and the aristocratic spectators below felt that he must come from an exceptional background and began cheering him on.
Below the stands, a girl with long purple hair seemed particularly excited.
Watching her childhood friend step into the arena brought a feeling that was difficult to describe without experiencing it firsthand-
perhaps it was like watching someone close to you suddenly become a superstar.
"Go, Lin Feng!!"
Sheele's voice was drowned out by the noisy crowd, leaving her unable to get her encouragement through to Lin Feng, and she could not help feeling a little dejected.
Yet, unexpectedly, shortly after she shouted, Lin Feng actually looked in her direction from the platform and made a gesture that said, "No problem."
At that moment, Sheele felt incredibly happy. She could not say why, but it made her heart race as though a star she liked had just looked at her.
Even though he was Lin Feng, just her childhood friend... Sheele could not help trying to convince herself of that.
"Hah! A bean sprout like you has come to die too?! I won't look after your parents in their old age or arrange their funerals. How about leaving your life in someone else's hands?"
Although Lin Feng had an average build, he did indeed look somewhat slight compared to this giant.
"Cut the crap. Let's get started."
A gleam shone through Lin Feng's dark red eyes, and for an instant, the giant seemed to see the crimson of blood.
"What... was that my imagination?"
Of course I wouldn't be stupid enough to attack you with shadows. With so many people here, wouldn't exposing my skills be a joke?
Lin Feng thought to himself:
I can use skills, but I'll only use special ones that other people can't see.
Although Lin Feng was somewhat shorter than the giant, his eyes looked fiercely down at him, which displeased the giant considerably.
"Die!"
The spectators were speechless.
The giant's iron hammer smashed forward, but for some unknown reason, his arm suddenly began swinging in the opposite direction to the one he intended!