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I decided to head to the Adventurer’s Guild while borrowing Michelle’s shoulder. Due to having to get dressed in my Adventurer gear and borrow Finia and Michelle’s help, it took longer than usual, but this was the fastest I could manage now.

Cortina seemed quite interested, but she had her duties as a teacher. Yesterday couldn’t be helped due to the circumstances, but if she skipped another day it could get problematic.

Maria and Lyell had headed to Maxwell’s mansion. They also showed interest in this, but dealing with Klein came first. Of course, Maxwell and I already dealt with Klein the other night.

By the time these two would arrive at Geeze Union, they would find the situation already concluded. They would end up traveling there in vain, but my circumstances called for that much sacrifice from them.

I managed to somehow reach the Guild with the steps of a newborn fawn, but it seemed that they had already moved to the training grounds below.

The usual receptionist lady was looking regretful for missing out on a fun event like that, so based on that it was probably quite safe.

There was probably no need for me to rush here, but I was the one who had arranged this match. It would come off quite awkward if I didn’t show myself here, so it was just my stubbornness playing an active part here.

As we went down the stairs to the training area, it seemed that the match had already begun as the audience was raising cheers.

“Go get him, Kayle! Beat some sense into that playboy!”
“Take back our sweet Nicole from that brute!”
“Ah, I am in Lady Letina’s faction. Crush him.”
“All of them are like his mistresses, aren’t they? Let’s just kill this b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲!”

The audience was basically about 90% in Kayle’s favor while only 10% for Cloud. The Half-Demons were as unpopular as ever, it seems.

“Ah, it’s already begun!”

Following her indication, I saw Cloud on the receiving end of Kayle’s attacks. It seemed that Kayle was pulling punches quite a bit, but Cloud’s growth was still amazing for enduring the attacks from a fifth-rank Adventurer.

“It looks like a pretty nice match, doesn’t it?”
“But Cloud’s opponent is a fifth-rank, you know? He might get seriously injured.”
“It will be fine. We are at a Guild, so they have healers permanently stationed here.”
“Oh, I see.”

Killing each other inside the Guild was prohibited. Even if Cloud was a Half-Demon, it would affect the Guild’s honor if he ended up with a grave injury at their own training grounds.

Besides, I was the one who arranged this match, so if it left grudges, it would also mean that I — or more precisely, my parents, could also be affected by that grudge.

As such, the battle probably wouldn’t reach such a dangerous level… At least I hope so. Based on the audience’s reaction, I couldn’t feel too optimistic about it either.

“But he seems to be having a hard fight, so maybe some cheering would encourage him?”
“You’re right! Cloud, hang in there! Come on, you should also cheer on him, Nicole, and Finia too.”
“A-Ah, that is true. Uhm… Hang in there, Cloud!”

Finia who was normally reserved started to cheer on him with all she had. Honestly, seeing her like that made my chest sting. Finia was my attendant… No, that wasn’t exactly the case, but like, I felt possessive about her.

“Mhg…?”
“Nicole, you have to cheer too!”
“I don’t know… I suddenly feel like cheering on Kayle instead.”
“Come on, don’t stay stubborn at a time like this!”
“Huh, am I normally seen as such?”

I couldn’t deny having a stubborn side to me, but I wasn’t particularly partial to Cloud…

But well, he was my disciple too. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth if he were to lose to some random Adventurer.

“Oh well. Cloud, go goo…”

I cheered in a monotone voice, but hearing that the audience had heated up.

“Nicole is cheering you… Don’t you dare to lose, Cloud, you heaaaar!”
“Even Finia is cheering on him! He really is a brute!”
“Finish him off, Kayle. I use my authority as the branch head to allow that.”
“Huh, you were here, branch head!?”

He seemed to be saying something dangerous there, but I hope he was just joking. Still, for even the branch head to come to observe this… I suppose being Lyell’s disciple held that much impact.

In the meantime, Cloud’s sword was swept from his hand, losing it. But he did not give up, but instead set up his shield and charged.

“W-Whaat!?”

It was a sudden attack that took Kayle, who thought the match was over, by surprise. Just as he planned, Kayle had been pushed along by the shield and they both rolled on the ground.

The two started grappling as they rolled about. They were fighting for the mounting position which was more advantageous.

“You don’t know when to give up. You’re a fifth-rank so just let a junior take credit for once!”
“I can’t go losing exactly because I’m a fifth-rank! Flare-up, black flames sealed within me—Inferno Flame Road!”

Kayle yelled like he was crazy, but surprisingly enough, his right arm actually started burning in dark flames. And then, he mercilessly punched Cloud with that arm. Michelle exclaimed in surprise at that.

“Woah, what’s with that arm!?”
“It is probably the fire magic, Flame Weapon. He is probably just tinkering with it to make it look dark.”

Flame Weapon was an unusual spell for the fire system, as it was used not for directly attacking but for bestowing your weapon with flames and raising its attack power.

Moreover, this flame attribute was quite effective against Undeads. The damage increment was a bit higher than my Enchant. It was a spell newbie Adventurers relied on a lot.

Still, I didn’t understand the point in intentionally dyeing it black. Maybe he was just fussy about it?

Either way, this unexpected magic was more than enough to stop Cloud’s movements. He took the blow head-on and was flung back, rolling on the ground and fainting on the spot.

“Phew. You are quite something for a newbie to have me use my trump card. Not bad.”

He took some weird showy pose, and then called off the flames with a swing of his arm. You only needed to stop the magic flow to stop your own spell, so that pose was totally pointless.

The stationed healers rushed towards Cloud. The battle was settled for sure this time.

“What are you showing off for, Kayle, it was just Flame Weapon!”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself just because you beat some newbie!”
“It seems that Cloud has been defeated…”
“He’s the weakest of the Big Four.”
“To get beaten by the likes of Kayle. It’s a disgrace for an Adventurer of Raum. By the way, wasn’t there some rule about the punishment for personal uses of training grounds?”
“There’s no such rule, branch head!!”

The spectators jeered at the outcome with all they had. But they didn’t really contain any malice in them. Seeing their previous conduct, I expected more harsh words from them, but it turned out to be a needless fear.

It looked that Cloud was being slowly accepted by the Adventurers of Raum.