Vol 8 – Chapter 12 – I Got Tea Parties For Days
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Tek here, tea parties were common in shoujo manga, and when I lived with some of my extended family, one of which was a young girl--she would invite me, her older sister, and older brother; she seemed to accept me as her family. However, modern tea parties for adults--well, I think the closest approximation would be the drinks bar in a restaurant.

 

The busy days begin the day after the ball.

 

I’m visiting the noble women who gave me invitations to tea parties, the ones I chose to accept anyway.

 

Arisa is accompanying me.

 

For some reason, that prince has a petty grudge, and I am pretty sure that I’ll get involved with him from now on. He hasn’t caused proper trouble for me or my girls, and I don’t know for sure if he is the mastermind behind the Wings of Liberty--I won’t get rid of him yet.

 

Therefore, I’m following Arisa’s suggestion to increase my personal connections with people that I can have as allies, in preparation for when I get entangled in some kind of conspiracy.

 

Arisa has been writing down possible recipes in her spare time, going over them with Lulu--they then experiment with making them, or making approximations. Once a good dish gets developed, they send the recipe to Baron Muno.

 

They also warn me, so I can pretend that the food comes from Muno City.

 

I’ve thought about taking Karina along with me to the tea parties, but she’s training hard with Liza and the others, so I let them have their fun. I was thinking of helping Karina get some noble friends, but she doesn’t seem interested.

 

Karina, Liza and the others are getting assistance of a military drill instructor, a woman who is technically in her thirties, but still looking 25 because of her high level.

 

They’re getting better training than just sparing randomly with wooden weapons--I’ve also been watching them occasionally.

 

On the front of visiting workshops--the only two remaining are the Scroll Workshop, and the Barrier Pillar Workshop.

 

***

“Eh, these are some good seats.” I look around.

 

Since I hadn’t used the noble guest room that had been reserved for us, so I decided to use it today for the first time--I didn’t want it to go to waste.

 

“You’re right, compared to the crowded seating of the general audience in this area, the noble guest room is a paradise.” Arisa leaned back comfortably in her chair.

 

The Arena is wider than my expectations, it was probably as large as a football field. Apparently, when the tournament wasn’t on, it is usually used for horse-racing.

 

Originally, there are servants who attend the noble guest room, but I refused them.

 

“Master, I’ve acquired the target for sniping--please grant permission.”

 

“You can’t.” I rolled my eyes.

 

“Requesting reconsideration.” Nana looks with narrowed eyes towards one of the fighters who just entered the arena.

 

It’s the white Tigerkin man who seems to be the brother of the Tigerkin who kicked the Sea Lion Kin child--no, this guy only tried to cut me, he didn’t do anything to the Sea Lion Kin, right?

 

His opponent is a Magic Warrior who worked as an adventurer, his name is Tan.

 

They’re the only elimination battle before the real match, both their levels are fairly high. Tan is level 62, and the white Tigerkin is level 57--I’m expecting a fairly high-level fight, compared to the ones beforehand.

 

“Uuu, I can’t see their status from this distance. Tan, who can use Magic, according to the advance review, is probably going to win right.”

 

“Arisa, you can’t say that. Don’t make light of the range and power of that gigantic great sword in addition to the Byakko’s big body. Tigerkin are a race of warriors that posses both power and speed. You cannot decide the match from whether or not they can use Magic.”

 

Oh, Liza is being rather talkative.

 

The weapon that Byakko uses is a great sword made from Monsters’ parts, like Liza’s. The offensive power is lower than Liza’s spear--I’ve had this doubt since a while ago, I have felt that Liza’s spear is too powerful for an impromptu weapon.

 

Is it because the materials are rare?

 

Or is the place of origin rare?

 

It might be both.

 

“Tek, aan.”

 

One of the snacks that Mia holds with both hands enters my mouth.

 

Its a stick-like candy.

 

“What’s with this?” I ask her.

 

“Bought it.”

 

“A hawker has come to the noble guest room.”

 

Mia only ever uses her pocket money to buy food and drinks, huh.

 

Following her, Lulu, Pochi, and Tama have also bought snacks.

 

Tama and Pochi bought enough skewers for everyone, and give us one each.

 

The match is about to begin.

 

Ah, our eyes met.

 

The white Tigerkin on the arena points his great sword towards me with a glare--he still remembers, huh?

 

There’s a circle with a diameter of 50 meters drawn in the center of the arena, and when both competitors enter--the signal to start the match is given. There’s no limitation in using Magic, but since this is something called a ‘Armed Battle’, so it’s a foul if you do something like defeating your opponent with Magic from afar.

 

“The white person is attacking!” Pochi commented, swinging her skewer like a sword.

 

“Mugumugu.” Tama said something as well, but her mouth is full.

 

“Tama, speak after you’ve finished eating, alright.” Lulu scolded Tama.

 

“It seems that the human fights after applying Strengthening Magic.”

 

“Diversion.”

 

“Nnn, won’t he just get cut by that great sword if the diversion is pulled off incorrectly?”

 

“Expansion.”

 

“I doubt that even with Strengthening, he can stop that body-weight and speed.”

 

“Mwuu.”

 

It looks like Arisa and Mia are giving their opinions from the viewpoint of Mages.

 

The Magic Warrior use Physical Reinforcement--the Water Magic Spell ‘Raging Turbulence’. His casting time is 3 seconds, but the Spell should have taken twice that. It seems that he has the Chant Shortening Skill.

 

“Master, it comes with a BOOM, and hit with a BANG.” Tama spoke excitedly, waving her arms around.

 

“Liza can win?” Pochi looked over at Liza with sparkling eyes.

 

“Well, I don’t intend to go down easily, but I don’t feel like I could win in a straight fight.” Liza looked contemplative.

 

“Hmm, he’s amazing. While handling the attacks from that great sword, he hasn’t failed to cast any of his spells--even once.

 

“Calm and composed.”

 

Arisa and Mia are observing the Magic Warrior, while chewing on the snacks that Mia bought.

 

“Master, am I able to move like that?” Nana looked at me with curious, widened eyes.

 

“You might be able to, if you use your Physical Reinforcement well, I think. Even Karina has done movements similar to that right?”

 

“Tama can do it.”

“Pochi will do her best!”

 

As for the fight, at a glimpse, Byakko seems to have the upper hand--but all of his attacks have been blocked. The Magic Warrior has been fighting defensively, but he’s also been steadily increasing his buffs--he just has to use Cling Mist next, to slow down Byakko’s movement, and the match will probably be over.

 

It develops just as I expected, the match ended with the Magic Warrior’s victory. However, he slowed down Byakko’s movement without using Water Magic--but by using Lightning Magic to ‘Enchant’ his weapon, paralyzing Byakko.

 

Three more matches were held afterwards--but since they were plain matches between warriors, Mia and Arisa quickly dozed off. However, they seem to be the favourites of the experts, a lot of cheering could be heard from the crowd outside.

 

“That equipment is splendid, isn’t it? I didn’t think that it could conceal footwork to that degree.” Liza eagerly praised the beautiful woman in faux-Japanese clothing that had appeared just now.

 

Pochi and Tama are trying to copy the woman’s footwork, but they’re not doing so well. I take off my shoes and demonstrate the footwork--apparently a combination of my Skills, including Dancing, make it simple.

 

“Like a slug?”

“It’s slimy and closing in! I’m the slug.”

 

When Pochi can’t do the footwork well, she sprawls on the floor--and moves like a slug.

 

“Pochi--don’t lie on the floor. You’re wearing your best clothes!” It’s rare to hear Lulu sound angry--but she did now, since she had apparently spent a lot of effort to get the two hyper Beastkin girls into their expensive clothing.

 

“I’m sorry…” Pochi apologizes to Lulu.

 

***

“Master, the airship is producing a young organism. Arisa, urgently, create a cushion in the shape of that!” Nana points urgently at the small airship that was currently anchoring near the arena--while poking Arisa’s shoulder.

 

“Eh, again? I’m already tired, I’ll teach you how to do it yourself, so make it yourself, okay?”

 

“That’s an excellent plan. Arisa, I implore you for instruction.” Nana gripped one of Arisa’s shoulders and stared into her eyes with puppy eyes.

 

The ones riding in the small airship is the King’s shadow, and two ministers--the ministers are real, not shadows.

 

I have a hunch that our wagon will become full of stuffed dolls when Nana learns sewing.

 

It seems Arisa has given in to Nana’s monotone pleading, she sits down next to me and begins teaching Nana to sew. I decided to start making some leather armour and boots from the Hard Newt’s leather.

 

From watching Arisa, and copying her movements when working on the cloth inner lining of the leather, I managed to Acquire the Sewing Skill--which I decided to get to max level, and activated it.

 

Come to think of it, I got a hold of a cloth called Yuriha Fiber from the thieves’ hideout back when I rescued Toruma and Hayuna, I will make some robes for Arisa and Mia.

 

The night after the match at the arena, I work alongside Mara to make new equipment for everyone.

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