With Kanoko's retirement announcement, I was exhilarated. I could hardly contain myself.

I can finally keep her to myself! Heheh... Victory is mine!

"So... When are we leaving?" I asked.

She raised an eyebrow, "Who said anything about leaving?"

"Um... You're not coming to my subspace? For retirement...?"

"Maybe. After I finish my report, I think I'll travel for a bit."

"Aww... Are you going to look for your sister or kin?"

Recently I had noticed that occasionally she would send some sort of telepathic message to someone. At first, I thought it was just a random burst of energy from her aura and didn't pay much attention to it. But then, I also noticed it during our exchange with the snake guardian which I thought was quite strange. That was when I decided to further re-examine everything about her.

Telepathic communication did exist in this world. Since it was possible for such an ability to exist, the possibility for a magic spell capable of the same also existed. However, I knew for a fact that Kanoko did not possess such an ability. And, given that I had observed the energetic bursts in her aura, it couldn't have been a magic spell. The only other possible explanation would be an innate ability that came with her species. As for unique species of her type, the likelihood that it could be used to communicate with other tails and the main body was the highest, meaning, she was likely sending messages to her kin.

Just earlier, I had confirmed that Kanoko had neither contracts nor blessings. This likely meant that she did it out of free will, or possibly out of concern for her sister. 

 

She froze with my sudden inquiry.

"You... How did you guess?" Her voice raised, slightly surprised.

Hit! Detective Berry strikes again!

"Mm... You were sending messages to someone, were you not?" Since she was unable to answer immediately, I pressed on. "Anyhow, I don't really care if you're leaking intelligence to your sisters, to the demons, or whoever. We're friends, are we not? If you need help with something, you can always ask me. I'll do my best to help, okay? That's what friends are for!"

She murmured with a frown, "Berry, you really are something else..."

"So, what's it going to be? Rescue a girl from a wicked demon's clutch? Defeat the demon lord? Prepare the greatest feast known to mortals? Go on an everlasting adventure? Well?"

She smiled wryly, "Is that really okay? I've..."

I placed my index finger to her lips, stopping her sentence midway. "I don't have many friends so let me grant a wish of yours. How about it?"

"Then...  I wish to see her, my sister and my friend, once again."

"Kanobi, wasn't it?"

"Yes. You said you've seen her once?"

"That was a while ago. She was approximately the same level as you? I don't exactly remember now and I don't know exactly what relationship she has with that demon but there certainly was a contract involved. I can nullify the contract of others but only when an equivalent exchange of energy has been achieved otherwise the contract will continuously try to link the parties involved. Ehh... That's a bit off topics but I'll do my best to find her and allow you two to meet."

Given how their race had the ability to transform, pinpointing her sister's location might prove difficult. Following a contract link from De Planck might be the easiest way.

"So she's eaten..."

That Kanobi girl certainly had quite a few tails despite her low level. It made me wonder if that was her true level.

"Oh right, I did see a fox demon earlier."

"What's a fox?"

"Sorry, I meant a demon resembling Reo-Ibanos. It had quite a few tails, in fact. Though... Eh... Ah... I kind of shot it down."

Her eyes twitched. "You... You did!? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Well, it was minor details! Seriously, demons are weak. All it took was one hit. Your sister wasn't a demon, right? So it should be fine!"

"You're..." She palmed her forehead, "What am I supposed to do with you?"

"Kanoko, you're retired. We're friends! Let's not mind the minor details. Okay? That demon is still alive. There's nothing to worry about, nothing at all."

"We'll discuss this later. I have to finish some paperwork and report everything that happened at the Abyssal Gate to the king. I'll let him know I'll be away from my position for some time. You have to attend the Selection Tournament, right? Usually it lasts for seven days. How about we meet back here in eight days?"

Did she forget about it? Well whatever, I'll pick her up after she's done with work.

"Kanoko, can you tell me if your sister has been receiving your messages?"

She sighed melancholy, "If only I knew..."

Whatever the case might be, I agreed with her proposal to meet back in eight days. That didn't mean I would leave her to her own device for the next eight days. I secretly inserted an invisible tracker onto her fey core. As much as this seemed like an invasion of privacy, I felt that this was necessary.

Also, as promised, I brought Smoothie along to the Selection Tournament in the Kingdom of Appallia.

Nowadays, elves were not welcomed in this country due to issues of espionage and conflicts near the border. Words sure spread fast. For that reason, I slightly modified Smoothie's elf ears to that of human ears. Likewise, I had to fake her status to that of a regular human child.

Located at the centre of the city of Rotask was a battle arena similar to a coliseum. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of citizens gathered on this day to watch the ritual of selecting a new Hero King.

Apparently, it hasn't been leaked to the public that the current Hero King, Jaco Spiriard, had been injured in a battle just the day before. Only a select few was aware of the fact.

Smoothie and I were seated in a boxed area reserved for influential individuals. This wasn't some kind of arrangement I had with the Hero King. At the ticket office, I actually tried to get regular tickets for both of us. However, it seemed that the curious staff who examined our status after our elegant dresses had other ideas in mind. I for one was treated as a nobility or a hero due to my hidden status at a discounted price.

As for how I managed to have some cash on hand, I pawned off some high quality water bottles and gems at a thrift shop. With that exchange, I ended up with a good amount of Appallia's currency consisted of precious metal coins.

Seriously, I had committed no crime. Counterfeiting was a severe crime in this country but I had not done that! I had only synthesized those gems with my ability and they were a hundred percent authentic! If I really wanted to make money, I could just open up my own bank and called it the World Bank.

"Who do you think will win?"

"Me!" I replied jokingly to Smoothie's question.

"Mother, I'm serious!"

"Your ability doesn't tell you?"

"Heroes are special."

"Then I wouldn't know either. That's why we're here, to find out!"

Out of all the contestants, there were only six heroes. Of the six, five belonged to the kingdom and one belonged to the resistance factions. These six were the stars of the show but they only made up a minority of all the participants.

There were also healers and mages on standby. Anyone could guess what healers were for. The mages there were for operating magical barriers that prevented random attacks from injuring spectators.

On an elevated and shaded platform extruded from the spectator seats, including the specially reserved areas was a throne where the Hero King sat. The female hero, Mae, was replaced with the Hero King's exceptionally trained personal guards.

The Hero King's eyes and mine briefly met. Of course, I just smiled and nodded. It was just my way of saying, "don't try anything funny" and remind him of his end of the bargain.

His life was already in the palm of my hand.

He seemed to have recovered. His hands, as I hadn't expected, had fully regenerated. Whether that was due to high level healing magic or unique abilities, I had no idea. Either way, it was great that he was on public display unperturbed.

With everyone seated, the herald or the speaker, announced the rules and provided a brief rundown of the match schedule. Unlike previous Selection Tournaments, this time around the Hero King only waved at the spectators. Regardless whether their great king made a speech or not, the crowd was feverously cheering with thunderous applauses. 

The Selection Tournament consisted of four brackets or four groups of participants.

In the first bracket were the regular folks. They very rarely possessed notable abilities or traits. Some were capable of simple magic spells. The number of participants for this group was rather excessive. For that reason, they were thrown into four groups of battle royal. The victors would move on to the knockout matches starting tomorrow.

The second bracket consisted of academy students, likely children of nobility and wealthy families who were eager to demonstrate their worth before the great Hero King. Either that, or they were forced to participate because of their parents, I wouldn't know. Perhaps, participating in this tournament was a great honor. These were done in team battles. Those who stood victorious would move on to tomorrow matches. All in all, abilities and traits, plus the usage of magic was much more prevalent than the first bracket participants.

In any case, it was after half way point that I found out via listening to spectators that only the last bracket was the actually Selection Tournament. I honestly believed everything as a whole was the Selection Tournament. Apparently, the matches for the first two brackets were annual events. They were included for the festivity. Anyway, it seemed that I still had ways to go when it came to intelligence gathering.

Military folks made up the third bracket of the matches. Literally, everyone in this group had traits or abilities or both. Only the best of the best were selected to participate in order to display their valor and excellence in front of their king. A good majority had magitech prosthetics that enhanced their levels and stats. Anyway, there weren't many participants in this group so it was all one on one fights.

On a side note, the military folks were all reserves. The active duty members that participated in the recent invasion of Vera had nearly all perished around ten days ago. The culprit was obviously me but that was the old me! Honestly, to me, that had been super long ago.

And finally, the last bracket was consisted of heroes. Actually, they were only introduced on the first day. We never got to see them fight, unfortunately.

I guess the first day was just an entree. The main dish comes later. I'm alright with whatever as long as Smoothie is enjoying the show!