Quick recap of past events! Marcel leaves the Demon Lord’s castle, is kidnapped when his friends decided to find their next fun destination, and wakes up in an unfamiliar room where anything could happen at any moment. The end!
That was quick, right? Well, back to the present! Having woken up and now talking to this fierce man who quickly affirmed his physical condition, the man smiled menacingly and said, “Follow me!”
“Huh? But I am- Oh well, where were we going?” Marcel asked.
“You’ll find out very soon! It’s just beyond the gate!” He pointed at the tall metal gate which separated the lavishly decorated room from the other side where he had no idea what would be waiting for him.
“Understood! It won’t be something weird, right?” Marcel remembered his suffering at the hands of the elves while staying over.
“No! In fact, it’s something our race has been eagerly waiting for a very long time! It’s the biggest festival of the year and the young winner of the biggest event gets to spend the day with an unknown VIP star. You have been invited to such an event so there’s no need to be scared!” The man tried reassuring him and, it worked. He felt even more relaxed as he got off the giant bed and followed the man.
The man quickly opened the gate after they reached it and Marcel was pushed in by the man who pushes him out and closes the gate. Marcel is shocked to find out where the room he was just in led to. Suddenly, he was on a small terrace in an arena with a crowd all around roaring with excitement and anticipation wherever he looked. Just what kind of place was this and how come he didn’t hear all the noisy people from inside his room.
Quickly, the shock he felt from having to suddenly face the large crowd of excited men who were eagerly cheering for the participants in the battle on the field. When he walked into the terrace, however, all the crowd's attention suddenly shifted to him, and they sounded even more excited. He wondered why. These men were way too excited for whatever this festival he had no idea was about.
Having fully entered the terrace, he noticed two seats waiting; one already occupied by a man with the same giant stature as the one who brought him here and the man patted at the chair, offering him the seat. Suspicious of this entire festival because he had no idea what it was that he was doing there nor this man who was offering him a seat, he was reluctant to accept the man’s kind offer but did so anyway. He didn’t feel threatening at all. If anything, he was just a very giant in complete form with blood-colored red hair and a handsome, somewhat kind-looking face. Marcel who already knew from his first encounter with Alverona or ‘Mysterious ivory black-haired lady,’ knew that this man was probably someone of very high stature amongst the Oni race. He must be the VIP the entire race is excited about, right?
Immediately after Marcel took the seat, the man spoke, “Hello!” He greeted.
“Yes, hi! Nice day it is today, isn’t it! With all these men excited for whatever festival this is and all.” Marcel replied.
“Uh-huh! This festival is the biggest that happens every year just before the end of summer. Our world is very excited for this one, especially because of our special guest this time!” The man’s words were entertaining the realm where he could begin asking questions. He was going to ask about it.
“Who's the special guest this time?” He asked, looking unperturbed about it. He didn’t want to show interest in this special VIP in case they had something against him. That’s how he almost got away from Miguel when he first met. Maybe this special guest had something to do with the Demon Lord like last time.
“Oh~ You don’t know who the special guest is? You’ll find out very soon. Here! Have some wine!” He offered Marcel a wine gourd he suddenly had, “It won’t be very long before you know! It isn’t me though!”
Marcel was confused by his words because the crowd occasionally looked towards them both like they were the special guests. Wait, were they the special guest? Oh no! Was he the special guest? He pondered.
Marcel, after receiving the wine gourd, took a sip of the wine, telling himself that he wasn’t the special VIP to make himself feel better and sitting with this man who suddenly had a giant gourd of wine he was drinking from, he casually asked him, “Who are you then?”
“The leader, of course!” He answered. Marcel choked on his wine when he heard the man’s answer and spit it out with vigor.
“Then... am I the-” He was now sure of his role in this festival. He was indeed the special guest. Damn it!
The man confirmed his suspicions, “Yes, you are the VIP for today; the prize for this year’s grand battle festival!”
“Huh? What is going on? How did I become the special VIP when I have nothing to do with you guys?” The poor little guy asked. He really didn’t want to hear that this somehow had something to do with his other identity as Marcel and his relationship with the Demon Lord and... he didn’t.
“Well, you see! I was having a casual stroll a few days ago, distraught about what to present as the price for this year’s battle festival when I noticed a certain person beat up a man who thanked him with happiness and delight as his face got destroyed and so, I looked into his identity, found something special and guess what? Someone kidnaps him and brings him to my house while announcing him as the special VIP for this year. It was just perfect!”
“What does this special VIP even do anyway? Why are they so important for your festival?” Marcel asked. He at least needed to know what he’d been dragged into or else, he might regret it later.
“Well, not much! The winner of the battle festival gets to sit beside you at the banquet to be held tonight and spend another entire day with you while getting three wishes from you. They can ask for anything, like a kiss, a handshake, or even marriage and the VIP has no choice but to think it over and only refuse after presenting a logical argument as to why. Oh, but forcing yourself on the special VIP is out of the deal though.”
“Ah, that’s fine!” Marcel said without thinking before the words the man beside him got into his head and he spat out the wine in his mouth.
“Who even made this stupid rule? How can they do that to people just because they’re the special VIP of some event?!” Marcel was livid. He wanted to find whoever decided that he had to be the special guest for the battle festival and strangle them.
“It’s not me, mind you! Blame my father for establishing this custom! You should also know by now that heroes must indulge people. They’re treated by their races like treasures and have to attend events as special guests occasionally, while also being kidnapped if they aren’t strong enough by utterly unreasonable people. It’s one of the small disadvantages that come with being a hero.” The man explained to the livid boy who still wanted to find the instigator of his kidnapping and strangle them.
“Still, how did my kidnapper even know exactly where to find me? They snatched me when I’d just entered this world like they were already waiting for me.” The leader quickly and suspiciously averted his gaze from Marcel, pretending as if he hadn’t been made to drink some very strong sake by one of his husbands then made to expose Marcel’s exact location to-be in a few days. He was the guilty party responsible for Marcel’s current situation and was feeling slightly guilty about it, so Marcel let it go for now. He can only hope that the winner of this battle festival isn’t some weirdo with very unreasonable demands.
Having finally been informed that he was the special VIP, he now focused more on the battle below. He was eager to watch the entire battle to see whom he’d be spending tonight with. Together with the Oni Leader, they watched as the participants amongst the Oni as well as a few from other races battle it out to decide who gets the privilege to sit with the pure peach flower that is Dave. Occasionally, the Oni Leader would point out at the people on the field while shouting, “That’s my son!” It was a lot and Marcel wondered just how many sons this man had. They continued to watch until finally, Marcel saw an unexpected sight. It was his friends.
Ah, what happened to his friends after they abandoned him to go have fun on their own? Well, not much as they continued to explore this new world and the first city they saw in the distance, also known as the capital of the Oni’s World: OniMachi. Let’s face it! Whoever named this city was lazy and might as well have called it ‘Oni Town’, which they sort of did...
The five friends explored OniMachi and quickly learned of something that immediately made them join the Battle Festival. Immediately after entering the city, they started hearing rumors about a hero being the special prize for this year’s festival. A bit after the festival started, when Marcel appeared in the arena, rumors spread about his looks and such, so now, news about a silver-haired cool beauty of a hero being the prize had spread and who was a cool beauty silver-haired hero who disappeared the moment they appeared in this world? Marcel! So, it all made sense.
After learning that Marcel might be captured by the Oni race to be subjected to a fate like kissing some stranger or having to marry someone upon their request because Marcel is, um, sometimes a pushover, their will to save their friend was ignited for entirely different reasons.
When it was finally their turn to enter the arena, one by one, they fought their opponents and defeated them, then when they finally found where he sat on one of the specially built terraces spread around the arena, they each declared, “I’ll save you, I promise!” as earnestly as they could, all of them calling him different things while they did. Shalia called him ‘honey’, Silva: ‘My chef’ and Allan along with the others: ‘My friend’. It was a cringe-worthy show that made him want to bury his face in some hole where he wouldn’t have to see his friends be so embarrassing and the Oni Leader who noticed him cringe at the sight down below just had to ask who they were.
“Just forget about them. I don’t know those embarrassing people down below.” He answered blushing, turning a blind eye to them as they called him with determination while being so cringy that he wanted to facepalm and blind himself.
Anyway, after the cringy display, he watched the battles progress with his friends continuing to dominate the field. He'd formed an entirely different opinion on his friends. They were incredible. He learned a lot from watching them. He learned that even though they normally fought together, they could still hold their own against their opponents in different ways.
Allan reinforced his defense with even more magic barriers than usual while giving his opponents no legroom to get any closer to him as he fired off long-distance attack spells at them. Silva, meanwhile, went big as usual with her wind, water, and earth composite spells, blooming beautiful but deadly flowers on the battlefield that defeated her enemies and sent onlookers in awe. Despite only being C-rank adventurers, they give a few B-rankers a run for their money, except Valeria who had a harder time fighting them because of how tough the bodies of her Oni opponents were. It will be a while before they became B-ranked adventurers, but they were on the right track. Marcel learned from watching them that had to step up his game and surprise them soon like they just had, or he’d be left behind.
The battle continued and eventually, the battle to decide who’d enter the quarterfinals concluded. Close to the last round to the quarterfinals and they’d defeated all their opponents in a massive battle royale to become a part of the very few C-ranked adventurers youths left and now, they had to face each other in battle. They could have forfeited and let one of them head into the semifinals to later defeat the others participants and enter the finals to save their friend but no, they weren’t going to go easy on each other. They wanted to face off against each other and win!
Eight participants, four spots! Who will win the battles to come and who won’t? Let’s find out!
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