Roumazi

Upon reuniting at the end of the second day, everyone congratulated Michelle on her victories. Amber and Michelle then worked on repairing all the damage to the armor and sword, with as much help as the rest of the family could provide.

When they were done, Michelle fell asleep almost instantly. Though her wounds had been entirely healed, she was still fatigued. Not even stamina potions or Roumazi’s magic could fix that. She still had plenty of time to sleep, however.

If we have to do repairs like this on all our equipment during the teams tournament, time might get a bit tight…

And on the third day, the rest of the family was once again in the stands while Michelle was in the waiting area. Nipha was here as well, with her mother Rayna, who was making a rare appearance by herself.

Izara also finally got to show up, having had to meet other family members during the past several days. The other girls were excitedly recounting to her everything that had happened so far. Official recordings would be made available later by the tournament staff, and the dragon girl would be able to watch it all then.

Poor girl. At least she got to see the last day. She’ll be here for the team matches, too.

They only had to watch one other match before Michelle’s came up.

“For this match, we have The Shredding Sickle, Worra Vrouhlint, representing Erskrix & Goest! Quality enchanted armors you can trust! In business for over three centuries!”

It’ll be interesting to see how Worra fights when she’s serious. She even has a title.

“Next is Michelle Woods, representing Dialu Ammirosa! Armor and weapons created with both practicality and aesthetics in mind!”

“Moms, it’s Worra!” Luna said.

“Isn’t Erskrix & Goest where Mom Michelle apprenticed?” Diamond asked.

“That’s right,” Roumazi confirmed. “Though Worra is not a blacksmith. She was paid to represent them.”

“Is it strange for a blacksmith to enter a tournament like this?” Izara questioned.

“It’s not unusual,” Rayna said. “Though most participants are slayers as their profession. Of the twenty-four entrants, three or four of them are craftspeople of some kind, I believe.”

The betting window closed, and the commentator spoke, “Fighters! Get ready!”

I see that Michelle’s odds of winning are much higher compared to the first time. Good.

The light flashed red, and Michelle immediately dodged sideways as Worra fired a blast of earthen shrapnel at her. Michelle also created a shield to block the rest. The projectiles were fast and durable enough that they could cause a lot of damage quickly.

Worra had [Earth] magic with the [Pulverization] modifier. Essentially, she could make grenades that only exploded in the direction she wanted them to. Her colors were brown with gray accents.

Michelle cracked her whip forward, but Worra was ready for it, and blocked the strike with her buckler. She wielded a chain sickle in her other hand.

“Their weapons could easily get tangled up in each other, and they both know it,” Sarah said.

Yes, they’re both being quite careful with their strikes, mostly relying on magic.

The fight then once again took to the air. Just as Michelle was creating footholds of ice to run on, Worra was generating earth to slither on.

The stalemate lasted for several minutes as neither of them could gain a good advantage over the other. Michelle was good at dodging and blocking the shrapnel coming her way, and the same was true for Worra with Michelle’s ice spikes.

Michelle abruptly swung her whip sideways, and a trail of molten blue flew out, causing Worra to scramble out of the way. The whip sword was now glowing in the same color.

The crowd’s enthusiasm picked back up because of something different happening.

The commentator yelled out, “What is this!? Michelle is a water mage, but that’s clearly not water!? That can only mean… Everyone, we are witnessing fusion magic!”

Michelle cracked her whip forward several times, attempting to drive the lamia into a contained location, but despite Worra’s size, she was quite agile.

The ice-lava fusion flowed mostly like water, but Michelle couldn’t maneuver it quickly enough to hit her opponent.

Michelle was struck by shrapnel repeatedly as she desperately tried to deal serious damage to Worra. The lamia’s relentless attacks had left Michelle’s armor pockmarked everywhere.

But Worra was beginning to feel her injuries just as Michelle was, as she simultaneously received burning and freezing damage from the fusion magic, and cuts and gouges from the whip sword.

Worra slithered around as Michelle danced around her, being careful to not be struck by the woman’s tail. One of her first lessons in real combat had been to not disregard the tail.

Michelle’s smooth movements resulted in her getting a nice cut in with her whip, but then much of the shrapnel from Worra’s previous attacks all lifted off the ground to pelt her from every direction, a move the lamia had never shown before.

With her options being to either cocoon herself in ice or make a last desperate attack, Michelle chose the latter. She concentrated everything she had on making the biggest blast of lava ice she could.

Worra screamed furiously as her armor was melted and shattered by the magic, and her flesh beneath hardly fared any better. The damage Michelle had taken proved to be too much for her to handle, however, and she fell to the ground, magically paralyzed.

“Worra wins! What an incredible display of power and skill from both of them!”

The crowd roared its loudest yet.

Michelle is certainly skilled, but her experience in real combat was lacking in comparison to Worra, and that was the main reason for her loss.

The paralyzation debuff on Michelle vanished, and a healer ran into the arena to take care of her wounds.

As she staggered to her feet, the commentator questioned, “Michelle, that was fusion magic! What kind was it?”

“Ice and lava,” the weary elf replied. The retracting function of her helmet had been damaged and was no longer working properly, so she moved it back manually.

“Astounding. Now, your beautiful armor, unique weapon, scary good looks, elegant maneuvering, and even fusion magic have garnered you many fans, am I right?” he asked that last part to the audience, who cheered in response.

Michelle could actually hear some people shouting things like “I love you!” and “Michelle, please marry me!”.

That blush she has right now isn’t from all the exertion.

From beside Roumazi, Amber said, “What is she doing? She’s seducing the whole city!”

Continuing, the commentator asked, “So I’m sure your many fans are dying to know, are you single?”

Her smirk was visible on the large projection. “I’m married.”

Many groans of disappointment were heard, causing Michelle to chuckle, despite her embarrassment from her sudden popularity.

“Ah, but perhaps they can hold out hope for you to take a second spouse?”

This guy is rude.

Michelle smirked again, even wider this time. With her looks, the expression was downright malicious, but from the noise the audience was making, many people were definitely into it. “I am not interested in taking a fourth spouse, no.”

“Then perhaps you have a sister?” he asked jokingly.

Michelle was clearly getting annoyed with the guy by this point. “I don’t.”

“Well, there you have it, everyone! Lady Iceflame Heartbreaker has no room in her heart for you, nor is there anyone else like her! But you can see more of her in the teams tournament, as she and her teammates have just been seeded!”

Michelle’s head jerkily turned in the direction of the commentator, who had already escaped. The crowd chanted her new title as she walked away, defeated both physically and emotionally.

The adults of the Woods family were laughing at the unfortunate nickname their wife had just been given, Amber especially. They knew Michelle could take the inevitable teasing, otherwise, they wouldn’t have found it so funny.

I think that guy was getting revenge on her for startling him in front of everyone yesterday. What a jerk. She’s not the only one with a title at least.

Rayna had been laughing, too, but eventually commented, “Fusion magic, huh? I have to admit, my expectations for the surprise were absolutely surpassed.”

“Our Lady knows how to impress,” Amber joked.

 

———

 

Amber had picked up recordings of Michelle’s matches after the tournament was done, which had been difficult, as hers specifically were in high demand. Her final ranking came out to seventh place.

There was a break day between the singles tournament and the teams one, and they intended to just spend it resting, mostly for Michelle’s sake.

Roumazi had been rearranging things in the store for a bit with the anticipation of new customers after the tournament was over, when she noticed someone pacing outside.

She locked eyes with him and he knocked on the door.

Roumazi sighed and walked up to it but didn’t open it. “We’re closed. Please come back after the tournament is over.”

“Ah, yeah, I know that, but I was wondering if you know someone named Sarah? My name is Victor. I was friends with her years ago.”

“If I run into someone with that name, I’ll let you know.”

“Alright, thank you. I’m staying at the Lion Eyes Inn, if you meet her.”

Let’s see what this is about, then.

Roumazi went back to the house to find her wife, and found her giving Michelle a massage in the conversation pit.

“Sarah, do you know someone named Victor?”

She blinked. “Uh, I was friends with a guy with that name some years ago, why?”

“An orc man named Victor just came to the store looking for you.”

“Seriously?!” she jumped up. “Where is he? Is he still here?”

“He said he’s at the Lion Eyes Inn. Should we go?”

“Yes!”

“Would it be alright if I just rested here?” Michelle asked.

Roumazi knelt beside her and gave her a kiss. “Of course, love. Where’s Amber?”

“At her desk, drawing up new ideas.”

Roumazi went to find her remaining wife. “Amber, a friend of Sarah’s showed up just a bit ago and is going back to his inn now. An orc man named Victor.”

“Victor…?” she wondered. “Oh! I remember that guy now. Hardly spoke to him before he disappeared into the world. Are we going to meet him?”

“Sarah wants to. Michelle is staying here.”

“Hmm… Yeah, okay. I’ll go with.”

The three women left for the Lion Eyes Inn, and found Victor sitting at a table with four other men. Victor and Sarah’s eyes met, and given that Roumazi and Amber were there, too, the four of them then sat at a table that was miraculously unoccupied despite how much traffic the city was currently experiencing.

“Heya, Vic,” Sarah said.

“Hi, Sarah,” he returned. “I need to apologize before anything else. I was basically running away from the fact that we ended up in this world, and ended up leaving you behind. It was really awful of me to do that, and I am so sorry I did that.”

“I won’t lie, Victor. It hurt. But I can also understand making stupid decisions given the situation we were in, so I’m not too upset about it now.”

He sighed in relief. “Thank you.”

“What have you been up to since leaving the base?”

He shrugged, “Pretty much just constant traveling? It’s a lot of fun for the most part. How about you? I thought you were aroace?” he pointed at her marriage pendant.

She nodded. “I am. It’s basically… they’re so important to me that I decided to marry them, even if it isn’t in the same way most people do it. How’d you find me by the way?”

“That’s nice. I’m happy you found people like that. I came to enter the teams tournament and caught yesterday’s matches. I recognized Michelle and her new last name. Is she coming, too?”

“No, she’s resting right now.”

“Makes sense. What she did out there was wild. Oh, sorry. I was caught up in the reunion and didn’t greet either of you,” he said, looking at Roumazi and Amber. “I’m Victor, as I already told you,” he gestured to Roumazi. “Sarah and I frequently played the game together.”

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Roumazi,” the foxkin greeted.

“I’m Amber. We actually met back at the research base. It’s nice to see you again, though we didn’t really get to talk much before,” Amber said.

“Yeah,” he nodded, now remembering his scant conversations with her in the past. “Hey, how about I use something from your store in the tournament? Believe me, I am immensely frustrated by how bland everyone’s gear looks no matter where I go. I intend to pay for it, of course.”

“Sure thing,” Sarah smiled. “Buy my books, too. Maybe you can convince someone to read them.”

“Oh yeah, I remember reading your stuff online. It really wouldn’t fit in here. I’ll do that, too.”

The four of them returned to the store, and Victor chose a pair of bracers to replace his beat up ones. He also picked up a copy of both of Sarah’s books, which had still never been sold until now.

Given that he was a friend, they decided to go to the house for a while. Victor was a bit surprised by their second daughter, who was a wolf, but just decided not to question it. He was also surprised to hear that Michelle is genderfluid, and was glad things had worked out for her.

He also gave them the news that the Praexoent Empire had finally fallen recently, which they were all relieved about, as they had been victims of its government’s experiments. They hoped the ordinary people who lived there would be okay, though. From what they knew, it was mainly just the government that was bad.

Victor eventually had to return to his teammates to discuss strategies, so he got up to leave.

“Next time we see each other might be in the arena,” he said.

“Maybe,” Sarah replied. “We won’t hold back.”

“I’d be mad if you did.”

“Feel free to stop by whenever you’re in Efrinteu, alright?”

“Of course. It’s nice to know I have a friend out there I can visit whenever I’m in the area.”

They said their goodbyes just as Senava came up to the door, though without Nipha today.

She received a summary of who that was, but she also left soon after. She just wanted to check in with them, but would otherwise let them rest and prepare without her being there to cause a distraction.

I’m glad Sarah and Victor met again. She seems quite happy knowing he’s alive and well.

Roumazi gave her favorite tigerkin a tight hug, who reciprocated.