Chapter 494

<The second team match of the preliminary round will be held here, at Brassforge Trigon!>

<Brassforge is the homeland of blacksmiths, where the annual average temperature nearly reaches 40 to 50 degrees, and once stood as the dream and hope of old-era mining magnates thanks to its dazzling minerals and abundant natural gas. In Area A, 68% of the buried resources have already been extracted, but the autonomous council within the administrative district determined that work could no longer continue due to safety concerns, and for the past five years it has remained an abandoned mine.>

<But now it has returned as a testing ground that will make this tournament’s contestants shine!>

[ ♪ Group Stage Match 2, Brassforge Trigon ♬ ]

Seated in one of the meeting chairs inside the team waiting room, Leonardo stared at the canvas banners flapping beyond the floor-to-ceiling window. Slogans announcing the venue for the second match of the preliminary group league had been scrawled across them. Beneath the vast shadow they cast, the audience’s heated cheers and the music streamed along the thick glass wall.

Why are you calling at this hour?

Now and then, in the stands, things like lion face paint, lion headbands, and pink jelly paw gloves made their presence known here and there. They were crude, but they looked handmade.

Were you late for the meeting?

Swaying along with the grand prelude, they looked childish enough to pass for children’s play, but to Leonardo they stirred a fair amount of excitement.

—Leo, we...

“Boss, how are you feeling today?”

Right then, someone’s face suddenly popped into his field of view. A greeting came with a long glass bottle.

“You look tired. Did you sleep well?”

Leonardo, who had been letting the music occupy his mind, glanced aside and naturally accepted the bottle being offered to him. The glass bottle, narrow enough to fit comfortably in one hand, frothed with bubbles as if it were carbonated. Leonardo studied the surface of the bottle, then answered Ero.

“So-so. What is this, though?”

“They say it’s a local specialty. Apparently it’s so popular it’s harder to get than a star from the sky.”

“And how did you get it?”

“For you, Boss, I could pluck a star myself.”

Boasting, Ero dropped into the seat at Leonardo’s right.

Judging by the embossed lettering on the outside, it was tonic water made from mineral spring water that rose from beneath the ground of Brassforge. Leonardo glanced at the mouth shamelessly spouting embarrassing lines.

“Did you catch that from the killer whale?”

“Are you talking about me?”

At once, a head suddenly jutted in over his shoulder. Leonardo reflexively twisted his neck and leaned aside, then pushed Orca’s head away.

“Come on, Boss. I am not the same as a killer whale in heat.”

“Killer whales do not have a mating season. They can do it anytime, all year round.”

Ero protested that he should not be lumped together with that man. As if to prove him wrong, Orca rubbed his face against Leonardo’s palm on his own and sat down at Leonardo’s left. It was a fairly familiar arrangement now, just like last time. For the three gathered here, it had become a scene they were more or less used to.

Ero launched into complaints, saying he had been held up and harassed by reporters while drawing the order for the match. Orca, who claimed he had been in the Shower Room because it was too hot around the same time, propped his chin on the table and replied.

“For that, you got here sooner than I expected. I was hoping you would take a little longer.”

“Come on, I am the leader, you know. Do you think I have only done one or two interviews in my life? I brushed them off and came right over.”

Ero popped the cap off his own glass bottle and chugged the crisp drink. After draining about half of it, he shuddered and let out an impressed exclamation.

“Ahh, this is incredible! It feels like my whole chest just opened up! You should try it too, Boss.”

At the exaggerated suggestion, Leonardo eyed the bottle suspiciously, then cautiously took a drink. The sharp sting sliding down his throat made his brow furrow on its own, but it was not bad. The glass bottle had such a bluish tint that he had expected it to smell like soda, yet instead it carried an unexpectedly sour lemon scent.

Running his tongue lightly across his lips, he answered.

“It’s good.”

“Right? It’s good, isn’t it? And with this view in front of us, it’s absolutely perfect!”

That sly grin jerked its chin toward the floor-to-ceiling window. When Leonardo turned, he saw a sign cheering for Team JOKER bouncing in one section of the stands. The waiting room window sat in a prime spot overlooking all of it.

Feeling the team leader’s mood lift along with it, Leonardo let out a faint laugh.

“You like it that much?”

“Of course I do! People are already cheering for our team, and if we win this match too, we are going to be superstars!”

“I have a good feeling. It feels like the championship is only a few steps away.”

“Oh, right, did you know? That toad we went up against last time? I heard it clawed its way back through the losers’ bracket...”

Bang—

In the middle of his nonstop chatter, the waiting room door swung open with force, and Beatrice, the only woman on the team, came in cradling something precious in her arms.

“Look at this! My fan made it for me!”

Held out in both her hands was a bisque doll decorated with a flamboyant dress and frills. Its skin was white as porcelain, and its richly waved hair added a lovely touch to its gloomy atmosphere.

“They gave it to me and told me I absolutely had to win again today!”

“Oh, is that Bell?”

“Hehe, isn’t it gorgeous?”

Orca, who had been examining it seriously, nodded without hesitation.

“It looks twice as good as the real thing.”

“What?!”

“Why, why are you angry?”

To stop yet another war from breaking out, Morvan stepped in front of his lady. Behind him, Gillian came in chuckling, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Hey, cut it out already and get moving. The match is starting.”

“Huh? We are leaving already?”

Ero, who had turned back around, set down his drink bottle and jumped to his feet. Then he grabbed Leonardo’s mask from the table and handed it to him.

“Boss, let’s go! Let’s show them exactly who is taking the championship!”

Leonardo took it and nodded. Then he rose from his seat and hooked the mask’s straps around ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) his ears.

“Let’s go win.”

“All right, before we head out, let’s do one cheer together—”

Gathering the team together, Ero held out his hand first to the center. One by one, the others stacked their palms on top. Just as Ero was enthusiastically explaining that once he called the chant, they were all supposed to follow,

Leonardo, the last to place his hand down, beat him to it.

“To Team JOKER’s championship!”

“Win, win, fight—!”

“Aahhh, Boss!”

Ero’s outraged voice rang all the way down the corridor outside the waiting room.

<Some of Joker’s pistol rounds, which cannot be recognized by the identity band, have been partially confiscated for safety reasons. The organizers explain that because they are unregistered items unavailable on the market, unexpected dangers could arise. As a result, Joker has lost more than half the performance of his powerful weapon.>

<But he still has plenty of hidden cards left to entertain us with! Just look at that!>

“Aaaaah!”

Along the winding rails running through the gaps of Trigon Canyon, Ero hurtled downward in a mine cart at a seventy-seven-degree angle. The cart he rode in was piled high with yellow ore, and behind it three or four bluish glass bottles had been fastened on with an adhesive made by melting the mineral down.

From the mouths of the bottles, carbonated drink burst out explosively, soaking the rails wherever the cart passed.

“Beast, hyung, it’s too fast—!”

Ero’s terrified scream thundered through the deep, scorching gorge. The commentators watching, on the other hand, burst into admiration.

<He is using Brassforge’s famous tonic water as propulsion for the mine cart! What an incredible idea!>

<They say that mineral spring water blasting out like that can momentarily approach sixty kilometers per hour. He should reach his destination quickly, but changing direction will not be easy.>

From the rails where the lemon drink vaporized, steam hissed upward, leaving behind citric acid residue and red rust. Over that, two mine carts from the opposing team shot past in pursuit of Ero. Sensing danger, Ero sucked in a sharp breath and hurriedly fumbled through the magazine in his pocket.

<Now then, Joker. What kind of round will he show us this time?>

Picking one, he clicked his pistol into place and aimed the barrel at the opposing team from atop the speeding mine cart. Then, the moment he tightened his finger and pulled the trigger—

Bang—

“...Huh?”

From the muzzle, foam like soap bubbles burst forth, shimmering brilliantly in rainbow colors as it drifted through the air.