Chapter 279: At Last the Tournament Has Begun. I Participate in the Entrance Parade

Now then. It’s the first day of the tournament.

I, Iria, Mazorov, Duran, and Steisan headed west of the arena.

I equipped the golden armor from the start.

Mazorov was wearing the rusted armor. Bikini armor had been a joke, so she only repaired the visor and hid her face.

Iria, Duran, and Steisan were in the armor appearance I saw yesterday.

Everyone equipped shields with the capybara crest.

Everyone who wasn’t participating had said they would come to watch, so they should arrive somewhere in the venue before long.

However, we couldn’t leave only the horse girls under treatment near the bus carriage, so Rafilia-san and Letree-san were on stay-behind duty. Naturally Capybara-sama also stayed behind.

I was uneasy whether the Lian sisters alone could lead the free sightseeing group, but Rui had said with full confidence "Leave everything to me, the saintess! I’ll make it nice!", so well, it’ll work out somehow.

West of the arena a line had formed like the launch day of a new smartphone.

First was the entrance parade. Apparently the members of influential knight orders were at the front, and only they had an established order. After that people lined up in two rows however they liked.

The line was extremely long. There were 500 mounted people, and if you take an interval of five meters per person including the horse’s body, two rows would become 1.25 kilometers.

When we lined up in the column, whispers could be heard from behind in small voices.

Are they talking badly about Iria again.

"Hey, what’s that, horse? Is that a horse?"

"I don’t know. It’s like a horse, or not."

"The knight riding it has a stance without openings. Since a knight of that caliber is riding it, it must be a famous horse, but... a horse?"

"Hmm. I who have traveled various lands and seen various animals swear by the war god Lyute, I have never seen such a peculiar appearance."

Apparently they were gossiping because Kaka-Pipi’s appearance is strange.

I understand. They’re like existence made by image-processing a photo of a capybara stuffed animal into a horse’s body shape, so they’re extremely kimo... no, kimo-kawaii...

Oh.

A trumpet?

Pappara pappara could be heard from the direction of the arena.

Just as I thought I heard one phrase of a melody by a single trumpet, the sounds of string instruments and drums burst in countless numbers.

Church bells from the city could also be heard. Because it wasn’t the timing of the morning bell or noon bell, they were probably ringing them to match the start of the tournament. Multiple bells were ringing in sequence, becoming a melody.

Apparently the entrance had begun, and the spectators’ cheers and the sound of clapping hands could be heard.

The front of the line seemed to have started moving.

Truly the country’s largest event. Tens of thousands of people must have gathered at the arena. The foot-stamping became a ground-rumbling swell mixed with cheers, shaking the surrounding atmosphere.

Perhaps frightened by the intensity of the commotion, even in the waiting line several mounts lost their composure, shivering or leaking cries.

I released the crotch portion of the golden armor and pressed my cock against Iferaski’s nape.

"It’s not scary. Calm down."

"Pii..."

After about five more minutes, the line finally began moving slowly.

After about five more minutes, even though there was still a line in front of the entrance gate, dragons came out from the entrance gate. The gate was built huge so that large mounts could pass, but even so the dragons seemed at their limit, to the point that entering people temporarily stepped back to give way.

Coming out of the entrance gate while zushin zushin shaking the ground underfoot was yesterday’s A-rank knight rank 1 "the strongest" Dragnov and his riding dragon. Four riding dragons followed behind.

Apparently they had gone once around the arena, finished showing themselves, and come out.

The lead Dragnov’s Battle Power of 30,000 stood out, and the following order members also had high values of 10,000, 8,300, 8,200, and 7,900.

In the waiting line, several horses frightened by the dragons ran wild and went off somewhere.

The knights coming out of the line all had scarves or sleeves or feather ornaments attached to their helmets or spear tips and were glittering.

I should also attach the scarf. Incidentally everyone tried to offer me bloomers, but I politely declined. I don’t want them dirtied in combat even by chance, and after all I’m behaving as a knight so I can’t wrap bloomers around my whole body.

I took the scarf out from the slit at my wrist and wrapped it around my neck.

Then Iria next to me opened her eyes wide and turned her face toward me.

"H-Hey, Masaharu."

"Hm?"

"What are you wearing."

"What, the scarf I received from the girl I saved yesterday."

"Purple field with white rose. The woman you saved was royalty?!"

"Ah, yeah. She said Charlotte."

"Princess Charlotte du Roi?! Isn’t that a princess of the direct royal line?!"

Iria was surprised. Somehow the people in front of the line also made a stir while turning around and looking at me.

"Good grief, if I take my eyes off you for a moment you immediately get to know women. This morning you suddenly brought back four more too. Lend it. I’ll wrap it. Make the white rose visible."

Iria approached, untied the scarf from my neck, and began rewrapping it. Like newlyweds.

"Purple field is only permitted to the Arasgard royal family. Even if you came from a foreign country, know at least that much. The white rose is the direct line. Princess Charlotte is the king’s younger brother’s daughter."

"Ah. I didn’t say it, but last night I also got to know Ana’s little sister."

"With Elsa? When. How in the world!"

"Is it something to be that surprised about?"

"Neither Princess Charlotte nor Ana are people of a status you can get to know even if you want to. Unless you raise considerable military achievements and get invited to a royal-family-hosted banquet or something, you can’t even meet them."

"I see. Then I only have this gift from a noble lady, is that embarrassing?"

"I swear by my sword. More than enough. Be proud."

"Understood. Yay, yay, amazing?"

"I said be proud. I didn’t say be arrogant. Look, the line is advancing."

"Ou."

One after another mounted people came out from the left side of the entrance gate. We slowly advanced on the right of that and entered.

When we passed through the dark entrance gate and entered the arena, the cheers suddenly became louder. Or rather, outside the sound had been heard smaller. Because we returned from the dark entrance gate to a bright place again our eyes were dazzled, and I even had the illusion of having come to another world.

The spectators’ heat seemed to be filling the air, and I felt the temperature rose one or two degrees.

We advanced following the people in front.

The mortar-shaped arena was packed. In industry terms, super packed sold-out thank you.

A full house at a combat sports or sports event refers to about 80% of the seats being filled. A state where you can’t buy entrance tickets (in the old days they were slips), that is, a state where all seats are filled, is called sold-out.

In the north center there was a huge tent, chairs were placed in a spacious space, and a small number of people were watching. The royal family’s special seats, I suppose. There were also tents around that, clearly becoming a viewing space one or two ranks above commoners.

That’s fine. Yeah. Because they’re royalty and nobles it’s natural there are special seats at the arena.

But...

Somehow on the opposite side, the south spectator seats also had a spacious empty space, and very familiar figures were visible. The distance was quite open, but other than individual differences among the rodent girls I could generally tell.

"Iria..."

"Ah... I see them..."

I turned around and asked Mazorov, Duran, and Steisan with my gaze, but everyone nodded vertically. Apparently they were seeing the same thing.

’Lucia...’

’I came to cheer.’

’I see.’

Even though they secured a more spacious viewing space than the royal family no one is complaining, well, because some kind of power is working I’ll accept it as fine...

’What happened to the people who were originally scheduled to sit in those seats? They were looking forward to the event, did you kick them out?’

’They’re here. We are not here.’

’Eh? What do you mean?’

’To Masaharu it only looks like we are here, but this is a place that is nowhere on this planet. A space I created.’

’Ah. So that’s it. Only in our eyes is everyone reflected.’

We walked the outer circumference of the arena and came in front of everyone so we waved.

Rafilia-san and Letree-san and the fairies who had been on stay-behind duty were also there.

The horse girls whose legs had been injured were also there. Because their expressions were bright, their legs don’t seem to have become serious. They’ll recover properly. Thank goodness...

The space seemed to have become warm, and there were people fanning inner wheels that seemed to be made of bird feathers.

The other seats in the arena were just long benches made by combining three wooden boards, but what everyone was sitting on seemed to be chairs with adjustable-angle backrests.

Everyone was elegantly watching while drinking something like cracked coconut juice...

There was even something like a telescope, but can that be made at this world’s technological level?

Hm, hmm?

There’s even a meat roaster. Like a kebab stall, Lian-ane is spinning it around.

Isn’t it a more comfortable space than the royal family?

On the topmost row Capybara-sama was lying down eating fruit like a sweeka. From the angle I can’t see but it’s probably a bed of fallen leaves or dry grass.

There are too many things I want to say and I’m at a loss for words. For now, because there were several children who didn’t understand it was us, I released the helmet of the golden armor to show my face and waved to everyone.

When I came close I understood, but there was a chapuchapu water sound.

There’s no way a large number of people are leaking pee.

’What sound?’

’The ground underfoot has become water. Capybara juice is flowing from above.’

’Haa. So that’s how it is. Anyway you mustn’t use the name capybara juice.’

Well, certainly events require sitting still in your seat for two hours or more so it’s tough. But with this even the capybara girls can watch.

"Hm? What are you looking at... Geh..."

Several gazes passed over me toward a high position. There were also children comparing that and me. Wondering what it was, there was a huge monitor in front of everyone—that is, above the royal family’s tent—and our bust shots were shown in close-up.

It’s become like a combat-sports broadcast monitor... The general public probably can’t see that.

A TV monitor can’t be realized at this world’s technological level, but magic or skills that project images on water or mirrors seem possible, so that large monitor is probably also permitted.

I can’t imagine the idea of watching a tournament with this much luxury coming from people of this era. It’s probably Rui’s idea. Making wasteful effective use of modern knowledge.

When I left Rui had said "Leave it to me!"—that didn’t mean stay-behind duty, but that she would do as she liked using modern knowledge and a god’s power...

Rui, that girl is holding a fan with Masaharu written on it...!

I thought of warning her not to use a god’s power too much, but well, she’s not causing trouble for third parties so I’ll forgive her.

While this and that was happening the line advanced.