108 108 – Little Spices
Two waiters brought a table to the stage. Then another waiter placed a giant glass jar containing several rolls of paper on the table.
“Okay, we do it from the order of participants who crossed the finish line in the last stage.” Igor unrolled the paper he had been holding. “First! Elise Fairchild! Please come forward!”
“Let me take care of her.” Yua takes over Mona. The dog yawned as it lay on the kunoichi’s lap.
Elise advanced with a slightly stiff movement and occasionally glanced at the audience. She felt the people watching her almost fully exposed ass. Yes, even now, she still wasn’t entirely used to her clothes.
The female warrior was getting more nervous when she got on stage. She almost dropped the roll of paper she had just taken from the jar.
“Elise Fairchild, number two!” Igor then wrote Elise’s name on the tournament chart on the blackboard. “Next up, Olga! Hmmm…. You really don’t have the last name, lady?”
“Yeah, my name is just Olga.” The waffle seller came forward and got number 8.
“Renee Emilian!”.
People were whispering as Renee stepped forward. Some wondered why Renee was summoned now. Others were talking about the woman’s last name.
“Apparently, the Emilien family is also very famous in other countries,” Raymund stated.
However, Renee didn’t care and took the draw.
“Well, this might be a bit of a controversy since you thought Renee Emilian finished after the next contestant I was going to call,” Igor explained. “However, Renee’s feet actually crossed the finish line first. Yua Nakagami’s body was leaning forward at that time, so it seemed like she finished first.”
“Well, that’s fine, right? In the end, the order of the tournament is decided by lottery.” Yua made a comment. “Back then, I just wanted to save some energy, so I ran behind you three and Mona. We don’t know if the Kozlovs still have any surprises after that.”
Renee unrolled the paper she took out. She gets number 5.
“We’ll meet in the final, Elise!” Renee spoke in a cheerful tone as she returned to the table. “Don’t you dare to lose, okay!”
Elise just smiled as she rubbed Mona, who had returned to her lap.
“And here’s the contestant that probably caught our attention the most!” Igor sounded enthusiastic. “She came all the way from the east! She is a female ninja or also known as a kunoichi! The one and only, Yua Nakagami!!!”
People clapped as Yua walked onto the stage. The kunoichi didn’t hesitate to wave to them.
“I don’t know.” Renee sneered a little. “She is popular because of her exotic eastern face, because she’s a ninja, or because of her super skimpy outfit.”
Yua wasn’t too far from the table, so she could hear Renee’s words, but the kunoichi chose to remain silent.
“Hey, Mr. Igor,” Yua whispered as she got on stage. “Can I choose who my opponent is? I promise to make this spicier for your audience.”
Igor Kozlov frowned at first, but in just a second, he was grinning, then whispered back. “Just take your number, but don’t show it to the audience. Say the number you want instead.”
Yua picked up one of the paper rolls. She got number three but exclaimed. “Six!”
“So, you’re going to fight Renee Emilien, huh?” Igor wrote Yua’s name on the blackboard.
“Yeah, I won’t lose to an ungrateful person like her.” Yua raised her voice, staring at the blonde-haired woman.
Renee frowned. “Care to elaborate, Miss Yua Nakagami?”
Yua got off the stage and approached Renee. “I used to have a dream, and as time went on, I hated that dream. However, I never backed down, and now I have achieved success.”
“I still can’t understand.” Renee stood up.
“I want to ask you, Renee Emilien. Have you never dreamed of becoming a great martial artist? You must have been surrounded by people like them since childhood, right?” Yua stopped a few feet from Renee. “Don’t you admire them and want to be like them?”
“Leave them alone, Elise.” Raymund stopped the female warrior who was about to intervene. “This is getting more interesting.”
“Yeah, maybe I really wanted to be a martial arts expert in the past.” Renee sighed. “However, my dream changed. I wanted to become a wizard and failed miserably. Now I’m a completely different person from my dream. So?”
“You have all the perks, privileges, and opportunities to achieve greatness.” Yua’s tone became even more cynical. “However, you chose to leave those who hoped that you become the leader. You also leave those who had devoted their time to training you. Haven’t you thought about how hurt they were when you disappeared?”
The veins on Renee’s face tightened. Her eyes fixed at Yua’s face, which had a more relaxed expression.
“You are good at talking, besides being good at cheating.” Renee started to give a verbal attack.
Yua shrugged. “How can you prove that I cheated!? Everyone saw me when I passed through those stages. I didn’t have a chance to do something like that.”
Unable to take it anymore, Elise got up. However, Olga did it more quickly. The red-haired woman was suddenly standing between Yua and Renee.
“You two better settle your problems in the tournament the day after tomorrow.” Olga put her palms against the chests of the two women. “There’s no point in fighting now.”
Yua sat back in her chair, still smiling. Renee did the same, but with a tense face, arms crossed over her chest, and eyes closed.
Elise felt even more nervous because of the atmosphere. However, the audience was even more enthusiastic. They could feel the feud growing.
“I don’t know if you did that because you were annoyed with Renee, to bring her mental down, or maybe you just wanted to make the show more interesting.” Raymund chuckled. “Anyway, like it. At least there’s a little drama to keep this tournament from being boring.”
Yua widened her smile.
“Alright, let’s continue the draw.” Igor made another announcement. “Leonov Dmitrievich, please come forward.”
The bald man stood up and walked to the stage, puffing out his chest.