As one would expect, fighting inside the building wouldn’t be too good, so we went out into the courtyard .  

I climbed up the three steps that lead up to the courtyard, and was surprised to see Victor .

The part of him that had been hidden behind the throne just now could be seen .

「Centaur…?」

That appearance of his was that of a half-human, half-beast .  

I could see his hoof during the audience, but not the body of a horse behind him .

After coming to the beastmen territory, I had seen various beastmen, but this was the first time I’ve seen someone which such strong beast blood .  

Generally, they had a human body with animal characteristics, so it was usual to see that his lower body was entirely that of a horse .

I heard about it from somewhere, but when there was a duel (?), there would be a large gathering of people .

TN: that question mark was in the raws, so I just left it in . Not sure if the author accidentally left it in and forgot to get rid of it or something . Anyways, you can just ignore it .

There were so many people that I wanted to ask where they had come from just now .  

Only this corner of the otherwise quiet grounds was noisy .

Almost all of them were soldiers, but there were also people who seemed to be government officials among them . I became somewhat worried if it was alright for them to do this .  

Or perhaps I should say, it was the same as when we were in the elven territory, they were excited about the duel .

No, rather, it’s different when it’s the hot-blooded beastmen, but was it unusual that I had a duel in the territory of the mild-mannered elves .

When King Igsam, Ria, and Amelia came out onto the balcony of the second floor, the soldiers stopped talking as well, as one would expect .

As expected of the soldiers of the largest beastmen country, huh .

They were different from the soldiers of Retice castle .

It was unusual that they didn’t cause a disturbance even when they saw Amelia’s face .

「Now then, I gathered you all here, for the match between the summoned hero Akira Oda, and the strongest person within the castle, Victor . 」

Surprisingly, the strongest person here was Victor .

From his outward appearance, he gave off the impression of writing reports behind a desk, so those words were unexpected .  

There were men among the soldiers who were bigger and more muscular than Victor, but Victor was stronger than them, huh .

As expected, the person did not match his appearance .  

The words ‘summoned hero’  lingered on the lips of the soldiers .  

Maa, aside from the hero’s party and me, it seems that my cla.s.smates were still confined in Retice castle, so it’s understandable that they’re surprised .

It was a situation where they don’t even know if we were alive or if we were dead .

All the rumors said that the hero summoning was a failure .  

「This is not a private match, but a genuine duel held in the name of the King of the beastmen territory’s Uruk, Igsam Lagoon . I would like both parties to face each other using your full strength . 」

Victor shouldered his own weapon, a battleaxe, and I stood at the ready, holding the two daggers that made up “Yatonokami”, one in each hand, in a backhand grip .

「Well then, begin!」

The moment King Igsam’s words fell from the second floor, Victor’s hooves clicked, shortening the distance in an instant and then he swung his battleaxe down .  

「Ooh, how dangerous . 」

Maa, I dodged it with room to spare though .

The bystanders raised their voices .

「Ooh! He dodged it even though it was so fast!!」

「I don’t know if I could dodge it completely… . 」

After that, we continued to maintain the distance between us .  

We maintained our distance, going around in a circle, and walked along the edge of the grounds .  

「…I thought that a.s.sa.s.sins were foolish enough to attack directly, but it seems that’s not the case . 」

Victor muttered this .

I was surprised because he suddenly started speaking .

Without answering, I waited for his next move .

「However…what about this!!」

His speed was faster than before and I had dodged the battle axe that had came swinging down by quite a bit, but he closed in, as if he knew that I was going to do that .  

「Woah . 」

I jumped to avoid that battle axe that threatened to cut me in half, and landed on the weapon that had been swung down .  

「What!?」

「Hoh!!」

I swiped my daggers towards his neck, but Victor threw the battle axe up and evaded it .

I spun in the air and landed somewhere a bit further away .

And then, without even stopping to take a breath, I kicked off the ground and slashed at Victor .

「Ooh!! His movements are comparable to that of an acrobat’s!」

「What agileness!!」

「I couldn’t see anything . 」

As the cheers rose from the crowd, the two daggers and the battleaxe clashed .

Even though it was obvious that I was physically weaker, yet from our exchange, I was the one with the upper hand .

The battleaxe that was blown away by the daggers soared high in the sky, and sunk into the ground .

「To, to that extent!!」

I withdrew my daggers from Victor who fell on his back when he heard King Igsam’s voice .

When I looked up at the second floor balcony, my eyes met Amelia’s .

When I looked closely, she was mouthing something .

You ・were ・too ・caught ・up ・in ・playing?

I was too caught up in playing, huh?

Certainly, I heard that he was the strongest in the beastmen’s largest country, and thought that it wouldn’t be interesting if it was over in an instant, but for me to have been seen through, as expected of her .

「Oi, can you stand?」

I held out my hand to Victor who fell on his back and didn’t get back up no matter how long time had pa.s.sed .

Was he that shocked that he was done in by a human, as he was muttering something the entire time .

「Don’t touch me!」

My hand was slapped away .

「A human like you, don’t touch me! Why did you! Someone like you!!」

I was glared at by his bloodshot eyes .

My head tilted in confusion when I saw him like that .  

Unlike the time before the duel had started, his composure had disappeared, .

Did I do something that hurt his feelings?

With the help of the surrounding soldiers, Victor, who was screaming for some reason, was brought back into the castle .  

Even more soldiers gathered around me .  

And then, one of the soldiers apologized in Victor’s stead .

「Sorry about that . Victor-san, is a good person, but a long time ago, he was involved with humans and it seems that something happened, and so when he’s about to be touched by a human, he always becomes like that . As long as you don’t touch him, he would be calm, so please do get along with him again . 」

「Aah, I got it . 」

It was unexpected, but it seems that he’s someone that they admire .

Maa, if something had happened to him, then there’s no helping it .

It clearly felt like he held a grudge towards me, but I didn’t give much thought to it .