On the morning of the first day of preliminaries, we planned to set out for the venue a little earlier than usual.
The Margrave’s wife, Fina-san, and Fina-san’s older brother will head to the venue after us. They will apparently change into attire appropriate to the Margrave’s family before leaving. And so, we decided to pay our respects to the Madam before we went out.
She’s with Fina-san’s sister-in-law and little Arthur. Being her first grandchild, I’m sure Arthur is simply irresistible to her. Since there is a chance Arthur might be napping, we made sure to knock properly before entering the room.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
It was Fina-san’s sister-in-laws’s voice.
It should be fine. With that, we opened the door and stepped inside.
Click.
“Yes, yes… Arthur is just too cute. Bleh~bleh~ah!”
““““…….””””
Click.
…Wow. That was quite a sight.
The Madam, usually so composed and dignified, was making an absolutely ridiculous face while doing that silly “bleh~bleh~ah” thing to little Arthur. Even Shiro and the others, who had followed me into the room, froze when they saw her like that.
Clearly, this was not the time to interrupt. I quietly closed the door, left a message with the steward, and slipped out of the mansion.
“Even the Madam can turn into a doting grandparent huh.”
“Shun, you really shouldn’t say that. It was certainly an adorable sight, though.”
Sue commented.
As we walked toward the martial arts tournament’s main square, I couldn’t help but think—I never expected the Madam to be so completely smitten with her grandchild. At that rate, she might end up spoiling Arthur with all sorts of gifts.
Well… hopefully the Madam herself will step in to keep things under control.
“Hmm… like this.”
“No, it was like this.”
“See? Like this.”
And then there were Shiro and the others.
Even Ao joined in, mimicking the ridiculous face the Madam had made while doing her “bleh-bleh-ah” moment.
Sue was struggling to hold back her laughter.
Amid all this, we finally arrived at the martial arts tournament’s main square.
“Wow… there are so many people!”
“It’s similar to the cherry blossom festival.”
“They’re selling all sorts of things.”
“Come on, let’s hold hands so nobody gets lost.”
“““Okay!”””
Yesterday, the streets had been relatively empty, but even though it was still early in the morning, a large number of people—including tourists—had already poured into the town. Only about half of the food stalls were open, yet they were already bustling with customers.
Amid the crowd, we made our way toward the entry booth.
“““Good morning!”””
“Good morning. We’ll be registering Ao here.”
“““Thank you!”””
The registration had already started early and Shiro and the others went ahead and completed their check-in.
Behind the counter were adventurers, soldiers, and ordinary townsfolk. Among them, a few appeared to be nobility, their suspicious aura made even Shiro and the others frown slightly. It seemed best to keep an eye on them for the time being.
“All set. The matches will begin at twelve o’clock, so please make sure to be at the venue ten minutes before your match.”
“““Got it!”””
And just like that, registration was complete.
We split up, some heading toward the medical tents, while others went to help at the food stalls.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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