My, oh my, once Ao’s match was over and we reopened the food stall, things turned absolutely chaotic.
“Oniichan, five yakisoba buns!”
“Next order—ten rice balls!”
“Got it!”
The moment Ao returned to the stall, a flood of customers came pouring in. From that point on, it was truly hectic.
Darn it, who’s the lunatic that ordered ten rice balls?
Ao and I were cooking at full throttle, barely keeping up. We were running low on bread, so we added rice balls to the menu—but the line of customers never stopped.
Of course, Shiro and Fran were handling the customer service, and even the attendants were working at full speed.
“Man, that was refreshing!”
“We’re looking forward to your next match!”
Customer after customer called out to Ao as they passed by. The match earlier had been a mess, but the fact that a slime won must’ve made quite an impression. Ao happily waved her tentacles in response to all the cheering.
Ao became famous in an instant.
Thinking about that, we kept cooking nonstop all the way until evening.
“The day’s program has now concluded. Matches will resume tomorrow at nine in the morning.”
“Woo… finally over…”
As evening fell, the first day of the preliminaries finally came to an end.
We also run out of ingredients, so the food stall closed right on schedule. I was exhausted, of course—but Ao and the attendants were completely worn out too.
“That was fun, though.”
“Yeah.”
For some reason, Shiro and Fran were still full of energy, but… let’s just chalk that up to youthful stamina.
Since our sales were terrifyingly huge, it was decided we’d return to the estate to count everything. That job was left to the head attendant.
The medical team stationed at the aid tent had also returned to the Margrave family’s seats, so after cleaning up the stall, we headed there as well.
“Good work today. The stall was a massive hit.”
“There were so many customers we completely sold out.”
“That’s incredible. We’ll have to increase tomorrow’s stock, then.”
“—Eh!?”
Fina-san’s brother… what are you even saying!?
Any more than this, and even Ao and I won’t be able to handle it!
“Uhm, Young master, may we increase the number of attendants? Even with everyone working, we’re still short-handed.”
“As long as it doesn’t interfere with the estate’s operations, hire as many as you need.”
“Thank you very much.”
Nice one head attendant!
Ao and I couldn’t help but clap for him.
“Well then, we also need to discuss that idiot’s situation, so let’s head back to the estate.”
“Today was so much fun!”
With the Madam and Fina-san also saying it was time to return, we all began making our way back to the estate.
“How are things going in the medical team?”
“Quite busy. We treated injuries from the matches. There were more because of drunken brawls.”
“Getting worked up like that isn’t good for anyone.”
To be honest, the afternoon had been so insanely busy that I hadn’t watched a single match. Judging by the cheers, though, things must have been lively. And naturally, that meant the medical team had their hands full as well.
Once we arrived back at the estate, the Margrave himself gathered with us in the reception room.
The topic, of course, was that heir.
“I’ve heard the whole story. To break the rules so blatantly and then end up self-destructing… honestly, it’s really pathetic.”
“The match ended in just three minutes, too. To be frank, it was terribly dull.”
Thus began the Margrave and his wife thoroughly—and mercilessly—tearing apart the heir’s performance.
Everyone else felt the same, so we all nodded along in complete agreement.
“Of course, that fool is currently locked up in the barracks’ holding cells. Turns out he’s committed other crimes as well.”
“That idiot threatened the referee, you know. Said that if he didn’t call the match in his favor, he’d ruin the referee’s family.”
“So that’s why the referee was pale and ran to speak with the Madam.”
“Exactly. And since his opponent was a slime, he figured the replacement referee wouldn’t have to do anything special—he’d win anyway.”
Was the heir really that much of a scumbag? What reason could he possibly have had to go that far just to win?
“It seems that he spent an absurd amount of money acquiring that magic sword and the enchanted armor. All of it just to get his hands on Fina, apparently. Typical foolish thinking from an old noble family.”
“For the old-fashioned nobles, marrying into the Margrave’s household adds prestige. And if their own house is already in decline, the effect is even greater.”
“But thanks to this incident, the count’s family has done nothing but anger the Mmargrave’s house. That idiot will be spending the entire tournament locked in a cell.”
The count’s family might honestly have been better off flattering the Margrave’s house instead. At this point, there is absolutely no chance that Fina-san will ever marry into the count’s household.
“Let’s leave that fool’s matter at that. Tomorrow, Ao has the first match, correct?”
“Yes. So we plan to open the food stall only after the match is over.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. It’ll be over quickly anyway.”
The Margrave sounded entirely confident.
Well, matches are originally capped at ten minutes, and Ao’s fight tend to end even faster than that. But that also means the stall will be open longer than usual… meaning we’re going to be really busy again.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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