As I continued with the preparations, a small wave of cheers rose from the direction of the stage.
When I looked more closely, I saw that the members of the Margrave’s household had arrived, prompting voices of excitement from the crowd around them.
In that case… the opening ceremony must be about to begin.
“Shiro, Fran. You can head to the opening ceremony first.”
“Got it. I’ll let Horn know too.”
“Ao, let’s go!”
I couldn’t very well let them be late, so I sent Shiro, Fran, and Ao ahead toward the stage. I cast a quick glance at the medical team’s tent and saw that it was already crowded with visitors. At a glance, it didn’t look like anyone was there to flirt or cause trouble, which put my mind at ease.
“Shun-sama, the preliminary preparations are mostly complete.”
“Hmm. In that case… shall we start selling, even though the girls who attract customers and the main cook aren’t here yet?”
“Understood.”
There were plenty of attendants on hand today, and since Shiro and Fran were mainly there to call out and draw attention, I left customer service to the attendants. With Sylvia-san here as well, we decided to hold off on the slime grill until Ao returned, and opened the food stall.
Sizzle, sizzle.
“Hey, kid, you’ve opened up already? That slime of yours is over on the stage.”
“Yes. The opening ceremony is about to begin, but the matches themselves won’t start just yet.”
“I see, I see. Then I’ll take one meat sandwich.”
“Thank you very much.”
A line had already formed in front of the stall, and some customers had even noticed that Ao was already on the stage.
It was hectic right from the moment we opened, but once the opening ceremony started, things should calm down a little. Believing that, I focused on cooking and kept the food coming.
“Three rice balls here!”
“Four meat sandwiches for me!”
“Coming right up!”
…Sigh. This was a complete miscalculation.
The closer the opening ceremony drew, the more customers flooded in, and the stall became overwhelmingly busy. Judging by the bustle at the surrounding stalls, it wasn’t just us—everyone was swamped.
Sylvia-san and the attendants moved about frantically, each of them working at full speed.
And then, at last, the opening ceremony began.
“Silence please. His Excellency, Margrave-sama, will now give the introduction.”
“Ahem. The preliminary rounds were fiercely contested, and now, at long last, the main tournament begins. This year, many promising competitors have gathered, and I’m sure you have all been eagerly awaiting this moment. And so, I hereby declare the main tournament of the Martial Arts Competition open.”
““““Woooh!””””
A tremendous roar of cheers echoed through the area.
Just hearing those voices made it clear how long the audience had been waiting for the main event to begin.
“Now then, we will proceed with the draw to determine the match ups. The drawing will be conducted in the order in which competitors advanced through the preliminaries. First, contestant Ao-senshu, please step forward.”
“She’s so cute!”
“She’s waving over here!”
“Do your best!”
As the very first competitor to clear the preliminaries, Ao headed toward the lottery box, wiggling her tentacles as she basked in the cheers around her. Ao had become especially popular with children and women alike. Even the customers at our food stall were calling out encouragement to her.
With a light hop, Ao jumped onto the table, rattled the tube-like lottery container and pulled out a stick.
“The result is decided. Ao-senshu has drawn number one. She will be competing in the first match.”
“Waaa!”
…Hey, for real?
The first match means she’ll be fighting almost immediately after the draw is finished, doesn’t it?
“Four fruit sandwiches, please.”
“I’ll take five meat sandwiches.”
“Yes, please wait just a moment.”
Even after the opening ceremony began, the rush at the food stall showed no sign of slowing down. At this rate, there was no way I’d be able to go watch Ao’s match.
“Shadow-senshu has drawn number seven.”
Oh—so if that creepy mage ends up facing Ao, it’ll be in the semifinals at best.
Either way, that would be on the third day of the tournament.
“Ten rice balls, please!”
“Eight meat sandwiches!”
“Coming right up.”
Yeah… it looks like I’ll have to fight my way through this battle with the food stall first.
Now then—what should I do about the stall?
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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