Can't

33

There are times I don’t understand Cynthia.
Whenever I try to ask about the ‘adult shop’ she avoids the topic. Since there isn’t anything here that looks like food Roel wasn’t too keen on looking around. The only exception was the jelly.

“Royal jelly, 200g each is a steal!”

“Expensive…Ryua-chan, let’s go that way.”

“W-what?”

Cynthia had been expecting Roel to buy some but she just turned away and pulled my hand.
It’s seems finances are more important than her appetite.
She’s been eating a lot here and ther though…will it be fine?

“Ah, that’s right! The Tougi Taikai!”

“Waaaaah! That’s right! C-can we still make it?!”

“20 minutes…”

“If we walk we won’t make it…okay!”

I carried Roel on my back.

“W-w-what!? Ryua-chan!”

Roel clung onto me as I jumped on the roof of a house.
Jumping from roof to roof I aimed for the castle.

“What’s that!? Part of the festival?”

“Ama~zing!”

“Hold me!”

The people below us seemed like they were cheering but I couldn’t care less.
‘Hold me’, I don’t know why someone would say that.
Roel tightly held onto me while staying quiet.

“Ryua-chan, this is embarrassing…”

“We’ll be there soon, just hold on.”

We reached the castle in about 5 minutes.
I landed in front of the two guards and they brandished their weapons in surprise.

“Y-you people are?”

“I’m a participant in the Tougi Taikai.”

“S-so that’s it. If you are participating go to the left entrance.”

The soldier gave me directions for being both a contestant and a spectator.
There seemed to be a fence dividing the two with long lines on both sides.

“Um, please don’t butt in line~! Please do- mugi!”

A short female soldier was swallowed up by the crowd as she tried to guide them.
With a small build like hers it would be pretty hard to fight back if you were pushed.

“Ah, are you a participant? The entrance is -gyu!”

She was taken by the crowd again as she tried to guide me.
You could only see her red hair popping out of the crowd here and there.
Some other soldiers dragged her out of the sea of people and chewed her out for a while.
The girl hung her head in shame.

“I wonder if she’s the same age as us? Regardless, what’s up with the soldiers here?”

“She was scolded pretty hard…it seemed serious.”

‘Do your best!’ I thought. I had separated from Roel and followed the route for participants. The waiting room had already filled up with the other contestants.

“This is just for the preliminaries, right?”

“Yo, just as I thought! You came!”

Metal-whatever was here. The weapon I broke yesterday had been repaired.
…Actually it just seems to be a new one.

“My stomach was acting up back then so don’t let it get to your head! Look, the B block contestants work out perfectly!”

“B block? What’s that?”