I wake up and see that the Sun was shining brightly. Shuna had still not come to wake me up, so I am not late. I looked out of the window of my room. It looks like the shops are just about setting up. Tomorrow will be the last day of the festival. Today in the morning, the semi-finals will take place. The evening is free for everyone. I guess I will go and enjoy with the kids. Haven't talked to them for quite a while. I quickly wore the clothes Shuna had made me and went out of the room. I then went to the arena. I sat down and waited for the matches to begin. It seems that people are quite hyped up for the matches. Souka did an amazing job hyping the crowd.
"Testarossa, after the matches end, invite Masayuki to have a dinner with me. Also invite his party in a seperate area."
"Understood."
Testarossa was the only one with me as Shion was busy practicing for her music concert in the evening. When I first saw her on the stage, I had flashbacks of her cooking but she was surprisingly good at music.
"First semi final match between Gobta and Lion Mask is about to begin." Diablo announced.
"Ready, Go."
As soon as Diablo announced the start, Gobta summoned Ranga. He then used his skill 《Unify》and merged with Ranga to form a werewolf sort of creature. Carrion immediately tried to punch at Gobta but Gobta managed to block it with his hand. He was pushed back quite a fair bit but not enough to be pushed out of the arena. He then used Rangas quick speed to attack but failed. The crowd started to boo at him. I guess that is understandable. Gobta is experimenting on the battlefield. He has enough strength and speed to defeat Carrion but his senses are unable to keep up with his speed. This is idiotic now. Just what did Benimaru see in him to make him a captain. He better have a great leading skill or I will have to talk to Benimaru about his.
Carrion continued to attack Gobta but it appears that Carrion was unable to break through Ranga's fur without using his aura. Ranga's fur is magically enhanced to prevent physical attacks to hurt him. Of course, it was still possible to defeat him with brute force. But if Carrion did so, his identity is more or less revealed. I was thinking about punishing Gobta and having him go on a strict training regime but decided against it. Why? Because Milim took an interest in him.
"Ne,ne Rimuru. That is interesting. What is that? My eyes are telling me that it has a lot of potential to grow. Why don't you let me train him? I will make him a great warrior."
"Are you sure you just don't want a new toy."
"Ummm...... that..... I just wanted to, you know, help him ... get stronger. Yes. Get him stronger."
"*sigh* Fine. Do whatever you want to him after this tournament."
"Yay. Rimuru, you are the best." She says as she hugs me. Meanwhile I just pat her and look at the fight.
It seems like Gobta is trying to end the fight. The black figure suddenly dashes at Carrion. Carrion seeing this adjusts his posture and then uses Gobta's momentum against him and pushes him off the arena. He gets pulled along as well but Gobta was pushed off first so it should be Lion mask who won. That is what everyone thought.
"The winner is Gobta." Diablo declared. Everyone quoted down. Gobta was still there, standing in the arena. The person or the beast which had dashes at Carrion was Ranga. Gobta had stopped his unification with Ranga. Even though Ranga was pushed off stage, since he was a summoned beast, it did not count. So, according to the rules, it was Gobta who won. The crowd went silent, with murmurs of 'cheater' and 'cheap' being heard. Regardless, I have to say that Gobta used his brain. On a battlefield, these split second decisions are important. I guess I can leave his training to Milim. I was also thinking of fighting Milim and Veldora after the festival. It would be great if I can devour their aura to try and hatch my true dragon seed. The next match is of Masayuki. I can't wait to see his skills. I hope I am not disappointed.
I am disappointed. As soon as the match started, it ended. What is this? Where is the heroism in this. Does he even know how to use a sword? What happened was simple.
As soon as Diablo said go, Bovix charged with his axe. He used a horizontal swing to try and slash Masayuki. Masayuki was just able to block with his sword. And that block wasn't because of his skills or anything, just pure luck. He was lucky that his sword took the hit. He was then blasted off the arena and in a nearby wall. The people on duty quickly healed him and took him away for a proper treatment. The entire arena was in silence. Not only the audience, but even Bovix and DIABLO! You know the shit is real when Diablo forgets what he has to do. Though he quickly recovers.
"The winner is Bovix."
I quickly tell Souka to do some advertisement regarding the labyrinth. I had thought that Masayuki would atleast make it to the final and fight against Lion Mask. If he had been a finalist, many humans would have come and it would have been the perfect time to advertise the labyrinth. But now that he lost, very few people will come. So for tomorrow's labyrinth exploration I decided to do something. I told Diablo to bring all the four who fought today on to the stage. As soon as Souka had finished, they entered. It seems like Masayuki was fine but God knows what is going on inside his head.
"You four did very well. Bovix, as the guardian of the 50th floor of the labyrinth, I have great expectations from you. As for Lion Mask and Masayuki, it appears you were caught off guard today. It would do you good not to underestimate your opponents next time. I hope you both learn from you mistakes. As such, I would like to offer both of you, Lion Mask and Masayuki to challenge the labyrinth tomorrow at its opening." I said. I know Carrion will decline but to prevent Masayuki from declining, I put up a thought communication with him.
'Masayuki,you better accept. I will help you if you do. Don't think you can run away.'
'H-Hai.'
"I will have to decline. I came here to find a worthy rival and I believe I have found him." Lion Mask said.
"Very well then, I will not force you. What about you Masayuki?"
"I will accept your offer. It doesn't sit well with me that I lost, so I will join."
The crowd started cheering him on and made up God knows what excuse for his defeat. Even though he lost, how come his reputation is even better than before. What the hell? Whatever. I just want to spend time with the kids. After everything was done, I left the arena and walked towards the children. I knew where they were due to the tracking device in that pendant. While I was on the way, I met quite an interesting pair. Anyone would believe a grandpa was out and enjoying this festival with his granddaughter. But I felt something odd from them. So I decided to send one of my clones each to spy on them. I didn't want to grab their attention, so I continued on my way. I am pretty much sure that those 2 are Granbell and Mariabell. There facial features match completely that of what Yuuki said. He was explaining how he looked to Damrada. So it appears that Damrada has made connections with him as well. I continued and found the kids with Shizue and Hinata buying pendants. Looks like the boys were bored but didn't say anything. Chloe suddenly saw me and came running towards me.
"Rimuru-sensei." She said and hugged my feet. Seeing her run away, Hinata and Shizue also saw me followed by the other kids.
"How are you guys? I hope you are enjoying."
"Yes, Rimuru-san. It is quite fun here."
"I see. I am glad."
Hinata was in casual clothes. She had the perfect body that could make any man fall for her. If only her personality was better. I then decided to let Shizue and Hinata spend some time alone. This will also give Shizue time to tell Hinata the truth. Meanwhile I took the kids with me and decided to let them play. They had not even spent a fourth of their allowance. I did gave them quite a big allowance huh? Oh well. I guess I should let them enjoy. We then continued to look through the shops, eat something and play before I had to go back for my dinner with Masayuki. I left the children with Hinata and Shizue and left. While going, I heard Hinata say something that I never thought I would.
"Thank you for reviving Shizue-sensei." She said. I doubted my ears until Raphael confirmed that she did say that. She said thank you. How is that possible. I just replied,"You're welcome." We talked in hushed tone to make sure that the kids didn't hear it. I then went to the dinner with Masayuki.
---------------------
I hope you like it. Like and follow me. Also, the story will slow down after the Tempest festival. It seems a bit rushed and I know it. The fact is that there are many fanfics till this point which all have the same thing, so I decided to rush it a bit. It will slow down after the festival and include other people POV as well.