Time passed quickly.

  Order gradually returned to Haelinx. While rebuilding the city would take much time and effort, the Grand Arena had been fully restored.

  And the suspended Royal Martial Arts Festival Finals resumed right at this moment.

  The number of spectators hadn’t decreased because of the previous incident—on the contrary, there were even more people!

  Perhaps, as the Council had said, precisely because people had endured hardships, they needed an outlet to vent—and nothing was more fitting than this festival......

  Inside the Players' Waiting Room,

  George brought over a box filled with numbered balls.

  "May luck be on your side~!"

  "Whoever draws the last number gets a direct bye~! Who wants to go first?"

  The seven contestants looked at each other, no one making a move immediately.

  "You go first.""No, you go ahead......"

  They kept deferring to one another. Having fought side by side, the seven who had once been rivals had unknowingly grown friendly.

  It was easy to imagine that today’s finals would feature the highest-caliber contestants since the festival began.

  "If you can’t decide," George suggested, "let’s go in order of age—younger ones first!"

  "That works.""Let’s do that.""......"

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  So Hulim stepped forward first to draw a ball, followed by Violet, then...... Luigi?!

  Hulim was a little surprised. She hadn’t expected Luigi to be just in his early twenties—compared to most contestants who were at the upper age limit for participation, he was indeed young.

  As for the remaining four, they were all at the maximum age.

  After all, an extra year meant an extra year of experience, and a natural advantage in strength. In contrast, Hulim and the other two who had gone first were rare cases.

  Before long, all seven had drawn their balls.

  "Alright, you can open them now."

  At George’s signal, the seven tore open their balls, took out the slips of paper inside, and unfolded them.

  "Hmm, number 1—not bad, but no bye!""Haha, I didn’t get it either!""Me neither......"

  George looked at the group.

  "So who drew number seven?"

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "Uh, I did."

  Hulim raised her hand, holding an unfolded slip with a large "7" written on it.

  ......

  "Go! Go! Go!""Give it your all!""Fight!!!"

  Over 100,000 spectators in the Grand Arena’s stands cheered loudly, cheering on the contestants battling on stage.

  Meanwhile, in the White Cat Tribe’s VIP box, Hulim—who should have been on stage receiving cheers—was leisurely drinking tea and watching others perform.

  "Hulim, you’re so lucky to draw the bye right away!"

  Miko said with some envy—whether it was envy of Hulim advancing to the semifinals or just her luck, it was hard to tell.

  "It’s not all good......" Hulim replied. "While a direct bye to the semifinals seems great, if the person who gets the bye is eliminated right after, they’ll face criticism for whether they truly deserve to be there. In that case, it might be better not to get the bye and just lose in the quarterfinals."

  "Uh...... Is that really the case?"

  "It will be. Think about it—if that happened to you, wouldn’t you feel embarrassed?"

  "Hmm...... Yeah, I would! Being seen as just a lucky person would definitely feel terrible!"

  "Exactly. So it’s not really pure luck."

  "Right...... Wait???"

  Miko felt something was off but couldn’t put her finger on it.

  After a moment, it clicked.

  "Wait a minute! That’s not right...... Could Hulim really get eliminated in the semifinals? That’s impossible!"

  "......"

  Miko finally realized the flaw in Hulim’s words—the entire scenario relied on her losing!

  But how could that happen?!

  Miko looked up and down at the girl who was roughly the same height as her, even a few months younger.

  A sudden sense of frustration washed over her.

  What was this feeling of suddenly thinking she was useless......

  "? Miko, are you okay? Stomach ache?"

  "N-No, let’s just watch the match carefully......"

  "?"

  A question mark appeared over Hulim’s head, but she quickly forgot about it.

  ......

  A few hours later,

  the quarterfinals ended.

  Even though there were only three matches, they lasted surprisingly long.

  All thanks to Luigi Sloan.

  Because of him, the friendship that had just formed between the quarterfinalists had cracked.

  One had to wonder if the Council was regretting continuing the festival now.

  After all, the audience seemed even more upset than before.

  But......

  The fact that they were complaining so fiercely meant their emotions had successfully shifted, right?

  It was just a little awkward that the shift was from depression to anger......

  By the way, Luigi had once again lived up to expectations and successfully advanced to the semifinals.

  ......

  Afternoon arrived,

  and the semifinals began.

  Hulim’s luck in drawing lots held out again—she pulled the only non-Rank B combatant among the four remaining contestants.

  On the stage,

  "Hello, I look forward to your guidance!"

  Her opponent was an Elf wielding dual swords, with both Non-Attribute and Wind Attribute powers.

  "Hello."

  Both Hulim and the Elf were polite,

  exchanging friendly greetings with each other.

  Hulim’s match was the first one. Compared to the second match between Luigi and Violet, it was perhaps less anticipated.

  Because on paper, among the four remaining contestants, only Violet was a Rank B combatant— the other three were all at the top Rank C level.

  "Miss Hulim, thank you for your help earlier," the Elf said. "But this match is very important to me. Even against you, I won’t hold back easily."

  "That’s only natural," Hulim nodded. "In fact, please don’t have any extra thoughts—just use your full strength."

  "I see. It seems Miss Hulim shares the same mindset. I was being overthinking!"

  "......"

  That’s not actually what I meant......

  "Oh! What a rare sight today! Our two contestants are showing a harmonious and friendly atmosphere once again! Could this be the composure of strong warriors?! I wonder what our two commentators think about this?"

  "I don’t think it has anything to do with the composure of strong warriors," Lore retorted unceremoniously. "To be honest, after all these days of the festival, I feel like today is the first normal day!"

  "Uh...... Ha...... Haha, Miss Lore is as sharp-tongued as ever."

  "So, Rad, what do you have to say?"

  "Well, as an adventurer, I’m actually used to that kind of tension," Rad replied. "Rather than contestants getting along amicably, I hope they’ll put on an exciting battle."

  "Oh——! It seems Rad is already looking forward to the start of the semifinals! That’s right, I’m sure you all are too! So what are we waiting for——"

  "I declare the first semifinal match—BEGIN!!!"