'Forest, Ocean, Desert, Grassland, Glacier.'

Those were the environments present in the arena. At the front of the arena, right below where I was sitting, was a mini forest full of the same giant trees in the Cargen Forest. All the way at the opposite direction was dark orange—no, it was red sand, representing the desert. The left side of the arena was a pleasant grassland filled with beautiful greenery while the right side was a mass of ice; an island of ice you could say. At the very center of the arena was a lake. Although it was a part of the arena I could tell that the waters were anything but shallow.

All of a sudden, came a loud buzz like that of a microphone. Turning my head around in search of the sound, I noticed the arrival of the princess/karen. I guess she was here to watch too.

My eyes circled around the seats, curious as to who the other people here were. Obviously, I didn't know any of them but they all wore formal wear as if showing their status as VIPs. The women were in glamorous dresses while all the men besides myself had black suits, kind of like butlers. The men's hair were all gelled and pulled back in a slick fashion. It looks like Aldous and I were the only exceptions since his hair was naturally curly while mine... It looked pretty similar to Sam's hair except my bangs were much shorter for fighting convenience. Basically, it was an anime hairstyle. Cringe wasn't it? It's not my fault though since it naturally grew like this. All I really ever did was trim it a bit with my sword since I never had the time to find an actual barber or a hairdresser.

"Don't stare." Aldous said, looking at me from the corners of his eyes.

"BZzzzz," there came that buzz again.

"Welcome everyone to the Martial Championship!" With that single line, a bunch of cheering and clapping came from the audience below us. The "VIPs" did not seem to care though.

"Just like all the previous Martial Championships, this year will also be featured in a Battle Royale, meaning a fight to the last man standing. Since the last Martial Championship had been hosted, there have been many new changes. Instead of only a mini jungle, desert, and grassland, we got the help of the Wizard's Tower to magically form a mini ocean as well as the iceland. Thanks to the Wizard's Tower's help, the barrier surrounding the arena has been improved yet again and they have also introduced some new groundbreaking devices!" Said the host.

"May I introduce you all, to the camera drone! It is a magic device which will hover across the terrains capturing battle scene after battle scene all recorded and cast onto your very own mini screens!"

I heard a mechanical tick from the side and a block was pushed up from the ground revealing a tablet. It was almost exactly identical to the ones on Earth.

Ignoring the implications behind it, I just grabbed it and shut my brain off. I had already made my decision when I saw the tablet.

The Wizard's Tower was a giant organization after all; once I reached the level to be considered a force to be reckoned with, I was definitely going to pay a visit to the Wizard's Tower. There were just too many coincidences. I was 99% sure that there was someone else like me who reincarnated into this world.

"The camera drones move on their own, all you need to do is watch from the screen. By pressing the arrow on the side, you will be able to switch to the drone you want to watch from. Anyway, without further ado, let the Martial Championship commence!" Following the voice that resounded in the stadium like an echo, was a moment of shouting, screaming, cheering, clapping. Everything could be heard, but the one thing all of these noisy actions had in common, was excitement. Everyone was anticipating something.

Even the VIPs sitting in the same row as me started clapping as well, albeit in a more reserved manner.

Just then, I heard a loud creaking from below.

The gate holding the participants at bay was opening.

—Rachel's PoV—

"Gauntlets? You use gauntlets?" The guy said. He was the weapon manager or something like that.

"That's quite the rare weapon. You sure you aren't lying that you use gauntlets?"

After looking at me in the eyes, he pushed his glasses up with his pointer fingers.

"Give me a moment, there should be some sort of gauntlet in the basement." He said, turning his back to me.

"If there aren't any, then you'll have to make do with whatever we have. Remember that if you are a user of an unusual weapon, then you ought to bring it with you. Just some advice."

I wanted to say that I left my prized gauntlets at home but I opted not to considering he was just a stranger. Because weapons were required to participate, I had to borrow a weapon from the Knight Academy. An academy weapon couldn't even begin to compare to legit weapons but it was a good thing that my opponents were around my age group since I could close the gap with my superior abilities.

Ah, I'll have to try my best to win no matter what. Second place should be fine too but the first place prize was 100 Gold Coins! With that money, Daniel and I could just spend our days leisurely as farmers and grow old together... Father would be mad wouldn't he? Either way, with the prize money, we should be able to leisurely travel to the Kingdom of Wizardry. Once we get in contact with Miss Scarlet, she should be able to help us get back. I also heard some rumors about how Miss Scarlet was quite the femme fatale so she should be able to help me seduce Daniel as well! What a perfect plan!

As I thought that, I realized a possible dilemma.

'Nah, no way.'

There was absolutely no way. Miss Scarlet was already in her twenties so she would definitely not have a thing for Daniel.

But on the off chance...