Serra and Aies were heading back to the inn.

On the way, they were carrying some heavy bags.

There were two pots and a pan as well as a ladle.

That only made up for a small quantity though.

The vast majority was fish, vegetables, meat and various seasonings.

"This should suffice."

Serra said as they were heading back to the inn.

"Yup. We just bought some regular cattle meat though. Why not magical beast meat?"

Aies curiously asked.

"Magical beast meat has some side-effects if you're type isn't compatible and magical beast meat is a bit difficult to cook."

Serra explained.

"Oh."

Aies was childish but she wasn't an idiot. She understood it easily enough.

"I wonder how the rest are doing."

Aies thought about the rest of their companions.

"They should still be at it. We've only spent an hour or so purchasing cooking tools and ingredients so we should be earlier than them."

Serra replied lightly.

Soon enough, they see a house in the distance.

"Let's go then."

Aies rushed forward.

"Slow down a bit."

Serra complained slightly as he ran towards the house as well.

With Aies first in, Serra followed immediately.

"Well then, let's unload this stuff here."

Speaking of which, they bought a small house that was being rented by others.

The owner was a friend of theirs who left the city during this event due to personal reasons. The person in question was an old friend of their sect master.

The house was quite good.

The owner had good tastes and decorated the place humbly but it had a certain elegant and homely feel to it.

There were two floors and a basement. 5 rooms upstairs with one room used by the owner but the rest were unused. Serra took an individual room purely based on the fact that he was a guy. The girls shared rooms. A room for two girls each.

It's a given that sharing rooms with a girl for a boy would be indecent or frowned upon.

There's also a kitchen here but the owner was really bad at cooking and ruined his cooking tools and was out of food.

So, he just ate at restaurants or various shops.

Serra arrived and headed to the kitchen where he orderly organized the stuff he bought.

After a few minutes, he was finished.

Aies helped out as well.

They already ate earlier so they decided to lounge as the dining room.

They were all dressed in their respective battle armor.

Their weapons were also close by.

Should their companions come rushing in and say they have a match, they could swiftly join them and head to the arena.

And at that moment...

"Everyone, we have a match!"

Lilia and the rest came in.

Aies and Serra immediately sat up and dashed towards them.

"Let's go!"

No need for further talk.

They could do so while they ran.

"How much time do we have left?:

Serra asked.

"Only 40 minutes. We still have time. Our opponent is team 255."

Lilia said the important key information as they ran.

"Did you find any information on them"

Serra asked.

Luisa replied rather grimly.

"We're not certain. The various teams hid their team number and they didn't dare reveal them. The only ones whose numbers we know are those who already fought."

Serra frowned.

"That isn't much..."

"No time to worry about that. Let's head out there and fight them with our best performance."

Lilia cut in between them.

Both of them nodded.

"We're prepared to fight but our opponent is unknown... Let's be cautious."

..............................

Soon, with twenty minutes to spare, they arrive.

The officials confirmed their team number and they rose up to the stage.

There was a full audience here today too.

They were hoping to see a great match.

The opposing team showed themselves.

It was a group of men wearing iron armor.

Serra asked.

"Any idea on who they are?"

"None. Given the number of teams... It isn't possible to gain accurate information on all teams."

Luisa replied.

"Given their iron armor...We might have some difficulty."

Seileen spoke.

"No problem. Aim for the joints."

Lilia spoke confidently.

Iron armor didn't block the joints to allow movement proving to be the weakness of armor.

Even a tribal warrior could kill an armed soldier if they aim at the openings in the joints.

The official who served as the referee came forward.

"The match format will be three one-on-one fights and one two-on-two."

He announced their team numbers then said...

"Both teams choose their combatants."

Lilia was prepared for this format.

The tournament was only going to use this format so she already discussed with others beforehand.

The other team did the same.

Lilia and the representative of the other team went forward and announced their combatants.

Seileen was on the first 1-on-1. Luisa on the second while Lilia on the third. Aies and Serra will fight on the two-on-two match by themselves.

Aies has weaker individual ability in comparison to the rest so she was teamed up with Serra.

Seileen stood at the stage and faced her opponent.

Her opponent was a young man wearing iron armor and glared at her.

They both didn't waste words and waited for the referee to start.

"Let the first match begin!"

With that, both combatants rushed at each other.

They both drew their blades and fought head on.

Sparks spread as their blades intersected.

They both fought seriously and carefully.

When they have the opportunity, they unleashed various techniques making the battle rather showy which excited the audience.

“Hm… They seemed equally skilled. But… Seileen has the advantage.”

Serra spoke while observing them.

“Indeed. Seileen has lighter armor and can easily launch and evade attacks. The iron armor might allow him to ignore light attacks… He’s also skilled enough to not allow attacks through the joints. However…”

The battle wore on and turned into a battle of attrition.]

Seileen began to fight defensively using her superior agility to outmaneuver

Whether the young man could defeat Seileen or Seileen could tire out the enemy long enough to land a decisive blow.

Soon, a clear victor was seen.

The young man had difficulty holding his own.

His armor guarded him from attacks.

However the price was his stamina and fatigue continued to pile up.

In contrast, Seileen was getting better at evading his attacks and launching then.

Finally, the chance came and the young man became sluggish.

Seileen didn't miss the opportunity and stabbed her blade to his neck.

The man was shocked and tried to evade but failed.

Seileen stopped just with the blade touching his flesh.

"I surrender."

The young man spoke.

He was defeated.

The audience cheered.

"Well done!"

Lilia and the others praised as Seileen returned the victor.

The young man returned dejectedly towards his team.

Luisa calmly headed towards the stage after that.

The format was that there were two 1-on-1 matches followed by a 2-on-2 match then the final match was a 1-on-1.

It was still too early to say who won or lost.

Yet the scales tilted slightly to Lilia’s team.