Chapter 37

The seven cities standing on the earth are the things that the beastmen are most proud of. Flora, the city of flowers and competitions, may not be the most dazzling or prosperous one among the seven cities, but with the advantages of natural environment, it is more friendly to the ordinary beastmen who make up the vast majority of the population.

People may refuse to enter the "art" because of their inferiority complex due to age or clumsiness, they may think that "business" is not suitable for them because of their limited wealth, or they may stay away from the "holy" because of their fear of nobles.

But who would regard the flowers on the ground as unattainable? They are cheap things that children pull up from the cracks between the bricks on the wall, and they are fragile beauties that even a young and strong poor laborer can buy and give to his beloved for only two copper coins each.

So when Flora holds a festival, there are always tourists who come with a naturally more complex composition.

Now that we are here, we can’t miss another industry in Flora City.

For various reasons, Flora City, which has the largest idle population among the seven cities, seized this opportunity and was most suitable for hosting the competition. In the nearly 100 years since it obtained special approval, the competition, which is held every three years, has been held almost rain or shine, and now has formed a stable scale and industrial chain.

But Eliretna Flora did not watch the games every day.

The city lord, who is as beautiful as the local specialty, knows how to manage the value of her beauty. Except for a brief and stunning glimpse at the beginning of the day, everyone knows that the city lord is "busy with work". She will only appear again on the last day to present awards to the six selected winners.

Many people came to Flora City just to see the city lord dressed up that day.

But Xiaoman is not like that. The person she is looking for is not so noble, but one of the people who are flowing in the streets under the tower.

Xiaoman stood on the stage, calmly tightening his wrist guard, ignoring the shouts of the spectators around him. He just glanced around the stadium, memorizing the new scenery he had never seen before.

The previous stop, Bronze City, was also very lively. During the day, there were vendors shouting loudly while selling handicrafts and food, there were noisy people, and those strange buildings in the shape of anvils or other tools were also filled with visiting families and willful children clamoring for this and that.

When she met the quarreling triplets while queuing, Su Mei raised her hands and pressed down the soft fox ears on her head with some worry, looking at her friend who did not have the beastman's sensitive hearing with envy.

Xiaoman can't help with this.

But it was different here. The excitement in the stadium was... greedy, but also simple. Xiao Man thought. No one tried to sweet-talk the opposite sex, no one lied, and no matter it was encouragement from love or malicious cheering, or ridicule and insults for victory or defeat on the stage, everyone's voice was consistent.

Everyone exists for himself.

There is actually such a place in the world, or among the people.

She tried to conceal her ability to cast spells as much as possible from others, but she still won. It was not easy, after all, the Defective did not have the strong physical strength of the orcs.

Fortunately, there is that badge.

Of course, a raise of 200,000 gold coins can buy players the privilege of bringing their own weapons into the arena.

Xiaoman was not arrogant enough to deliberately give up her advantage, so she chose to bring her dagger.

After the teacher's treatment, it was enough to make up the difference between her and the other party - an adult Hyena male who, although not possessing golden blood, was still quite strong.

The audience doesn't care whether the victory is easy or not. The more boos the loser receives, the more favor the winner will gain from them.

Around this medium-sized arena, excited people were cheering and shouting, and the number of people cheering for her was much greater than before when the outcome was still undecided.

"Cut his head off!"

"Nice fuck, wolf girl!"

"As expected of you! Show him how powerful you are!"

"Destroy him! Blood debt must be paid with blood!"

"What's her name? Pan? Pan!"

The man who was full of foul language before now didn't even have the strength to beg for mercy. In the uniquely exciting part of a gamble duel where the winner is determined and the loser is punished by tacit consent, he could only cover his torn belly with trembling hands to prevent the intestines that had been stuffed back from rolling out again. His lips turned pale and purple, and he could hardly stand steadily.

Originally, he was not a strong and combative opponent. He just relied on his ability to bully the weak and fear the strong to maintain a ratio of winning more and losing less in low-end competitions, thereby making some money to support his life. In Flora City, he was not the lowest class, but he was just an ordinary person.

He looked at Xiaoman pleadingly, even though that annoying, sparsely haired and yellow face showed more regret than apology.

"I want to hear your apology." Amid the excited voices around him who no longer treated him as a human being, Xiaoman took a few steps closer with his weapon in hand and said.

"...Yes, I deserve to die, sir. I really shouldn't have insulted you. Please believe that I am extremely regretful. As long as you are kind enough to pay, I am willing to compensate..." the man stammered.

His dizzy eyes suddenly brightened up. The wolf girl with gray-black hair really turned around, walked away, jumped off the ring, and let him go.

Officials assigned by Flora City immediately surrounded him and treated his injuries skillfully. The man cried unconsciously and kissed their hands, expressing his gratitude for his new life. He kept muttering that he would be polite to others in the future. It was quite touching to see him in the sunlight.

Xiaoman walked down from the stage and looked around, only to see Lielie, who was slightly injured, talking to a tall blond man.

"Big sister!" The crowd with complex smells still couldn't stop Lielie from quickly catching the familiar smell. She almost noticed Xiaoman at the same time that Xiaoman saw her, jumping and waving her arms.

"Did you go to the competition too?" Xiaoman walked over and asked, looking at the scratch on her upper arm.

"I saw a fellow tribesman and my hands were itching so I went over to challenge him to a fight. I won!" Lielie shook his fist happily, then he remembered to open his palm to reveal a silver badge inside.

The lion girl showed it to Xiao Mant, who already had a gold badge, and said without any gloom, "Look, big sister, his badge is mine! Isn't it cool?"

In order to avoid being stopped and challenged while walking, Xiaoman had already taken off her conspicuous marker and put it in her pocket. This way, after leaving the area, few people would know that she was also a contestant and would only think of her as a spectator.

So Lielie couldn't tell for a moment whether the new boss would win or lose, but the Mithril Blood in the Orcs was too rare. Even though Lielie's goal was to participate in the competition and play a few games well, he had never been prepared to encounter a spellcaster opponent. Like most of his peers, he was full of awe and bizarre imagination towards magic, and thought that Xiaoman would definitely be the winner.

Xiao Man nodded: "Very impressive. Who is this gentleman?"

"He came to watch the game. He said he thought I could win so he bet on me and won several hundred gold coins - we split the jackpot in half, and I'm going to have a lot of delicious food tonight!" Lielie knew to lower his voice when he said the first half, but his brown eyes were already sparkling, as if he had fallen in love with Flora, who could fight and make money.

Xiaoman, who got useful information from her words, looked at the stranger.

For some reason, she felt that this guy looked familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen him before. Obviously, anyone who saw him would have an impression of him.

Compared to the expressive Lie, he was much colder. His flawless face, like a sculpture of an adult male, only showed an expression of scrutiny that seemed impolite, even a little harsh.

"I was asked to look after you, but it seems you are not doing well. It is beyond my expectation."

He said to Xiaoman.

"My elder sister is obviously very powerful!" Lielie corrected fearlessly.

"Yes, because you are worse. You are both the same, clumsy, naive, and weak. The competition field is not suitable for you. Go back to your elders and be good children waiting for meals."

Taking advantage of his height, Bernaludos looked down at the two of them and said something harsher than what he really thought.

Unexpectedly, even the seemingly hot-tempered Lielie did not immediately jump up and retort, and the calm Xiaoman was thinking in silence.

“…Is it really that bad?”

After a while, Lie asked in a depressed tone.

"Among your peers, your strength is indeed quite good, and your talent is suitable for fighting." For these two promising youngsters, the previous sentence alone was enough to suppress them first, so Bernaludus slightly approved of them and said, "Your problem is that you are not serious enough. At least in terms of malice and meanness, you are far inferior to those on the stage."

"As for you——"

"Did the teacher ask you to look after me?" Xiaoman suddenly asked.

Then she saw that the man who was leisurely talking and trying to touch her just a moment ago suddenly had a cold expression, and the originally warm brown and gold colors around his pupils suddenly flickered clearly like a school of disturbed fish, causing the emotions and temperature on the surface to roll down from the knife-like iris patterns, and the truth fell out with the water.

That look was almost like unexpected pain.

"Why do you guess so?" he asked softly.

"Intuition." Xiaoman said.

For the sake of the teacher, she explained: "Because the teacher is a very good person. Among the people I know, he seems to be the only one who can tolerate someone like you..."

The protagonist was rarely able to speak. She actually wanted to say that whether it was Su Mei or the random Miss Effie, or even the Winchester whom she had never met, they all seemed to have a bad aura with this family, and they were definitely not the kind of people that could be entrusted with tasks.

The person who had been secretly following me on the road before must have been him. His presence was so overwhelming that even my snow-white sleeves could not accommodate him.

Perhaps only a knowledgeable and peaceful teacher could find a way to deal with him. Xiaoman thought so, so he asked directly.

"You guessed right. He asked me to help look after you, so I came to see you reluctantly. But your qualifications in fighting are not as good as this lion, and as the king of the dragon clan, I am very busy, so don't expect me to think of everything for you like he does."

Bernardus said proudly.

"I understand." Xiaoman nodded. He didn't seem to be irritated by the insult. He just kept his usual calm expression.

Lielie was squeezed between these two people who were much taller than her. She looked left and right, her face full of confusion.

"Sister and uncle are both very nice people, can you please stop quarreling?"

She even used the trick she had used most when she was in the tribe. She touched her belly with clear abdominal muscles and said pitifully, "I'm hungry..."

Fortunately, the veins on Bernardus's forehead were not so noticeable because of his blond hair.

The five slender and powerful fingers slowly clenched into a fist and were gently placed on the lion girl's head, which was like an exploded chestnut.

"Who is the uncle?" The Dragon King, who was definitely still in adolescence among the dragon clan and looked no more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old in human form, asked kindly.

"But you are a generation older than the eldest sister, so you must be the uncle. Or the uncle?" Lielie was so stupid that he didn't realize the crisis at all.

Bernaludos gave up trying to negotiate with the cub and switched to the more mature one.

He took Lielie by the collar and lifted up the boxer who was much taller than him. He asked Xiaoman, "Do you mind having grilled lion for your next meal?"

"You can't eat it." Xiaoman said.

They actually left the arena and headed for the nearby restaurants.

At least at this time, Bernardus still looked like a caring person. He paid for everything, allowing the two of them to eat as much as they wanted, and even booked the entire restaurant to avoid being disturbed.

Xiaoman didn't interfere too much with other people's choices. Lielie started to act like a wild lion going into the city and getting excited everywhere. No one wanted to stop him, so they started to eat happily.

"Eat more." Bernardus said, still with a cold expression on his face, not even pretending to be calm. "I used to have a friend who ate very little and always relied on sweet drinks to replenish his energy."

"O'Lai Er (What happened next)?" Lielie was busy taking a big bite of each delicious-looking food in turn, and he still had time to respond.

"He's dead."

Xiaoman, who had already eaten his fill very efficiently, happened to put down his cutlery at this moment.

A pretty, neatly dressed waitress with a faint fragrance came immediately to untie her napkin. Her attitude was very warm and she seemed to be more attentive than Bernardus who spent money. She wanted to hang herself on Xiaoman's neck with her soft arms.

Xiaoman thanked her in confusion, and when she tried to give the tip according to the etiquette, the strange beautiful sister pushed her tip back, kissed her on the cheek, and left.

She didn't understand what was going on, so she took the coin back, thought for a moment, and said to Bernardus, "I don't think I know your name yet."

"Bernardus. You can call me Belu."

"Yes. I remember. - My name is Pan." Xiaoman looked at him. This was the reason why she asked for the name. She used a pseudonym in front of Lielie and after entering Flora City. Belu must know her real name, but she still wanted to remind him of this matter, just in case.

"My name is Lie!" Lielie swallowed a large piece of fruit-flavored snack that he couldn't figure out how it was made, and quickly followed suit.

"I don't need to remember the cubs' names. I'll tell you when you become stronger. Now I'm leaving. See you later."

The Dragon King, who had already paid the bill, pretended to be busy and left arrogantly.

"He is very strong. And very strange. We have only met him today. You are just overthinking." After a moment, Lielie stopped putting food into his mouth and concluded.

She was just simple-minded. If she really trusted strangers unconditionally, the mother-in-law would not have let her go out to play and participate in the competition alone. She would have also associated the "someone" who was secretly observing or protecting her with Bernaludos, who met all the requirements.

"It's very strange." Xiaoman reached out and picked up the wine glass on Bernardus' seat, sniffed it, and a hint of doubt appeared in his blue eyes.

“…Sweet.”