I felt bad leaving him to spectate after he had spent time in the resistance here at the Elven Forest Republic, but I wanted to see Yustin go up against monsters. Sorry.
“So, our fielding order for this one will be Yustin first, Phalaris second, Clifton third, His Highness fourth, and me last.”
“I cannot wait.”
“I’m doing sumo with a woman, huh...”
“I’ll bring Kukuri back.”
“Let’s do our best, Floortje.”
“Let us secure the win. A clean one, if possible.”
“Yeah!” replied the other four in unison.
Team competitions were nice. Moments like these were uplifting.
After the gray referee came to our room, I handed him a piece of paper with our fielding order.
“Hmm... Very interesting... This is looking to be a fun series.”
“You won’t tell us whom each of us is going against?”
“I will just before the start of the first bout. I’m sure you understand that wrestlers can be stronger in some matchups and weaker in others.”
It made sense. Changing our lineup after seeing that of the opponent wouldn’t be fair.
Our side had rikishi of the ōzeki rank going first and second, and I hoped for them to secure the first two wins. We would have less to worry about afterwards if our victory in the competition was already secure.
“Now, let’s get changed.”
I transported myself to the usual dressing room and put on my mawashi over my dress. When I returned, everyone was already wearing theirs. Rikishi really do look great in mawashi. And Yustin had gained weight again. I’m jealous...
“Rikishi of the Kingdom of Aryaka, please make your way to the ring,” spoke the gray referee.
As the five of us entered the venue, we saw the spectator seats full of elves.
“Do your best, yokozuna Floortje!” shouted the elven housewife I had seen when fleeing the town through the west gate.
“That’s the leader of the resistance,” explained General Maurilio.
Though she most definitely looked merely to be a beautiful housewife, she was actually the leader of the resistance? Apparently common sense wasn’t a thing with elves.
In the VIP seats were the fairy king in his fenrir form, King Arvi, and Jomin.
The Demon Lord and his rikishi entered next, looking gallant in their mawashi.
“Kukuri...”
“Coach...”
Kukuri, who hadn’t shown herself at the west gate earlier, made an appearance at last. As I had thought, she was to go third. The Demon Lord was fifth, Arima was fourth, so naturally, Kukuri was third. Read them like a book. Kukuri kept her face downturned, looking a little sad. Upon seeing her, Clifton began to look sad as well.
“You don’t need words. Tell her how you feel through sumo.”
“Okay...” replied Clifton, clenching his teeth and facing forward.
That’s the spirit. Sumo wrestlers are to always move forward. No matter what hardships they face, no matter how bad a hand fate deals them, they must push and thrust their way through it all with all the force they can muster. That’s what defines a good rikishi.
The fairy king leapt out of the VIP seats down into the ring, still in his fenrir form. I couldn’t keep myself from admiring his beautiful figure, however he may have been on the inside.
“My dear audience! Your fairy king is back! I’m sure the good people of this town had to suffer under the rule of the foolish revolutionaries and their demonic friends! I must apologize to you, for it was my unworthiness that brought this upon you!” spoke the fairy king in a clear voice. “And neither the revolutionaries nor their allies have been routed from these lands just yet. A solution to this state of affairs has been presented by Lady Floortje, a yokozuna and a crown princess candidate of our friendly nation, the Kingdom of Aryaka. We can drive the demons and monsters away through a contest in sumo rather than with blades and magic! It is an opportunity to solve an international dispute through sports rather than war!”
The entire audience of over ten thousand locals looked upon the king in silence.
“No doubt some of you may question whether such a thing is even possible—never before has war been ended in such a way. But I want to ask you this! Would it not be a wonderful thing if such an outcome was achieved regardless?! As King of the Elven Forest Republic, I have accepted Floortje’s proposal, and will allow the Kingdom of Aryaka and the residents of the demonic realm to do team sumo here today!”
Silence enveloped the hall once more. As I began to wonder whether the audience didn’t like what he had to say, a faint clapping began, quickly growing into thunderous applause mixed with cheering.
“Sumo! Sumo! Sumo! Sumo!!!” the elves shouted wholeheartedly, raising their hands and stamping their feet.
“Oh yeah, if it weren’t for yokozuna Floortje, Yggdrasil would’ve burnt down already,” spoke a member of the audience.
“I saw sumo at the west gate. It was magnificent how that frail-looking princess Floortje brought down a poisonous frogman and a hellfire troll!” said another.
“If we have to go to war, there will be lots of casualties on both sides! So why not try settling things through sumo?” said a third.
“I hear Floortje saved the fairy king,” said a fourth.
“A relative in Hufton told me the Demon Lord’s army sent pursuers after her again and again, but Floortje beat them back every time,” said a fifth.
To my relief, the reception to sumo was generally favorable.
“Now, it is time to begin team sumo!” announced the fairy king.
With that, the tournament was upon us. Both sides of the competition sat in the ringside seats. On the west side of the dohyō, amid the enemy ranks, was an odd, pale-looking wrestler I had never seen before, set to go first.
Uta, an alraune, was to go second. She lacked mobility, but the fact that she could physically plant her roots into the ground made her a tenacious opponent. Pollen and ivy attacks were her other specialties.
In the third slot was Kukuri, an arachne. She was a mighty opponent due to the good balance her six spider legs provided her, as well as her high level of technique. And we had better watch out for her thread traps.
Fourth was Arima, a horned, scary-looking red demon whom I respected for his uprightness. His skill was high and well-balanced in all aspects. Special ability—flight.
The Demon Lord was to go last. A gaudy mawashi sparkling in a golden color around his beautiful, thin, and muscular figure, he was a yokozuna of the demonic realm with overwhelming ability. Since he had learned sumo from the residents of Valhalla, he was on equal footing with us. The first stage of his transformation made him bigger and stronger. Apparently there was a stage two, but I never got to see it during our bout on the Magic Train.
While I wanted to score a clear win, our opponents were strong, so we couldn’t let our guards down. Were we to lose, a town of a country that wasn’t our own would be taken away, and the elves would be sad. Great responsibility rested on our shoulders.
Adela stood in the ring, spread her white fan, and began announcing.
“On the east, Yustin, Yustin... On the west, Slilene, Slilene...”
Was that its name? It looked like a human, but apparently was in fact a slime.
“Slilene. If you turn to slime form, you will lose due to a lack of identifiable legs,” explained the gray referee.
“I know-lene. It works like that in the demonic realm too-lene.”
“Very well.”
So that was how this slime did sumo. Some monsters like the naga didn’t have legs, so managing the ruleset must’ve been a pain.
Lumbering, Yustin climbed the dohyō.
“Even slimes do sumo, huh?” he asked.
“We do. Everyone loves sumo!”
“Ah, that’s good, that’s good.”
Yustin regarded Slilene with a kind of parental affection in his eyes. He then threw salt on the ring and performed shiko, as did his opponent. I wondered whether the salt wouldn’t be a problem for the slime. It seemed to be awfully pliable, but with some kind of thin, plastic-like skin. And then I realized it had no bones, making me wonder all the more what its sumo would look like.
“Face each other.”
Despite an overall humanoid appearance, Slilene had no eyes, ears, mouth, or face. Around its transparent-looking body was a light-blue mawashi. What an odd wrestler... Where did its voice even come from?
The two’s breathing synchronized, and they charged at each other. Yustin’s impact was as glorious as always. Slilene, on the other hand, twisted its body to avoid him and wrapped around behind his back.
“What?!” exclaimed Yustin.
Because slimes had no bones, he hadn’t managed to find anything to grab. Yustin had his mawashi grabbed from behind and was starting to get pushed.
“Push him out, Slilene! The longer this goes, the smaller your advantage!”
“Okay-lene! Time to push with all I have-lene!”
“Gggghhh!” grunted Yustin as he slid along the ground. It didn’t look good for him. “You little...!” he shouted as he grabbed Slilene’s shoulder and turned around.
But the slime slipped out of his grasp and took position behind his back once more. Such incredible flexibility without any bones... I should’ve expected as much from a slime.
“Grab its mawashi, Yustin!” I shouted.
Surprised by my words, Yustin stuck his hands behind him and did as I suggested, then pushed the mawashi around himself to bring the slime to his front. As pliable as Slilene’s body was, the mawashi was fixed in place, and the slime couldn’t simply get out of it, as a sumo wrestler whose mawashi comes off instantly loses.
Maintaining a firm deep double underarm grip on his opponent’s mawashi, Yustin pressed his head and shoulder against Slilene’s chest.
“Not bad-lene! I see-lene why your rank is ōzeki!”
“Thanks!”
“But slime sumo isn’t quite so simple!”
With that, Yustin’s head ended up buried inside his opponent’s chest. He couldn’t breathe like that! What did the rules have to say about this? The gray referee looked conflicted, but didn’t seem to be stopping the bout. Which meant it was an acceptable move, apparently... Inside Slilene’s transparent chest, Yustin looked to be in pain. Was he to suffocate and lose here? As that thought passed through my mind, gears appeared behind his back and began to rotate. His spirit of sumo!
As Yustin’s veins rose to the surface looking like they were about to burst, and his muscles swelled up, he began constricting his opponent with unbelievable strength, all while still maintaining the deep double underarm grip. A forward force down!
“A forward-lene force down wouldn’t work on someone with no bones or muscle-lene... What?!”
SNAP!!! With Herculean strength, Yustin simply squashed Slilene’s body!
“Aaaaahhh!” screamed young elven ladies in the spectator seats.
Faced with such a brutal scene without any warning, the elves were taken aback.
Slilene’s top half landed on the ground with a heavy thud.