The arena lobby was abuzz with conversation. The topic: Lilium.
“Tanya’s so badass! She really ought to have some sort of cool title, like ‘Knight of the Pink Petals’ or something! Am I right?”
“Personally, I’m on Team Stone Cold Stunner! She’s so elegant and aloof, like, ermahgerd!”
“Uh... what’s ‘ermahgerd’?”
“...N-Never mind.”
“You know why I like Nadine? She doesn’t ever take the spotlight, but she can still dodge any attack that comes her way. Plus, she’s just such a cinnamon roll, you know?”
“I know, right?!”
“Totally!”
Women of all ages, young spectators and fully grown adventurers alike, were gushing and swooning like crazy. In contrast, the men all scowled like sore losers. They’d hoped to show off during this tournament so they could get laid, and now Lilium had summarily crushed their dreams.
“You know,” said Female Adventurer A, “I like how humble they are; they don’t gloat despite all their victories.”
Female Adventurer B nodded. “Yeah, and you know what else? I heard they split their quest rewards evenly between the three of them! That way the Healer gets a fair share!”
“Lucky!” sighed Female Adventurer C. “In any other party, us Healers typically get screwed.”
“I really like their equipment, too! It’s so gallant and badass! And it doesn’t seem to impact their fighting ability at all, either... Makes me feel kinda stupid for always dressing so lightly.”
“I know, right? They’re so stylish!”
“I actually passed by Tanya in the hallway a little while ago. She smells like flowers!”
“Ugh... When it comes to the rest of these dudes, we’re lucky if they take a bath once every three days...”
“Ugh! Right?!”
“I wanna join their party so bad!”
And so, in winning the favor of every woman in the arena, Lilium had started to draw attention to itself. Whenever they walked out to compete, the ladies all cheered—and consequently, the men all grumbled and slumped their shoulders.
Nevertheless, Lilium kept winning match after match... until they reached the championship round of the finals tournament. Their opponent: Ryan’s party. And everyone in the audience was on the edge of their seat.
✦ ✦ ✦
“This is it... The championship round... Good thing we get a few minutes to rest beforehand,” Nadine sighed as break time rolled around.
“Seriously.” Tanya let out a self-deprecating laugh. All the nonstop sparring had taken its toll.
The arena cafe was almost entirely empty, possibly because none of the other parties felt comfortable “taking it easy” during a nationwide tournament. Relax, tryhards.
It did feel a bit strange, though, having a strategy meeting over tea and cake. Certainly Tanya’s old party would never have allowed it.
“Nom nom nom... Ish sho good...!” Laplace moaned through a mouthful of her third slice.
Meanwhile, Nadine was demolishing a plate of herb-roasted chicken. Evidently she wasn’t much of a dessert person.
“Mmm... This is delicious... When I worked at the Guild, everyone just assumed I liked sweets, so they’d always give me these little boxes of chocolates. It was awful,” she explained.
“Oh, yeah, I bet that was awkward. You felt obligated to accept them, right?”
“Yes, exactly. They were only trying to be nice, after all. I just wish they would’ve thought to ask me if I even liked chocolate.”
Just then, their peaceful moment was interrupted.
“Hey ladiesh, it looksh like we have a vishitor.”
“Laplace! Don’t talk with your mouth full!”
They looked over at the cafe entrance to find a man standing there. Judging from his equipment, he was an Archer.
“You ladies are with Lilium, right?”
Every other party on the tournament roster had an intimidating name, like “Titans” or “Dragons” or “Giants” or “Lions,” so a flowery name like “Lilium” stuck out.
“Yeah, that’s us.”
“What of it?”
“I want to join.”
Evidently this adventurer was impressed with their performance. This was one of the perks of competing in the Sparring Tournament; if your party did well, it made recruiting new members that much easier.
At first blush, this Archer guy was a good-looking fellow who seemed to care about his appearance. As such, their initial impression of him was positive.
“Oh wow, another one? We’ve been getting a lot of tentative recruits today,” Nadine mused.
“Oui, oui. We’re the stars of the show, after all,” Laplace replied.
“I don’t know about that... We’re at least second place, though. That’s pretty impressive.”
All thanks to the Level 100 Magi-Knight and Level 100 Sorceress. Ordinarily they’d never be allowed to compete, but with the addition of one Level 3 Healer, their party average sank to Rank C, enabling them to wipe the floor with a bunch of small-time adventurers who really didn’t stand a chance.
Every single match was a cakewalk, and now the entire stadium audience (men and women alike) couldn’t stop talking about the “rookie party” who’d battled their way to the tournament championship. Hence, this was certainly not the first prospective recruit they’d encountered today; as a matter of fact, this Archer was their twelfth.
However—
“Sooo...” The man glanced around the cafe.
“What is it?”
“Well, I’m told Lilium’s party leader is a super-rare Magi-Knight or something...”
“Yeah...?”
Then he, totally oblivious, turned to Tanya and asked, “So where is he?”
A vein bulged on her forehead and she gritted her teeth. “I’m right here.”
“What?”
“It’s me, okay?! I’m the party leader! And you’re disqualified!!!”
“Wha—?!” Shot down, just like that.
“Are you blind? There’s exactly one person here carrying a giant sword, and you wanna ask me where the leader is? I know I haven’t had much of a chance to show it off since everyone here is total weaksauce, but seriously, do you not have fucking eyes?! Moron!” Tanya spat as the Archer beat a hasty retreat. She was obviously the only Magi-Knight. How could he have looked directly at her sword and still asked her that stupid question? Scowling, she stuffed a big bite of cake into her mouth. “Guess he never stopped to consider that the party leader might be female!”
“Now, now. Just think of it as an easy excuse to say no,” Nadine offered, smiling stiffly.
Indeed, with two party members at Level 100, they couldn’t afford to take on any new recruits or else they’d be promoted out of Rank C. Nevertheless, some of these dudebro adventurers had refused to take no for an answer; as soon as they realized the entire party was female, a lot of them suddenly took on a condescending tone and made comments like, “I’ll bet you ladies are having a tough time without any men around. I don’t mind joining your party if you want.”
“What is it about being male that automatically gives them unshakable confidence? Where does it come from? Their c—?”
“Ne le dis pas! Let’s not get raunchy!”
“What? I was going to say cake, obviously! What gutter is your mind in?”
“Oh, cake. Alright then. Actually, Tanya, can I order another slice?”
“Haven’t you already had, like, ten?! You better be paying for all this!”
And so their break time came to an end... and the championship round was upon them.