The well-Balanced Yamamoto-san Gets Caught up in a Death Game

Chapter 46

And so, it’s the morning of the Grand Martial Festival!

In the corner of my vision, there’s a notification about an “Event Announcement” arriving.

I quickly scan the contents.

Hmm, hmm.

The number of participants in the Grand Martial Festival is twelve thousand… wait, what?

Isn’t that a bit low?

Weren’t there a hundred thousand people trapped in this LIA? And only twelve thousand are participating?

It was so puzzling that I sent a message to Tatsu-san, and after a while, I got a reply.

Let’s see.

First off, maybe there aren’t that many people actually playing the game?

Or perhaps they haven’t reached the second area yet?

Also, production class players probably won’t participate, right?

I see.

He also mentions that while people might be fine hurting monsters, some might find it difficult to hurt people who seem just as real.

Then there are those who don’t want to participate because the pain feels real…

I can totally understand that.

With Take-kun, I acted on impulse in the heat of the moment, but I never want to do that again.

Lastly, he writes that if you consider the motivations of those who do participate, it’s about what you’d expect.

Motivations for participating…?

Well, things like being good at it, wanting the [Revival Drug], or wanting to make a name for themselves?

Thinking about it, the reasons for participating seem a bit weak.

That’s true. Unless you absolutely want to participate, the constant “I don’t like pain” feeling would hang over you, so I can accept that the number of participants might be about right.

Tatsu-san also sent me instructions on how to check the Grand Martial Festival, so I’ll set that up right away.

Click, click, click.

“Activate Float Screen”

As I speak, a flat board-like object starts floating in front of my eyes.

This is like a floating TV screen that will constantly broadcast the Grand Martial Festival during the event.

If you turn on the audio, NPCs will provide commentary, which Tatsu-san’s message says is quite enjoyable.

Also, if you check off interesting contestants from the participant list, the screen will automatically switch to their matches. It’s like setting up TV recordings, I guess?

So, I immediately check off Lili & Tatsu from the contestant list. Then I check off Breiva & Misaki too…

Hmm, it looks like Tuna-san isn’t participating.

Or maybe he’s participating under an alias?

And since I don’t know any other adventurers, there’s no one else I want to check off.

It really makes me realize how few connections I have!

“Hey, you! Are you up!? We need to hurry or our spot will be taken!”

“I’m up~ I’m coming~ And by the way, the Commerce Guild assigns the spots, so they can’t be taken~”

I shout back to the angry voice from downstairs as I slowly get up from bed.

■□■

The first day of preliminaries for the Grand Martial Festival.

The opening ceremony will be held today.

It seems the opening ceremony will take place in an arena built on top of a cliff that’s like a bridge over the sea.

After the rules are explained and the contestants take their oath there, preliminaries will be held at several venues around town.

Still, that number of participants, twelve thousand…

The notification email said that the preliminary schedule might be extended depending on the situation, but in my opinion, it’s almost certain to be extended.

I mean, it’s twelve thousand people, you know?

Depending on the method of preliminary battles, it’s going to take quite some time, right?

“Hey, you! Is the preparation for opening done!? Huh!?”

“Come on, Mungaga-san? There won’t be any customers coming to this out-of-town location on the first day, so we can prepare at a leisurely pace.”

“What if we miss customers because of that!? You wanna fight!? I’ll take you on!”

Wait, what are you going to do?

“Anyway, Mungaga-san, don’t come out to the storefront, just stay in the back and prepare to make additional poison soup with the [Simple Cooking Kit]. Don’t show your face at the front at all, okay?”

“Why not!? Let me say ‘Welcome~!'”

That’s because your face is scary, Mungaga-san!

For now, I push Mungaga-san to the back while I decorate the stall.

On the signboard, I write:

Poison Soup Level 1, 100 Reward Stones

*Drink three bowls to get [Poison Resistance] Level 1!

Poison Soup Level 2, 200 Reward Stones

*Drink five bowls to get [Poison Resistance] Level 2!

I add pop designs, floral patterns, and cute animals to neutralize the harshness of the word “poison”.

Maybe I should make the word “poison” colorful and emphasize it?

By the way, since the stall itself is borrowed from the guild, major modifications are prohibited.

Well, we can expand it with table seats like a ramen stall, and it has a roof, so we can simmer soup in the stall. Functionally, there doesn’t seem to be any particular problems.

The only drawback is that it looks plain, so it might not catch the eye of passersby, but I’ll make it stand out plenty with my colorful pop art!

As I was making cute pop art saying things like “Easily get poison resistance!” and “Deliciousness guaranteed!” and sticking them all over, it seems our neighbor’s stall has arrived.

“Alright! Let’s go greet them!”

Eh!?

No, if Mungaga-san goes…

Rattle rattle rattle rattle!

The neighboring stall left at an incredible speed…

“Why!? That’s not how it’s supposed to go!”

That’s exactly how it goes!

Ah, the stall on the other side has arrived.

“Kukuku, shall we go for another round?”

I told you, no! Mungaga-san!

But before I could stop him, Mungaga-san went to the neighboring stall and—

“I bought something good!”

“Thank you for your business~”

He came back with what looks like a vicious willow-leaf sword!?

“Mungaga-san! Why are you wasting money when we don’t have any!?”

“It’s not a waste! This is for cooking! It’s got a different edge for ingredients!”

Looking at the neighboring stall, a suspicious old man with round sunglasses and a long mustache is laughing “Muhihi”.

Yeah. He’s just as suspicious as Mungaga-san. Birds of a feather flock together, so of course he wouldn’t run away when Mungaga-san went to greet him.

“Ah, hello. It’s only for the short period of the Grand Martial Festival, but pleased to be your neighbor.”

“Muhihi, likewise~”

Despite his creepy appearance, he seems like a pretty good person. That’s a relief.

If we don’t get any customers and get bored, maybe I’ll go window shopping at the old man’s stall.

So, decoration complete.

Yeah, I tried hard with the decorations, but somehow the stall adorned with the word “poison” and a pop atmosphere seems to have increased in creepiness?

Did I fail…?

Well, let’s go with this for now.

If someone criticizes it, I’ll think about it then.

“Mungaga-san~ I’m done with the preparations here~”

“I ain’t got nothing to do here! Hurry up and open the shop!”

Why is he so impatient?

I don’t really understand, but since it feels like we can open, let’s open up~.

Well, no customers will come though.

So, since we have some time, I guess I’ll watch the Grand Martial Festival opening ceremony.

It looks like they’re explaining the tournament rules first, but a simplified explanation is already displayed on the float screen.

According to the explanation…

– If a participant’s HP is completely depleted, they will be thrown out of the arena with their HP halved.

– Use of recovery items is prohibited.

– Recovery magic/skills can be used.

– To surrender, declare your surrender.

– Luxurious prizes for the winners.

That’s roughly it, in summary.

And now for the curious preliminary match format.

As expected, due to the large number of participants, it seems there will be multiple battle royales at each venue to weed people out.

Then, the seven tag teams that remain at the end in the seven venues will advance to the final tournament.

I wonder if Bre-kun and Misaki-chan can win through to the end?

By the way, I’m not too worried about Lili-chan and Tatsu-san.

After all, during the final tuning of Cog-2, even Tatsu-san gave his seal of approval, saying “Ain’t it good enough to compete with A-rank adventurers?”

Unless they face an A-rank adventurer tag team in the preliminaries, I think they’ll win through normally.

“Oh, is it time for the contestants’ oath? Right, let’s turn on the audio too.”

So, I turn on the audio.

There’s supposed to be NPC commentary, right?

I’m looking forward to that too.

“Hey, Mungaga-san, no customers yet, want some tea?”

“If that’s the case, offer some to the old man next door too! It’ll be a fine tea for a dying old geezer!”

“Muhihi, no need to fuss~”

So, I prepare tea for the three of us and watch the contestants’ oath while wetting our throats.

“Now, it’s time for the contestants’ oath by the winning tag team from the last tournament!”

“Huh!? What, you can see the Grand Martial Festival footage!?”

“Muhihi”

It seems NPCs can see the float screen footage too. Well, I’ll just gloss over it by saying it’s that kind of magic.

“The tag team performing the contestants’ oath this time is the champions from the last tournament! As winners of the last tournament, this tag team is already seeded for the main tournament finals! However, the Grand Martial Festival is full of surprises! Even as last tournament’s winners, they can’t let their guard down in the battles to come! That’s the drama of the Grand Martial Festival!”

Huh. So the winning tag team from the last Grand Martial Festival is participating in this one too.

I wonder if they’re A-rank adventurers?

“Ah! Here they come! The champions of the last Grand Martial Festival! It’s the Gobuzou & Iko tag team!”

“Pffft!?”

I couldn’t help but spit out my tea!

“Cough, hack, cough cough…!”

“Muhihi, that’s dirty~”

“What’s wrong with you… Didn’t I tell you to be careful about hygiene!? Want me to cut off your fingers!?”

“I-I’ll clean it up properly!”

While apologizing to Mungaga-san, I think with my confused mind.

If Gobuzou-san and Iko-san were the previous champions…

====================

▶Event “The Elderly Couple’s Wish” has been cleared.

▶As the event ended with a True Ending, a World Event will occur.

====================

Don’t tell me the ones who raised the World Event flag were… us?

Ugh, sorry, Lili-chan, winning might have become difficult…