"Arena No.7—this must be the one."

  After confirming the venue in front of her, Hulim walked right in. Instead of heading straight to the Contestant Waiting Room, she casually found a seat and waited.

  Each of these small indoor arenas could hold around a thousand spectators. Unlike the grand open-air main arena, nearly all preliminary round venues were indoors.

  Right now, most seats in the arena were already occupied, and more spectators were streaming in one after another.

  With so many preliminary venues and no way to predict which contestants would be assigned where, most spectators simply picked a random arena to enter.

  "Great job!"

  The audience erupted in applause for the contestant below.

  A warrior had just defeated his opponent and secured advancement. With a triumphant look, he raised his hands high to show off to the crowd around him.

  Hulim had watched the match, but it hadn’t sparked much interest in her.

  This level of skill wasn’t worth paying special attention to.

  After a few more matches ended,

  "Ah, there you are, Hulim!"

  Miko’s voice rang out from beside her.

  Hulim turned to look at her.

  "You took quite a while in the restroom."

  "Uh...... Well, I got a little lost on the way back~."

  Miko stuck out her tongue and played dumb.

  "Is that so?"

  Hulim turned her gaze back to the arena below. Miko sat down beside her.

  "So, which venue are you in?"

  "Huh?! "

  Miko froze the moment she sat down.

  "W-What are you talking about?"

  Hulim slowly turned her head and stared at her quietly, her eyes seeming to see right through her.

  "You secretly signed up for the tournament, didn’t you?"

  "Uh——"

  Miko was lost for words.

  The Royal Martial Arts Festival had no restrictions on the identity of registrants, as long as they met the basic requirements. Normally, as a member of the White Cat Clan, Miko would have represented the clan automatically—there was no need for her to register personally, since council member tribes had their own exclusive registration channels.

  By secretly signing up behind everyone’s back, Miko had deliberately separated her personal participation from the White Cat Clan. No matter what results she achieved, they would belong solely to her, not to any person or organization.

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  "......Next time, if you’re going to pretend, make it more convincing."

  "I...... I know."

  Miko hung her head in embarrassment.

  "So, what’s your answer?"

  "Uh...... Venue No.32."

  "No.32? That’s quite far from here. Impressive you can run back and forth like this."

  "It’s fine, not too much trouble~."

  "When’s your next match?"

  "Later this afternoon. No rush for now."

  "I see...... You won pretty easily, it seems."

  "Hehe~! Yeah, mostly because my opponent was too weak......"

  That was the truth. With thousands of contestants signing up, not everyone could be a top-tier warrior. In fact, most of them were far weaker than Miko.

  After watching a few more matches from the stands, Hulim stood up.

  "It’s almost my turn. I’ll head over first."

  "Got it! I’ll cheer for you right here!"

  ......

  Inside the Contestant Waiting Room.

  Hulim learned there were only two more matches before hers. After confirming her presence with the staff, she waited quietly.

  Suddenly, she felt an intense gaze on her. Looking up in the direction of the stare, she saw a Beastman staring straight at her.

  When the Beastman realized he’d been noticed, he quickly turned his head away and pretended nothing had happened.

  "?"

  Hulim felt a twinge of confusion. But considering the occasion, she figured scouting other contestants was common practice, so she didn’t pay it much mind.

  What Hulim didn’t know, however, was that there was another hidden meaning behind that Beastman’s gaze......

  A few days earlier.

  "Damn it! I knew those three were useless! They’d already failed once—how could you even think to rely on them!?"

  In an opulently decorated room, a wealthy-looking Black Wolf Beastman flew into a rage at one of his subordinates.

  "My deepest apologies, my lord! This is my fault. I beg for your punishment!"

  The subordinate knelt down on the ground to apologize.

  "Punishment? What good will punishing you do?! Hmph!"

  "......"

  Tap! Tap! Tap......

  The wealthy Black Wolf Beastman tapped his fingers on the table repeatedly.

  After thinking for a long time, he said solemnly:

  "No, we can’t give up like this. You—"

  He turned his gaze back to the kneeling subordinate.

  "My lord!"

  "Find a way to secretly post a bounty. Recruit someone from the contestants to ambush her. They don’t need to defeat her—just wear her down, keep interfering with her upcoming matches!"

  "At once, my lord!"

  The subordinate scrambled to his feet and hurried out of the room.

  After the subordinate left, a sneer crept across the Black Wolf Beastman’s face.

  "We’ll see how long she can hold out!"

  ......

  "Next group of contestants, please prepare!"

  Hearing the staff’s announcement, Hulim stood up and walked toward the arena entrance.

  "Hmm? That person......"

  In the waiting room, the same Beastman who’d stared at her earlier stood up and headed out too.

  "What a coincidence?"

  Soon, Hulim stepped onto the arena floor.

  The Beastman stood across from her.

  He sized Hulim up and down.

  "Didn’t expect you’re just a kid!"

  "Do you know me?"

  His words seemed to imply something more.

  "Hehe~, of course! Heard you’re the one representing the White Cat Clan?"

  "I guess the White Cat Clan is really on their last legs, huh? Entrusting their fate to a little kid—are they blind?"

  "......"

  "What’s wrong? Too scared to speak? Don’t worry, I’m merciful. I’ll go easy on a brat like you~!"

  "......If that’s the case, thank you."

  Hulim replied calmly.

  "Huh??? "

  This response left the Beastman completely dumbfounded.

  He’d originally planned to provoke her with words to gain an advantage in the match.

  He wasn’t an idiot—he knew the White Cat Clan wouldn’t send a weakling. But he never expected she’d be completely unaffected by his taunts.

  Tch!

  Is winning going to be harder than I thought?

  Anxiousness welled up in the Beastman’s heart.

  Oh well. Even if I can’t win, I at least need to hurt her a little. That way, I can still collect the bounty from the Black Wolf Clan and make up for this.

  Ding——!

  At that moment, the match bell rang.

  "Die——!"

  The instant the bell sounded, the Beastman’s eyes glinted with malice. He charged straight at Hulim at full speed.

  Perfect! I’ve got the initiative!

  Seeing Hulim still standing motionless as he closed in, excitement surged within him.

  Could it be...... I can actually win!?

  Bang——!

  "Huh?"

  Why is the sky spinning?

  The Beastman stared in confusion at the swirling world around him, unable to comprehend what was happening.

  It wasn’t until the ground rushed up rapidly into his field of vision that his remaining consciousness finally sensed a hint of danger.

  But by then, it was already too late......

  Thud——!

  After a dull crash, complete silence fell over Arena No.7.