“But it’s not like there’s no point. Just keep at it.”

“I know. Alright, then you keep at it, too, Mr. Naofumi.”

“Will do!”

I was going to go watch the remaining coliseum matches, like Rishia had been doing. I’m sure if Raph-chan had been in the audience rooting for me, it would’ve made me happy.

Chapter Fifteen: Surprise Attacks and Conspiracies

Chapter Fifteen: Surprise Attacks and Conspiracies

It’s not like I was planning on making a habit of it or anything, but I headed back to the tavern where I’d met the drunkard woman. Things were relatively lively there, but the matches were still going on, so the customers seemed to be mostly paying attention to the coliseum. Judging from the atmosphere, mercenaries and other participants with upcoming matches had gotten together there and were exchanging information.

“Oh?”

I grabbed a random seat and ordered a drink, and the same drunkard woman from before cheerfully made her way over to where I’d sat down. Damn! I’d been seen!

“You seem to be advancing in the tournament quite nicely. I saw your matches, you know.”

“You figured out it was me, huh?”

I’d gone to the trouble of wearing an iron mask so that no one would recognize me. But she had obviously figured it out.

“I could tell by your build and how you move.”

That made me think . . . When someone puts on a mask or something like that in an anime or manga, suddenly even their own family doesn’t recognize them. They’d probably be made in an instant in real life. I guess you could say the fact that they didn’t notice meant they must not have been very close. Had my plan been pointless?

“By the way, I never introduced myself, now did I? I’m Nadia.”

“. . .”

If I told her my real name, it might give my identity away. What should I do? Whatever. I would just use my ring name.

“I’m Rock.”

“That’s right, isn’t it, little Rock? Tell me, little Rock, have you gotten used to things at the tournament?”

“We haven’t been struggling as much as I thought we would.”

Fighting without revealing how powerful we really were was surprisingly difficult. In the end, we’d pretty much, halfway, given ourselves away. Itsuki liked to do things that way, apparently, but I just didn’t get it. We were only concealing our strength because it would cause problems for us if people found out. If there was no need to stay hidden, I’d happily send Filo on a rampage without hesitation.

“Everyone is paying attention to you, you know? You did finish those griffins off really quickly, after all.”

“So that was a standout fight card, after all . . .”