Nadia stood up and I followed her out, leaving the coliseum behind.

The nighttime streets of Zeltoble were brimming with activity—the phrase “a city that never sleeps” fit perfectly. There seemed to be quite a few shops catering to debauchery lining the streets, as well. Judging from the shop signs there were places for humans, demi-humans, and other races, too. Taverns were all over the place, and you could hear the uproar of voices coming from within. That said, Nadia said she wanted to enjoy the night breeze and headed down a small back alley that ran alongside an irrigation canal.

Zeltoble was situated alongside a waterway that led to the ocean, so it was possible to travel there by boat. Perhaps that was why the smell of the night air reminded me of the sea. The intricate canals running alongside the back alleys made it feel kind of like you were in Venice. It actually seemed like a pretty nice area for a leisurely stroll.

“Now then, little Rock, continuing our earlier conversation . . .”

“Yeah?”

“It may be that it happens relatively more often when people start paying attention to you, but regardless of that . . . did you not notice a certain phenomenon occurring, starting around the first round?”

“Huh?”

I tried to recall the first-round standings that Rishia had compiled for us. I hadn’t really paid much attention, since I was only interested in our own results, but had there been anything odd about them?

Hmm . . . Now that I thought about it, our match had been moved up ahead of schedule. It did make me wonder why the previous match could have ended so quickly. They had been making more adjustments to the schedule just earlier, too. I thought about how all of that matched up with today’s standings.

“The number of wins by default is peculiarly high.”

I guess there would be fighters that signed up to participate and then just didn’t show up for the tournament, right? Or maybe it was because no one worried about staying on schedule? That would suck if you ended up being the one affected by it. I mean, come on . . . Just how poor was their time management?

I considered several of the more peaceful possibilities, but the answer had already appeared in the back of my mind.

“Exactly. You know why that is?”

“. . .”

Her suggestive phrasing sent beads of cold sweat running down my back. At that very moment, I heard the sound of a weapon being drawn, and a group of aggressive-looking men appeared in the alley and surrounded us. Damn . . . Had I fallen for a trap?

Under the circumstances, I had to consider myself on my own. Could I get away if I just defended against their attacks and ran to a crowded area? But wait! Surely I could drive them back if I used a shield with a counterattack, right?