The reason for the wins by default was fighters were ambushing their opponents. The opponents would be rendered unable to fight . . . Some of them would probably end up incapacitated or even dead. There were probably cases of it backfiring on the attackers, but that meant that ambushes like this were common. There was a lot of money at stake in this tournament, not to mention the whole thing was shady to begin with, after all.

Ah, so that was why you could place early bets on who would advance in the tournament—there would be cases when participants were eliminated without even making it to their matches. Did people actually trust the tournament betting system? I was surprised anyone would be brave enough to place a bet at this competition.

“Your approach to the matches isn’t bad, little Rock, but making a display of strength that convinces opponents to just give up, because they can’t win, is another possibility, you know.”

“You mean, because otherwise, I’ll have to deal with pests like this coming after me?”

“Well, it’s not like eeeeeveryone will give up, since there is money involved, you know.”

But this woman . . . she was unexpectedly formidable. I guess she wasn’t just a drunkard, after all.

“They fight dirty and they’ll use every trick in the book, so watch your back. Hanging around spacing out in a place like that tavern is just asking for trouble. Even if it’s a girl like me giving you trouble.”

“Putting it like that must mean that you’re willing to fight dirty, too, if it means winning.”

“That’s right. I already made one attempt on your life, you know.”

What? What had she done? Had she used her magic to try to shock me along with those other guys? That’s too bad, because hitting me with a stray bullet wasn’t going to make me flinch. Or maybe she had poisoned my drink? I had a skill that detected poisons, though, so there’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed. Realistically speaking, with all of the skills I had from my shield, it would be near impossible to assassinate me. And yet here she was saying she had done something to me.

I was puzzling over the issue when Nadia suddenly took my hand and placed it on her chest for some reason. She was rather well endowed. She probably had Raphtalia beat, by the looks of it. Now that I thought about it, this might have been the first time I’d touched a female’s chest.

“Boobies!” she suddenly exclaimed.

Was this woman some kind of half-wit? I was just starting to enjoy the moment and she had to go and ruin it. I jerked my hand away from her.

“Oh . . . ?”

“So what? What did you do to me?”

“Oh, that . . . Let me make up for it by confessing my love for you!”

“Stop screwing around or I’m leaving.”