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Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle – Chapter 82

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Translator: Aquilegia

Editor: Weasalopes

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82 – The Tournament Qualifying Round Will Commence

Finally, 49 teams have gathered for the Tag Tournament.

It is said that even this has decreased.

Anyone can participate, so there were a lot of people who wanted to participate.

However, an Avatar is required in order to participate.

And the cost of generating an Avatar is surprisingly expensive. If they came for reasons such as wanting to create a memory, just because it looks fun, or that they might be able to stand out, the amount is enough to make them immediately chill out.

As a result, only those who have an Avatar or can afford to modify it remains.

Most of them are Adventurers and Monsters.

「Hey…Mr. Lem. No, Lem.」

We are now in the room where the cocoon that can transfer the spirit from the physical body to the Avatar is installed, the Link Room.

「What is it, Berith?」

She called me looking like a Monster and I called her by her Monster Name.

There are four Link Rooms and eight cocoons were placed in each room.

The partitions have been set up, entry and exit times have also been coordinated, and privacy has been taken into consideration.

Leaving the room, we headed down the corridor.

We’re heading to the battleground.

「Just maybe…」

「What?」

「Are we the only Monster and Human pair?」

Her voice sounded nervous.

「I don’t think it’s only us.」

「I-is that so.」

「Since they are especially expressing the freedom of teaming up, I think there’ll be pairs gathered in order to highlight that point.」

It’s hard to imagine that only Fenix and the brother and sister, Philip and Nicola, were the only ones who received the invitation.

His objective is to dispel people’s negative emotions towards Monsters.

Adventurers basically won’t show that they get along well with Monsters in public places. Since the setting is that they are enemies.

And Fellow wants to erase that part of the setting. That’s why he wants to abolish the Dungeons.

He must’ve prepared pairs of Monsters and Adventurers in order to persuade someone else.

As the first step to letting them know that there is nothing strange about being equal existences and living together.

「I see.」

「Don’t be nervous. It’s okay, we can win.」

「Yeah…but what I’m scared about is…」

Not being accepted.

There are some parties that even if they post a video, the number of views of their videos would stop at two digits.

If it’s just a hobby, then that’s fine. They can think that it’s already good enough that there was even one person who would see it.

But if they choose to become an Adventurer for the rest of their lives, then that’s no good.

If they can’t entertain more people, then they can’t make a living. They can’t remain as Adventurers.

In order to continue, they need a lot of people to like them.

That’s why the reality that they can’t receive any attention is nothing more than hell for Adventurers.

She’s afraid that that hell will manifest again.

「It’s okay.」

「I know…the present is different from the past. It’s not that I’m not confident about the match. But…it just shows up inside my head. Those past memories when nobody would look at me.」

「That’s why I’m saying that it’s okay. First of all, you are going together with me, who is attracting attention in a bad way.」

After my withdrawal…to the public, it’s my first exposure to society after I was evicted from the party.

Just because I’m the Black Sorcerer Lem, I will definitely stand out. Their gazes would be directed at me.

「…」

「And one more thing. If we fail, I can take the blame. It would look like you failed because you teamed up with an incompetent Black Sorcerer.」

I deliberately said that with a serious face.

There was a silence for one, two, three seconds.

「Fufu…」

Finally, she laughed.

「That’s impossible, Lem. It’s impossible that we might lose because of you.」

「In that case, we will win. So that the audience won’t be able to take their eyes off of you. If you stand on the podium, that will naturally happen.」

「You’re omitting the possibility that we might lose because of me.」

「Give me a break. I can’t win without you.」

「…Thank you.」

With that, she didn’t look down again.

「I will win and prove it. That I can be the Hero I admired. And that-」

She looked at me.

「-there is a wonderful Black Sorcerer in this world.」

There’s no anxiety in her voice.

「…Thank you.」

Then, we arrived at the battleground.

It’s a rectangular stage.

They rented a venue that is usually used for sports matches where people hold, throw, or kick balls.

It seemed that we were the last team, all 16 pairs were present at the venue.

Since 49 teams are quite numerous, they will reduce this to 16 teams through this qualifying round.

Philip and his friends are exempt from the qualifying round because they have the highest rank.

Then, it’ll be 48 teams, so it can be divided into 3 groups of 16 teams.

All they have to do is rotate the 32 cocoons prepared by the management 3 times.

Out of 16 teams, 5 teams would win. If that is done 3 times, then 15 teams will remain. After that, the main tournament will be held with Philip and others added.

「Hey…that guy’s…」「The Black Sorcerer Lem? He’s still an Adventurer?」「Who’s that next to him…a Monster?」「Isn’t she an Insect-Human?」「Isn’t that type part of the shell species?」「Why is he together with a Monster?」「Isn’t it because of that? Because no Adventurer would team up with him.」「Puhah…hey, stop that, that’s rude.」「No, no, people would usually not want to team up with Monsters as well.」「But if he’s the 4th rank, then he has the highest rank, right?」「You fool, that’s his former rank, now he’s outside of the rankings.」「Ahaha, that’s right.」

Ridicules and laughter.

Well, it’s always like this. It’s been a while since I showed up as Lem, so I feel nostalgic even for these.

There was this squeezing sound.

It was the sound of her fists clenching.

「Ahh, Lem. I feel like I finally understand your feelings of anger towards my older brother.」

It can’t be guessed from her expression, but her mouth got distorted into the shape of a smile.

Of course, the emotion she’s feeling is anger. She’s smiling because she’s too angry.

Philip told me that Fenix was second-rate and I got angry when hearing that.

Nicola was also angry at her brother’s rude behavior, but he is her family. Since she is aware of his nasty tongue, she’s also aware of what kind of person he is and what kind of thoughts he had when he chose to say those words.

So, she was unable to fully understand or sympathize with my anger.

She’s saying that now she understands that feeling.

Hmm…no, well. Looks like she got motivated, so I guess it’s okay?

I don’t think she should be too emotional, but when I saw her burning up with fighting spirit, I thought that her condition didn’t seem to be bad.

「E-, a-, a-, can all of you hear me? Yeah, it sounds good. My name is Fellow and I am the organizer of this tournament. I am a Majin. I’m not scary. Please don’t hate me, all of you Adventurers. Just kidding. Thank you for being interested to participate in this occasion-.」

I heard a voice from the speaker.

So he’s Fellow.

The venue is full of Magical Energy. It’s being constantly released, it seemed like it cost quite a lot of money since it prevents the breaking down of Avatars.

Fellow seemed to have a lot to say.

I listened slightly to what he’s saying for a while.

It should end any time now. It came.

「And so, they’re going to fight now with 16 teams. Does that mean that it’s a melee battle? It’s okay to seriously injure them to make them leave the field, so the rule is that the match will end when there are only 5 teams left. Well then, start!」

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