LAIKA ENTERED A TOURNAMENT
“Ei! Ya! Tah!”
“Ha! Hei! Yah!”
The yells were coming from Fighsly and Laika. They weren’t participating in a festival or anything, and they weren’t making mochi, either; they were fighting in front of the house in the highlands.
Fighsly had come because Laika had asked for help with practice, like a private lesson for a big sumo tournament.
They both were dealing out kicks and punches, blocking when necessary. It was pretty interesting, even for martial arts training.
Flatorte, Sandra, and I were watching them.
“Hmm. Not bad. But they’re too soft. I, the great Flatorte, would use my tail to attack there.”
Well, unlike you, Laika doesn’t have a tail in her human form…
“Animals certainly are savage. Plants are peaceful. We would never hold a sword or set fire to anything.”
Stop discriminating against animals. Still, it’d be terrifying if plants attacked us with swords or set fire to my house.
“Here we go, then. Fighsly-style slime fist, hidden move! Low power kick!”
Fighsly repeatedly kicked at Laika’s feet as she crouched low.
But wasn’t this kind of plain for a hidden move…?
“Oh no! She got me!”
Laika couldn’t get out of the way in time, and her feet took the blow! Once the attacks knocked her off balance, Fighsly kicked her up into the air.
“And again, low power kick!”
“Ah! She’s attacking me again in the air!”
Just as Laika was finished flying through the air and was about to hit the ground again, there came another low power kick, and her body rose up into the air again.
And another low power kick while she couldn’t defend!
“What do you think?! Once you disrupt your opponent’s balance, you can continually charge them by chaining attacks that keep them off balance! This is the hidden move of Fighsly-style slime fist! Repeated low power kicks!”
“What is this, some kind of stunlock?!”
That was just mean! But she certainly was able to keep attacking Laika, so maybe it was effective!
“Oh, Fighsly. Winning competitions is the one thing she pours her heart and soul into. She’s a woman who’s made her way through life with her own fists.”
Flatorte was looking at her rather approvingly. Well, Fighsly’s job is fighting; of course she’d be particular about winning.
“There’s a big fighting tournament coming up soon! I have to get even stronger so that I might win and earn the thirty million gold in prize money!”
You don’t have to mention how much the prize is!
“Also, it costs five thousand gold to enter.”
More money talk!
But Laika wasn’t your average girl, either. I mean, you could tell that just from the fact that she was sparring, but anyway.
Even caught in a stunlock, she slowly readjusted her stance—and blew flames from her mouth.
“Counterattack! Bwaaaaaaaaaaah!”
This was a red dragon at her best! Even in her human form, Laika could use fire.
“Ahhh! Fire is against the rules!”
The flames reached Fighsly, and she frantically rolled around the highlands to put the fire out.
Sandra yelled, “Fire! Ahhh, I’m scared!” and hid in the ground. Fire was apparently terrifying to a plant.
“Er, are you all right? I don’t believe the flames were strong enough to cause serious burns.”
“Yes, they’re not serious, so I can put them out quickly…,” Fighsly said, still rolling.
I could use healing magic, but it wasn’t bad enough for me to use it. They were both pretty skilled, so they knew how to pull their punches.
But something unusual happened.
As she was rolling around, Fighsly’s body bent in a weird way, and I could hear a crack!
The highlands weren’t totally flat—what did she hurt?
Then, in the next moment, Fighsly had transformed into a slime, emerald green and twice the size of a normal slime.
“Shoot…I twisted wrong…and turned into my slime form…”
The slime was talking, so it was definitely Fighsly.
That’s when I remembered that, at the end of the day, she was just a slime. Her name, Fighsly, came from Fighsli, short for Fighter Slime. It was very simple, but as she was the only slime who was also a fighter, there was no risk of running into someone else with the same name.
“Well, it sure has been a while since I’ve been a slime. I suppose I’ll turn back into my human form now— Hmm?”
The emerald-green slime didn’t budge at all; it seemed she was having some sort of trouble.
“Huh? Whaaat…? Oh, I hurt myself. I guess I hurt myself… I hurt my back…”
I wasn’t sure what part of the slime was supposed to be the back, but it sounded like she injured herself.
“Aw, crap… The tournament’s soon, though… I cannot return to my human form because I hurt my back… What should I do…? It’ll take almost two weeks for me to heal completely…but the tournament’s in five days…”
“I guess transforming into your human form is related to that characteristic of your body.”
I approached slime-Fighsly.
“This is bad… I’m gonna lose so much income if I can’t enter this tournament… That’s really what I want to avoid…”
“Come on, say something like I’m so upset I can’t participate in the tournament instead!”
This athlete (?) was being too open about her salary!
“I’m sorry. This is all because of my fire…” Laika was crestfallen, apparently believing she was responsible.
Of course, this was an injury that happened during practice, so she wasn’t at fault here. But whether it be in boxing or in pro wrestling, any fighter who gravely injured their opponent would worry about it.
“No…I mis-rolled, so it’s my problem… Fighters do get hurt in their work, after all.” Fighsly was levelheaded when it came to these things.
“But like you said, Fighsly, it’s a real shame you can’t enter a competition with such a big cash prize,” I said.
“No, I am not the sort to call it a loss that easily,” Fighsly the slime said. “I will absolutely enter!”
“Could you press on your wound and turn back into a human or something…?”
“No, I will enter as a slime!” Fighsly declared.
“““Whaaaaaat?!”””
We all yelled at the same time.
“That’s not possible… I mean, there’s no way a slime could enter a tournament…”
“Nowhere in the entry conditions does it say that slimes cannot enter. According to the rules, it is allowed!”
“Right, but…a talking slime on its own is already super rare, so you might catch the attention of some weirdos… You’re not telling everyone that your true form is a slime, are you…?”
“R-right…” The slime shifted slightly. Maybe that meant she was tilting her head or something? “I tell people that the Fighsly-style slime fist was developed from the movements of a slime, but I don’t think it would be good for them to see my slime form and realize I’m a monster… Someone might try to kill me if I wander around town…”
It would be difficult to enter the tournament as a slime, after all. She might not even get permission in the first place.
“Oooh, but thirty million. Thirty million, thirty million… I want thirty million gold…” She seemed really reluctant to let that go! “I want five quadrillion gold, if I can swing it…”
I think that’s asking a little too much.
“I’ve got it! I will help you!” Laika placed her hand on her chest and stood before Fighsly. “I will join the fighting tournament with you, Miss Fighsly, as Laika the Slime-Mancer! Some people work as falconers, so I don’t think that would be so odd!”
“Yes! Thank you!” Fighsly bounced in place—probably an expression of happiness.
“Indeed, I think you could get permission to join that way. And Fighsly in her slime form could do all the fighting.” Flatorte seemed to think rather highly of this plan.
“Yes. I would be nothing but a means for you to join the fight, so I have no intentions of fighting anyone directly. And if I were to earnestly fight, then we would be entering together, which isn’t—”
“No, I want the money, so if I end up in trouble, please fight with me, Laika.”
You’re so cheap, Fighsly…
And so Laika and slime-Fighsly entered the fighting tournament together.
I was like Laika’s guardian, so I came along. Flatorte also wanted to see what was going to happen with Laika or something like that, so she came, too.
We couldn’t have Fighsly getting attacked by adventurers, so we decided to put her on Laika’s back.
“Hey, that girl has a slime on her.”
“Is it her pet?”
“I bet it feels nice and cool.”
We drew a lot of attention walking around town… Well, there weren’t a lot of people who went around with slimes.
“Registration for the tournament is taking place at the local guild. Please go there,” Fighsly said, quietly enough that no one around us could hear her. There wasn’t much precedent for a talking slime.
“Understood. Signing up should be possible as long as I’m here,” Laika said.
We got odd looks in the guild as well, but registration went without a problem.
“Er, people sometimes get gravely wounded at these things; are you sure about this, miss? Well, you are a dragon, so maybe you’ll be okay.”
“Yes. I will fight with my whole body and spirit as a slime-mancer.”
“Slime-mancer… I’ve never really heard of that job before. Even if you’re all right, are you sure your slime won’t get hurt…?”
“I spent many years raising this slime; it is the finest of its kind. It is a cut above all those other slimes.”
“Yes, but…it’s still a slime. This is different from wild-animal taming; are you sure it’s that strong…?”
“Of course it is. There’s no need to worry.”
The receptionist was still skeptical, but Laika and Fighsly got permission to join.
When they registered, Laika and Fighsly went straight for the arena.
This tournament also started with qualifying rounds. There were so many participants that they had to win three times in a round-robin in order to enter the tournament proper.
Flatorte and I sat in the arena stands, which were empty for the prelims.
“By the way, Mistress,” the blue dragon said, “how does she fight in her slime form? She can’t kick and punch like that, can she?”
“I was wondering the same thing, actually.”
Laika and Fighsly hadn’t really done any special training ever since Fighsly had turned into a slime, so we hadn’t seen how she would fight in her slime form.
“Well, she calls herself a Fighter Slime, so she can probably fight well enough. At least she wasn’t a human fighter that turned into a slime.”
Laika the Slime-Mancer’s first opponent was a bald, muscly guy, one who certainly looked like a fighter.
This is just like the tournament I entered—does nobody have hair at these things?
“My opponent is a girl…and a slime. If this is a joke, then just go home. When you cross paths with me, successor of the Erto Diamond Fist, your bones will break.”
He was really hamming it up with that fancy name, but I’d never heard of it before.
“I would like to fight fair and square as a slime-mancer. If you please!” Laika was polite, as always. She bowed lightly.
The referee yelled, “Begin!”
Fighsly leaped from Laika’s arm.
“Taste the slime-mancer’s hidden move!” As Laika offered a helpful explanation, Fighsly hopped toward their enemy, and—
A part of her body extended, lashing at the enemy’s feet like a whip. Maybe that was one of her attacking techniques.
The enemy lost his balance and staggered, while the slime whipped at him again!
Their opponent sailed through the air.
Just as he was about to hit the ground, she attacked him again!
And again while he was still defenseless!
“I knew it! This really is stunlocking!”
Their opponent was rendered completely unable to fight, receiving a constant barrage of low attacks while he was staggered, and the first round of preliminaries ended with an overwhelming victory for Laika the Slime-Mancer.
Fighsly bounded over and leaped onto Laika’s chest, and the referee announced Laika’s victory.
“Mistress, could you call that a fair and square fight…?” Flatorte commented.
“She’s using all her might to defeat the enemy, so maybe it’s the right way to do it for a pro…I guess?”
The next two preliminary fights went the same way—Fighsly attacking low, then knocking them in the air, and then attacking them repeatedly in the meantime. Same strategy.
By the third fight, it was obvious how they were going to attack. The opponent crouched down at the start to brace for it, but—
“Urgh…I don’t even know where a slime’s feet are! It’s impossible to read!”
Yeah, you’re not wrong… Do they even have the concept of feet? I guess Fighsly hurt her back, so maybe she has feet, too.
With no way to guard against it, their opponent easily fell prey to the low power kick (or the slime-form equivalent).
“What’s up with this fighter…?”
“I’ve never seen a type like that before…”
“Is this the birth of a new star?”
All the big fighting tournament fans sat in the stands, talking among themselves.
Her style was to do none of the fighting herself and let the slime do all the work. She probably wasn’t a fighter.
We met up afterward, and Fighsly seemed to be in pretty high spirits—she was bouncing around everywhere, but she didn’t really talk in front of others.
“Fighsly says, Today I managed some really solid slime-like attacks and got to push forward without giving an inch or taking a break. I want to keep this up for tomorrow.”
Laika ended up interpreting for her.
“Not sure those were slime-like attacks… Oh, by the way, what do you want to do about dinner? You can’t eat normal food when you’re a slime, right?”
“Fighsly said earlier, I want to go to sleep early today so I can be in top shape for tomorrow. I’m just gonna give every fight my all.”
“Sounds nice on paper, but when you say that as a slime, it’s not very convincing…”
We went to our room at the inn and left slime-Fighsly there, then went out to eat.
Fighsly apparently absorbed some nutrients from the dust in the room and the sand on the side of the road. Making her eat that in her human form would basically amount to abuse, but she was doing it on her own, so I guess there was no cause for concern. She started out as a slime anyway, so there wasn’t much for us to oppose.
I wasn’t particularly nervous, since I was partially an outsider, so I slept normally in my bed at the inn. I couldn’t really tell if slime-Fighsly was too nervous to sleep. She was used to entering tournaments, though, so she was probably fine.
And then came the day of the tournament.
It was a thirty-two-participant tournament. The stands were packed that day.
For most of these people, this would be their first time seeing a slime-mancer.
When Laika, our ad hoc “slime-mancer,” entered the battlefield, conversation rippled through the arena.
“What the heck is that…?”
“Hello? That’s a slime…”
“Maybe the slime is the real body, and she’ll keep coming back to life unless you defeat it?”
Nah, she wasn’t a boss character or anything like that.
Fighsly was just as merciless in the tournament today, too.
She would create these protrusions—I wasn’t sure whether to call them tentacles or whips or what—then attack low over and over, then really go in once they were off their balance.
I’m sure people would hate her if this were some kind of fighting game, but it was the right strategy for someone who wanted to win. There was no way she could lose like this.
Laika also stood behind her, arms crossed and watching Fighsly intensely, like the coach of an Olympic athlete. Well, I guess a slime having a coach was a little weird, but that’s the image that came to mind.
“What is she anyway?”
“She has horns, so maybe a dragon?”
“Then wouldn’t she be stronger if she fought on her own?”
Yep, she absolutely would.
Regardless, Laika didn’t feel like testing out her strength in this tournament. In terms of raw power, all of the contestants combined would be no match for Laika if she got serious. I mean, she was a dragon…
Anyway, this was the main event, and a fighter who could withstand Fighsly’s attacks finally appeared.
They were up against a short dwarf.
“Heh! Guardin’ me legs is child’s play, lass!”
The dwarf was small, so of course it would be easy for him to guard his feet. He was smacking away Fighsly’s whiplike attacks with his hairy hands.
“Wonder how Fighsly’s gonna get out of this one,” Flatorte commented…well, flatly as she watched the match. “Show us what you can do, Fighsly.”
Laika seemed a little worried as well, but it was Fighsly doing all the fighting.
Then Fighsly took one of her slime whips and stretched out as far as she could. She swung around right behind the dwarf and then repeatedly low kicked him from behind.
“Ah cannae believe this!” the dwarf yelled, and I understood how he felt. It was hard to imagine her body could stretch that much…
And once she threw him off balance, all she did was low kick him over and over again.
Once the dwarf announced he was giving up, he was released.
“That slime-mancer is cruel…”
“She’s not thinking about anything but winning fights…”
“It’s fine according to the rules, but, y’know…”
“She’s a demon for victory…”
“She sure is ruthless for someone so cute…”
Was Laika’s reputation getting worse?! Well, it wasn’t like this was being broadcast on national TV, so it wouldn’t have that much of an effect. But I don’t know…
“Mistress, you seem worried that everyone will think less of Laika, but you don’t have to worry about it,” Flatorte said to calm me down. “See, even if Laika entered the tournament alone, she would fight just as thoroughly as that. I believe her strategy might be different, but she would never go easy just for the sake of popularity. I’m sure she would be overjoyed to be called a demon for victory.”
“Oh…”
Now that she mentioned it, she was right. At the end of the day, Laika had very sharp senses. Her biggest goal was to better herself, and how others saw her was of secondary importance. Even if Laika were a real slime-mancer giving out attack orders, I’m sure she’d do the same thing.
“Man, you have a good read on Laika, Flatorte. You are both dragons, after all,” I said.
Flatorte looked away awkwardly. “Laika is just simple…”
Even Flatorte tried to hide her feelings sometimes; it warmed my heart.
Laika, the mysterious slime-mancer who was a nobody before this tournament (because she didn’t exist to begin with), won her battles without incident and finally came to the finals bracket.
She must have gotten more popular as she won, because I could hear people yelling, “You can do it, Laika!” These were mostly guys.
It seemed that she was getting people’s attention not just because she was a ruthless slime-mancer, but also because she was a beautiful young woman.
Now that they were at the finals, the fair-weather fans started praising her stunlock.
“I love how calm and collected she is.”
“She’s not breaking any rules. It makes no sense to complain about that.”
My worry about her reputation disappeared, too.
I guess at the end of the day, her cuteness won out for everyone of all ages and places. If the slime-mancer were a ruthless human whose appearance alone gave people chills, then their reputation would definitely suffer.
“I bet Fighsly’s overjoyed right now knowing she’s guaranteed at least second place. She’ll get a lot of prize money for this,” Flatorte remarked, munching on some fried chicken she’d bought at one of the shops.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of money even in second place.”
“But that carelessness can cost you the fight, and any opponent in the finals is going to have some skill.”
It would be pretty boring if they won the whole thing using a stunlock.
Then it was time for the finals.
Laika’s—or rather—Fighsly’s opponent was a knight wearing full plate armor.
“My name is Domremy, the strongest swordsman of this province, known as the Bloodied Plate! A slime’s attacks are powerless before such a valuable set of armor! I shan’t fall over, either! Even if I do, the weight of the plate will prevent your low blows from keeping me in the air! Therefore, you will not be able to lift me up in the air with your kick-me-off-balance-then-kick-me-into-the-air-while-I-am-defenseless combination attack!”
People in the audience were murmuring to each other.
“Oh yeah, he’s fine as long as he doesn’t fall over.”
“I guess the slime-mancer’s in trouble now.”
I mean, I doubt the stunlock is her only move.
“Additionally, it is against the rules to use bladed weapons against any of the participants in this tournament, but any kind of attack is permitted to a nonparticipant! This means I will attack this slime not with a wooden sword but with a steel one! How about it?! What a plight you must be in now!”
Urgh… If Fighsly doesn’t handle this well, she’ll end up seriously injured…
“Now what will Fighsly do?” Flatorte mused.
“Fighsly’s still a fighter at heart. She probably has no choice but to just keep punching and kicking. I don’t think her fundamentals will change.”
It really felt like those low kicks of hers were dominating the field, but at its core, she was winning these fights because her kicks were dealing damage to her enemies, so that had to be the result of skills she had tempered in her daily training.
“I think Fighsly fought properly in the tournament that I entered, and she even said she wanted to be my apprentice, so she is a serious fighter,” I said. “She talks too much about money, though.”
“Which means we’ll finally get to see Fighsly’s true qualities as a fighter. I’ll keep a close watch on what happens, then.”
Right—we hadn’t really seen what she was capable of yet. This was a good chance to see how much stronger Fighsly had gotten after Beelzebub took her under her wing.
While Domremy the swordsman was the talkative type, both Laika and Fighsly stayed silent. Laika’s arms were folded, as they had been this whole time. Maybe they already knew exactly what they were doing.
The referee announced the start of the match.
Fighsly hopped closer to the armored swordsman.
The way she moved around looked kind of silly, but this was her way of charging into battle.
Everyone was holding their breath, watching, wondering if this was going to be an intense fight.
“Slime-mancer, apologies, but I am going to slice your slime right in half! Hiyaaaaah!” Domremy the armored swordsman brought his sword down.
Boiiiiing.
With a rather weak-sounding noise, slime-Fighsly hopped again and avoided the attack.
Or not, as it turned out. Instead, she went straight for the armor.
“A charge attack! I knew you were a fighter!” I called.
But something was odd about this. The slime’s body slithered between the gaps of the armor to get inside.
“Wh—what…? What…is this…?”
Once the slime completely disappeared from view, the armored knight reacted with obvious pain. “Rgh…I can’t…breathe… Aaagggghhhhh…” And he flopped over.
Then slime-Fighsly, who had changed herself into a slithery form, wriggled out from between the gaps in the armor.
The referee announced Laika’s victory in total shock, and the arena erupted into cheers.
“I see. Fighsly probably clung fast to the knight’s face and made it difficult for him to breathe. What a fantastic strategy.” Flatorte was acting impressed, but it didn’t sit right with me.
“That wasn’t even a fight!”
Ten days later, after returning to her human form, Fighsly came to visit the house in the highlands wearing rather expensive-looking clothes, along with some very expensive-looking furs around her neck.
“My, you really helped me out, Miss Laika. My wealth is all thanks to you. Oh, here—this is only a small token of my gratitude, but it’s a spoon set of pure silver. Take it, if you’d like. Oh-ho-ho~”
“You sure are worldly for a fighter!”
Laika, on the other hand, was as serious as she always was. “Miss Fighsly, would you train with me again soon?”
“Sigh, but I brought an expensive fruit basket. Why don’t we have some with a spot of tea? We can practice afterward, five minutes or so.”
No! Nobody seeking the way of the warrior would act like this!
“I have a saying: Seek money, for it will bring you power.”
“I know you’re saying it to sound cool, but you’re the actual worst!”
If Laika ever tried to become Fighsly’s apprentice, I would have to stop her with everything I had…
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