Side Story 4: The Isolated Island 02

A young man suddenly burst into the room and reported to Gekkou in a panic. He seemed so flustered that he didn’t even notice Fran.

「You speak in front of our guests! Calm down!」

「Eh? Ah! I-I apologize!」

「So you say that Genba accepted the promotion match? Even though we strictly prohibited matches between high-ranking members while Chiyo and Sayuri were away?」

「Apparently, he couldn’t hold himself back when Ouri taunted him…」

「That damn geezer! No matter how old he gets, he never stops being a child!」

Promotion match? Judging from the atmosphere, I guess that’s must be different from an ordinary mock battle.

Gekkou clearly wanted to rush over immediately, but there was hesitation on his face. He probably didn’t want to offend Rengill and Fran.

『It sounds like you should go stop them, right?』

「But I can’t simply abandon such important guests…」

『Then take Fran with you. I’m sure she’s interested in seeing your training grounds. Right?』

「Nn.」

「Meanwhile, I will return to the ship and help unload the cargo, so don’t worry about me.」

Understanding the consideration from Fran and Rengill, Gekkou stood up and offered a deep bow.

「Then let us hurry to the training grounds. I shall go on ahead.」

「R-Right!」

The young man who rushed in looked at Fran with sparkling eyes. He apparently knew that a Rank S Adventurer was coming, so it wasn’t hard to figure out her identity.

Unfortunately for him, he was quickly left in the dust. He must not be that strong, as he couldn’t keep up with Gekkou’s running speed at all.

Is this guy seriously just a civil servant? If an old guy ran this fast on Earth, he would get turned into an urban legend similar to the “Turbo Granny”.

Well, to Fran, it was just jogging with a bit of extra effort.

「Hey, what’s a promotion match?」

「Hmm. I’ve already explained how we are an island of martial artists, yes?」

「Nn.」

「Our strongest are assigned rankings from 1 to 100, and they can challenge those with higher ranking to take their position. Such battles are called promotion matches.」

So they have rankings here? I guess it’s basic instinct for martial artists to compete over who is stronger, so perhaps the formulation of a ranking system is the natural outcome.

「That said, those with higher rankings are not given much in terms of privileges.」

「Really?」

「They are merely a guideline for measuring strength, you see. No one can win forever, so the rankings change on a daily basis. Besides, many of the upper echelons are completely useless outside of fighting. Allowing them any political power would throw the island into chaos.」

That makes a lot of sense. You can’t expect a bunch of muscle-brained guys obsessed with fighting to run a competent government.

「They wouldn’t want to waste their training time at a desk job either. Thus, the only real benefit of a high rank is the right to stand above those with lower ranks. For martial artists, however, that is enough.」

「I see. But why are you worried about a promotion match now? Doesn’t this happen all the time?」

「The problem is that our two best healers are currently busy exploring the dungeon. Without them, we may not be able to heal the fighters if they suffer a serious injury.」

「There’s a dungeon here?」

「Indeed. We have a dungeon called the Cave of Tempering, primarily inhabited by golems.」

Since they call themselves an island of martial artists, I imagine most of them are focused on melee combat. In which case, a dungeon full of golems sounded like it would be quite difficult.

「Can I go in there too?」

「It is not something we keep secret, so as long as you promise not to destroy the core, I have no objections.」

「We’re not allowed to conquer it?」

「That is our agreement with the Dungeon Master. We do not conquer the dungeon, and in return, they do not cause a stampede. Those are the terms.」

I guess they have a mutually beneficial relationship with the dungeon here, much like the one in Ulmutt. However, Gekkou quickly put on a wry smile.

「Well, even without such an agreement, we wouldn’t be capable of conquering it completely.」

Surprisingly, only one person in the past ever reached the deepest level, and that person was the one who formed an agreement with the Dungeon Master.

Nowadays, none of them could even reach Floor 45, much less the deepest level, Floor 50.

「Our dungeon party is not currently trying to advance their record. Their goal is to obtain magical metals for exporting. However, even our strongest members cannot afford to let their guard down against an Orichalcum Golem, which is why we sent our best healers with them.」

These promotion matches must be way more serious than a normal mock battle. The absence of skilled healers can be a matter of life or death.

「I can use Restoration Magic.」

「Truly?! Pardon me for asking, but to what extent? Can you reattach a severed arm?」

『With enough mana, we can even regrow missing limbs.』

「Oh! As impressive as always! In that case, may we ask for your assistance in case the worst comes to pass?」

「Nn.」

『Leave it to us.』

We ran through a forest during our conversation, and eventually, a large building came into view. It was shaped like a colosseum, except made out of wood.

There was a fairly large village next to it. Well, I say “village” because of how plain the buildings looked, but you could probably call it a town in terms of size.

Everything was made out of wood and devoid of unnecessary decoration, so it all looked incredibly bland.

「Is that the place?」

「Indeed. Our training grounds are the central area within that building. That is where we conduct mock battles and the like.」

After entering the building and proceeding farther inside, we saw a large crowd of people gathered in front of the entrance to the training grounds.

They looked like normal villagers at first glance, but I quickly realized that their muscles were as developed as any warrior. Not to mention how every single one of them carried a weapon.

「Coming through! Move aside!」

「Gekkou-sama!」

「The promotion match has already started!」

「I know!」

It was obvious that a fierce battle took place up ahead. After all, the shrill metallic clang of weapons colliding rang throughout the area.

Fran and Gekkou made their way through the crowd and rushed into the training grounds.

「Urooooooooooogh!」

「I’ve already seen through all your moves!」

There, we found a young man and an old man engaged in battle, repeatedly smashing their weapons against each other.

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