Chapter 14

Rina, who had been defeated by me, knelt on the spot, her shoulders trembling.

"......Ugh"

"Ugh?"

"Uwaaaaaaaah!"

Suddenly, a loud cry like a child's.

"Lost again! Uwaaaaaaaah! I tried so hard, but I lost to this guy again! Uwaaaaaaaah!"

Then, as if she had stood up, she ran away at full speed.

"Hmm. It seems I made her cry."

It wasn't the first time I had made a girl cry... I had made my sister cry many times.

"I'm not crying! I'm not crying at all!"

It seemed she had heard my mutterings.

Rina shouted that and then left.

"Who would have thought I would defeat Rina, who is one of the top B-rankers...!? And with that speed...! Are you really an Unemployed...?"

Lilia stood there, dumbfounded.

Then, when she noticed I was watching,

"Welcome to Dragon Fang! We welcome Al to our guild!"

Her smile was as if nothing had happened.

"Quite a change of heart, isn't it?"

"A, ahaha, no, no? I believed in Al from the beginning?"

"Hmm, that's strange. Who was it that shouted, 'It's your fault, you bastard!'?"

"Wasn't it my afterimage?"

Even I can't make an afterimage speak.

"Well, it doesn't matter. We've already signed the contract, anyway."

"That's right, that's right!"

"By the way, what do you mean by losing this base?"

"......W, well, you see..."

When I pressed her, she told me everything about the current situation of the guild.

In short, they are heavily in debt.

If they can't repay it by the end of the month, they will have to hand over this base, which is the collateral.

Moreover, if they lose the base, they will lose their guild status.

Of course, they could move to another base immediately... but with the debt, that's difficult.

Hmm.

Quite a predicament.

"Do you have a way to pay it back?"

"Technically, we plan to participate in the guild tournament in a week. If we win that..."

But to participate, they need at least three members.

"...That's why I was desperately looking for new members."

"So, including me, there are only three of you in this guild, right?"

"Ugh... Y, yes, that's right. ...Dad is in such a state..."

That explains why, despite this large building, we haven't seen anyone else besides us.

"Before, there were many! But after Dad became like that, everyone got fed up and quit one by one..."

"Surprising that he's the only one who stayed, isn't it?"

"R, Rina is a very loyal person. She came to this city when she was about ten and was turned away by every guild. But then, Dad called her and brought her here... She still thanks him for that and said she would stay until the end."

He looks tough, but he's surprisingly principled.

"Well, in that case, it's simple. We just need to win that tournament."

"......Y, yes, that's right."

"What's wrong? You sound pretty pessimistic before the fight even starts."

"N, no! That's not true! ? That's right! Yes! We just need to win! We need to win!"

Her enthusiasm is quite obvious.

"Is the opponent strong?"

"......W, well, technically"

Lilia hesitated a bit before saying,

"Black Blade. ...They are currently said to be the strongest guild in the city."

I see, that place.

The guild that turned me away at the door.

"......And, the opponent probably has a maximum of ten people. On our side, we have three."

The tournament is basically a knockout system.

In other words, we have to defeat their ten people with our three.

"Furthermore, Black Blade has eight A-rank swordsmen."

"What's this A-rank and B-rank you're talking about?"

"To put it simply, it's a grade that represents the strength of individual swordsmen. In large tournaments, the higher the rank, the more likely they are to be exempt from preliminary rounds."

There are four ranks: A, B, C, and D, with A being the highest.

The higher the rank, the fewer the number, and there are only about twenty A-rank swordsmen in the entire city.

They are the ones who reign at the top among the nearly five hundred swordsmen in this city.

Incidentally, Rina and Lilia are B-rank swordsmen.

"I don't think they will bring out all their A-rank swordsmen... But even the non-A-rank members are strong, and there are plenty of B-rank swordsmen who are stronger than us. Of course, that doesn't mean we will lose from the start!"

The day of the guild tournament arrived quickly.

This city has several arenas, and sword fights are held almost every day somewhere.

In addition to battles between swordsmen, there are also battles between swordsmen and monsters, and large-scale group battles.

All of these are betting targets, and our match was no exception.

Because our opponent is the largest guild in the city, it is the main final match.

Thanks to that, the betting amount is said to be quite substantial.