บท 87: Registration

"Uwaa this is really big~ so Haru will fight here huh."

Asami's eyes were glimmering as she looked at the arena of the Tenkaichi Budokai a.k.a the world martial arts tournament.

"Well, I guess it's kind of similar compared to the original story except this is a lot larger."

Haruto nodded sharing the same impression Asami had. The arena was located in the center of the island with chinese-esque design for the building. He didn't know how big it was exactly without looking from above but judging from his sight it was at least more than ten times bigger than a baseball stadium.

From here a large crowd could be seen coming in and out making lines on the entrance. Since the first day he came here, it was only now Haruto could view the various races in this world.

There's dwarves with their short muscular body. Most of them grew a long beard but it's not always the case. He heard that the dwarven race had never given birth to a magician for some reason, so they were a full fighter race with highest strength. Haruto thought the dwarven girls wouldn't be beautiful but it seems he was wrong.

Unlike the men, they're almost similar to a human ignoring the fact of their short body. The tallest among them did not go more than 150 cm.

As for elves...

Haruto couldn't find many of them, even though there's should be at least more than a million people visiting this island from other places, he couldn't spot more than a hundred through this time. He didn't even see any of them in the southern continent.

"Hey Selianna, why is the number of elves so scarce?" He asked.

"You don't know Milord?" She seemed surprised.

"?"

"Haruto-nii, elves are indeed very scarce, their number was not so many and they're not a very open race." Fia said.

The western continent, the territory of elves is an isolated place. It was also the second smallest continent just behind the central continent where's the heart of Eisha'a church lies.

Elves are extremely rare, it was very difficult for the women to produce a child. Thankfully their lifespan was far longer than other race even if they haven't transcend into an immortal. The majority of them would only have one child in their family until the end of their lives, it was very fortunate if they could have two children.

This is especially true for the member of elven royalty, a high elf. It was a very special bloodline and only a high elf woman could produce another high elf, the man cannot.

As long as the woman is a high elf, even if they paired with ordinary elf, the child will have a chance to be a pure high elf. That is why they're ruled by a queen, not a king.

A high elf have extraordinary power, they're a lot stronger and talented compared to ordinary elf whether if they were a fighter or a magician with longer lifespan too.

"Apparently, a high elf would always possessed a beautiful silver hair though it was only a rumor as almost no one ever seen once." Selianna said.

"....Silver hair huh...." Haruto murmured. Inside his mind was the figure of that hooded girl with silver hair.

'Oh, well. It's not like other people could not possess silver hair. Even Zelrigth has one too.' He shrugged. It was too early to draw conclusion.

"Alright, why don't we go inside and get this over quickly? I'm getting hungry too." He said smiling.

The others nodded and they joined the line to enter inside the arena.

....

Two hours later they finally reached the reception to register as participant for the tournament.

"Okay, here's your participant id card, please return three days from now for the qualifiers." The clerk said as he handed the card to Haruto.

"Excuse me but how is the qualifier gonna be?" He asked.

"There's two rounds, the first is the test of strength and the second will be the a battle royale and if you passed these two you will advance to the finals."

"I see, thanks."

He nodded and left the place.

"How is it going?" Kaori asked after he returned to their place.

"Well, it's going to begin on three days so until later, we're free."

"I wanted to participate too...." Fia said dejectedly.

"It can't be helped, it was the emperor that said Haru-kun must participate alone. He didn't want us to cheat by giving up if we met against him in the tournament after all." Rikka smiled wryly.

"Don't be so dejected, we can come again later and you can participate at that time." Haruto stroked Fia's head, consoling her.

"Right, right. Now that we finished our business, let's-"

"Hello ladies over there."

Kaori wanted to invite the group to stroll around the island but another voice came out of nowhere. It was a human man followed by two huge wolfman behind him. His face smelled arrogance earning frowns from the group.

"Who are you?" Asami said furrowing her brows. She did not feel comfortable being around unfamiliar man after all she's been through.

"Oh dear, where's my manners. My name's Doen, a humble merchant came to do business in this island only to see so many beautiful goddesses not losing to the goddess Eisha gathering in here." He bowed while making a 'gentleman' smile.

By now the girls already made a dark face while their expression turned ugly. Did he think they were stupid? This man clearly wanted to hit on them so why he acted like a gentleman when it's obvious his eyes emitted greed. He didn't even pay attention to Haruto who was with them, for him he's not worth looking at all, if it's not arrogance then what is it? Just by this already put their mood to rock bottom.

"Ladies, I'm here to offer some things that would definitely worth your time, if you like why don't yo-"

"Get lost." Rikka said coldly, not allowing him to finish his sentence.

The merchant, Doen's face turned stiff when he heard Rikka tell him to get lost. But he still maintained his smile although it already seem forced by now. To think this girl dares to discard his 'goodwill' just like that? Didn't she know who is he?

"Miss, what I'm trying to offer is something that you will definitely enjoy, there's nothing I can give. Surely it was far better than if you choose me than that man over there."

"Didn't we tell you to get lost already?" Selianna glared at him.

"....Miss please don't try my patience here, I am-"

"If you don't get lost from here in three seconds, I'll cut off one of your arm."

Suddenly, a pressure came from the black haired boy Doen was ignoring ever since the beginning. He shivered as he felt the intimidation the boy radiated on his cold eyes. He couldn't help but sweating profusely, his instinct told him that the boy will really cut off one of his arm if he didn't get away from here.

"....You all will regret this."

Doen gnashed his teeth as his face turned red from anger and glared hatefully at Haruto's group. He humphed and turned his back on them as he left the place with his two followers.

"That kind of guy is really everywhere huh." Haruto sighed. He already encountered similar things countless times before. Well, it couldn't be helped as his party members were attracting too much attention indeed.

"Hmph, we only arrived here yesterday and my mood already destroyed by a pest who can't even read the atmosphere." Kaori pouted, not hiding her displeasure.

"Now, now. Let's ignore that guy and hang out somewhere instead. It's not worth it to get angry because of an insignificant trash." Haruto comforted the group and suggested, they all nodded.

....

"Master, are you sure to let them go just like this?" One of Doen's follower asked with unhappy face.

"Are you idiot!? Of course not! They're gonna pay for humiliating me..." He glared with bloodshot eyes.

"Should we teach him a lesson then?" The other follower said.

"Goddammit, you guys are really fucking idiots!! Can't you feel that boy is not an ordinary guy?! I bet he can beat the two of you in a minute!"

"...."

Two of them turned silent. Doen was right judging from the pressure the black haired boy gave, they're clearly not his match. For a teenage young man to possess such power, they could not help but feel envious and hateful.

"But what should we do then?" They asked.

"Heh, don't worry about it. I already thought of a plan."

"A plan?"

"You guys remember Erick?" Doen asked.

"Erick? If I recall he's..... wait, don't tell me..." The follower pondered for awhile and gasped as he realized Doen's intention.

"That's right. That guy would surely rejoice to know there's supreme beauties nearby. Hehehe, even now I can already see their miserable state once he lay his eyes on them, that man was far more crueler than me. With this I can have a revenge and he would also reward me, maybe I can have a share too once he finished his business with the girls kakaka~ it's really killing three birds with one stone."

He made a sinister face as he licked his lip while the followers began trembling from their fright of their master's wickedness. The two of them was very sure the girls and the boy's were completely doomed. They even felt sympathy as nothing can save them anymore once Doen successfully executed his plan.