【Source of Strength】【Beast Soul】【Arm Strength Enhancement】

Several instant-cast strength-enhancement spells settled over her without a sound. Aya slowly drew her right fist back, making room to swing.

Huh? Cheating? Miss Tiran never said we weren't allowed to use buffs.

“Mm, I let my guard down.”

Noticing the fluctuations of Magic around Aya, Tiran bit her finger unwillingly.

Then Aya swung her fist and slammed it into the impact disc. She created a string of sonic booms through sheer strength alone, and the resulting gusts were so strong that the onlookers nearby couldn't help raising both hands to shield their faces.

“It does feel a little different. Pretty sturdy.”

Ignoring the spectators around her whose jaws were practically hanging down to the floor, Aya glanced at the disc. The impact had felt like striking an indestructible mountain. Since she'd had time to prepare, that punch had been even fiercer than an ordinary attack during her usual brawls, yet it hadn't moved the machine in the slightest.

So humans really can make something this tough.

Then six stars lit up among the indicator lights above the machine.

“Whoa—!”

Almost every onlooker sucked in a breath and let out a wave of astonishment.

“Well, Miss Tiran, your turn~”

“Tch. I won't give you an opportunity like that next time. No Magic next round!”

The princess emphasized this indignantly before stepping up to the disc.

Even though Tiran's punch, which earned five stars from a girl, was ferocious in its own right, Aya had already set the bar too high. The audience was surprised, but they didn't erupt in the same involuntary amazement as before.

“Aww, I lost.”

Seeing her score, Tiran sighed, then turned toward the owner beside her with an ill-intentioned smile. Rubbing her right index finger and thumb together, she said, “Say, Boss, your rules do say that whoever hits five stars or more gets to take the prize pool, right?”

It cost five copper coins to play each round. The price wasn't high, but considering that this stall was one of the most popular attractions even at a festival this lively, seventy percent of the prize pool was still a considerable windfall.

“Oh, of course. Rules are rules.”

Unexpectedly, the owner was remarkably straightforward about it. He had none of the cheating or stalling Tiran had suspected might happen.

Then the owner took a money pouch from the counter below and handed it to Aya.

“Why are they all copper coins?”

Both Aya and Tiran were a little surprised.

Not only was the pouch smaller than expected, the coins inside weren't gold coins either, but copper—the lowest-value currency. Judging by its weight, there were at most a few hundred copper coins inside, which converted to only a few gold coins.

“Hey, Boss, is that really all that's accumulated in the prize pool for the entire day? Don't try to cheat us. You said it yourself—rules are rules.”

Tiran immediately refused to let it go. Lulu wa, Lulu da—did he really think she was an idiot?

“Miss, I haven't shortchanged you.”

The owner remained perfectly calm. “If you don't believe me, you can check the machine's records or ask any of the customers who've been here since this afternoon. Just a few minutes ago, another customer achieved a qualifying score. The entire prize pool accumulated today is in that person's hands.”

“Huh?!”

Neither Tiran nor Aya had expected that someone else could score more than five stars.

When they pulled up the data recorded by the machine, the two of them could only stare at each other in bewilderment.

S-seven stars?!

Wasn't that cheating? Aya had only managed six stars with the strength of a Golden Dragon and several spells enhancing her. What kind of monster-level punching power did seven stars require? How could a resort town have a master like that?

Yet when they asked the customers nearby, quite a few of the spectators—clearly hardcore training enthusiasts—confirmed that the score was genuine. The person in question also looked completely ordinary, without so much as a hint of muscle.

“Did we just run into a real expert...?”

Tiran let out a helpless sigh.

“Could that guy Kongming have slipped out to play again instead of staying in the Devildom and properly acting as its Demon King?”

Thinking carefully about everyone they knew, the only person who might be capable of reaching this level through pure strength and also happen to be here seemed to be that Silvis VI.

Their plan to win the prize money had fallen through due to an unexpected turn of events, but the competition still had to continue.

“What should we compete in for the second round?”

“How about that?”

Aya pointed toward the distance.

It was an outward-jutting section of the seawall. They hadn't paid much attention when passing by earlier, but now that night had fallen and the lights were on, they realized there was a small game stall there as well.

“Oh, archery? This one's good!”

The archery challenge had likewise been made more difficult because of the expert marksmen among adventurers. Not only had the distance been increased, the targets had also been changed into buoy targets anchored in place with iron weights out on the sea. They wouldn't drift away, but the rolling waves and shifting wind direction alone were enough to make things extremely difficult.

So when Aya took the longbow at the shooting position, she regretted choosing this game.

Seriously, does a hundred meters really look this far?! Are you messing with me?

Thinking about it carefully, she usually fought with close-range punches or wide-area Magic bombardment. She'd barely practiced the technical art of archery at all. Although the Dragon race's eyesight let her see the target perfectly clearly, seeing it didn't mean she could hit it. Wind speed, wind direction, and the distance the arrows would naturally drop all required experience and calculation. Not missing the target entirely would already be a blessing.

“Aya, it looks like this game has a prize pool too.”

“Huh? Really?”

Aya looked at Tiran in surprise, only to turn her head and see the princess already raising the longbow in a practiced, graceful stance. With an easy expression, she fired five arrows in succession at the target bobbing up and down with the waves.

“Forty-nine points!” The worker who had taken a small boat out to retrieve the arrows announced the result as he returned the feathered arrows.

Four arrows had scored ten points. The only one that had gone slightly off had been forced toward the boundary between nine and ten because the bull's-eye was already filled by the heads of the other four arrows. In reality, shouldn't that count as nine and a half?

Damn it, I'm going all in!

If Tiran had already finished, then dawdling around would only get Aya mocked again. She might as well bet on a miracle through sheer force.

Don't underestimate a Golden Dragon, aaahhhh!

Aya screamed this in her heart as the arrowhead tore through the air with a sharp whistle—

“Er... ten points.”

“...”

“Pfft—hahahaha! Aya, why didn't you shoot the other four arrows?”

The princess covered her mouth and desperately tried to hold back her laughter, but she couldn't keep it in. Five arrows, ten points total—averaged out, Aya had just barely managed not to miss the target entirely.

“I told you, I've never practiced archery! More importantly, how can you shoot so accurately?”

“You have to be kidding. Mounted archery is a compulsory subject for the royal family. You saw me practicing it in the royal capital before New Year's, didn't you?”

Tiran laughed with extraordinary smugness.