My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

"Still, your movements are amazing!"

"Yeah! Fight me too!"

"Me too!"

A common trait of the Beastmen is their love of fighting, but I didn't expect them to crowd around me like this.

"Al-alright. Come at me however many you want."

When I said that, the soldiers cheered.

I wondered if this counted as a private fight.

Maybe it's fine because a man who looked clearly high-ranking was watching?

Four soldiers climbed onto a stage three steps high, the rest were chattering excitedly.

"Then, the judge will be Captain Toma of the 55th Company! Whoever makes Oda here surrender gets my prized sake!! Give it your all!"

"Whoa!! Generous, Captain!!"

"Then we're next!!"

Somehow there were prizes now, and with that the number of participants seemed to be steadily increasing.

If we don't get back before dark we'll be sleeping out tonight.

I glanced up at the balcony on the second floor, expecting someone to stop this, but neither the king nor Ria nor Amelia were there.

I desperately wanted their presence just to watch.

"Begin!!"

At the signal I used presence concealment.

This is a hassle — better to finish it quickly.

"Hey, where'd he go!?"

"Is it a skill!?"

"Anyone got 'perception'!?"

I slipped between soldiers wildly swinging their weapons and crept up behind the man who clearly had the highest stats among them.

"—!?"

I delivered a rear neck strike — the so-called throat cut — and he dropped unconscious before he could even cry out.

"Whoa! Captain Gen goes down early! Taken out before he could even shout!! Three left!! Who will take his head!? Somebody get Gen out so no one else gets dragged in!"

There was commentary now too; the courtyard erupted with excitement.

Next I smashed the pommel of my dagger into the epigastrium of the man with the second-highest stats.

He groaned and collapsed.

"Now Adorf squad leader is out!! Two remain!!"

Time to lift presence concealment.

With the crowd this excited, staying invisible from start to finish would be boring for them.

"Oh! Oda has revealed himself now! Go for it!!"

The commentator wasn't neutral at all.

Well, as long as the judge was impartial it's fine.

"I bear you no grudge, but—"

"I'll take that head!!"

The remaining two started to coordinate as if they'd planned it.

If it's down to the last two, that was to be expected.

"Sorry about that."

I dodged both attacks without trouble, then struck each of their napes in turn. They froze for a moment like in a movie duel, then crumpled to the ground.

So that move actually works. I always thought it was staged.

"Until then! Winner: Oda!!"

Maybe thanks to Amelia's scolding that made me get used to checking stats, planning the fight felt easy.

Still, if I kept it on for long or my gaze shifted to other things, the overload of visual information gave me a headache.

I need to watch the duration, but it's good to know I can use it in combat.

The two knocked-out soldiers were dragged away, and five more climbed up in their place. I sighed when I saw the line of soldiers waiting excitedly for their turn.

There were a lot of questions I wanted to ask King Igusamu, but would we even finish by evening?

"Akira, will we make it in time?"

"...I don't know."

After that, every soldier who challenged me was left with some bruises and out cold.

I shook off the high-ranking officers who wanted to drag the unbeaten me to a drinking party and met up with Amelia.

No matter how many times I said I was underage, they seemed not to have that concept and just tilted their heads, so I said our species can't drink alcohol and they accepted it.

If not for that, we'd have left the royal castle sooner.

By the way, the sun was already half-set.

The ship was slow.

We'd borrowed a royal vessel and were cruising down the middle of the canal at leisure, but would we make it?

"We didn't really get to date much, did we."

I had decided to spoil Amelia today.

Sinking into a sofa that could ruin a person, Amelia smiled and shook her head.

"It's been a while since I've seen you fight, Akira."

Is that so? I tilted my head.

Before coming to Uruk I mainly entered contests and only tended to the night blade god — I hadn't really shown my fighting side.