Arena Owner Gonius Teslard

‘Uh, we’ll be taking a short break before the final match.’

The announcer informed the entire venue.

Otherwise, Nick would have had to fight another match immediately afterward.

They had probably decided to give him a proper break first.

We also left our seats to get something to drink.

After heading down the stairs and entering the lobby, we found Nick sitting on a sofa while a young priest cast Healing Magic on him.

There was also a tray on the table containing drinks, stamina-restoration potions, and mana-restoration potions.

I was pretty sure there was a waiting room reserved for competitors… Ah, maybe that was it. Perhaps he just didn’t want to be in the same room as the Hero.

It would’ve been nice if they had private rooms instead of one large shared room.

There happened to be a door right beside me. Even a small room like this would’ve been more convenient if it were private… I casually opened the door, only to find a storage room filled with cleaning supplies and the like.

My apologies. I’d accidentally peeked behind the scenes. Good children shouldn’t open random doors without permission.

The moment I shut the door with a click, I felt countless gazes on me and flinched.

When I turned around, a whole group of children were staring at me with sparkling eyes.

“It’s Mr. Bear!”

“It’s a huge bear!”

“Yay! Shake my hand!”

“Me too! Shake mine!”

“Mr. Bear, me too! Me too!”

I had gotten caught by a swarm of children.

After somehow dealing with them, I bought some salted fruit water from a concession stand, then took off the bear head at the emergency stairwell landing from earlier.

I gulped down the fruit water I’d bought beforehand in one go.

Yuri cast cooling magic on me while wiping the sweat from my forehead with a handkerchief.

“Roy, don’t you look kind of exhausted?”

“Those kids mobbed me for handshakes earlier.”

“Mr. Bear really is popular with children.”

Yuri giggled in amusement.

You were pretty popular with young men yourself, though.

I wondered how many bastards were sending passionate looks your way.

“But Roy, weren’t places like this not really your thing? Should we head home soon?”

“It’s not that I’m bad with places like this. The costume’s just hot, that’s all. Since we’re already here, let’s at least watch the final match.”

“If you’re not forcing yourself. I’m interested in the next match too.”

Of course she was. The next match was the final.

The Hero versus the great hero.

After sitting on the emergency stairs and resting for about ten minutes, we walked through the corridor to return to our seats.

But halfway there, we had to stop.

Someone was standing there as though blocking our path.

He was probably one of the littlefolk.

He wasn’t even a hundred centimeters tall, and his body was round like a ball.

He sharply raised one hand in greeting.

“Ciao.”

It would’ve been rude to ignore someone who greeted us, so I also raised a hand sharply while still wearing the bear costume and replied, “Ciao.”

The little man tilted his head and asked me a question.

“You’re the B-rank adventurer Mr. Bear, right?”

“Uh… yes… I’m surprised you know that.”

“The children in the venue were talking about you. You’re incredibly popular.”

Popular… If they knew there was just some unremarkable middle-aged B-rank adventurer inside this costume, I doubted I’d be nearly as popular.

Judging from the hulking guards standing behind the little man, he had to be someone important.

He placed a hand politely over his chest and bowed.

“My name is Gorius Teslard.”

Gorius Teslard was the owner of this arena.

This cute little guy?

No, this was completely different from what I’d imagined.

He didn’t look like a Gorius at all, nor did he look like a Teslard.

I’d imagined some burly, distinguished gentleman.

“You defeated an A-rank adventurer with a single blow, didn’t you?”

“Yes… He looked like trouble and started harassing her.”

I glanced toward Yuri as I answered.

Gorius smiled brightly.

“That man was actually one of our arena’s contracted adventurers, and he was supposed to compete in today’s matches.”

“————!?”

Oh crap. So I’d beaten up one of the adventurers personally employed by the arena owner.

But contrary to what I’d expected, Gorius stared at me with glittering eyes. Ugh… Those were the exact same eyes as the children who had been asking me for handshakes earlier.

“You really defeated him in one hit!? That’s incredible!”

“No… it wasn’t anything special…”

Would saying that modestly just make me sound sarcastic?

I stopped there and gave an awkward smile beneath the bear head.

Gorius didn’t seem to care, though, and continued staring at me with sparkling eyes.

“I’ll get straight to the point! Would you like to become an adventurer contracted exclusively to the Belgion Arena? I’ll pay you very well!”

“…!?”

Gorius clasped his hands together pleadingly.

Crap, now I was getting recruited by the arena owner himself.

No way. I had absolutely no desire to fight in a flashy place like this.

Ugh… He was staring at me with such ridiculously hopeful eyes.

Hmm. He was an important figure connected to the arena, so rejecting him outright might create bad blood.

I’d go with the classic strategy of giving a vague answer.

“Please Give Me Some Time To Think. This Has All Been Very Sudden.”

“Mr. Bear, the way you’re speaking is very strange. Are you flustered? I suppose that makes sense. But please think about it! And if you accept, I’ll personally become your patron!”

“………………Okay.”

What the hell.

Not only had the hero Nick Bluestar taken an interest in me, now the owner of this place had too.

I started sweating strangely underneath the bear costume.

Gorius gave us a gentlemanly bow before leaving with his guards.

Yuri spoke with a slightly excited expression.

“That’s amazing… The only adventurers I’ve heard of receiving a personal offer of sponsorship from the owner here are people like the Hero and Nick.”

“What did he even like about me?”

“Probably that you’re incredibly strong despite looking like a cute stuffed animal.”

“I was trying to keep things plain and avoid standing out.”

As I grumbled, Yuri gave me an indescribable look and replied.

“Roy… This is extremely late to point out, but the moment you chose that outfit, staying plain and unnoticed became impossible.”

“Attention, everyone! The next match will be the final match! We’ve taken every precaution and reinforced the spectator area with defensive magic, so it is safe, but please do not go any farther forward than the third row!”

The staff warned spectators who were trying to move closer.

The first three rows had been left empty in advance. When the mages stationed to the north, south, east, and west of the front row cast defensive magic, a transparent barrier appeared around the arena.

Then the mages positioned at the third row, likewise stationed to the north, south, east, and west, cast defensive spells as well. In other words, the spectator seats were protected by two layers of defensive barriers.

They must have been expecting the match to be that dangerous.

Before the final began, a musical troupe performed in the center of the arena while dancers took the stage, adding some spectacle to the battlefield.

With that music playing in the background, Vanrost Rain and Nick Bluestar emerged from separate lifts.

The Hero stood with his arms folded, looking down arrogantly at his opponent, while Nick ignored him and waved to the surrounding crowd.

It almost seemed like he was waving at me too, so I waved back.

“Look, look! Mr. Bear’s waving at Nick!”

“So cute!”

“Mr. Bear must be a Nick fan!”

Apparently some excited female spectators had noticed me waving in my bear costume, because I heard their voices coming from somewhere nearby.

It seemed that anything I did right now would draw attention.

If I ever came back to this arena, I was never wearing a bear costume again.

And maybe it was just my imagination, but the Hero seemed to be glaring at me… Was he trying to say, Don’t cheer for Nick, or was it more like, Don’t you dare stand out more than me?

At that moment, the announcer and commentator spoke with more excitement than ever before.

‘And now, at last, we come to the main event! The Hero versus the great hero!’

‘Judging from what we’ve seen in their matches so far, I’d say they’re evenly matched. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of battle this becomes.’

Vanrost!

Vanrost!

Vanrost!

Nick!

Nick!

Nick!

The entire arena thundered with chants of Vanrost and Nick.

As the excitement in the venue reached its absolute peak, the cymbal signaling the start of the match rang out.