The Heterodox Way

We ended up heading to the venue for Magros Wrestling.

I tried to refuse somehow along the way, but it did not feel like the kind of atmosphere where that was possible.

Miria-san had said as much too, so I had no choice but to do it…

During that time, I was given an explanation of Magros Wrestling.

The rules were simple.

You got up in the ring and grappled with each other.

Using weapons or aiming for vital points was forbidden, and apparently the one who touched the ground with their hand lost.

It seemed that not only pure arm strength but also the technique to make the other person touch the ground with their hand was required, and the dwarves living in Magros apparently spent their days and nights doing Magros Wrestling and then drinking alcohol.

Mmm, I see… that sounded like it might cause offense, so I decided to keep my comments to myself.

The venue we arrived at was built about three times more solidly than I had imagined.

At the four corners of the match area in the center stood thick iron pillars, and the pillars were connected to one another by something like vines. Probably, it was a measure to keep the competitors from going out of bounds.

And so that people could watch Magros Wrestling, spectator seating had been set up around it.

Since I was this time’s representative, it was decided that I would fight Vis-san, the leader.

When I came up onto the ring, Vis-san was already down to nothing but his briefs and doing warm-up exercises.

Because he had taken off his clothes, I could see clearly just how developed his body was.

His veins were bulging all over, and every slight movement made his muscles surge with tremendous force.

Since wearing clothes would put me at a disadvantage, I took mine off too.

“Woody-sama’s bare upper body… gulp”

“Ah, so he actually trains more properly than I expected…”

I could hear Nadja and the others giving their remarks from the back (though Aira’s might have been a little different).

“Then take your positions… begin!”

While my attention was being drawn behind me, the match began.

Vis-san closed in on me with movements far quicker than his build would have suggested.

—Needless to say, I had no intention of taking him head-on.

First, I used “Tree Planting” to plant a World Tree in the ring. Then I put it into a flowerpot.

Then I lured him in closer and closer—and hurled it with all my might!

Vis-san was startled by the flowerpot that had appeared so suddenly, and he raised both hands into a guarding stance to block it.

At the instant the flowerpot and Vis-san were about to collide, I immediately activated Tree-to-Tree Transfer and transferred onto Vis-san’s right hand.

“Hrrryaaah!!”

“Oooohhh!?”

Using my body weight together with all the strength I could muster right now, I forcibly drove his right hand downward… and then, slap.

Vis-san’s right hand touched the wrestling ground.

“The winner, Woody!”

The moment Nadja raised her voice and declared that, jeers rose up from the dwarves, who had apparently gathered in the spectator seats before I knew it.

The one who silenced them was none other than Vis-san himself, the very competitor.

“I see. Certainly, you could not call that a weapon. I have no choice but to admit that you took a round from me… I was the one who paid the price for my own overconfidence, looking down on you because you seemed like a small child.”

I somehow managed to win by brute-forcing things with the power of my skill.

And so, Magros Wrestling was safely able to end with my victory…

“Now then, next up, the second match! Competitor Nadja versus competitor Ariana!”

Wait, it was not over yet!?

…More importantly, Nadja was doing it too!?

It really was not over.

To my shock, after that, all five of us who had come to Mount Magros ended up having to do Magros Wrestling.

Apparently this was a sort of rite of passage to be recognized by the dwarves here, and everyone was half-forced into grappling matches.

Incidentally, there was consideration between the sexes, and all the members other than me fought female dwarves.

It was my first time seeing female dwarves, but… how should I put it, if I were to phrase it politely, they all had lovely appearances.

Even as adults, they only came up to about my chest in height, with round eyes and large heads, and their bodies had stopped developing in a state like before secondary sexual characteristics had appeared.

But their power was exactly what you would expect from dwarves, and Lulu-san, for example, was thrown by a dwarf who was even a whole size smaller than she was.

After all five of us safely finished our matches like that, I thought that now we would be able to bring the dwarves back with us without any problem… but things were not that simple.

Under the pretext of praising our hard fighting, a drinking feast began.

According to what Miria-san told me, dwarves basically found some reason or other to drink alcohol.

And refusing an invitation to drink, more than anything else, was apparently what made them displeased.

Thinking that they were a peculiar race in a way different from elves, I joined the drinking party—.