Taming The Villainesses-Chapter 357: Main Character (2)

The Queen of Angmar’s Martial Tournament.

A fairy tale of honor and riches, open to all—regardless of birth or rank.

It was said that simply making it through the first round and reaching the final sixteen would earn you a fortune in gold—enough for an ordinary man to spend the rest of his life in luxury.

And if one desired, they could even join the elite royal guard of Queen Angmar herself.

A mountain of gold and honor.

Even those alone were enough to draw the attention of adventurers, mercenaries, and reclusive heroes from across the realm. The world was full of people who hungered for a sudden windfall.

But—

That wasn’t the only reason people were losing their minds over this event. Wealth and glory were, in truth, secondary. The true core of this tournament lay elsewhere.

WAAAH─!!!

Under the roar of the masses, many of the contestants stood frozen under the pressure. Of course, there were plenty of confident warriors among them.

What those warriors looked up at was the special seating set at the highest point of the stands—a throne reserved for the one and only sovereign of this country.

Seated there, her legs elegantly crossed, was a woman who—perhaps due to her white garments—resembled a lone lily blooming atop a cliff.

A peerless beauty.

A woman capable of toppling nations.

Ayra von Tarantella.

She was the greatest prize of this tournament, which had drawn so many warriors.

The winner would earn the right to challenge her and marry the Queen of this country.

The throne of Angmar—the world’s greatest and most powerful nation—and a woman renowned as the most beautiful of all.

Those two things alone had caused people to swarm here like bees and butterflies drawn to a flower.

Looking back, it really was like something out of a fairy tale.

You know, those old stories. Like, “Whoever makes the princess laugh shall marry her.” Or, “The one who cures the princess’s incurable disease shall inherit the throne.”

You find those kinds of tales in every culture.

And this was no different.

Though she wasn’t a princess, but a queen—and instead of curing her or making her laugh, the promise was: defeat her, and receive everything.

Still, one couldn’t deny the romanticism in it—it was the ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) kind of tale you’d whisper to a child at bedtime.

━Hiiioooong...!

Just then, the spider inside me gave a sharp little bite. Though I didn’t understand its language, I figured it was telling me to stop daydreaming and focus on the moment.

You’re right, Bael.

I was just momentarily overwhelmed by the crowd.

Slip.

I turned my eyes away from the tidal wave of people.

My gaze turned to the contestants standing alongside me. Armed with swords, spears, maces, and more, each of them stood with their own expressions and stances, facing this moment in their own way.

━Hmph. A bunch of nobodies. No point taking this seriously. I’m sure you’ve all heard the name of the Demon Swordmaster, Andromalye?

━No clue. What a lame name. Anyway, what’s that nymph doing here? Is that allowed? I don’t want to get in trouble with the Nymph Protection Laws or whatever.

━This Punchnoi merely seeks to test his strength...! And today, somewhere here, he is surely present...! The showdown left unresolved... I shall resolve it...!

Noisy and chaotic, but they all brimmed with confidence.

They were challengers from across the world, drawn by the promise of the beautiful queen and her throne. Each one surely carried a deep story that made them worthy of becoming the protagonist of this fairy tale. And their skill was probably real.

━Grrr...!

Just then, I felt the paper-spider Bael within me tense up. Its compass was pointing toward the crowd of contestants.

━Grrr...!

There’s someone to be wary of? Someone strange?

━Hiiioooong...

“......”

Though much of her power was lost, Bael’s instincts as a grand sorceress were still sharp.

Just like when she tensed at the resurrection of the ancient dragon beneath the Draco temple, Bael was now on edge about someone among these contestants.

I couldn’t tell who it was just yet—but if Bael was warning me, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.

Just as I started raising my focus—

━DONG.

A great bell tolled, silencing the crowd.

As the chaotic air settled into something cold and sharp, a large hourglass was projected onto the massive crystal screen above the arena.

It meant only one thing.

The opening ceremony had ended—and the first match was about to begin.

***

Long ago, Marmar had asked while sorting through the application forms:

“There are way too many applicants. Shouldn’t we hold preliminaries in each region first?”

She had a point. Over ten thousand applications. Even after filtering out the ones filled incorrectly, the remaining number still exceeded a thousand.

If all of them were to compete and be filtered into the finals, it would take an enormous amount of time, manpower, and funding.

I answered her curiosity:

“Regional qualifiers would take too much effort and time. In the end, only sixteen people make it to the finals. We’ll use a simpler method to pick them out.”

“There’s a way to do that?”

“Let’s call it... the Leones-style musical chairs.”

The soldiers of House Leones, I had heard, held an annual evaluation tournament to determine promotions. Limited promotion slots, lots of contenders. Inspired by that, they played a sort of “musical chairs.”

The rules were simple. Many people. Few chairs. Whoever was seated when the timer ran out would be promoted.

Which meant any method was fair game—so long as you were the one seated at the end.

This tournament’s preliminaries borrowed that system.

With over a thousand contestants, we didn’t have time to verify all their skills. So, we had scattered flags throughout the arena.

A total of sixteen.

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The quick-witted ones would’ve already figured it out—those who held one of the sixteen flags at the end would move on to the finals.

━The flag is mine!

The wide arena had already descended into chaos. Resources were few. Those who wanted them were many. Naturally, conflict broke out.

━Ah! Contestant No. 22, Punchnoi...! Has just stolen the flag from Contestant 1032, Sir Scouter...! Now only X flags remain...!

Commentary and cheers filled the arena.

Amid the clash of weapons, cries of pain, and furious roars, I stood still like a spectator, quietly watching from the sidelines.

━Hiiioooong...!

“Not yet.”

I ordered Bael, who was urging me, to hold back. As I said, now wasn’t the time to rush for a flag.

And then I heard someone’s voice ring clearly in my ear.

━Wasting energy this early? Idiots. This isn’t a game of taking. It’s a game of keeping. Only the one holding the flag at the end wins.

The sharper ones had already grasped the essence of this match. As that voice implied, it wasn’t enough to take a flag—if you couldn’t keep it, it meant nothing.

━Ahh! Punchnoi is being cornered by a nymph-hating mob...! All those people ganging up on a single small nymph—it’s disgraceful and cowardly...!

In fact, one nymph who had secured a flag early on was now the target of several contestants, driven back by unrelenting assault.

She was holding on for now, but she’d burn out soon at this rate.

━Punchnoi, hang in there...!

...But wow, the commentary’s so biased. I’d like to hear how the others are doing too.

Shift.

I turned my head and looked around. Chaotic battles were breaking out everywhere—didn’t matter where I looked, it was all the same.

Slide.

“......!”

Suddenly, a cold chill crept down my spine. I whipped my head back just in time to see a blade flash past my mask.

SHRINGGG—!

The blade that failed to pierce my face flew back toward its wielder.

I turned my head—and saw a man holding a chain and smiling.

“You dodged that?”

He was bald, his face covered in a sun-shaped tattoo. I couldn’t tell if he was old or young. His body was slim and wiry—like a stretched-out weasel.

He spun his chain and chuckled.

“You looked like you were spacing out—so I figured I’d kill you in one blow.”

“......”

Who the hell?

He was so distinctive I would’ve remembered him if we’d met before. Since I didn’t, this had to be our first encounter.

I asked,

“I don’t have a flag. Why attack me?”

He grinned and snapped the chain tight in both hands. At the end of it was a sharp, spiked weight.

“You’re saving your strength to steal a flag at the last second, right? I hate sneaky bastards like you. I already took out three of you.”

Selfish and petty, but—

I wasn’t surprised. The world was full of freaks with weird logic.

In fact, entering this kind of tournament in the first place was proof you had a few screws loose.

Well, I was planning to stretch my body out a bit anyway. I’d come here right after changing my appearance with the Karma Changer, so I hadn’t had time to adjust.

Guess I’ll start now.

Lift.

I raised my hand high.

“Eclipse.”

A super-fast chant assisted by Bael. Its power was nothing short of a grand spell—enough to be called forbidden magic.

Immediately, I felt a chunk of mana burn up along my veins. The drain was heavier than I’d expected. Maybe because my body was larger now?

The chain-user smirked.

“Figures—you’re just a cheap spellcaster. What the hell did you just do? Nothing even hap—”

He cut himself off.

Not just him—everyone around us fell silent and looked up at the sky.

A dark shadow blanketed their faces.

It had just passed noon, and the sky had been bright—but now, darkness had descended.

Clear, sunny skies had suddenly turned to night. Even the blood-drenched warriors paused in confusion.

━What the hell...?

━What’s going on? Why is it suddenly so dark?

━Is this part of the tournament? A special effect?

━Ahh—! The sky’s gone dark...! All the contestants have frozen in place...! Even I, Anchornoi, your humble commentator, cannot say what’s going on...!

Looks like nobody knew what was happening.

But they’d know soon enough.

“Fall.”

I activated the next spell.

A flash. A pillar of light came crashing down onto the arena.

The darkness was split by the sound of rending thunder and black smoke.

KA-KRA-BOOM!

That was my 7th-tier spell—Eclipse.

Though I named it after a solar eclipse, it was actually a weather-manipulation spell that summoned storm clouds and scattered devastating lightning strikes.

━Magic—it’s magic...! Lightning tearing through the clouds...! Such overwhelming magic—who cast it...!?

As the commentator spoke, I felt the crowd’s attention swing to me.

━Contestant number 1432—Angmar. It’s Contestant Angmar!!!