「Diaz」

「Aah, Fran-kun」

Diaz, who had raised himself from the bed, greeted Fran with a smile. There doesn’t seem to be a hidden meaning to that face.

「Are your wounds all right?」

「Nn. It’s all healed」

「I see, that’s good then」

Even though he loses to Fran, he still worries about her condition.

It may sound strange, but it was not a strange sight in this tournament, where the loser fully recovers by the Cradle of Time.

Well, Fran’s wounds are already healed though. Apparently, the regeneration-inhibiting effect from Diaz’s magic sword wears off after a few minutes. Her regeneration had started immediately after the match ended.

I am especially glad that the wound on her nose had healed. For future battles, we need to prepare countermeasures against similar abilities that interfere with healing.

Announcer-san had told me that if I were to increase the level of my Life Magic, I can get a skill that could counteract inhibition-type debuff.

Along with that, there is another thing that has been on my mind.

『Hey, was it the effect of magic tool or something that blocked our Dimension Shift? I’m not gonna force you to answer though…』

「I don’t mind, Master. It’s just the effect of my skill」

『Skill?』

I don’t think Diaz had any space-time related skills though?

「Try appraising me」

『O-okay』

I take Diaz at his word and appraise him, but he still doesn’t have any standout skills.

『Are you hiding it with appraisal obstruction?』

「Not at all. It’s the skill with the name of Sleight of Hand」

『Huh? Sleight of Hand?』

「Yes. Raising the skill allows me to acquire a little bit of space-time ability. It only has really weak effects though, such as moving things from hand to hand or allowing a part of my body to pass through something」

Can that skill even do that? It may sound like a skill to perform a magic trick, but it seems to be a skill that uses magic to create a phenomenon. Depending on how one uses it, it seems that it can be used to counter Space-time Magic.

While I was talking with Diaz, Fran remained silent the entire time. She was listening to what we were saying while slightly downcast.

Then, when our conversation had reached its end, she looked up as if she had made up her mind. She looked Diaz straight in the eye and opened her mouth.

「…You’re not, angry?」

「Hahaha, of course not. In fact, I feel strangely good」

「…I see」

Diaz says so in a calm voice and sits upright on the bed.

「You win the bet. I will no longer attempt to exact revenge on Zelos Reed」

Then he bows his head to Fran as if to get down on his knees.

「Fran-kun, thank you for defeating me」

When his face, which had been lowered for a few seconds, came up again, I saw a radiant smile on his face.

「I really went for the win. But I lost to you」

「Nn」

That’s something that we already know as he doesn’t seem to be holding back at all in our match.

「Maybe I should be getting more frustrated. But, you see, for some reason, I don’t feel that way at all…」

「Why?」

「Well, I wonder why? Even I myself don’t really know… But I guess what I feel right now is a sense of liberation」

He had lived through decades of bitterness toward the former Beast King and regret over not being able to protect Kiara. If those feelings have been lifted, even if only a little, it is only natural for him to feel like that. Like some weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

「The Kiara I remember was always frowning. She used to fight all the time. But now I think she’s smiling at me. With a kind face」

Says Diaz while smiling with a gentle face.

「…I think you should go now. The next match is about to start, right? They’ll be your next opponent so you must see their fight」

「Nn. Understood. But what about Diaz? Diaz will also fight for third place against the loser after all」

「I’ll be fine. I still have my job as the guild master after all」

With a laugh, Diaz sent Fran on her way. I guess they are so understaffed right now that Diaz can’t even afford to take it slow.

As we walked toward the audience, Fran mumbled a few words.

「Diaz, smiled」

『Yeah』

「…Good」

I guess that “good” is probably for a lot of things like not being hated by Diaz, being able to free Diaz, and winning the bet with Diaz.

For me, it’s all good as long as it didn’t end badly for Fran.

『Let’s hurry. We can’t afford to miss this next match』

「Nn」

『I hope there are still seats available…』

Hilt vs. Neidhart. If Fran and Diaz were not participating, calling this matchup the final wouldn’t be so strange at all.

When we appeared in the spectator area, we were met with stares from all directions. Though no one is talking, they seem to be checking on us.

But among them, there was a brave young person who raised their voice.

「Onee-sama! Over here!」

「Katley」

Surprisingly, Katley had saved a front row seat for Fran. She made the servant next to her stand up and give up his seat.

Well, let’s be thankful and take the offer. Even if we refuse, it doesn’t mean that we will get a seat after all.

Hilt had just now appeared in the arena. It seems we made it just in time.

They hadn’t started the match yet because it took time to repair the stage we wrecked.

『It’s going to start soon』

「Nn!」