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I gotta say, Missy, we've been in this city for days now, and I haven't once seen you up to meet Miss Lin.

After all that talking about how you'd sneak up on her and scare her lights out.

You want an ice cream?

I'll take three scoops. Mint, strawberry, chocolate.

You're gonna get so fat.

A triple, boss—VANILLA, strawberry, chocolate. And a quadruple, those three plus lemon.

Sure thing.

Who's gonna get fat now?

Lin Yühsia went through government channels, nothing like us. You're riding my coattails to get the VIP treatment.

And I gotta say, I think the dummy's still probably on her way here, hahaha!

Vacation won't end any time soon. Let's enjoy the wait.

Shitty rat, sneaking her way into such a nice vacation spot. When I find you, you're done for.

Hey, Missy. Don't forget what this vacation cost you.

It's all my annual leave plus a month of one-day weekends after I get back. Isn't that it? It's fine, I'll be fine.

Once you include my vacation days to keep your trouble in check, yeah, that's it.

Oh, jeez, I'll pay you back later.

Sure, sure.

Hm?

Uh?

Huh?!

Wha-? Did you see her?

Not just Lin Yühsia. Someone you'd never guess with her.

Who the...

Haah?

Careful with your ice cream! You're gonna drop it! Hey!

Hah... how the hell did this happen?

Huff... pant... finally found you.

Weren't the two of you pursuing them? Why are you here in the Smash Splash now?

If I didn't spot you on the TV back in the streets, I would've missed you.

It was an accident.

Well, now what? Are you going to team up and enter the championship?

I was going to enter, but not with her.

There's a coincidence. I was thinking the same thing.

Ch'en Hui-chieh, you're free to pick a different prelim.

No can do. This one is the very last one.

I guess it's time to settle who's the bigger woman.

I'm sorry to have to tell you, half the city is watching through their screens, right now.

You might as well enter together. It'll be good to have each other's backs, too.

...Fine.

Alright. I'll help you out.

After all, I'm your guide. If she heard you joined and I was nowhere around, the Mayor wouldn't let me off easy.

I might not be as strong in a fight as you two, but I'm still a local. I'm sure I can be of assistance.

Will they let us bring a plus-one?

Sure. Team size limit is seven. As long as you complete your registration before the official championship, even finding teammates after winning is fair game.

To be honest, it's a competition where more teammates net you a greater advantage.

One more beats one fewer. Any complaints, Lin Yühsia?

Suit yourself.

We're still two days out from the official start. You're allowed to go recruit more.

No need. We'll go with us three.

Excuse me, er, you two, can I ask you to head up on stage?

Add one more. We're three total now.

Alright, let's give our prelim winners the greatest round of applause!

Have you come up with a name for your team?

How do you figure?

You decide.

Then we're calling it... LUNG wRATh. All caps. Except the 'w' and 'h'.

You told me to decide.

Hold on.

Er... alright, then, LUNG wRATh! Now, here to give you your awards for making it out of the prelims, we have Mr. Pancho!

I see Candela brought us two incredible young ladies.

You know us?

Who doesn't know how the Mayor welcomed two young Lungmenites?

Ernesto, you've been dutiful with our guests, haven't you?

It's an undertaking from Ms. Candela herself, Father. Of course I'm doing all I can.

Fine, good.

This is your father?

I am.

Here's your award. Take it.

A pure gold statue...

You get this sort of award just for beating a prelim?

Yes. Remember where you are. This is the Dossoles way.

You have your fun, youngsters.

Thank you...

Alright, we're all looking forward to LUNG wRATh's performance in the official championship!

Haaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa! Missy, did you hear that? LUNG wRATh, haaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaa!

Laugh a little quieter, I dare you.

You have to see the pout on Miss Lin's face. Ch'en totally came up with that name on the spot.

No, forget that! What is Ch'en Hui-chieh doing here too? The nerve of the woman! And they entered together! Did the little rat only even come because she knew Ch'en would be here?

Heh heh heh, you've got guts, Lin Yühsia, keeping all this from me...

Hey, Missy. Don't get carried away.

You said it was Chief Wei who arranged Lin Yühsia's business here. So it follows that Ch'en's here for the Chief too... right?

Fine... I guess you've got a point.

Also... may as well suggest it. Miss Lin's here, and so's Ch'en. Let's go say hi?

Hmph... I have an even better plan.

The two of them teamed up to join the competition, right? Perfect.

The whole championship's going to be broadcast live from start to finish. Let's hold off on saying hello. We'll watch them compete, and then when they lose, we'll go laugh in their faces.

Ha, now you hate Ch'en too, on top of everything.

Hmph. She came here on a vacation without so much as a word. Aren't you pissed off?

You know, I'm glad Ch'en's doing well. Words can't express how happy I am for her.

Ugh, are we speaking different languages here? Agree with me or not, come on.

I'm your bodyguard here. Your word is law.

That's more like it.

Not my fault if we run across them though, okay?

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it!

Hey, look! They're the ones who just won the scrimmage preliminaries, right?

Keep it up, LUNG wRATh! You've got me on your side already!

Well, then, I'll just...

Ernesto, in this city, I've noticed a lot of military personnel.

Your intuition's on the mark. The truth is, not everyone's allowed into Dossoles.

If you want to come vacation here, you need to have enough money. If you want to come live here, you need even more money.

In Bolívar, the second-best way to make money is temp jobs, and the best, most profitable one—is serving.

Was your father a soldier too?

The old man sure used to be. I remember he made full colonel.

That's pretty high up.

I guess you want to ask why he'd come here.

I admit I'm curious.

There's nothing much to say. He's majorly stubborn, thinks about nothing but war all day, and doesn't like kissing up to bosses. He got falsely charged, and then driven out of the army.

Sorry.

Save it. I think he's dull enough for a lifetime too.

He doesn't have a big enough fist, and what does he stand up straight all day like that for?

...I suppose.

I thought you'd argue back.

I do want to, but ultimately I don't know this place, or really Bolívar as a whole.

I can say the old man's been pretty good since coming here, or I'd have never been able to work under the Mayor.

Come to think of it, the two of you have been in Dossoles for two days now. Any thoughts on the city so far?

Corrupt.

Stinks to high heaven.

It seems we're of a mind, for once.

Now that's funny. I was sure any guests the Mayor invited here would love it.

What about you?

Me? I love this place, naturally.

You never need to think about the world outside. As long as you have money, you can play, from sun-up to sun-down, and then from sun-down back to sun-up.

I don't know how you live in Lungmen, but I can't imagine there's a better life than here.

Is that so.

Forget that for now... Is this whole competition as heavy on full-contact as the scrimmage just now?

Ah! Yes.

I don't know if you have anything similar over there, but in this competition, the courses are designed for physical contests.

But of course, the people aren't here for a simple stamina match.

Most everyone is chasing a thrill. What they really want to see is the kind of fight you two put on. Stuff that gets their hearts pumping.

So in other words, we go out there to amuse the people.

Hahaha! You could put it that way.

This is utterly senseless.

I'm in agreement with you there, but nothing changes the fact that we're taking part. Let's be prepared.

Sorry, Ernesto, but we'll be asking you to explain more about the format of the competition.

Sure thing.

First things first, do you know of a weapons vendor anywhere?

I do. You're in the market?

If the combat holds up like it just did, I might need a change of arms, at the least.

In that case, come with me. This isn't an open-air kind of topic, anyway.

Come in, please.

You own this shop?

That's right. It's just the place you're looking for.

I've opened a handful of these stores throughout the city. Call it an income stream.

We carry all sorts of weapons, as a matter of course, but can I ask, why are you looking to change, Miss Ch'en?

My sword isn't that suited to competitive stuff like this.

Hm... Honestly, the blade you carry doesn't pose any kind of problem.

There's a mountain of competitors with weapons and tricks a whole lot worse than that up their sleeves. Swords aren't high on the danger scale.

Which is to say: even if you don't use yours, others will use theirs.

Doesn't matter. I'm not good with mercy.

Just give me something that won't do too much damage to a human body.

Well, in that case... try a high-pressure water gun like this.

A water gun?

Oh, it's a fairly specialized weapon. Fires high-pressure water rounds, hits hard, but won't cause major injury.

Do you know how to work a crossbow?

I've never used one in the field, but I didn't do bad on my shooting course.

Let's give it a try.

But before that, I'll explain the competition in detail.

Firstly, its formal name is the 'Dossoles Warrior Champion.'

It takes place across the entire city. The Mayor's purchased a huge number of drones and cams, as well as low-altitude aircraft, so nobody will miss a single moment.

Not even the darkest, dankest corners of the city. Once the competition starts, we'll have drones custom-geared to follow each and every team too.

And once the time hits, the TV station will split up into different main stages, making it convenient for the people to view the teams or content that they want.

A truly loathsome level of consideration.

Ms. Candela's spared no effort in this respect.

Okay. Before the official competition was ten days of prelims, which is what you just took part in.

Every day, there've been two to three prelims held all over the city.

Were they all melees like that?

No. I don't know whether to call you lucky or unlucky, honestly. You crashed the single most dangerous kind.

There's been a huge variety of prelim types, like eating contests, racewalks, sprints, et cetera. The scrimmage topped everything else for risk.

But the reward was just as high?

That's right. No other prelim reward would've ever been as generous as the pure gold statue you got.

And that's why so many people join the scrimmage, even though it's so dangerous.

Hold on, you just said the competition permits contact. Then the people who come in from the other prelims...

Aha, your reactions tell me you two are very astute.

I imagine you're worried that the competition won't be kind to entrants who won the more entertainment-focused prelims.

I'll cut straight to the chase, then. No, it won't be an easy time for them.

Like I said, people want to see more than simple stamina matches. It's a fight to excite. That's why the weaker ones are up against greater threats.

...Hmph.

But you don't need to worry too much, Miss Ch'en. The Mayor's taken that into account. There's an article in the rules on it.

Oh?

Have you noticed another problem?

The competition doesn't restrict Originium Arts. If someone could boost their own speed with it—

—just to exaggerate, if they could reach the goal in an instant, then that'd be tough luck to everyone else, right?

I assume people like that must exist.

How couldn't they? Even without Arts, Kuranta naturally outperform others in a race.

They do exist, of course. To counteract that, the Mayor is giving the viewers the right to choose.

The audience decides who the true winner is?

To be precise, the audience decides who doesn't deserve to be a winner.

After every round of the competition, there'll be a viewer voting segment, and the votes could completely reshape the final rankings.

Using flashy means to gain victory is naturally self-explanatory.

Winning too boring might get you eliminated, but drop enough jaws and you could tip the scales when you'd otherwise fall just short.

Of course, there's no guarantee that's how it goes.

With all of that, no one knows who the winner truly is, until the final moment.

Too boring?

Right. And not just in combat.

Dazzling fights are the most direct way to make eyes boggle, but blindsiding with actions can net you cheers too.

That's the rule that gives contestants a fighting chance, even if they're wipeouts in combat.

A lesson learned from Kazimierz.

Right, true. I remember the Major had similar rules.

You two really have seen it all. The Mayor's visited Kazimierz several times before. Apparently, her trade agreement with Lungmen was signed there too.

So Wei Yenwu went out there as well...

In any case, these are rules that favor the strong, so expect plenty of those who scraped through the prelims for a prize will have to forfeit at the official thing.

That's why the number of teams competing always changes a little.

In short, this is a contest with no differentiation, no limits, and no holds barred on the road to victory—but—the winner needs the whole city's approval.

I'm not that invested in winning or losing this.

I know that. Your goal is to use the championship to carry out your mission from Ms. Candela, right? I'll be there to help with that, too.

If we lose immediately, there'll be no investigation to speak of.

I know.

Haha, that's for sure. And the two of you have probably noticed, the battle for popularity runs through the whole championship. In other words, it began the moment the preliminaries did.

And given how you entered midway into the scrimmage and stomped all over peak danger, it might not be a stretch to say your team is the hottest topic right now.

You can think of winning as a service to your goal, and enjoy what the competition has for you.

We'll see. Let's talk concrete details.

Sure thing.

Come over here. I'll explain with a map.

The competition's split into three rounds.

Round 1, you're looking for gold in an empty neighborhood.

There are twenty bars of pure gold to find in this area, and competing teams need at least one. Hand them in to staff at the workers' area afterward, and you're through.

In a residential neighborhood?

Right. During the competition, everyone living in this area will be housed in hotels elsewhere, and the city government will cover their expenses.

They'll cover the costs of any and all damage to housing, equipment, et cetera, as a result of the competition, too.

Most look forward to it, thanks to that. There are even some dying to compete, just so they can smash their own homes up to get them rebuilt free of charge.

Find gold, fight over it, and then make for the handover. Heh, violence seems almost assured.

That's right. Some choose to search, some to steal, and some to cut down on rival numbers first.

Round 1 won't end until the last of the gold is handed in to staff.

If my guess isn't wildly off, the gold is also part of the prize?

It sure is. Nothing's stopping you if you want more gold and don't actively hand it in, but you shoulder all the corresponding risk as well.

If one person acquires all the pure gold, then what?

Hm... theoretically, it's possible, but practically, it's never happened before, so I'm not sure myself.

Is that what you're planning, Miss Lin?

I haven't the interest.

Once Round 1 is over, there'll be two days' downtime, where the victors are invited to take part in all sorts of spin-off events, and attend a bunch of fancy dinner parties.

Good for bolstering your popularity outside the arena, in a sense.

Then it's Round 2. You should be relatively familiar with it; it's a traditional triathlon event.

Traditional?

Traditional.

First you run a route along the beach, then cycle a circuit around the city, and finally, return to the start at the beach for a swim, all the way until the finish: a cruise ship in the middle of the sea.

But, of course, there's all kinds of ways to win.

During the race and cycling, I assume you're allowed to leave the main streets.

Certainly. However, the Mayor has put a substantial fighting force to block the shortcuts, so essentially, taking them means a violent breakthrough.

Heh. As expected.

After Round 2 ends, there's two days of downtime just like Round 1, but these ones will be more of a pure rest.

The victors get the pleasure of all the entertainment and facilities aboard a cruise ship normally reserved for the rich, free of charge.

Honestly, it's the part a lot of competitors aim for when they're entering, but it's not the end of things.

Why not?

Because of Round 3, the final round of the competition. Highly simple, and highly cruel.

It's a battle royale with the whole ship as fair game. Survive until you're the last team standing to be crowned winner.

Which means, in Round 3, there's practically no space for clever tricks.

Understood.

Oh, right. You probably remember me saying back at the arena, team size limit is seven.

In principle, the more teammates, the more you can do.

But the more you have to split the money.

That's right. And it's not like there aren't limits, too.

You aren't allowed communications equipment during the contest. That means you need to have your plan ready from the start, and if your team splinters, then you've got to be ready for them to come at you.

But so long as one person completes the objective, the whole team can advance?

Yes. That's why there's pros and cons to your team being big or small.

How long until it officially starts?

Two days. These two days are downtime.

Looks like I need every last minute, then.

Head through there. You'll find a small firing range and a training ground.

Got it.

Will you be fine, Miss Lin?

I'll be fine. I have an Arts Unit.

Only she would switch weapons for fear of her power going out of control.

Lin Yühsia.

What?

I've been putting up with you forever. I think you've been putting up with me forever. There's a training ground inside. Let's fight it out.

You're going to lose wretchedly.

Drop the braggadocio.

Heh.

Well... this is something.

We've landed two real wild cases.