玉蒲团之云雨山庄

"The somehow woman and strong-willed castle guard captain," Lyan uttered in reflex when he saw the woman before him.

"What do you mean by somehow, huh, Lyan?" said Auretta Viltiana, the captain of the castle guards, with a slight frown on her face.

But Lyan is not in a situation where the frown of the castle guards captain before him disturbs him. He is currently focusing on the blue screen in the corner of his eyes that is showing a countdown.

[3:58:23]

[43:58:23]

(Another 4 hours, access, huh...? If I\'m not mistaken, the previous total hours I could enter is 48 hours. So the countdown below is the current total of time I have inside the world of memories of Lilith, huh...) (Lyan)

"Did you hear me, Lyan? I have a high expectation of you, and not just me, but your other superiors also have a high expectation of you, so don\'t you dare embarrass me, you hear me?" Auretta takes a step forward as she seems to realize that Lyan is not paying attention.

"Y-Yes..." (Lyan)

"Well, you don\'t seem to be having trouble because of nervousness for the tournament, I guess I worried for nothing. But it\'s a great problem if you don\'t pay attention to what I\'m saying, keep in mind that I am still your superior, you hear me?" (Auretta)

"Yes, ma\'am," (Lyan)

"Good. Now, let\'s go. It\'s almost time for the tournament. I hope you\'ll yield a great result and make me proud," Auretta tapped Lyan\'s shoulder before started walking towards the exit of the castle guards\' barrack.

(Tournament? Me? Almost time? Did a time skip occurred? A game bug?) (Lyan)

There are tons of questions Lyan wanted to ask, but-

"What are you spacing out for! Come and follow me, Lyan!" (Auretta)

"Y-Yes, ma\'am," (Lyan)

As Lyan walks forward and closes his room door, he noticed that he had used the castle guard armor again. There is no change in his physique, it seems that the body he\'s using inside the world of memories is the same body that he used in the outside world. Unlike before, Lyan\'s body is more buffed and trained because of his workout technique. He could feel how the armor feels lighter and tighter than before.

The two of them went outside the barrack, went to the stables, and fetch a horse for each of them before leaving the castle by horse.

(This situation, am I somehow representing the castle guards in a martial tournament or something? It would really help if someone were to explain to me about the situation, though!!) (Lyan)

As if responding to Lyan\'s plea, a big blue screen appeared before him.

[The Great Martial Tournament of Arzentine Kingdom. It\'s an annual martial tournament held by the king and the queen to search for great talents and display the great strength of the kingdom to the citizens]

[After getting seen as a competent and diligent subordinate, the castle guard, Lyan, got chosen by the captain of the castle guards to participate in the great martial tournament representing the castle guards of the kingdom]

[The participants of the great martial tournament are the soldiers, the guards, the castle guards, the soldiers of the nobles, nobles of the kingdom, knight-aspiring commoners, mercenaries, and adventurers of the Arzentine Kingdom]

(The great martial tournament... So it really is a time skip, huh...? I noticed that the duration of 4 hours in one attempt is so short, so there is a time skip feature, huh... But to think that I would be chosen as the martial tournament participant...) (Lyan)

"We\'re here," (Auretta)

Auretta\'s voice forcefully brought Lyan back to reality, but when Lyan saw the building before him, he couldn\'t help but widen his eyes in surprise.

"Fufufu! Looking at the royal colosseum closely like this made you realize how impressive it is, isn\'t it? I understand. I felt just the same way as you before, so there is nothing to worry about," Auretta nods with a nostalgic look on her face.

"Now, there\'s no time for dilly-dallying. We\'re going in!" (Auretta)

Lyan followed Auretta and entered the Colosseum.

"We\'ve been waiting for your presence, Lady Auretta,"

"It\'s an honor to meet the \'Immovable Fortress\' of the kingdom,"

The colosseum guards bowed respectfully towards Auretta, making Lyan slightly surprised at how politely they addressed her.

(I certainly remember her being called the \'Immovable Fortress\' of the kingdom. So she really is a big shot here, huh? But that response...) (Lyan)

"It\'s my duty to comply with her majesty\'s wish of my presence," Auretta replied with a refined speech and tone. Unlike a noble lady that replied while excluding an aura of elegance and beauty, her reply gives off the aura of charismatic strength and confidence of a noble general.

With a single gesture from the colosseum guard, another guard comes running while holding a spear in his hand, and started escorting Lyan and Auretta.

(Hm? I was sure that we\'ll be going to the underground since I\'m a contestant, but why are we going above instead?) (Lyan)

The place Auretta and Lyan got escorted to is not the waiting room for the contestant at the underground. But They stopped at the stairs of the highest platform instead.

"Wait here, Lyan," (Auretta)

"Yes," (Lyan)

(I guess she\'s reporting her presence to the higher-ups, huh? It was said that she\'s the castle guard captain working right under the queen, after all. But sure, the place is really magnificent, huh~) (Lyan)

Lyan admires how big the place the tournament going to be held in with widened eyes.

The magnificent scene is not just because of the place\'s size, but how the place is already packed and filled with citizens not only from the nobility side, but the middle-class and even lower are also sitting, waiting for the tournament to start as they chatter excitedly with the people around them.

Looking at how bright and cheerful the citizens are, Lyan couldn\'t help but think that the kingdom must be a great place to live if those people are having such big smiles all over their faces.

"And I\'m going to be fighting while being observed by all of these people, huh... I\'m not really good with having people\'s attention, though..." Lyan muttered bitterly.

At that moment, suddenly a gentle and familiar voice appeared from behind him together with a flowery scent.

"Then isn\'t that bad? I hope you will still be able to display your greatest ability even so,"

Lyan recognized the voice. But unlike how it usually appears, rather than a voice filled with seduction and teasing, it\'s an elegant and gentle voice that soothes the heart.

Even though it startled Lyan for a second, Lyan swiftly turn his back and kneeled.

"Your majesty, the queen," Lyan said respectfully as he kneeled. He\'s dying to take a peek upwards, but he knows that it will be a great idea if he ended up offending the queen mode of Lilith, so he decided to refrain himself from doing so.

(That\'s right, I almost forgot) (Lyan)

"...You seem to be as promising as Auretta said you are. I\'m looking forward to your performance, Lyan," The queen said with a smile before turning her back and going for the royal section where the royalties will be sitting when they observe the tournament.

(There is the thing with Lilith\'s death. It\'s the main objective of the world of memories, isn\'t it? To prevent Lilith\'s death in this world. I must not forget that part) (Lyan)

"Now we\'ve met the queen. You... Doesn\'t look that surprised after meeting the queen, huh?" Auretta uttered with a slightly surprised look.

"I am surprised, captain. It\'s just that I don\'t show it much," Lyan said as he slowly raise his body.

"I see. Then that\'s good. I wouldn\'t want to have a stone-hearted subordinate, after all. Now let\'s go, it\'s time for you to prepare," Auretta immediately started going downstairs quickly as she shrugged.

(Isn\'t her pace seems to be a little bit fast?) (Lyan)

"We need to quickly choose your weapon, report your presence, and get ready for the battle. In this tournament, you will not be using your own weapons, after all. It\'s all to make sure the fairness of the fight," (Auretta)

"I see... Wait, we\'re going straight to getting ready for battle?" (Lyan)

"Huh? Of course. Did you forget? Your match will be starting very soon," (Auretta)

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,298,721,000 Elnes / 3298 gold 72 big silver 1 silver

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1)

Grimoire\'s Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army