A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

No way, no way.

The organizer of this competition is the Lanny family, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the Cardo family.

"Brave, Bray, are we going to the North Continent again?" Levy asked tentatively.

"Yes, Levy doesn't want to go?" Hearing Levy's words, Bray thought she wanted to go to the Northern Continent.

Even if Levy didn't want to go, he wouldn't be surprised, since she had been there several times and was probably tired of it.

Bray would like to travel to the western continent and experience the local customs and culture.

"No, Levy can go wherever Bray goes~" Levy said in a soft, sweet voice, resting her chin on the front desk, almost turning into an adorable little ball.

"The snow on the northern continent is cool, and Levy feels very comfortable."

Actually, Levy quite likes the Northern Continent. Perhaps it's because she has the blood of a snow elf, and she has a natural fondness for that cold environment.

---

Meanwhile, on the distant northern continent, another meeting of powerful families is taking place.

In the elegant hall, members of the Lani family and the Cardo family were negotiating.

However, there was no sign of Sack at the round table.

Since everyone in the conversation was an adult, Sack couldn't possibly be the one to step forward in this situation.

Even if the Cardo family has been handed over to him, it won't work.

"Thank you very much for your family's sponsorship of this competition." The Lani family member tightly grasped the hand of the representative from the Kado family.

"No, no, no, we also really enjoy seeing such interesting competitions in the Northern Continent."

"Please be sure to watch it on that day."

"Of course, we're also curious to see just how exciting this competition will be."

While they were exchanging pleasantries, Sack was idly swinging his legs on the sofa outside the hall.

Even if you asked Sack to participate in this conversation, he wouldn't go.

It's so boring.

Having gone through countless reincarnations, how many times have I witnessed this kind of situation?

It happened so many times that he saw through the true nature of it all.

Because they understand the essence of things, they find it uninteresting.

People can't have a proper conversation without this kind of hypocrisy.

A thick book was placed on Sack's lap, but it was not opened.

He had already finished reading this book.

Several maids stood beside Sack, protecting and taking care of him at all times.

"Young master, the conversation is over. Would you like to ask about the details?" the maid said softly.

“Of course.” Sack nodded and jumped off the sofa.

Sark went to great lengths to get Bray a specific commission.

Within the Adventurers' Guild in the Imperial Capital, only Sark himself knows exactly how many quests were created "specifically" for Bray. The Northern Continent is truly cold; even though it's spring, Bray still has to wear a coat.

While Bree, who possesses the Heavenly Fox Tear, will not freeze to death, he will still feel very uncomfortable.

Even Levy, who is basically immune to the cold, is wearing a padded jacket.

"In the end, why would anyone even think of horse racing?" Bray casually cleaved a monster that had wandered onto the track and sighed.

Besides Bray, there are other adventurers doing the same thing.

The track is bigger than I expected, and it will be a hassle to clean it up.

If you're going to race horses, why make such a complicated track? Wouldn't it be better to find a smaller track and let the horses run a few more laps?

Even horses can't handle running like that; they have a limit to their endurance.

"Bray, what's horse racing really like?" Levy tugged at Bray's clothes and asked after hearing his dejected voice.

“Hmm, hard to say, I’ve never seen it before,” Bray said after a moment’s thought.

To be honest, he's never seen a horse race before, even though he's all grown up.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have come all the way to the Northern Continent to take on this kind of commission.

"Hmm..." Levy seemed a little disappointed.

"But it's okay, we can go take a look there in a bit." Although there are no free tickets, we can still go to the vicinity under the pretext of "cleaning up."

"Levy, come here, help me drag this guy away." He called to Levy.

After learning that she would soon be able to witness what horse racing was like, Levy became motivated and started jogging while working.

After these monsters are killed, they will be sent to a specific place.

Harvest the materials you can, and dispose of the corpses if you can't.

Does what they're doing disrupt the ecological balance? Bray thinks so.

"Bang!" Just as Bray finished cleaning up the monster's remains on the ground, the sound of a signal flare rang out in the distance.

A "firework" burst high in the air.

"Break, break, fireworks!"

“That’s a signal flare,” Bray corrected Levy.

This signal gun shot was probably not for the competition, but rather a test shot.

So it's still not too late to go and take a look now.

"Levy, let's go." It was time for the exciting moment of slacking off again, and Bray's deadpan eyes were filled with joy.

"Oh!" Levy immediately responded as soon as she heard Bray say they were leaving.

---

On the track, all the participants are ready.

Bray and Levy were ready.

Bray crossed his arms and watched the so-called horse race from a distance.

To make it easier to see, Bray's right eye was also stained red.

To be honest, using your cunning is too tiring. If you just want a telescope, the Heavenly Fox Tears is more useful.

Levy's eyesight is not a problem at all; her only problem is her height.

"Ugh... Ugh..." No matter how high Levy stood on her tiptoes, she couldn't see what was in front of her.

Although she can jump, she has no way to stay in the air after jumping.

“Come here, do you see this?” Bray noticed and picked Levy up in his arms.

Levy is quite big, and it's not particularly easy to pick her up under normal circumstances.

"I saw it!" Levy exclaimed excitedly.

Well, seeing her smiling face, Bray will just keep holding her.

You're saying Levy reminds you of your daughter? Are you kidding me? Do you think your daughter is only a few years younger than you?

To be fair, this isn't how Bray raises his daughter.

Bray and Levy watched the contestants, their expressions gradually freezing.

"Break, Break, where's the horse?" Levy's cute smile vanished, replaced by confusion in her eyes.

“Hmm…I didn’t see it either.” Breton paused, then said.

What's on the track aren't horses at all, but all sorts of tamed monsters.

There were cows, sheep, and even felines and canines, but no horses.

This is probably fraud; the current competition can't even be called horse racing.

But none of the others had the same questions as Bray and Levy; they all looked very expectant.

Most of the people in the front row were dressed smartly; those who looked ordinary didn't get seats in the front.

That's so true.

While Bray was internally ranting, the referee suddenly started issuing commands.

"On your marks!!!"

"preparation!!!"

"boom!"

The moment the signal gun fired, Levy's ears involuntarily twitched, probably because the sound was too loud.

All the wondrous mounts sped away, leaving only the cheers of the audience.

"We will be tracking all the contestants in real time! Let's wait and see who will be the fastest!"

A projection screen was projected onto a nearby wall, displaying images of all the contestants.

"High technology..." Bray muttered to himself. Although he had acquired a lot of advanced technology in Nicholas, it was still Nicholas after all.

This kind of technology is quite rare in the world of Black Iron.

"You must be adventurers responsible for sweeping out monsters, right?" A maid-like woman hurriedly walked up to Bray and asked in a very dissatisfied tone.

"Uh, yes." Bray nodded. The other person's tone was a bit sharp, but he still responded politely.

But why do my eyelids start twitching uncontrollably whenever I see a maid?

She's just an incredibly beautiful maid... Look at how pathetic I am.

"What's with you all abandoning your work to come here and watch the game?"

"Emmmmmm," Bray suddenly felt guilty.

At that moment, he always knew he had been caught slacking off.

"Will I be fined?" he asked timidly.

Generally speaking, if you get caught slacking off, you'll definitely get scolded and then punished.

"What fine? Get back to work."

"A lot of monsters have suddenly appeared on the track, and we urgently need someone to 'clean them up'," the maid said aggressively.

"I see," Bray murmured, realizing that his slacking off was only discovered because of an unexpected incident.

"Brave, what do we do now?" Levy, who was still looking forward to watching the game, turned her confused gaze to Bray.

"Looks like we won't be able to watch it," Bray said regretfully.

"This is the pointer; hurry up and follow its direction," the maid urged.

Bray, who was being rushed off to fight monsters, didn't even notice how exquisite the "pointer" in his hand was.

The golden outline was covered with dark-style text.

Even the pointer has a strange pattern cut out of it.

Bray was in such a hurry that he forgot to put Levy down, let alone let him examine the pointer carefully.

After watching Bray's departing figure, the maid closed her eyes, then silently opened them again.

The strange spiral patterns in his pupils and his rich expression slowly subsided.

“Young Master, Mr. Bray has already gone over there,” she said to the empty space.

There was no sound around her, but she was certain that she had received a reply from the young master.

---

Of course, Bray wasn't so oblivious as to not notice the strangeness of the thing in his hand after walking for so long.

Bray lowered his eyelids and looked at the overly delicate pointer on his finger.

This doesn't seem like something that can be given to just anyone to use.