Chapter 47: Blood-Vomiting Training

Of course, the other participants weren't in Samba-san's eyes; he was mainly referring to two monster rookies who solved their qualifying-round opponents faster than him, as heard from the person responsible for gathering participant intelligence at the Degas Chamber of Commerce.

"As for the guy who advanced from Group 5, he has no Chamber of Commerce funding behind him, keeps a low profile, and there's comparatively little intelligence on him."

"But from the description, he should be an expert proficient in Acupoint Striking; those he defeated were paralyzed by his strikes, then kicked off the Ring with one kick."

After downing a large mug of Malt Beer in one go, Samba-san looked at Broly and said: "If you can beat tomorrow's opponent, the guy from Group 5 will be your rival. That's all the intelligence I'm revealing. I'll buy you two drinks, which covers the tab. I'm leaving now, little ones."

After saying that, Samba-san left this side.

"I didn't expect other Chambers of Commerce to also be gathering intelligence on participants."

"It's normal to do this work, because the organizer of the Round of 16 qualifying tournament also runs a large Gambling Game, acting as the Banker themselves, needing to adjust the odds on every participant at all times based on the strength they display."

As for why they don't just run mutual betting between customers and earn commission on the flow, it's mainly because acting as the Banker themselves earns more.

Often, the profit from a single large Gambling Game for a Martial Arts Tournament Round of 16 qualifying round is close to what one Caravan Trade can earn.

"Tomorrow, whichever Chamber of Commerce gambling hall gives Big Brother the highest odds, we'll buy from that one."

Nahashu said.

"Do we still need to look at the mutual betting odds?"

Chichoku asked.

"We look anyway; whichever side is higher, we buy that side."

These children had full confidence in Broly and weren't worried at all that he might lose.

The only thing worth worrying about was that performing too well might cause the odds to plummet.

For tomorrow's match, after eating and drinking their fill, a group of little friends went to purchase Cosmetics.

And while passing by a Food Stall, they saw someone eating a kind of Exploding Juice Candy.

Main had a flash of inspiration and ran over to ask the Stall Owner: "Excuse me, can other fluids be put inside these candies?"

"Other fluids, Customer, what do you plan to put in?"

The candy Stall Owner asked curiously.

"I want to put some fresh blood in, is that okay?"

Main asked.

"Ah?"

The candy Stall Owner widened his eyes, thinking she was here to cause trouble, and was about to drive her away, when he heard talk of paying extra.

Fine, as long as the money is right, forget blood—even if the Customer wanted to fill it with shit, he could help fill it well, and guarantee that before the candy is bitten open, it will only taste like candy.

"Can you make a few samples first?"

"Where do we find blood now?"

"Colored water works too."

"Then let's use Red Heart Fruit; the juice made by mixing that thing with water looks not too different from blood."

Main paid, and the candy Stall Owner filled several large Exploding Juice Gummies on the spot and delivered the goods.

"Broly-san, put it in your mouth and bite it open to try."

Main handed the large Exploding Juice Candy to the boy, and Broly did as told without hesitation.

Just once, and red juice sprayed from his mouth.

"Exactly, that's it." Main was very excited. "Boss, can you thicken the juice inside to make it look more like blood?"

"You really know how to make things difficult for people."

"We'll pay extra."

"No problem. Making fake blood is easy, but are you still planning to have me make candy filled with real blood?"

"If there's an alternative, real blood isn't needed."

Main had tasted blood before; it was blood beaten out of someone.

Very fishy, not something tasty.

If not necessary, she didn't want Broly to taste that kind of flavor.

After all, Broly had been good to her.

After some adjustments, the thicker Exploding Juice Gummies arrived. "This is delicious."

Broly's mouth was red, just like a vampire, slurping the Red Heart Fruit juice ready to be sprayed.

"This isn't for you to eat, but for you to spit out. You need to simulate the posture of vomiting blood."

Main cupped Broly's face and rubbed it hard, interrupting his slurping behavior as she said.

"Wasting food is shameful."

Broly said seriously, and despite Main rubbing his face, he finished the juice in his mouth; the sweet taste, he liked this thing.

"Raise the odds, we can earn more money. With more money, we can buy more things, including food. And the cost is just the juice of one or two Exploding Juice Candies. Now, do you still think this is wasteful?"

"Can I spit out real blood?"

Broly thought for a moment, then asked instead.

"Eh, you can still spit out real blood?"

The children all looked over curiously; they had no idea their Big Brother had this skill.

"Yeah, as long as I really beat myself up."

Broly held up his small fist, indicating he could beat himself up.

"No."

Just as he finished speaking, the children rejected his proposal, and under everyone's unanimous insistence, Broly's proposal to make the act real was directly PASSed.

Wasting food was something they, who once couldn't eat their fill, didn't want either, but what if Big Brother really got hurt?

Waste, must waste terribly. Broly's status in his little friends' hearts was obviously above food.

That night, Main bought cosmetics and exploding juice candy, and while a few children with some drawing talent tried applying injury makeup on the faces of children without drawing talent, Broly was also using exploding juice candy to train his vomiting blood technique.

This took even longer than last night's training time before Broly overcame the behavior of always wanting to suck the 'blood' he spat out back into his mouth and eat it.

He spat out a mouthful of juice blood with a *puff*, and an incomparably pained expression appeared on his face; the mental pressure from wasting food made his pained facial expression acting even more true-to-life — this was the effect of immersing himself in the emotion.

On the third day of the Western Martial Arts Tournament, the Main Venue where the qualifying rounds were held was packed with people, the atmosphere at the scene lively beyond compare.

The sixteen contestants who had advanced to the qualifying rounds entered the ring at the center of the Main Venue from different entrances, introduced loudly by the host through a microphone.

"First contestant, hailing from the Partes Tribe of the Empire's Northern Region. Speaking of the Partes Tribe, perhaps not many people know of them, but if one mentions the minority ethnic group that hunts Danger Beasts, the audience surely knows how formidable this tribe is.

That's right, she is the contestant supported by the Galapa Chamber of Commerce, which deals in Danger Beast materials, the fighter from the North who advanced by breaking the Martial Arts Tournament's all-time speed record — Esdeath!"

The ice-blue long-haired girl's expression was flat; draped in the flag of her patron, the Galapa Chamber of Commerce, under the gaze of tens of thousands, she was the first to walk into the Main Venue. She jumped onto the ring, the Chamber of Commerce flag fluttering behind her.

This was the promotional privilege possessed by the sponsoring Chamber of Commerce behind the contestant ranked first in advancement speed, and with Esdeath walking out bearing the Chamber of Commerce flag, she directly earned three hundred thousand, making her feel that money here in the Western Territory was very easy to earn — at least much easier than the other places she had traveled before.

The second to appear was Merad, ranked second in advancement. She used the alias Mermaid, heir of the Southern Soft Fist Style, but because she had no sponsoring Chamber of Commerce behind her, the host summed her up in a few simple sentences — no commercial value, just say a couple of lines so people know who she is and be done with it.

Merad: "..."

Although she had long known the Western Martial Arts Tournament was steeped in a thick commercial nature, being ignored like this still made her feel somewhat annoyed. However, her gaze was soon drawn to Esdeath, ranked first in advancement speed.

The girl had a head of beautiful sky-blue long hair, a cross-embroidered headscarf tied on her head, a loose short-sleeved robe on her upper body, and tight elastic pants below. Her gaze was calm yet held a hard-to-detect sharpness.

When their eyes met, Merad felt as if she had become prey, locked onto by this hunter.

【Looks like a very strong-willed guy. Although she's a pretty little beauty, she doesn't seem to be my type...】

As Merad thought this in her heart, Esdeath on the other side also gave the second-ranked advancement speedster some evaluation in her heart.

【Her outfit is really revealing, exposing her abdomen and back entirely. If she were in the Northern Frozen Tundra, she'd definitely be cold.】

Merad's smooth hair was tied into a steamed bun hair on her head; her upper body had only two cloth strips connecting at the collar wrapping her still-undeveloped chest, exposing large swathes of healthy, tight wheat-colored skin; her lower body wore loose martial arts pants.

This was the opposite situation to Esdeath's outfit, but without a doubt, she was an Eastern beauty with a tear mole at the corner of her eye.

And while these two observed each other, giving first impressions in their hearts, Samba-san, ranked third in advancement, also displayed his bulging arm muscles, wearing a dust-proof cloak bearing the Degas Chamber of Commerce emblem, and came to stand beside them.

As the third-fastest advancing contestant, he also drew a glance from the other two. Esdeath's face showed the look of looking at prey; Merad felt some dislike — she didn't like men, especially this type of burly man with male hormones excessively off the charts.

Fourth, fifth, seventh... more contestants appeared one after another. The host introduced each contestant's identity and background, giving the audience a basic understanding of these contestants, while simultaneously promoting the sponsoring Chamber of Commerce behind each contestant.

And according to advancement speed determining order of appearance, the first through fifteenth contestants were all normal, all following the standard routine of promoting their patron Chamber of Commerce or displaying their own strength (Merad excepted). But when the sixteenth contestant, Broly, came out, the Main Venue's atmosphere suddenly went quiet.

(Chapter End)