Chapter 12

"Specific identity not yet, no matching data on hand."

The tall swordsman wearing a white fox mask shook his head, "However, there are beggars at the pier who witnessed the other party coming down from a passing merchant ship the night before yesterday."

"Running into the kid from the Sakuraba family, it should just be to fool that kid and get the qualification to participate, just a coincidence."

"A nameless nobody with no eyes."

The luxuriously dressed middle-aged man picked up his coffee cup and gently rubbed the cup wall, "Then let him enjoy the same treatment as the Sakuraba kid; put more tricky guys in his group."

"Yes, boss."

…………

The queue at the registration office was very long.

During the waiting time, Siano looked around idly, and after a while, suddenly noticed a curved wall on the north side of the square.

The emblem patterns of the seven dojos were lined up on the wall, but in the very middle, there was a large piece of discordant blank space.

Looking closely, there seemed to be traces of being repainted.

"There should have been the Sakuraba emblem painted there before."

"Yes." Junichi nodded dejectedly, "What was erased were actually two patterns, one was the emblem of our Sakuraba Dojo, and the other was the Kendo Guild."

"Kendo Guild? Also founded by your father?"

"Not entirely; to be precise, it was founded together with the masters of several other dojos. My father was considered to have played a leading role, and later he was also elected by vote to serve as the president of the guild."

Siano clicked his tongue: "Your father’s prestige sounds very high. Before, hearing you say that after he passed away, the Sakuraba Dojo was squeezed and suppressed in various ways, I thought it had offended some public anger."

"Probably because they felt that I, who took over the position of master, was not worthy of the position." Junichi smiled bitterly.

"Whoa, here we go again; I told you not to consume yourself for no reason, keep it in mind, kid! ...By the way, speaking of which, you mentioned before that your father died in an accident five years ago?"

"Yes, it was a shipwreck."

Junichi nodded, his face full of memories, "That day happened to be a few days before the Kendo Tournament. There was a storm in the sea north of the island, and the guild received a distress signal saying that two ships carrying swordsmen to participate in the tournament were overturned."

"My father happened to be working in the guild that day; he put down the Den Den Mushi and rushed to rescue them, along with several senior brothers from the Sakuraba Dojo, and as a result... none of them could come back in the end."

Siano followed and was silent for a while.

"Your father was a good man." He sighed, "It's a pity that on this vast sea, good people don't necessarily have good rewards."

"..." Junichi didn't know what to say, and after a long time, he said in a low voice, "Thank you."

Siano patted his back.

"By the way, there is one thing that is quite strange."

Junichi remembered something else, looking at the row of dojo emblems.

"When the guild was still there, there was a place for everyone to negotiate and discuss; the adults often quarreled, and the disciples of the dojos on the street would often not be convinced when they met, and would often issue challenge letters to each other to compete for ranking."

"On the contrary, after the guild was gone, the Seven Great Dojos slowly began to advance and retreat together, as close as a family. For example, the new regulation that you have to pay money to participate in the competition was finalized and executed as soon as the wind blew in the private sector; I haven't heard of any disputes or opposition."

The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't figure it out, and he patted his head hard in distress, "Ah~, I feel like all my brain cells are going to burn out; in short, it's very strange, it doesn't make sense at all..."

As close as a family?

Siano fell into deep thought, and suddenly a chill went down his back, as if he had noticed something, and he turned his head abruptly, narrowing his eyes at the cafe not far away.

The entrance of the first floor was crowded, but the balcony on the second floor was empty.

His sharp gaze scanned up and down, and finally locked onto a certain place—on the round table near the balcony railing, two cups of coffee that had not yet cooled were still steaming.

"What's wrong?" Junichi asked curiously.

"Nothing."

Siano shook his head slightly and took back his gaze.

He looked at the queue that had become shorter in front and laughed:

"Let's not talk about these for now; it's almost our turn to draw lots and group. I hope we don't run into each other so early, and when the time comes, we will break into the finals together and take both the champion and runner-up, how about it?"

"Good! Let's work hard together!"

Junichi clenched his fists and waved, "Also! Don't show that face of having already decided on the champion; when you really reach the final stage, you have to be careful. I won't be defeated as miserably as before!"

……

The lottery grouping results came out quickly.

Siano entered Group B, and Junichi was Group C.

According to the preliminary rules, they need to have five rounds of duels with swordsmen from Group A and Group D respectively; the winner of all wins will be the first to enter the top eight.

"Ha, we don't have to run into each other for the whole preliminaries."

Junichi felt more and more happy, holding the lottery table and whistling.

"Then Mr. Siano, I'll go to Group C, see you at noon?"

"Hmm, go ahead, I will finish the duel as soon as possible and go find you."

Watching Junichi leave, Siano glanced at the cafe again before setting off for the competition area he was assigned to.

At this time, most of the wooden platforms distributed in the square were already standing with people, and the progress was different.

Some had just started duels, and some had finished and gone down to rest.

After all, there were too many swordsmen participating in the preliminaries, so this was the most efficient way.

"Preliminary AB area, seventh duel! By contestant No. 120, Siano, against contestant No. 28, Sika!"

The corner wooden platform was immediately surrounded by many spectators; as the staff’s announcement fell, both sides of the competition stood at both ends of the wooden platform.

Sika was a bald man, sturdy, and two meters three tall.

The bamboo sword in his hand was obviously a size larger, and both its thickness and length were eye-catching.

"Can you choose different styles when buying bamboo swords?"

Siano was slightly surprised.

"You don't even know this? Ha, what a fool!"

Bald Sika laughed wantonly, "Don't know where you came from, little chick, running into your Grandpa Sika in the first round, consider yourself unlucky."

"But rest assured, I won't let you be beaten for too long; your Grandpa Sika is a kind-hearted good person, and I will end your pain as soon as possible!"

"You two, remember the rules! You can only use bamboo swords for attacks, and you are not allowed to directly contact the other party with your hands and feet. Those who are knocked off the wooden platform lose, and the opponent wins directly and enters the next round! Do you understand!"

Both sides nodded.

"Good, then I announce!" The referee raised his hand suddenly, "The duel officially begins!"

The moment the words fell.

Thump!

A dull sound of a whip.

Accompanied by a scream, the huge body of more than two meters flew out directly, crashing onto the ground several meters away with a boom.

"What a coincidence, I'm also a good person."

A calm voice came from the wooden platform.

The surrounding audience was silent; the referee’s eyes were dull, and his hand was still in mid-air, not having time to swing down.

Siano inserted the bamboo sword back into his waist, turned his head to look at this referee who had solidified into a statue, and revealed a polite smile:

"Sorry, I'm in a hurry; may I ask, can I start the next round directly?"

(End of this chapter)