It was the day of the hunting festival.
A flare, which was probably some sort of magic or something, bloomed in the sky like a firework. Multitudes of different races were all sitting in spectator seats, waiting for the event to begin. There was no way even the spectator seats would be tents; instead it was more like an event space for a movie screening, with many chairs lined up together. In front of all the seats was a ridiculously large, screen-like setup, which everyone was watching.
This world shouldn't have cameras, right…? How are they going to project the image?
"Ah, that's called a manascreen. It's something Jenny made before she died. It can capture the image of a faraway place through the mana in the air and display it. Blutgang has a similar system which allows them to see what's going on outside from within the city, apparently. Well, that place has so many black boxes they're unable to create anything similar at the moment, though. It's rather unfortunate."
Jenny again?
I looked up to the sky in exasperation as Haruka spoke.
Why the hell is she the only one dragging Midgar's overall civilization level through the roof? Were you actually like a modern Earth person? I seriously want to ask you that. I could only believe that she'd been born in the completely wrong time and world, being a 'native' with absolutely no modern Earth knowledge with this amount of skill.
"That weapon maniac can do just about anything, can't she?"
Even while wallowing in exasperation, I beckoned Wendy over. It was about time for her to go, and if anything happened to her, I'd feel too guilty to face Kushina. So, I'd decided to impart Wendy with a weapon I had Haruka retrieve from my tower, even though it was probably overkill for a festival of this level. It was just a hand-me-down from when I was in mid-game, but it should still be plenty useful.
"What is this, Miss Naru?"
"Something We used a long time ago. Its name is 'Xcalibur', and it can gather surrounding mana and expel it as divinely attributed magic. It's an effect that is both very useful and popular among the flugels."
The flugels were unable to use magic, but as was standard for games, weapons existed that could produce effects just like magic. The weapon I had handed to Wendy was one of those, and its rarity was rather high. It'd served me well from early-to mid-game. Well, by the time I was level 500, my normal attacks were stronger than any effect the weapon could produce, though, so I'd dumped it. However, it was still plenty strong enough for Wendy.
The problem was… In this world, the flugels hated mana. In the game, that factoid had simply been background lore. That was why it'd been normal to see things like flugels in Helheim, fighting full force and completely ignoring the lore. This weapon had been popular in the game.
In this world, the flugels actually did hate mana, so if Wendy rejected the weapon, then I had a spare ready. In that case, I'd give her my favorite spear Rongo from back when I was around level 500, even if it was even more overkill than the Xcalibur sword. It seemed as if my fears were groundless, as Wendy looked at me with a smile like a blooming flower.
"Thank you very much, Miss Naru! I'll make sure to win!"
Great. Looks like I hit the jackpot.
Behind me, Anko was emitting literal flames of jealousy, burning the grass around her, but I had no intention of giving her anything of mine. If I did, there'd be a real possibility of it being used for something weird.
Wait, Anko, stop actually emitting flames! You're causing trouble for everyone around us.
"Wendy, a sword is not enough firepower. Here, take my anti-golem cannon…"
"Stop that, Penny."
I wasn't sure if Penny was trying to compete with me or if she really did feel that Wendy didn't have enough firepower, but she tried to hand Wendy something that looked like a rocket launcher. I smacked Penny in the head to stop her.
Come on, that thing's more than just overkill. You'll destroy the entire venue! Wait. Actually, where did you even pull that thing out from?
"Be careful, Wendy! If you feel like you're in danger, call me right away! I'll come flying with Mesarthim!"
"I can sink all the participants into the depths of fear and make them powerless. Just say the word, girl."
"Oh my… Then why not skip the middleman and poison them? Then you'll be able to win even easier, no?"
"Then I will…"
Fiona and the others all offered up incredibly violent support. Only Jaune had nothing. After thinking about it for some time, he eventually clutched at his head.
"You're slow, so you won't make it even if you run full speed, Jaune."
"You cannot even make long-ranged attacks, nor do you have any support magic."
"To be honest, you're an incompetent who can only defend and counter."
"Yeah… Do you have any role you can fulfill other than being a shield?"
"…?!"
Fiona, Tayuya, Anko, and Haruka all unreservedly took huge stabs into Jaune's heart and self-esteem.
Hey, stop that. That might be true, but he's the best shield in the entire Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, you know.
Ah… But he really can't do anything other than that, can he?
***
There were only a few minutes left until the start of the hunting festival.
Wendy clutched her sword, a nervous expression on her face as she waited along with the other participants for the event to start. All the people around her looked fierce and frightening, so she stuck out like a sore thumb. For example, there was a large, heavily muscled man equipped with a giant sword, as well as a weirdo in all black who tried to put on airs by scoffing at others. There was also a brawler who had to be over two meters tall, and an incredibly obese guy only wearing a loincloth. One person looked like a knight in full armor and seemed strong at a glance.
"Now, it's finally almost time to start Draupnir's hunting festival! Let's go over the rules once again! They're simple: we'll release monsters here, and all you'll have to do is hunt, hunt, and hunt some more! That's it! Each monster is worth points according to its strength, and the brave warrior with the most points at the end of the one-hour time limit wins! Ah, I'm sorry for the late introduction. I am your emcee, Kentaur."
Is he using some sort of magic or divine arts to enhance his voice?
The voice of the unknown person who'd introduced themselves as the emcee could be heard throughout the area. Wendy faced the emcee area and saw a slender black haired young man who looked like the very picture of a traveler. There was also a cute small white dog(?) beastmen next to him carrying a giant sword.
"For this event, our country's pride and the continent's strongest, the Sword Saint Plue, has come all the way here to be our commentator. Please, a word!"
"Puun!"
"Midgar Common is okay here, you know?"
The dog's rather unique joke had everyone busting a gut. It had to be an attempt to assuage everyone's nerves. It would only be natural for the Sword Saint to know how to do such a thing.
"Okay! The time to start is finally upon us! Is everyone ready? Then take your marks… And starrrrrtttt!" The emcee's voice announcing the start of the hunting festival reverberated throughout the area. At the same time, a great explosive sound rang out, which was probably caused by some sort of magic.
All the participants sprinted forward. Wendy started running as well, desperate to keep up. She easily broke out to the front of the pack. It was only natural for her to think, huh? But her level and stats were just that different compared to everybody else.
Wendy continued running at the front even while looking behind her and wondering, Are they all just holding back?
Still, this event wasn't a footrace. It was a contest to see who could hunt the most and the strongest monsters. The participants all scattered to the four winds, going where their intuition and experience took them, looking for places where monsters could easily gather.
In front of Wendy stood a monster that was over two meters tall with an expression that said it knew it was strong. It had a muscular body, green skin, and only wore a grass skirt. It was a type of demihuman called a hobgoblin.
"Gobgob!"
The hobgoblin probably underestimated Wendy, since she seemed weak at first glance. It slowly and casually sauntered towards her with a grin on its face. Meanwhile, Wendy didn't have much confidence in her own strength.
They say that a frog in a well knows naught of the ocean, but the well Wendy was in was full of monsters that could completely decimate the entire ocean, so she had no actual gauge on her own strength. The reason why Wendy stood firm despite that was because of her superior's expectations. There was no way she could do something as embarrassing as running away after having been given a sword.
"Yaahhhh!"
So, she charged, half in desperation! Wendy struck out with her sword and connected with the hobgoblin's chest. The hobgoblin's body gave almost no resistance and was easily pierced through. It didn't even make a sound as it fell to the ground.
"Contestant number 777, Wendy, has earned eight points!"
"Huh?"
Wendy, dumbfounded that she'd won so easily, hesitantly poked at the hobgoblin's corpse. It yielded no response. There was no sign of it regenerating or anything; it really was dead. Seeing that, Wendy was finally convinced of her own victory.
Wait… Are all these monsters in the hunting festival just really weak?
Actually, the monsters weren't weak; she was just amazingly strong. But it seemed as if that hadn't crossed her mind just yet. However, if the monsters were weak, then Wendy had the confidence to be able to do something.
Wendy, with her slightly off misconception intact, stood and motivated herself. I can do this! I can at least fight well enough that it won't be shameful, even if I don't win!
Wendy flapped her pure-white wings and took to the skies. Flying wasn't in any way cheating. It was recognized as another skill or ability. Wendy searched for monsters from the air. After identifying a monkey-type monster that was closest to her, she locked on and accelerated. She strafed past it in a flash! The monkey monster was bisected, and Wendy once again rose into the sky.
"Contestant Wendy: six points!"
Next, she locked on to a bird monster. While it was a bit farther away, Wendy had the sword gifted to her by Naru. She gathered power into Xcalibur and swung. A blade of light shot forth from the tip of the sword and bisected the distant bird monster.
"Contestant Wendy: seven points!"
Without reducing her speed, she next found some goblins that were frozen stiff. There were two normal goblins around 150 cm in height and wielding clubs. There was also one rarer goblin wielding a staff —a goblin magician—for a total of three.
Wendy accelerated sharply, charging into them and swinging her sword. In a single pass, she disposed of two goblins. As she flew away, the magician shot a fireball at her, but Wendy dodged to the side without even looking back. After gaining some altitude she inverted herself and shot another blade of light to bisect the magician.
"Contestant Wendy: twenty points!"
I can do this! I can win! Having come this far, Wendy finally started to think, Maybe I'm a little strong…
Then her friends and comrades immediately came to mind. Specifically, she started imagining a what-if scenario where one of them, such as Penny, had participated in this event. In Wendy's mental world, Penny would patrol the area with machine guns and bazookas in hand as the ground beneath her burned. She imagined Penny massacring monsters in droves while turning Draupnir into scorched, uninhabitable earth.
Ah, I was wrong. I really am weak. She still hadn't noticed that her objects of comparison were too far to one side of the scale.
Anyway, as one of Miss Naru's comrades, I need to at least not embarrass myself, Wendy thought as she flew through the air, not realizing that she was far and away first place in points.