Rivel walked through town, still imagining himself cutting through waves of mini slimes.
But his imagination came to halt when he noticed ongoing commotion erupting from the center of town that was filled to the brim with people spectating whatever was happening.
At times like these I should just keep walking and ignore whatever is going on before I get dragged into something troublesome–
"Anyone else up to place bets!" Someone from the crowd shouted.
"I'll add a gold coin!" Another shouted.
"I have 10 silver to throw in!" Another voice peaked over the commotion.
Before he realized it, he had already squeezed himself into the crowd. Attracted by the sounds of possible easy coins to be made.
Rivel tapped on the shoulder of an old man who looked like he'd survived several lifetimes' worth of battles. "Excuse me sir? What's going on and how can I join in?"
The old man glanced at Rivel, then pointed at a huge holographic screen that floated in the center of the town huge enough for anyone to see from all over. The screen displayed three different parties of adventurers all going through different dungeons rushing at a quick pace.
Rivel's eyes dilated as he stared at the screen in amazement.
A magical stream?!
"The weekly dungeon race is happening." The old man answered.
"So like speedrunning?"
The old man gazed at him puzzled. "Speed running?"
"N-nothing ignore it… uh– so how does this race work exactly?"
"You must not be from around here," the old man assumed as he turned to face the screen. "Well from what I know, adventurers chosen by guilds from all over the world participate in these races, to see which party finishes the dungeon the fastest and who can subjugate the most monsters quickly."
The crowd broke into a mix of cheers and groans as one of the parties on screen managed to defeat a rock golem.
"This is split into multiple different brackets until the final race is held between the two top contenders, who face off in the final dungeon chosen by majority vote of the United Guild." Erna blurted out, suddenly right in between the old man and Rivel.
Both Rivel and the old man jumped back in shock, nearly screaming.
"Geeze lady! You shouldn't be doing something like that to an old man like me." The old man huffed while clutching his chest.
"I didn't even notice you! How did you manage to even get in between us without us noticing?!" Rivel demanded, pointing his finger at her.
Ignoring them Erna continued, "Due to how popular this event is, in the past we would have adventurer parties requesting to join in large numbers from all over the world, which lead to the event lasting for months."
"So to shorten it the United Guild restricted participation to A rank and S rank adventurers. Meaning B rank and under are unfortunately not allowed to participate." Erna explained, as if she was teaching a class.
"Not that anyone would want to watch the lower ranks anyway" She added on, glancing at Rivel.
"Did you have to look at me while you said that?" Rivel asked, annoyed.
She ignored him once again and continued on. "But, due to A and S rank dungeons being incredibly dangerous for even A rankers and S rankers we placed them in B rank dungeons instead for their safety."
On screen a mage shouted a chant, forming a magic symbol right above the minotaur that was struggling to get past the tanks shield.
"Get back! She's almost finished with the chant!" The swordsman of the party shouted, standing just in front of the mage.
The tank wasted no time shoving the minotaur back with one last push before he jumped back from the blast area of the mage's attack.
And with the tank out of the way the mage shouted the final words with all her might as her staff started to glow a blue hue—
"SHOCK BREAK!!"
And as the minotaur started to charge the magic symbol emitted bright blue electric sparks, before thunderous lightning struck the minotaur stopping it in its place frying it into ashes.
The crowd goes absolutely wild with cheers that drowned out the groaning and whines of the people who just lost their rent money.
Rivel covered his mouth, staring at the screen with envy.
"I wish I had magic." He wished.
"That party is truly something else." Erna muttered.
Rivel stared at Erna in utter disbelief. "Did? You just compliment someone?"
Erna looked over at him with a brow raised. "You seem to make it sound as if I was some kind of monster incapable of showing positive feelings."
"... Well I've only seen you give cold stares and insults."
"I can do a lot more than that, but to answer your question I was not giving them a complement. I was referring to how the party appears to be such a great party on screen, when in truth they're an absolute train wreck of a party." Erna explained, as her cold stare started to form.
Rivel shudders.
She isn't even glaring at me and I still can feel coldness.
"What did they do to receive a comment like that?"
"They constantly bicker back and forth over the simplest details." She began.
"Rude to those that rank under them."
"Terribile management of their own funds."
"Refuse to help others unless payment is involved no matter how dire the situation is."
"Constant fight between each other that results in the destruction of other's property."
"And worst of all— They. Always. Complete. Quest. By. Doing. The. Bare. Minimum." Erna listed, replacing her cold stare with a more fierce expression.
Everyone including Rivel takes a single step away from Erna.
"Ahem. Anyway as for the–" She said, as she turned around to face Rivel who was now near a different crowd of people shouting.
"I would like to place 5 gold coins on the second party—!"
Before Rivel could place his bet, Erna yanked him back by his collar and glared at him with a cold calm stare. "What do you think you're doing?"
Rivel avoided her glare, while trying to free himself from her iron grip. "Trying to make money."
"By gambling on the dungeon races which is prohibited?" She asked, raising a brow.
"... But–"
"If you're going to mention how everyone else is doing it, then don't bother because they will be facing punishment as well. And any rewards they have received from the bets will be forfeited." she said, interrupting him.
"And who exactly is going to figure out who placed bets or not?"
"Me." Erna stated, pointing at herself.
"What?"
"It's the guild official's job during the dungeon races to monitor for any prohibited gambling on the game. The rules were placed after an incident arose where adventurers made bets on themselves under disguise to gain wins on the side." She explained.
"Then shouldn't you be monitoring them instead of talking to me?"
"No need," she shrugged. "I already got all their faces down." She said, as she pulled out papers with their faces on it similar to what look like polaroids.
The papers glowed yellow with a similar look to wavy sand moving in the wind.
"There's cameras here?" Rivel murmured.
"Cameras?" Erna asked, as if she just heard gibberish.
"Don't worry about it."
On screen all three parties of adventurers got closer to the dungeon doors to the room of the final boss.
Everyone was rooting and cheering for their respective favorite parties, while Rivel was sweating.
My bet! The submissions are going to close!"
Rivel glanced at Erna who was focused on the screen.
Seizing the moment, Rivel inched away from Erna's side to the group of people placing bets.
"Hey guys, mind if I join in?" Rivel asked, interrupting the group's chatter.
The group glanced at each other and then nodded.
"Only if you put up something worthwhile." a guy with a scar on his eye informed him.
Rivel flashed five gold coins in front of their eyes. "Is this enough?" He asked, with a smug grin.
The group of men and women laughed and beckoned for Rivel to join in with a smile of greed on their faces.
Finally something interesting! Rivel thought as he approached the group.
Then suddenly Rivel froze and so did everyone else in the group as sweat dripped down their faces.
"Rivel." Erna blurted out in an icy sharp voice.
Rivel didn't even bother turning around. He simply accepted his fate as Erna grabbed onto his shoulder.
Moments later Rivel was standing in front of Erna with a huge bump on head as she held onto his pouch full of coins.
"Since you continued to try despite my words I'll be seizing your pouch for now, but if you want it to get it back, then you'll have to do great on your next quest." She said calmly, no longer showing any signs of that earlier icy tone.
Rivel was about to shout but her glare that bore into his soul destroyed the little rebellion left in his heart.
Rivel groaned. "F-fine."
In the background the second party of adventurers beat the dungeon boss first, winning the race.
Cheers erupted and mugs of beer flew into the air, but Rivel couldn't even cheer as he whined.
MY BET… I WOULD HAVE MADE SO MUCH!!