We went back to our hotel as we didn’t want to draw more attention to us. I had to deal with some assassins that were after my life.

  Noelle and I locked Greg in the room with Yvonne and I had to wait till Giana and Noelle disappeared into their rooms.

  Greg can’t continue messing these things up. I will need permission from the idols and especially Yvonne, but at a certain point I will probably have to give them the ‘Eslana Village Experience’. Yvonne is a rabbit, so I might have to cast a milder version on her.

  A rabbit… this is a problem.

  I knocked Noelle and Giana’s door, the door opened, a foxtail pulled me inside and closed the door. “Hey there darling.”

  I looked around and met eyes with Noelle who didn’t do anything against Giana who had captured me.

  Help?

  Noelle crossed her arms. “You must know that visiting the room of a vixen will cause this to happen, right?”

  I do, I’m willing to risk my life for my friends. This is important.

  Noelle sighed and chopped Giana’s head softly. “Ease up lil’ sis.”

  “Aww, okay.”

  I just discovered! Yvonne is a rabbit!

  I got 2 blank stares and Noelle scratched her cheek. “We know that…”

  But rabbit is tasty… how do you 2 do this?

  “Oh that…” Noelle looked at Giana.

  “I’m still a novice, but I will knock you out with my cooking!” Giana said as she made a confidence fist and showed off determination.

  Knock me out because the food is good or bad?

  That might not have been the correct response as I had to evade a charm blast.

  Ok ok sorry!

  “It will take a while, but I want to make it good. As long as you don’t get too hungry, you should be fine…”

  But I’m always hungry…

  Giana took food out of her dimensional pocket. It wasn’t how I pull items from behind me, she literally pulled it out of her cleavage as that’s where her dimensional pocket opened. It suited vixens, but it did look strange, more often than not.

  Uhh is it really needed to open the dimensional pocket from your cleavage? Hisui does that too…

  “It’s a vixen trait! Now open up!” Giana pounced on me and kept shoving food down my throat, quite like what I did when I shoved blue ghost truffles down her throat years ago.

  I tapped on the floor to indicate that I was full. Giana stopped and wiped her forehead. “Phew, Yv, is safe.”

  Noelle grabbed a large load of food and walked toward the door. “I’m going to check if Raishin is hungry.” Noelle closed the door and left me alone with Giana.

  “How much do you guys eat? We ate 2 hours ago!”

  Raishin and I use up a lot of energy all the time. I actually wanted to say this with Noelle still here but… there is reason to believe that Greg is a rock that [Shapeshifted] into Greg. I have an idea to solve it but I need the permission of you, Noelle and more importantly, Yvonne.

  I held my hands and tails out to use Ourasyn. It conveyed to Giana what my plan was.

  “Oh, wow, that certainly is going to work, you have at least my permission. I’m sure Noelle would agree to this, not sure about Yv.”

  Giana got off me and helped me up.

  Well now you know. I will bring it up later as they’ve just met. Better let this work out naturally.

  I headed over to the door to leave when a tail grabbed me.

  “You surely don’t think you can enter a vixen’s room and leave just like that?” Giana said, while her eyes glowed dangerously pink.

  List of things you shouldn’t do when it involves a vixen:

  · Don’t invite a vixen to your room

  · Don’t invite a vixen to your house

  · Don’t enter a vixens room

  · Don’t enter a vixens house

  · Don’t make remarks that other races regard as ‘Toxic’

  · Don’t meet with a vixen in her season

  · Don’t deceive a vixen

  · But most importantly, don’t attempt to flee after pulling one or more of these

  Why? Well, the first 4 are because charm magic is a thing, their charm magic sticks to whatever they’re sexually attracted to and entering their living space will have it automatically attach to you.

  The others build attraction quite fast, but fleeing does it the most and this can cause their charm magic to flare, which often happened to Hisui and what’s happening to Giana now.

  Greg always thought that I was exaggerating and being overly cautious when dealing with vixens, this is the reason why.

  I had 2 choices. Escape and have Giana’s charm build up more, or stay here and get ‘devoured’. They just joined, and I already was in this sticky situation.

  Her gaze got stronger and I teleported to my room. Now to hope that Giana can get her charm magic under control, as I will be quite screwed if she teleports over to my room.

  A minute went by, 5 minutes went by, 10 minutes went by, and no Giana. I’m thankful for her control, but that means that I had just built more attraction. One time I’m happy to be a 9t and other times I wish my race wasn’t so messed up.

  ‘Don’t meet a vixen in her season’ eh? She’s either a silver fox or a golden fox, which means it’s game over for me in either the winter or spring.

  I stopped thinking about Giana and went to sleep.

  A rare moment. No nightmares, only pleasant dreams. Some about Giana bathing. My heart was pounding and I woke up. When did I become a pervert? Or is this normal? Is something wrong with me?

  Nothing seemed wrong with me according to my Elgards eyes.

  Nilah come out!

  My companion Nilah appeared and I petted her.

  Nilah, is there any chance that there’s pink energy on me?

  Nilah absorbed a lot of energy, turned pink and spat it out.

  Aha… that makes sense… Still annoying that I can’t detect that. Why am I so weak to charm magic…

  I brushed Nilah and then my tails. The team and I would meet up in the lobby and head toward the tournament arena together.

  I’m not a fan of tournaments as it draws attention and nothing good ever happens on those. My first one was with the students and that cult came there with their bullshit; the second one also had a cult, but I had to guard the idols.

  My brush dropped.

  This tournament is going to have cult too, won’t it? Nilah, if you sense cult activity, notify me!

  Nilah picked up my brush and requested that I brush her again.

  Greedy fox, I just brushed you.

  I ran down and met up with my team.

  You’re late!

  I’m sorry, Nilah wanted a 2 nd round of getting brushed!

  I said as I pointed at Nilah who was sitting on my head.

  The idols had a brief but strong reaction to her. How much did Nilah kick their asses in that dungeon?

  “C.,.can we pet her?” Giana asked carefully.

  Sure, just know that she will steal your mana.

  “We know…”

  Ah right.

  I handed Nilah to Giana, and we walked over to the arena while people were staring at us.

  Ugh, I feel uncomfortable.

  Yeah, I’m not too great with all this attention.

  Says the guy that’s constantly surrounded by women. Attention is only bearable if I’m kicking someone’s ass.

  How about we kick Raishin’s ass.

  Greg said as he pointed at Raishin.

  Raishin was waving at the people, thinking that they’re interested in him. I’m sure the people are staring and gawking at the idols and not him. But how he’s waving… it pisses me off.

  He pisses me off.

  Yeah, let’s take him down!

  We ran at Raishin and tackled him.

  Hey! What?! My crowd! Don’t be so jealous! It’s not my fault that they can see my awesomeness and think that you two are scrubs!

  Scrubs, eh? Scrub this!

  I took out my Secret Weapon #1 and forced a spoon in his mouth.

  Aagh!

  Have a taste of this extra stinky potion!

  Greg used a super stinky potion; it was smellier than his concentrated anti-nausea potion.

  Yuck! It smells as if someone died!

  Raishin flailed and smacked the potion out of Greg’s hand.

  Uh oh…

  I followed the potion’s flight with my eyes, and its destination was Noelle’s head. Giana also saw it coming, so she stepped aside.

  Noelle screamed as she got hit by the smelly potion.

  Ha! You can’t stop me! Get that potion out of here! Hey, why is it so quiet suddenly?

  I backed off as Raishin was pouring oil on the fire with that comm,ent. Oil was possibly a great idea for another secret weapon but that would have to wait.

  Greg… what was that potion?

  I tried to immobilize him with a [Heavy] potion, as that wouldn’t work on you in case I spilled.

  The pavement behind us cracked as Noelle had stopped walking and was getting heavier.

  Hey Noelle, walk faster!

  Raishin ran at Noelle, grabbed her hand and tried to pull her along.

  Whoa! You’re heavy! How much meat did you eat yesterday?

  More cracks appeared in the pavement as Noelle’s weight scaled proportionally to how upset she was..

  Giana approached me. “Do we run?”

  That would be wise, yes.

  “Can you carry me please? I’m quite slow, as you remember.” That is true, but she was also holding Nilah, who was slowly turning pink…

  I lifted Giana while chaos unfolded.

  Greg, this is partly your fault, good luck!

  We escaped the scene while I was carrying Giana, princess-style. It was either that or with my tail, but I was unsure if walking around like a beast kin was a good idea.

  Nilah, spit that out, please!

  Nilah coughed out the pink energy and turned back to blue.

  A loud stomp shook the city and rumbling could be heard. It didn’t take long for earth magic to get flung around.

  We fled to a rooftop on a hill, looking out over a large part of the city.

  If Raishin keeps this up, he will die before a god or something truly strong kicks his ass.

  Noelle was rampaging, and Raishin was continuously pouring oil on the fire with poorly thought-out remarks.

  Yvonne tried to calm her down and Greg attempted to fix earth magic related damages.

  Giana and I were eating popcorn while observing the carnage, which lasted for 38 minutes.

  “Do you think that we will be banned from this city after this rampage?” Giana said while humming.

  I always wondered; how does she do that? She can hum while eating and hum while talking. As if she has 2 voices. 2 voices… that could be useful for collaboration magic. Working with someone else could be a pain in the ass, so if I could use collaboration magic by myself that would be great!

  “Agnis?”

  Oh sorry. Uhm well you as idols have a lot of pull and I could use some connections so in the worst case, only Raishin will get banned.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Shouldn’t we help them out? It was entertaining to watch, but we might get into trouble if we leave it like this.”

  Fair point.

  My shadow clones went out to help out fixing the damage.

  Giana got up and pecked me on the cheek. “I will see if I can calm Noelle down. See you soon!”

  She said as she ‘ran’ away. How slow is she? I couldn’t find any [Slow] on her. Her running was slower than her walking. Was she so slow that she’s defying physics?

  I looked at Nilah who was running around, chasing gulls.

  You’re pink again…

  Nilah sneezed and got rid of the dangerous brainwash magic.

  Team Hourai spent an hour fixing the city. It took a while, but we finally arrived at the arena.

  So tired…

  Did you even do anything?

  Being a 9t.

  One day… one day you will make sense.

  It was our turn and Giana talked to the clerk. “Name?”

  “Giana Kahlua. I registered 3 names but they don’t fill the requirement so I want to substitute in 2 of my other party members who do qualify.”

  “Ooh, Giana! You’re extra stunning up close!”

  Good job being creepy old man…

  The aging clerk looked at me. “Who is this rude dude.”

  “He is the Silver Torrent, the group leader and one of the substitutes I mentioned.”

  “Wait?! The Silver Torrent?! You’re a hit in, Gavin!”

  Ugh, of course…

  “Everyone here looks up to you! You make water magic look great again! All the youngsters that wanted to move inland were starting to regard water magic as useless! But because of you, they started to take it more seriously! Those with a lightning affinity also started to become serious! Especially after the latest released video”

  Video? What are you talking about?

  “You didn’t know?” Noelle took out a tablet and showed me a video named: Silver Torrent vs. the Obsidian Prince.

  Oh, Greg’s humiliating defeat caught in HD hehe, wait why is this circulating? What are these millions of comments?

  “Also, this resurfaced.” Noelle showed an old video of when silver lightning was wiping out fairies in Alledra.

  Can these guys just mind their own business?

  “It’s an honor! Forgive me for being so rude to your girlfriend! This tournament and the fishing adventure will surely be a success with you at our side! Are you the other participant?”

  Well…

  “Done! You’re registered, you 3 are with them, I assume, the clueless guy and the other 2 idols, we will arrange VIP seats for you!”

  I think you’re misunderstanding she’s not…

  Giana grabbed me and pulled me toward our preparation room. It caused me to fail to give the clerk a clarifying statement.

  Hey, guys how about we let the A-rank adventurer do all the work and I sit by?

  No way! You’re coming with us.

  Giana dragged me and I grabbed Greg, who tried to escape.

  This tournament was 3v3 because the sea was dangerous and operating alone would mean certain death. The arena of this oversized stadium was some sort of small bay.

  The inland part was for the audience to sit and had a bit of beach in the fighting area but the rest was mainly the sea. It was a bit cloudy and windy, so the sea was a bit rough. They were holding some sort of event as there were fish mascots dancing and singing some seafarer songs. Then some guy gave a speech that almost made me fall asleep. Greg kept me awake because he found it interesting.

  The door opened, and an assistant entered the room. “It’s time.”

  Time for what?

  I suppose that she is going to sing.

  “Correct, but that’s not all! Come Agnis!”

  Huh? Wait what? I can’t sing!

  Have fun!

  Hey Greg you traitor! Help me! This is kidnapping! Treachery! Murder!

  So dramatic…

  I got dragged away yet again. It sounded more dramatic than it was because I’m not heavy, so the assistant and Giana had an easy time dragging me away. The boring speech guy started talking about special guests. Noelle and Yvonne also came up in front.

  “We have the popular idol group Tails of Symphony! And they are going to sing one of their latest hits for us!” the crowd went wild.

  Hey, what am I even doing here?

  “You’re going to hate it, so I won’t tell you.” Noelle said with a smirk and played the crowd.

  I hate this…

  “But even though it’s hard to be even more special than these lovely ladies, we got lucky and here he is! The admiration of every young water user, some think he’s a ghost as he’s hard to locate but here he is, the Silver Torrent!” The crowd went even crazier than for the idols. I hate it…

  A microphone got pushed into my face. “The ladies will sing for us in a bit, Silver torrent, is there anything you want to tell the young water users of the crowd?”

  I gestured that I didn't want the microphone. The crowd laughed as they thought that it was funny. I still got the microphone shoved into my hands. I looked around at my worst nightmare; people. I kept looking around, and the crowd became silent. I broke out in cold sweat as this wasn’t part of my skill set, what do I even say? The idols were cheering me on, which wasn't very helpful...

  Mana control and crowd control are key, if you can’t master this, you just need to git gud.

  I dropped the mic, and left the stage by using [Waterspout], launching myself toward the corridor to where I could go back to the preparation room.

  People loved my random bullshit. The boring speech guy gave some nonsensical spin to my words to make my line actually seem epic and deep.

  Please don't waste your energy dude, I just spouted some random stuff.

  I sat down next to Greg after smacking him as he was grinning.

  This is the first time I hear their performance.

  Giana’s voice was clear and soothing, she could hit any note in existence and probably some notes that didn’t exist. The outfits were made by Yvonne. It was clear that she knew exactly what she was doing with those outfits. Noelle was the musician and made the music feel as if it was alive.

  They might be retired, but… they set the bar high. The other idols are so screwed, but luckily that’s not my problem. This won't come and bite us, right? I know nothing about the idol world. Surely there won't be jealous idols taking a swing at us, right?

  Greg, we need to make a contingency plan in case that jealous idols come after us.

  Hmm, their retirement could create something akin to a power vacuum and resentment might get aimed at us… that is an excellent assessment. I will think of something.

  Good! Greg has this, so I can stop worrying about it. Am I getting paranoid in thinking that anything wants to mess with us? Perhaps, but better safe than sorry.

  The idols’ dancing was on point and the audience went wild. They changed song and the audience got silent.

  This seems like a goodbye song. I suppose this is what they sung when they announced their retirement.

  A lot of people were crying as the song appeared to be carrying a lot of emotions.

  Ah right, they did say they announced it to the world, it's well put together. I have to say, they are doing a lot of emotional damage with this song.

  Why are you like this… it reminds me of your stupid [Boss music] when did you learn how to cast [Sleep] with it?

  Well, I met an old bard on Zanyr Mountain, his name was Liam… he taught me how to use string instruments and that song. Anyone who hears the song will fall asleep. He wanted me to use it on him as he wanted to enter eternal sleep. Nothing I did would dissuade him. He was old and tired and preferred dying near a stranger than with the people that are supposed to be close to him….

  I did not expect this to get so grim…

  They finished their song, the music band cleared out and Yvonne and Noelle walked off. The speech guy asked Giana some questions about their retirement and stuff and how adventuring is going for them.

  Please don't say anything stupid, please don't say anything stupid.

  Well Giana is a vixen so she probably will say something that might only benefit her.

  I felt uncomfortable and blood must have drained from my face.

  We need to stop her! Who thought that a vixen would make a great celebrity!

  She announced that they had officially joined team Hourai quite happily so, the reception was quite mixed.

  My life… is over… I already have to deal with so many assassins…

  Well, this was bound to happen, I will just enjoy this.

  You do know that there are people that are also interested in Yvonne, eh? Those will come after you.

  What does Yvonne have to do with this?

  Unbelievable this guy…

  I hope you will enjoy assassins coming after your life.

  How is that any different from now?

  Sadly, it won't be much of a difference, let’s go, it seems we’re up first.

  I don't want to go anymore…

  It is funny though, the crowd absolutely loved you moments ago, but now they’re not so sure.

  Right, I’ll just have to blow them away if they cause trouble.

  We were up against a seasoned triplet. If they're going to use collaboration magic, I’ll have to end this asap. The reception was some cheering and some angry boos.

  Look, Greg, they’re already booing you .

  I think those are meant for you, my friend.

  Look at him being smug, do you even remember how to use water magic?

  Does making you cry count as water magic?

  “I’m sorry guys but I have to be honest with my fans!” Giana said as she ran towards us.

  Meh, could you at least say something so I could be at least a bit upset with you?

  A dazzling smile almost blinded me. “Let’s kick their ass?”

  Doesn't do it, but that sounds like a good idea! Time to vent!

  These triplets are so unlucky, let’s watch out for collaboration magic, though.

  Hey Giana, is it know what type of fighter you are?

  “My fans know I have some healing skills, but it’s not clear to them if I'm a healer or just know some healing skills.” Giana said, as she [Transformed] into an attire more suitable for combat. She also looked slightly different.

  This is why resistance is futile, she can [Transform] into various versions of herself until she hits the one that grabs my attention the most. Vixens are so overpowered…

  Hmm, I guess it doesn't matter, I was curious, but as long as you're alive we can’t lose .

  The rules were read up loud and put on a huge screen. Basically, anything goes, even killing, but they recommended on not going for the kill on purpose.

  Did you hear that? No lopping off heads.

  Yeh yeh, make sure you don't drown.

  “Don’t worry, I can prevent them from dying.”

  Wait really?

  “If you let me use [Empathic Bond] on you, I can nail the timing to make sure they don’t die.”

  Quite opportunistic, aren’t you?

  “Always!” Giana placed her hand on my chest and cast [Empathic Bond]. This started to make the crowd to boo me.

  Pff assholes. Alright, time to almost one shot them!

  I took Nilah out, but she was still sheathed. Everyone got put on edge, not that it mattered, as it will be over in a flash.

  “They seem to know that you can use the sword.”

  Doesn’t matter if they can’t react to it.

  I focused and took my stance. The countdown started, and the triplets seemed extremely nervous. I focused on my sword and the countdown. Greg was relaxing because he knew it would be over soon and Giana was ready to prevent me from getting the first triple kill of this tournament. I moved on ‘Go’

  My blade sang, a cold flash went out as my [Quickdraw: Wintersbite] hit all 3 of them.

  Giana prevented them from getting one shot by healing them up instantly. They would need immediate care, though. They were just frozen now with a line of extra thick ice crystals in a vertical line where they were cut. My blade clicked as it was fully sheathed now.

  Hmm, this is a problem, now Agnis can unleash skills that could normally kill easily…

  “That’s a good thing, right? Someone needs to be his sandbag.”

  I agree with Giana!

  Ugh, these foxes…

  Fastest wipe in the west.

  The arena was silent, and even the speech dude was silently staring with his mouth open. We walked off-stage and I patted him on the shoulder on the way out and told him to wake up. Not much water used but ice counts, right?

  The next 3v3 was quite long. There was an enormous skill gap between the users. In general, there was 1 guy who was very good at water magic, typically an older person. Then there was one that was utility or support, just like most water users found inland. And the third was always the youngest, they could barely use water magic, but they showed it off to show they could use it and then used a different element. It was a weird combo that I didn't agree on, but it did work.

  The youngsters were weak when it came to dealing with water spells, but the older members picked up from there. Most of the kids were lightning or wind users, and they were the ‘glasscannons’ of the team, but the older members were a force of nature. If the older members got knocked out it always ended up in a win for the other team, but if the youngsters got knocked out it could end either way. The support didn't seem to get focused down because all that was needed is to take out the older member as the amount of support they provided was insufficient to turn it around.

  Our situation was different, we will win if they don't focus on Giana, and if by some impossible miracle, they manage, they probably still won't win. So unless they bring some god of the sea, we are winning this. I scanned the area to ensure we wouldn't have to deal with divine activity.

  “What are you doing?”

  Uhh, nothing.

  There were a lot of teams. There was one team that had 2 experienced water guys and one support. This team so far was my favorite. The youngster of the opposing team got dogpiled and got knocked out 40 seconds after the fight started. These 2 men didn't even need their support, they were going at it. The opposing older person couldn't keep up and conceded. Loud applause burst out for this team.

  You carry us this time, Greg.

  Ok…

  We were next up.

  We got to the arena and Greg looked at the waves as if he was looking at his worst nightmare. The match started and Greg was at a large disadvantage because he stayed at the small beach strip and used water and sand to attack and defend. He was doing well until the opponents managed to drag him into the water. I went to help Greg, but something annoyed me. These guys were laughing because Greg couldn't swim. I tried to fish Greg out of the water, but these guys wouldn't let me.

  I created [Ice walls], made a small maze and fished him out.

  I’m sorry Greg.

  I better get a big part of that fish!

  You betcha!

  I got him to the shore, but these assholes were still laughing. Giana took care of him while I decided what to do with these assholes.

  After careful consideration, I decided to show no mercy. I would defeat them but take my time with it. I shifted stance and started [Dragonvein: Stormy tides]. The sea already was quite rough which aided the Dragonvein. Giana was done with treating Greg and was copying my moves and dancing.

  None of these assholes could get close to me because of the waves. I kept knocking them around, and whatever they tried throwing at me got swallowed up by the waves. The speech guy was commenting on my magic circle-less magic and the insane mana control, but he had no clue what he's talking about.

  [Dragonvein: Stormy Tides] transitioned into [Dragonvein: Drowning Pulse] with the shifting of my stance, and the ocean started to swallow the opponents whole.

  It was the first time that I used it on humans and I found out why I made it a point on going easy on humans.

  I had barely gotten started, but they were already defeated. My movements ceased, the ocean stopped attacking, and the bodies floated up.

  I pulled them out of the water and slapped them to show they were alive; they all were still breathing but unconscious. The whole arena was silent. Not only because of what I just did. Probably also because the ocean which was rowdy the whole day was extremely quiet now.

  Giana ran toward me. “What was that?”

  Me messing up, but that was [Dragonvein: Drowning Pulse]. The ocean was quite rough so I didn’t need to do much for great effect.

  “Was it the same things you did when you fought off my stalkers?”

  Uhhm yeah, the same skill tends to look quite different depending on the situation however so I understand the confusion. Let’s get out of her before we get into trouble!

  I know that you took revenge for me, but you might have gone a bit overboard.

  Yeah, I should’ve just [Flushed] them away…

  Giana locked arms with me as we left the arena. We got followed by jeering and complaints of angry fans but I paid them no heed.