Tag-Team Ch. 16

Chapter 16: The battle finally begins

At the start of the Championship round, the participants stood facing each other.

Tanya glared at the Ryan. “Ready to get your ass kicked?”

“Ha! My team’s gonna wreck yours so badly you won’t even make it to the Leader Battle. We have a lot of money riding on this after all, so we kinda can’t afford to lose this. But hey, you guys can have fun being second, considering you made it this far without any guys.”

“Talk big all you want, now’s your only chance.” Tanya spat.

All eyes were on the ‘Knight of the Cherry Blossoms’.

The crowd went wild.

■SCHEDULE■

—Doubles—

The Knight in black armour, Clarke

Katherine Foxxi

VS

Venus Beauty Hoe (Alias)

Nadine Amaryllis

—Singles—

The Knight in black armour, Clarke

VS

Venus Beauty Hoe (Alias)

—Leader Battle—

Ryan Daars

VS

Tanya Artemiciov

“If we win the Doubles, I’ll forfeit the singles match. But if we lose the Doubles, I’ll make sure to win the Singles!” Laplace (or Venus Beauty Hoe, the world’s most arrogant nickname ever), reminded everyone in her usual sing-song tone as she headed for the doubles match.

“You seem confident, Laplace.”

“Heh, of course I am. I’m the Great Sorceress after all!” Laplace smirked.

Tanya felt relieved. Because looking at this sight, one couldn’t tell there had a slight incident back in the waiting room.

***

 “Why didn’t you tell me that Maxwell was still alive?!” Laplace demanded the instant she returned to the waiting room, lunging at Tanya and clinging to her for dear life.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Tanya deliberated on whether to tell her the truth.

Maxwell was Laplace’s arch-nemesis. According to legends, Laplace had plotted to destroy the capital, and thus Maxwell sealed her away. It was but one of his many great and heroic deeds.

Normally it was Nadine who soothes things over, but she currently wasn’t at her seat.

“Sorry Laplace… I thought you knew that he was immortal.”

“Ha… immortal……” Laplace bit her lip. “Before I was sealed, Maxwell hadn’t obtained immortality. That was—”

“You, right?”

“Yeah,” Laplace nodded. “As much as I loath to admit it, I am immortal. One of the ‘miracles’ back in the golden age of magic 300 years ago.”

She had spent 300 years alone in the Western Wilderness, trapped in a body that would never decay. It must’ve been a miserable experience… The thought sent shivers down Tanya’s back.

“And apparently now he’s here, secretly watching the Sparring Tournament.”

“Do you… wanna get some revenge of your own?” Tanya asked.

There was a brief moment of silence before Laplace let out a self-deprecating laugh. “No… I had this coming. Instead of getting angry and speaking up for myself, I gave up and chose to accept things as it is. It’s my fault, really.”

The look on her face was one Tanya didn’t recognise.

“You’re the one that won back in the Wilderness so your revenge takes top priority. What happened between Maxwell and I is old news, anyways. Come on, we should focus on the tour—whoa!”

She yelped as Tanya, the shorter of the two, pulled her into a hug. Laplace’s cheeks burned.

“U-uhm, Tanya?”

“Let me have this for a minute.”

“What’s gotten into you all of sudden? Wh-what if Nadine comes back and see us like this!?”

But the hug only got tighter.

“I…” Tanya began faintly. “I can’t imagine the things you’ve suffered and went through. But…”

Laplace is a good person. She didn’t deserve to be left alone for 300 years. She must’ve been so lonely, frustrated and hurt…

“…please don’t blame yourself anymore.” She whispered, her voice shaking.

Laplace gently returned Tanya’s embrace. Oh, Tanya. I’ve loved you since the day I saw you fuming in the Wilderness.

“I’m really flattered you’d get this upset for my sake……”

As she ran her fingers through Tanya’s soft, pink hair, she prayed: Dear sweet Tanya, may your righteous anger be rewarded.

“I’m looking forward to the championship round. You’re going to trounce that Ryan fellow, right?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

And just like that, the peaceful moment passed.

***

“And now! The climax of this year’s Sparring Tournament!” The announcer’s voice echoed through the excited arena.

“At long last.” Tanya said, and the other two nodded in agreement.

“Alright, leave it to the Great Sorceress!”

“I-I’ll do my best!”

First up, the doubles match.

“……hmm?” Sensing someone’s gaze on her, Laplace turned and found Clarke, a Knight in full black armour, staring at her with an inscrutable expression. Oh-ho? It looks like someone’s been captivated by this beautiful sorceress.

Just then—

“Oh look, it’s you.” A high-pitched voice sounded out. It was Katherine Foxxi, Ryan’s girlfriend(?). Just like back in the Little Fox House, she had rich blond hair, an hourglass body and a pair of large fox ears on the top of her head.

She was a Mage as well, and possibly a strong one considering Ryan had entered her into the tournament.

“H-hey, Katherine……”

“You guys know each other?”

“Y-yes. We were classmates back in Adventurers’ School……” Nadine muttered.

“Oh, wait! I know you! You’re Nadine the dropout, aren’t you? What are you doing here? I thought you were a Guild employee or something?” Katherine snickered.

“Nadine’s our healer.”

“Pfft! You couldn’t find anyone better? Come on, Nadine, I told you to find some guy and settle down. You really think a level 3 Healer can be an Adventurer? Why don’t you go home before you get hurt, yeah? I’ll introduce you to some of our party members, so ditch the tacky braids and the glasses, mmkay?” Katherine cackled. “God, what a loser!”

As Nadine stared at the ground, Laplace clapped her on the shoulder. “Let’s destroy them.”

Nadine looked up at those words. “Y-yes!”

Championship match, round 1:

—Doubles—

The Knight in black amour, Clarke

Katherine Foxxi

VS

Venus Beauty Hoe

Nadine Amaryllis

The bell rang, signalling the start of the match.

---

TL Note: i cackled when i first found out laplace’s alias in the wn was ‘venus beauty hoe’ and proceeded to laugh for the next 5minutes.