Everyone was holding backughter, including Elise and Yua. However, someughed vulgarly.
“What a name, Old Man!”
Even so, the owner of that name—a man with a buff body, thick beard, and tied hair—seemed to be unconcerned about it. The old-looking man stepped forward with confident steps.
“It seems he is the same type of warrior as you, Elise.” Raymund guessed when he saw Buddy Buttman’s weapon: a great sword almost the same size as Elise’s.
“Good morning, young master Elmer.” Buddy Buttman bent over.
Elmer was still unenthusiastic. He was the only personpletely unaffected by the man’s name. “You failed.”
“Eh?” Buddy Buttman looked up. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t like your name.”
“What!?” Buddy Buttman’s face immediately turned red. “Hey, it was disrespectful! I haven’t done anything yet!”<sub>.</sub>
“I ask you to step down, Mr. Buttman. Or something bad will happen.” The Butler apanying Elmer gave the order. “Yes, you are indeed a great adventurer, but you know who you are dealing with, right?”
“Algernon family will ensure that your life will be miserable.” Elmer gave a sinister smile. “As long as you are a good boy, we won’t care about your whereabouts.”
Raymund became more curious about how much influence the Algernon family had.
Buddy Buttman snorted, then left, past the crowd of adventurers still waiting their turn. “Get out of the way!!”
“Second participant! Leanne Ash! Pleasee forward!”
This time, a woman with tanned skin and shiny ck hair got the turn. Several men whistled as the woman walked by, moving her thick buttocks excessively. She clearly wanted to show off her voluptuous body d in a light golden dress.
“Is she wearing lingerie?” Raymundmented because the girl’s clothes were so skimpy. “That crazy woman. She is dealing with a child, you know.”
Leanne Ashe bowed her body, showing a seductive gesture that was more extreme than Yua’s. In a low and somewhat hoarse voice, she spoke. “Hey, young master. Don’t you want to spend some time with me?”<sub></sub>
“Begone, Thot.” Elmer was againpletely unfazed.
***
Dozens of people had alreadye forward, but no one had managed to convince Elmer yet. They mostly show off their abilities, from the art of moving weapons to magic performances. Some tried to convince the young master in other ways. One of them is a chubby young man performing a mime. Perhaps he wanted to convey the message that if he trained Elmer, then the young master would be entertained as well.
“Are you guys really trying?” Elmer snorted after kicking the mime yer away. “You guys just bore me. I wanted to sleep.”
“Forty-sixth participant! Elise Fairchild! Pleasee forward!”
Elise took a deep breath, looked at Yua for a moment, then walked over to Elmer. She tried to ignore the illusion of a dancing teddy bear in the corner of her eye.
Unlike the others, the female warrior did not salute or stop a few feet from the young master. She kept walking, causing Elmer to raise an eyebrow.
“Hey, that’s enough, Lady.” Elmer’s Butler gave a warning. “Don’t get too close, or you will be disqualified.”<sub></sub>
Instead of pulling out her sword to show her abilities, the woman crouched down. Her position became lower than Elmer’s.
“Good afternoon, young master Elmer.” The female warrior expanded her smile. “How are you today?”
Elmer was even more astonished by the female warrior’s behavior. None of the other participants had asked how he was. “It’s none of your business.”
“Well, I hope you’re all right, even if you have to sit like that for so long.”
“I’ve never seen Elise like this,” Raymund muttered. “The good big sister trait in her has kicked in, huh?”
“It’s okay. I promised my mom to stay here until this was finished… After I ran away from the stage yesterday.” Elmer looked away, pouted, and blushed a little. “You better just do what you want to do now.”
“Then I just wanted to chat with you.”
The young master looked at Elise again, clueless. “Huh?”
“I know you’re a good and kind person. I’ve asked some of the maids. You always say hello and ask them how they’re doing every day.” Elise said in a warm tone. “With that kind of attitude, I wonder, why don’t you want to train when you want to be an adventurer. Yes, maybe you can practice on your own by reading books, but wouldn’t it be more fun to have someone apany you?”
Raymund chuckled. “Since when did you have such goodmunication skill, Elise?”
Raymund and Yua didn’t know. Elise had beenposing those words since yesterday. And she was also surprised that she could speak this fluently in front of so many people.
“W-why do you want to know about it?” Elmer averted his gaze again.
“Because I want to know your wish, young master. Perhaps, after hearing that, I can give you some advice to make your practice more enjoyable.” Elise’s tone grew warmer. “I’m sure you’ll make a great adventure if you train well.”
This time Elmer looked down. His teeth chattered. “Next contestant…”
“Excuse me, young master?” Elmer’s Butler couldn’t hear the boy’s low voice.
“I said, next contestant!!!” Elmer’s voice boomed.
Elise was about to speak again to continue persuading the boy but chose to hold back instead. “Well, if you’d like to speak to me, I’ll be there, young master.”
The female warrior got up, looked at the boy who was still looking down, then returned to the group of adventurers.
“I feel that something is wrong with the boy, sir.” Elise lowered her head and whispered to Raymund. “He is no ordinary spoiled child.”
Raymund sighed. “I feel that way too, but we can’t do anything if he doesn’t want to tell us how he feels right now.”
“Good job, Elise.” Yua patted the female warrior’s shoulder. “But it’s a shame that brat looks like he should get special treatment.”
“What should I do to keep you from doing that, Yua?” Elise couldn’t hide her anxiety.
“You don’t have to do anything.”
The guard called for the next participant. The young master rubbed his eyes, then raised his head with another haughty expression.