Steps to survival

Chapter 15 : The Grand Bout

That night we worked attentively to Gen's wounds and by morning he didn't look as bad. We decided to leave Gen alone to rest when the sun had just risen, the sky had turned a pastel purple and blue.

"Big news, guys! I found something huge!" We heard a small yell in the distance. Kohaku and I stopped stretching and glanced at the noise, Senku had stopped chewing on the bark he had stuffed half in his mouth and made a muffled grunt.

Suika popped out of her melon skin joyfully, " Excellent work, Great Detective Suika," Senku muffled again, I pulled out the bark from his mouth and dropped my hand to the side.

"Don't do that, it's rude," he rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Do you mind tellin' us what it is?" I continued Senku's sentence. I caught Kohaku giving me a strange look, I raised an eyebrow and she looked away seemingly embarrassed.

"I know for sure who attacked Gen last night! I know who killed him," I tilted my head. She must've wanted to make sure it was Magma before making accusations, she sure is a smart girl.

"Not dead," I interjected.

"Well, so who was it?" Senku bent down further to Suika's level.

"It was...Magma," she ducked her head.

"Called it," I sighed.

"So it was Magma, that bastard," Chrome massaged his knuckles, threateningly.

"I see. When Magma came over here, Gen made those flowers vanish right before his eyes. Imagine from his perspective. Gen has to be mysterious foreign sorcerer that I had tried to bring into the village," Kohaku placed her hand to test thoughtfully on her chin.

"So Magma tried to murder Gen because he mistook him for Senku?" I narrowed my eyes at Senku's calm face. For some odd reason, it's making me feel calmer than I probably should.

"Heh. What's more offensive is Magma has the nerve to go around saying that my strength comes from sorcery!" Kohaku hissed, it was kind of funny.

"Well, I always thought you had the strength of a gorilla because you were one," Chrome commented. Kohaku sent powerful glower in his general direction. I puffed a chuckle at their childish acts.

"Sorry, ma'am," he squeaked

"Got a question for ya, Kohaku," Senku said randomly.

"Why would Magma be looking for an opportunity to kill you?" I gazed between the two.

"Its probably because- no it's definitely because of the Grand Bout. Once every generation, the village holds a big martial arts battle. It's a tradition called the Grand Bout," she held out her hands flatly.

"So that explains the far island that looks like an arena," I said.

"The last one was several months ago, on the day that my sister, the village priestess Ruri, came of age," I clenched my teeth, knowing exactly what she was about to say.

"Whoever won the Grand Bout was supposed to marry her and become the village chief. That's how my father became the current village chief." How vial. I scrunched up my nose feeling revulsion. She further explained how she effortlessly won the Bout and angered her father.

Senku and I laughed a bit, "Hilarious. I bet your old man disavowed you after that little stunt," Senku chuckled.

"Well, let's just say that was the last straw that broke his patience," she smirked.

"Kohaku's given the chief a lotta headaches. She's been that way her whole life," Chrome rubbed the back of his head.

"Of course, the Grand Bout ended up getting rescheduled. There'll be another one next month," that's so soon and I think Senku's getting ideas judging by the way he's staring fiercely at the floor.

"Are you saying the real reason Magma killed Gen is so he can win the Grand Bout," Chrome said, wait what?

"What?! Gen is dead? That's horrible!" Suika shouted.

"No, Suika, Gen's still very much alive," I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, man, it would be bad news if Magma became the new chief."

"Yeah. With a guy like Magma in that position. Getting the medicine to Ruri will prove to be even more difficult than it already is," Senku rubbed his chin with a mischievous smile. Uh oh, what's he thinking?

"Heh. I see it as an opportunity. If a man from the Kingdom of Science were to beat Magma and win the Grand Bout, they'd marry Ruri and become chief. That would fix everything," I nodded my head in agreement.

"I could help wear him out," I spoke up, Senku looked unsure but Kohaku nodded.

"Have you done any martial arts before?" she asked.

"Yep, she's pretty stealthy," Senku answered for me with a smirk.

Time skip

"Listen up, guys, I have an important question for you," Kohaku commanded the guards.

"What do you think about Ruri? Both of the guard's eyebrows shot up in wonder, then Ginro nodded curtly.

"Do either of you want her to be your wife?" I could tell it was paining her to ask them of this. They both gasped, their eyes bulging violently.

"Uh. I've never really thought about it before. Would I marry her?" Ginro began fantasising, staring into thin air, drool leaking down his chin.

"I mean, Ruri is super pretty. Kinda looks like you, but better. First off she's got way bigger, I mean--" he rambled while I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"She's just so graceful and cute, with big round eyes!" He waved his hands frantically.

"There's more to a woman than how she looks. Is her appearance really all you care about? I had no idea you were so shallow, Ginro," I pursed my lips together awkwardly at Kinro's disbelief.

"Hey, you heard me. I said...she had a bigger amount of grace about her," Ginro turned red.

"I have a very simple answer. Guards don't have discussions. The rules are the rules. But listening to one murmur to themselves is not against the rules," he explained.

"I've seen it myself. Senku's definitely not an evil person," there was a pause, I glanced over to see that Senku looked a bit taken aback by this statement.

"So do what you normally do. Skip the details and tell us what you want."