Larwood nodded in response. "Yeah, I just saw that as well. Having said that, you're pretty lucky as well. You're in the fourth section of the bracket, so you also won't have to face them until the semifinal."

Larwood was struggling to hold back his laughter as he patted Erwin on the shoulder in consolation.

Erwin pretended not to see the ridicule on Larwood's face as he replied, "That's true. It looks like the four contestants for the semifinals are already decided."

After that, Erwin and Larwood departed from the tent, and they quickly spotted Chase and Kaiba, who were already waiting outside the lobby area.

"Why are you two grinning like that?" Erwin asked with a wary look on his face as he caught sight of the expressions of Chase and Kaiba.

"Erwin, I did some investigating for you earlier, and I heard that your opponent is one of the best advanced magicians in Pucil Academy. This isn't going to be a problem for you, is it?" Kaiba said with a calm expression, but he was unable to suppress his grin from creeping back onto his face.

"What are you talking about? An opponent of that caliber is no match for Erwin!" Chase countered as he "glared" at Kaiba.

"Ah, yes, of course, please forgive me," Kaiba replied with a feigned apologetic expression.

"I just want to know what Erwin's odds are at the moment," Larwood said with a curious expression.

"We had a look at his odds inside the pub earlier, and it was 1:8," Kaiba replied with a restrained smile.

"What about for my opponent? Erwin asked."

"It was 1:0.6 for him," Chase replied.

"Pfft!" Kaiba and Larwood were finally unable to hold back as they burst into laughter upon hearing this.

"Someone must be manipulating these odds. Otherwise, there's no way there could be such a huge disparity." Chase patted Erwin's shoulder in consolation, but he was also unable to hold back his own laughter in the end.

Thus, the group made their way toward the Yanler Pub.

------------------------------------------------------------

In the past, eating and drinking with his friends had been the most enjoyable activity for Erwin, but ever since he had begun studying "Laws of Time and Space", he had developed somewhat of an obsession.

Inside the pub, Larwood and Kaiba were discussing which girls they had recently developed an interest in, while Kaiba was listening to their conversation with a smile on his face while drinking from a mug of beer. Life went on the same as always for his three friends, but ever since his two battles against Lana, Erwin's life had taken on a completely different complexion. In the past, things like magic and martial arts held no significance in his life at all. He was simply learning magic just to follow a trend as all of the other people of his age were learning either magic or martial techniques.

In reality, Erwin was an extremely conceited person. To him, it didn't matter that the students studying hard at the academy were better than him as he had always held the opinion that he was smart enough to catch up to them through exploiting tricks and shortcuts. As such, what was the point for him to work as hard as everyone else? Thus, he found the students who studied conscientiously in class to be quite pitiful. They were putting in far more effort than he was, yet they couldn't beat him in battle anyway. That had always been Erwin's mindset, and it was why he was so reluctant to put in hard work.

However, during his battle against Lana outside the Redbud Pavilion, there had been a massive disparity between their powers. If she had truly intended to kill him, then he would've been completely powerless to stop her. That battle had had a very significant psychological impact on him, alerting him to just how weak and vulnerable he was compared with those who were truly powerful, and it had made him realize just how foolish his previous mindset had been.

As was to be expected, the near-death experience he had suffered was a massive wakeup call for him. Only after that experience had he come to realize that at the end of the day, the ultimate purpose of magic and martial techniques was to kill the opponent. It was true that he could use his tricks and wiles to cruise his way through his lessons at the academy, but the sense of powerlessness and despair that he had experienced while on the verge of death had filled him with remorse and indignation. Ever since then, he had struggled to fall asleep at night, constantly tormented by the unforgettable sense of fear and frustration that he had felt in that moment. In short, his near-death experience had truly changed him.

Thus, the question of how he could improve his own magic as quickly as possible became a constant thought on his mind. That copy of "Laws of Time and Space" was the only foreseeable way for him to make rapid improvements, so he was clinging to it with all his might, constantly studying the enigmatic passages and incomprehensible concepts. However, his desperation to improve made him extremely impatient, and as soon as he made even a slight breakthrough, he would immediately try to implement what he had learned in battle. As a result, he unleashed a spell beyond his own capabilities during the last offense and defense class, and that had almost killed him.

Ever since the last offense and defense class, Erwin had been constantly thinking about a way to alter the flow speed of time, but to no avail, and that was very frustrating to him.

Erwin picked up his mug of dark beer in an absentminded manner before taking a sip. The beer was brewed using the black barley of Senon, and it was slightly sweet, so it was perfect for his tastes, but it did nothing to lighten his mood.

"What's going on with you? Why do you look so depressed? Is it because your first-round opponent is too strong?" Larwood set aside the conversation about women for now as he turned to look at Erwin.

"No, it's not that. For some reason, I've just been feeling really tired lately," Erwin sighed with a wry smile.

"Looks like your physical constitution is getting worse by the day! Have you been to the Rivers Mansion again recently?" Kaiba asked with a teasing expression.

"Why would he go to a place like that when he has Lana fawning over him?" Chase scoffed with a hint of envy in his voice.

"It's not like that! All we did was have breakfast together," Erwin protested in a resigned manner.

"What else did you want to happen?" Larwood snapped. In his eyes, Erwin was coming across as extremely ungrateful, even though he was in a very enviable situation.

Erwin wasn't in the mood to respond to them, and he reached out for his mug of dark beer, but in his absentmindedness, his hand slipped, and the entire mug of beer came tumbling out of his grasp.

Thankfully, Kaiba's reflexes were extremely sharp, and he immediately gathered energy in his palm before sweeping it upward, generating a gust of wind that carried the dark beer back into the mug. After that, he caught the falling mug before setting it back down onto the table, completing this sequence of actions in one smooth motion without spilling any of the beer.

Erwin looked on with a transfixed expression throughout the entire process. He was still reliving the instant where the beer was spilling toward the mug before it was returned to the mug, and the same sequence of events played out in his mind over and over again. The spilled liquid flowed back and forth in his mind's eye, slowing down with each replay until Erwin could clearly see the gas bubbles on its surface.

Larwood and the others began teasing him for dropping his mug as soon as Lana was mentioned, but he didn't appear to have heard them at all, and he was still rooted to his chair with a transfixed expression.

He was thinking back to the liquid's linear descent before it was condensed by the energy from Kaiba's palm, then compressed and gathered. Looking at the movement trajectory of the liquid made Erwin feel as if something were about to arise in his mind, and his brows furrowed tightly as he tried to coax out whatever thought that was trying to spring into his mind, but he found himself unable to do so.

In the eyes of Larwood and the others, Erwin looked as if he had been possessed, and they were all staring at him with bewildered expressions. In his recent obsessive pursuit of magic training, it was as if he had become a completely different person!

------------------------------------------------------------

The first day of the Pillow Sword Tournament finally arrived.

The entire city of Sarus had become mostly deserted, while a long line of spectators had gathered from Phoenix Street all the way to the competition venue outside the city. There were quite a few attractions for this edition of the tournament, including the mysterious Princess Onean and Prince Lazaar's formidable son and daughter. Throughout the entire line, everyone was spiritedly discussing among themselves who they thought would emerge as the final victor.

Many people had already gathered around the dozen or so entrances leading up to the top level of the ring-shaped venue. It was a good thing that so many entrances had been prepared. Otherwise, there would've been severe congestion, and it would've taken an eternity for people to get to their seats. A lot of people had also gathered at the southern entrance prepared for the nobles, and all of these early birds were eager to join in on the festivities, while the more renowned and important officials and nobles were only just beginning to emerge from their manors in horse-drawn carriages.

After all, the opening ceremony was only going to begin at 9 AM, and that was going to be followed by an address from the tournament committee. After that, the rules would be explained, and that would be followed by an address from the king. Thus, it would be at least 10 AM before the first match commenced.

Erwin and his friends had rented a spacious tent in the market to sleep in. They were all used to getting up quite late, so they wanted to get as much sleep as possible. On top of that, both Larwood and Erwin's matches were scheduled in the afternoon according to the matchup board, so they were even more reluctant to get up early as a result.

The previous night, Erwin had set up a tranquility array around the tent that they were staying in, so they were unable to hear the commotion from the market outside at all. Even so, Erwin had slept quite terribly the night before, and he woke up before the sun had even risen. After that, he laid in his bed with a bored expression, flipping through the pages of "Laws of Time and Space". His starving tummy was protesting incessantly, but none of the breakfast stalls were open yet at such an early hour. He poked his head out of the tent, and the frosty air outside immediately flowed through his nostrils straight to his brain, causing him to immediately duck back into the warmth of the tent.

In contrast, Larwood was completely unfazed by the upcoming tournament and was sleeping very soundly. As for Chase and Kaiba, they had been out drinking until very late the night before, and they began snoring loudly virtually as soon as they laid down onto their beds. As a result, Erwin himself was only able to fall asleep at a very late hour.

After a while, Erwin began to see the shadows of more and more people moving outside the tent, and he decided to poke his head out to take another look. Sure enough, the entire market had already become extremely lively and bustling. Erwin turned around to find that his three friends were sleeping like logs, and he heaved a faint sigh before deciding to go out on his own for some food. The aroma of the roast meat from the food cart not far away from the tent instantly attracted his attention as soon as he began searching for food.