Erwin was extremely taken aback to hear this, and he almost choked on his own saliva. Never did he think that the princess would ask about something like this, and an awkward look appeared on his face as he hurriedly explained, "This is all a massive misunderstanding, Your Highness! My friends were the ones acting inappropriately toward Prince Lazaar's daughter, and I got swept up in the fight before I even knew what was happening!"

Onean merely smiled in response, seemingly completely unconvinced by Erwin's explanation. At the same time, she was rather amused. Just a moment ago, Erwin had been a stuttering mess, yet all of a sudden, he was able to speak in a composed and fluent manner again.

A wry smile appeared on Erwin's face at the sight of Onean's unconvinced expression. It seemed that his explanation had fallen upon deaf ears.

"Are you here to watch the opening ceremony as well?" Onean asked with a smile.

"It was actually dragged here by my friend, Your Highness. His match is quite early, and he made me come with him," Erwin replied with a resigned expression.

Princess Onean nodded with a polite smile and didn't ask any further questions before she turned and departed.

Erwin looked on at her departing figure, and he couldn't help but be entranced again. Her disposition carried both a sense of unmatched pride, but also an all-encompassing kindness and sympathy toward the entire world. In his eyes, the tens of thousands of spectators had disappeared, and she was the only person that remained in his field of view. His mind began to wander, and he couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to stand by her side.

Just as Erwin was still reminiscing about his conversation with the princess, Sherry tugged on his sleeve again, then gestured for him to look at the spectator's platform on the other side of the venue.

Erwin cast his gaze toward that direction, looking across the entire ring-shaped venue, and caught sight of a familiar figure. She was wearing a red dress today, coupled with her signature sheep wool cape. It was none other than Lana! Even from several hundred meters away, Erwin could sense her subtle gaze, and the sight of the enigmatic smile on her face sent chills running down his spine. If it weren't for the fact that they were situated so far away from one another, he would've most likely already been struck by one of her spells again.

Princess Onean was situated on the contestants' spectating platform to the east, while Lana was standing directly across from her in the west. In the spectator stands on the top level, many of the spectators were already beginning to discuss spiritedly among themselves, comparing the two beauties to one another.

"You see? That's Prince Lazaar's daughter! I told you she's really beautiful as well. If you ask me, she's no less beautiful than the princess."

"I still think the princess is better looking. I think the title of the number one beauty of Sarus still goes to Princess Onean."

"I heard that the two of them aren't on very good terms with each other. Can you imagine what a battle between them would look like?"

"That's not much of a surprise. Both of them are among the most exceptional magicians of the younger generation, and they're also the two most beautiful women in the kingdom, so it only makes sense that there's a rivalry between the two of them. One of them has to establish supremacy over the other, right?"

"We'll know who's the better magician if they come up against each other in the Pillow Sword Tournament, but how do we decide which one's better looking? I feel like Prince Lazaar's daughter has the bigger boobs..."

A burst of raucous laughter immediately rang out in response to this statement.

"How about you just shut up and mind your own business? So what if one is more beautiful than the other? What does it have to do with you? It's not like any of you have a chance with either of them anyway! Just be quiet and keep your opinions to yourselves!"

Some of the women in the stands had grown sick of listening to their conversation.

The nobles and officials sitting in the middle and bottom levels naturally weren't going to be so blatant in expressing their opinions on which one of the two women was more beautiful, but it was clear that they were also discussing the same topic in hushed tones with those sitting next to them, occasionally chuckling to themselves as they did so.

Right at this moment, the first salvo rang out, and the entire venue erupted into a frenzy. The Pillow Sword Tournament had finally begun. Amid the sound of the opening salvo, King Cameron slowly entered the venue from the northern entrance, followed by Master Piro and some members of the royal family. The tens of thousands of people in the venue all rose to their feet to salute the king, and they were naturally very excited to see the ruler of their kingdom as they cheered loudly for their king.

"Long live, His Majesty! Long live, the Effer Kingdom!" Waves of thunderous cheers rang out across the entire venue.

After a total of nine salvos, King Cameron had already arrived in front of his golden throne, and he waved a hand at all of the spectators in the venue. Only then did the voices of the tens of thousands of spectators in the venue begin to subside. At his advanced age, Master Piro had naturally seen more than his fair share of prestigious occasions. However, the sight of the Pillow Sword Tournament venue, which was completely packed to the rafters, evoked many past memories within him, and his heart was filled with a myriad of emotions. He cast his gaze toward his prized disciple on the contestants' spectating platform from, and he couldn't be any prouder.

Prime Minister Fuller led several dozen Pillow Sword Tournament committee employers into the venue from the eastern and western entrances. All of the tournament committee employees were dressed in black, and they spread themselves around the venue in a circle while facing the crowd. Meanwhile, Fuller positioned himself at the center of the circle, pulling out his staff in an expressionless manner before twirling it up toward the sky. An azure halo immediately spread over the top of the venue, then fell still upon expanding to the point that it encompassed the entire venue. At this point, the color of the halo had become so faint that it was barely visible, and the entire silencing array was complete. As a result, the entire venue, which had been extremely raucous just a moment ago, was suddenly completely silent.

Fuller cleared his throat, then began to explain all of the rules of the Pillow Sword Tournament in a clear and concise manner, including how the final outcomes of matches were adjudged, and how it was determined whether competitors had broken the rules or not.

Even so, there were a total of several dozen rules, and it took quite some time to go through all of them. The only sound that could be heard within the silencing array was Fuller's monotonous voice, and it was very sleep-inducing. After that came the king's address, and Prime Minister Fuller departed from the venue with all of the tournament committee employees.

In contrast, King Cameron's address was much more concise. He pulled an arming sword out of his sleeve before slashing it gracefully through the air as he roared in a rousing voice, "I hereby announce the official commencement of the 29th Pillow Sword Tournament!"

The sword energy unleashed by the arming sword sped directly toward the royal family's spectating platform, shattering the prime minister's silencing array before continuing onward to trigger a mechanism at the very top of the circular venue. Spectacular fireworks were instantly fired all around the venue before exploding at the very center. After a dazzling display of marvelous lights, a massive iris sword symbol that was glowing with purple radiance was left in the sky. All of the spectators were momentarily entranced by the enormous glowing symbols, following which a flurry of applause, screaming, and cheering instantly rang out.

The purple longsword on the sword badge was hovering in mid-air, and the tip of the sword, which was pointing upward, suddenly began to revolve in a counterclockwise direction. Thus, the entire sword swiveled around 180 degrees so that the tip of the sword was pointed directly at the center of the venue. Immediately thereafter, the sword came piercing down at a rapid speed, and all of the spectators let loose awestruck cries as the sword pierced through the entire symbol. Right as the tip of the sword was about to come into contact with the center of the competition platform, a resounding boom suddenly rang out, and the competition platform at the center of the venue slowly rose up. The atmosphere in the venue was instantly reignited, and waves of cheering and applause rang out again.

The competition platform was a square stone platform with side lengths of roughly 50 meters. The entire platform was encompassed under an even larger semi-spherical purple magic forcefield, and the forcefield was formed by the sword that had just descended from above. According to the rules of the tournament that the prime minister had just read out, contestants would be adjudged to have lost their matches upon falling off the stone platform or flying out of the magic force field.

Thus, the 29th Pillow Sword Tournament officially began.

The competitors for the first match entered the venue through the eastern and western entrances, and Erwin quickly caught sight of a familiar figure. It was Jeff Lazaar.

I was wondering why Lana's brother wasn't with her, turns out he's participating in the first match, Erwin thought to himself.

Sherry didn't have time to watch the first match. He had to undergo a physical examination in preparation for his upcoming match.

Princess Onean, who had been watching the proceedings this entire time, also turned around and made her way directly toward the passageway behind Erwin.

So her match must be coming up soon as well... Erwin thought to himself.

Perhaps it was just a figment of his imagination, but right as Princess Onean was passing him by, he felt as if her gaze lingered on him for a moment. However, when he turned to look at her, her gaze had already wandered elsewhere, but there was a barely detectable smile on her lips, and Erwin's heart skipped a beat upon seeing this.

Meanwhile, Jeff and a martial artist from Pucil Academy had already stepped onto the stone platform at the center of the venue. Jeff was still wielding that black longsword of his, and he was looking extremely relaxed. His hands were resting on the hilt of his sword, and he looked as if he didn't have a care in the world.

As for the contestant from Pucil Academy, he was a burly figure wielding an enormous ax. He was clad in a suit of heavy armor, and the entirety of his face was concealed within his helmet, so it was impossible to see what expression he had.

What was quite surprising to Erwin was that there were many people cheering on Jeff Lazaar, and most of them were young and beautiful noble women, much to Erwin's envy and chagrin.

One of the administrative figures in black drew their staff before releasing a magic blast, which flew toward the center of the competition platform in a wobbly trajectory, then exploded to signify the commencement of the match.

The ax-wielding figure reacted extremely quickly, lunging forward as he swung his ax with one hand above his own head in a circle. The massive ax sliced through the air with a loud whooshing sound, and initially, all of the spectators thought that he was only swinging his ax as part of a habitual pre-battle routine, but it immediately became clear that this wasn't the case. Countless specks of azure light began to gather around his ax, and more and more specks of light were converging by the second, forming a bright expanse of light. Soon, the entire ax had been enveloped in azure light.