For some reason, the smile on Lana's face was becoming more and more chilling to look at.

"Sounds like you have it all figured out," Lana said with a smile and a nod as she unleashed around a dozen instant-release spells toward Erwin's back, rear end, and the inside of his legs.

Erwin reacted extremely quickly, twisting around to conjure up a magic shield behind himself, but there was still a burst of fire that he failed to keep out, and it struck his leg with unerring accuracy. He immediately let loose an agonized wail as he frantically patted his own leg, which was burning from the scorching fire.

His cry of pain successfully attracted a lot of attention. Even before this, many people had already been discussing spiritedly among themselves at the sight of Erwin and Lana chatting with one another. Many of the men seized the moral high ground, expressing their disdain toward Erwin for being so close with Prince Lazaar's daughter, even though it was clear that the princess had clearly already taken a liking to him. However, despite their righteous attitudes, they were actually extremely envious. Meanwhile, the women were denouncing Erwin for his apparent promiscuity, but at the same time, they couldn't help but steal occasional glances at him.

It was clear that Lana wasn't going to let Erwin off the hook so easily, and he reached out in a blind panic to grab onto her slender hands as he implored, "Please, no more! That really hurt!"

Lana gave a cold harrumph as a blush appeared on her face, and she quickly pulled her hands back, deciding to spare Erwin for now. She then averted her gaze with a slightly frustrated expression, wondering if Erwin had caught sight of the blush that had appeared on her face.

Erwin heaved a long sigh of relief after being spared by Lana, and he directed his attention back to the competition platform, where the match between Larwood and Sherry had already begun.

This was a clash between two martial artists, and for martial techniques practitioners of Larwood's level, not only was this a battle of speed and power, it was also very important to choose a suitable weapon.

Larwood had decided not to use his trusty boxing gloves for this match. Instead, he was wielding a longsword with one hand and a short sword in the other, giving him flexibility in both attack and defense. It was clear that he had specifically made this adjustment upon learning that Sherry was also a martial artist. As always, Larwood was quite sneaky and resourceful, and he had registered a lot of weapons, many of which even Erwin was oblivious to.

As for Sherry, he was using a pair of push daggers, which were very suitable weapons for fast and agile users who preferred close-quarters combat.

Sherry and Larwood both had exceptional speed and reflexes, so even after an extended series of clashes, neither one was able to find a chink in the other's defense.

Lana was clearly not very interested in this match. She appeared to be watching quite intently, but in reality, she was frequently yawning in boredom. Meanwhile, Erwin was looking at her from the side, staring at the gorgeous curvature of her eyelashes, which were fluttering ever so slightly each time she blinked, and he couldn't help but be entranced by her beauty.

"So you say that you're here to watch the match, but you've been looking at me this entire time," Lana remarked in an indifferent voice without even turning to look at Erwin, and it seemed that she was struggling to keep her eyes open and not fall asleep.

"I'm watching!" Erwin argued as he finally directed his gaze back to the competition platform. On the platform, Larwood wore a look of extreme concentration as he calmly warded off all of Sherry's attacks. Sherry was attacking with his push daggers from all directions, unleashing a variety of different attacks, including swipes, jabs, slices, and stabs, but Larwood was able to nullify all of Sherry's attacks with his twin swords, and as the battle became more and more drawn out, it was clear that Sherry was already beginning to run out of patience.

"By the way, why did you come here so early? I recall that your match is scheduled for the afternoon?" Erwin asked as he turned back to Lana.

"Focus on the match! The outcome is about to be decided," Lana said as she pointed forward with her chin, and her gaze was still fixed on the competition platform.

Erwin also turned his gaze back to the competition platform, just in time to see Sherry spring up into the air before performing a somersault with his body curled up into a ball. His fists then came swooping down from above, and his push daggers were aimed directly at Larwood's head. Larwood remained calm and collected as he raised his twin swords in defense, but Sherry had built up tremendous momentum in his attack. Larwood clearly failed to anticipate just how much power there was behind the attack, and after blocking Sherry's push daggers, his arms were trembling slightly from the force of the impact.

However, Larwood had extensive experience in fights and brawls, and he raised his twin swords vigorously before sweeping them horizontally through the air. At the same time, he stomped one foot onto the ground and launched himself backward at an incredible speed. As a result, Sherry's push daggers plunged directly toward the ground, but he also reacted extremely quickly as he pressed a palm against the ground, then performed another somersault to right himself in mid-air. However, right as he was performing his somersault, Larwood abruptly stopped in his retreat, then sprang forward in an explosive lung with his longsword aimed directly at Sherry's defenseless back. In order to achieve maximum acceleration, Larwood had used an advanced agility technique, and he was moving so quickly that Erwin was barely even able to track him with his eyes.

Sherry knew that he was in trouble here, and he twisted around with all his might so that he could face Larwood's attack head-on. However, Larwood was too fast in the end, and by the time Sherry had swiveled around to face him, the tip of his sword was already resting on Sherry's throat.

An administrator immediately raised a hand to adjudicate Larwood as the victor.

"That friend of yours isn't all that powerful, but he's quite cunning and crafty," Lana remarked with a faint smile.

"How so?" Erwin asked with a curious expression.

"He intentionally went back and forth with Sherry for an extended series of clashes, but he never actually used his full power. As the battle wore on, Sherry became more and more frustrated, and he didn't want things to continue like that any longer, so he tried to unleash an all-out attack to end the battle on the spot. However, he failed to anticipate that this was exactly what Larwood was waiting for," Lana analyzed. "I bet even now, Sherry still hasn't managed to figure out how Larwood managed to accelerate so drastically just now. The two of them are actually quite evenly matched in power, but Larwood is leagues ahead when it comes to wiles and tactical nous."

"Hmm, now that you put it that way, Larwood really does seem to have tricks up his sleeve," Erwin replied. In reality, he was already aware of all of this. Having been friends with Larwood for so many years, he knew exactly what type of person Larwood was.

"Your match is coming up soon, right?" Lana asked as she turned toward Erwin, then tagged on some nonchalant words of concern at the end. "Make sure you don't kill yourself again."

Erwin nodded in response with a wry smile.

"Look over at the royal family's spectating platform," Lana said as she gestured toward the north. "Her Highness has arrived."

Erwin cast his gaze toward that direction to find that King Cameron had just arrived on the platform, followed by an entourage, which included Princess Onean and Master Piro. For some reason, Erwin couldn't shake the feeling that Princess Onean had cast a subtle glance in his direction right as she was taking a seat.

He took a glance at the clock in the venue, then hurriedly bade farewell to Lana before returning to the contestants' area to prepare for his match.

Thanks to his stunning performance during the previous day's match, the administrator who completed his registration clearly paid more attention to him than they did to other contestants. The administrator who was responsible for his physical examination was very thorough in their work, and only after confirming without a doubt that he was fit for battle did they allow him to enter the lobby area.

There were several contestants already gathered in the lobby area, and they were originally chatting with one another, but all of them stopped to look at Erwin as he entered the lobby. Given all of the attention he was receiving, Erwin couldn't help but wonder if there was something on his face. At this point, the administrators had already brought out the equipment that he had registered, and looking at the pieces of equipment, Erwin could only assume that they had been stripped off his body while he was unconscious. It seemed that the tournament committee was being very strict in enforcing the new rules.

"Erwin?" An administrator suddenly approached Erwin in the lobby, snapping Erwin out of his train of thought, and he nodded in response.

"It's time for your match." The administrator turned to depart, but then suddenly stopped in their tracks before continuing in a disgruntled voice, "Make sure you don't destroy the competition platform again. You kept us up all night!"

Erwin heaved a sympathetic sigh as he watched the administrator's departing figure. Thinking back to the administrator's bloodshot eyes, Erwin couldn't help but feel a little guilty. However, the administrator's wording of the situation was rather strange. 

It's not like I'm a hostess from the Rivers Mansion, why am I being blamed for keeping you up at night? 

On this occasion, Erwin received a lot of cheering and applause as he walked out for his second match. Some were amazed by his resilience and vitality, able to recover from such severe injuries after just a single day of rest. Of course, there were also many spectators who were looking at him as one of the favorites to be crowned as the champion of the tournament. In addition to that, his unclear ties with the daughter of Prince Lazaar and Princess Onean provided a wealth of gossip material, so he really was the perfect contestant when it came to grabbing attention.

Erwin looked around at the raucous venue, and thinking back to how he had almost died here two days ago, he was struck by a sense of surrealism.

His opponent was Lanyon, a middle-aged magician who was quite ordinary in appearance, and a perplexed look appeared on Erwin's face upon seeing this.

Isn't there supposed to be an age limit on the participants of the Pillow Sword Tournament? My opponent seems a little... mature... 

Lanyon seemed to have gleaned Erwin's thoughts, and an awkward smile appeared on his face.

The administrator's magic blast was released, and the match commenced.

Erwin kicked things off with his signature barrage of instant-release spells, and to no one's surprise, Lanyon conjured up a magic shield to ward off the oncoming spells. Erwin then continued with his usual tactic of unleashing his space split technique to rise up into the air, where he could search for holes in his opponent's defense.

However, Lanyon had clearly done his homework coming into this match. He wasn't distracted by Erwin's instant-release spells at all, and he thumped his staff against the ground, instantly launching himself up into the sky so he was no more than two or three steps away from Erwin.

Does he intend to use instant-release spells to challenge me to close-quarters combat? Erwin couldn't help but be struck by a sense of familiarity with his opponent's style of battle.

Taking advantage of Erwin's momentary lapse in concentration, Lanyon switched to a two-handed grip on his staff before letting loose a loud roar, upon which a bolt of indigo lightning erupted out of the tip of his staff, then hurtled directly toward Erwin. The bolt of lightning seemed to have sliced through the very air itself, leaving a trail of electricity and heat in its wake as it cast a menacing trajectory through the air.

By the time the bolt of indigo lightning passed by Erwin, it had already been scattered into several dozen bursts of electricity. As it turned out, the bolt of lightning had struck the light shield that Erwin had just conjured up, and as a result, it had been completely split up.

Lanyon's eyes widened with astonishment as he stared at the light shield before him. It was incredible to him that Erwin had managed to nullify an attack from point-blank range so easily.

All of the spectators in the venue immediately erupted into raucous cheers at the sight of the light shield's return, but Lana, Princess Onean, Master Piro, and all of Erwin's friends were looking on with tightly furrowed brows.

This light shield was far smaller than the one that Erwin had conjured up during his first match, and it was only just large enough to encompass his body, but the spectators were still extremely excited to see the return to this miraculous spell.

Inside the light shield, Erwin was dedicating himself fully to chanting an incantation in the ancient magic language. Even though the space within the light shield was far smaller than last time, the enormous amount of matter energy flowing into the light shield required the expenditure of a considerable amount of magic power to deal with. Thankfully, Erwin was already quite experienced at this point, and he was able to calmly and efficiently distribute the magic power within his own body.

Lanyon naturally wasn't just going to stand still and allow himself to be beaten. However, his magic power was inferior even to that of Erwin's first-round opponent, Shaun, and he unleashed a few advanced spells in a row, none of which were able to do anything to Erwin's light shield. In fact, the magic energy in his spells wasn't even absorbed by the light shield. Instead, they were simply repelled, just like that bolt of indigo lightning from before.