Isekai Nonbiri Nouka-Novel

Chapter 232 – Quiz Bee and Mock Cavalry Battle

The first to be held is the quiz bee.

It’s a simple ○× quiz.

If you think the statement that will be read is true, you’ll have to go to ○.

Otherwise, if you think that it is false, you go to ×.

We already did this last year as some sort of sideline entertainment but now, it was part of the main festival.

Moreover, the questions now are divided into genres so the content is limited.

There are five genres: the village as a whole, the world, crops, monsters, and dragons.

Since we have arranged it that way, there will be a champion for every genre.

The difficulty of the questions will be increasing as time goes by.

Perfect arrangement.

Genre “the village as a whole” winner: Loo.

「I won’t be defeated as long as there’s no strange question like last year.」

I don’t think that question is strange though.

TN: If you’ve forgotten already, Loo lost because of a question about the new migrants.

Genre “the world” winner: Demon king.

「I’m the demon king. There’s no way I’ll lose in this genre.」

「Why are Beezel and Randan holding their knees over there?」

「Don’t mind them.」

Genre “crops” winner: Frau.

Impossible.

To think that I’ll lose…

「The question about the shipment destination decided the match.」

Genre “monsters” winner: Zabuton.

Gulf and Yuki were down as they were the last competitors.

「To think that its habit is different from what I know….」

Bell was shocked when she was eliminated in the first question.

Genre “dragon” winner: Hiichirou.

Technically, it is Raimeiren since she’s holding Hiichirou.

However, no one says anything.

Given everyone’s reaction, the result is a success.

However, should the difficulty be adjusted?

I have a feeling that the winners smoothly won.

Maybe it is better to randomize the difficulty in the end.

No, maybe we should increase the genre.

Let’s discuss that later.

The main festival!

Mock cavalry battle!

Since there’s a physique division, let’s start with the small physique first.

Honestly speaking, the physique division is not strictly classified.

Though the racial differences are quite obvious.

When the mount and the rider are assembled, only then they will be judged to what division they should join.

For the small physique division, the most common team is a team of high elves forming a mount and rider.

In other words, it is the normal size.

Groups of four dwarves that forms a cavalry are also here.

The centaurs and harpies combo will also participate in this division.

The number of participating teams: 32.

That’s a lot.

There are four high elf teams.

Two lizardman teams.

Two mountain elf teams.

Two oni maid teams.

Two beastkin teams.

Four dwarf teams.

Two human teams from Village One.

There are also six teams of mixed devils and dream demons from the Sun Castle.

Centaur + Harpy = six teams.

There’s also Frau + civil servant girls team.

The demon king also formed a team with Beezel, Randan, and Gulf.

The rider will wear a straw hat with a brim. Once it parts the head of the rider, their team will be eliminated.

In addition, even if the rider is still wearing a hat, the team will be eliminated once the mount collapse and the rider falls to the ground.

The only one that can attack is the rider and the attack should be on another rider.

Of course weapon is prohibited. They can only use their bare hands.

However, mount colliding with another mount is a normal strategy.

The battlefield is the inner part of the race track.

It is wide and it is easy to see everything there.

Going out of the track can also make them disqualified.

As for victory or defeat, the last team with rider will be the winner but the hat they snatched from others can also earn them corresponding reward medals.

「Village chief, which team do you think will likely win?」

The civil servant girl, who is the current emcee, demands my opinion.

「Hnn….I think it’s the demon king’s team.」

The head mount is Gulf with Beezel and Randan behind.

The straw hat suits the demon king while he’s riding like that.

「Demon king-sama’s team, is it? Though I think Gulf-san can make a very good mount, I think it will be hard for them to coordinate one the battle starts. After all, this is not a joy ride.」

「Is that so?」

Right, now I feel sorry for Gulf for being teamed up with the demon king and two of the four heavenly kings.

At first, it was Jack who was caught by the demon king and seeing that, he volunteered as the replacement.

He’s a good guy.

When the whistle was blown from somewhere, each team started their strategy.

All of them look like they have rehearsed what they will do so no one looks confused.

However, there’s very little movement.

They are probably aiming to be the last team standing so they are saving their energy.

The first team to move on offensive is a dwarves’ team.

「Here we goooo!」

They attack a high elf team who was nearest to them.

The high elf team runs to a place where there are other teams so the whole situation has begun to change.

「They want to get involved in neither of the offensive team nor the escaping team.」

「When the team with physical strength attacks, those teams with less physical strength can only run away… Ah, the centaur-harpy combos are running around.」

「There’s no way for them to fight so they’re using this large field to their advantage.」

「And there’s no way for the other teams to catch up a running centaur.」

「….how about making the field smaller as the number of teams decrease?」

「I agree. Let’s cut the field in half when the participants are also half in number.」

「Okay.」

The demon king’s team was surrounded in the field.

A powerful enemy can only be crushed by cooperation.

「What should we do? How do we breakthrough?」

Gulf asks instruction from the demon king.

Beezel was the one who answered.

「Demon king-sama, the space between the dwarf team and high elf team in the right is wide. Let’s escape from there.」

「No, we’ll be surrounded again if we escape there. Let’s target the oni teams who seem to be bad with teamwork.」

Randan objects.

But the demon king objects.

「Randan, that’s a trap. Do you think that the onis who are working in this village as maid will be bad at teamwork?」

「N-now that you mentioned it…..」

「They might be good but a performance of that level will not work against this demon king!」

「As expected of demon king-sama.」

「Hahahahaha」

Hearing the loud laugh of the demon king, Gulf asks again.

「Then, what will we do?」

「Let’s do Beezel’s suggestion. Now!」

「Ooowww!」

The demon king’s team broke through the siege with skillful movement.

However, it was regrettable that Frau’s team already anticipated the demon king’s team’s move.

「All according to plan. Everyone, the next formation!」

With the next siege, the demon king’s team was crushed.

The demon king’s hat was taken by a dwarf’s team.

Though there is a good height difference, their horse jump was splendid.

Though the rider fell when they landed.

And the teams who cooperated because of the demon king’s team fell out….

That was quite a spectacle.

After a long battle, a lizardmen’s team won.

They also got five hats. They got them from continuous plundering.

「The best defense is offence.」

The champion, the lizardmen team, did a victory run with their mock cavalry around the audience.

The next is the big physique.

Minotaurs have four teams.

With Tier as their rider, Gran Maria, Kuudel, and Corone joined.

With Loo as their rider, Kierbit, Sururiu, and Suarukou formed a team.

The lamias formed one team so do the titans.

Ah, the lion stayed to participate with the ghost knight.

「But this combination, it’s unfair, right?」

None from the small physique division complained about the centaurs participating.

However, it doesn’t mean that those teams are okay with it, the teams now are fine with it too.

All in all, there are nine teams.

The rule is the same as the small physique’s.

At first, Tier and Loo’s team are cooperating with each other.

They have talked about it beforehand. They want to have a one on one battle against each other as the finals.

They probably wanted Alfred and Tiselle to see their cool side.

However, their plan immediately failed.

The lion and the ghost knight got in their way.

While Loo and Tier’s team are working with each other, they can barely keep up with the ghost knight’s offensive.

On the other side, the lamias are showing their perfect teamwork against the titan’s team.

The lamia’s team is moving in a strange way. Probably because their lower half is of a snake.

They managed to avoid the titan’s offensive with their slippery movement.

When the titan’s team was about to get their hands to their rider, the lamias will stretch their tails vertically to be taller.

The lamia rider then stretches her tail out to be more taller and counter-attack in order to get the hat of the titan rider.

When everyone was thinking that the lamia’s counterattack will come into fruition, the titan rider holds the body of the lamia rider then takes her hat.

「We’re fighting against bloody vipers every day.」

It looks like they are used to snake’s movements.

The lamias can’t do anything but be remorseful outside the field.

The minotaurs are fighting against other minotaurs.

The two to three-meter tall minotaur mount is packed with power.

They are fun to watch.

The winner of the big physique division is the lion-ghost knight combo.

After beating Loo and Tier’s teams, they made an offensive against the minotaur’s team and the titan’s team one after another.

The decisive factor is the jumping ability of the lion.

It was amazing.

Next, performance from a special division.

Riding centaurs are the angels Kierbit, Suraruriu, Suarukou, Gran Maria, Kuudel, Corone, the high elf Ria, and the oni maid Ann.

In addition, the lamia’s team and the ghost knight-lion combo are going to participate again.

The field is not the inner part of the track but the race track itself.

It is only a one round race with the addition of mock cavalry rules such as the hat of the rider should remain in their head throughout the race.

But since it will still be a too easy race, there will be obstacles along the way that will aim to take their hats.

The obstacles are the harpies but this time, they are not riding anything.

There are designated areas along the race track where they will dive from the sky to take the hat of the participants.

It is only an experimental mock cavalry battle so nobody knows how this will turn out.

The whistle was blown.

That already divided the teams. Those who are running ahead to reach the goal and those who are targeting the other team’s hat.

The ones running for the goal are Suarukou, Kuudel, Corone, and Ria.

It is still too early to judge but Suarukou is already ahead of everyone by several horse’s lengths.

However, her hat was robbed by a nose-diving harpy.

Looking at that, it means moving in a group is more advantageous than running ahead.

Kuudel, Corone, and Ria, who were just after Suarukou, cooperated with each other on the spot in order to avoid the attacks of the harpies.

As for the group who stayed, Kierbit and Gran Maria are still in the middle of a heated battle.

However, they were sneaked attack by Ann and the ghost knight.

Everyone thought that it would be a one on one match between Ann and the ghost knight but they did not fight and run towards the goal. In the meantime, Kuudel and Corone work together against Ria so, in order to not lose, Ria runs back the course.

I see.

Right, running back is not prohibited.

It is a kind of defensive maneuver.

However, Ann and the ghost knight already reached the three of them and are now targeting their hats.

Nobody knows what will happen next….

Ann managed to rob Kuudel’s hat and the ghost knight managed to rob the hat of Ria.

Whether she’s good or lucky, Corone managed to dodge both Ann and the ghost knight and reaches the goal.

She’s the winner.

Ah…..the ghost knight is seriously depressed.

The lion is comforting it.

It is a heartwarming scene.

Ah, yeah.

I should cheer up Ann.

Finally, it’s the children’s division.

The participating children, including Ursa, will have to ride a pup.

This is similar to playing so the kuros were reminded to not move so much so that the children won’t fall.

They don’t need injuries.

What worries me the most is that Alfred insisted on participating. I stopped him but he didn’t listen.

He’s still too small.

Falling off a horse…..falling off a wolf is not something I want to see.

Ah, Zabuton will watch over him?

You’ll stop his fall using your web if he falls down?

Thank you very much.

The game begins.

The warm and amicable air flows….looking at them, it looks like Ursa is unstoppable.

But someone opposed her….is it Guraru?

No, it’s a beastboy.

…….

Alfred, run away.

It’s not a shame to run away.

This way.

Runaway here.

It can be concluded that the festival is lively.

「What do you think?」

I’m having a talk with Bell while drinking tea.

「It was quite interesting. Especially, the last part.」

「Ah.」

After the children’s division, a volunteer mock cavalry battle was held.

It was quite serious since Dors and Girar participated.

And as expected from Dors and Girar, they both refused to have female mounts so a few males were gathered.

Demon king, Beezel, and Randan participated too.

Of course, I was involved too.

Honestly speaking, I find it fun to watch but I’m scared when I’m one of the participants.

And it looks like it has become a custom….isn’t it? Everyone’s enjoying sumo and arm-wrestling.

Sumo is especially popular among the minotaurs and titans.

「I never had a hearty laugh for a long time. Please invite us again next year.」

「Understood. Can Gou come next year?」

「Yes, he probably can. I think the others are about to wake up.」

The others….they might be the companions of Bell and Gou.

They slept during the fuel-saving mode.

「Things will be very hard for you but hang in there.」

「Very?」

「Briefing them. About the various changes that happened.」

「Certainly. I’ll do my best.」

Afterwards, I consulted Bell about my plan of growing seasoning related crops in Sun Castle.

I don’t think that we should be discussing this on the day of the festival but Bell and I became busy.

「Ah, village chief, the hats used in the mock cavalry battle, is it possible to bring them home as a commemorative item?」

「Will you be okay with it? They were rushly made so they are kind of rough.」

「That’s makes it a better commemorative item.」

「Okay.」

By the way, tomorrow….we will be cleaning up and there will be an evaluation meeting.

I still have to think about the stores in Shashaato City…..

Ah, it’s still the day of the festival.

I’m not sleepy yet….let try talking to someone else.