Chapter 43

Ariel was participating in the Bare-Handed Destruction Contest, and Bagran thought he should stop her.

The Bare-Handed Destruction Contest is literally a competition to break objects with bare hands.

The objects to be broken are all hard materials like rocks or metal.

Breaking rocks or metal is not easy even for dwarves born with great strength, and it’s dangerous enough to cause quite a few injuries every year.

It’s absolutely not a contest for a delicate elf girl like Ariel.

“Ah, I have to stop Ariel…”

As Bagran muttered and took a step, Rakia grabbed the hem of his clothes from behind.

“Are you going to interfere with what Ariel is doing now?”

“N-no, it’s not interference. If this continues, Ariel might get hurt.”

“Hurt? Who on earth could hurt Ariel?”

“The rock…”

“The rock?”

As Rakia tilted her head, Bagran pointed to the large rock in front of Ariel.

“If Ariel strikes that rock… her skin might get scraped. She might even get bruised.”

In fact, the injuries sustained by participants in the Bare-Handed Destruction Contest are much more serious than that.

It’s not just skin getting scraped, but torn, and not just bruises, but bones breaking.

But that’s only if you have a certain level of strength.

Even if Ariel strikes with all her might, it would only be at the level of a child.

A child’s strength wouldn’t tear skin or break bones when striking a rock.

“Ariel will be in pain!”

“Pfft.”

Rakia burst out laughing at Bagran’s serious expression.

Roo, sitting on Rakia’s shoulder, also let out a snicker.

Bagran looked bewildered.

“…What, aren’t you guys worried about Ariel? You’re her friends… no, subordinates, right?”

“We are. But worrying about Ariel against a rock is an insult to her.”

“It’s disrespectful, sister.”

Rakia and Roo laughed as they spoke.

It felt like they were treating Bagran like a fool.

“Don’t interfere and just quietly watch what Ariel is doing, dwarf.”

‘Dwarf…’

Bagran glanced at the top of Rakia’s head. Rakia and Bagran were about the same height. No, Rakia was a bit shorter.

‘Who’s calling who a dwarf…’

Bagran had a lot he wanted to say but held back.

If he said, “Aren’t you the dwarf?” Rakia would only get angrier.

Besides, the important thing now wasn’t who was the dwarf.

If this continued, Ariel might get hurt.

‘I really have to stop her…’

As Bagran thought that and turned his head, a whistle sound was heard.

The signal to start the destruction.

Bagran hurriedly looked towards Ariel.

“……?”

And he was shocked.

The rock in front of Ariel had turned completely into powder.

Bagran’s mouth hung open, unable to speak.

‘Ah, did Ariel break that rock…?’

An unbelievable situation.

It seemed the other dwarves felt the same, as they pointed at Ariel and shouted.

“Wh-what is that… is that magic?”

“M-magic! Yes! She used magic!”

“It’s impossible without magic! No matter what, it’s a rock?!”

Magic.

Bagran almost convinced himself.

That Ariel had used magic.

Otherwise, how could she have broken the rock?

Elves have a high affinity for mana, so maybe Ariel had learned a spell to break rocks.

But.

‘No… it can’t be magic…’

The Bare-Handed Destruction Contest is literally a competition to break objects with bare hands.

If it were possible to break objects with magic, humans would always win.

Humans are better at handling mana than dwarves, and there are far more human mages.

But the Bare-Handed Destruction Contest has a mana-binding device installed, making it impossible to use magic.

Once, someone tried to use mana, and a loud alarm went off, causing them to be disgraced and disqualified.

[Everyone, calm down! It’s absolutely impossible to use magic in the Bare-Handed Destruction Contest! If magic were used, the alarm would have sounded loudly!]

The dwarf announcer tried to calm the crowd, but the atmosphere was already heated.

“But, that doesn’t make sense!”

“Right! It doesn’t make sense! Turning a rock into powder!”

“Look at that kid’s frail arms!”

Then, Rakia beside Bagran flared up.

“How dare you be rude to Ariel… I’ll drop a meteor on your head…!”

“Calm down, Rakia. If you do that, the entire Dwarf Mountain Range will be blown away.”

“It’s fine if it blows away. We need to teach these lowly creatures what happens when they disrespect Ariel. Turn their stubby bodies into ashes, and annihilate their souls…”

Listening to Rakia and Roo’s conversation, Bagran quietly narrowed his eyes.

‘What kind of conversation is this?’

Meteors, ashes, souls… it seemed Rakia and Roo’s concept was a bit over the top.

[You must accept the results. I also don’t understand, but the elf girl definitely didn’t cheat. She just broke the rock with her bare hands, that’s all. What if we properly monitor the next destruction?]

“Then start quickly! We’ll monitor properly this time!”

“Next time, no chance, elf!”

“If you cheat, it’s war!”

Anyway, the contest seemed to continue.

The dwarf announcer introduced the next object to be destroyed, and everyone watched Ariel closely.

They seemed intent on watching how Ariel would destroy it, whether she would use magic or not.

Beep!

The whistle signaling the start of destruction sounded.

[Destruction start!!]

Bagran unconsciously swallowed.

How did Ariel break the rock? Could there be some elf-specific destruction technique?

If so, could she succeed this time too? Could she break steel?

Soon, Ariel moved.

She clenched her fist and struck the steel.

It was a very light motion.

Just a light tap on the steel, like a child playing.

But the result was shocking.

With a crackling sound, the steel crumbled into powder.

“……”

The crowd was silent.

The announcer dwarf, Bagran, no one spoke.

What is this? She definitely didn’t use magic, but what is this?

If Ariel had shouted “Hah!” or jumped up dramatically, it might have been a bit more understandable.

But Ariel just playfully tapped the steel.

A very girlish motion, something someone might call cute.

But the result…

“Ariel is amazing!”

“As expected of our sister!!”

Only Rakia and Roo cheered.

The crowd just stared blankly at Ariel and the scattered steel powder.

*

[Uh, um… wow…]

The contest announcer dwarf, Kuran, tried to pull himself together.

[You saw it, right, everyone? The elf girl destroyed the steel with pure strength. She definitely didn’t use magic. It’s not cheating.]

As he spoke, Kuran’s pupils were rapidly vibrating. Even he, having seen it with his own eyes, found it hard to believe.

[Ah, there are injured people. Please receive treatment first.]

As usual every year, there were quite a few injured.

Their hands were torn or bones broken from striking the steel.

Dwarfs waiting with medicine quickly moved the injured out of the contest area.

And there were quite a few participants who couldn’t completely destroy the steel, and as they left, only three participants remained in the contest area.

A large human, a dwarf with unusually thick arms, and Ariel.

[Oh ho, last year two people remained, but this year three. Impressive. Anyway, shall we continue the contest? The next object is… titanium!]

Another object to be destroyed was placed in front of the participants.

Titanium.

Breaking titanium, which is harder than steel, with bare hands is something only near-superhumans can do.

[Um, what do you think, everyone? Can the elf girl splendidly destroy titanium this time too?]

“Maybe…”

“We just saw it. She turned steel into powder. She’s definitely winning.”

“Amazing. With that kind of strength, even if she’s an elf, we have to acknowledge her.”

Dwarfs are simple.

Even if they initially suspected magic or cheating, after witnessing Ariel’s destruction firsthand, there were no further complaints.

They just acknowledged Ariel.

“Go for it, elf kid!”

“Break it! Turn titanium into powder too!”

Before they knew it, the dwarfs were cheering for Ariel.

[Alright, let’s start the next destruction.]

Beep!

As the whistle signaling the start of destruction sounded, Ariel lightly tapped the titanium with the edge of her hand.

And the result was no different from before.

The titanium also turned into powder and scattered.

On the other hand, the other two participants couldn’t destroy the titanium.

The large human and the thick-armed dwarf were holding their hands in pain, their faces red.

[Alright, everyone. The winner of this contest is… the elf girl!!]

At Kuran’s words, thunderous cheers erupted from the surroundings.

“Waaaah!!”