Golf Showdown Ojou-samas! (1)

Having agreed to the golf duel, Karona's first task was to pick the spot from which to tee off.

"The tee ground — there are eighteen slime spawn locations. Pick whichever one you please. This is our home turf, so we already have the advantage as it is."

"Yes! I have a question! Why such a half-finished number? Couldn't it have been a round twenty?"

"… In golf terms, eighteen holes is precisely the right number, Karona-kun."

[Joabou]: "Kurona-Ojou-sama is so kind…"

[Oreshi0436]: "re: ojou being way too much of a golf beginner. duh, ojou is parasol-golf-only prole"

[@smallwind]: "don't tell me she's never even played a golf game before?"

[@torutoru]: "maybe we just hand the golf Ojou-sama title over to their side. our side can stay the parasol golf Ojou-sama lol"

"W-wait, e-everyone!? Please, cheer for me!?"

"Hahaha, in deference to your entertaining viewers, allow me to recommend a spot. That one over there, the seventh hole."

The place Kurona pointed out with her 3-iron had plentiful slimes but relatively few goblins, a forgiving spot where even a miss could be easily recovered from.

"Oh my. I'll take that one over there!"

"Hoh… …"

The spot Karona indicated, on the other hand, was the eighteenth. The most challenging point on the course: a high-risk location where goblins could climb right up onto the tee ground. On top of that, slime spawns there were sparse.

It was a training ground Kurona had commissioned specifically to simulate playing Slime Golf while engaged in combat.

"Goblins downed by anything other than Slime Golf won't count this time, you know? Wouldn't you rather change your spot?"

"I won't change it. I'm staying right here!"

"… For my own edification, may I ask why you chose that one?"

"Yoroshikutte yo, Kurona-sama. Over there, the goblins are close, aren't they? Easier to aim at, wouldn't you say?"

"O-oh. I see… …"

[@tam323]: "eh, ojou, really just for that reason?"

[Akineko]: "it's true that closer means easier to aim, buuut!"

[Oukashuu]: "nah, this is our ojou, surely she's got some plan… guess not"

"Eeeveryooone!? Whose side are you even on!? The Karonites are supposed to be listener-knights who protect me, are they not!?"

"Well, no matter. Let us begin at once. Furthermore, to ensure fairness, I shall go first and demonstrate the form."

"Hold on, Kurona-san!!"

And here, Akari called for a halt.

"Karona-chan can win without needing that kind of handicap!! Right, Karona-chan!?"

"Eh, um, if she's offering me a handicap I'd honestly rather take it."

"Besides, there's always the chance that if she clears them all first, they won't respawn for a while or something! You can't trust Niconoir!"

[@beruki]: "! every so often Akari-senpai actually says something sensible!"

[Akaringo]: "well, every so often, y'know?… … yeah, every so often… …"

[Rieru]: "somehow, I feel like the Akaringo crowd is averting their eyes"

"Hoh!! Very well, let us set the condition that if the count is lower than when I began — that is, fewer goblins remaining than at my starting point, then she wins! How's that?"

"Eh? Is that okay?"

"It's fine. Simply leave ten minutes between turns, and the numbers will restore to the original."

[Marimo-Youkan]: "somehow, I'm starting to feel like Niconoir's the more gentlemanly side?"

[@FE_Sofiya]: "is that how confident she is, or is it… some kind of trap?"

[Jack@]: "well, Ojou's an amateur parasol golfer who doesn't even know about 18 holes… there's a gear difference too… it's a just-right handicap!"

"The line 'a just-right handicap' is only a cool line when the disadvantaged party is the one saying it, everyone～～～～!?"

"Fufufu, a just-right handicap."

"See, so cool—!!… … Somehow, I feel like I might become a fan of Kurona-sama… …"

And so, amid all that bustle and commotion, the golf showdown at last began.