Chapter 11: Chapter 10: Strength

The festival had progressed quickly and there was little issue. Naru wandered around the grove and saw the contests that were being held by the deer.

She even watched the wrestling match finals for fun. The reason was simple, her father was the one participating.

It wasn’t really her cup of tea and the only deer who were watching seemed to be a bunch of burly and strong deer of the forest.

Naru greeted her father before the match and it seemed to fire him up.

He must’ve been thinking something like “I can’t lose in front of my cute daughter!”.

[He’s really a simpleton] Naru thought watching the match.

There were all sorts of rules to the wrestling, for example, the deer had to “dance” with each other to show respect?

Then there was a respectful handshake before the wrestling. The rules for wrestling were simple. Throw your opponent out of the ring, incapacitating one’s opponent was considering underhanded. In fact, it seemed like a mix of Judo, or sumo wrestling.

With the dancing, the handshake, and the act of the wrestling it felt a bit homoerotic but Naru dismissed such thoughts.

Naru watched as her father flexed towards his opponent showing respect and saw his opponent do the same.

The judge(a spectator deer) threw a twig into the ring. The wrestling started the moment the twig reached the ground. There was another rule as well, the wrestlers were not allowed to touch the twig. Something about “respecting” the forest or something

This meant that the twigs position was important. The participant who had the twig in their side of the ring would have trouble moving and thus be at a disadvantage.

Naru watched the twig fall and land in the corner of the ring away from both participants.

[Good!] She though. This means that it was more likely for Whitehorn to win by tossing his opponent out of the ring.

Naru saw her father charged forward. His opponent similarly did the same and they began to grapple with each other.

The deer that white horn was facing was a monster of a man. Easily a head taller than Whitehorn. While Whitehorn was quite balanced body shape wise the deer in front of him seemed to be invested purely in strength.

She heard the chattering of the other macho deer.

“Mhmm, the trunk is looking strong this year”

“Yeah, I heard he spent everyday punching tree, to get stronger”

“What dedication.”

[Ah, these guys are too simple] Naru thought as she listened to the conversation.

The deer who had no real hobbies would make hobbies for themselves. It seemed like this particular deer was interested in just maxing his strength.

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Her father would try to nimbly avoid taking large hits and move in and out of the way to dodge the larger deer but it seems like the different in the speed was actually not that much.

Naru watched as her father took a large charge and was instantly thrown against the ropes(branches) of the ring.

[Is he going to lose?] Naru suddenly thought. Whitehorn was struggling and she could see. This
“Trunk” deer seemed quite strong.

Naru panicked she didn’t want her father to lose

“Fighto!” She cheered out unconsciously.

There was a marked shift in Whitehorn’s mood. He seemed to grin.

“Guess I gotta try a little harder” he muttered under his breath.

Trunk charged at him again and instead of doing out of the way he took the hit head-on.

[No way!] Naru thought watching the scene. Her father wasn’t strong enough to match tusk in a test of strength she thinks it was possible for him to win.

Whitehorn seemed to falter for a moment as he grappled with Trunk. And then he suddenly roared

“GRAHHH!!”

Slowly he began to push Trunk back towards the edge of the ring. Naru could see the muscle of both participants bulging, their bodies had a light sheen of sweat and their veins were beginning to pop out.

They seemed deadlocked unable to gain any more ground. Then Trunk seemed to falter. He had slipped on a patch of sweat on the ground.

Her father roared again and threw Trunk out of the ring.

There was a large crash as the massive figure of Trunk landed in some branches.

The crowd cheered upon seeing her father having won the bout. Naru saw Whitehorn striking a pose before he walked towards her.

“You won!” she said

Her father grinned

“Because you were cheering me on,” He said trying to look cool

[Jeez, this isn’t some sort of anime.] Naru thought,