It's Actually Not Easy Wanting to be a Supporting Male Lead

Chapter 6.4

Aside from the school's weekly fighting event, the students pay closer attention and are more enthusiastic towards the annual inter-school fighting tournament. If one were to say that the former was like a familial, just-for-fun type of event, then the latter was a competitive event for glory. It was not only for the honour of the school, but for the honour of each individual, which is why all of the beastmen who won first place in the inter-school competition would have considerably broad prospects in the future. An example was Eli's brother Seno, who was young but had an important position that could not be ignored in the armed forces. After all, in the armed forces, one's family background was not important. Only the ability to stand out among one's peers, and one's own power, could bring honour to oneself.

Of course, there was an even more important significance, as the prize was much more valuable compared to that of the school's own event. The prize for the inter-school competition was much more precious and much more expensive.

According to the plot, the prize for this competition was a type of cinnabar ink manufactured with a type of medicinal herb called Pangluo ¹. This type of cinnabar ink was extremely suitable for making healing or detoxifying Incantations, which is why the protagonist, Allen, desperately wanted to win it. One of his admirers had just received a grave injury and was in urgent need of this kind of Incantation to treat it.

Although Allen had progressively begun to show off his talents, however he did not yet have the capability to cast off his low status. His beastmen admirers also did not have particularly good family backgrounds, aside from the Monroe who's background wasn't bad. However he tended to be mysterious and seemed to drift from place to place for the time being. The Allen who wasn't yet well-acquainted with him was also not inclined to open his mouth. Furthermore, he had the misfortune of having arrogantly started a feud with a aristocratic sub-beastman earlier on, and was pushed aside by the other party, ending up with a life full of obstacles. This competition was his only chance to acquire that Pangluo cinnabar ink. Naturally, he would not let it slip.

It was just that, he didn't know that the beloved son of the Folson family also regarded this honour with great importance. After having his face slapped by Allen, he could never forget it and began to deliberately oppose him at every turn, seeking revenge by planning to cause him even more trouble.

On the day of the competition, Sui Yuan naturally went with his group of admirers. Leonard was naturally part of the group, only he appeared aloof and unattached.

Due to his conceit, and even more so his status, Sui Yuan and his admirers naturally did not participate in the chaos of choosing an event with the masses. They merely stood by and watched these commoners first compete amongst themselves and only then went to measure their own strengths.

Although only the beastmen participated in the competition, it also represented the strength of the sub-beastmen who supported the beastmen. The powerful beastmen would only choose sub-beastmen with outstanding talent, and the power of the beastmen was precisely due to the accumulation of the sub-beastmen's Incantations. To put it frankly, the sub-beastmen worked hard and exerted themselves to cultivate their beastmen with Incantations precisely to stun the world during these kinds of occasions.

At this competition, the only thing that Sui Yuan paid attention to was naturally Allen. Monroe was naturally by his side, but he did not participate at all. The beastmen that knew of his strength also did not dare to interfere. Furthermore, the one representing Allen on stage was a commoner beastman, who's strength really was not bad. Clearly, Allen had devoted all his efforts in cultivating him.

As expected, Allen's admirers made a good showing, moving up another step in the rankings. Sui Yuan's admirers finally also had a chance to step up into the stage.

Lightly coughing, Sui Yuan tilted his head to one side to look at the Leonard who had a cold faced but had all along secretly hooked his fingers into his clothes, and smiled, "Are you planning to participate?"

Leonard shot him a glance, indifferent and aloof. Sui Yuan shrugged his shoulders, completely not taking any offence, even fearing that asking once more will make him change his mind, and immediately turned his head towards Moya: "Moya, how about you go represent me?"

"Of course, I am willing to be at your service." Moya's eyes lit up. He held the right hand of Sui Yuan, who was half leaning into Leonard and kissed it, and then turned to walk onto the field.

Sui Yuan's happily smiling expression froze, to the extent that it deserved to be called twisted. He had not known when Leonard's hand had moved to his waist, pinching it.

"He deserves it! He's so cocky even from the beginning," 5237 triumphantly commented, voice packed with self-pride.

"Deserve, what deserve! It is clearly me who is suffering the most! My waist is definitely bruised!" Sui Yuan cried without tears. He smiled sweetly while simultaneously internally wished to scratch Leonard once with his claws, feeling that he would soon become schizophrenic!

5237 was embarrassed for a short while: "…… Ok, if worst comes to worst, wait for there to be no one around, and show him your bruised waist, and make him use his points to exchange for a blood-dispersing cream to give to you. Rub it on and it will be fine!"

The corners of Sui Yuan's mouth pulled up slightly: "Are you sure that you aren't trying to hurt me?"

5237 choked, deciding that it was better not to continue speaking.

According to this world's customs, except for the mate, there weren't any beastmen who were entitled to prevent other beastmen from expressing goodwill or even expressing intimacy towards the sub-beastmen that they follow. So, after watching Sui Yuan enjoy being pursued for the last couple of days, Leonard had begun to feel bitter.

Having discovered that Eli's temperament was becoming more and more amiable, and when he lost his temper he would seem to only act grumble coquettishly, the beastmen's courage gradually grew. The acts of expressing goodwill around Sui Yuan became all the more blatant, even to the extent of not avoiding it even if Leonard was present. Because he was blocked by his character settings from coming to blows with the other beastmen, and because he had to watch Sui Yuan half-ignorantly and half-pretending to confidently and earnestly accept them, Leonard was about to go crazy. However, he could only use these sort of petty actions in secret to express his discontent. Every time he desired to do more, Sui Yuan slipped through his hands. He (SY) obviously felt some lingering fears towards his (Leonard) actions in the previous world… and his actions in the one before that as well.

"……It hurts……" Sui Yuan tried to exercise patience, until finally letting out a groan softly. Leonard reflexively let go, and then watched as the other immediately leapt from his side, running towards the railing all on his own, pretending to be really interested in looking down at the events on the fighting field. One hand discreetly rubbed at his waist, and his tail seemed to lack strength, hanging low.

Leonard rubbed his fingers, resisting with great difficulty the impulsive desire to grab hold of and fondle that tail. His outward appearance was cold as ice but in fact, early on, he had already began to daydream.

And at this time, Sui Yuan finally saw a languid Monroe sitting upright by Allen's side, who then moved to stand up, going to replace the original beastman on the stage who had already outperformed himself.

In the original story, if it were not for Monroe entering the field at this moment the probability of Moya winning the prize with his strength, though was not 100%, was at least 70-80%. Only, it was such a pity that Monroe butted in, and that Eli's most powerful beastman with the highest combat prowess was the Leonard who refused to participate. Ultimately, it resulted in Eli begrudgingly losing to Allen.

To the always haughty Eli, this kind of result was absolutely unacceptable. He could allow himself to lose to a sub-beastman of similar status, but could not towards the Allen that he looked down upon—-this kind of no-status commoner! What was even more unnecessary to say, was that his realization that Leonard began to have some interest towards Allen was simply like adding oil to the flame! The reason why Leonard began to have some interest towards Allen was because of Monroe. You see, Monroe's pride was absolutely no worse than Leonard's, yet he is willing to be under Allen's command. This inevitably meant that Allen had some extraordinary strength.

Monroe's entrance to the stage caused a bit of an uproar. Towards this sort of undisciplined thing, he has never liked participating in this kind of "contend for the affections of another" sort of event, nor did he like flaunting himself. So, no one had thought that he would suddenly enter the fray, let alone think that he'd represent such an unknown, commoner sub-beastman!

Then, as Sui Yuan's eyes lit up as he watched all the actors preparing to follow the events within the plot, Monroe who was on the field below suddenly lifted his head to look in his direction, lips raising slightly to reveal a somewhat ambiguous smile. His silvery tail also could not help but shake, as if he was a beastman flaunting his strength to impress the sub-beastman. From head to toe, his whole body seemed to scream "Look at me! Choose me! I am the strongest!"

Sui Yuan was dumbfounded, and had not yet understood the other's meaning when he heard Leonard suddenly stand up from behind him. Sui Yuan completely did not understand the Leonard who arrogantly strode to the fighting field in half a beat, without consulting anyone.

If Monroe's appearance only made the beast people feel somewhat surprised and curious, Leonard's appearance obviously made the crowd feel really surprised and bewildered.

Moya's brows wrinkled, feeling a bit uncertain as he looked towards the Leonard who was approaching his side, but Leonard did not take notice of his gaze at all, and stared straight at Monroe. He patted Moya's shoulder, conveniently pointing towards the outside of the field: "You leave. I'll go."

Moya's face suddenly became somewhat ugly. Leonard's way of doing things was beyond a doubt negating his (Moya) strength. Any proud beastman would find this intolerable. However, although this sentence made Moya feel unwilling, he had no voice but to grit his teeth and withdraw.

"You can't fight Monroe. You have no way of bringing victory to Eli. He (Eli) will not allow himself to be shamefully defeated by the hands of a commoner sub-beastman, even if the representing beastman is Monroe."

Moya took a deep breath. Finally, between his own pride and Eli's glory, he chose the latter. The expression on his face was a rare cold one, and as he stepped back, his always gentle voice also became somewhat chilly, seeming to be laced with anger: "I hope that you don't go back on your word. Bring victory to Eli."

After saying that, he turned his body and quickly left the field, giving his spot to Leonard.

Leonard moved his body only a little bit, and directly went to stand in front of Monroe. Although the corners of his mouth were raised to show an indifferent smile, anyone could tell that it emitted a sort of "with swords drawn and bows bent" kind of feeling. ²

"I almost thought that you wouldn't show up," Monroe bantered, with a smile, "Why did you suddenly change your mind?"

"How could I let you hog the spotlight," Leonard replied in a soft voice, "Thinking of showing off towards my sub-beatsman, you're much too early³."

Monroe was dumbfounded, seeming as if he did not believe that, this sentence that contrasted so greatly with the other's demeanour, had come out of Leonard's mouth. Monroe then felt like he had scented the same sort of scent from this other man, and thus became eager to have a go at him, feeling that this Leonard did not seem as boring as the rumours had let on.

"Your sub-beatman? Who?" Monroe raised his brows, obviously understanding what the other was saying, but pretending not to, "I am representing Allen on the field, and naturally must show off to him. Could it be that the sub-beastman you speak of is Allen?"

"Don't think that I don't know who you were just looking at." Leonard was not at all infuriated by this, on the contrary, he spoke lightly like a breeze, attitude not at all changing.

The words said between the two— the two involved saw more clearly than the onlookers ⁴. Although the onlooking fans could clearly hear the words spoken, but they completely could not understand to the end as to why the beastmen looked at each other in blank dismay. However, this was not the time to gossip, though their hearts were upset.

However, they continued to seriously remember the sub-beastman named Allen. At any rate, the words that Monroe and Leonard had said definitely had something to do with him.

If Leonard knew what these eavesdropping beastmen were thinking, he definitely would stand in silent tribute for these physically strong yet mentally weak beastmen.

On the fighting field, the real beastmen were charged up and ready for action. Moya had also returned to watch the battle on the field. However, he discovered that the Sui Yuan who should have been wild with joy because of Leonard taking initiative to participate, instead wore a twisted expression and was tightly squeezing onto the railings with his fingers, to the point where his knuckles seemed to turn white. It appeared as if he was endlessly cursing someone with indignant resentment.

"…… There's no need to worry. Leonard already is at level 8 in terms of fighting ability. Even if it's Monroe, he has nothing on his body to give him an advantage in suppressing him."

Moya took initiative to console him, smiling despite really not wanting to.

"……I'm not worried at all," Sui Yuan turned around to look at him, managing to joke with great difficulty. His words however seem to have been squeezed out through gritted teeth, making Moya unable to help but feel a bit cold.

Following Sui Yuan's line of sight, Moya's gaze changed direction, landing on the Monroe and Leonard atop of the fighting field. Soon afterwards, his gaze moved towards the other sub-beastman Allen, who seemed nervous and anxious as he watched the field attentively. Moya's eyes narrowed.

Moya is undoubtedly smart, and was different from the beastmen who usually only liked to use their hands and not their brains. Moreover, he adored Sui Yuan, naturally adoring him beyond body and soul. At this moment, Sui Yuan's abnormal reaction made Moya particularly interested. He felt that he had caught hold of something, though it was somewhat obscure.

While both the spectators and the participants held all kinds of suspicious, the fight had already started. However, to everyone's surprise, the Monroe and Leonard who were supposed to go at it tit-for-tat, did not immediately regard one another as an enemy and instead, as if their hearts were one, joined together to take out all the other participating beastmen.

The beastmen in the field and their corresponding sub-beastmen, simply had a string of "fuck your mom"’s running rampant through their hearts ⁵. They could only slow-wittingly watch with open mouths, and feel a deep hatred for these two simply, extremely sinister and deceitful people! The two people indeed regarded the other as an opponent, however absolutely refused to allow the other beastmen to take advantage of any lapse of attention and thus try to benefit from the quarrel between them. Therefore, it was a matter of natural selection. First, clear off all the other participants, and then fight against one another.

The beastmen who were originally much weaker than them retreated in defeat one after another. In an instant, the fighting field was nearly completely devoid of anyone aside from the two people's silhouettes. Following the sounds of two low roars of two wild beasts, the entire fighting field reverberate as a huge, silver wolf, and a black panther clashed at the same time. The remaining beastmen who had not yet left the field but were practically on the verge of death then fell another step further into an abyss of suffering.

Who said that beastmen don't use their brains, and only mindlessly throw themselves to bite at random? Monroe and Leonard have used the existing "simplistic" props to the fullest. All the other beastmen were like their shields and swords, involuntarily following along to their arrangement. They have never seen such a high level— or it should be said that they were simply behaving unbelievably, rendering all the beastmen at the games to be were simply dumbfounded! It felt as if there was a door to a whole new world slowing opening before their eyes.

—— Originally it was a battle meant to symbolize great valour and courage, yet it became this sort of shameless, completely unscrupulous thing……

Despite being a person who had a comparatively high IQ amongst the beast people, Monroe, while before Leonard, still continued to be one step below him. Needless to say, if one mentions actual strength, the Leonard who's strength had been "ripened early" ⁶ by Sui Yuan to reach the 8th level, could easily beat the level 7 Monroe.

Underneath the short-lived shared spotlight, Monroe quickly found himself in an inferior position. His hind legs were bitten by Leonard, and his waist was ruthlessly struck by a whip-like tail. He rolled away, cutting a sorry figure, only able to get back up with great difficulty.

Looking at the scorn in the black panther's golden eyes, Monroe thought about how he had never experienced this sort of having other people so easily trampling over his pride kind of condition. He let out a low growl, impetuously wishing to pounce on the other man, but he made great efforts to hold himself back and maintain a cool head.

Monroe was clear about the fact that even if he risked his life, he would not be able to beat Leonard. The other's tactics seemed to be even more deceitful and seasoned. His combat abilities were also higher than his by a step. If he were to continue, aside from inviting disgrace to himself, he would also only get injured in vain. He might as well temporarily retreat a step, and quickly heal his wounds. He will definitely encounter another chance.

"…… It's him, isn't it."

Thinking of this, Monroe's pupil lit up vigorously, voice restraining his maniacal excitement, "I know your strength. Obviously, our strengths were not far apart just a while back, but in this short amount of time, the fact that it increased by a step——it is definitely because of him, isn't it!"

Leonard narrowed his eyes slightly, not responding. However, in Monroe's eyes, it was the same as silent acquiescence.

"Your sudden change in attitude towards him, that is also because of your sudden realization that his strength is not only at the manifested 8th spiritual level, isn't that right?"

Monroe's body slightly trembled. With regards to that sub-beastman that could make Leonard's strength rapidly advance, he became even more determined to win him over —— he absolutely did not want to be trampled underfoot by this beastman, unable to free himself all his life. Even if…even if Eli's feelings towards Leonard were rooted deep, it was impossible for him to get over Leonard's treatment of him. He also needed to keep things equal and fair!

Leonard was just a guardian, not even his mate. If he were to work a little harder, humble himself a little further, then presumably, that sub-beastman could not reject him, right?

Clearly guessing what Monroe had arrived at, Leonard immediately felt a wave of malice. Even though he knew that the chance of Sui Yuan developing feelings for this world's inhabitants was low, he was absolutely incapable of allowing other people to get close to him: "I changed my attitude, but not because of that reason."

"Hn, did you think I would believe that? Did you think that I'd believe you began to like him? I'm also a beastman, naturally I know how beastmen think. We cannot think like sub-beastmen do, believing in love matters. These types of words, you can save to deceive fools instead!"

Monroe gave a snort of contempt. Facing the other's murderous look, he did not give off any impression of weakness. Not intending to continue to stubbornly resist, he quickly jumped out of the battlefield and declared his withdrawal from the match.

Leonard swayed his tail back and forth, watching the fur on Monroe, who had jumped out of the field, tremble, before he (Monroe) turned back into human form. Allen ran towards him anxiously, intending to use an Incantation to treat his wounds, eyes slightly narrowing.

Monroe raised one head, declining Allen's treatment with a distant politeness, turning his body to head towards the official healer of the games.

Allen was dumbfounded for a moment, clearly affected by the other's sudden change in bearing, unable to make heads or tails of it. He did not have a thick enough face to chase after him, and could only silently stand in place.

Leonard returned to human form, inwardly planning Monroe's murder. This fellow, looking at the situation, has evidently already decided to present gifts to finalize a betrothal towards Eli. His strength also made Leonard feel a bit apprehensive.

———In this world, this fellow’s threatening strength was clearly MAX.

Leonard won first place without a question. When he took the Pangluo manufactured cinnabar, under the gaze of millions of people, he headed towards Sui Yuan, not in the least surprised when he caught sight of Sui Yuan running towards him with a brilliant smile. Sui Yuan jumped forward, resolutely throwing himself into his embrace.

Leonard steadfastly stood his ground. Sui Yuan's tiny sub-beastman body could not hurt him in any way. He merely kept a calm and collected expression, pulled his waist into his arms, in order to make sure that the Sui Yuan hanging from his neck would not fall down.

"You! Little! Scoundrel!" The Sui Yuan who was held intimately within Leonard's arms said, close to his ear while gnashing his teeth, simply sounding like he was weeping tears of blood, "You won this Pangluo cinnabar, such an important prop! What! Do! I! Do! Now!"

"That's your problem, my dear," Leonard's face finally showed a slight trace of a smile, voice soft and low when relying in this extremely irresponsible manner.

Sui Yuan: "………………Pig teammate QAQ"

Leonard: "Thank you for the compliment."

Seeing how the other party did not repent in any way, Sui Yuan's mouth became angry in a moment, opening his mouth to fiercely bite Leonard's neck, still unconsciously rubbing against him.

Leonard paused for a moment, soon afterwards, he couldn't help but raise his hand to rub at Sui Yuan's head, winking: "How can you still consider yourself a dog? Pushed a little and then you bite people. This kind of habit, you ought to change."

Sui Yuan:"………………"

5237: "……I think, what he said is right……"

Sui Yuan: "Fuck! Don't just casually chime in!"

"It seems that the feelings between Leonard and Eli are indeed really good……" Allen's friend moved close to his ear, speaking in a soft but surprised voice.

Allen absentmindedly responded, gaze full of anxiety directly targeted towards the prize in Leonard's hand that had yet to be handed over to Eli, racking his brains, pondering over what should be done.

Even so, he had no choice but to admit that they appeared to truly fit together……not only because Eli is more beautiful than a girl, so he did not look out of sorts at all with a man, but also because the atmosphere between the two people made it simply impossible for a third wheel to insert itself within.

On the other side, Monroe also watched this scene. Unlike the other beastmen who were surprised or were sighing with emotion, after this battle, he had thoroughly understood at last what kind of trash Leonard was. Don't look at his honest, strict and indifferent outward appearance, in reality, he was in fact so treacherous and sinister that he made himself look like he was so behind that he couldn't even see his tracks. He must be acting, and he must be very good at it, huh?

The author has something to say:

Looking at the number of characters in this chapter! Do you or do you not feel very moved! Even I feel like I am moved to tears! I greatly resisted tearing this chapter into two parts! QAQ Not coming quickly to praise me! Who said that they're short?

P.S: Suddenly during Monroe and Leonard's rival show, I felt it made a good gay love (facepalm). When I don't write, I want to write a weak shou and powerful gong. When I do write, i want to write powerful gong x powerful gong. This is what I'm troubled by QAQ definitely a misconception……

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1. [Translates to big vine… and I decided to just keep the pinyin.]?

2. [Showing hostility kind of feeling]?

3. [Like, “you're a thousand years too early to think of doing this!”]?

4. [This is a play on the idiom "The spectators sees the chess game more clearly than the players. In this case, it's a reverse situation in which only those involve understand what's going on]?

5. [(Ah, the legendary grass mud horse lmao. ???(in the raws) translates to grass mud horse, and are homonyms for the chinese characters that make up “fuck your mom”)]?

6. [Original term is only used in agriculture, hence the quotations.]?