Ch-91: Leslie (2)

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"Welcome to the home of warriors, fighters."

The elegant cry drew the attention of all participants to the owner of the voice.

The upper level of the arena.

A snowishly gray-haired woman stood on a balcony specially set up to look down.

"Witch…"

One of the preliminaries muttered.

Calling the princess of the Duchy a witch was blasphemous in every sense, but no one criticized.

Rather, they all looked at Leslie with vehement looks, as if agreeing with him.

Leslie didn't seem to care about such stares, and she continued.

"Today, you all have come here to prove your worth as warriors. However, this fight, this tournament will be a bloody battle in which lives cannot be guaranteed. There will be no one to give a hand. So if you are afraid, turn back right now."

There was no one retreating.

Leslie put on a satisfied expression.

"Welcome, warriors."

Krrrgh!

The thick arena door opened and the assigned personnel began checking their plaques before letting the participants enter.

"Carefully go up to the stands."

I said to Katarina and Shedia.

"If there is danger, just run away. It doesn't matter if it looks ugly. Got it?"

Katarina's voice was full of anxiety.

I chuckled.

"Aren't you doubting your boyfriend too much? Is it because I have never shown myself to you in a fight before?"

"Stop talking nonsense. Do you understand what I said?"

"Right."

When I gave a passive nod, Katarina's face soured as Shedia muttered from behind.

"Just die. Really…"

Katarina hugged me tightly before turning away to walk with Shedia, trailing behind the crowd. I watched them for a while, and when it was my turn, I showed the wooden plaque to the soldier.

"Pass."

The soldier dismissively glanced at the wooden plaque and let me in. The arena was a circular arena like the Colosseum of ancient Rome.

Participants who had entered first were searching for a good place to stand in the arena.

They were moving away from those who looked strong and approaching those who seemed weak.

Those who seemed to be really talented took their place without much care. For example, that friend with six arms. There stood no one next to him.

I also took a stand in a fairly empty spot.

Then, some guys sneakily gathered around me. They exchanged glances among themselves and then began to surround me like hyenas staring at their prey.

'These fucking jackasses…'

We haven't even started yet, but they're already teaming up?

Stunned, I looked around.

I wasn't the only one experiencing this phenomenon. The elf, knight, and female martial artist I had sighted before were also in trouble of being surrounded by other warriors.

Oh, of course, the six arms ox was an exception.

There was no one by his side.

"Why is he being not targeted by any of you guys?"

When I pointed at the six arms, the people around me burst into laughter.

"Why is the man who is about to die curious about that?"

"Can't you tell that much to satisfy the curiosity of a man 'who's about to die'?"

"Well… actually, it's simple. Really."

One of them shrugged.

"After we are done with you guys, we'll kill him altogether."

Aha.

Hunting slowly by stepping on stage by stage. Good plan. Mostly.

"I wonder, does that satisfy you?"

"One more thing. I understand about those guys, but why make me one of the primary targets?"

"The Giant slayer, Galid the slayer."

One of the assholes grinned.

"I hope you are catching up?"

"That is the guy I beat up. Is he famous?"

"You dare say that even after hearing Galid's moniker? Such a grandiose moniker doesn't stick for nothing. It's only when you achieve that level of achievement, you get one."

The moment the man finished speaking, a screeching horn resonated throughout the arena.

It was the signal to announce the start of the preliminaries.

"Don't be too heartbroken. It's because of you, yourself, who acted too conspicuous before the tournament."

With their mob monologue finished, eight men surrounding me lunged. Seeing the blades approaching my body, I side-stepped to draw my sword.

'Don't think Katarina's immune to witnessing killing yet.'

She wanted to kill Lonwell to take revenge, but eventually, she relented as well. And there's a huge visual difference between killing one person and killing eight people at once.

'I'll have to slowly increase her immunity.'

Letting out a small sigh, I recalled my hand back from the handle of the sword. I twisted my body to avoid the stab from the front and punched the man in the face. At the same time, I leaped forward and got out of the encirclement.

"What?!"

"Tect, that idiot… Let's go together at the same moment!"

"Is this the time to complain? Kill that bastard!"

The remaining seven warriors flanked without hesitation.

I grabbed the ankle of the man who had passed out after being hit by my fist and swung him like a club at the man who came closest to me.

"Hih?!"

Maybe he hadn't expected me to use a person as a weapon?

He opened his eyes wide. At the same time, he was hit by a 'Tect' and rolled on the floor.

"What the f**k…"

The other six who had rushed at me hesitated in bewilderment. I went in between them and mercilessly swung 'Tect'. Fortunately, none of them cut their former comrade without hesitation, and they fell like fallen leaves in autumn.

I flicked 'Tect' — the human weapon I was coming to like — to flick off the blood…

Oh. He was not a sword.

Shook him again, then stopped and roughly threw him away.

Wiping my hands, I looked around. Perhaps because of the stunt I had just showed, no one tried to approach me.

'Five? They are holding up better than I thought.'

Contrary to their embarrassing appearances earlier, the knight, sissy elf, and martial artist were calmly responding to the duel. Avoiding the approaching blades, they made sure to clean them up one by one.

The six arms was yawning, perhaps because no one had come to him.

I turned my gaze to the spectators.

I careened my eyes a few times over and found the familiar faces.

Katarina and Shedia.

As I waved my hand at the two of them, Katarina let out a smirk of astonishment, and Shedia silently continued to eat her bread.

Next, I turned my gaze toward Leslie's balcony.

I had no particular intention, just curious about what Leslie was doing.

But by some coincidence, her eyes met mine.

A situation that would turn awkward if we just averted our gazes.

While she wondered what to do, I winked at her, to her shocked amusement.

* * *

Leslie tilted her head.

Did she see it right? Did that guy just wink at her?

It seemed right when he kept looking at her.

One of my siblings brought off mooks, huh?'

There was no other reason one would insist on squaring gazes with her, the monarch of the land.

'There are all eccentric people.'

She smiled and looked away from him.

Her interest in Cloud ended there. Because he won't be the only one bought off by her brothers and sisters.

'Elf, knight, martial artist capable of strange techniques, and even a monster. They have gathered quite a collection.'

The reason she pinned them easily was because they didn't kill other warriors, just like Cloud.

Leslie knew why they didn't bother killing other warriors.

That's why she snorted.

Because they had prepared to gain nothing.

With calm eyes, she watched over the arena until there were eight people left to go to the finals.

The inn was noisy.

Regardless of whether they were drinkers or not, customers chatted about the preliminaries that took place today.

Some about the swift maneuvers of the Elf.

Some about the Knight's fantastic swordsmanship.

And some talked about the Martial Artist's beautiful figure.

I was sipping honey wine alone in the corner of such an inn. The reason I was alone was simple.

As soon as we returned to the inn, Katarina rushed up to her room, saying that she had no appetite.

Probably because of the bloody scenes she saw in the preliminaries today. Even if I didn't kill anyone, there was no law stating others couldn't.

Shedia bounded along with Katarina.

I wondered of doing the same and comfort Katarina, before deciding to give them their girls time.

And we had rented only one room; I couldn't rent more because the other rooms were full.

That was why I seemed like a post-recovery widower.

Scrutinizing at my empty glass, I was about to order another serving of mead, when someone put a hand on my shoulder.

"Drinking alone? Come and drink with us."

It was the Knight.

The Elf and Martial Artist were sitting in the direction the knight pointed. These were the contestants who had advanced to the finals like me and the Knight.

"Drink with people I'm going to best tomorrow?"

"Umm… you don't wanna?"

The Knight scratched the nape of his neck with an awkward expression. I smiled and stood up.

"Why not."

"Haha! That's a man, of course you should!"

I shrugged and approached the table as the Knight followed me. As I sat down at the table, the Elf frowned in displeasure. The Martial Artist snapped her fingers and sent me an extra bottle of honey wine, which deftly landed right in front of me.

"Thank you for the hospitality."

The Martial Artist shrugged her shoulders.

Then she turned around and threw an empty glass flying. The glass hit a middle-aged man in the head.

He was the one who commented on her figure a little earlier.

After seeing him collapse, losing conscious, she relaxed and lounged in her chair.

"By the way, this is the meeting of finalists, yeah? Then I think a few people are missing."

"I don't even want to see those pathetic bastards who are only filling the leftover seats."

The one who answered my question was the Elf with a disgusted expression.

"What about our six-armed friend? That dude, he stands the chance, doesn't he?"

"You're not serious, are you?"

"Why? Just because he didn't fight today, doesn't tell anything. I don't think I have to tell you the type of advantage he holds with those two pairs of extra arms, do I?"

"Ha, whatever, I wouldn't want to talk to a monster like that."

""

"You're the one fighting that monster tomorrow."

The Elf laughed.

"He is a monster, yes. But only because of how he looks: gross. You really think I'm going to lose to that guy? I, the heir to the Elendos family, Aneraf Elendos?"

"Never heard the name."

"It would be better if you memorize it now. It will be the name of the First King of the Elven kingdom that will first appear on the Continent."

"An Elven kingdom, huh?"

Now what kind of fresh bullshit is this?

Or it's the alcohol talking?

The Knight and the Martial Artist were also tilting their heads.

These guys feel the same way as me.

"All the guys in the woods are old-fashioned bastards. They do not think of venturing outside, saying that only the forest is our home. Because of that, this whole vast continent is being occupied by the likes of you humans, gawd."

The elf gulped down the honey wine and continued.

""

"I can't stand that. I will definitely establish an Elven kingdom and revive the clan. This job will be the foundation for that cause."

After that, the Elf began talking at length about the plans he had made.

Ah, fuck. I'm not even curious. This guy is a gone cause.

* * *

"What were you doing out there so late?"

"I didn't know that bean pole could talk so much either."

Who would have expected him to blabber till dawn?

Instances were there where I wanted to cut it short, but good quality wine kept us — the Knight, Martial Artist and me — seated.

"It's okay. None of the other participants slept either."

"Yeah…? Ugh… Come on."

Katarina pulled me by my head and made me lay on her thighs.

She was warmer than a pillow.

"I'll wake you up when it's your turn, so sleep until then."

Katarina said as she stroked my hair.

"Alright, alright. But at least let me watch the first match."

"Oh, an interesting one?"

"The Elf and six arms."

As I was talking with Katarina, the doors on both sides of the arena opened and the contestants entered.

Six arms on the left.

The Elf on the right.

The two stood facing each other with some distance between them.

Because of the distance, I couldn't see his face, but the Elf seemed full of confidence that he could tear his opponent apart at any time.

Moments later, Leslie raised her hand and started the match.

At the same time as the given motion, the Elf moved.

With a swift yet graceful lurch, he circled around the six arms.

The movement was so fast that afterimages were left behind as the Elf thrusted his rapier.

Six arms couldn't keep up with the Elf's speed.

Because of that, he covered his vitals with his pairs of arms.

The number of holes drilled in his arms and thighs increased. Blood flowed through the punctured holes. He was bleeding profusely, but he stood firm as a rock.

The circle drawn by the afterimage disappeared.

The Elf was in front of six arms. The elf's rapier, which had begun to tinge with jade, fired at the speed of an arrow.

Piiik!

It pierced through the back of his hand that covered his head and holed through the forehead of the monster.

That marked the finish.

Perhaps thinking so, the elf pulled out his rapier and turned around as he waited for the applause to pour over him. But the crowd was quiet and it was time for the Elf to panic.

"Turn back, you asshole!" Someone shouted. A desperate gambler probably.

""

The six arms that had been stationary all along moved.

Only then did the Elf, who noticed his living presence, veered quickly, trying to lengthen the distance.

But it was too late.

Four of his arms, like cleavers with unmeasured intensity, blurred and when they reappeared, the Elf's body was cut into four pieces and rolled across the floor.

Silence fell over the arena.

I looked at the six arms as I thought.

'He played it.'

The speed at which he cut the Elf into four pieces.

If he had been at that speed from the beginning, the Elf would have struggled.

He would just keep getting pushed around and eventually die.

I turned my eyes toward the Elf.

'And an Elven Kingdom sank like that'

If so, wasn't the time I spent yesterday listening to his oh-so-glorious plan a waste of time? I was about to let out a deep sigh, but a slender palm tapped my head.

Turning my head, Katarina was staring at the four-pieced Elf with a blanched face.

"Abstain… Let's abstain! No, abstain right now!"

With it rose the complexity.

You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.

p(a)treon.com/Daoist02