Chapter 37

Chapter 37

As if the disturbance had never existed, the competition proceeded quickly. There were no unnecessary procedures to mark names because there were a lot of people who were expected to be eliminated anyway. They just had to stand in groups of three.

It was quite a while before Leasis’ team turn. Setchen was doing gymnastics on the spot and Blix was dozing off. Leasis was watching nervously the other contestants’ battles.

There were many people who looked pretty strong. They were those who were properly equipped with armors and helmets like official knights, those who had great swords like Setchen, and those who had sleek movements.

Leasis smiled unknowingly. She was more excited than scared. She wanted to swing a sword as soon as possible. The thoughts of Grien and the others had long disappeared from her mind.

Finally, it was their turn. She hurriedly shook Blix to wake him up.

“Blix-nim, it’s our turn. Get up.”

“Hmm… Already?”

Blix blinked widely and yawned. His appearance was not reliable, so Setchen lowered his eyes.

When Blix woke up, he unpacked his luggage and put a piece of bread in his mouth. Leasis and Setchen looked at him with absurd eyes. He had just woken up and had a bread in mouth right away. He seemed like a ghost who would die if he did not eat anything.

Blix, biting the bread, took out a small wooden sword from his luggage. He put it in Leasis’ hand.

Blix spoke emphatically to Leasis, who was embarrassed.

“I’m not giving it to you. I’m lending it to you. It’s my brother’s, so please be careful.”

“Ah… thank you.”

It was a good thing. For Leasis, a wooden sword was more comfortable than a real sword. She bowed her head with gratitude. Blix pointed to the arena with his chin.

The three rose to the arena. Setchen covered his ears with his hands. He could feel the steamy heat and shouts. His ears were tingling.

Their opponents were waiting impatiently. They stood in the middle of the gladiator arena. It was relatively free of obstacles.

The host in a white coat approached with two flags in his hand. It was to raise a red flag at the beginning of the fight and a blue flag at the end.

The audience became quiet when the six people confronted each other. The opponents laughed threateningly.

“Little kids. Don’t cry after a blow.”

“You’re good on your own.”

Setchen snorted at them. But contrary to his words, however, his hands were shaking. Leasis blocked his way. She blocked him with both arms as he tried to come forward.

“Stand in the back.”

“What? Noo… no, Hyung stands in the back.”

“Setchen. What if someone attacks my back?”

Leasis smiled and asked him to protect her. Finally, he sighed and nodded.

Blix smiled softly at them. Friendly brothers always looked good.

Time to warm up now. Blix moved his head from side to side. Crack. Threatening sounds of bones cracking rang the arena. Blix took a piece of bread out of his arms and bit it. He said, blocking the front of Leasis.

“Hellhard-ssi, stay back for a second.”

But Leasis did not back down. She was rather two steps ahead. Blix’s eyes saw a large black cloak. What is he doing? Is he trying to protect me?[1]

Looking closely, Leasis shook her head.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Let’s fight together. What if you get hurt while fighting alone, Blix-nim. I’ll stop the person who comes first.”

Blix could not understand. There was no one in his life worried about his safety. He spoke calmly.

“I won’t get hurt though?”

“There’s no one who can’t get hurt. I’ll protect you.”

“Well, you’re very good at saying ticklish things during the day.”

Was this how El felt when I talked? Blix scratched his face in a strange mood. He could not see Leasis’ face properly, as she was wrapped in her black cape. Nevertheless, he could feel it. A strong will to protect.

It was quite to Blix’s liking. He patted the shoulder of the black cape with his hand.

“You, I like it. Will you be my little brother?”

What is he saying all of a sudden? Leasis opened her eyes wide at the sudden question.

“What…”

Flap.

In the meantime, the host raised the red flag. Three men with axes in their hands ran with all their power. Their goal was the small Blix.

Blix licked the crumbs left in his hand. He pulled out a small sword tied to his waist.

Click.

With the cries of metal, Blix disappeared. No one caught his movements with their eyes. Blix’s right leg kicked over a man running at the front, and his fist flew to the other man’s jaw. The two men fell to the floor without screaming.

Turning once, Blix gave strength to the hand holding the sword. He tried to use the recoil to pierce the rest of the man’s stomach.

At that time, a faint blue color was carved on Leasis’ wooden sword. She hit the man’s forehead as she ran toward Blix, focusing all her attention on the sword.

Wham!

“Ahhhhhhh!”

The man who was hit by Leasis screamed and fell. She could hear something breaking.

He was not dead, right? Surprised, she approached her opponent.

“A-are you all right?”

The man could not answer. He had already fainted just as he screamed.

“Wake up! Hey, uh…”

Leasis stopped shaking him and raised her head, surprised. The audience was filled with shouts.

*

After the first day of the competition, Grien’s wrinkles deepened. It was good to have confirmed that Setchen was still in one piece, but there were other problems.

At first, she was worried about how the child would survive in that dangerous place. Next, the new rules to have the fighters go in groups had also raised her concerns. She did not know how the team was formed, but Setchen’s colleagues were strange. A mysterious black cape man, and a green-haired boy using the swordsmanship of an enemy country. She could not figure out how he got to know such people.

Sitting at the bar table, she wiped away her tears. Her mother’s heart was broken. Sitting in front of her, Lura sighed, tilting her glass.

Grien covered her eyes with a handkerchief handed by Lura. The pink handkerchief got wet.

“Hey, did you hear that? There’s a huge trio in the gladiator tournament.”

“Ahh. Yes. I heard. They said these mercenaries were hired by Liduré’s son?”

“Huu. It’s easy to hire knights because you’re full of money. I’m jealous.”

The words stopped Grien from crying. Again, there were more problems. Such as this unknown false rumor that was growing bigger. Grien jumped up from her seat.

“For real!”

“Unnie, calm down…”

Lura forced Grien to sit and sighed. Grien, who was huffing, gulped down the alcohol. She could not even feel its bitter taste. Lura sighed as she looked at Grien.

“Oh, my. I couldn’t even find the child named Leasis… It’s a mess.”

“Yes, our Leasis…”

She felt like she was going to get a mental illness. Angry, Grien shed tears. She could not sleep well lately. This was because Leasis, who left to find Setchen, had disappeared.

Maybe something had happened. She had reported it to the Capital Defense Knights, but there was no plausible result. The Vice Commander of the Imperial Elite Knights, who was a regular at the shop, had also stepped up, but there was no progress.

Grien swallowed her tears and drank a glass. She was usually not acquainted with alcohol at all, but she needed the power of alcohol to forget this hellish reality.

Lura fiddled with a bottle and recalled Setchen’s group. From her point of view, Leasis was the problem rather than Setchen. This was because there were two unusual men around Setchen. She did not even know the basics of swordsmanship, but she could tell that they had great talent.

But there was something she was curious about. When the black cape man lifted his wooden sword, his arm, which was revealed for a brief moment, was a bit too thin.

“Leasis?… No. No way.’

Lura shook her head. She did not think the missing maid was participating in the gladiator tournament. Such a crazy thing could only appear in a third-rate novel.

*

After their first fight, the participants’ eyes changed. They were full of awe, respect, and fear. Leasis and Setchen were embarrassed by them. Only Blix reigned over it as if it were natural. The meal was also the best, and the amount was huge. It was more than 10 servings. The hosts did not say much, and Leasis was quite satisfied, because she could eat well.

Leasis looked at Blix instead of drinking the soup. He had two loaves of bread in both hands. How could such an innocent person have such great skills?

The unusual swordsmanship, rarely seen in the Harknon Empire, stimulated her curiosity. Thinking hard, she slowly opened her mouth.

“Hey… Blix-nim.”

Blix looked at Leasis instead of biting in his bread. She asked carefully.

“I’m sorry. How did you… how did you train?”

“Train?”

“Yes. I was curious because your skills were so amazing. How did you train to have such skills…”

Blix gulped down the bread in his mouth. Training. He thought while drinking the ration milk. He had never really trained. So he told the truth.

“I didn’t.”

“What?”

“That’s only for the weak. I’ve never done anything like that. Strong people are strong from birth, so they don’t need that.”

The faces of the participants who were secretly listening to the words were crumpled. It was a really unfortunate answer.

But Leasis was the only one who was serious. She shook her head after thinking for a while.

“I think you’re wrong. There are times when strong people train.”

“Why am I wrong?”

“You’re not the only one who’s strong. There are other strong people who train.”

“Who?”

When asked by Blix with a blank expression, Leasis replied in an enthusiastic voice.

“For example… Count Dratius-nim. Count Dratius-nim trains very hard. Even though he’s the best swordsman on the continent, he climbs a mountain early in the morning to train his physical strength and work hard in secret training.”

Her loud voice rang the waiting room. Blix giggled.

“What. Are you Count Dratius?”

“What? No. No way.”

“But why are you defending him?”

“Because I like him.”

Her face got feverish after she spit out her words. Leasis’ cheeks, which were covered by the cape, turned slightly red. Frustrated, she gulped the milk. Her rough movements spilled some milk over her black cloak.

This was suspicious, and Blix narrowed her eyes as he looked at her.

TL notes

[1] Because Blix thinks Leasis is a man, the pronouns he/him are used for Leasis when the story is told from Blix’s point of vue.