The third day of life in Cilicia.
Around 11 AM, Kim Yi-hyeon came out to the city center. Today was none other than the day of Asterike’s debut match.
‘Honestly, I’m not sure there’s any need to watch.’
As long as someone was not a criminal, anyone could register as a competitor. Even civilians who had never once held a gun or blade could challenge it.
In other words, most of those belonging to the lower leagues were empty numbers. If Asterike joined in, there was no way the balance would match. It was like making a rabbit and a bear fight.
“Oh my, her opponent sure drew the short straw.”
Rosco sighed. He was waiting with Kim Yi-hyeon in the staff seats for the match to begin.
“I saw him earlier, and he seemed like a polite young man. Said he was neatly collecting points and preparing for promotion, did he? I’m worried he might end up crippled.”
“Since when were you so compassionate? You should’ve been generous when you first met me too.”
“......Ahem. Maybe getting thoroughly beaten back then gave me some love for humanity. And she needs to leave his limbs intact so another match can be arranged, does she not?”
“Ah, you want to use him as a points vending machine?”
“If one wants to climb upward, one needs stairs to step on. I looked into it hard, and it seems that up to the lower ranks of the Third Division, they’re just at the level of thugs who know how to throw a few punches.”
His eyes shone as he stroked his beard. At the end of Rosco’s gaze, Asterike was sitting in the waiting area, glaring at the ring.
Since it was her first match, she seemed nervous. Kim Yi-hyeon also began to feel nervous along with her. He was worried she might accidentally kill her opponent.
“They say almost no sponsors attach themselves until the Third Division, and equipment and medical costs are all self-funded.”
“It does look like a poor environment at a glance.”
The spectator seats were empty. There were only a few homeless people sprawled out. The facilities were worn down, and the man called the referee was groaning with a hangover.
— ......Down! Blackburn is down!
— Oh, it seems he isn’t regaining consciousness. The count has begun. 9, 8, 7......!
The announcers’ shouts carried on the wind. The source of the sound was the First Division stadium. Even though it was quite far away, the heat reached them.
The contrast with this hollow stadium was tremendous. Kim Yi-hyeon thought that if he were a competitor in the lower leagues, he would feel a considerable sense of deprivation.
But conversely, it seemed there were also people whose motivation welled up.
“The lady is someone who will go over there. Yes, absolutely. M-maybe she can even aim to conquer the First Division undefeated....... Heheheh....”
“So it wasn’t motivation, but greed.”
Kim Yi-hyeon let out a hollow laugh.
‘Undefeated champion, huh. I wonder if that’s possible.’
In truth, Kim Yi-hyeon did not know very well what the League’s level was like. In the game, Cilicia was occupied by Legion very quickly.
Naturally, the League also disappeared into the back alleys of history. Characters with a history of competing as players appeared from time to time, that was all.
Calculating based on the little data he had.
‘Winning the championship is impossible too.’
Asterike was a half-baked ability user. Even if her potential was absurd, without a Spell suppressor, she could not properly use her ability.
To begin with, he did not even hope for her to win the championship.
‘She only needs to bring back the basic rewards.’
In addition to that, if Kim Yi-hyeon’s own operative Grade became 3-star, then he would be able to draw out Asterike’s potential properly.
‘When will it rise?’
He expected that if he succeeded in changing Cilicia’s fate, he would be able to reach 3-star. With another Operative Record Updated or whatever.
‘......Things are proceeding smoothly. So far.’
A short while later, the referee had the competitors stand by.
In the lower leagues, every match consisted of one-on-one combat. That was because monster hunts, occupation battles, and the like cost a lot of money.
If there were no spectators, there was no sponsorship. They simply fought each other and left records behind. At least until reaching the Second Division, romance did not exist.
Right before the match began.
“Oh, is someone you know competing?”
Someone approached the staff seats. Kim Yi-hyeon turned back.
It was Bryce. After confirming his face, he turned his gaze back to the ring.
“She said today was her debut.”
“The companion who entered with you?”
Bryce spoke of circumstances Kim Yi-hyeon had not told him as if they were natural. It meant he had finished investigating him in the meantime.
It was not something to be displeased about. Although Kim Yi-hyeon had been acknowledged for his ability and invited as a guest member, he was still an outsider. Investigation was necessary.
‘They gave me a transmitter to carry around too.’
That was the reason Bryce had been able to find Kim Yi-hyeon. It was for surveillance and contact. Kim Yi-hyeon still did not have a terminal capable of making calls.
“......Brother, is he someone you know?”
“Just a coworker.”
“Ah... Ah. I see.”
Bryce smiled naturally and nodded. Meanwhile, Rosco hesitated timidly even to exchange a glance.
His experience working as an information broker had given him an eye for people. It had not worked on Kim Yi-hyeon, though.
At least judging by Rosco’s standards, Bryce was not someone who could be taken lightly.
‘What has he been doing all this time to get tangled up with a man like this...?’
Honestly, he did not want to get involved. Rosco told the two to speak comfortably and widened the distance between them.
The match began.
Asterike was barehanded and wore no protective gear. She was dressed in a cheap T-shirt. In contrast, her opponent held a dull iron sword, at least.
The opponent seemed troubled. No matter that she was Pecatum, she was still an unarmed woman. He could not help hesitating to hack away mercilessly.
“How should I put it? It feels like watching a play.”
“What are you talking about now?”
“Underground, if you see someone who doesn’t belong to ‘us,’ you point your weapon first. It doesn’t matter whether the other person is a woman or a child. You can’t know whether they’re a bounty hunter or an outlaw. But here, even after their enemy is decided for them, they still act all refined.”
“That means the underground is abnormal. If you did the same thing on the surface, how would you be any different from an outlaw?”
“My head thinks that too, but my sensibilities seem to have gone bad. When I come up to the surface, it feels like I’m walking around a theme park......”
Bryce stopped talking and opened his mouth wide.
Asterike did not hold back. When she spewed fire and swung it like a whip, her opponent turned pale and fell on his backside.
The hair brushed by the flames caught fire all at once. Judging by the way he screamed until his throat seemed ready to tear, it seemed the fire had touched his scalp too.
“Oh dear. That must hurt.”
“......She was a Spell user.”
“Don’t take an interest in her. I have no intention of taking her underground.”
“Huh. What kind of relationship is this, for you to protect her so tightly?”
“Hard to say. Guardian and ward?”
The young man threw away his iron sword and forfeited. The match ended emptily. Perhaps because it was different from what she had expected, Asterike tilted her head.
After calming the flames, Asterike looked toward the staff seats. When Kim Yi-hyeon lightly waved his hand to say she had done well, only then did her face brighten all at once.
That was it for his business here.
“Sorry for making you wait. Let’s get going.”
Now it was time to go underground again.
***
Asterike adapted to the League without difficulty. That was because she was Pecatum.
To be more precise, she was Pecatum who had been the treasured child of a well-off house.
‘It kind of feels like that.’
In Asterike’s homeland, military officers held duels regularly. Since they were a race that worshiped martial prowess as much as their physical conditions were excellent.
It was an old ritual she had watched when she was a child. Back then, the warriors had looked so wonderful, but... now that she was doing it herself, it was not particularly like that.
“Hah! Haaap!”
With an exaggerated shout, he thrust his sword forward. A burly, muscular man. He was her opponent in this match.
Whoosh, whoosh.
The cheap iron sword was swung recklessly. Asterike stepped back, twisted her upper body, and lowered her stance as she dodged the sword strikes.
The one-sided attack continued for a while.
“Hoo, hoo!”
The man who had stepped back gasped for breath. He wiped his sweat with the back of his hand and grinned.
“It seems even the supposedly strong Pecatum is helpless before my swordsmanship. Consider yourself unlucky. I may not look it, but I’ve climbed all the way to the upper ranks of the Third Division.”
“Is that impressive?”
“Ha, a rookie is still a rookie, I see.”
The man explained as though it could not be helped.
“At first, everyone comes in imagining their future in the First Division. Everyone does. And after repeating a few matches, they start to realize.”
His gaze turned toward the main stadium.
“That place and this place are different. Yes, different. It’s like there’s an invisible ticket, and only those born holding it can enter.”
“Hmm......”
Asterike scratched her cheek. It was something Kim Yi-hyeon did when he was troubled, and after she imitated it as a joke, it had already become a habit.
She was feeling both doubt and difficulty.
First, doubt.
Why had the person who had been swinging his sword as if trying to kill her until just now suddenly become kind? She had gotten used to the matches themselves, but understanding people was still hard.
Next, difficulty.
‘What did Rosco tell me to do again?’
She recalled the feedback she had received after the previous match.
The League, you see, is entertainment. Entertainment.
That tight, chewy taste where no one knows who will win until the end is important.
Still, this is the lower leagues for now, so the opponent might be too weak. If you really can’t match their rhythm, there’s always a way.
And perhaps he had said this.
Just crush them overwhelmingly. Coolly, flashily! Make sure you remember that.
‘Flashily, huh.’
It was an adjective far removed from Asterike’s life. She could not quite get a feel for it, but the model had been engraved inside her head.
For now, she decided to imitate the warriors from her homeland.
“Just look at now, for example. Pecatum lady. You must be feeling a wall before—”
Tap!
Asterike pushed off the ground with her planted foot and launched her body. Acceleration far beyond what he had expected. Shock spread across the man’s face.
‘What speed is that...!’
The man hurriedly thrust his sword. It was a mistake. If he pierced a vital point like this, it would become a fatal wound.
In the lower leagues, where competitors’ equipment was crude, this was common. Even so... the man’s mind was not broken enough to remain fine after killing someone.
Of course, it was only an unnecessary worry.
“Huh?”
The tip of the blade stabbed not flesh, but empty air. The Pecatum’s figure vanished from his sight. Only her hair, fluttering from above to below, could be seen.
Immediately after, the impact came. It felt as if his leg had been struck by a metal club.
“Ghk!”
The man instantly lost his balance. The sword he dropped while falling was caught by Asterike. The sword spun half a turn in her hand.
Thunk!
The sword stabbed into the ground beside the fallen man’s head. Hissss! Fire spewing from Asterike’s hand easily melted the low-grade iron.
“Ah, h-hot, hot!”
The molten iron had not even touched him. Only the heat had reached him, yet the man made a fuss.
“I-I forfeit! Fuck. Spare me!”
She heard the words she wanted. Asterike straightened her posture again and calmed the fire.
‘......This is still awkward.’
Handling a Spell. Thanks to the suppressor limiting its output, she had become able to use it without issue. She did not feel that it was difficult at all.
That naturalness was unfamiliar.
It felt as though an arm that had not existed before had appeared. If so, the person who had given her that arm would be Kim Yi-hyeon.
“Good, good! You worked hard today too.”
When she finished the match and came down, Rosco came running. The more points Asterike accumulated, the brighter his face grew.
“Where is Hyeon?”
“Brother? I think he should be working around now. I don’t know what he’s doing, but he seems busy.”
“......I see.”
“Are you that disappointed?”
“I didn’t really say anything.”
“I can tell just by looking at your face, though.”
Asterike glared at Rosco, but she could not deny it. The moment right after victory, when her eyes met Kim Yi-hyeon’s, was something she rather liked.
“You really follow him well. Well, that’s a good thing. Doesn’t it mean you like your current life that much?”
“How does it become that?”
“Well, because one way or another, it’s all thanks to him.”
Rosco spoke in a tone asking how she did not know.
“In the end, he brought us to Cilicia. We’re settling in smoothly too. If we hadn’t met him in Ulanz... both you and I would have ended up in unpleasant situations.”
That was true even for Rosco. He would have continued making a living as an information broker.
A stable life? Not at all. If he offended the mafia, he could become a corpse overnight.
‘It would’ve been even worse for the lady.’
She would have lived smelling blood every single day. As a half-forced member of the Pavoni Family. They would not have treated her as a comrade either.
Of course, there was a question.
‘I still don’t know how he knew about the lady and tried to find her.’
He did not try to know either. There were also things in the world that were better not known. Rosco suppressed unnecessary curiosity and recognized it simply.
Asterike had been picked up by Kim Yi-hyeon.
“Yes. I know too.”
“Not that I’m saying you should hand over your liver and gallbladder too. In any case, I also plan to work hard as a manager. It’s rewarding too.”
Asterike agreed with a nod. Her thoughts were not much different.