“Ugh…….”
“Aaak……!”
Two guards were rolling across the floor in pain. Bruises had bloomed across their bodies after a thorough beating.
It was the scene that greeted her the moment she went down the underground stairs where the orc cage was located.
Seeing that the faces of the two beaten men were familiar, Canaria’s eyes trembled.
“There is a limit to how ignorant one can be. You were going to send out half-dead orcs in a match His Imperial Majesty will be watching?”
A middle-aged man in armor had veins standing out in his neck.
It was a face Canaria had always seen whenever she went to the arena.
‘General…… Doturan.’
It would have been better if it were someone else, but Doturan was the military officer overseeing this match, the “Victory Festival” itself.
When it came to matters related to the Victory Festival, he was effectively the most powerful person after the emperor and those around him.
For this matter to be discovered by someone like that, of all people.
Canaria, who had intended to bury the matter in the middle and move on, could not hide her stiffening expression.
‘……This is bad.’
The seven remaining gladiators flashed through Canaria’s mind.
Because she knew what kinds of deathly battles they had fought, she had truly wanted to help them. But now, things have become tangled.
“How many times did I tell you to send the orcs out in peak condition? What is the meaning of this disgrace?!”
Canaria’s hand twitched.
‘Why don’t they take care of the gladiators?’
That was what she was dissatisfied with. She could not understand why they treated them so poorly.
If this was a country that revered martial valor, and they held matches through a festival called the Victory Festival, should they not take care of the gladiators?
Why did they show more favor to the orcs?
“Hoo, hoo…….”
General Doturan set down the club he was holding.
At a glance, the condition of the guards, who were former Hero Candidates, was not good as they lay groaning on the ground, but the general’s anger had not yet subsided.
“Bring the punishment frame. Give these men neither water nor food for two days, and do not let them sleep even a wink!”
Canaria’s eyes widened.
“General……!”
She stepped forward without realizing it.
“What!”
General Doturan turned back irritably.
“Ah, who is this? Is this not Lieutenant Canaria? It is late at night, so why have you not yet returned and instead remain at headquarters?”
His eyes, which had been twisted with anger, softened for an instant.
“Oh dear, oh dear…… Would you look at that Chief Guard, who has no chivalry whatsoever. He must have abandoned his work to his lieutenant again. To keep a lady outside the home until this late hour, tsk tsk.”
“That is…… not true. The Chief Guard completed all of his duties today as well…….”
“Now, now. I am two ranks higher than that man. Yet you defend the Chief Guard instead of me? How disappointing, Lieutenant Canaria!”
“Ah, I apologize.”
“Oh, there is no need to apologize.”
When his hand landed on her shoulder with a tap, Canaria desperately suppressed her body’s instinctive reaction to snap that arm in half.
‘I can’t make the same mistake I made with the Chief Guard.’
She already had a record from when she had first arrived here.
She could not make the same mistake again. She desperately calmed her instincts.
“Now, what are you doing! Hurry and bring the punishment frame!”
“Y-Yes, General!”
“Go to the north storehouse and bring the punishment frame!”
At the sharp roar, the guards jolted and scattered in a hurry.
“With these lower sorts all in this state, how much hardship must Lieutenant Canaria be suffering? Truly! This body grows melancholy. Ahem!”
The general spoke as if to be heard, then subtly put strength into the hand on Canaria’s shoulder.
It was a persistent touch, as if he meant to feel what lay beyond her blouse.
“Ahem.”
A sticky gaze and touch.
It felt as if some unpleasant reptile had crawled onto her shoulder.
Canaria’s lips trembled.
‘If I don’t handle this properly and cause an accident, it’ll affect the gladiators too.’
Right now, she was the only person who could help the gladiators.
Thinking that, Canaria finally suppressed her defensive instinct.
“This may be presumptuous…… but please show mercy to the guards who made this mistake, respected General Doturan.”
“Hm?”
General Doturan, who had been licking her body with his eyes, seemed surprised.
“Those men? Now, Lieutenant, how can you make such a request? That will not do! Mistakes must be ruled with the rod. It seems that because you are still a woman, you do not know even that basic principle, Lieutenant.”
General Doturan spoke as if showing off his philosophy.
“You are entirely correct, General Doturan. However, the negligence in managing the orcs was my mistake.”
“Hmm. What do you mean by that?”
Canaria’s mind spun quickly.
“The duty roster I made was wrong, and the two people managing the orc cage recently had to make prison patrols as well, so their duties became tangled.”
She had no choice but to mix truth with lies.
“That seems to be why they could not pay much attention to this place and were negligent in management, General Doturan.”
“Hm.”
“I was the one who made this week’s duty order, and I was the one who created the gap in the orc cage management schedule. So this is all my mistake.”
General Doturan stroked his chin and took on a posture as if thinking.
“If that is true, then it does seem that the lieutenant made a mistake.”
He frowned and pretended to be troubled.
“This is a serious matter. If this reaches the ears of those eunuch bastards, disaster will befall Lieutenant Canaria.”
Canaria immediately recognized that the general’s words were an exaggeration.
“Ahem. What should I do about this?”
“If punishment is needed, I will receive it, General Doturan.”
Canaria lowered her head as she would have done in the twenty-first century and said that.
“Now, now, Lieutenant! Even so, how can a daughter with quasi-noble rank show the etiquette of slaves like that?”
“Ah, I-I apo…….”
Canaria realized her mistake and hurriedly raised her head.
General Doturan had shouted in shock, but his true feelings were different.
‘A woman of such beauty who is not yet married. What a truly tempting lady.’
Canaria’s image with her head deeply lowered.
The nape of her neck shining white like sheep’s milk beneath her tightly tied hair.
The graceful curve flowing from her upper body to her lower body. Even her long, well-shaped legs.
All of it made Doturan’s lust boil.
‘If Lieutenant Canaria catches the eye of those useless eunuchs…… those castrated bastards who know only power will immediately present her before the emperor. If that happens, she will be snatched away before I can do anything.’
He had warned the Chief Guard not to lay a hand on her, but the eunuchs were an exception.
“It is truly a great mistake! One that could cost you your head if handled wrongly!”
General Doturan opened his mouth with a loud false cough.
“But when I think of how diligently the lieutenant, who has only recently taken up her post, has carried out her duties until now, I cannot help but feel my heart waver.”
“General, does that mean…….”
“I shall try to do something. The rules of the match can simply be changed, can they not? I will extract a part of His Majesty’s biography and alter it splendidly.”
At those words, anxiety crossed Canaria’s mind for a moment.
General Doturan was going much further than she had expected.
‘We need to use those orcs.’
She had made a promise to the gladiators.
A promise that she would make the third match even a little easier and help them get out of the prison.
But…….
“We have brought the punishment frame, General!”
The guards came running with a frame used to bind people. General Doturan gestured without even looking.
“Remove it.”
“Yes! Ah, pardon?”
“I said I do not need it! Do not make me say it twice. Get out at once!”
“H-He says to remove the punishment frame!”
General Doturan watched the guards disappear again for a moment.
“Ahem! What frustrating fools.”
Then he turned his head toward Canaria and smiled.
“I will shoulder this matter, so the lieutenant should return now. In my heart, I would like to escort you home, but I must briefly attend to work in order to handle this matter. At this late hour, no less.”
“……Thank you, General Doturan.”
“The lieutenant owes this body one debt. I intend to be repaid later, so do not forget.”
“Yes, I will not forget.”
Canaria answered that with trembling eyes.
She had succeeded in protecting the two Hero Candidate guards, but the situation felt as if it had twisted in a direction she had never expected.
‘What do I do……?’
And so, the day of the match approached.
***
“Come out.”
The day of the match had arrived. Just from the heavy voice of the guard, Min-jun knew.
‘Did Canaria do well?’
Her words that she would send the orcs up in a weakened state.
To Min-jun, that alone had been his hope for the past two days.
Even if they were orcs, if they came up in a groggy state, they had a chance.
If the plan truly worked, his expected value was that about five out of the seven would pass.
‘At least if we pass the third stage, we’ll have some room to breathe.’
Since waking as a gladiator, every moment has been a crisis for Min-jun, but today was a special day.
If he won this time, he could leave this suffocating prison.
“Hurry up and come out. If we’re late like last time, we’ll be blamed, so hurry!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Judging by the look of it, they seemed to be the ones who had been slapped last time.
“By the way.”
Min-jun casually opened his mouth as he followed them up toward the arena.
“If I win this time, can I really go outside? I feel like I can win today too.”
The guard walking ahead chuckled at those words.
“My, look at this one. A man about to die is so optimistic it’s pitiful.”
“So can I go outside or not?”
“If you win, you’ll be allowed to leave. You’ll receive travel money too.”
“In order to preserve the contents of His Majesty’s biography, where he was captured in enemy territory and escaped after overcoming three crises, they will let you out. Stop worrying about useless things and worry about dying instead.”
That emperor again.
That biography again.
‘He sure is an amazing man.’
Min-jun mocked him inwardly, but if the contents of the biography were like that, then they did seem likely to let him outside.
In this festival called the “Victory Festival,” it seemed the gladiators were in the position of actors imitating the emperor of the past.
‘I just have to win. If I win.’
Thinking that, Min-jun walked for a long while, and when they reached the last prison cell at the far end.
“Come out.”
The guards suddenly began striking the bars of that last cell.
‘What?’
The one who appeared was a familiar woman with brown hair, Brillante.
Her body was covered in sweat. She also glanced at Min-jun and a strange light entered her eyes.
“I said come out quickly! Why are you so slow!”
“It seemed about time, so I was loosening up. Let us depart.”
“We were about to go anyway. Hurry. His Imperial Majesty will arrive soon!”
“Yes.”
Brillante said that and immediately followed behind.
As they climbed the stairs, she whispered in a voice only Min-jun could hear.
“It seems we are going together.”
“Probably. They said there are two orcs, so maybe they’re matching that with two people. Or something like that.”
“I hope so.”
Min-jun thought good signs were overlapping.
Perhaps more than five people would remain.
‘Maybe luck is on our side in the third game.’
He did not let down his guard, but his steps were lighter than before.
Was she not Brillante, who had returned without a single wound after facing a Lizardman?
If they fought together, she would definitely be dependable.
“You have arrived.”
When they reached the place where the cubical cages were, a middle-aged man in armor was waiting.
‘General Do…… something.’
That glossy face.
He did not like it.
“Move quickly! Hurry and choose your weapons, then enter. There is no time.”
Min-jun was surprised once again.
‘We can choose?’
Unlike before, several kinds of weapons were scattered across the floor.
The quality still hit rock bottom, but at least he could choose something that fit his hand well.
‘What should I choose?’
Just as Min-jun was thinking while picking up each one and testing them with his hand, a white hand came in and chose a sword without hesitation.
“I’ll take this.”
“That? Will that be enough?”
It was an unexpected choice.
It was a long, sleek, light sword. Its shape was probably closest to what one would call a “rapier.”
“I competed as a fencer. My Class Trait is also on that side…… so this is best.”
“Ah.”
If that was the case, there was nothing to say.
For Min-jun, who had an older sister who had been an athlete, it was a reason he understood immediately.
“Hurry and choose! They say the weaker the fool, the more picky he is about equipment, and that saying fits perfectly. Tsk tsk…….”
Whether General Doturan rushed him or not, Min-jun chose the sword that fit best.
It was a short, sturdy sword about ninety centimeters in total length, along with a shield.
“Let’s go in.”
“Yes.”
Just as he tried to enter the cage after Brillante, a guard suddenly blocked Min-jun.
“You’re over there.”
“……Pardon?”
The place the guard pointed to was another cage far away.
The door of the cage Brillante had entered was already closed.
‘What?’
The feeling that luck had been on his side changed in an instant into something incomprehensible.
Click.
Min-jun’s cage closed. Far away, he met Brillante’s eyes inside the cage on the opposite side.
Her mouth moved as if saying something.
Min-jun could not understand what it meant.
‘……?’
Why was it?
From her eyes, a coldness he had never seen before poured out.
Enough to make his throat go numb.
“Raise them!”
“He says to raise them!”
Rattle-rattle—!
The chains howled.
The two cages rose at the same time.
“……Damn it.”
The arena was filled with cheers.
There were no orcs in the place where the sand wind blew.
“Waaaaaaa!”
“Fight!”
“The one who wins gets out!”
There was only Brillante in the distance.
Min-jun realized at once that she was his opponent in this match.
“I thought things felt strangely lucky.”
Min-jun pressed his mouth shut.
Strange. The information was completely different from what he had known. Something had clearly gone wrong somewhere.
‘How will Brillante move?’
Min-jun anxiously watched her, then felt a chill run down his spine.
She was raising the rapier and aiming straight at him.
Without a single trace of hesitation.
-I will finish this request. With my own hands.
Brillante’s voice from last time played in his mind.
-That much, I will not yield to anyone.
A chill went down Min-jun’s spine.
THUD!
The cage exit opened, and Brillante’s body shot forward like lightning.