“Here is…….”
Min-jun blankly opened his mouth.
The moment he came outside the circular arena, the sight of the city stretching far into the distance filled his eyes all at once.
Starting from outside this place, which was set on relatively high ground, and continuing all the way down below, stone walls wound and stacked in curves, forming a huge castle.
“Here. The roads are harder than they look, so you have to be careful. Around here, the buildings are tall and the land is expensive. The farther you go toward the flatlands, the shabbier it gets.”
Canaria, who was walking beside him, even provided real-estate information as she pointed with her finger.
“Around here is where the rich and nobles live. The castle behind the arena is the palace where the emperor is. If you go far over there, there’s a market, and if you go farther from there, the residential district comes out. And if you go a little farther…….”
Centered around the palace and the gladiator arena, the closer one got to them, the more large and splendid buildings lined the streets, and the sturdier the guards and walls became.
It was a city structure that made him feel as if he were looking at an Athenian polis.
In this high-ground area, carriages moved around as if it were only natural, and lower servants who looked like attendants followed noblewomen and potbellied men as if serving their masters.
“That’s Guard Headquarters.”
As they passed nearby, Canaria pointed to a tall four-story building.
It was a building style at least on the level of fourteenth-century Europe.
“All of that?”
“Yeah.”
When they passed in front of Guard Headquarters.
“Nothing abnormal during duty.”
“Nothing abnormal during duty.”
The guards who saw Canaria all saluted that way, thumping their chests.
It really was good to have high status, Min-jun thought, once again feeling the difference between himself and her.
Even though they had both been citizens of the twenty-first century not long ago.
‘It’s been a long time since I even thought about the twenty-first century.’
Was it because just surviving here exhausted him?
Before he knew it, Min-jun had been forgetting his original world.
‘I have to go back, no matter what.’
There were still so many things he had left undone there.
Because during the time he had spent despairing over his damned disabled life, he had forgotten far too many things.
His family, for example, and his own life.
Min-jun intended to finish the request here in order to reclaim those things.
No matter what it took.
“Ugh…….”
While walking, Min-jun staggered.
The wound wrapped in bandages hurt as if pierced by needles, and strength drained from him.
Canaria slightly furrowed her brows and supported Min-jun by the shoulder.
“That’s why I said you needed more treatment…….”
“It’s fine.”
“Stubborn.”
Canaria’s expression was not good.
“Are you angry, by any chance?”
“No, it’s not that.”
Unlike her words, Canaria looked dissatisfied.
‘Anyone can see she’s angry.’
For her, whose expression rarely changed, it was a clear expression.
“Well, I had to come out anyway.”
Min-jun thought it was better to come outside to treat his wounds too.
Above all, being stuck inside was suffocating, and with so many eyes watching, it was awkward to move alone.
“Nothing abnormal during duty.”
At the path leading outside, two guards saluted.
“What brings you here, Lieutenant?”
“Escorting a free gladiator.”
When Canaria glanced at him, Min-jun quickly took out the pouch.
Inside was a wooden tablet.
According to her, this was a nameplate that proved his identity and also served as a pass.
“Why are you escorting him yourself? You could have used those below you.”
“It’s fine. I didn’t have anything to do today.”
Canaria’s attitude toward those beneath her seemed to have become quite natural.
If he had to nitpick, the problem was that she was too easygoing.
“Nameplate confirmed. Free gladiator Liz.”
“Let him outside.”
“Yes, Lieutenant.”
Clack.
The guards split to both sides with discipline.
“I can only go this far.”
It seemed Canaria’s escort ended here.
“That’s unfortunate.”
It would have been better for the request if she could stay with him longer, so Min-jun could not help feeling regret.
Perhaps realizing what he was thinking, Canaria’s eyes shone.
“Once you go out, immediately secure two lodgings first. Then have someone tell the outer guards where each one is.”
Her voice was low enough that only Min-jun could hear.
“Outer guards?”
“Yeah. If you do only that, the report will come straight to me.”
Canaria continued.
“I’ll also have business outside in three days…… so let’s meet again then.”
So she had already prepared a move.
“Right, you’re saying I should get two places, not one.”
“Yeah.”
He understood what she meant very well. It was a fairly clever idea, unlike her usual self.
“Understood.”
Min-jun nodded to show that he understood.
Now that Brillante was gone, Canaria might be the strongest force he could rely on.
Although she was not a gladiator and could not participate directly in the request, if they found a way somehow, there should be a way to join forces.
“Then.”
Min-jun received the wooden pass back and passed the guards.
Canaria kept his retreating figure in her eyes for a very long time.
***
-Participants: 150/250
-Merlin: Did everyone see the video that went up this time?
-Lightly: Yes. I genuinely thought I was lucky I didn’t participate this time.
-Gnome: For now, it’s certain there’s pain when you get hit. Anyone who saw it should know.
-Lightly: I kind of hate pain.
-Gnome: If you liked that, you’d be a pervert.
-Merlin: I think everyone made the right choice skipping the first session. Looking at how the video is going, the situation doesn’t seem good.
-Boris: But what kind of request is it that only scenes of them fighting in a Colosseum keep coming out?
-Merlin: I suspect the goal might be to keep winning matches in a tournament format.
-Boris: Ah, that makes sense.
The 150 people who had remained without participating in this request all shared one thought.
-Veloci: I’m seriously glad I couldn’t participate this time. If I’d been dragged in vaguely…… I don’t even want to imagine it.
-Merlin: I believe everyone is thinking the same. If we had participated without knowing anything, it would have been truly terrible. We still have the option to give up.
-Boris: We can watch what happens to the people who participated in the first session, and if it really doesn’t look possible, maybe giving up entirely is better. Risking my life is a bit much.
-Merlin: Of course. Anything is better than dying.
-Boris: Agreed lolololol. Looking at the video, even the person who took 1st place before is suffering like that. If it were me, seriously.
-Stella: I couldn’t watch the video all the way through. Everyone looked like they were struggling too much.
The remaining Hero Candidates felt great relief inside and, in effect, predicted that this request would surely fail.
-Mantra: I’m curious how many are left right now…….
-Merlin: I would say fewer than ten.
The fact that the uploaded videos, from some point onward, featured only a few people, and the fact that the number of survivors was gradually decreasing, had reached them.
-Merlin: We should also start thinking about whether or not to participate in the Stage 2 Test. If you’re going to give up, it’s better to give up quickly.
-Merlin: They say deleting the application alone counts as giving up, so everyone should consider it.
-ToriTori: Ah, I really don’t want to give up.
-Merlin: There’s no need to decide already. There’s still plenty of time left, so we should think about it slowly.
No one here denied the words of the person called Merlin.
After all, no one wanted to die.
-Merlin: So everyone, please don’t forget. You really have to be careful about Stage 2.
-Merlin: No matter how good the rewards are, there’s no reason to participate in a gamble with your life on the line, is there?
***
‘I’m hungry.’
Two days after first escaping the prison, Lapis was slowly reaching her limit.
Because she had not eaten anything for several days already.
She had not even been able to drink more than a few mouthfuls of water.
‘Am I going to die like this?’
At the mouth of an alley where only rats and insects came and went, Lapis was slowly dying.
There was no one beside her. Even the people who had escaped the underground prison with her were no longer at her side.
‘So pointlessly…….’
Thanks to the consideration of the man named Liz, escaping that place as if fleeing had been good.
But what came after was the problem.
Because she had become a fugitive without even a single coin for travel money.
For them, the future could only be hopeless.
-Ms. Lapis.
That was why Lapis had been the first to be abandoned by her companions.
Even if they were fugitives, they were still “Hero Candidates.”
For them, whose physical abilities were basically outstanding, Lapis’s feet were too slow.
-It ended up like this, so I’m sorry. We’re planning to leave this place and move very far away. You’ll understand even if we go first, right?
-Why…… outside……?
At first, Lapis had wondered why they were trying to leave this city, but she soon realized.
-Are you…… betting on the request failing?
They did not answer Lapis’s words, but that itself was no different from an affirmation.
Those who had escaped the prison had hardened their resolve that this request could never be completed, and therefore, they had to survive at least in this world.
-You’re a woman, Ms. Lapis. If you use that, you should be able to settle down and live well enough.
-Wh-What…… does that mean?
-You already know. What Ms. Lapis is thinking of. That’s what I mean. I’m telling you to consider it.
That was the final well-wishing advice left by the Hero who had been her companion, and Lapis trembled with shame.
Lapis was not so foolish that she failed to understand he was telling her to prolong her life even by “selling her body.”
‘I’d rather die than do that.’
Rather than surviving while doing something so shameful, Lapis would rather die.
Perhaps the others might solve this request.
It was better to bet on that.
Because in one corner of her heart, an unknowable faith remained in the man who had helped her get out of that place.
‘Liz…….’
That man might be able to do it.
Believing that, Lapis slowly waited for death.
With her eyes closed deep in an alley as dusk settled.
“Hic, hic!”
Then, a sound woke her.
It was crying coming from nearby.
“My sister, my sister, hic…….”
The crying voice of a young boy. Lapis struggled to open her eyes and looked in the direction of the crying.
“Sister…….”
The sight that entered her eyes.
It was two children.
A boy with tears covering his face.
And a girl collapsed on the ground, panting with quick, shallow breaths like a sparrow that had lost its wings.
‘Is she sick?’
Lapis lifted her closing eyes.
To look more closely at the girl’s condition.
“Don’t…… cry.”
“Sister, no, Sister!”
“Don’t…… tell…… the kids…….”
Even from far away, the girl’s whole body looked like a wreck. A small body, broken and bruised all over.
That girl raised fingers that had all been bent and broken, and stroked the boy’s hair.
“Hurry…… go…….”
Even as her whole body trembled, the girl kept trying to say something to the boy until the end.
“Before…… the scary…… people…… come…… hurry…….”
“No! No!”
The shouting boy, and the dying girl.
Lapis moved her stiffening body, twitching little by little.
Slowly, but steadily.
How far had she approached?
“Wh-Who are you!”
“Ah…….”
The boy seemed to notice Lapis and showed a guarded look.
The girl, imagining something, closed her eyes with a despairing expression.
“Don’t, don’t come, n-near my sister!”
Lapis’s figure slowly approaching through the darkness felt like an unidentified, terrifying being to the children.
“It’s all right. Don’t be scared.”
Soon, Lapis came close enough for the two of them to see her and smiled with her exhausted body.
The boy’s expression hardened.
Because she was different from the impression he had imagined. Questioning rose within his wariness.
“Wh-Who…… are you?”
“Me?”
Lapis smiled once more.
“I’m Lapis. That’s what they call me here.”
“La……pis……?”
“Yeah. Lapis. What about you?”
Conflict rose on the boy’s tear-soaked face.
“Lantern……. My sister is Anzu.”
“Lantern, Anzu. Those are good names.”
The boy was Lantern, and the girl was Anzu.
That seemed to be how he introduced them.
“Can I take a look at your sister?”
“Ah……!”
Lapis approached the girl, Anzu.
When she gently stroked Lantern’s head as he tried to stop her from coming closer and moved past him, the boy could not stop her.
He had instinctively realized that Lapis had no hostility.
“Poor thing.”
Anzu’s entire body was full of bruises, wounds, and scars as if burned by fire. It was a miracle that she was still breathing until now.
Where had she been hurt this badly? Lapis did not want to imagine it.
Only revulsion toward this world swelled little by little in her chest.
‘To hurt such a young child.’
Lapis carefully supported Anzu’s body as the girl’s eyes were about to close.
“Wh-What are you doing?”
“It’s okay.”
Lantern reacted in surprise, but Lapis only gently stroked Anzu’s back.
“Big sister will heal you right away.”
A blue light began softly pouring from Lapis’s body.
A whole and refreshing light like the sky at daybreak.
-You are a kind person.
-Marie, the Divine Spirit, manifests.
“It’s all right now. The pain and sadness will all fly away.”
Lantern stared wide-eyed at the sight.
Just being beside her calmed his heart, and he felt as if his frozen chest were melting.
Anzu, held in Lapis’s arms, slowly grew peaceful.
The broken bones throughout her body joined together, and new flesh sprouted where wounds had disappeared.
It was a miraculous sight.
“Sa…….”
It was an unbelievable phenomenon, but Lantern knew a story similar to this.
“Sa, Sai…….”
No, anyone in this empire would know.
The witness of divinity who made the deaf hear and opened the eyes of the blind.
The symbol of spring and dawn.
The name of rain and hot springs.
The mother of the bonfire on long winter nights.
“Saintess…….”