Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Noble Half-Blood (1)
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"Rooooar!! We believe in you this time too, Number 17!!"
"Do your best again!!"
"I bet on you surviving!! I put my entire monthly salary on it!!"
As my opponent, the Royal Half, made her entrance into the Colosseum, the crowd's cheers grew even louder.
The spectators, mostly the type who bet money on gladiator matches to chase their dopamine highs.
'Still, it's reassuring that most of them bet on me.'
Though most of the audience probably had no idea who my opponent really was.
That she was a Royal Half, a pure-blooded mix.
A shadow knight who handled the elves' dirty cleanup work.
To them, she was just a simple half-breed between the fairykin and the heavenly-winged folk.
'Well, who would ever imagine that looking at her?'
I figured her slender appearance was a big reason why the crowd bet on my victory.
She looked like she was barely middle-school age, or maybe just graduated from middle school.
A girl around the same age as Anna from the slums.
The elegant poise unique to the fairykin combined with the holy aura of the heavenly-winged folk made it so no one would ever think of her as a dirty half-breed.
'But still, she's the one who's supposed to punch a hole through my chest.'
I wasn't letting my guard down.
No matter how much she looked like a cute little girl.
I gripped my axe tightly and glared at my opponent.
And at the same time, the announcer's final call echoed out.
⚙ ANNOUNCER ⚙ By the way, unlike usual, this match has a time limit added! This was specially made by Lady Taira Pendrack, our Colosseum's owner, for the mongrel slave Number 17! 'A time limit...!'
It was welcome news.
⚙ ANNOUNCER ⚙ The time limit is 30 minutes!! Now, who will kill whom within 30 minutes? Or will it end without a decisive conclusion in 30 minutes!! And now... the match beeeegins!!! "“Rooooaaaaarrrr!!!”"
A time limit had been added.
30 minutes.
'Taira... she must have done it for Karga.'
I knew Karga had asked Taira to cancel this match for my sake.
But Taira had apparently refused firmly, saying she absolutely wouldn't allow it this time.
'Just like the sister who dotes on her little brother.'
I looked toward Taira Pendrack in the central VVIP seats with gratitude.
Unlike usual, she watched the match with a serious expression.
'Anyway, all I have to do is survive 30 minutes...'
That greatly improved my chances of survival.
If it was about enduring rather than winning by fighting.
The problem was Astril's prophecy.
'If I saw the prophecy... there's a high chance that scene will play out because of fate...'
In the game, I'd hardly ever completely avoided scenes I'd witnessed through prophecy.
But not never.
'Alright...'
I gripped my axe tighter...
And watched my opponent's movements closely.
Endure.
Dodge her attacks as much as possible, take only minimal risks, and counterattack.
...I can do it.
"Hey."
It was at that moment, as I was thinking that.
"...What's your name?"
"......Huh?"
A delicate voice, like the tinkling of bells.
The Royal Half in front of me asked me that.
Even though the fight had already started.
"......I don't have a name. Number 17 is basically my name."
"Number 17...? That's a name...?"
"Got a problem with it?"
"Is that how it is for all mongrels?"
"What...?"
The Royal Half asked with an emotionless expression.
'This bitch... is she provoking me...?'
But a Royal Half, a shadow knight for the elves, had no reason to bother provoking someone like me.
A genuine question...?
"Why do you care...?"
"......"
I ended up asking her back.
She shut her mouth and fiddled with the tip of her pointed ear for a moment.
At the same time, murmurs rose from the audience seats, followed by the announcer's voice booming through the arena.
⚙ ANNOUNCER ⚙ Huh...? The two fighters aren't moving for some reason. Are they gauging each other's reactions? Unfortunately, the announcer's guess was wrong.
Far from gauging reactions, we were just chatting about nonsense.
"My name is Ireila."
"What...?"
Then, the Royal Half—who'd been silently fiddling with her ear—...Ireila, gave her name.
"Should I remember yours as Number 17?"
"So... what does that matter right now."
"Because you're..."
To my incredulous question.
Ireila answered coldly with her expressionless face.
"——About to die by my hand."
"......"
In that instant, the air around her changed.
And right after.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Ancestor 'Eternal Teacher of the Fairies' widens her eyes in surprise! Whiiiiiirrr—!!
In an instant, Ireila's emerald eyes flashed.
And fierce winds swirled around her.
————Shuuuuaaaak!!
By the time I blinked.
She was right in front of my nose.
And the edge of Ireila's hand chop was aimed at the tip of my nose.
'This——!!'
A familiar technique.
First time seeing someone else use it.
But it was all too familiar to me.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ One of the skills from the Quartet of the Wind. 'Silent Gale...!!!' ⚡ TRAIT ACTIVATED ⚡ 'Quartet of the Wind' activated! ⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ 'Curtain of the Wind' used! Chaaaaaaaak!!!
"......"
"What...?"
The fierce gale brushed past like a breeze shaking autumn leaves.
By a sheet of paper's difference.
Swish...
'Crazy bitch...'
No, not even a sheet of paper.
A thin red line welled up on my cheek, which I'd thought I'd barely dodged, and blood trickled down.
'If that had hit straight, it wouldn't have been my chest—my head would've been pierced...'
Cold sweat dripped, and my heart pounded wildly.
The moment her hand reached my nose, I'd barely activated Curtain of the Wind to dodge her attack.
Or maybe the instant the wind rose around her body.
My instincts had anticipated her technique and activated the skill preemptively.
It was that close.
"What was that just now?"
"......"
"Elf magic... the kind used by the pure-blooded nobles... I felt the same energy."
"What, you don't know it?"
"......No."
Unlike me, Ireila looked at my Curtain of the Wind with eyes full of doubt.
'...We used the same technique, so why doesn't she know it?'
What she'd used was definitely Silent Gale from the Quartet of the Wind.
So just as I'd recognized her technique, she should recognize mine.
'...She doesn't know Curtain of the Wind?'
The conclusion I reached in that instant was one.
She knew Silent Gale but not Curtain of the Wind.
That's why I knew her technique, but she didn't know mine.
'Then...'
I grinned and tossed her a question.
"By the way... how many techniques like that one can you use?"
It was a gamble if she'd answer honestly.
But I asked anyway.
"......Two."
True to her chatty nature, she answered my question straightforwardly.
A laugh escaped me.
"Yeah...?"
Two.
She might be lying.
'I can check that.'
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ 'Song of the Hawk' used! Shiiiiiirrrk——!!
"......!"
Song of the Hawk.
The final skill of the Quartet of the Wind.
As I activated it, faint winds gathered sharply on the blade of my axe.
Ireila, witnessing it, hardened her expression and took a guarded stance.
"That's...!"
"Ah, so that's one of the two you know."
"How do you... know Song of the Hawk...?"
"Who knows why."
"......"
The conclusion was clear.
'The two techniques she uses are Silent Gale and Song of the Hawk.'
So she didn't know Curtain of the Wind or Thread of the Wind.
"......"
Ireila showed a moment of fluster, then calmly fixed her gaze on me.
Since she knew it was Song of the Hawk, she probably knew what attack was coming.
She'd likely counter the moment I moved.
"Hup—!!"
In response to her wind, I swung my axe with all my might.
"......"
Ireila didn't take her eyes off me, focusing on the tip of the axe blade.
Swinging it like this to unleash sharp sword energy—that was the Song of the Hawk technique.
Ireila was probably wary of the sword energy flying from the axe.
But.
——Whirrrl!!
I threw the axe.
"......Huh?"
In that instant, Ireila's eyes flashed with confusion, and she hesitated.
Common sense wouldn't include throwing your weapon while using Song of the Hawk.
But unfortunately, that was the thinking of someone who only half-knew the Quartet of the Wind.
'This is how you use the Quartet of the Wind...!'
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ 'Thread of the Wind' used! Shiiiiiirrrk!!!
The axe flew toward Ireila at ferocious speed.
If it hit directly, it would sever part of her body.
But she dodged.
——Whish!
She twisted her body lightly, and the axe grazed past her side along its path.
It left not a single scratch on her.
However.
Clang——!!
The axe that passed her side instantly changed trajectory, flying through the arena in a spinning arc.
And the axe that had grazed her side.
Came flying back toward her back.
"What...!!"
By the time Ireila turned her head.
Sharp, massive sword energy coiled around the spinning axe.
Like a giant circular saw blade, the attack hurtled toward her.
Chaaaaaaaak—!!!
⚙ ANNOUNCER ⚙ O, ooooooh!!! The axe that grazed past Ireila!! Comes back around and slices into Ireila's shoulder!!! Compared to the scratch on my face.
She suffered a much larger wound.
'Did it work...?!'
I caught the axe that returned after slashing her shoulder blade and stared at Ireila's frozen back.
Spurt!
Blood spurted from her shoulder.
For anyone normal, it would be a fatal wound.
"Fuck, yeah, that's more like it..."
Of course, it wouldn't end there for a Royal Half.
"What was that just now? Your axe moved weird."
"You're the weird one..."
"Me? Why?"
"Normal people don't reattach an entire arm that's dangling like that in an instant."
Swish swish swish.
"......"
Ireila looked at her right shoulder, which mended back with pure white light.
Her shoulder, which had seemed about to fall off, was restored in an instant.
"That's how it's always been."
"Bullshit..."
This was the irrational, headache-inducing part of a Royal Half.
The half-breed between pure fairykin and pure heavenly-winged folk possessed.
The fairykin's immense mana and superior magic.
And the heavenly-winged folk's high-purity holy power and healing magic.
"Hey, you gonna tell me what that was just now?"
"...If I do, will you let me live?"
"No, I wanna hear it before I kill you."
"Then why would I tell you, idiot."
"......"
I snapped back savagely, feeling absurdly wronged.
Then Ireila's perpetual blank expression twisted subtly, and she replied in an irritated tone.
"Idiot? Me? ...No, you're the idiot."
She seemed to bristle at being called an idiot.