Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Noble Mixed Blood (2)
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Whiiiiiing!!
The moment Gladiator Slave Number 17 clashed with the special participant gladiator Ireila for the first time.
Elena Silbaren flashed a sinister smile.
'Hehe, I've been waiting for this day. I hadn't originally planned to drag that child into it and deal with her too...'
A royal half born between pureblood and pureblood.
Just looking at the nickname, one might think it a noble existence among mixed-bloods, but the reality was the opposite.
To pureblood families, a royal half was nothing short of a disgrace.
After all, it meant that pureblood had sired a child with another race, not even the same species.
'...Why on earth did Father bestow the noble elf seed upon a filthy beastkin woman like her.'
Normally, they would never send a royal half out into a place viewed by so many people.
They were the shame and laughingstock of pureblood families.
Yet there was only one reason they had entered Ireila, of all people, into this arena watched by purebloods of other races.
'Hurry..., just hurry up and kill that mongrel slave...'
To kill the mongrel who had brought her even greater shame, and as quickly as possible.
"Kgh..."
Elena recalled the humiliation she had felt from that mongrel slave before.
Just remembering it made her cheeks burn and her heart pound without settling.
'This is anger..., just anger making my heart race...'
That day, the seductive scent unique to that mongrel filling the reception room.
The memory of her legs clenching upon inhaling that aroma.
A noble pureblood.
And among those purebloods, the even more noble fairy folk.
She, the lady of the fairy folk, had been... sexually aroused by that mere mongrel slave.
'Hurry..., even a minute, a second sooner..., just vanish from the world...'
Kwachak...
Killing that mongrel slave would surely make this disgusting pounding in her chest disappear.
With a furious expression, Elena glared at the arena.
Just then, Ireila's attack grazed the mongrel's cheek.
Ireila looked flustered, and the mongrel slave was exchanging words with her.
'Still..., that child should be able to kill him for sure in this match.... It was unexpected that he was strong enough to take down all six in the labyrinth, but... against that half-pureblood...'
Elena calmed her mind.
Ireila was strong.
Not as much as a pureblood, but as a royal half with the blood of two purebloods mixed.
Calm down.
Once today passed, her shame would vanish.
Elena composed herself, smiled once more, and began enjoying the match again.
But then.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Oh, ooooooh!!! The axe that grazed Ireila!! It comes spinning back and slices into Ireila's shoulder!!!] "He...?"
Pssshhh!
In the brief moment she had looked away.
Ireila had already been struck by the mongrel slave's axe, her shoulder severed as blood sprayed.
"Th-that's...!!"
And not just that—one more thing.
Elena stared wide-eyed at the mongrel's axe.
The wind magic dwelling within his axe.
Song of the Hawk.
'As expected, he can use all four magics of the Quartet of the Wind...!'
Elena clenched her fist tightly.
This confirmed it.
That mongrel slave could use all the lost magics left behind by the great grandmaster.
Of course, it was a shame not to obtain those magics before killing him.
But to Elena, her own shame mattered more than the magic.
'That half-breed Ireila...! Do it properly...!'
With growing unease, Elena watched Ireila.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Idiot? Me? ...No, you're the idiot."
Ireila spoke to Number 17 in a haughty voice, her expression wrinkling slightly.
'Why am I getting annoyed...?'
At the same time, she felt a sense of bewilderment.
Ireila was a shadow knight who handled the dirty work for the fairy folk purebloods.
In such an environment, her emotional fluctuations were extremely subdued.
It was better to suppress emotions to endure the pureblood nobles' contempt and carry out filthy tasks.
'This mongrel..., he's strange...'
Ireila recalled the moment she first faced Number 17.
This match, where she had entered under Elena's orders to kill the Number 17 mongrel slave.
The instant she stepped into the arena, Ireila had sensed something off.
A sweet scent that made her head hazy.
'......'
It was from the moment she inhaled that scent.
Her dormant emotions had begun to stir slowly.
'...What's your name?'
'......Huh?'
In that stirring, she had inexplicably grown curious about the mongrel's name—something she had no need to know.
It was a question that slipped out unwittingly, and surely seemed odd to Number 17 as well.
'Why am I curious about that...?'
'......'
Thus, she couldn't answer Number 17's immediate follow-up question straightforwardly.
She merely touched her ear.
To her, these long ears—a trait of the fairy folk—were a symbol of shame.
Without them, she would pass for an ordinary beastkin.
Hence, her habit when feeling embarrassed was to fiddle with her long ears.
Recalling that memory, Ireila felt another doubt.
'Why was I embarrassed...?'
It was strange.
'Just now too..., I definitely could have killed him...'
The moment she aimed her hand blade at Number 17's brow to kill the mongrel.
This odd emotional shift had caused hesitation in her movements.
As a result, she had given the mongrel time to use magic and evade.
"......"
"Hoo..."
Ireila closely observed Number 17, who stared at her with a tense face.
The standoff right after taking Number 17's attack.
Even now, she was hesitating.
She had to kill him quickly under Elena's orders.
'Is it because his face is cute...?'
Strangely, her feet wouldn't move forward readily.
And then, Ireila's eyes caught a peculiar change in the mongrel.
Ssssh.
The wound on Number 17's cheek, clearly made by her hand just moments ago.
It emitted a pure white light and healed in an instant.
"That..."
"Huh? What now."
"The wound on your cheek..., you can do that too?"
"Oh, this? Haha, surprised?"
"......"
That recovery just now was undoubtedly a beastkin ability.
The same as Ireila's own power, inherited from half the blood of a beastkin pureblood.
"Quartet of the Wind..., and healing ability..."
"......"
"You're using the same stuff as me."
"Well, yeah, I'm a mongrel."
"Because you're a mongrel?"
"Everything's mixed in."
"......"
In that instant, Ireila's heart shook strongly once more.
'He's like me...'
She was an existence who had lived among elves despite possessing half beastkin blood.
The healing ability she had from her beastkin side was a power elves lacked.
Thus, whenever they saw that power, the elves always sent her looks of contempt.
'He's like me...'
So Ireila felt this emotion for the first time.
A sense of kinship.
"Um..."
In the unfamiliar strange feeling, Ireila tried to speak to the mongrel again.
And at that moment.
'——What are you doing? Ireila.'
A telepathic magic flew to her from Elena in the VVIP seats.
Her shaken heart instantly calmed.
'Yes, Mistress.'
'Why are you hesitating instead of killing that mongrel quickly? Are you struggling against a mongrel even though you have half our noble fairy folk blood? Do you intend to bring me shame too?'
The following reprimand.
To the familiar scolding, Ireila familiarly suppressed her emotions and replied calmly.
'But that mongrel..., he uses the same magic as me.'
'I can see that. So what?'
'He reads my attacks, but his attacks catch me off guard..., so it's a bit difficult.'
She mixed in a slight lie in her report.
Of course, Number 17 was a harder opponent to fell easily than expected, but if Ireila went all out, she could definitely kill the mongrel.
She simply... didn't feel like it.
Thus, she reported to Elena with a bit of deceit.
In response, Elena scoffed.
'Are you an idiot? The five elemental magics passed down only in our pureblood line. Why do you think I taught you two of those secret arts!'
'......'
At Elena's words, Ireila fell silent for a moment.
Then, glancing at Elena in the stands, she replied.
'This is the Colosseum.'
'......'
'Can I use it? In front of all these people..., me, a mixed-blood.'
In a corner of her heart, Ireila had taken root the desire not to kill that mongrel.
Thus, she hoped Elena would mind the spectators—especially the pureblood VIPs—and forbid the use of her second magic.
It was considerable shame for a pureblood elf's secret magic to be passed to a mixed-blood elf, and two of them at that.
However.
'Use any means necessary..., and kill that mongrel. Quickly.'
'......'
Ireila's hopes were sadly denied.
"Haa..."
As the telepathic magic cut off, Ireila let out a small sigh and looked at Number 17.
"Conversation with your mistress go well?"
As their eyes met, Number 17 smirked, seemingly having noticed her talk with Elena.
"How did you...?"
"Never mind that. So, what'd she say?"
"......"
Number 17 gripped his axe.
Seeing his resolved expression, Ireila felt regret.
Honestly, she didn't want to kill him.
Even though they'd only just met.
If possible, she wanted to have a longer, deeper conversation with that mongrel slave.
But.
"She said to kill you."
Ireila suppressed her emotions.
"——Right now."
Pajijik—.
The moment her words ended.
Ireila's emerald eyes flashed, and mana began bursting around her body.
Pajijijik——!!
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 'So she can use the other magic too.'
I gazed at the sharp sparks crackling around Ireila.
Part of me had hoped she was just a mage versed only in the Quartet of the Wind.
After all, Ireila was a royal half shadow knight.
But my hopes were spectacularly betrayed, leading to this outcome.
She wielded another magic used by Elisis.
——Requiem of the Thunder Dragon.
"The most annoying one to get hit by..."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Ancestor 'Eternal Teacher of the Fairies' gazes at you anxiously.] I and Elisis—who knew exactly how that magic worked—felt an intense sense of crisis intuitively.
And one more person.
"Watch your feet."
The one about to unleash that magic kindly warned me.
I grinned and replied.
"I know... even without you telling me!!"
Taat!!
————Pajijijijik!!!
With my response.
The electric energy swirling around Ireila exploded outward, scattering across the arena floor in an instant.