Chapter 13
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 13: If I Can't Have It, Neither Can You
The way back to the arena.
I couldn't escape the swamp of thoughts for a long time.
‘So what on earth was this walk for.’
I pondered Renoa’s intentions alone, but only a hollow echo returned.
Renoa didn't open her mouth after that either. It didn't seem like she would tell me even if I asked.
Eventually, we arrived near the arena without gaining much.
We ran into a group coming from the opposite side.
A girl wearing a flashy dress and the attendants following behind her. The girl who discovered Renoa opened her eyes wide.
“Princess Edelheid?”
“...Who?”
“Pardon? Who, you ask. Don’t you remember me?”
Bibi, approaching Renoa who couldn't remember, whispered a hint.
“It is Lady Hazel of the Valdemar Baron family. She visited the mansion once the other day.”
Only then did she nod as if remembering.
I could see her eyebrows trembling over the fan Hazel was holding. It seemed her pride was quite hurt by the fact that she was forgotten.
“Anyway, what brings a person like the Princess to such a dim place....... Could that behind you be the rookie rising these days?”
Hazel, discovering me, opened her eyes roundly.
Rookie.
So such a nickname was attached to me too.
Better than blackie.
Renoa didn't answer Hazel’s question. She just lowered her eyelids obliquely as if annoyed.
At that indifferent reaction, Hazel rather fluttered her fan as if it was more interesting.
“I heard rumors that the Princess sponsors a slave, but to think you are close enough to take a walk. I saw something very precious.”
“.......”
“If you felt offended by chance, I apologize. I didn't mean it like that. Since it’s a rare occasion, let me introduce mine too. Garner?”
At Hazel’s call, a muscular man standing by her side came forward.
He was big, and his whole body was full of scars. He was carrying a huge greatsword on his back. The aura of a veteran gladiator wafted strongly.
“This is the gladiator Garner sponsored by our Valdemar family. How is he? Looks quite useful, right?”
“Is that all you have to say?”
Renoa, who had been consistent with silence all along, spat out a word. As if she had absolutely no interest whatever you mumbled.
“...I took up too much of a precious person’s time.”
Hazel’s atmosphere, which had been chatting excitedly, sank low. Her eyes were smiling, but it didn't seem like she was smiling at all.
Is this that ‘Girls’ Talk’ or whatever?
It’s fucking fun.
I want to open some popcorn....
—Crunch.
“?”
Bibi next to me was chewing on a snack she took out from somewhere.
When I stared intently, our gazes met.
Bibi looking alternately at me and the snack in her hand. She wriggled her hand in her apron pocket and handed me a snack.
I didn't decline.
I accepted and ate it right away.
Wow, how long has it been since I had sugar?
Sweet, so sweet.
As I was watching while crunching snacks with Bibi, Hazel composed her expression.
“It’s fate that we met like this, so if you are okay with it, why don’t we have a match?”
“Match?”
“My gladiator and the Princess’s gladiator, fighting to see who is stronger. How about it? It’s a famous communication method in high society these days.”
......What is this development. Why does the introduction, development, turn, and conclusion flow into gladiatorial combat.
I hate this.
“Ah, was that too unconscionable of a remark? Well, it’s obvious who will win without even looking.”
Fufu— Hazel let out a light laugh behind her fan. That was an obvious provocation.
Until just before, I liked it thinking it was the climax, but now this atmosphere wasn't welcome at all.
This ominous feeling.
If there is one thing I realized after coming to the other world, it is that ominous premonitions hit the mark without fail, not missing even once.
Renoa remained silent.
Then for a moment, really just a moment.
She looked back at me.
A gaze with unfathomable intent passed by, and looking at Hazel again.
“That is something you don’t know until you try.”
She retorted without backing down.
Such a voice contained a strange power that wasn't there until just now.
“Yes?”
“Because gladiatorial combat is something where you don't know how it will turn out until it ends. Lady Valdemar seems not to know well about gladiatorial combat. How pitiful.”
Hazel frowned.
“...Is that so? The Princess must be knowledgeable about gladiatorial combat. I thought you were just a lady raised preciously, but I guess that’s not it either.”
“Not really. It hasn't been long since I took interest. Not that I am knowledgeable... um, never mind.”
Renoa speaking well then blurring the end of her sentence.
I noticed with my wits that it was intentional equivocating.
‘There are two ways to make a person angry, the first is to stop speaking mid-sentence, and the second is......’
There was no way the person involved wouldn't know what I know. As expected, Hazel’s expression rapidly became bad.
Emotions surged and she couldn't manage her expression anymore.
“If you are that confident, would you like to try it once? Who has better eyes for gladiatorial combat.”
“Fine.”
“Huh?”
No, wait a minute.
What about the consent of the person involved?
It’s a body that has only been a day since catching an Ogre. My whole body aches and I’m walking while making old man noises, and you add a matchup here?
Renoa continuing the conversation smoothly without considering my circumstances at all.
As if she bit the thrown bait, Hazel’s eyes above the fan drew a graceful arc.
“As expected of the Princess, you are hot-tempered. My gladiator must be quite expecting it too. Right, Garner?”
“Of course. My Lady. Garner. Wins.”
Garner raised his chin towards me. There was clear killing intent in his eyes.
I stayed still, why at me....
“Then I will coordinate the schedule with the arena side and contact you. I will excuse myself first.”
Holding her dress hem and greeting with an elegant gesture, Hazel moved away with the gladiator.
Only silence remained in the place where a storm had passed.
I examined Renoa’s back and carefully opened my mouth.
“Excuse me, Princess?”
“What.”
“What do you intend to do making such a promise...?”
A gladiator sponsored by a noble meant being top-tier in terms of skill.
Not an opponent a newbie gladiator like me can beat. It’s a mismatch.
If I lose, I won’t be safe either, and Renoa’s reputation will be scratched.
‘Why insist on a match full of risks? For whose good? In the first place, you aren't even my owner.’
I sent a gaze containing such meaning to Renoa.
“Because I’m bored. You are a slave who fights if I say fight, and dies if I say die.”
“.......”
“I told you last time. If you meet my expectations, I will give you freedom.”
I certainly received such a hint.
The Renoa I know is a psychopath who regards life as a bug, and a villainess who will be ruined someday.
The reason I try my best to satisfy her even knowing that is to win freedom.
Only then can I escape this hell-like place. Only then can I get away from Renoa’s side.
“If you win this match, I will pay your ransom and liberate you.”
Whether she knows that or not, Renoa presented an option I could never refuse.
It was a threat under the guise of a deal, but at the same time, it was also what I desired most desperately.
“Sigh, I’ll win even while playing.”
This is a go even if I can’t eat.
—Rattle rattle.
The carriage engraved with the Edelheid crest passes the main road and enters the unpaved forest path.
Unlike the downtown area, the road surface is irregular.
Even so, the inside of the carriage is strangely quiet. As if only external vibrations were canceled.
It was thanks to ‘Enchant’, a technique where wizards imbue fragments of mystery into objects.
If it dwells in a wooden stick, it becomes a mage’s staff.
If it frosts on sharp steel, it becomes a magic sword.
If it permeates a common tool, it becomes a magic tool.
In other words, this carriage itself is a giant running magic tool.
Although the price is enormous, it has long been an essential magic tool indispensable to nobles. They pour out bags of gold coins unsparingly.
In such a luxurious space, Renoa stared out the window with her chin resting on her arm.
Thanks to the protection of Enchant, her elegant posture didn't disperse even a bit.
Staring blankly out the window, she captured the passing forest scenery in her eyes.
“My Lady.”
Bibi sitting opposite broke the silence.
“What.”
“Why—”
“Are you asking why I accepted the proposal?”
Renoa cut her off before she could even finish speaking. The green pupils chasing the scenery didn't even twitch.
“Yes. I do not know how much expectation the Lady places on that boy, but he looks far too inadequate to beat that gladiator.”
“Even looking at it myself, it is so.”
Neither foresight nor intuition. A result obvious to anyone looking.
If you ask 100 people, all 100 will be certain of Irion’s defeat.
“Then why.......”
“That auntie told me not to go outside.”
Florencia’s distorted face flashed through Renoa’s mind.
Renoa considers her threats as nothing much, but getting involved in troublesome things is absolutely declined.
She doesn't want to hear that screeching sound ever again. Nor does she want to see her face.
“In the first place, I had no interest in things like gladiatorial combat.”
Even visiting for the first time was a whim. She wouldn't have set foot in the arena a second time.
Because Renoa hates such noisy and distracting things more than anything.
Simply, she just acted on a slight whim seeing Irion’s match. Killing a little time was enough.
“If I played with a toy, I should clean up before going.”
“You are not going to release him?”
“Why should I?”
There was not a bit of playfulness in Renoa’s voice saying so. Answering a question with a question was her pure true intention.
She promised to liberate him if he met expectations, but Renoa never once thought of releasing him.
An impudent boy who dislikes receiving sponsorship from herself, a Ducal family. A peculiar boy who craves freedom more than wealth and honor.
Hanging a carrot named liberation to make him run to the edge of the cliff was nothing more than an efficient means to motivate and consume him.
“However, if he loses in a match with a noble....”
“It doesn't matter.”
Even if honor falls due to defeat, that belongs to Edelheid, not Renoa.
Even if he wins, it’s the same. Since to Renoa, there is nothing called honor anyway.
Saying it was just that, Renoa spoke in a calm tone, but——
‘...For a mere slave.’
Inside, she was trying hard to ignore the emotion surging from the deepest part.
Renoa carefully stroked her cheek with her hand. The remnants of violence cooled down coldly, hidden under thick makeup powder.
That boy rolling in the mud wearing shackles and herself only differed in class; fundamentally, they were in the same position.
One is tied to a metal leash, and one is just strangled by the name Edelheid.
Both were slaves unable to take a single step by their own will. Born with such a fate from birth.
But.
‘Why do only you make such eyes?’
For a mere subject whose life will be consumed by a fleeting amusement, Irion’s eyes were directed towards a place Renoa couldn't imagine.
What was already lost to Renoa from birth, the boy cherished as if he would grasp it in his hand tomorrow.
Not conforming to reality, not caring about surrounding gazes, he was struggling desperately.
The unfair fact that you, bound in chains, look much freer than me outside the prison.
Those arrogant eyes that never break even while crossing the line of death.
Renoa hated it unbearably, and at the same time, came to crave it maddeningly.
‘I want to break it.’
I want to distort the hope filling those eyes, and eventually dye them with the same gray as myself.
So that you too, like me, give up freedom, despair at fate, and accept reality.
It was a desire for destruction deeper than jealousy and thicker than killing intent.
“Fufu.”
The smile that bloomed on Renoa’s lips before she knew it was beautiful yet cruel like a rose with thorns.