Chapter 83 — The Arena Fight
Chapter 83 — The Arena Fight
Translation: Godtl
"W-what do you mean..."
"Then I'll take that as permission. We'll learn a thing or two from you."
With those words, Cedric also rolled up his sleeves and walked to the center of the circular stage.
Seeing Lord Namph fall, the watching male nobles seemed excited and shouted even louder.
"Yes! Since he took out Lord Namph in one hit, 2-on-1 is appropriate!"
"Kill him! Your Highnesses!"
"Now it's fair! Smash his facial bones!"
Ha. What kind of logic is that?
Lelia looked at Cedric and Damian with an absurd, blank expression.
Standing confronting them, suddenly sorrow and injustice welled up, making her nose tingle.
"......"
To think they had tormented her like this since childhood because she wasn't enough.
Honestly, Lelia really hated Prince Cedric and Damian... but she always consciously tried not to think of them.
Because if she kept recalling and resenting them, her dead mother would be too sad.
Setting aside Emperor Perseus, those two were children her mother had borne in pain just like herself.
No parents would like their children fighting.
Being in a position where she couldn't tell the truth made her heart ache and feel unjust even more.
What grudge did she have that those two would try to torment her to this extent?
"......"
Meanwhile, Cedric and Damian, as if planning to beat Lelia to near death at this place, were glaring while pounding their large fists.
The hostility and malice-filled gaze was particularly piercing.
Above all else, the fact that they would send such looks toward her for the sake of protecting Princess Julianna's honor... that truth hurt.
"......"
With a hollow heart, it seemed like she didn't care what happened anymore.
With her will broken, Lelia didn't even take a bare-handed combat stance.
Anyway, the medicine she used earlier had no spare, and no time to make it either.
Tweet!
Just then, whether receiving Cedric's signal, a knight standing to one side blew a whistle.
Simultaneously, Cedric and Damian took bare-handed combat stances and kept Lelia in check.
Cedric stepped forward first, and Damian stood one step behind, ready to rush in immediately if Cedric was defeated.
Cedric didn't throw his fist right away but keenly glared at her.
It seemed he was wary because Lelia had knocked Lord Namph unconscious with one punch just before.
Cedric said.
"Why not hurry and attack?"
He apparently said it with the intention to provoke, but Lelia showed no reaction.
Cedric made a subtle expression, then soon approached and threw a fist.
Definitely, compared to Lord Namph, both the speed and power of the flying fist were different.
Originally, Lord Namph was an ordinary noble, while Cedric was someone who was a properly trained knight and had even participated in the battlefield.
Thud!
With the sound of her head turning from the punch, Lelia's body tumbled to the ground.
Seeing her fall this time when she hadn't flinched even after getting hit by Lord Namph's giant fist, the spectators' shouts grew louder.
"Wooow!"
"Kill him!"
Everyone excitedly shouted kill him, tear him apart.
Cedric, feeling his mood rise with the shouts, mocked Lelia who had collapsed in one hit.
He slowly approached Lelia.
Then, nudging her with his foot, he spoke in a loud voice.
"Sir, didn't I say earlier? As long as a life isn't taken, it doesn't violate the law!"
With those words, he grabbed the back of Lelia's neck with his left hand and raised his fist-clenched right hand.
"......"
However, just then.
Cedric momentarily paused.
It was because he suddenly felt strange due to the way 'Sir Raymond' was looking at him.
'...That can't be.'
Someone came to mind, but it was a person he had no reason to recall upon seeing this person.
He shook his head, and with an uncomfortable feeling, raised his right hand even higher.
And just before driving his fist into the small face.
"Ugh!"
Suddenly his right hand wouldn't move at all.
When Cedric turned his head in bewilderment, the nobles who had been watching were quietly looking at one place.
Someone was approaching this way, and the knights couldn't approach him and only flinched.
As if blocked by an unknown force.
It was a man wearing a white robe.
"...What?"
Cedric let go of Lelia's collar he was holding and stood up abruptly.
Damian too was frowning and looking that way.
The man walked with unhurried steps through the gap between the split spectators and came up to the stage.
Cedric tilted his head.
Looking closely at that man, he was wearing a robe with the Kreuz Church emblem engraved on it.
After coming within arm's reach of Princes Cedric and Damian, he soon removed the robe's hood.
As expected.
"Griffith, so it was you."
"......"
Cedric and Damian glared at him with unwelcome expressions.
Having participated in the battlefield, they had acquaintances, but like the other guys, they didn't get along well with Griffith.
"A duel between two and one. Quite impressive for princes."
Griffith muttered in a leisurely voice.
That was his first greeting.
Cedric and Damian were dumbfounded.
Griffith too was a prince, but he was now far pushed back in the succession rank.
A prince abandoned by the imperial family. Cedric internally sneered at Griffith.
Moreover, this place was inside the Auraria imperial palace.
To dare act so arrogantly toward them, who were princes, in this place.
"We were just dueling with someone who dared damaged the Princess's honor."
"Ah ha."
Griffith replied without sincerity, then approached Lelia who was sprawled on the ground.
Then he nudged her with the tip of his foot.
As Lelia's body turned and her face was revealed, he raised the corner of his mouth with a strange expression.
"......"
At the same time, he reached out his hand. Lelia's eyes grew large.
A clear energy was spreading inside her body. Just until moments ago it was throbbing so much her facial bones seemed shattered, but like a lie, all the pain disappeared.
It was divine power.
He turned his head and lightly proposed to Cedric and Damian.
"Then I will participate in the duel in this friend's stead."
"You? Why you?"
"......"
"What relationship do you have with that guy?"
At Cedric's words, Griffith turned his gaze and looked at Lelia.
Their eyes met.
"For a close friend, that much is nothing."
Griffith said that while sending a strange look. Lelia suddenly felt like her heart stopped.
'Close friend.'
Surely... surely he didn't recognize her?
At the absurd thought, she was utterly dumbfounded. Meanwhile, Griffith threw off the cumbersome robe he was wearing.
The robe flew over Lelia's head.
When she looked at it in bewilderment, Griffith motioned with his chin for Lelia to move aside.
"......"
Lelia inadvertently hugged Griffith's robe and stepped aside.
'When on earth did he arrive?'
While Lelia was bewildered.
The watching male nobles all sent fierce glares and didn't even try to go near Lelia.
The feeling of being treated like a bug was unpleasant, but since no one around was coming close, her mind was at ease.
Griffith said while rolling up his sleeves.
"You may come at me all at once like before."
At his provocation, Cedric and Damian's eyebrows twitched.
Cedric said.
"...Using divine power during a duel is a foul. You know that, right?"
"Ah, of course, of course."
Griffith said as if it were obvious and took a bare-handed combat stance. His appearance was as natural as fighters in gambling halls.
When Cedric sent a glance, the knight who had been at a loss blew the whistle hesitantly.
Simultaneously, Cedric's fist flew. Lelia, watching, squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
However, no sound came, and when she opened her eyes, Griffith was lightly dodging Cedric.
Damian, watching from behind, seeing that, thought it wouldn't do, and clenched his fist and stepped forward.
'Despicable bastards...!'
Lelia ground her teeth and internally condemned the two.
In the center of the stage, Griffith was still dodging their attacks. Cedric and Damian had expressions of rising irritation.
"Ah, by the way, there's something I need to confirm."
"......"
Griffith asked while dodging punches, but Cedric was extremely irritated. It seemed he was very resentful about continuously dodging here and there.
"I heard earlier, you said as long as a life isn't taken, it's not illegal. Is that the same even if the opponent is of imperial blood?"
"Do you think you can beat us until we're near death? No matter what, there are two of us."
Cedric sneered. The two had participated in the battlefield late, so they had hardly seen Griffith's exploits.
Even in the last battle, Griffith only healed with divine power from the rear.
So for him to come out so confidently was absurd and laughable.
"The answer?"
Griffith asked again, demanding an answer, and Cedric scoffed.
"Fine, that's right. But something like that won't happen...!"
Unfortunately, Cedric couldn't finish his sentence.
In an instant, Griffith's fist struck Cedric's jaw. Damian, standing behind bewildered, was also instantaneous.
Thud!
As soon as he turned his head toward Griffith to avenge Cedric, his body flew.
Among the spectators who had been shouting kill him, tear him apart until just before, silence descended.
Griffith approached the fallen Cedric, grabbed his collar, and raised his fist.
Just as Cedric had been holding Lelia earlier.
Before Lelia could even think about intervening, the fist drove down.
The knights didn't know what to do and only hesitated.
Though the Prince himself had said with his own mouth that as long as a life wasn't taken it wasn't a foul, still the knights couldn't bear to watch the royals they were protecting get hurt.
When the knights approached to stop him, Griffith clicked his tongue.
"Ugh!"