New Home
The moment I accepted the girl's offer, everything proceeded with surprising smoothness.
"I'll take you to my house!"
"Ah, yes... Understood."
This incident was entirely the Colosseum's fault due to their mismanagement. And the victim was a noble girl who looked every bit the part of high society, at least to my eyes. The Colosseum staff, who had been so overbearing before, bowed and scraped obsequiously as they handed me over, their faces flushed with shame.
...Their insides must be churning from how badly the match had devolved, yet they gritted their teeth and showed no sign of it.
The ogre had been subdued thanks to its specialized magical restraint, but the excited spectators who'd come for a thrill now had their fun ruined and their lives threatened. Would any of them return after today?
I doubted it. Even their usual provocations to rile up the crowd probably wouldn't work anymore.
Anyway.
I was transferred over just like that—like a chick sold at market in the blink of an eye.
And now...
"Come on in!"
I stared at my new abode, utterly speechless.
The girl with golden hair that gleamed in the sunlight and sparkling ruby-red eyes had introduced herself as Aria. She'd brought me to her home—which was more like a sprawling mansion, grand and opulent.
They raised a girl like her in a place like that? No wonder...
I like it!
I'd thought I was done for, but she seemed even higher-status than I'd imagined. At her single word, the arrogant escorts and the old man folded without protest.
In the end, I'd been all but dragged here to the mansion.
After that, they washed me like a filthy stray pup and dressed me in luxurious clothes I'd never worn before. The place they brought me to was...
"Won't the puppy come inside?"
The courtyard. A vast one, complete with an enormous doghouse.
"This is..."
"Your house! I had them make it!"
They'd built this in the meantime?
No, more importantly—this was supposed to be a house?
It looked exactly like a classic doghouse. The only difference was its size: big enough for me to crawl inside and lie down.
"Yes..."
Not that I had any intention of resisting, so I just went in.
Truth be told, I'd saved the spoiled brat who'd held me hostage, hadn't I?
And I'd chosen life over death in that binary choice, so it worked out fine for me.
"Miss, I've brought the collar."
"Oh! Great!"
As I marveled at the surprisingly spacious interior, the frail old man who'd nearly obliterated me earlier—apparently Aria's butler—approached with a dog collar and fastened it around my neck.
But...
"Hm."
It felt cold and unyielding.
And moreover...
"Mind your impertinent thoughts."
...Once it was on, a stifling pressure clamped down on my Aura, like it was being choked off entirely.
Ah, so this wasn't a dog collar—it was a shackle.
Similar to the one Alden had worn?
I could probably force my Aura to circulate if I tried, but it wouldn't flow properly.
"There, now you have to stay put, right?"
More importantly, what did this girl think I was planning? Why leave me out here in the yard like this?
I might look it, but even without Aura, I was the youngest champion they'd ever seen.
Come to think of it, she'd been eerily calm even when I'd held her hostage.
Did she have other aces up her sleeve besides the old man?
Well... no point dwelling on it now. I had no desire to harm anyone here anyway.
I'd never truly intended to stab her even when she was my hostage, and stirring up trouble now would just land me on the execution block pronto.
If anything, she was my benefactor for sparing me.
So I'd play the good dog. No harm in that.
Let's think positive.
Beats that stuffy underground Colosseum dorm, doesn't it?
The doghouse floor was a bit hard, but the garden beyond was beautifully manicured, and sunlight poured in nicely.
My biggest worry had been the food—dog chow, maybe?—but...
"Eat this!"
"Ah, yes... Thank you."
There must be truth to the saying that even slavery is better in a great lord's house.
I stared at the steak, its juices glistening, doubting my own eyes.
"You gotta eat a lot, okay?"
And not just one slab, but four hefty ones.
It put the Colosseum slop to shame.
"...I'll dig in."
This wasn't half bad, actually.
And so.
My life as this noble girl's pet human began.
But I didn't have much to do.
I'd just sprawl out in the doghouse or yard all day, basking in the sun.
"Let's go for a walk!"
Then, when Aria showed up, I'd let her leash me and we'd stroll the garden once around—like a walk with a dog.
I'd worried about the "dog" part, but no need to crawl on all fours or anything.
Leashed or not, it was just a normal walk.
"That flower is a dandelion!"
"Ah, I see... It's pretty."
"And that's a rose! My favorite flower."
All I had to do was listen to her chatter beside me. Not hard at all.
Is this a honey pot job?
Well...
"Miss, how long are we keeping that human...?"
"I'll handle it!"
Not everyone approved, though.
Given my history of holding her hostage—and my origins as a slave gladiator—the other servants clearly despised me.
The two escorts I occasionally saw glared like they wanted to kill me.
But luckily, Aria's influence was no joke.
"He's my puppy, so treat him nice!"
That one line kept the haters at bay—no harassment, no drawbacks.
Meals arrived punctually and were top-notch; they bathed me often; even the clothes were finer than anything I'd ever touched.
I'm living large here.
About the only downside was eating and sleeping in the garden where servants passed by. Still leagues better than gladiator days.
They let me use the staff restroom the gardeners shared.
Anyway.
I adapted to this cushy routine fast.
One day, two days.
Then a week in.
They say man sits if standing, lies if sitting? I was bored out of my skull.
I trained in the yard sometimes, but no weapons were provided, so bodyweight only.
And that collar made Aura cultivation impossible.
Couldn't demand anything as a pet, either.
"Puppy walkies!"
The one break from tedium was trailing after Aria, who was oddly affectionate toward me.
"Today I learned magic from my tutor..."
She'd ramble about everything during our walks.
At first meeting, she'd seemed poised and a bit creepy, but out here, she was just a normal kid her age.
"I wanna play more, but they make me study all the time. It's the family, you know..."
And she treated me like a real animal—spilling stuff I probably shouldn't hear.
Thanks to that, I gradually pieced together info.
Her family was the Boyd Margrave house.
...Turns out they were the most powerful noble family in the entire Adel Kingdom.
I'd really stepped in it.
Almost got myself killed.
This place was apparently just a vacation villa in the capital region, built because she wanted to stay in the city.
The monstrous old man was indeed the butler.
And those two escorts I'd pierced? Promising talents, apparently.
But I'd run them through in a flash, so they'd been humiliated and punished.
Sorry about that.
I was basically a natural disaster.
Anyway.
Thus, gathering intel, I settled into mansion life.
It was intensely boring compared to my old routine of relentless training, Aura practice, and fights.
But I could finally relax at my own pace.
When was the last time I'd had this kind of leisure since reincarnating?
Maybe never.
Childhood was poverty and hunger; adulthood, pain and struggle.
That day, like any other, I photosynthesized all day and crawled into the doghouse to sleep.
Flicker.
Early dawn.
My eyes snapped open on their own.
...Who's there?
It had been ages since I'd felt this bad premonition.
Feels like old times, waking up to this in my sleep.
Back when I'd first arrived at the Colosseum, months in.
They'd once fed me experimental potion from the Magic Tower, calling it medicine.
After nearly dying from it, my senses sharpened in certain situations.
Deep sleep was one of them.
Champions—or candidates—didn't have fellow gladiators as comrades anymore.
Quietly, without a sound, I rose.
And as if confirming my instincts—
Rustle-rustle—
A faint scraping from outside.
Very faint.
The work of intruders who thought they were stealthy.
I hunkered down inside the doghouse, observing.
What the hell?
Skulking in at this hour?
For a second, I wondered if it was one of the servants who hated me, come to off me quietly...
"Find the young lady."
"Don't kill her."
Nope. Wrong target.
"Hold up, there's a doghouse here."
"...No intel on her keeping a dog."
Well, well.
Perfect timing—I was bored anyway.
Time to play guard dog.