All Bets Are Placed
“Where do you like him? The loud voice? The massive build? The big feet? His hands were pretty big, too. Ah! And that other part was also pretty bi—Look! There’s the dealer! Let’s place our bets over there!”
I switched topics at the fastest speed possible. It was the first time in my life I’d ever redirected a conversation with such desperate urgency.
Goodness. That was a close call.
No matter how direct the connection between my brain and mouth might be, that would have been seriously problematic.
“That other part is big? Which part exactly are you referring to?”
“His head.”
“Ah……”
“Still, I respect your tastes, Akia. Bigger is better than smaller! Even if a big head has nothing to do with intelligence, there must be some advantages to it.”
I dragged a now solemn Akia toward the makeshift ticket booth.
A long line of people stretched ahead, so we took our place at the very end.
Some countries treated betting on fights as illegal, but in Heidricke it was perfectly legal. As a nation that thrived on tourism, they were quite lenient about gambling. During festival season, the country even assisted with operations. A true gambler’s paradise, you could say.
They even had professional dealers dedicated to the nobility, which showed just how starved everyone was for entertainment.
“I’m betting on the Count. It’s my way of cheering him on… You said you were betting on the Count too, right, Miss Jeanie?”
“That’s right. I placed a bet the day before yesterday, but it didn’t feel like enough, so I bet again yesterday.”
“I won’t ask how much… I’m too scared to know.”
“I didn’t bet all that much. In fact, I still have plenty of the money I prepared left over. I didn’t realize that betting above a certain amount requires identification papers. What a hassle.”
“……I believe the limit was five hundred gold.”
Thanks to her excellent memory, Akia had learned something she would rather not have known. She stared at the single silver coin in her hand with a complicated expression.
Comparing spending habits would only hurt her. The reason I scattered money everywhere wasn’t because I was a noble—it was because I was a Spirit Master. I possessed the world’s one and only metal spirit, and fortunately for me, the currency of this world happened to be metal.
“Next.”
After a long wait, it was finally our turn.
The dealer handed us a blue document with a businesslike attitude. It had a space for the stake, an official seal proving which merchant group operated the booth, and an advertisement guaranteeing dividends up to three thousand gold.
“Who are you betting on?”
“One silver on the Count!”
I acted like I could barely contain my excitement, practically prancing as I placed my bet.
The betting system for commoners was simple. You signed the center of the document, handed it over with your stake, and the dealer stamped it with a large seal to confirm receipt. Then they tore the paper in half and returned one piece to you.
“Hold on to your confirmation slip. You won’t be able to claim your winnings without it.”
“Obviously. By the way, what are the current odds? The Count of Trenpe is overwhelmingly favored, right?”
My polite question earned a polite answer. I was in an excellent mood today.
“Of course! Our Count is dominating the board. Eight to two! You think some young punk relying on nothing but his youth can beat the Count?”
“Absolutely right!”
“This is our chance for the general to crush the arrogance of those insolent empire bastards! And he’ll do it again! Kahaha!”
“Ehehehe!”
Laughing with someone who shared my thoughts felt incredibly satisfying.
To make a fortune I should have bet on Robenin, but wagering on that man right now wasn’t a wise choice. Not if I didn’t want to lose money.
“Hey!”
“Ah, you’re here?”
“You’ve arrived.”
Chad pushing through the crowd toward us was easy to spot—he was two heads taller than everyone else.
The real question was how they had located us so easily when we were buried in the middle of this sea of people.
“How did you find us?”
The plaza in front of the duel arena where the match would soon begin was packed shoulder to shoulder.
“I followed that bizarre cackle and there you were.”
“Oh my, I have no idea what you mean? I’m elegant to the bone, so even my laugh is the most elegant in the world.”
“More like the laugh of a villain plotting the most wicked scheme imaginable. It immediately tells everyone exactly how dangerous you are.”
“Hmph, no it doesn’t. Ask Ash, or Bright, or Akia. They’ll all agree with me.”
“The list of people you’re telling me to ask has zero conscience. Two of them have already handed over their livers and gallbladders to you, and the last one is Akia, who can’t bear to say anything negative.”
His head must be slightly better than a goldfish’s.
Normally I would have delivered a low kick to Chad’s leg for talking back, but today I was in such a good mood that I felt capable of forgiving anything.
I am magnanimous. Mostly because I was thrilled at the prospect of smelling my mortal enemy’s blood.
“Kahaha!”
Kyahaha!
“Ah, how embarrassing……”
The rest of the party, including Ash, emerged from the crowd lifting their heads just as I let out another loud, wicked laugh.
Judging by their wide, round eyes, they had definitely found us by following the sound.
Guiding lost people with my laughter—whether I wanted it or not, it seemed the qualities of a Saint weren’t going anywhere. Ha. I really ought to act a little more nobly.
“They’re saying it’s time to enter. Did you hear the announcement?”
“Oh! Really?”
“People are already heading in over there.”
The central duel arena hosting the Tumdra was quite large in scale.
According to the information I had unintentionally memorized from all the surrounding chatter, it had over thirty entrances, could accommodate nearly forty thousand spectators, and was the second-largest arena on the continent.
The largest was the Colosseum in the capital of Elan—the same place where I had fought Robenin.
“Everyone gather around. I’ll hand out the tickets.”
I pulled six tickets from my inner pocket and fluttered them. Bright had obtained them by borrowing my parents’ names.
The person Lox wrote the introduction letter for was apparently so busy he was never home, so I hadn’t even caught a glimpse of his face.
I had nearly missed the duel, but at least now I had new material to nag Lox with later. All in all, not a bad outcome.
“Um…… Miss Jeanie? What about your mage friend?”
“What about him?”
“I don’t see him. I thought he was the one who got us the tickets.”
“Get your facts straight. I made him get them, so they’re mine.”
“……Yes.”
Akia always found Bright’s presence extremely uncomfortable. She would shrink back in tension simply because a noble was among us, yet she didn’t seem particularly bothered by me. Even though I was technically a noble lady myself.
Finding that odd, I secretly peeked at her inner thoughts and discovered the simple reason: the Saint title was so overwhelmingly powerful that my noble status barely registered.
There was the belief that, as a Saint, I wouldn’t harm her, and above all, she liked me a great deal.
This damn popularity of mine.
“I thought he would be watching the match with us.”
“Seems he couldn’t get any more tickets.”
“Ah.”
“These tickets are apparently going for whatever people are willing to pay these days. These six are worth praising. Though they’d still be cheap compared to the price of a life.”
Bright’s list of crimes was already so long that punishing him all felt like too much trouble.
“In that case…… Um, then it’s fine with me. The invitation is an honor and I’m truly grateful, but I don’t mind missing the match. It would be better if you called him instead……”
“Huh? No. He’s been whining so much my ears have practically grown calluses. The person we owed a favor to when obtaining these tickets is a mage, and it seems he’s being dragged off to the Tower of Mages starting today. What was it again…… I only caught half of it because he was crying, but something about the communications team being short-staffed and needing reinforcements. That’s probably accurate. Right, Ash?”
“I’m glad you have no interest in him, however……”
Ash tended to wear that deeply troubled expression whenever I spoke about Bright.
“If it’s a glad thing, then it’s a glad thing. What’s with that face?”
“……It feels like I can see my own future. It makes me imagine the day you lose interest in me.”
“That won’t happen as long as you don’t do anything stupid.”
Ah.
What?
I realized I too can receive Master’s interest for the rest of my life! After all, I am an intellectual being.
Watching Rai made me reflect that while confidence is good, one really shouldn’t engage in quite so much self-praise. It sounded mentally exhausting.
“Anyway, don’t worry about Bright. He was just trying to follow me. That senior doesn’t like violent things anyway…… Though he does enjoy it when I hit him.”
“……”
“Did I say that last part out loud too?”
“Yes……”
That gave Akia one more reason to be wary of Bright.
“It’s a secret, okay? That I called him a pervert.”
“You can tell just by looking at him, though……”
“Still, we should respect his identity. Everyone take the tickets the pervert obtained! We can’t all sit in the same section, so keep that in mind. We got them late, so the seats are scattered everywhere.”
The general admission tickets—the cheapest option after standing room—simply listed which section you could sit in.
It was first-come, first-served for empty seats within that section, so if you wanted a decent spot, the best strategy was to arrive as early as possible.
“Let’s see. Two in section eleven, two in section twenty-four, two in section thirty-eight. We’ll split into three groups. First…… Gail and Enk.”
I distributed the tickets however I liked. The best friends Gail and Enk were both assigned to section eleven without any debate.
Each section had slightly different colored tickets. Theirs were a pale gray.
“Finally!”
“Krr! Thank you!”
“You’ll have to hurry if you want to sit next to each other.”
The two of them looked happier than they had in ages as they took the tickets I handed over. Men are cutest when their desires are written plainly on their faces.
“Section twenty-four is Akia and Chad.”
“……What did you just say?”
“And Ash and me! After the match ends, let’s meet back at the lodging. It’s too crowded here to regroup easily, so just……”
“Hey! You…… You can watch with Akia! I’ll watch with Ash! Isn’t that the normal thing to do?!”
How dare he complain about the seats I personally assigned.
He must be embarrassed about being alone with Akia. A man without courage isn’t cute. I glared at Chad with a crooked eye.
“Why? Don’t you want to watch with Akia?”
“……No, that’s not…… What I mean is……”
“I knew you were an idiot, but stop right there. Don’t do something stupid like making Akia feel awkward just because you’re embarrassed. When you react like that, it makes her uncomfortable, doesn’t it?”
“Urk……”
“And wanting to watch with the person you like is perfectly normal. What else would be?”
Enk and Gail had already shot off like arrows and were gone. The only ones left were Ash and Akia, both wearing nearly identical expressions.
They were biting their lips with flushed cheeks, doing everything they could to endure the embarrassment.
Akia I could understand, but why was Ash making that face? Looking again, even Chad had a similar expression. Apparently I was the only one who remained indifferent.
What was wrong with these people? Why was the atmosphere like this?
Why is even Ash acting like that?
Because Master said she wants to watch with the person she likes?
Ah.
That means you like Ash.
I quietly acknowledged it. There was no point in denying the truth.
Rai had transformed into a snake and was hiding inside my clothes. The duel arena banned pets, so I had decided to follow the rules.
If no one could see it, it was the same as not having it. Just like how a perfect crime ceases to be a crime.
“Um, Mr. Chad……? I…… it’s fine if we sit separately. I don’t mind being alone…… Probably……”
“No way, Akia! This isn’t just anywhere—this is a fighting arena! It’s basically a gathering of madmen drunk on blood!”
Was he talking about me?
“But it seems like I’m making you uncomfortable.”
“That’s not…… It’s not that I hate sitting with you…… I……! So……! It’s just that……”
“……Yes?”
“I’ve…… never…… been alone with…… a woman before! That’s why!”
I watched Chad stammer, unable to meet anyone’s eyes, and Akia growing more embarrassed by the second. Then I crumpled the pink ticket and roughly stuffed it into Chad’s pocket.
Since they clearly liked each other, I would cheer them on—but I had zero intention of watching this painfully ticklish scene play out in real time.