Unshackled Fists
Regardless of the life-shattering shock Lia was experiencing, the tournament proceeded without delay.
"Ethan of Group 12 and Ran of Group 34!"
I stepped out of the waiting room and onto the arena as my name was called. Ethan, who had already arrived and was waiting, had a face that was stiffer and more rigid than ever. He must have been absolutely certain of Lia's disqualification. If the temple had put Lia's judgment on hold, his plan was likely to take his revenge on me in this first match and smoothly claim the championship.
"Life doesn't always go the way you want, does it?"
Looking at his face, which was filled with frustration, I couldn't resist throwing in a bit of sarcasm. Ethan, who had been staring blankly into space, snapped his eyes up to meet mine.
"What did you do?"
"Shouldn't I be the one asking that? What kind of scheme did you pull?"
He looked like he had a mountain of questions, but setting all of them aside, he spat out the words he wanted to say most.
"You seem to have forgotten, but the one backed into a corner right now isn't me—it's you."
It was pitiful that a cheap threat was the best he could come up with. But with things turning out like this, he seemed determined to at least keep his promise of tearing my mouth apart. It was a chilling threat, but I wasn't afraid.
"It was strange from the very beginning."
"What was?" Ethan asked back in response to my muttering.
"Why did it have to be now? If you simply wanted to stop Lia from winning, why go through such a convoluted process?"
If he simply wanted to follow the temple's orders and prevent us outsiders from winning, the fastest way would have been to defeat Lia in a match. After all, to the public, the only ones in Group 34 who actually fought with their fists were Jing and Lia. Even if he couldn't beat Jing, if he could beat Lia, there was no reason to resort to such dirty tricks today. He might claim he simply didn't want to use violence against his own family, but I highly doubted that. He had already watched with his own eyes as Lia was beaten black and blue by Jinger. Subduing her with his own hands would have been far more ideal than letting her get beaten by a stranger—assuming, of course, that Ethan was actually stronger than Lia.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Letting his meaningless denial slide, I stared straight into his trembling eyes and spoke.
"You're terrified of facing Lia head-on, aren't you?"
The sound of him catching his breath was instantly drowned out by the referee's voice announcing the start of the match.
"Begin the match!"
Ethan froze for only a few seconds. But that was more than enough time for me to make my move.
"I forfeit!"
Ethan stood frozen to the spot, unable to move even as the bewildered referee declared him the winner.
Ethan is strong. Ethan loves his family. Ethan sacrifices himself for his family. These were the most powerful, unshakeable truths of her life. She had never doubted them. There had been no need to.
...But was that really true?
Ethan's voice echoed relentlessly in Lia's head. Everything she had accepted as absolute truth, everything she had regarded as harsh but caring advice meant for her own good.
"Group 12, Ethan wins!!!"
Lia snapped out of her daze at the referee's voice announcing the end of the match. Only then did she hurriedly make her way toward the waiting room door. The first match had been between Ran and Ethan. What happened to Ran? Was he alright?
Just as she was about to frantically pull back the tent flap, Lia ran right into Ran as he was walking inside, causing her to pull her hand back. Fortunately, he was standing on his own two feet.
"Ran! Are you hurt anywhere?!"
Lia looked Ran up and down, her voice tight with a near-panicked worry.
"I'm perfectly fine. Though I lost the match."
Confirming that Ran's teeth were all intact, Lia let out a deep sigh of relief.
"It's alright. Jing and I are still here."
"You seem confident you'll win now."
Lia nodded at Ran.
"I told you I would win."
She knew that now was the time to temporarily set aside the storm of emotions raging inside her. Or perhaps, it was just an escape mechanism that had hardened into a habit.
"Actually, I don't really know. I just don't want to think about anything else right now."
Lia knew her answer was incredibly pathetic. She was utterly disgusted by her own indecisiveness, still feeling so confused even after witnessing what Ethan had done right before her eyes.
"It doesn't matter. How many days in our lives can we ever be absolutely certain of anything?"
But Ran replied nonchalantly. It was a somewhat deflating remark, but he was right. Hadn't it just been proven that the answer she had agonized over for so long was completely wrong?
Ran slipped off his gloves and placed them in the hands of the weakly smiling Lia.
"Go out there and win, Lia. There is nothing holding you back anymore."
"...Yes."
With a strange sense of liberation, Lia stepped out into the jeers of the crowd. It was bizarre. Nothing had been resolved, yet she felt an exhilarating rush, as if she could accomplish anything.
"Begin the match!!!"
At the referee's signal, Lia fell into her stance. Her heart still hammered against her ribs as if it might burst, but this time, she didn't mind the feeling. Lia threw a punch toward her rushing opponent. Without fear, with every ounce of her strength.
Once again, Lia's victory was met with silence. It was hard to tell whether it was due to her unexpected triumph, or her rather brutal yet clean style of knocking her opponent unconscious with a single blow without allowing them to land a single hit. With Lia's cheerless victory and Jing's equally swift win, Group 34 advanced toward the finals once again.
The moment all the matches concluded, the one who came rushing toward us was none other than Ethan.
"Lia!"
Ethan called out to her frantically, panting heavily as he approached, but Lia's response was ice-cold.
"Go back, Ethan. You lost once, so you'll have to win your next match."
"I don't care about the tournament. Talk to me—"
"No, nothing is more important than the tournament right now, Ethan. We have to meet in the finals, after all."
Ethan grit his teeth at her reaction, which was even colder than his own when he had threatened to tear my mouth apart. A moment later, his anger shifted toward Ratel, who was standing beside Lia. Ethan grabbed Ratel by the collar.
"What kind of nonsense did you pull?!"
Ethan seemed to have lost all fear in his rage. Or perhaps he thought Ratel was an easier target than Jing. Neither was a wise assumption. I briefly debated whether to wait until Ratel beat Ethan within an inch of his life before stopping him, or to just run away after Ratel killed him. Unfortunately, my dilemma was quickly rendered moot.
Because there was someone else who did not wish for our victory.
"Where are the Group 34 bastards?!"
The voice of a temple priest, flanked by knights on both sides, echoed through the tent as he entered the waiting area. It was a familiar face—the man who had visited Ethan's restaurant. He quickly spotted us, the center of everyone's attention, and strode over.
At the priest's appearance, Ethan immediately let go of Ratel's collar, stepped back, and bowed his head. After casting a displeased glance down at Ethan's head, the priest turned his sour face toward us.
"We have received reports from other participants of foul play just before the match." He pointed a finger at Lia and Ratel, commanding the knights. "Arrest those two immediately."
But Lia was the only one flustered by this. Ratel didn't even bother to stand up, merely looking up at him with a crooked gaze.
"Your proof?"
"W-what?"
The priest stammered, caught off guard by Ratel's excessively blunt question. A faint trace of annoyance flickered across Ratel's face.
"I asked for your proof. Who saw what?"
"How dare this insolent brat speak to me like...!"
Ratel looked down at the priest, whose veins were bulging in his neck, with utter boredom before shifting his gaze to Lia for a brief moment. After observing her trembling with anxiety, Ratel spoke again.
"Seeing as you came here without even knowing who the original owner of the gloves is, those 'reports' of yours don't seem very reliable."
The priest raised an eyebrow at Ratel's remark. "The real owner?"
"Those gloves were mine from the start."
Lia was more shocked than anyone by Ratel's lie. But before any words could escape her parted lips, the priest let out a dumbfounded, mocking laugh.
"Ha! How dare you lie to my face? Those gloves belonged to Lia."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because, obviously..."
"Is there some specific reason they absolutely must be Lia's gloves?"
"T-that..."
As Ratel narrowed his eyes and pressed him, the priest faltered. Ratel looked at him with sheer pity.
"You really don't know how to do anything besides make baseless accusations, do you?"
The problem was that he didn't stop at just a look. The enraged priest raised his voice, looking ready to pounce on Ratel then and there. It was Jing who saved the priest's life. He quickly stepped between the two.
"He was raised in the countryside, so his manners are a bit lacking, Father. I apologize on his behalf."
Since Jing, the star of the tournament, was bowing first, the priest merely snorted in displeasure.
"However, we also require a reasonable explanation. What illegal act are you claiming we committed?"
"There are witnesses who saw Lia entering the tournament with a weapon. And that brat hiding it for her."
At his confident declaration, Ratel stepped forward. Startled by the massive figure suddenly looming over him, the priest flinched and took a step back. Jing, who had been about to restrain Ratel, stopped when he saw him calmly raising both arms to his sides.
"W-what are you doing?" the bewildered priest asked, staring at Ratel, who stood with his arms spread wide like wings.
"Search me. See for yourself if I have a weapon."
"You've obviously gotten rid of it by now!"
When the priest argued back, Ratel turned his head toward the tent entrance, which was the only exit.
"You lot came rushing in here the very instant the match ended. You know perfectly well there was neither the place nor the time to hide anything."
A thick vein throbbed on the priest's forehead at his response.
"You must have used some dirty trick I don't know about!"
Ratel sneered at his desperate screeching.
"Here we go again. 'There must have been some method you don't know about.' Are you saying the ignorant commoners know things that you, who serve the gods, do not? If you know nothing and can do nothing, where on earth do you get the right to judge others?"
The priest's face flushed crimson at the mockery.
"Eeeek! Lock this bastard up immediately!"
Realizing that continuing the argument would yield him no advantage, the priest shrieked. Fortunately, Ratel quietly offered his arms to the knights who came to bind him.
And just like that, Ratel was dragged off to the temple. Quite submissively, at that.
Lia seemed to believe that Ratel was being dragged away because of her. She followed closely behind him all the way. Honestly, if she knew that he could have easily shaken off and flattened the two knights holding his arms with just a few swings of his fists, she might have felt quite betrayed.
"Ratel! I'm so sorry!" Lia shouted toward the back of Ratel's head as he entered the temple. At her cry, Ratel looked back over his shoulder.
"Is that all you have to say?"
Lia's face darkened even further at his question.
"I've committed a grave sin against you. I will definitely repay this debt."
Ratel looked down at Lia, who was bowing so deeply she looked ready to plant her head into the dirt. Finally, he spoke.
"I don't need your apology."
"Ratel..." Lia trailed off, touched by his apparent generosity.
"I don't need empty words. If you're truly sorry, then win this tournament and bring me to the Limis Temple."
Fortunately, her touching moment didn't last long.
"...Yes. Don't worry. I will make sure to win."
Hearing Lia's response, which had regained a bit of confidence, Ratel turned his gaze. His golden eyes locked onto me.
"Do you have something to say?"
At my question, his lips curled up into a smug, irritating smirk.
"You'd better do your best. You won't be able to forfeit next time."
With one final taunt, he disappeared into the temple, dragged along by the urging hands of the knights. What a rotten personality. Deciding that staying here any longer was a waste of time, I turned around and headed toward our lodgings.
"He probably didn't mean it," Jing, who had heard his parting words alongside me, spoke up in his defense.
"No. That was one hundred percent pure sincerity."
Jing didn't seem to think his lie would work either, so he silently followed behind me without further comment.
"Wait! Are you really just going to leave like this?" Lia's anxious voice desperately called back to Jing and me.
"The finals are tomorrow. We don't have any time to waste here."
Despite my answer, the tension on Lia's face didn't ease.
"B-but still... Being treated like a criminal inside the temple is far more grueling than you can imagine. He's in this position because of me, and I feel so incredibly guilty..."
At Lia's words, Jing wore an expression that suggested he had just heard the most useless worry in the entire world. Then again, anyone who knew how enthusiastically Ratel had gone around smashing temples in the Capital would never worry about him the way Lia did.
"He will probably be far more fine than you think, Lady Lia."
"Pardon?"
"No, it's nothing."
Jing kept his mouth shut. Yes, sometimes silence was indeed better than an uncomfortable truth.