# 042 Opening
# 042 Opening
It was a festival!
Amid the festival everyone was meant to enjoy, every gaze of those reveling in it converged upon a single spot.
"Kuh-huh-huh."
A vampire who looked like a child.
Draped in a high-collared cape and clad like a nobleman's son, he walked boldly before them all.
One could dismiss him as a child, but everyone knew better.
"Look at him. He's got lecherous eyes. That's a bloodsucker who'll pop a girl's cherry before he even drinks her blood."
"Shh, careful. You think he'd rule out a man?"
They knew that with vampires—with the race called bloodsuckers—the more childlike the form, the more caution was needed.
A child's appearance was nothing more than a shape assumed to regulate fuel efficiency; in truth, they were demonkind stronger than anyone.
"Try touching me and see what happens...?"
"Calm down. Do that and you could end up drained dead. A little runt like that has been strutting around this neighborhood and still hasn't been stabbed to death yet."
"That's a fair point."
And in the first place, there was no way a vampire that young would be striding around Shotarape City so brazenly.
If he were a vampire with no pride in his own power, he would never dare walk about alone and so boldly, with a woman who appeared to be a female slave in tow behind him.
Clank.
The vampire boy tugged at the leash, guiding the bunny-girl woman.
Though she was no rabbit beastkin, he had collared a woman who looked like something straight out of a casino and paraded her around, flaunting his slave.
"Well, well."
Even the demonkind, who held no interest in humans, gulped at the sight of her.
Her deep crimson hair, falling to her waist, and matching eyes were alluring enough to draw attention, and the bunny-girl outfit was eye-catching in its own right.
More than anything, however, they were transfixed by the overwhelming size of her breasts.
Even the lamias and succubi famed for their large chests would have had to concede defeat. Her breasts were so large and beautiful.
"Fuck, I'm jealous."
The demonkind clicked their tongues in admiration of the woman's figure.
She was so beautiful that, if the vampire turned out to be weaker than them, they would seize her by force, and if the vampire were so inclined, they would even pay money to buy her.
"They definitely fucked, right?"
"Of course. You think he hasn't already plowed a female reeking of pussy like that?"
Lewd talk about the woman passed back and forth, loud enough for her to hear, yet the woman only kept blushing and said nothing.
The place they were walking toward was the reception desk for the Sword Demon God's festival, the preliminary matches.
There had been times when some swordsmen looked unfavorably on demonkind bringing human slaves and setting them in the arena, but the practice was uniformly praised by those who wanted to see fresh blood splattered.
Step, step.
The vampire arrived at the preliminary reception desk.
The receptionist, a female beastkin, gulped as she looked down at the vampire boy.
He was powerful.
She could tell just from his eyes.
Her opponent was a mighty being she could never hope to control.
"Good day. I've come to participate in the preliminaries."
"Ah, for the preliminary participation..."
"I believe it is under participant number 892."
"I shall verify. ...You are the one called 'Ria,' correct?"
"That's right."
The boy tugged at the leash.
The bunny-girl woman, Ria, stood behind the boy and silently bowed her head.
"Come here, Ria."
"Yes..."
Plop.
Two large breasts dropped down onto the top of the boy's head.
The boy had deliberately stepped in front of Ria's body and thrust his head forward, and Ria's breasts were pushed upward, flaunting their presence even more enormously.
"Pardon me, but the human is..."
"That I will hold no one responsible should she be injured or killed inside the arena. That was the condition, was it not? Very well. Ria, your hand."
The boy took Ria's hand and lightly bit his own index finger.
Then he smeared the droplet of blood that welled from his hand onto Ria's finger and pressed it beneath the participation form, leaving a bloodstained thumbprint seal.
"Will this do?"
"It is confirmed. Ah, and you, sir..."
"'Oned Bourbon Jirfangfar III.'"
"......Understood. Oned Bourbon Jirfangfar III."
The beastkin receptionist had always thought that vampire's middle name and surname were quite peculiar, but she quietly wrote his name onto Ria's entry form.
"Ria's waiting room is Block D. Should you enter the preliminary waiting room, her owner will be unable to follow her inside, so please wait in the spectator seats."
"There ought to be a separate place for VIPs, surely? Couldn't I go there? I wish to watch from there starting with the preliminaries."
"My apologies. The regulations changed this year. Even as her owner, the VIP room is only available for use from the main tournament onward."
"Hm..."
The boy displayed considerable displeasure, but soon nodded to himself and tugged at Ria's leash.
"Understood. If those are the regulations, I shall abide by them. Let us go, Ria."
"Yes, yes... Master..."
Clank.
Watching Ria's retreating figure as she was led by the leash, the beastkin receptionist scowled.
"Ugh, what a minx. I thought it was only her tits, but look at that ass swaying and making eyes at the men. Sheesh. What a degenerate age we live in."
The receptionist quietly slid Ria's application form back in.
"Five gold she gets taken down and eaten in the prelims."
Because the 'common sense' was that the human slaves demonkind brought along usually died in the preliminaries.
* * *
Before entering the waiting room.
I led Ria into a quiet spot for a moment.
In a small supply closet inside the tournament grounds, I forced the closed door open, brought Ria in, and caught my breath for a moment.
"How do you feel?"
"......"
"Do you think you can win?"
"I don't know."
Ria was, by nature, lacking in confidence.
She was brimming with pride in her breasts, but pride in her swordsmanship was a separate issue entirely.
"You must have felt the stares of the people watching you on the way in. Most of them were looking at you only with lecherous eyes, but a few gave you quite wary looks."
"M-me? Why?"
"Have you ever heard the word 'Ppayoen'?"
"...What's that?"
As I thought, there was no way she'd know.
"There was once a person called Ppayoen. A man who went around in a strange clown costume, and everyone mocked him utterly. And for good reason—to anyone's eyes, he was just a clown."
"Mm-hm."
"Everyone thought he was weak, but the clown outfit was simply his hobby. In truth, he was a swordsman stronger than anyone."
An incredible powerhouse.
I dismissed him as a clown as well, but his tremendous strength genuinely surprised me.
From then on, the name 'Ppayoen' began to be used as a proper noun.
One who pays no mind to his attire.
One who never loses hold of his own tastes, no matter the situation.
...People who wear strange outfits—like a clown suit—in deeply critical situations like tournaments.
Such people were what we called Ppayoen.
"The riffraff will assume you are nothing more than some degenerate vampire with perverted tastes, getting off on his female slave's public execution in the arena. True experts will take you for a master in a bizarre outfit. It's to be expected."
"...What if I end up being neither?"
"Don't worry. I've prepared everything for just such a case."
I slid my hand between the valley of Ria's breasts.
"Once you enter the preliminaries, there will certainly be perverted bastards aiming for you. More of them will try to slice your clothes off with their swords than try to stab you to death with them."
"Th, that's..."
"Which makes them easier to deal with. When they come at you, they will mostly try to slash at you, so you only need to respond to that. Do as you were taught. You can absolutely make it to the main tournament. Understood?"
"...Understood."
Ria clenched her fist tightly and recovered her confidence.
"A-and, you haven't forgotten the promise, have you?"
"The promise? Ah, of course I haven't forgotten that."
I sat Ria down on a crate, grasped her chin, and stroked her head.
"If you make it through the main tournament, when we're alone together I'll call you Big Sis and have sex with you. Got it?"
"......I'm definitely going to pass."
Fire ignited in Sharia's eyes.
* * *
Waaaaaaaah!!
The Sword Demon God's Festival began.
Sharia, who had been quietly waiting her turn in the waiting room, grew irritated at the many gazes of those inside the room.
-There will be swarms of people looking at you lecherously.
Just as her teacher had said, everyone was looking at her lecherously.
Whether it was because of her outfit, or because of her body.
Or because this Land of Darkness itself was a place where openly eyeing a woman's body posed no major ethical problem,
Sharia felt like a doll set on display in a doll shop.
However, no one approached Sharia carelessly.
Inside the waiting room, priests of the Sword Demon God stood guard with glaring eyes, while the preliminary participants whispered among themselves and shared tacit talk.
-I'll jump her from behind, so you draw her attention from the front.
-If we gang-rape her in the preliminaries, it'll be fucking hilarious. Kuh-huh.
-The melons are mine.
People giggled and cackled openly, saying they were going to do indecent things to her.
She wanted to swing her sword at them that very instant, but Sharia desperately suppressed her boiling emotions.
And then.
"Preliminary Group D, enter."
Finally.
Sharia silently left the waiting room and stepped into the arena.
Waaaaaaah——!!
A roar that made her head spin.
Countless spectators, so many that a human head looked smaller than a bean.
At the dizzying sensation, something she was feeling for the first time in her life, Sharia's heart began to pound.
"......"
When she lifted her head to look up, humans and demonkind mingled together, sending out every kind of cheer; when she lowered her head to look down, fresh blood was scattered across the floor.
In other words, it was proof that slaughter had taken place here.
"......"
Sharia quietly searched for 'him'.
When she turned her gaze in the direction from which the most intense look was aimed at her, she saw a man who had transformed into yet another form, staring fixedly at her from the spectator stands.
Sharia.
He spoke in a low murmur, as if whispering.
-If they are evil people you are permitted to kill, then you may kill them.
Commit murder.
That was what he said.
-But if you can win without killing them, try defeating every last one of them.
A grin.
-You have become strong enough that you can win without killing anyone.
"......Yes."
Click.
Sharia drew the steel sword from her waist.
Beeeep!!
And as the match began, she swung her sword as if tracing moonlight on the spot.
Cla——ng!!
And then.
As a trail of crimson moonlight traced an arc centered on Sharia, three swords that had been aimed at her all flew into the air at the same time.
Uwaaaaaaaaah——————!!
"Well damn. Look at the way they jiggle."
At the glimpse of Sharia's breasts, revealed slightly as she swung her sword, the entire crowd went wild.