The Final Match Begins
Jung Ayeon looked at my unusually haggard face and asked with clear concern, “Young master, are you alright?”
“For now… yeah.”
I had spent the night in the dormitory that had literally exploded at midnight. There was no way I could barge into someone else’s room in the middle of the night, and everyone would have been asleep if I’d tried to ask for help. So I’d wrapped myself in my Defensive Coat and what remained of my blanket, crawled into the bathroom, and tried to sleep. Needless to say, proper rest was impossible. Every time I dozed off, the cool night air pouring through the gaping hole would wake me right back up. I tried blocking it with the blanket, but the thing was laughably smaller than the hole itself. In the end, I never got any real sleep and simply staggered out of the ruined dormitory once the sun rose.
At least the weather isn’t cold. That’s something.
If it had been winter, I really would’ve died.
Meanwhile, the moment Hye-ji and Elsia saw me they both freaked out.
“Shinwoo, are you sick?”
“Husband! You can’t be sick!”
“Kids…”
Still, at least the heroines are the only ones worried about me.
Yeah, that’s our heroines for you.
The sudden show of concern nearly brought tears to my eyes. I was genuinely touched.
“What the hell are we supposed to do if we lose all our money?!”
“If husband loses we’ll be real beggars! We’ll have to survive on water alone!”
“You fucking bitches.”
Say that again, I dare you.
……Sorry.
The tears vanished in an instant.
Anyway, I dragged my exhausted body to the dueling arena. On the way, I made a single request to Jung Ayeon. She stared at me with a stunned expression and asked again, clearly shocked.
“Are you in your right mind? Truly?”
“I rolled around like I was dying yesterday, so I’m asking for at least this much.”
“……Understood.”
Jung Ayeon nodded reluctantly.
Meanwhile, Caersi and the leader of the Holy Knights were already waiting. They looked slightly bored. The moment I appeared, Caersi pointed at me and declared,
“You haven’t forgotten the promise, have you?”
“What promise?”
“If I win here, you’re coming to the Beastman Kingdom!”
“Oh, right. That.”
Only then did I slowly recall what Caersi had told me before. If she won, I’d have to visit the Beastman Kingdom during break. If I won, she’d grant me one wish.
“You remember that if I win, you’ll grant my wish, right?”
“Hah! As if I would lose!”
Caersi spoke with overwhelming confidence.
Beside the leader of the Holy Knights was something I hadn’t seen before. It was…
“Hey, what the fuck is a lion doing here?”
“This is a sacred beast raised by our Holy Knight Order!”
A female lion with sleek golden fur. It was clearly well cared for—its coat practically glistened, and its size was impressive. After all, a knight order is basically a military unit. And what military doesn’t have a cat?
“Jjam Tiger?”
“It is not!! We feed it special rations every time!!!”
“That’s right!!! It’s the finest feast you could never even taste!!”
At that moment, I noticed the lion’s eyes change. They were filled with rage, sorrow, and resentment. I walked over, had a quick back-and-forth with the lion, then turned to Caersi.
“It says all its special rations get stolen and it only gets the regular slop.”
“What are you saying!! That’s impossible!!”
“Stop spouting nonsense!!”
The leader of the Holy Knights exploded with far too much anger toward me. I pointed straight at him.
“He says that guy ate it all.”
“Th-that’s a lie!”
Caersi’s eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at the leader.
“Hey.”
“Yes! Saintess!”
“Tell me what you had for breakfast this morning.”
“…I ate so fast I don’t remember!”
The leader subtly avoided Caersi’s gaze. I pointed at the corner of his mouth.
“Huh? There’s meat on your lips. Isn’t that from the special ration?”
“Don’t frame me!!! Today’s special was cream pasta!!!”
“Are you insane?”
“Ah.”
The leader had accidentally confessed his crime in record time. Caersi mercilessly kicked him in the shin and screamed,
“You fucking bastard!! Did my order not to touch the special rations sound like a damn joke to you!!!!!”
“I’m sorry! But it was just too delicious!!!”
The leader collapsed, clutching his leg. Caersi stopped kicking and stared down at him with ice-cold eyes.
“If you have anything else to say, spit it out.”
“……The special meal is great, but the seasoning is a bit weak.”
“That’s why I didn’t give it to you to eat, you idiot!!!!!”
Caersi’s merciless kicking resumed. Still, the leader looked strangely refreshed now that he’d said everything he wanted to say.
The lion thanked me, and I answered by bumping fists with its front paw.
Only then did I finally ask the question that had been bothering me.
“Hey, why are you making an animal fight? Isn’t this animal abuse?”
“We paid to have the rules loosened for the finals.”
“Really?”
Even though she had beaten the leader half to death, Caersi was still fuming. Anyway, the opposing side now had an extra animal. It was two against three. Even by numbers we were at a disadvantage, and the lion itself looked like a formidable fighter worth watching out for.
But I wasn’t worried at all. If they had a strong fighting animal, so did we.
A bear from the Great Forest that was pretty good at brawling.
I lifted my head toward the sky and shouted loudly,
“Kuma!! Get out here right now!!”
Nothing happened. Caersi, the leader, and even the lion began staring at me with pitying eyes at my sudden bizarre behavior. But I didn’t give up. This time I used a threat it absolutely couldn’t ignore.
“If you don’t come out right now, I’m replacing all your Kum-Pyo beer with Filite!!!”
In an instant, a single bear burst into the arena, roaring desperately for me to please not do that. It really must have been a terrifying threat, because the bear appeared immediately.
Jung Ayeon looked at the bear and asked me with confusion,
“…Young master, wasn’t the bear from the Great Forest definitely a brown bear?”
“It was.”
“Then why has it turned into a polar bear!!”
“Must’ve chased a glass of Kum-Pyo beer with flour.”
Our brown bear’s fur had somehow turned pure white. I explained the current situation to the white bear, and it gladly agreed to help.
Finally, it was three against three. Once the final hidden card—the bear—had arrived in the arena, the professor acting as commentator began introducing both teams. Even though it was the finals, there were no fancy words; the introduction was blunt and to the point.
But instead of cheers, the students’ reaction was pure rage. Which was completely understandable. What they had been hoping for was to see the team they bet on win the championship. Instead, two completely unexpected teams had made it to the finals. Naturally, most of the students had lost money and were venting their helpless fury.
“Mom, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Kids, this is just the admission fee. Admission fee… that’s fucking insanely expensive!!”
“I should’ve spent it all on gacha instead!”
“It’s fine! Compared to Lineage this is basically no-spending tier!”
“We need to cut all those fucking cats!!!!”
Jung Ayeon and I had heard jeers every single match, so it didn’t really affect us. At this point, it would feel weird if the jeering stopped. But Caersi clearly didn’t like the atmosphere, so she made a fatal offer to the students.
“From now on, I will personally save the fifteen people who cheer for us most passionately!!!”
The students’ anger instantly flipped into desperate longing. It was honestly pitiful how hard they tried to prove their enthusiasm. Fifteen people. It was a number that could reasonably spark the thought, Maybe I have a chance? If it had been just one, maybe not, but fifteen was a fairly large number.
In the blink of an eye, the students completely changed their attitude and began praising Caersi.
“I’ll convert! Thank you!!!”
“Lady Caersi!! I love you!!!!”
“Your team is finished!! From now on this place belongs to Caer!!!”
“Starting today I shall become a Cat Mom!!!”
“As expected of a furry with suspiciously huge amounts of money!!!”
Caersi reacted sharply to that last comment.
“I am not a furry, I am a nekomimi!!!!!”
“Drag that bastard out!”
“How dare you speak to Lady Caer like that!!!”
The student who had made the blasphemous remark was forcibly removed by the surrounding crowd. Right on cue, the commentator professor declared the start of the match.
The dueling arena system activated. In response, the leader of the Holy Knights shouted at me.
“I am the captain of the Holy Knights! Furia!”
Hatred burned in Furia’s eyes. He slammed his spear against his shield, producing a metallic clang to draw my attention.
“How dare you insult me! I’ll tear you apart alive!”
He seemed pretty upset about getting beaten by Caersi earlier. Meanwhile, Jung Ayeon fixed her gaze on Caersi’s side and told me,
“Young master, I shall take this side.”
“Got it.”
And finally, the white bear. It suddenly approached me and requested a “victory chant.” According to the bear, winning in its current state would be difficult. I hesitated to say it.
“Hey… are you sure you’re okay with this?”
The white bear was adamant. In the end, I had no choice but to tell it the victory chant.
“The cola you drank today wasn’t Coca-Cola. It was 815 Cola.”
The moment I finished speaking, fighting spirit erupted from the white bear’s entire body. Even the opposing lion flinched and took a small step back. It must have instinctively sensed mortal danger.
Before the fight began, I asked Caersi the most important question.
“Caersi, you did missionary work, right? There won’t be any problems?”
“No problem! That was solved with money too!!”
For double confirmation, I asked the commentator professor.
“Professor, there’s no issue, right?”
Confirmed. No issues.
With confirmation from the professor as well, there was nothing left to worry about.
“Hey! Jung Ayeon! Get ready!”
“Young master… are you really going to do it?”
“Absolutely!”
Jung Ayeon spoke as if slightly reluctant, but she couldn’t overturn my firm decision. In the end, she squeezed her eyes shut and signaled that she would follow my choice.
Are you prepared?
Of course.
Caersi watched us and let out a small laugh.
“What are you doing? Are you trying to convert or something?”
“Missionary work.”
“Huh? You don’t even have a religion.”
Caersi tilted her head in confusion, but we ignored her. We had something far more important to do. We focused. To pour our will into every word. To put strength into every action. To prove everything. And finally, for the sake of a conviction that would never break no matter the circumstances.
This dueling arena was filled with chaos. A place where everyone had gone mad for money and abandoned even their own beliefs. There was only one being who could save this place.
We would show them. We would prove it. The one true God.
We shouted the slogan for our oath.
“Jesus Heaven!!!”
“Unbelievers to Hell!!!”
“This is blasphemy!!! You fucking bastards!!!”
Euthanasia for other religions. That was the only salvation.
“Manager Han!! Please watch over us!!”
The final match of the tournament. It was the beginning of the championship match.