Entering the Coliseum

‘Then why was Bahalgras destroyed?’

Just in case, I asked what had been bothering me.

‘Did Karvan… perhaps do it?’

‘Pardon? Aigoo, of course not!’

At my suspicious question, Tegen jumped up and waved his hands.

‘The cliff covering the city collapsed because of a blizzard. It’ll take months to restore, but since we have a place to move to, the clan has scattered to nearby affiliated villages and is doing fine.’

Tegen winked as he whispered ‘a place to move to’.
He must be talking about the plan to usurp Midvalen.

Anyway, it was a coincidence that Bahalgras was destroyed, and I was relieved everyone was safe, but there were still many suspicious points.

‘Then did everyone keep looking for me for three months?’

‘Probably! It took a while, unfortunately, because there are so many bastards after you, Shinbi-nim.’

‘…‘Probably’? Weren’t you with Karvan?’

‘Well, yes. He left the command to me and went off alone.’

Seeing Tegen suddenly avoiding my eyes and hesitating, my suspicions grew even stronger.

‘According to rumors, he is going around destroying cities and towns single-handedly.’
‘He’s going on a rampage like a Grim Reaper with a god’s weapon that calls down lightning. Picking fights with everything he sees.’

Even if I didn’t want to think about it, Radugan’s words naturally came to mind.

‘He is a cold-hearted person by nature. He has always been that way to his own kind. That’s why I pitied you.’

But I trusted Karvan. As the chief of the clan, I thought he must have done it to protect his family.
Because there’s no way he’d enjoy slaughter without reason.

‘Are Tegen, and Mashak, are they all okay?’
‘Are you more worried about them than me.’
‘Don’t change the subject and answer.’
‘Later.’

I remembered the man’s attitude of constantly avoiding my questions when I asked what happened to the Suras and what he had been doing all this time.
My heart started beating wildly.

‘So, he just left alone without a word and went around killing beast-kin?’

No, surely not. There must be a reason.

‘Why? Why did he do such a thing…?’

‘…U-um, Shinbi-nim. I’m truly sorry, but.’

I expected Tegen to jump up and say of course not, how could the Valta do such a thing, but he hesitated.
He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and mumbled.

‘The Valta strictly forbade us from speaking about this part…. Sh-Shinbi-nim!’

Unable to hold back any longer, I ran out of the quarry.

“Karvan! Where are you!”

“…You come back with a different look every day.”

Bang!
As I threw the door open, the man sitting on the sunlit balcony turned his head and spoke.
Anyone would think he was the owner of this room.

“It’s a relief you’re not crying today, but. What is it this time.”

“I met Tegen and the Suras. They were at the Midvalen mine?!”

He didn’t even show a hint of surprise at my dramatically spat-out words.
As if hearing about a total stranger’s well-being, he just nodded and said, “I see,” without asking further.

“But, why are you so angry.”

The man seemed only interested in the reason I came bursting in huffing and puffing.
He stared at my frowning face, then got up from the chair and slowly approached.

“You saw the ones you were looking for so much, shouldn’t you be happy?”

“That’s not the problem! You, I heard you left the command to Tegen and wandered alone all this time. Irresponsibly abandoning the clan who lost their home…!”

“It seems they finally spouted unnecessary words.”

“Don’t change the subject! I need an answer this time. What on earth have you been doing all this time!”

As I swiftly backed away the distance he closed and demanded an answer, the man stopped walking.
A shadow fell over his narrowed eyes.

“Do you even know what the Suras are doing right now? They came in as refugees and are in the worst mine in Midvalen…!”

“They are guys who would survive even if thrown into a worse place than that.”

His tone was as nonchalant as answering ‘He’s an outdoor cat’ to a neighbor fussing ‘Your cat ran away from home!’.
Instead, he spoke as if blaming me.

“You seem to always consider the Suras more important than me.”

‘If he just told me the reason clearly, I’d at least be relieved,’ but the man kept his mouth shut to the bitter end.

“…Ugh, yeah! They’re a hundred times more important than you!”

Sick of the man’s secretive attitude, I snapped at him and turned around.

“If you won’t help them, I’ll go and help them myself.”

“…….”

A chilling coldness that felt like ice pressed against the back of my head sent shivers down my spine, but I just left the room.

‘Shinbi-nim is our one and only Valtael and precious family!’

The Suras had told me that in Bahalgras.
When I apologized for hiding that I was a Destroyer and told them they could take their anger out on me as much as they wanted, they smiled brightly and told me.

‘How could we hate someone who has become family!’
‘…Am I, family?’
‘Pardon? What an obvious thing to ask, Valtael! The underlings listening might feel hurt…! Of course you’re family!’

That’s why, even in the face of Karvan’s cold and indifferent attitude, I couldn’t turn my back on the Suras.

“You want me to reassign the Vargs to different labor? That’s difficult.”

“Why? There are plenty of beast-kin refugees, it doesn’t have to be the mine.”

“That’s exactly why it’s difficult. I plan to draft the beast-kin to the Coliseum one by one starting tomorrow.”

I went to ask Loktis for a favor as usual and heard an answer like a bolt from the blue.

“O-only the beast-kin? Why?”

“As you said, there are too many of them.”

The voice muttering while skimming the ledger was incredibly indifferent.
As if talking about throwing away some unused items.

“According to Neutral City regulations, we can’t kick them out directly, so wouldn’t it be good to thin them out this way.”

…I forgot.
Loktis only acts mild-mannered and says ‘Yes’ in front of me.
In reality, he is the blood-and-tear-less Knight Commander of the Empire.

“The Awakeners are getting bored of the existing rotation, so it’s about time to supply new fighters….”

“Th-then me! I’ll participate!”

I threw my hand up to my ear and waved it around, and Loktis, who was scribbling something in the air with his quill, raised an eyebrow.

“You’re participating in the Coliseum?”

“Yeah!”

“Even though you absolutely refused the several times I asked you to go?”

“Instead! Take the Vargs off the Coliseum draft list.”

PVE content like the ‘Coliseum’ has different rules than normal fields.
For example, in the case of ‘Named NPCs’ or ‘High-ranking Monsters’, they respawn.
It means that at least in the Coliseum, even if they die, they revive quickly like an Awakener.

It seemed this was to prevent situations where a Named NPC or high-ranking monster, who are often linked to a user’s individual story or quest, dies and the user has to restart the quest from the beginning or things get messed up.

【<Nameless Nemea> has died. 13 consecutive round victories!】

However, non-named ones. That is, ‘Nameless Monsters’ just die.
Because they are one of the ‘mobs’ that can be replaced no matter if a hundred or a thousand are killed.

Therefore, unlike me, the Suras have to fight risking their actual lives.

“And if I win, I’m going to take the Vargs as slaves. All of them.”

“All ten or so of them? Don’t you already have a s*ave? That gray-haired, nasty-tempered guy.”

“H-he doesn’t have ears or a tail. It doesn’t hurt to have more.”

“Hmm.”

“…Carlos said the more slaves, the merrier!”

“He’s not wrong, but it’s fascinating to see someone who never even glanced at a s*ave before acting like this.”

Loktis looked at me with subtle eyes and rubbed his chin.

“Why are you suddenly so protective of the Vargs? It’s too much to be just out of simple curiosity. It’s as if you have some connection….”

“Skollcat-nim likes Vargs, you know! I’m going to train them well and present them to the Cat God to perform tricks.”

Stung by his suspicious gaze, I quickly threw out another cheat key I had tucked away in a corner of my memory.

“Ah right, there was that. The Cat God.”

Loktis, who had suspicious eyes, finally nodded as if my eccentric behavior made sense.

Of course, if the Skollcat finds out, he’ll ask ‘Are you crazy’ and hit me with a hundred cat punches, but that’s a problem for later.

“Well, honestly, since Vargs are a race that can’t use magic, there’s no flavor in watching them fight. It would definitely be better if you participated, Shinbi-nim.”

“Of course! You know. If I go out, it’s an easy win!”

“Just don’t come back crying. By the way, are you participating alone? Pairs are allowed starting this season. How about it, should I go with you?”

Loktis, who suddenly produced an application form from his ankle-length cape, asked indifferently.

“If you participate as a pair with me, we could even aim for the championship.”

As he said, Loktis and I had good skill synergy.

【Empire Vice-Commander <Loktis> recovers health with ‘Bloodsucking’.】

True to the vampire concept, the Empire possessed a skill called ‘Life Steal’, which absorbs the opponent’s blood, as a basic passive.
It’s an ability that recovers one’s own health every time damage is dealt to an enemy.

It would be an uninteresting skill in a normal field, but in the Coliseum where potions are banned, it was incredibly advantageous.
Especially since Loktis was ‘High-ranking Empire’ level, the recovered health was significant, so he rarely died.

“No. Thanks, but I’m fine.”

But I had seen even that Loktis get destroyed without leaving a bone when matched with a veteran Awakener.

To the Awakeners who easily defeat ‘Boss Monsters’ several times stronger than him, an Empire vampire’s life steal would be nothing more than an annoying mosquito.

So, I needed a cheat key stronger than the ‘Empire Knight Commander’. A Joker card.

“Then are you going to participate alone?”

“No. I have someone to go with.”

An OP (Over Power). A true cheat character.

“…You tend to treat the Suras like day-old puppies.”

The man, who was listening to my lengthy explanation with an indifferent face, spat out.

“Does the position of the Valta’s elite Suras look so trivial to you?”

“Th-that’s not what I meant!”

“They must have wagged their tails quite innocently in front of you. Those guys.”

Karvan, who was staring intently at me fidgeting, twisted the corners of his mouth.
He must have found it funny that I ran out saying the Suras were much more important than him, only to come back groaning and asking for help.

“I know the Suras are strong. But everyone is exhausted from pickaxing for days! If they’re put in like that, they won’t last a single round! They might really die!”

“So. You’re going to push me in instead of them.”

“I’m going to participate too.”

“…You’re saying we fight together?”

“Yeah! We handled the Igra tribe wonderfully too! If you really don’t want to fight, remember when we sparred at the Fox village? You can just provoke them appropriately and dodge like back then. When you draw their aggro, I’ll take them out. You’ll be the tank, and I’ll play the ranged DPS role.”

I probably had that expression when I listened to the Skollcat’s soliloquies.
The man stared at me blankly as if hearing an alien language, then rubbed his forehead. It meant he had a headache.

“I heard there’s a human proverb. ‘A quiet cat’….”

“This is not the time to use ‘climbs onto the stove’?! Aren’t you worried? The opponents are Awakeners! Muuuuch stronger than me!”

Actually, Coliseum content is boring and trivial from the perspective of a well-equipped player.
Even if you win by diligently killing monsters with a penalty, the reward is only recovery potions that only newbies would drool over.

But thinking from the perspective of ‘mobs’, this was literally a Coliseum where lives were on the line.
If they were matched with an inexperienced newbie Awakener, they might survive, and if they were lucky, they might even win, but such cases were extremely rare.

If they were matched with a veteran who came to warm up because they were bored, they would be slaughtered without leaving a trace.
There was a reason they provided free food, clothing, and shelter to Coliseum participants.

“The Suras might really die!”

“You’re volunteering for such a dangerous place in their stead.”

“Special rules apply in the Coliseum. You and I won’t have a death record. It means we won’t die. But the Suras….”

“Half of our conversations are always about the Suras.”

The man, tapping his temple with his eyes closed, muttered gloomily.
His indifferent gaze was cold.

“Why don’t you think about me even half as much as you worry about them.”