Volume 5 Chapter 13: The Arena

---

Author: 夜州 (Yashu)

Previous | TOC | Raws | Next

---

The next morning, having finished breakfast, the students went out on the tour.

The problematic part, the study of the parliament, would be on the day after, so this day, overseen by the teachers, they went on a tour of Tanbaal’s facilities.

Cain and the others walked through the city, led by the teachers.

“Tanbaal doesn’t just have the parliament, I heard it also does a lot for entertainment. There’s auctions and an arena… hey, Cain-sama, absolutely no taking part in that.”

Cain reflexively smiled bitterly at Telestia’s words.

While he wouldn’t lose no matter who went to be his opponent, he would never enter an arena during a school trip in the first place. And, if he did compete, he knew exactly what the king would say once he returned to Esfort.

So, while they were going to the arena, they would only be visiting as spectators.

“It’d be nice if we could see something interesting…”

Cain muttered during the tour of the city.

They visited various places, and, after finishing lunch, ––it was time to go see the arena.

The spectator’s seats were already all taken by all sorts of people.

Lively cheers were coming from both men and women of all ages.

As the students were on a tour from Esfort, they were shown to VIP seats, and thus got to look on from slightly higher up.

There were always maids present in the VIP room, in order to quickly bring in drinks if asked to do so.

Also, different from the spectators’ benches, actual single-person seats had been prepared there, alongside a roof, making it a relatively comfortable environment.

“It’s about time for it to start. Ummm… the first match is… Eeeh!?”

Telestia, who had been looking at the programme, raised her voice in surprise.

Cain also glanced at the programme in his hands, then his jaw dropped.

The first ones to make their appearance would be a party of three adventurers, ––and a chained-up ogre.

A number of staff members pulled the ogre into the very centre of the arena.

Then, the commentator’s voice rang out across the venue.

“Aaaaaaand it’s starting! Today’s first match! The battle of an Ogre versus D-Rank adventurers! So then, –– begin!”

Simultaneously with the commentator’s words, the chains were undone, and the ogre roared.

The resounding roar from the ogre exceeding three meters in height drove the spectators to cheer even louder and more enthusiastically than before.

As that happened, the three adventurers spread out, with two of them holding their swords at the ready, while the third one did the same with his staff and started chanting a spell.

Perhaps having recognized the three of them as prey, the ogre headed towards one of the adventurers and swung its fist at them.

After exchanging a few blows, the adventurer managed to cut the ogre’s arm. The audience cheered as the ogre backed away, blood flowing from its arm.

Right after, the magician released a head-sized Fireball, which scored a direct hit on the ogre’s face, in concert with which the other two slashed at the ogre’s arms.

A few minutes later, the ogre was lying on the ground, no longer breathing.

The adventurers answered the audience’s cheers by waving their swords.

“That was an amazing fight…”

“Yeah, true…”

Such exclamations came from the students, but to Cain, it was just an ogre after all, not an enemy he really had to pay attention to, so he just leisurely watched on.

After that, a number of other battles occurred.

At one point, when an A-Ranked Earth Dragon appeared, the audience’s cheering reached its climax.

“And now, today’s final battle. First, let’s introduce the combatants! From the Republic of Ilstin, the highest S-Ranked adventurer, iiiiiiiiiiiit’s Garms, the Red Dragon’s Fang!”

“““““Woooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!”””””

Cheers that almost split the sky echoed out.

The man who made his entrance when this Garms person was introduced had a well-trained body covered in leather armour, and walked into the arena at a leisurely pace with a huge greatsword even longer than he himself was tall slung across his shoulder.

Currently, the highest adventurer rank in the world was S-Rank.

They were such valuable beings that countries tried to retain them inside their borders with favourable treatment.

They were only one rank above A-Rank, but in terms of strength, there was a huge difference, and they would never be chosen to be S-Ranks unless accepted by a country.

While Cain had even more cheat powers than that, for a normal person to rise up that high on pure strength alone was not possible.

The cheering for Garms showed no signs of stopping, but the commentator continued speaking, as if seeing if he could do so.

“And Garms’s opponent iiiiiiiiiiiis –– a ‘Demon’ we captured the other day!!”

“““““Ooooh!!!!”””””

The arena’s huge doors were opened, and a sturdy cage was brought in.

Then, it was placed near the centre of the arena.

(Demons are… Seto’s kind, right…)

“Could you please tell me about how demons are thought of in this country…?”

The maid standing behind them opened her mouth at Cain’s question.

“In this country, they’re captured and executed as soon as they’re found. All demons are seen as evil.”

Thanking the maid, who bowed in return, Cain looked at the arena again.

While it didn’t show on his face, inside, Cain was really conflicted. Personally, he held no aversion to demons.

On the contrary, he disliked the idea of executing demons, especially ones who had been forcefully captured.

However, what races were seen as hostile depended on a country’s policies. It wasn’t only demons either; there were also countries that were hostile to beastmen.

Especially in the Holy Country of Marineford, where only humans were accepted.

(If Seto were to know about this… If he knew, it would definitely turn into a war –– and this country would definitely meet its end. I need to find some way to stop this…)

“Cain-sama, you look a little ill…? Are you all right?”

Telestia asked him from the neighbouring seat. The more he thought about it,the more Cain’s expression turned grim.

“…Yeah, I’m okay. I’ve just got something on my mind…”

He replied while gazing at the cage.

Then, the magic lock was unlocked, and the cage opened.

The one who stepped out was –––– a woman.

She looked older than Cain, but still seemed to only have just come of age.

Her pure white hair stretched all the way down to her waist, her eyes were pure red, and she was wearing a black robe.

And, on her forehead, ––––were five horns.

Her facial features could be said to be those of a beautiful person. No, she was quite the beautiful woman indeed.

Seeing her, the spectators became even louder.

“––Five horns, and apparently higher-rank nobles and above have four…”

Cain muttered to himself, recalling the words Seto had once said to him.

It would definitely turn into a problem if this came to light.

While Cain was racking his brains on whether he could somehow stop this, the fight in the arena began.

---

TN: “arena” + “Cain-sama, absolutely no taking part in that” = we all know what’s going to happen

---

Previous | TOC | Raws | Next