episode_0034

Ordinary people show various reactions when faced with a big problem. Some roll up their sleeves to solve it, while others slump down and cry in frustration.

In the world of comedy, there was no difference. I am also one of the various types of people.

“I’ll figure something out, somehow.”

In the world of comedy, anything can happen, and even if it does, there’s no chance of dying. Even if you do die, it’s natural to become a ghost and live an ordinary life.

So, naturally, I became calm.

Wasn’t I extremely tense when thrown into the arena with Iris?

That was because I was with Iris, who could easily die unlike me. If I were alone, there would be no need to be so scared.

What worries me a bit are the dark magicians who might turn their attention to me, not even dying despite getting hurt.

“Should I kill them with a cliché statement like yesterday? Or should I pretend to know?”

In the world of comedy, regardless of whether the opponent has reason or not, whatever species they may be, they can become family or enemies.

If you say, “Hey, long time no see!” suddenly a creature without reason might start walking on two legs, scratching its head, or rummaging through its fur to take out a phone and call, “Mom, do you know a kid named Lian? Yes? He’s my childhood friend!”

Simply put, if you’re good at gaslighting, you can even become friends with monsters.

Anyway, there were many ways to avoid the problem. So, unlike other chosen slaves, I maintained a peaceful state.

Seeing this, the slaves began to have strange misunderstandings.

“Um…”

“Yeah?”

While feeding Iris a sandwich, a slave who, like me, went to the arena instead of being a fixer, spoke to me.

The slave, whose head was shaved neatly like a nightshade, suddenly slumped down beside me. To be precise, he knelt down and banged his head on the ground.

“…?!”

“Please, save me!”

It’s even absurd to kneel down, and now they’re asking for mercy, leaving me speechless.

Mumbling, ah…

Iris, indifferent to whether the slave kneels or not, opened her mouth and quietly waited as the food disappeared from her mouth.

Reflexively, I took my gaze off the slave and placed a small piece of sandwich into Iris’s mouth.

As I looked at Iris, who was chewing like an old goat, and then turned my head towards the slaves, I noticed that more people were kneeling.

“Huh?”

“Please help us!”

“I’m really sorry yesterday! We didn’t know you were such a strong person…!”

All the kneeling slaves were scheduled to participate in the gladiator matches. I looked at them with a puzzled expression and spoke.

“I have no idea what’s going on all of a sudden…”

Among the four kneeling slaves, two were the ones who had mocked me behind Phimex’s back yesterday, and the other two were new to me.

“Oh…”

“Oh, okay.”

While I was taken aback, Iris opened her mouth. Like a mother bird feeding its chick, I put the sandwich into Iris’s mouth.

“Please, spare us!”

Listening to those who only spoke their own words, it felt like a sigh would escape me.

“Why would I want to kill you?”

Seeing that I completely didn’t understand their words, Bantol, who had knelt first, began to explain his situation in detail.

To sum it up:

Phimex may not be able to do it, but he has the potential to go up two more floors here. Naturally, the demons he faces are also very powerful.

As anyone could expect, among the people on this floor, there was no one who could stand and fight against the demon Phimex faced.

Telling someone to compete in Phimex’s place is no different from telling them to die.

“If the person competing has changed, shouldn’t the opponent demon change too?”

In response to my question, Bantol explained with a gloomy expression.

It is said that preparing monsters for combat matches requires a lot of effort. They must be excited to engage in battle as soon as the fight breaks out, and they must also cast spells to prevent them from attacking the arena’s guests.

Therefore, the monsters to be used in the arena are prepared a week in advance. This means that they have to fight against monsters prepared by Pimax.

The reason why five people are participating in a match where only one Pimax is participating is also because of this. It’s a way to somehow block with numbers.

If they fail? They are just slaves anyway, so what does it matter? They can just buy new ones.

Unless they are skilled like Pimax, they were all just disposable. To the slaves selected this time, it was no different from being told to die.

In such a situation, they say there is only one way to survive.

“Me?”

“Yes! Didn’t you save even dying monsters with mysterious power yesterday!”

Bantol looked up at me with tearful eyes. He seemed ready to cling to my legs if I refused.

“Ah…”

I rolled my eyes while adding another piece of sandwich to Iris’s mouth.

‘Why me?’

Surviving alone and surviving while saving these guys are completely different difficulties. Above all, I didn’t want to take care of the slaves who had insulted Iris with Pimax.

If I help, I wanted to help only two slaves who hadn’t done anything.

“I’ll think about it.”

“..! Thank you!”

Bantol bowed deeply as if grateful just for those words. Bantol, who wasn’t a slave who had been with Pimax yesterday, didn’t feel any reluctance, so I told him to get up on his knees.

Bantol got up and left the place with a big slave, trembling. The big slave was also a slave I had never seen before.

“Please, please save me! I will repay your kindness no matter what happens!”

Yesterday, the guys who were hanging out with Pimax seemed uneasy when they said, “I’ll think about it,” and clung on persistently, but when I got annoyed, they panicked and ran away.

“Ah-.”

“Iris, I’ve finished eating now.”

“Yeah..”

As the guys left, all the sandwiches were gone. Iris closed her mouth and nodded. Certainly, as time went on, her small reactions were increasing.

After spending more time with Iris, it was time to participate in the match.

“It’s time to compete. Come with me.”

I sat Iris down on the bed and tried to leave the room immediately. At that moment, Iris grabbed my clothes tightly.

“Ouch..! Iris, what is it?”

“Ah..?”

Iris made a small sound while tilting her head. It seemed like she was asking, “Where are you going?” I gently removed Iris’s hand and said, “I’ll be back soon, so wait here, okay?”

Iris looked blankly at my face and then bowed deeply. She didn’t seem to be in a good mood, but since it was time, I had no choice but to leave Iris in the room.

“If any of you lay a finger on my little brother, I’ll turn you into Pimax!”

“Eek…!”

“We won’t even breathe in the same space as you!”

When I warned the slaves who were in the corridor to watch the participating slaves, they froze and nodded vigorously.

“If someone approaches, we were told to pulverize them… It should be fine, right?”

Recalling Iris tearing the monster apart, I took the elevator downstairs. Five of us, including me, were guided through the same passage.

As soon as the slaves entered the passage, they rushed towards the weapons placed on one side.

“I wonder if there’s a light sword?”

Perhaps because I was still small, it was hard for me to wield a long sword. Thinking, “Should I just grab a short sword?” I looked around at the weapons.

The seemingly intact swords were hung on the rack, while the swords that looked like they could break at any moment were packed in a lidless oak barrel.

They were all longswords, so I had no choice but to look towards the oak barrel. The other slaves didn’t even bother to glance at the barrel, all searching for sturdy longswords.

“Where, where can I find something useful?”

Like finding my umbrella in a crowded umbrella stand, I pushed aside sword handles here and there to find a usable sword.

“Oh, this one’s not bad.”

I saw a short-handled sword with the handle tucked inside. After pushing aside as many other swords as possible, I tried to pull out the dagger-like sword.

Shing.

“Ouch..”

My hand got cut as I reached in among the tightly packed swords. Blood dripped as I pulled out the dagger.

“Hmm…”

Most people would be startled and pull their hand back, but for someone like me who quickly recovers from injuries, it was no big deal.

“I’ll just pull it out quickly.”

When taking an umbrella from the stand, no one leaves behind their own umbrella just because their hand gets wet from the others. The reason I didn’t mind getting cut by the sword when pulling out the dagger was also because of that.

“Oh.”

As I drew out the dagger with a swish, I found that the blade was sharper than expected, and there was no gold on the blade.

The length of the blade was only about 16cm, quite short, but it didn’t seem like it would break easily during use.

“There’s too much blood on it.”

As I thought about wiping it with my clothes…

[ …Did you wake me up? ]

A voice that couldn’t be distinguished as male or female echoed in my head.

Swish.

The blood on the blade was absorbed in an instant.

[ Ahh… Sweet, so sweet! Give me more blood right now! ]

As if my hand moved on its own, the sword pierced deeply into my stomach.

Hahaha! Yes, this is it! Ahh… Blood that I haven’t tasted in centuries is so sweet!

In my head, a crude laughter echoed.

Clang.

“W-What…!”

Another slave preparing for the competition let out a terrified sound. I furrowed my brow, silently looking towards my abdomen.

“Why are you going crazy and stabbing my stomach when I don’t even have clothes on! If you had said something, I would have at least taken off my clothes!”

The sound of a gulp paused momentarily as the sword, absorbing blood, made a choking noise.

“What?”