“Have you heard the rumor?”
“What rumor?”
“They say the ‘Black Bride’ has returned.”
Such was the chatter amidst the boisterous din of an inn in Ferma, the Steel City.
“Apparently, she’s challenging for the Gold Medal this time.”
“Is that so?”
“You seem awfully indifferent. Didn’t you used to follow the Black Bride’s matches religiously?”
“I did. But well… she’s just a gladiator who lost to some pathetic brat. She hasn’t fought a single match since her undefeated streak was broken. I’ve come to think she was just a girl after all. I figured she’d just given up after that one loss, probably found some guy to settle down and marry.”
“I suppose. Now that her undefeated record is gone, she isn’t exactly a special warrior anymore.”
The Arena is cold-hearted.
Interest here ignites in an instant and burns white-hot, but it cools just as quickly. The Arena, where duels take place every day, is overflowing with fighters. It is common for a warrior to gain massive popularity only to be forgotten without a trace the next moment.
Besides, wasn’t the Infinite Duel approaching?
People’s attention was focused there. With countless powerhouses—the likes of whom were rarely seen—gathering in one place, everyone was waiting for the main event.
Well, it wasn’t just because of that.
“That aside, though.”
The man leaned in closer.
“You remember him, right? The ‘Small Gladiator.’ That greenhorn with the strange sword who ran around dodging everything while taking down those massive fighters.”
“Ah, yeah, that guy.”
“I heard he’s back, and he’s doing something absolutely insane.”
The people’s attention was currently diverted elsewhere.
“They say he’s going to fight fifteen matches in two days. And the Arena actually accepted the request.”
Insane.
As the man said, what the Small Gladiator was doing was utter madness.
And yet.
“Doesn’t it sound incredibly exciting? My heart’s already pounding just thinking about it.”
Steel City was a place teeming with lunatics. The people here went wild for ‘insanity.’
Truly, passionately so.
“I have to see it. I can’t miss this.”
* * *
Seol-yoon had managed to secure a recommendation letter.
She said it was written by a knight from an academy I didn’t know, but he must have been a person of considerable authority. He reportedly sent the letter willingly, asking for nothing in return, simply because Seol-yoon possessed genius talent. Honestly, I was jealous.
Seol-yoon even cleared her Gold Medal promotion match in one go.
I feel like my life is the only one that’s constantly getting tangled up.
「It is not just a feeling; it is the reality.」
Master had to go and add fuel to the fire, making a surge of annoyance rise within me. But I couldn’t just sit around being annoyed. I had to find an answer.
“The problem is how to solve this recommendation letter issue.”
People with enough authority to be recognized by the Arena… Did I have anyone like that around me? And on top of that, someone who would willingly write a recommendation for me?
There were a few candidates.
Duchess Daisy White, who owed me a debt of gratitude for fighting as Petel’s Proxy Warrior. If she wrote a recommendation, the Arena would definitely accept it. Judging by the authority I saw last time, Daisy was no pushover.
However, I had no way to contact Duchess Daisy White.
I had the pure white medal she gave me to use if I was ever in danger, but it felt like a waste to use it now. Besides, using it just to ask for a recommendation letter didn’t seem right. I was also reluctant to break it because it reminded me of Petel. I intended to save it for a situation where I truly, truly needed it.
What about asking Seol-yoon?
That probably wouldn’t work. Seol-yoon’s connections were people charmed by her genius. I didn’t know if my talent would meet their standards, and more importantly, there was no time to prove it. Why would people of high authority spend their time coming all the way here just to verify my talent?
What about Sir Bermartin of Steel, the old knight who told me to find him once I created wings? He probably wouldn’t help me either. He certainly had the authority, but there was no guarantee he would use it to help me.
What about the Orc Elder I became friends with recently?
I briefly pictured the Orc Elder laughing his head off. I was able to give up on that idea cleanly without even needing to look for a reason. My network was truly pathetic.
Forget it. I’ll worry about the tricky problems later.
I let out a deep sigh.
Then, I looked up. Before me lay the vast amphitheater, and around me were spectators chatting with snacks and beer in hand.
Yes, this time, I was sitting in the spectator seats. Not as a gladiator, but as a member of the audience.
「It is beginning.」
I was here to watch Seol-yoon’s promotion match, which had been scheduled before mine.
“We shall now begin the duel between the warriors!”
I wasn’t nervous.
“This sacred duel shall be dedicated to Goddess Lefri, the Guardian of Justice!”
Because there was no way Seol-yoon… No way the Black Bride would lose this match.
* * *
The Arena officials did not look upon the Black Bride with favor. The fact that she had disobeyed their instructions during her duel with the Small Gladiator, causing the match to unfold differently than intended, was the deciding factor. Furthermore, they didn’t like how she, a mere stranger from the Eastern Continent, acted with such dignity instead of groveling. Shouldn’t a foreigner show proper etiquette?
The Arena officials were quite displeased to see the black-haired girl walking around with her head held high. Very displeased indeed.
However, it was difficult to openly retaliate or insult her.
The Black Bride was from a prestigious academy, and among the many people charmed by her genius were individuals who wielded considerable influence even within the Iron Kingdom. These were people who already looked down on the Arena’s planners, calling them clowns; if the planners openly touched the Black Bride, whom those influential figures cherished as a genius, it would surely incite their wrath.
Therefore, the Arena planners couldn’t turn Seol-yoon’s promotion match into an execution ceremony as they had done with the Small Gladiator in the past. However, they could still set up a match designed to humiliate her and crush her pride. In the petty, small-minded, and dishonorable way they always did.
“The Black Bride, who until recently made a name for herself as an undefeated gladiator!”
Seol-yoon slowly raised her head beneath her helmet. The amphitheater where sand swirled, the gaze of the spectators, and the weight of the helmet pressing down on her head were all familiar.
“Her opponents are the five brothers, the Knight Slayers!”
As Seol-yoon looked up, she saw men armed from head to toe in solid Black Iron armor. Black Iron was known to be far harder than ordinary iron—a rare metal that most blades couldn’t even scratch.
“Even renowned knights could not pierce their armor! A duel between brothers who have never lost against various knights and swordsmen, and the undefeated genius Black Bride, who always secured overwhelming victories before her defeat to the Small Gladiator—this is bound to be thrilling!”
Under the guise of a promotion match, Seol-yoon’s opponents became five.
An unreasonable duel of one against five. On top of that, the Arena had brought in fighters who were extremely disadvantageous for a swordsman to face.
I know those guys.
The Knight Slayer brothers.
Fighters who wore solid Black Iron armor and never hesitated to engage in all sorts of despicable acts. They always entered duels as a group of five and had made a name for themselves by brutally crushing warriors who had built their reputations on swordsmanship.
One could say they were the worst possible matchup for Seol-yoon.
At the same time, it was the best way the Arena officials could think of to screw her over within acceptable limits. Seol-yoon was still a swordsman who couldn’t imbue her blade with mana, her weapon was too weak to pierce Black Iron, and even in close-quarters combat, she had the physical limitations of being a woman.
It was as good as a match with a predetermined outcome.
Yes—if this had been before she met the Small Gladiator, Arhan.
The current Seol-yoon was not the Black Bride of the past.
“We shall now begin the duel between the warriors!”
Amidst the booming voice, Seol-yoon slowly drew the sword from her waist. A chilling sword cry rang out as the blade scraped against the scabbard. As the metallic sound spread, a heavy vibration traveled through the soles of her feet. The Knight Slayer brothers were approaching.
“Black Bride, we’ve heard of you. We’ve wanted to face you for a while now.”
“I heard you’ve been acting cocky just because you’re a bit good with a sword? Tsk. Not knowing your place in the world.”
“Girl, no matter how well you swing that blade, you won’t be able to leave a single scratch on us.”
The voices of the Knight Slayer brothers rang out along with snickering laughter.
“Do you know how many swordsmen have despaired before us?”
“First, let’s knock that helmet off and see how pretty you are. After the helmet, hmm—I don’t know if we should strip the top first or the bottom.”
“Let’s let the audience decide. If we take a vote by a show of hands—”
Seol-yoon listened calmly to the vulgar conversation. There was no need to respond to words poured out loudly for her to hear. They weren’t rookie fighters. They weren’t just throwing out useless provocations; they were talking to shake her psyche.
Seol-yoon did not fall for such psychological warfare. Getting worked up over petty provocations was foolish.
Seol-yoon narrowed her eyes. Instead of swinging her sword recklessly, she slowly pointed the blade forward. One hand was placed behind her waist, and the other hand holding the sword was relaxed, extended forward as if she were fencing. Toward the five approaching brothers.
“…What is that supposed to be?”
“A warning.”
Seol-yoon spoke in a terrifyingly cold voice.
“I’m warning you because you haven’t studied the sword long enough to know. This is the range of my sword. So, be careful not to step inside.”
“…”
“The moment you set foot inside, you die.”
The Knight Slayer brothers stood dazed for a moment. Her words trampled on their pride and were no different from an insult that ignored their entire record as fighters. However, the Knight Slayer brothers couldn’t bring themselves to take a step forward recklessly.
“It’s not a lie. And it’s not a bluff.”
They could tell because they had fought countless times as warriors. Those words were the truth.
The moment they stepped in, they would die.
The Black Iron armor that had made them feel invincible would not be of use this time. Sweat trickled down the spines of the Knight Slayer brothers. In their eyes, Seol-yoon was growing larger and larger. The long-haired swordswoman, who was much smaller than them, was no longer small. A monster holding a sword stood there.
But they couldn’t back down.
The Knight Slayer brothers knew that momentum was the most important thing in a duel. If they were pushed back here, they wouldn’t be able to continue their lives as fighters. Everyone would mock them for losing miserably despite fighting five against one. Their pride as warriors would be brutally crushed. That was unacceptable.
Therefore, the eldest of the brothers standing at the very front stepped forward. Overcoming the unknown fear, he took a step and swung the mace in his hand.
“U-uaaa—”
And then.
“One.”
The eldest of the Knight Slayer brothers, who was about to swing his mace, collapsed onto the dirt floor with a thud. He remained frozen in the exact posture of raising the mace high to swing. Red blood flowed thickly from the nape of the fallen eldest brother’s neck. Seol-yoon flicked the blood off the tip of her blade with emotionless eyes.
“Are you going to keep going? I don’t have the confidence to leave you with your breath still in you and force a surrender while you’re charging in that armor. So, I will definitely kill you one by one. I won’t let anyone live. No one.”
No one saw the process of how Seol-yoon had just killed the eldest. Not only the Knight Slayer brothers right in front of her, but even the majority of those sitting in the spectator seats only saw the result without the process.
The eldest in his massive armor took a step, and the next moment, he just collapsed and died, bleeding profusely. It didn’t even look like Seol-yoon’s sword had moved.
“You son of a—”
The second brother, unable to accept it, rushed in. A vicious axe swung with all his might, drawing closer to Seol-yoon with a savage sound. At that moment, Seol-yoon’s sword moved.
It drew a circle as beautifully as a painting.
Following the drawn circle, the trajectory of the axe twisted strangely. The axe cut through empty air, and an opening was clearly revealed. Seol-yoon’s sword pierced a precise point like a lightning bolt. A thin slit in the helmet. She thrust the blade through the eyehole, piercing his head. Blood poured out from under the helmet, and the second brother’s body collapsed.
“Two.”
The duel was overwhelming. Seol-yoon flicked the blood off her blade once more and looked at the remaining Knight Slayer brothers.
“Anyone else?”
* * *
Voices filled with dissatisfaction were being exchanged in the Arena’s spectator seats.
“What is this? Why are they all acting so scared?”
“They’re wearing Black Iron armor, so why can’t they just charge in? All five of them should just rush her at once!”
“How much did I bet on those brothers, damn it!”
I sat quietly, watching the match and thinking.
「As expected, the spectators have no idea what is happening down there.」
“You can say that again.”
The Knight Slayer brothers were no pushovers. They maintained a proper distance and slowly surrounded Seol-yoon, preparing to neutralize her using their respective weapons. Since they had built their reputation by crushing swordsmen, they certainly knew how to handle them.
The only problem was that Seol-yoon’s level was simply too high compared to theirs.
「A genius is indeed different.」
“It looks like she created a new swordsmanship by copying the techniques I used.”
「Indeed. It is a characteristic of geniuses. Copying others’ work as if it were nothing.」
Seol-yoon had refined the swordswoman Mary’s ‘Needle’ into a more sophisticated thrust-oriented swordsmanship and made it her own. On top of that, the abnormal destructive power displayed when she thrust at a single point in an instant was likely…
「To think she would even go so far as to imitate Caravan’s Line.」
“…”
「Though it falls short compared to the real Line, the fact that she can show such a technique despite not possessing the blood of Steel is quite remarkable.」
The Knight Slayer brothers, who were suppressed in an instant, lost their will to fight. As they stood there stupidly in a standoff, they declared their defeat to at least save their lives, and the spectators sent loud boos and criticized the Knight Slayer brothers.
They probably wouldn’t be able to stand in the Arena as fighters ever again. However, it wasn’t their fault. It was just that Seol-yoon was far too strong to be fighting at the Silver Medal level.
「That girl should have been my descendant, tsk. How did I end up with such a dim-witted fellow…」
“Thank you.”
I responded habitually while listening to Liam’s grumbling. As Seol-yoon’s promotion match ended anticlimactically, I could hear the spectators lamenting that it was ‘boring’ or that they had ‘wasted their time.’ Among those voices, there was one thing clearly said.
“Whatever.”
Hearing that, I slowly stood up.
“That crazy guy’s match is about to start soon anyway. We can just watch that.”
Yes.
“Isn’t the Small Gladiator going to fight seven matches in a row starting now?”
It was time to head to that amphitheater, not the spectator seats.
“Didn’t everyone gathered here come to see that?”
From Arhan.
It was time to become the gladiator, Liam.
