TGS - Chapter 71
Chapter 71: The Beast Fight
Gladiatorial performances originated in Kasnie and were introduced to Solancia by a king two hundred years ago. Not long after the first arena was built, it quickly became a favored pleasure ground for nobles and wealthy merchants, becoming all the rage for a time.
Festival celebrations, banquets for guests, entertainment, socializing...
The arena had become the perfect stage for displaying wealth and status, and any family capable of hosting a gladiatorial performance would be all the more sought after.
However, the aristocrats merely sat in their seats and watched. The ones truly enacting the bloody slaughter in the arena were slaves with no other choice, prisoners of war, captured beasts, and commoners who voluntarily became gladiators to make a living.
Just like this very moment.
A light snow drifted down, occasionally swept up by the wind. Several charcoal braziers were scattered among the seats, and umbrella-like canopies overhead protected the audience from the elements.
The city lord sat high in the VIP seats, with exquisite food and drink laid out before him.
In the arena, the gladiators roared and charged at each other, fighting to the death with nothing but crude short swords. On their exposed arms, slave tattoos were clearly visible.
There was no skill to speak of, only a desperate, unscrupulous struggle with all their might.
As one fell in defeat, the victor raised his short sword high and plunged it into his opponent's thigh.
A spray of blood gushed out, landing on the thick snow covering the ground and melting bloody holes of varying depths. The contrast between red and white was stark.
"Excellent!" the city lord shouted, clapping his hands. "Throw the useless loser to the lions out back, and this victorious warrior will receive a reward!"
His loud voice echoed across the empty arena.
The victor raised his hands in response, but his expression showed no excitement, only a hollow numbness.
There were actually very few spectators in the arena.
The nobles didn't dare get involved in the royal family's internal disputes; upon hearing the arena was open today, they pretended not to have received the news and stayed home. The common people, for their part, couldn't be bothered to come out and freeze in such weather.
Only the city lord, his supporters, and the invited Princess's party of three were present.
The city lord turned his head, his expression showing he wasn't finished yet, and still addressed only the caravan master.
"Great merchant, I hear you're from Digebia. You've probably never seen a scene like this, have you? How do you find it? Isn't it thrilling?"
The merchant, who truly had never seen such a scene, laughed dryly. "My lord, didn't we come to discuss our partnership?"
"Business talks always need a little diversion, don't they?" The city lord tapped his food tray and gestured with his chin toward the gladiator staggering below. "Just think of it as a special song and dance performance. You can watch while you eat. Isn't it much more exciting than those flimsy dancing girls?"
The merchant: "..."
He tried to calmly spear a slice of roasted meat with his silver fork, but he hesitated to bring it to his mouth.
It wasn't that the merchant had never seen killing—the most recent instance had been the counterattack led by the Princess—but he truly hadn't cultivated the ability to stomach a meal amidst the smell of blood and scenes of slaughter!
The city lord asked, feigning ignorance, "Why aren't you eating? Is the food not to your liking?"
The merchant: "I haven't had much of an appetite lately, hehe."
Alyuin did not join the conversation. She sat behind the merchant, looking down at the arena floor as another round of fighting unfolded between new gladiators.
Before this, the Princess had never witnessed with her own eyes the slaughter between men, or between men and beasts, in an arena. The former king had ordered restrictions on gladiatorial performances during his reign, opposing the opening of arenas during festival celebrations, let alone bringing his young daughter to watch.
His exact words were—
"To let blood stain the celebrations—is this your piety? Is this the grand spectacle you wish for the gods to see?"
His words were final, and the arenas fell silent.
However, when Horst seized power, gladiatorial performances were permitted once more. Although they never regained the popularity of generations past, they had, after all, returned to the public eye.
Alyuin withdrew her gaze. She felt the city lord's gaze—which he thought was subtle—sweep over her again, filled with obvious malice and eagerness. She knew what he was planning.
The Princess's eyes grew cold.
She toyed with the dinner knife in her hand, silently raising her eyes to size up the city lord.
He was weak, full of openings. The guards behind him stood in a protective posture but were clearly distracted.
Even without this dinner knife, without any weapon at all, the Princess was absolutely confident she could kill the city lord right here.
But she couldn't. To actually kill Horst's nephew would be handing him leverage. Alyuin had no desire to lower her thinking to the city lord's level. After weighing her options for a moment, she gave up the idea without much regret.
It didn't matter.
As long as she didn't kill him, there were plenty of ways to ensure the city lord would remember this day forever, trembling in fear whenever he saw her in the future. Wasn't there a ready-made shortcut right before her eyes?
The Princess lowered her head, her expression calm. As she sliced through her food with the knife, a strange thought popped into her mind.
Good thing Lotus isn't here today.
Although Lotus had said her gaze would always be upon her, Alyuin didn't believe that every single one of her actions would be seen by the goddess.
Besides, as long as she wasn't physically present, certain things wouldn't be felt.
Alyuin brought the food to her mouth.
The honey glazing the meat touched her lips, transparent like balm. The Princess extended the tip of her tongue to lick it away, the corners of her mouth curving into a subtle smile.
In fact, there were some things a god wouldn't notice even if they were present. For instance, the Lotus who was here now did not see the Princess's subtle facial expression.
Because her spiritual form was standing behind the Princess.
A translucent hand rested lightly on Alyuin's shoulders as Lotus looked down at the gladiators fighting to the death.
One round, then two. The victors showed no joy, and the losers, even if not killed on the spot, were too weak to fight again. The city lord would then indifferently order them to be dragged away and fed to the beasts.
Blood seeped into the snow in thin trickles, perhaps having already stained the fine sand beneath it red.
This arena, of course, did not survive to later ages. All that modern people could see were the crumbling ruins of the arena in Akhet and some fragmented records.
The documents described the arenas of ancient Solancia thus—
"Here, men and animals fought for the hope of survival, and blood stained the sand crimson."
"Although the sand was replaced after every major event, the bloodstains still seeped into the ground. Over the years, a dark red color penetrated deep into the marble, impossible to remove no matter how hard one scrubbed."
Lotus sighed silently.
Back then, reading this description had shocked her. Now, however, she was almost indifferent. If she had to name an emotion, it would probably be... pity.
Her perspective had changed, after all.
After this thought, Lotus suddenly noticed the unconcealed coldness emanating from the Princess and couldn't help but worry about Alyuin's mood.
Coming back to her senses, Lotus had to facepalm at the "double standard" of her perspective, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
She always felt that, in the mortal realm, Alyuin was the cornerstone that allowed her to retain her human perspective. With the Princess as the center, she could view her surroundings with a more human gaze.
Lotus leaned down and gave the Princess a gentle hug from behind.
The touch of her spiritual form went unnoticed, of course, but Lotus found it quite amusing and couldn't help but curve her pale lips into a light smile.
Alyuin subconsciously tensed her shoulders and back. She discreetly scanned her surroundings with her peripheral vision but found nothing amiss.
An illusion?
Doesn't seem like it. I can't let my guard down just because of the city lord's clumsy attitude. If he has another trick up his sleeve, it would be more than a simple misjudgment.
It took the city lord an hour to slowly finish his meal, by which time three rounds of combat had already taken place in the arena.
The snow was still falling, but it couldn't cover the bloodstains that littered the arena.
The city lord wiped his hands with a silk handkerchief and gave a look to the arena manager standing by his side.
The manager understood and ordered the slaves to drag away the corpses. Amidst his commands, a gate on one side of the arena slowly rose.
The first thing heard was the roar of a beast.
It wasn't a fierce roar, but the appetite, predatory instinct, and wildness of a carnivore were perfectly conveyed in that low growl.
A black panther slowly walked out from the darkness behind the gate. Its hind legs were bound in shackles, the chain extending back inside.
The length of the chain was just enough to allow it to move freely around the arena floor, leaving a gladiator no corner to hide in, while also preventing the beast from leaping into the stands and disturbing the audience.
The panther walked to the center of the arena, lightly pawing the ground. It seemed a little restless, but it was clearly very hungry. It soon lowered its front half and began to lick the blood remaining on the snow.
Only then did the city lord turn his gaze to the Princess, raising his chin arrogantly.
"Alyuin, is it?"
Alyuin turned her head and offered a friendly reminder, "City Lord, you should address me as 'Your Highness'."
"Your Highness?" the city lord questioned incredulously. "You should at least have a correct understanding of your own status. What are you to His Majesty Horst? They call you 'Princess,' but do you really think things are as they were under the former king?"
Behind the city lord, an advisor sucked in a sharp breath and covered his face, unable to watch.
He began to regret insisting on coming today. The city lord was so reckless with his words; had he not considered what would happen if the Princess drew her sword in anger?
Admittedly, such an irrational act might bring trouble upon the Princess herself, but what if she didn't care about that? Even if His Majesty Horst settled the score later, what good would that do? They would already be dead!
The advisor quietly took a step back, wondering if he should find an excuse to get away from this troublesome place and save his own skin.
The city lord gritted his teeth and glared at Alyuin, but on second thought, he strangely reined in his temper and said with a malicious smile, "You want me to call you 'Your Highness'? Fine. See that panther down there—"
"If you can beat it, I'll have no problem calling you 'Your Highness' a hundred times."
Alyuin raised an eyebrow.
She leaned back lightly in her chair. "Do you mean it?"
The city lord was as mocking as he could be. "Why don't you go down there and fight a round with that beast? Then you'll know."
As if that wasn't enough, he turned to the caravan master to add fuel to the fire. "Great merchant, lend me your guard for a beast fight. If you don't agree, I'll throw you down there too!"
The merchant: "..."
The merchant picked up his teacup and said nothing.
Even the look Lotus gave the city lord became somewhat complicated.
These days, you didn't see many people who wore their hearts on their sleeves with no regard for the occasion.
The last time she'd seen such a giant spoiled brat was outside Digebia. A certain wealthy merchant's son with a head of flashy red hair had tried to kill the golden eagle sisters when a deal fell through, only to be scared into running home to his parents by a single arrow from the young Princess.
If she remembered correctly, he had completely lost power after his father's execution. She didn't know if he was still alive.
Faced with such a rare specimen, Alyuin nodded. "Alright."
The city lord, on the other hand, became uncertain. "You're really willing to go down there?"
Gladiators weren't exclusively slaves and powerless commoners. Some warriors of noble birth would voluntarily participate in the fights to gain money, fame, and the favor of their superiors or even the king, not to mention the admiring gazes of noble ladies.
But being ordered to enter the arena was completely different. It was a humiliation. To agree was to place oneself on the same level as slaves and prisoners of war.
Alyuin stood up and leisurely pulled on her leather gloves. She suddenly gave the city lord a slight smile.
"I am quite willing to test my skills against a beast. As for you, however, I don't know if you'll be so willing."
In a flash, the Princess leaped over the merchant and was in front of the city lord in the blink of an eye, as agile as a panther herself.
She swept her long leg out, sending the city lord and his chair tumbling backward. His legs kicked helplessly in the air.
The city lord: "You—"
But Alyuin had already hauled him up, dangling him over the edge of the pavilion before delivering a swift kick.
With a terrified, cracking shriek, the city lord was kicked right off into the arena.
He landed near the edge of the arena floor, rolling once in the snow.
The black panther raised its head.
Alyuin propped one leg on the railing and laughed softly. "The city lord's proposal is excellent. As a fellow member of the royal family, how about you face the panther like a warrior?"
With that said, she lightly vaulted over the railing, her tied-up hair whipping through the air.
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