Chapter 119 – Nesos (5)

There was not a hint of hesitation in Jenyak’s eyes.

He was ready to strike down the fallen Lloyd with his sword and kill him.

It wasn’t that the two had a grudge against each other.

They had simply entered the match according to the gladiator arena’s schedule.

There was no problem with killing an opponent during a gladiatorial match, and it wasn’t my business to interfere, but suddenly, the words Lloyd had said to me echoed in my mind.

If you’re determined to fight, I’ll wish you luck. And take this.

And with that, he had handed me a single coin.

He said it was a lucky charm for himself, but he had readily given it to me, a complete stranger.

He had been genuinely concerned for me.

I fiddled with the coin in my hand.

“Farewell! Lloyd!”

Jenyak’s sword shot out fiercely.

Lloyd was already in a state of being unable to resist.

He squeezed his eyes shut, accepting his final moments.

For a moment, I imbued the coin with mana.

‘He said it was a lucky charm, didn’t he?’

Whoosh.

The coin that left my hand flew like a gale.

This small object, condensed with mana, narrowly passed Kals’s head and went through the bars of the cage.

And then.

Chaaeng!!

It collided with Jenyak’s descending sword, creating a sharp metallic clang.

The roar created by the wave of mana made even the boisterous audience fall silent at once.

Jenyak stumbled back for a moment from the shock transmitted through his blade.

He looked at his tingling arm and then seemed to grasp what had just happened.

Jenyak, who had spotted a single coin on the ground.

Jenyak immediately picked up the coin and shouted towards the outside of the cage.

“Who is it!”

The audience also erupted in an uproar.

Anger at the interruption of the bloodbath.

They vehemently shouted for him to plunge the sword into Lloyd’s body again.

Madmen obsessed with slaughter.

“Senior. Why did you have to……”

Min Ha-rin, who was next to me, said in a low voice.

I knew what she wanted to say.

It was probably why I had stepped in without taking care of my own poisoned body.

“There was no need to, but I just wanted to.”

“But Senior, you are currently……”

She was worried about my physical condition.

She thought that every time I drew upon my mana, the poison would spread rapidly.

However, that did not apply to me.

The mechanism of the Mana Breathing Technique and mana operation I had learned was very different from the methods on Earth.

And at that moment, Jenyak shouted once more.

“Which bastard was it!!”

He seemed to be thoroughly enraged.

I started walking towards the cage.

“If the bastard doesn’t come out right now, I’ll cut off this Lloyd’s head! I’ll count to three starting now!”

I did not slow my pace and approached the cage.

“One!”

“Two!”

Jenyak raised his sword again.

Meaning he would really cut off his head after counting the final three.

Lloyd once again closed his eyes and bit his lip.

His body was trembling.

Jenyak looked around before counting the final number.

He might be interrupted again the moment he brought his sword down, and that was bothering him.

Step.

Step.

I was already quite close to the cage.

Eventually, Jenyak’s eyes met mine.

I immediately gave him a wide grin.

Then he recognized me and started glaring.

“Hey. Newbie! What do you think you’re doing!”

Kals tried to stop my unexpected action, but I pushed him away and stopped in front of the cage.

“Was it you? The owner of this coin?”

“Give it here. It’s a lucky charm for me, you see.”

But Jenyak threw the coin onto the floor inside the cage.

“If you want to get it, you’ll have to come in and get it yourself.”

“Is that so?”

Kals quickly understood the situation and hurriedly approached me.

“Hey newbie! Don’t tell me it was you?”

I nodded my head.

“Why on earth?”

“Shall I say I suddenly felt like a challenge? And it seems this guy is willing to accept.”

“Are you crazy! Does it make sense for a no-class to challenge a Class 4 right away?”

At Kals’s words, Jenyak responded with a highly excited voice.

“Hey, stop nagging. I’m the one involved, and I’m fine with it! I want to kill this arrogant bastard right now!”

Jenyak was adamant.

“Hey. Newbie! Are you really willing to fight Jenyak?”

“I believe I’ve already made my intentions clear.”

The story was sufficiently built up.

I, who had debuted today, had easily defeated the Twin-headed Tiger against everyone’s expectations, and had caused a commotion by interrupting the match, provoking Jenyak.

In principle, it was an impossible situation. But since Jenyak had just expressed his willingness to fight me, all that was left was Kals’s decision.

Kals must have known that if it came to fruition, it would surely be a huge hit.

“Alright. I’ll let you two fight right now. But Jenyak! There’s one condition.”

Kals was a very quick-witted person.

***

The excited audience was shouting from all over.

What on earth were they talking about that the match had been halted. They furiously shouted for the match to resume and for blood to be shown.

Kals quickly stepped forward to handle the situation.

“First, my deepest apologies, and thank you all for waiting so long! And now, I have a sudden major announcement to make!”

His enunciation and tone of voice were that of a typical rabble-rouser.

When a new, unscheduled match was set, the audience cheered in excitement.

Moreover, the new challenger was a rising star who had just defeated the Twin-headed Tiger. Although there was a big difference in class with his opponent being a Class 4 gladiator, it was still enough to gather people’s expectations.

“This is even better! I was curious if that newbie’s skills were real!”

“Jenyak! Cut that newbie’s potential in the bud right now!!”

“I don’t care who wins, just show us some proper blood!”

Lloyd was already out of the picture.

I entered the cage without hesitation.

“Arrogant bastard! I heard you managed to defeat a Twin-headed Tiger, but do you think such a fluke will work on me?”

There was no need to reply, so I just stared into his eyes.

He was certainly not a weak opponent.

I didn’t know how strong a Class 4 was, but he was at a higher level than the Twin-headed Tiger I had defeated today.

It was only natural that Lloyd had been defeated so helplessly.

Outside the cage, Kals’s lips were curled up in a wide smile.

Because the atmosphere of the audience was even hotter than expected.

The betting fervor seemed to have heated up in proportion.

From the atmosphere, it seemed that many people were betting on me, and some were showing vague expectations for an unknown gladiator.

People tend to be more enthusiastic about the appearance of a newbie than a familiar old-timer.

Kals smiled broadly at us.

“Jenyak. Remember what I said before! That’s the condition for allowing this match.”

“I get it! I just have to not kill him, right!”

“It would be troublesome if he gets too injured either. This newbie is going to be the arena’s new box-office hit.”

Who says.

Kals was getting ahead of himself while the person who was supposed to give the ‘rice cake’ wasn’t even thinking about it.

It seemed he had unilaterally concluded that I would sign a long-term contract with him.

“Well, can’t be helped. Just keep your promise instead. That you’ll double today’s victory bonus.”

“I get it, so just remember my words. Don’t get excited and cause an accident.”

“Ke ke ke.”

Jenyak strode towards me.

Then he whispered to me with a nasty smile.

“I’ll make you impotent. But consider yourself lucky. I was originally planning to kill you.”

“Thanks to you, I got a good idea.”

“What?”

I didn’t bother to reply further.

Exchanging words would only lower my dignity.

I was planning to end this quickly and get out of this cage.

When Kals’s starting signal fell, the audience roared in a frenzy.

There was one more reason to end the fight quickly.

I really can’t stand loud noises.

“Newbie! You’d better prepare yourself from now on. I have absolutely no intention of ending this quickly. Ke ke ke.”

Jenyak lifted his sword, which was as brutish as his build.

He had no such thing as refined swordsmanship.

He was just trying to overpower me with mana.

Whoooooosh!

My prediction was not wrong.

He swung his brutish sword at me.

With the intent of telling me to just take this and die.

But it was extremely difficult to be hit by a sword of this level.

I slightly twisted my body to avoid the first attack, and his brutish sword immediately cut through the empty air with force.

At that moment, instead of my Holy Sword, I lifted my foot.

And then, tok!

I lightly kicked at the opening he had shown.

I had no intention of killing him from the beginning.

Because I am the merciful Johan Raven.

However, there might be some inconveniences in the future.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!”

Jenyak’s agonizing groan echoed loudly inside the cage.

***

“A contract fee of 10,000 Lina!”

Kals’s ambitious proposal.

But I shook my head.

“Why? Don’t tell me 10,000 Lina is too little?”

“I have some urgent business. Just settle the payment for today’s fight. If needed, I’ll come back here later.”

“You, don’t tell me!”

“Don’t tell you. What?”

“You’re not just saying that and going to another arena, are you? Building up your reputation here and then signing a big contract with someone else. You think I don’t know your scheme?”

“You clearly don’t know.”

“What?”

But Kals didn’t seem to understand what I meant.

“I understand what you’re saying! Alright. I’ll compromise a little. The contract fee will be 15,000 Lina!”

In an instant, the contract fee had gone up by 50 percent.

Of course, Kals added one more condition to this contract.

“Instead, for the next four years, you’ll have an exclusive contract with our arena!”

“Sorry, but I’m busy.”

Getting a few more coins here meant nothing to me.

Except for the Abyss rewards, I couldn’t take any items from here back to Earth.

“How long are you going to keep up with that bullshit about being busy! What busy business does a gladiator have besides fighting! I’ve already raised it to 15,000 Lina, isn’t that enough! Don’t tell me, you want more than this?”

“You don’t seem to understand, but I’m really busy and have things to do. I don’t know how long it will take.”

“What on earth is that! And how long will it take!”

The quest assigned to me was to cut off the head of the Lord of the Night Market.

Of course, I couldn’t tell Kals something like this.

“I can’t tell you what it is, but it will take at least a week.”

Of course, I wasn’t sure.

It could take less time, or it could take more.

Right now, I couldn’t even guess.

“Is that all! Alright. I’ll consider your circumstances. Then just sign the contract and go. The contract period will start a month from now, to give you plenty of time.”

Actually, I was planning to just take today’s payment and leave immediately.

Of course, I had no intention of running off with the money, but this Kals fellow kept pushing me.

“Alright. But I’ll take an advance.”

“How much do you need?”

“1,500 Lina, which is 10 percent of 15,000.”

“Alright! I accept!”

Actually, I didn’t need this much money, but I had a change of heart.

A good use for this money had suddenly come to mind.

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