by Virlyce
Lucia’s tail deflated. “Oh. Okay.” She nodded and handed over a pair of socks with paw prints on them. Why was Ilya inspecting Lucia’s feet? Was she counting Lucia’s toes?
Marilyn’s nose wrinkled, but she accepted them gracefully. “What would you like enchanted on them? Speed? Durability?”
“Can you make them softer?” Lucia asked, her eyes shining like little stars. “And make them fluffier too.”
“Softer? Fluffier?” Marilyn asked and raised an eyebrow. She glanced at Pup—Gae Bulg, who seemed to be crying in a corner of the room. “Are you sure?”
“I’m absolutely positive!” Lucia said while bobbing her head up and down.
Marilyn made another strange expression. “Well, here goes.”
A series of runes flew into the air and encircled Marilyn’s body. I’ve seen this process thousands of times, performed by myself during my period of isolation. Of course, I’ve only seen a success happen once. I don’t see how Marilyn’s actions were any different from mine back then, but apparently they were. A few moments later, there were some flashing runes on the surface of the socks, and Gae Bulg’s fur coat seemed to become more voluminous and glossy.
Lucia put her socks back on. “It worked!” she said and closed her eyes while wiggling her toes. “Great! Now do Durandal.”
Marilyn chuckled and stared at me. “Do you want him to be softer and fluffier as well?”
Please no.
***
Guess who else has been upgraded to be softer and fluffier and better in every single way!? Not Durandal! Me! Well, the ribbon on my tail was enhanced to be softer and fluffier, not myself, sadly. But Durandal also got an all-around upgrade. Before, his weight limit capped at 35 tons. Now, he can go up to 70 tons; that’s a 100% increase! I thought it was a 200% increase, but Ilya corrected me. Not only that, but Durandal claims he’s no longer directionally challenged. Can you believe that? I can’t, and I won’t let him test it because we’ll get lost.
“Now don’t forget what you said to me,” Ilya Number Two’s grandmother said. “You said you’d help me beat up Cain if I enhanced your items.”
“That’s right! I’ll definitely forget it though, so you have to remind me when the time comes.” I’ve accepted I have a weak memory, which is why I started a diary recently. Ilya’s trying to teach me how to read and write, but it’s tough. So I just draw pictures of the events that happen. I’m an excellent artist if I may say so myself.
“Maybe you’ll get the chance to today,” Ilya Number Two’s grandmother said. “I wish you the best of luck during the competition. Be sure to take care of Mirta for me.”
“Will do! Let’s go, Ilya Number One and Two.” Today’s the day of the Godking’s Brawl. None of that preliminary crap that didn’t really count for anything. Well, it let Ilya Number One and Two compete, so I guess it did count for something after all.
Ilya nodded and grabbed Ilya Number Two’s hand. “Do you know the format for the competition, Lucia?” Nope! “Of course you don’t, why’d I even ask? So the appropriate follow-up questions are, do you want to know and are you going to pay attention if I tell you?”
“I want to know, but no guarantees on paying attention.” I can’t promise things I’m not sure about. It’s unethical.
Ilya sighed. “Well, I’ll monologue on the way there, I suppose,” she said and shook her head. “The competition is not a normally structured tournament where people face off one against one and half the people drop off after a round. A lucky person can rise higher than someone they’re weaker than in that scenario. The brawl is a ranking system, not a luck-based system. Most likely, there’s going to be a test to determine everyone’s general levels of ability. Then, the climbing portion will begin. The people at the bottom of the ranking list will be allowed to challenge anyone above them and claim their spot, causing everyone else to drop one place. At least, that’s the format the brawl’s followed for the last five times.”
“Then what’s the point of seeded positions? Like our reward from the preliminary.” Don’t tell me it was really, really pointless. But I wouldn’t be surprised if that annoying man gave a hundred people a useless reward.
“People in the seeded positions start higher up,” Ilya said. “They get a tiny bonus on their evaluation test. The main advantage is they need to fight less to climb higher. After all, everyone partaking in the brawl is a talent. Fighting against someone will drain your energy. The less people you have to fight, the easier it becomes.”
“So you’re saying my battle plan should be to take last place, then challenge the first place person before the competition ends? When would the competition end?” Well, I’m not going to do that even though that plan makes a lot of sense. I have my promise with Al…. Why do I keep forgetting his name? The crown prince. I have to keep my promise with him for that sweet, sweet reward!
“The competition ends when no one wishes to issue a challenge within thirty minutes of the last fight,” Ilya said. “The longest brawl took place forty years ago and went on for three days.”
Three days? That must’ve been super boring to watch. And we’ve arrived at the coliseum just as Ilya finished explaining things, how convenient. I wonder what the evaluation system’s going to be like. Wouldn’t I just get first place again if it’s anything like the preliminaries? That annoying man wouldn’t do things to make my life more difficult, would he? Well, it doesn’t matter since I already have a plan!
“That’s Lucia Fluffytail, watch out for her.”
“I heard she attacked Cain during the preliminaries. Is she crazy?”
“Did you know she’s afraid of water?”
“There isn’t even a Fluffytail family in the whole beastkin kingdom. I checked.”
“If you want to distract her, throw acorns at her or bribe her with hot chocolate.”
Why are so many people talking about me!? It’s a good feeling though. The first step to becoming a legend is to have plenty of people spread rumors about you. I should hire some bards to sing good things about me all the time.
“That’s Ilya Pentorn over there. She’s the world’s youngest sixth-circle magician. She’s only fourteen! I heard all the families are planning on sending suitors to her coming-of-age ceremony.”
“So what if she’s a sixth-circle magician? She’s the first person to ever cast a sixth-circle chaos spell. Even Cain’s never done that.”
Hey! Focus, rumor spreaders. I’m the legend here, not Ilya. Jeez.
“And that little elf girl over there, she’s Mirta, Marilyn’s granddaughter. You all know high elf Marilyn, right? She’s the only person able to place divine enchantments on items. She dotes on her granddaughter a lot, so whatever you do, you can’t hurt Mirta.”
Even Ilya Number Two gets rumors spread about her!? I should stuff these traitors into a bag and hide them away from the public. They’re side characters; side characters should stop stealing the main character’s limelight. And the main character is me, just in case anyone didn’t know.
Gah! Ilya poked me. “Are you thinking weird things again, Lucia? Did you hear my question?”
“Nope, wasn’t listening.”
“I asked if you saw Snow. That’s him over there, right?” Ilya pointed at a beautiful bunnykin woman. Man. Cross-dressing bunnykin man! It’s Snow! He really showed his face!
“Snow Flopsy! You’re dead!” The bunnykin’s eyes widened as I charged at him. “Unrelenting Path of Slaughter: Breaking Fist!”
“W-wait!” the bunnykin shouted. Wow, his voice really turned much more feminine. Shouldn’t it have gone down in pitch instead of up? Ah? I missed? “You have the wrong person! I’m not Snow! My name is Reena!”
Huh? Did he really think I’d fall for something as stupid as that? “Unrelenting Path of Slaughter: Breaking Tail! Breaking Kick! Breaking Fist! Stop dodging, damn it!”
“Please, stop! I’m really not Snow!” the bunnykin said with tears in his eyes. “This is the seventh ti
me I’ve been mistaken for him!”
Caught him! “So you’re saying you’re not Snow and happen to look exactly like him?”
“That’s right,” the bunnykin said, nodding his head. “Can you please let go of my ears?”
Is this bunnykin really not Snow? Huh, there’s no Adam’s apple. Did he get rid of that? “Let me check something.”
“What are you—!?”
What…? There’s really nothing down there. Is he, no, is she really not Snow? “You’re really, really not Snow?”
“I, I can’t get married anymore,” the bunnykin said and hung her head. “I’ve been tainted.”
“Nonsense, I washed my hands before I left the inn. I’m perfectly clean.” At least I think I washed my hands. I’m pretty sure I did…. But how does Snow have a female doppelganger!? And she’s wearing sandals without socks, so unless Snow abandoned Bouncykins, his Adam’s apple, and his penis, then she’s really not him.
***
“Hey, Durandal, use your strange sorcery of reading beastkin like open books and figure out if she’s really Snow or not.”
I’m afraid my powers of reading beastkin only works on Lucia. But just by inspecting this woman’s aura, she’s nothing like Snow, and there’s no signs of Bouncykins coming into contact with her. Weapon spirits are pretty sensitive to each other’s auras. In fact, I can sense at least thirteen other weapon spirits in the nearby vicinity, not including Pup—Gae. “She’s not Snow, Lucia. You should probably let go of her ears before they break.”
“That’s right,” Lucia said and released the poor bunnykin’s ears. “Don’t even think about turning into Snow or I’ll kill you.”
That’s an unreasonable request. Is it just me, or has Lucia become a lot more unbridled after becoming a divine warrior? I suspect it has something to do with the strange path she took. Unrelenting Path of Slaughter…, I don’t even have to wonder what she did with a name like that. Slaughter implies she won her fights effortlessly. Winning fight after fight after fight must’ve boosted her confidence to extreme levels bordering on arrogance.
“I, I understand!” the bunnykin said. “I won’t even think of changing my gender!”
“Good,” Lucia said and nodded twice, sticking her chest out. “Now get out of my face. You’re making me feel inferior.”
The poor bunnykin scampered away while Ilya and Mirta approached us. “That wasn’t Snow?” Ilya asked. “Are you sure he didn’t just use a gender transformation spell?”
Lucia stiffened. “Does that exist?” she ran after the poor bunnykin and tackled her to the ground, grabbing her by the ears and dragging her back to us.
“You didn’t let me answer,” Ilya said and sighed. “There’s no such thing as a gender transformation spell.” She looked at the crying bunnykin. “And she doesn’t have any traces of magic on her. I thought you were sensitive to mana.”
“Oh,” Lucia said and released her unfortunate prey. “You can go.”
“For real this time?” the sniffling bunnykin asked. “Or are you going to tackle me again?”
“If I said you can go, then you can go!” Lucia shook her fist at the woman, causing her ears to stiffen. No matter how I see it, she looks exactly like Cottontail. Could she be related? But before I could ask, she ran away.
“Hey, Lucia. Just because she isn’t Snow, that doesn’t mean she’s not related to him in some way, shape, or form. You should probably—”
Lucia disappeared before I could finish my sentence. An ear-piercing scream filled the air, and the crowd parted as Lucia dragged back the sobbing bunnykin. “This is abuse! Guards! Guards! Somebody help me!”
“Whew, she almost got away.” Lucia wiped her brow with the back of her arm and deposited the limp woman by her feet. “It’s a good thing I caught her in time.”
The bunnykin sniffled. “W-why are you doing this to me?”
“So you might not be Snow, but how are you related to him?” Lucia asked and placed her hands on her hips. “And don’t say you’re not. Bunnies can have up to a dozen babies per litter! I bet you’re related to him in some way, shape, or form.”
“At the very least, you’re related to Cottontail Flopsy, correct?”
“C-Cottontail’s my grandmother,” the bunnykin said. “I’m Reena Flopsy.”
“Then you’re Snow’s sister, cousin?” Lucia asked, tilting her head to the side.
“N-no,” Reena said, shaking her head. “I might be his half-cousin? I don’t know the right term, but my grandfathers are completely different from Snow’s.”
Well, that’s new. Cottontail had more than just Roland as her lover? It’s a good thing Roland’s dead or there’d be a massive shitstorm. But, wow, I never thought Roland would be cuckolded. That’s…, wow. Should I be angry at Cottontail? But she’s already dead…. Ah, forget it. The heavens will handle it. But still, wow. Why would she…?
“What!?” Lucia shouted with bulging eyes. It looks like she figured it out. “You—”
“Not so loud, please!” Reena said and covered Lucia’s mouth with her hands. She flinched and drew back after realizing what she had done. “I, I didn’t mean to do that. I was nervous.”
“Then are you working together with Snow?” Lucia asked, tilting her head.
She’s not going to tell you even if she was, you know?
Reena shook her head. “I’m not! I swear.”
“I can’t trust you,” Lucia said. “You look too much like Snow.”
“The gates are opening!” someone shouted. It seemed like the Godking’s Brawl was about to start. Lucia said she’d let me and Puppers fight by ourselves during this competition. I’d like to see how I compare to the talent of this generation. …This is not the old bullying the young. It’s, hmm, teaching? Yes, it’s teaching. As a member of the older generation, I have to teach these punching bags—err, star pupils how to fight properly.
“A-are you going to let me go?” Reena asked, tears in her eyes.
“Nope! You’re coming with us,” Lucia said and looped her arm around Reena’s waist. “Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. You’re sticking to me like a third arm. Let’s go, Ilya Number One and Two. We have a legendary beast core to claim!”
“There’s only one beast core for first place,” Ilya said.
“I have a legendary beast core to claim!” Lucia said. “You two can, uh, struggle for second and third, I guess.”
Ilya sighed and shook her head before entering the coliseum. She might be an annoying brat, but she’s sensible. I’m glad Lucia met someone like her while I was asleep. Who knows how much more differently Lucia would’ve turned out if she hadn’t? Lucia told me a little about her experience while I was asleep, but I have a feeling she omitted a lot of details. Puppers told me she was indistinguishable from a wild beast when he first met her. I was afraid Lucia would never be able to trust someone again after Snow’s betrayal, but I’m glad my fears didn’t come true.
***
“The Godking’s Brawl will begin shortly.” What’s with that annoying man and his need to be in the sky all the time? The coliseum changed a lot from its previous two appearances. Instead of a grassy meadow or ruined flatland, it looked more like a traditional coliseum with a giant elevated circular platform in the center. On the arena platform, there was a little statue of a fat man sitting cross-legged.
“There are three hundred and sixty of you competing today, and if you look along the walls of the coliseum, you’ll see a matching number of cushions. Take a seat.”
Reena had stopped struggling, so it was easy to carry her along. I dropped her onto the spot next to me which had the number fifty-eight on it. Ilya Number One and Two sat beside us. All the competitors looked like a long line of ants pressed up against a wall. At the number one spot, that lionkin who hated acorn stew was sitting with his head in the air. He saw me staring and sneered at me. Really? I kicked your ass in the preliminary, you heretic. I’ll do it again in the real thing.<
br />
“Number one, approach the center of the stage,” the man in the sky said. He wasn’t even going to explain what was going to happen? At least Ilya described the process fairly well. How did it go again? Eh, I forgot. “Place your hand on the statue’s head and insert your mana and qi. Those of you who took the preliminary should be familiar with this process. Instead of making the statue light up, it’ll spit out an exact number for the leaderboards.” A board appeared in the sky next to the floating man. He really has a thing for boards and numbers, huh? I know how to read numbers since Ilya taught me! But names are still a bit too difficult.
The lionkin approached the statue and grabbed its head. He grunted before shouting, causing the statue to light up. “First, my mana!” he said, and a bright, neon-colored thirty appeared on the statue’s chest. “Then, my qi!” He roared, and the number jumped from thirty to six hundred and twenty. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s six hundred and twenty. No guarantees!
Then, unreadable—to me—characters appeared on the leaderboard followed by 620 and the number one. The lionkin nodded before walking back to the cushion. “Wait,” the man in the sky said. “Don’t sit just yet. Seat number two, approach the statue.”
A scrawny man with a beard hobbled up to the platform. He placed his hand on the statue and inserted his mana, which made the number 540 appear. Then he inserted his qi, and the number jumped up to 1,140! The lionkin glared at the scrawny, bearded man, but the skinny person was unfazed. He’s also a bit green. Green? Like he’s covered in mana? Is that a disguise!? It’s Snow, isn’t it!? For now, I’ll put this person on my kill-if-encountered list. Huh? I’m not a murderer. This is a justified list! I don’t know how to justify it, but it’s totally moral because I said so.
I wonder what the numbers mean though. The calculating system should make sense, right? Well, I’m sure my goals will be accomplished regardless. After the scrawny man, no one else broke four digits until Daniel. His mana score was a whopping 1,150, but he didn’t even try inserting any qi inside. Maybe he didn’t have any.
