After a week, the door to the colosseum in Arcadia was opened wide for the first time in a long time. Although the colosseum was big enough to fit thousands of people at minimum, there were so many spectators inside the colosseum that there were no empty seats.
“Woahhh!!!!”
The spectators’ roars filled the sky. The excitement for the potential end of the sickeningly long civil war made everyone in the colosseum feel like they were in a festival. Since Berche’s Bloody Battle was essentially a method for the Imperial Knights to get promoted, it had never taken place in public… until now because the Imperial Family was trying to mollify the citizens’ nervousness.
Kiser sat on one of the highest seats in the colosseum, giving him the best view of the battles in the colosseum.
“Who’ll be battling first?” he asked.
“We gave the opportunity to the criminals, Your Highness,” the military advisor Zegar reported.
Kiser tilted his head. “Because?”
“It’s because the first battle is mostly considered the opening battle,” Zegar explained. “Since we’ve decided to do this Battle in public, wouldn’t it be good to hear their excuses when the spectators are giving it their fullest attention?”
“…You’re trying to test him,” Kiser mumbled.
Zegar smiled subtly.
“The criminal will have to appear in order for this to happen.”
“Do you think he won’t show up?” Kiser asked.
“Quite the opposite, actually.” Zegar’s smile deepened.
“…Huh?”
“Duke Tremblin has shown up and is standing behind you now, so there is no reason for him to not appear if he’s really alive since he would want to clear his name. He’s charged with none other than the crimes of abandoning his dying father and foul black magic, isn’t he?” Zegar shrugged.
Duke Tremblin, who was standing behind them, still didn’t move an inch.
“Then…” Kiser trailed off.
Zegar nodded. “A man who is nominally the Hero King is useless; we need to verify if he’s still as strong as before and if the rumor about what happened at the Great Plain of Kraden is true.”
“…When you talk about the rumor, you also mean Joshua sustained an unrecoverable injury, right?”
“Of course—that is why the opening battle is going to be a stage for Joshua Sanders. To refute the accusations, he’ll have to prove that he’s as strong as ever before the eyes of the citizens of the Avalon Empire without using demonic power. If he fails even one of them… the stage will immediately turn into a public execution made just for him,” Zegar coldly finished.
“…That’s very thorough,” Kiser quietly muttered.
“It’s my job,” Zegar answered with a wide smile.
“Who is his opponent?” Kiser asked.
“Well…” Zegar tiptoed around Kiser’s question a bit for some reason and chose his words carefully. “…we normally have these battles to promote knights or allow knights to join the order, but we’re doing a test for a battalion commander who wants to be reinstated. Thus, we took volunteers…”
“To sum up, there are three volunteers, Your Highness,” Zegar reported.
“There are three?” Kiser repeated. He was surprised—there were not many people who could work up the courage to challenge the man known as the Hero King.
“You should be quite familiar with all the three volunteers, Your Highness.”
“Of course,” Kiser said with a nod. “So who are they?”
“The first volunteer is Knight Commander Rod, the man who leads the Imperial Knights and is also known as the Lord of Knights…”
Kiser had expected Rod to do so, so his calm was undisturbed.
“The second volunteer is Marquess Arie bron Sten, whom I’ve told you to always be careful around, Your Highness.” Zegar shrugged.
“Hmm…” Kiser nodded again.
“The last volunteer is…” Zegar trailed off.
Someone else interrupted:
“If those two are defeated, then I myself will be going up against him.”
Kiser’s eyes widened. The voice had come from behind him.
“You will be fighting, Sword Emperor…?”
* * *
Inside the waiting room of the colosseum, the crowd’s roar told Icarus that things had already heated up outside.
“Wowww!!!!!!”
Icarus looked faintly anxious.
“Why aren’t they coming?”
Coincidentally, the waiting room’s door opened right then. Cain entered, and Icarus’s attention was on him right away.
“How can you also be late on a day like this?” Icarus shrieked.
“Hm… Well…” Cain scratched the back of his head.
“Forget it! How did contacting her turn out?” Icarus asked.
“I couldn’t… get a hold of her…”
“O-oh, my god…” Icarus’s jaw dropped. “You said you’d take care of the artifact!”
“…I’m sorry. It seems she’s really busy. Come to think of it, I’ve thought too lightly of talking to the famous Seven Mages,” Cain said with a nod.
“Have you realized that now?!” Icarus shouted, her face reddened with anger.
“You know…”
“What are you going to do now? It’s our master’s turn soon…! Yes, we have a doppelganger on our side, but he can’t look the same as he did three years ago when he appears in front of the crowd!” Icarus yelled in frustration.
“It’s okay. He was much more mature than a man of his age at that time,” Cain reassured her.
“Are you seriously…!” Icarus gritted her teeth.
“…We have a much bigger problem now.”
Icarus seemed to turn into stone, suspending her incessant snapping.
“A… bigger problem?”
Icarus looked very nervous because when this simple man said they had a problem, it was never an ordinary problem.
“Wh-what is it?” she stuttered.
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“…The doppelganger, the fucking spear…” Cain clenched his teeth. “Everything is gone.”
Icarus gaped blankly at Cain for a moment, unable to understand what Cain meant.
“Whattttt?!”
“Woah, woah, let’s calm down a little. The Silver-eyed Ghost Sword and Christian are looking around everywhere and asking everyone, so they’ll probably contact—
“Shu-shut up!” Icarus screamed.
“Yes, ma’am,” Cain solemnly answered, and immediately fixed his posture.
“He was definitely beside you until dawn!” Icarus fervently shouted. “You swore you’d bring him, so how—?”
“He went missing when I went to the bathroom for a moment… I’m really sorry…” Cain looked at the ground.
“…Now is not the time.” Icarus clenched her fists determinedly. “We can’t just sit around and wait. The battle is going to start soon! We should come up with a Plan B as quickly as possible.”
“By Plan B…” Cain carefully asked.
“What are you waiting for?!” Icarus shouted, pulling on her hair. “We should be trying to find the best escape route right now!”
“E-escape?” Cain was baffled. “Hey, Icarus, you may not be aware of this, but there are Avalon nobles, half of Arcadia’s citizens, and three princes in this colosseum. I don’t know all the details, but if I had to pick the place with the highest security within the Empire right now—”
“Then what are you suggesting we do?!” Icarus helplessly shrieked.
All their plans had gone awry, and both Cain and Icarus were in a panic. At that moment, someone used an artifact to shout thunderously to all the spectators in the colosseum.
“We’ll begin the unprecedented public Berche’s Bloody Battle now!”
“Woaaaaahhh!!!” the spectators yelled in reply, loud enough for Cain and Icarus to hear it.
“Before we begin, I would like to sincerely express my gratitude to His Highnesses for making such a decision,” the host said.
“Woahhh!!”
The host’s latest remark was met by noticeably quieter cheers. The three princes were the cause of this civil war, so how could the citizens thank the princes? The accurate statement would be that they resented the princes. In many ways, the host’s remark seemed absurd to the Empire’s citizens. The host felt the crowd’s mood shifting and quickly continued, “The first battle will now start for the broken-hearted citizens of the Empire! The contender is… don’t be surprised! The youngest Master of the Avalon Empire—no, the continent! The zenith of countless heroes!”
“Woooaaahhhh!!!!!”
Even before the host could finish introducing the contender, the spectators shouted incomparably louder than before. They didn’t even need further explanation. Although he might be an eyesore to the Imperial Family, he was already a hero to ordinary citizens.
“Hooray for the Hero King!”
“Hurrah for Duke Tremblin too!”
“Two heroes came forward for the Empire in its crisis!”
The two men had been missing until now, so their reappearance caused a great stir.
“Well, shit… I have no other choice.” Cain shook his head.
He had been sticking his head out through the window of the waiting room on the second floor to observe the mood inside the colosseum. After a moment, he had a feeling that he and Icarus were stuck between a rock and a hard place, so he pulled out something.
“Wh-what are you doing?” Icarus asked, perplexed.
“Do we have any other choice?” Cain shrugged and put on a robe that only mages would use. “If I also put on a mask…”
“W-wait…” Icarus hesitated.
“We have that white spear they called Hertonya’s masterpiece in our subspace magic pocket, right?” Cain asked.
Icarus’s suspicion turned into conviction, making her gape blankly at Cain. Meanwhile, Cain looked around Icarus’s waist and snatched a small pocket from her.
“Y-you’re not going to do what I’m thinking, are you?” Icarus asked disbelievingly.
“Our heights and physiques are similar, so I’ll be able to fool them for a while.” Although Icarus wasn’t sure when Cain had pulled it out, he had already put on a black lion mask when he looked back at Icarus.
“Get as far away from Arcadia as possible while I stall them.”
“Are you crazy?!” Icarus shouted.
“I’m saying this because I’m not,” he refuted.
“You don’t even know how to use a spear!” Icarus shouted, frantically waving her arms.
“It’s fine,” he reassured her. “I learned a couple of basic techniques over our master’s shoulders.”
Icarus shook her head. “There is no way that will be enough to fool—”
“We don’t have much time,” Cain said. He winked from behind the mask, stymying Icarus’s protest. “I’ll see you alive.”
“Sir Cain…” Icarus looked like she was going to cry.
“Then…” Cain looked away from Icarus and was about to jump down to the first floor of the colosseum.
“Woaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
“The Hero King! The Hero King! The Hero King!”
“Joshua Sanders!”
The spectators roared earsplittingly loud again, making Cain’s eyes widen. He quickly approached the second-floor balustrade and looked down.
“Wh-what? That’s…!”
Icarus also stood beside Cain and boggled at the arena floor. There was someone with the familiar deep blue hair standing in the center of the colosseum with his back turned to the pair.
“Who am I going up against?” the person asked with a low, sonorous voice.
Although the man wasn’t holding his trademark red spear, Cain and Icarus had no trouble figuring out who the man was.
“What? He was there?” Cain heaved a sigh of relief as he took off his mask.
Icarus, on the other hand, noticed something odd.
“But something is… “He’s far away from us, but he seems different than yesterday…” she mused.
“…Hmm?” Cain examined the man as well and tilted his head in confusion. “Wait… Can a doppelganger speak?”