Chapter 18

A rather noisy night passed.
Neither Lucas, nor Serpens, nor the people in the rooms around them were able to sleep properly.
The cause was Serpens.

“Did you train all night?”
“Not all night……. I didn’t do that much. I think I swung about five hundred times.”
“Overdoing it becomes poison instead.”
“I haven’t trained lately. You can think of it as making up for it all at once.”
“……That is overdoing it.”

The guests’ gazes toward Serpens were sharp.
To those with dark circles under their eyes, Serpens had become the worst guest in the next room.

Lucas looked at Serpens as he tried to order breakfast.
Now that the boy no longer even cared about the price, he was simply irritating.

“Lucas! They said lamb came in at dawn! Fresh lamb!”
“…….”

Meat first thing in the morning.
Lucas clicked his tongue at the luxury of youth.
That didn’t mean he stopped him.

“What will you eat, Lucas?”
“You speak as if you are the one buying.”
“…….”

Serpens hesitated for a moment, then changed his expression.

“Lord Lucas. I want to eat lamb. What food will you have? I think it’s only right to match the food of the person buying.”

It was an expression that naturally invited a fist.

“Just order.”

Lucas turned his head and chose a place to sit.
The better Serpens’s mood became, the more drained Lucas felt.

The streets of Oratio during the day were livelier than those of other places.
Even though it was relatively early, merchants had begun doing business, and there were quite a few customers out to buy goods.

“Where are we going?”
“We are going to train.”
“No matter how I look at it, there does not seem to be a training ground, or even anything similar, around here.”

As they left the inn, Serpens had made a request of Lucas.

To make him strong, at least strong enough that he would not have to hesitate when saving others.

Lucas accepted indifferently, even while knowing it would be difficult.
Because even if Serpens hadn’t asked, he had intended to do that anyway.

“Training is not only rolling around on dirt.”
“You could roll around on grass too.”
“That is true.”
“……I said that while prepared to get cursed at.”
“Is that so? It wasn’t wrong, so you won’t be cursed at.”

A boring human. A human with no laughter in him.
Serpens vowed that from next time, he would not use such pathetic wordplay.

“Ah, so where are we going?”
“The Apex Tournament.”
“Apex…… what?”
“The Apex Tournament. It is one of the largest events in the empire.”

The Apex Tournament.
An event where the strong from the three empires, Oratio, Natura, and Calor, gathered to decide who stood above the others.
The fights between strong individuals representing each empire drew the interest of countless people.
As a result, the event that had been created to honor harmony grew larger every year and became the event it was today.

‘There is much one can learn just by watching the strong fight.’

Swordsmen, archers, magicians, and more.
Even if not all of them, many strong individuals participated in the event.
Lucas hoped Serpens would grow by watching their sparring.
He hoped he would be able to understand how to deal with swords, bows, and magic.

‘I only hope he has enough of an eye for that.’

Of course, not everyone could understand simply by watching.
Because it was an area only those who had worked hard, only those with talent, could enter.

“You will know once we go.”
“Tsk. Would it hurt to explain before we go?”
“It can prevent you from whining when you dislike it.”
“…….”

At the words that were more reasonable than expected, Serpens shut his mouth.

After walking along the road behind Lucas for several minutes.
Before long, Serpens could see a dome-shaped stone building that suited a large event.

“Are all the buildings in the capital this big?”
“There are more of them than in other places.”
“That dome-shaped building alone looks more than half the size of Satus.”

Serpens opened his mouth as he looked at the massive building.
More than half of Satus.
That was no exaggeration at all.

Even if Satus was called a village, it was ultimately a small village.
Of course, it might be larger than villages deep in the forest, but considering that there were fewer than forty households living in Satus, comparing it to Oratio, the capital, was meaningless.

“How many people can fit in there?”
“I heard it’s around fifty thousand.”
“Fifty thousand???”

Serpens corrected his thought.
It might not be half the village, but the entire village that could fit inside.

The closer they got to the building, the more crowded it became.
It was only natural, since all the nearby residents had gathered here.

“Lucas! Are we sure we can get in?”

Serpens asked as he was jostled by people.
It was a crowd dangerous enough that letting his guard down would be risky.

“We can get in.”

Lucas walked at his usual pace.
He didn’t care about the people bumping into him and simply walked calmly.
As the people who bumped into his body were pushed away, Serpens hurriedly slipped into that gap.

“I’ve never seen the number fifty thousand in my life, but…… isn’t this probably more than fifty thousand?”
“It likely is. The people in the capital alone exceed that number, and people from the empire, as well as elves and dwarves, will gather too.”
“Elves and dwarves?”
“Yes.”

Serpens’s eyes sparkled.
Serpens repeated, muttering elves and dwarves.
The boy looked thoroughly excited before he knew it.

“Do not have pointless fantasies. They are just humans with slightly long ears, or humans who are very short.”
“I don’t have fantasies like that.”
“You look excited.”
“Of course I’m excited!”
“Did you not say you had no fantasies?”
“What are you talking about? No matter how backwater our Satus is, we still get all the rumors.”
“Rumors?”
“Euhehe.”

Serpens laughed slyly.
Even as he was pushed around by the crowd, he never lost that smile.

‘I heard things from elves and dwarves are that expensive. If there are any dropped items, I should pick them up.’

The boy’s smile wasn’t pure.
And that was something Lucas also noticed.

“Let’s hurry in, Lucas!”
“I was about to.”
“What……? What do you mean you were about to, when the line is this long……?”
“…….”
“Lucas?”

Grab.

“Ah, wait.”

Only when Lucas grabbed him by the nape did Serpens sense that something was wrong.

“Lucas. How about we just normally stand in line and go in?”
“It is a waste of time.”
“It’ll harm the people beside us. Cutting in line is bad, you know.”
“It won’t harm them. Also, we are going to different seats from them, so strictly speaking, it isn’t cutting in line.”

Different seats. Serpens could not understand.
But he could definitely tell that the grip on the nape of his neck was gradually gaining strength.

“Ah, seriously, wait-!”

Pung!

The two shot up into the sky.

“You crazy human!”

Because of Lucas’s leap, Serpens experienced the feeling of running through the sky.
That feeling was truly terrifying.

“Uaaaaaaak!”

The only thing he could feel was the hand gripping the nape of his neck.
He wanted that hand to put him down at once, while also wanting it never to let go.

Tat.

Lucas landed on top of the dome-shaped building.
Serpens hung limp like a corpse and looked as if his soul had left him.

“Let’s go down.”
“Crazy human.”
“I leaped so that the people around us wouldn’t be harmed.”
“I was harmed, you lunatic.”
“There are no external injuries.”
“Sometimes wounds of the heart hurt more than external injuries.”
“…….”
“Don’t look at me with that expression.”

Lucas clearly showed no change in expression.
But Serpens could instinctively feel it.
If he kept blabbering even a little more, he would surely be dropped from this building.

“Be careful, Lucas. It’s a dome-shaped building, so you could slip if you’re not careful.”
“…….”
“I was worried, okay, worried!”
“I will take care of worrying about my own body.”
“Yes, yes. From now on, I’ll just worry about my own terribly weak body.”
“You should.”

Serpens let out a sigh.
He had no idea what kind of conversation he was supposed to have.
Jokes did not work, and neither did concern.
He was simply a boring human.

“So. How are we going down?”

Serpens looked around.
The top of the building where a fierce wind blew.
Even when he narrowed his eyes and looked, he could not find any structure that looked like stairs.

“No matter how I look, there are no stairs……. What crazy thing are you trying to do this time?”

When the boy looked back at Lucas again.
His greatsword was in his hand.

When he held his greatsword, it meant he was going to split or cut something.
In a place like this wide-open place, what in the world was he trying to kill?

At that moment, an ominous thought passed through Serpens’s mind.
What was he going to split? What was he trying to kill?
The only things here were…….

“Fuck.”

Himself and the massive stone building.

Bang!

Before Serpens had any chance to stop him, Lucas brought his sword down.

Kugugugu.

In the aftermath, the ground beneath their feet began to collapse.

“Ha…… haha.”

Balancing his shaking body, Serpens approached Lucas.
Then he presented the nape of his neck.

“Hold tight.”
“I was planning to.”

Grab.

Serpens, grabbed by the nape again, resigned himself.
It felt as if he had truly become a dog.
It was by no means a good feeling.

Falling was similar to leaping, yet completely different.
If leaping was breaking through the wind and rising, falling felt as if his body was trying to stick to the ground.
His flesh, his organs, and everything but his mind seemed to be trying to touch the ground.

“Uwaak!”

But the fear lasted only a moment.
Serpens began to feel amazement at the sight unfolding before his eyes.

The crowd of people that looked as if it easily surpassed fifty thousand.
Sitting in a massive circle, they were all shouting toward one place.

“Beat him to a pulp, Bear! How can a human lose to an elf!”
“Lord Viento! We believe in you!”
“Do not lose, Trum! Show the pride of the dwarves!”

Humans. Elves. Dwarves.
Tens of thousands from the three races shouted their passion toward the three standing in the arena.

It was truly a spectacle among spectacles.
A match that brought out unity with atmosphere alone, competitive spirit through that unity, and fun through that competitive spirit.
Only then did Serpens understand what it meant for this to be the empire’s largest event.

If there was one unfortunate point, it was that he was falling from the sky.

“Uaaaaak! Lucas! Stop, stop!”

The boy’s scream did not reach the audience.
But the three beings below the boy heard it all too well.
To be precise, they sensed it clearly.

‘……!’

The human Bear Rooster, holding a double-bladed axe.
The elf Viento, holding a rapier.
The dwarf Trum, drawing a bowstring.

To them, who had passed a certain level, the energy of the approaching existence was far too threatening.

Tadat.

“Kkewek!”

Lucas and Serpens reached the middle of the arena.
Only then did the audience begin to sense something strange at the sudden intrusion of uninvited guests.

“Uh, uh!”

The audience shouted.
But it was not a shout directed at the two of them.

Fragments of the building falling threateningly from the sky.
It was secondary damage caused by the place Lucas had destroyed.

“……As expected, humans carry troublesome things around with them.”

The dwarf Trum gripped his bow.
Placed on the string was a single arrow.

Swaek!

When the arrow left the bowstring.

Kukwang! Bang! Kwakang!

The fragments became powder and made the air above the arena hazy for a moment.

“Uwaaaa!”

The audience cheered once again, and the competitors merely took hold of their weapons again indifferently.

“The sudden appearance of uninvited guests! The resulting threat has been resolved by the dwarf representative Trum’s destruction of it!”

At that moment, Serpens frowned.
A man’s voice that seemed as if it would burst his ears.
It was too loud to believe it was simply a sound coming from someone’s throat.

“This is magic too, Serpens.”
“Eh? Really? Who’s using it?”

Lucas pointed to one side of the sky.
A small hot-air balloon was floating there.
When Serpens looked closely, a person who seemed to be the owner of the voice was riding in it.
It was too far to see his face, but his voice sounded even closer than if it were right beside him.

“Now, now! Please calm down, everyone! Though there have not been many cases, there have been cases where uninvited guests intrude into the match!”

The announcer smoothly continued his job.
Of course, he was flustered, but he couldn’t show it.
Because a special guest had come to the arena today.

“You two who fell from the sky over there! I assume you fell knowing the rules of the Apex Tournament!”

Once again, an ominous feeling swept over his entire body.
Serpens looked at Lucas with eyes wide open.
Whether he knew how Serpens felt or not, the announcer shouted at the top of his voice again.

“Even if you didn’t know, it doesn’t matter! Once you enter the arena, participating in the match is the rule of the Apex Tournament!”

At the announcer’s shout, Lucas only blinked quietly.

“……There was no rule like this three years ago.”
“What?”

Lucas glanced at Serpens, then gripped his greatsword.

Whoosh!

Kang!

At the thunderous sound that rang out behind his head, Serpens’s legs gave out.

“Tsk. I was trying to take out the weak one first.”

The one who had attacked was Bear Rooster.
He was someone whose body moved the moment he heard the announcer’s words.

“…….”
“I don’t know what you intended by interrupting the match, but it won’t go as you please, pal.”

A build larger than a bear.
Bear, wearing armor that exposed the muscles of his arms, swung his double-bladed axe once more.

Kwaang!

The collision of greatsword and axe.
Beneath them was Serpens, who felt as if he would lose his mind.

Swaek!

Kwajik.

An arrow was caught in Lucas’s left hand.

“Tsk. That was an opening, and yet he caught it.”

The dwarf with a long orange beard drew his bowstring once more.

An axe in front, a bow at a distance.
Lucas was facing a dangerous moment, but as always, his face remained calm.

“Serpens.”
“Uaaak! What!”
“Watch closely.”

Shring.

After Lucas threw away the arrow caught in his hand, he took his stance.
It was not a grand stance, nor a solemn one. He was simply standing with his sword in hand.
But more than any other stance, the openings allowed to the enemy were narrow.

“I will show you how to face two people.”