Chapter 599: There's A Tournament?
Chapter 599: There's A Tournament?
Right, erm… Where were we?
Oh yes, we were heading towards the combat slave exhibition section.
Katsuki, as she had told us before, led the way towards the location of said exhibition.
Incidentally, that was located in the very centre of this coliseum shaped building where an arena of sorts had been set up.
I suppose something like that was to be expected and perhaps the whole design of it was based around this reason originally.
There was already a crowd of others there and it was obvious the slaves here were trained to fight with how they were dressed and armed.
There were a few slaves there that seemed to be serving as attendants as they were guiding and directing newcomers towards the stands where they could watch the exhibition.
One female Mahun slave spotted us and came directly towards us.
"Good morning! Are you looking to spectate the exhibition?"
I nodded.
"In that case, please follow the arrows on the walls towards the stands, the exhibition will be starting soon!"
I was about to do as she had instructed when Katsuki asked, "Are there no specific seats for the Nilm Family?"
The girl hesitated, "I… I apologise but there isn't any. It's a free seating event to prevent people from being targeted…"
Targeted? By what? Does she mean like people being assassinated while watching the event or something? I… Don't know how I should feel about that…
Also, I'm pretty sure it has happened before for them to make this consideration, meaning someone died here before.
Hmm… Then again, I guess I should be ok since no one is after me, right? I'm also not some stuck up noble who won't sit with commoners either.
Right then, one of the attendees of the exhibition came over towards us.
"Damn girl, you're a fine piece indeed. Why don't you put your hands up against the wall and let me rail you from behind?"
I thought the guy was talking to one of us but the slave responded to him, "I apologise, sir, but I am not that kind of slave. You'll find them in the pleasure exhibition down by the corridor on your left."
He didn't seem that happy to be rejected "Hey, who the hell do you think you are talking back to me like that? I gave you an order, slave. Do you think you can reject me?!"
The slave frowned at him, "As I said sir, I am not that kind of slave and thus do not provide that kind of service. You will need to go to the pleasure exhibition to find slaves that have consented to being used like that."
"I don't care, I want to do it with you! You should feel honoured that I even feel like doing you!"
"Sir, please step back or I will need to remove you from the premises."
"Remove me?! Do you even know who I am?! Are you actually threatening me?! Who is your master?!"
"Sir, this is your last warning."
"You fucking bitch!"
He raised his fist intending to hit her and the slave girl moved in response.
Her fist hit him in the abdomen, causing him to double over before she smashed her knee into his face.
I watched as the guy fell backwards with blood flying out of his broken nose, the poor dude crashing onto the ground with a dull thud.
I was expecting the others around us to at least react to the spectacle but aside from a few looks, no one really did anything and just continued on their way.
The slave girl then took out a length of rope that she had kept in the pouch on her waist and began tying up the guy with a speed that suggested she had done this before.
Once she was done, she hefted the unconscious guy over her shoulder before turning back to us.
"I apologise for the interruption, please excuse me as I escort him outside. Enjoy the rest of your day dear guests."
Without a second glance back, she walked off with the unconscious guy, presumably to toss him out of here.
"So this place lets the slaves deal with guests using violence if they have to huh?" I mused.
"Wahaha! I guess the wyvern they have guarding the door might not be for show after all!" Odeta laughed.
'That man was really rude.' Delmare scribbled in her notebook.
Lisa moved to my side to whisper in my ear, "Could we go to the pleasure exhibition later, Aster?"
Katsuki turned to me, "Shall we continue, Mistress? You would be seated with others though."
"Hmm? What others? You'll all be seating with me right? That means I'll be seated with you girls!"
Lisa giggled, "Ahaha! Katsuki thought that we would all just be standing nearby instead of staying with you!"
Katsuki frowned, "It would be improper for us to be seated together with Mistress."
"Oh no, no. Sit with me, please?" I requested. "It'll be safer if you were to sit near me instead of being away from me, right?"
"If that is what Mistress wishes, it shall be done."
She's so cute~
We followed the slave girl's previous directions to get to the stands where we would watch the exhibition.
It was especially crowded and pretty much everyone was trying to squeeze in through the corridor to get to the stands.
The girls had surrounded me and used their own bodies to prevent the others from pushing me.
Amongst the crowd, I noticed there were pockets of other people who also had slaves or servants doing the exact same thing too.
When we reached the stands, I could also see pockets within the stands where several people would surround an area to prevent others from sitting close to a certain person or a few persons.
I wondered if this was even allowed until I noticed a merchant yelling out into the crowd from the side.
"Slaves for rent! Use them to get your own private space on the stands! Don't be part of the masses! Rent your own slaves right here! Only ten Creas for the duration of the show! Rent your slaves here!"
I then realised the free seating thing could also be another way to encourage people to get slaves just for this purpose as well.
They're seriously using slaves for everything I see… How cunning…
Obviously I didn't need that so we went to find our own place on the rapidly filling up stands where we would have a good enough view of the arena.
Just as we found a place where we could sit there though, another group of people came in and stopped in front of us, the lead male Mahun frowning at us.
"Hey, we saw this place first, go somewhere else."
I looked around, "There's still other places for you though? Why not just move there since we got here first?"
"No can do. For every slave exhibition we've attended, we've always sat here. So fuck off."
Lisa crossed her arms, "Well I think you should be the one fucking off before you get yourselves hurt."
The guy snapped his fingers, "Oh really?"
A collared Wrunch stepped beside him and started cracking his knuckles menacingly.
I didn't even need to say anything before Odeta stepped up beside me and also cracked her own knuckles in response.
"Beat it, or I beat you," She growled.
The man furrowed his brows, "Do you really want to make this a fight? My slaves can beat your slaves."
I huffed, "First of all, they aren't my slaves but my treasured friends so watch your fucking mouth. Second of all, any of them could beat all of you single handedly so I should be asking you if you are sure you want to make this into a fight?"
The man let out a smirk, "Oh yeah? Well, prove it! Let's enter the combat exhibition as participants then! I'm willing to bet money that my slaves can beat your so-called friends in a fight!"
I blinked at him before turning to Katsuki.
My Inugami maid nodded at the arena, "Guests are allowed to sign up to participate in a sort of tournament where they would pit their slaves in a fight against other slaves. There's individual and group categories and there's prizes for the winners."
"Why would I even want to do this?" I wondered aloud.
The guy scoffed, "Why? Was your claim just a bunch of bullshit? Come on, I challenge you to a slave battle!"
… This guy is serious isn't he?
And he's really doing this over a seat?
"What do I even gain from this?"
He frowned, "What? Is proving that your so-called friends are better than my saves not good enough for you? If you dare to call yourself the Mistress of these girls, then fight me in the arena!"
"That's fine and all but… This doesn't actually solve the problem of who gets the seat now, does it?"
"Hahaha! I'll give it up to you if you were to accept my challenge! Let'os do it! Come on! I bet your little girls can't even beat a little goblin, much less my team!"
…
You know what? Fuck this guy, let's do it.