Chương 4: Hatred for Gods

The order to take off his clothes had come out of nowhere, but Yuto did not hesitate. Right now, obeying Eville was his only choice, regardless of what he wanted. He began to remove his clothes without a single word of complaint. Eville's eyes glinted as she watched him.

"What a clean body you have," she said, her eyes scanning his naked form.

"Not a single wound or illness in sight. I would guess you received plenty of love and care growing up. So what were you doing, passed out in the forest all by yourself?"

"I'm not sure," Yuto said politely. Eville felt her chin briefly, then nodded to him.

"Put your clothes back on and get out of here," she said.

"Yes." He did so, and as soon as he was out the doorway, she tilted her head to the side and murmured to herself.

"Where in the world did he come from? He's obviously not a slave." She had seen many, many slaves in her time.

"I don't see any of the qualities of a slave in him. He seems perceptive, but it's not the sort of tactfulness that comes from slave training. As for the way he fought, he had the moves of a nobleman's son who had undergone rigorous training in a warrior's house—or rather, he seemed accustomed to real battle." Eville tapped her feet together as they rested on the edge of the desk, lost in thought.

"But his body is quite underdeveloped for all that. What a riddle," she said.

"Do you believe his claim that he has lost his memory?" one of the guards asked.

"Honestly, not one bit. It's just too convenient. But I don't care if he was lying. He's already a slave, and I own him now." She cackled under her breath. The choker that had been latched around Yuto's neck was a magical device meant to keep slaves in order. It would be impossible for him to get rid of it by himself, and if he tried to force it off, the choker would constrict until the head fell right off.

Not only that, as long as he was wearing it, he would not be able to attack Eville, while she would be able to behead him with a single flick of a finger.

"I could torture him to get him to spit out his secrets, but he's a promising product and I don't want to wreck him. I'll leave him be for the time being," she said. She had many more things to think about and did not wish to waste her time on some slave. She grinned and lowered her feet from the desk.

"The Crimson Ringmistress will be visiting my Colosseum a week from now. I'm sure you're aware of how much effort I put into securing this event," she said.

"Yes, of course." The Crimson Ringmistress was one of the Eclipses, a monstrously powerful being that not even entire kingdoms dared to oppose. She had created the Arena of Blood and ruled over it, and she was Eville's role model. The dreamlike memory of her visit to the place when she was little had driven Eville to create this Colosseum and force her slaves to fight each other. I invited her many times, but I never thought she would actually agree to come... It still felt like a dream to her.

A week from now, her hero, the Crimson Ringmistress, would be visiting this place. It was a joke compared to the Ringmistress's Arena of Blood, but Eville intended to put on the best show possible.

* The woman waiting at the door put a blindfold on Yuto again as soon as he walked back out. Then she led him along to some mysterious destination.

"This is where you will be staying from now on," she said after they had passed through several doors and climbed a staircase. The blindfold finally came off. They were standing in front of a thick metal door. Yuto looked around him and saw that similar metal doors were everywhere. She opened the lock. The woman was wearing the same choker as Yuto. He had many questions, but it was obvious he wouldn't be getting any answers. He thought better of it and walked inside.

The interior was far better than the cell he had been forced to live in so far. Eville hadn't been lying about the rewards at the Colosseum—the tiny room did have a bed, and a small desk bore a tray with food that was far better than prison fare. The door shut, and the lock clicked into place. Yuto let out a long sigh. For starters, he sat in the chair and began to eat. I wonder what happened to the others. He didn't even know their names, with the exception of Jackie.

And it wasn't as though he had grown to like them, just because they shared the same cell as him. But he did wonder what happened to the slave boys. They probably hadn't been killed. Maybe they had been brought back to their original cell and were forced to wait until the next opportunity came along. Yuto bit his lip.

What was that quest thing earlier? As soon as he had that thought, the same interface appeared in front of him.

[Starter Quest.] [Escape from this place.] [Reward:???] It didn't appear to be a hallucination. Yuto chewed on his bread and glared at it.

So it wants me to escape. That I understand. But what is this reward? No amount of staring revealed what was behind the question marks. He sighed again. The tray was already empty. Smacking his lips with disappointment, he fell onto the bed. It wasn't particularly soft, but there was no comparison to the cold, hard prison floor. He glared at the dark ceiling. Yuto. That is my name. The only thing I know.

He didn't know what he had been doing up to this point, or even how old he was.

There's no point in thinking about a past I can't remember. I should think about the future instead.

Eville had promised freedom once he won enough times in the Colosseum, but Yuto wasn't naïve enough to believe this.

How do I get out of here?

He could not disobey her as long as he wore the choker around his neck. Would he be able to assassinate her if he tried? Probably not.

If I had refused to put it on, she would have killed me on the spot. I had no choice. He continued to think about ways he could escape when somebody thumped on the wall from the next room.

"Hey! New boy! Looks like you've forgotten to pay your respects. That is the first thing you should do. How long do you plan on staying quiet?" A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Leave him be. He probably just got out of that f*cking prison cell, and is losing his mind over the food," said someone from the opposite room. Yuto got up and looked at both walls.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Isn't he a rude little brat? Show some respect. We were here before you, bastard!" shouted the voice from the first room.

"Are you done with your food? Huh? Eat while you can, because tomorrow you're about to lose a few teeth!"

"Don't be scared of him. He's a pushover," said the second voice from the opposite wall, cackling.

"So, how do you like your room? Much better than that horrible cell, isn't it? But let me warn you, this place is just as unpleasant. You'd better steel yourself for what's coming." The second voice was far nicer compared to the first one. Yuto moved closer to that wall.

"And who are you?" he asked, a little more respectfully.

"Well now, you're polite all of a sudden, huh? I guess you've learned some manners, at least. I'm Lugil. Sixteen years old. As for my record... three wins and seven losses."

"And real proud of it too, are you? You couldn't even get a win rate of 50%. How dare you presume to judge me?" grumbled the first voice.

"Record..." Yuto murmured. Lugil laughed.

"You'll be given a better room once you get to ten wins. It's horribly tough, though."

"Hehe! New boy. Remember that bastard Lugil's voice. Do you think he's being nice to you? It's all a sham. If he goes up against you tomorrow, he's going to be so happy that he gets a free win!"

"Shut up, Garon," Lugil shot at him. Lugil was in the left room, and Garon was in the right. Yuto memorized the names.

"My name is Yuto. How long have you two been here?" he asked.

"Twenty days," Lugil said.

"You idiot. You really are trying to cozy up to him, aren't you? Answering every one of his questions. Eager to skin him alive, I'll bet!" Garon said.

"I said shut—" Lugil began, but someone banged on a metal door from outside.

"Shut up, all of you. Do you have a death wish, you bastards?" a vicious voice bellowed. Lugil and Garon went silent immediately. Apparently, there were guards here as well, but unlike in the prison, this guard did not come into the cell and beat them.

Fighters are valuable products, Yuto thought. After the angry footsteps had moved away, Yuto moved close to the left wall and spoke in a quiet voice, "What happens when you lose a match, Lugil?"

"You don't die, if that's what you're asking," Lugil responded, also in a quiet voice.

"The matches are not to the death. If you pass out or surrender, then it's over. But there are no absolutes, because there are no rules or judges." If somebody didn't manage to surrender or died before they could pass out, then that would be it.

"There are some death matches, though, for the ones who lose too many times or become too injured to fight properly. People like that are forced to fight each other to the death, or with Evomon..."

"Evomon?" Yuto asked, frowning. Just because he couldn't remember his past didn't mean he lacked common knowledge. Faintly, he could recall what Evomon were—a non-human race that lived in nature and formed contracts with humans to evolve.

"They make humans fight Evomon?" he asked.

"Yes, and the audience at the Colosseum loves it when it happens. None of us have a contract with a Constellation." Constellation. Yuto had a splitting headache as soon as he heard that word. He grabbed his head.

"When a human and an Evomon fight, it's mostly the human who dies. We're given weapons, of course, but how the fuck are we supposed to defeat Evomon?" Lugil grumbled. His voice sounded far away because of the headache. Yuto gritted his teeth. Dark emotion bubbled inside him as soon as he heard the word "Constellation." His heart raced and his nails bit into his palms as he balled his fists. But why... why am I angry?

Whatever it was he was feeling, it was too complicated to describe as simple rage. This was pure hatred that came from the depths of his being. Where had it come from? He bit his lip.

Constellations. They were the creators of this world, godlike beings who gazed down upon humanity from above and granted blessings. That was common knowledge, but something about this memory disgusted him. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Yuto lay in bed, unable to think about the topic any further. Who am I?

Nobody could answer this question for him. He stared blankly at the ceiling.

[Reward:???] If he ever got out of here, would he get some of his memories back? Wondering about this, he clamped his eyes shut.

* The next morning, Yuto opened his eyes to a banging on his metal door.

"Get up, new boy. Planning to sleep all day?" came the rough voice of the guard. Yuto slowly sat up. He had forced himself to fall asleep because his thoughts were such a complicated mess. And surprisingly enough, he slept very well. Starting today, he would fight. He wasn't sure with whom, but a lack of sleep slowed a person down. He knew this by instinct. A small aperture opened at the bottom of the door, and a tray was passed in.

It was food similar to what he had eaten yesterday, far better than what he was used to getting in his cell.

"I'll come for you in two hours. Finish your food before then and be ready," the guard spat. Then his footsteps faded away. Yuto emptied the tray, then started to stretch. He heard movement from Lugil and Garon's rooms, but they didn't talk to him like they had yesterday. He knew that they were tense about the fighting they would be doing today. Too many losses would mean fighting in death matches instead of ordinary ones. From what he had heard yesterday, both of them had more losses on their record than wins.

Maybe they would suddenly be forced to fight to the death today. Two hours later, the metal door opened. Surprisingly enough, the guard did not have a choker around his neck. Neither did the guard in the prison. That meant not everybody at the Colosseum was Eville's slave. The guards that Eville kept close, however, had all worn chokers. That alone was enough to tell him what kind of person Eville was. She never trusted anyone. Maybe I'll have to make use of the guards in order to escape.

If he became more valuable as a fighter, Eville would want to let him go even less. But there were still opportunities. This Colosseum wasn't only for her own enjoyment. People came to watch the fights. I'll think about bribing the guards later. The easiest option seems to be to impress one of the guests and make them buy me.

It would just be moving from one master to the next, but at least he would be able to get out of here. He walked out of the doorway. Every door in the corridor was open, and fighters were standing at each door. Yuto looked at those on either side of him, Lugil and Garon. They looked terrible. Lugil had a bandage over his left eye, and Garon was unable to stand up straight, his body tilted to the side. His right foot was bandaged, and yellow pus and blood seeped out through the fabric.

The other fighters, whose names he didn't know, weren't all that different. The only person among the twenty people standing in the corridor was Yuto, who had only arrived yesterday.

"Come with me," said the guard, who had a dark club resting on his shoulder. The twenty fighters followed him. At the end of the corridor was another metal door. It opened to reveal a spacious room. The other end had iron bars instead of a wall, and outside those bars was the Colosseum from yesterday. Yuto gulped and looked out through the bars. Yesterday, only Eville had been sitting among the seats, but now there were quite a few people there.

In the front row seats, which were closest, sat people who were obviously dressed in expensive clothes that were noticeable from afar, along with Eville herself.

"As you can see, quite a few nobles have come today," the guard said.

"Though they're not here to see the likes of you, of course. But if you fight well enough, maybe they will choose to sponsor you." The guard grinned and turned to Yuto.

"But I don't know about you, new boy. If the nobles feel interested enough in your fighting that they send you some money, you will be given benefits that match the contribution—special meals, medication, weapons, armor, and the like." This told Yuto enough to understand how things worked around here. A fighter's quality of life depended on the sponsorship of the nobles. Getting sponsorship meant eating better food than usual or receiving medicine that could help with injuries.

If he received weapons or armor, he would be that much more likely to win his next fight.

"That's the list of matches right there. Take a close look," the guard said. There was a large piece of paper stuck to one of the walls. The fighters who were already accustomed to this place had gathered in front of it. Some cheered, and others despaired.

Gedrick.

Yuto didn't recognize the name. He was staring at it when somebody grabbed his shoulder from behind.

"I'll be your match today. Nice to meet you." The boy was at least a head taller than Yuto. He was not a big boy, but there was a frightening glint in his eyes.

"Don't be scared. Our master will scold us if we do too much damage to someone in their first fight. And we do need to have at least one idiot among us." Gedrick grinned, showing his teeth. His teeth were irregular, and a few were missing. Yuto stared at his face, at the twisted smile and the eyes that tried to intimidate him. But Yuto felt no fear. I guess he doesn't mind if I damage him? That seemed to be the case. Yuto grabbed Gedrick by the collar and pulled him down.

"Huh?" Gedrick said, surprised. Yuto's head smashed into his face with a dull thud. Gedrick screamed and backed away. His lips dripped blood, and another tooth fell out.

"Just restoring some balance," Yuto muttered quietly. Now both of Gedrick's front teeth were gone.