Chương 7: Sly as a Snake

The woman did not take him to Eville's room, which Yuto had visited yesterday. Instead, she took him to a fancy dining room. On the ceiling hung crystal chandeliers that scattered light everywhere, and there was a long dining table covered with a pure white tablecloth. It was set with all manner of food. There were whole roasted animals, soup that released steam, colorful fruits and bread, and other delicious-smelling dishes.

The usual food he got in his cell and in the room he had been moved to after becoming a fighter could not hope to compare with these.

"So the new boy is here!" Eville sat at the end of the table. She welcomed him with open arms.

"Come on, sit down. All of this was prepared for you," she said, beaming at him. He wasn't surprised by the welcome. Yuto's debut fight had attracted the biggest reaction from the crowd today. Eville was the owner of both the slaves and the Colosseum, and pleasing the crowd could change the life of a fighter. Eville had decided Yuto was worth better treatment.

"You can eat all of it. In fact, ask for more if there is anything else you want," she said. Yuto bowed his head politely. There were only two chairs at the table: the one Eville occupied and another across from her at the opposite end. Yuto sat down and ran his eyes over the food. He was already salivating. He didn't try to hide his hunger and reached for the food immediately. There were knives and forks available, but he didn't bother to use them. It wasn't that he didn't know how, of course.

I seem to know how these foods are supposed to be eaten. He didn't even have to think about it. Proper table manners were ingrained in him. Just like when he had fought and gripped the sword in his hand, he could probably use a fork and knife with the same level of skill. Even though he felt this, he didn't reach for the table utensils. It would be odd for a slave to be so familiar with how nobles ate at a table. Yuto used his bare hands to grab bread and eat it.

He did grip a fork, but without any refinement, and shoved it into the food he wanted to eat. Eville's eyes gleamed as he ate hungrily.

"I love watching you eat. You must have been very hungry. Of course you were. You've been fighting a lot and standing around for quite a bit as well."

"I've never eaten anything like this," Yuto said without fully chewing his food, letting some of it fall out of his mouth as he spoke. This was a deliberate part of his act, meant to make him appear like an ignorant slave. She laughed out loud.

"Of course you haven't. Don't just use your hands and fork. Try the knife, too. You seemed to be really good with sharp metal earlier."

"Thank you," Yuto said. He didn't act overly confident or arrogant, and bowed his head as if touched by the special treatment he was getting. He used his other hand to grab a knife and slice some meat clumsily, as if he were using a saw. Eville cackled.

"Eat while you listen. I have to tell you, I was very satisfied with your fight today. And not just me. You heard people cheering for you, right? Who knew that someone from the lower league could excite the crowd to such an extent?"

"I'm glad to hear that you are satisfied, Mistress," he said.

"Hahaha! Oh, more than satisfied. To be honest, I didn't know that you would do so well in your first fight. The other boy was quite vicious, but you made him look like a joke. Keep it up, just like you did today. In fact, try to do better, and I will make sure you're fed the same kind of food you're eating today," she said.

"Yes, Mistress. I will do my best," Yuto said, his lips covered with sauce.

"You saw the VIPs sitting next to me, right? They're all nobles just like me. They don't usually pay attention to the lower league, but that crazy fox really interested them last time. And you know what they told me today? Your match was even more fun than the fox's!" Yuto's hand paused at the mention of the fox.

"One of them actually sent you a gift. Do you know what it is? A sword!" Eville grinned and raised her hand. A guard who had been standing at the door approached Yuto and handed him the sword he had been holding. It was just an ordinary weapon, no masterwork blade. Yuto didn't take it right away and instead turned to look at Eville. She smiled, satisfied, and nodded.

"You can take it. Try drawing the sword," she said.

"May I?"

"Haha! Of course." Yuto would not be able to attack her, even if he had access to a real weapon. If he did, she would just activate his choker and snip his head right off. Yuto did not intend to try anything so meaningless. What he had to show right now was loyalty to her and gratitude for the treatment he was getting. He rubbed the sauce he had on his hands on his pants and took the sword reverently.

"You won't be able to carry the sword around all the time, of course. You're only allowed to use it during a match," she said.

"Yes, I am well aware. A guard granted Gedrick a sword earlier," Yuto said.

"Gedrick? Oh, Gedrick. You must mean the one that you cut up? Yes, he was pretty promising in the lower league, but who knew somebody would come along and maim him?"

"I apologize for ruining one of your fighters," Yuto said.

"Haha! You don't need to apologize about that. There's plenty more where he came from. And the ones that are maimed have their own uses. Fights between broken boys are very popular. They're more desperate and cruel," Eville said. She cupped her chin and swished the drink in her glass.

"So don't worry about ruining another fighter. I would rather you didn't do it too often, but sometimes it's all right to kill them," she said.

"Is there a reason I should do this sometimes?" he asked.

"If you do it every time, killing them won't be special anymore. Deaths are a popular events here at the Colosseum. That's why that fox is a bit of a problem. Evomon are easier to find than human combatants, but I can't have it killing its opponents every time," she said. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"The crazy fox..." Yuto murmured. He politely put down his sword and glanced at his food. Eville cackled and nodded to him, giving him permission. Yuto resumed wolfing it down.

"Will I be required to fight it one day?" he asked.

"Well, it would be a waste to do that with you. Though maybe it will happen if we can get the fox to behave a little," Eville said, bringing her glass to her lips. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Yuto from beneath her long eyelashes.

"Did you know that we found that fox in the same forest as you? It was running wild, burning everything around it, and my men and I subdued it ourselves," she said.

"The same forest as me?" Yuto asked.

"Why are you so surprised? That forest is filled with wild animals and Evomon. That fox, though, has never been seen before in that forest. We don't know what species it is."

"Maybe I lost my memories because that thing attacked me," Yuto said cautiously. Eville shrugged.

"How would I know? But that fox did run toward your lobby earlier. It occurred to me that it might have some connection to you. Not that we will ever find out more, since that fox is mindless and can't even talk, and you can't remember anything." Yuto went silent.

"Why do you ask? Are you interested in the fox? I don't plan to have it fight you. Both of you are quite popular without it. No matter how well you fight, facing that thing without even knowing how to use ether would be asking to be killed." Eville put down her glass, which was empty now.

"What I'm trying to say is that you don't have to worry. I saw a lot of potential after your fight today. I think you will have no trouble winning consecutive matches in the lower league and moving up to the middle league. If you are successful there, you can climb to the upper league, and then, if you continue that trend, you'll get your freedom."

"Freedom..."

"Of course, the more you please the audience, the more things you will get to enjoy. At some point, food like this may become part of your everyday routine. You'll get bigger and better rooms and so on. So keep on fighting and give it some thought. To be honest, you might even prefer life in here, enjoying all the benefits I give you and continuing to fight, to life outside." Eville smiled, watching Yuto's expression change. Then she got to her feet.

"I should be going now. I know you won't be able to eat comfortably with me watching. You can talk to that guard behind you if there's anything more you want to eat." Yuto immediately, but clumsily, got to his feet and bowed to her. Eville laughed out loud and clapped her hands together.

"Go on, relax. Enjoy yourself," she said. Then she left the dining room. Only after the door had closed behind her did he sit down again. Eville was gone now, leaving him in the room with only a few guards, and next to him was the sword he had received earlier. He didn't even look at it as he resumed eating.

She's as sly as a snake, he thought as he ate. Eville was skillful in using both carrot and stick. In the prison, she broke her slaves through violence and hunger, while in the Colosseum, she trained them to become accustomed to being treated well or poorly depending on their level of skill. She often mentioned freedom as bait, all the while letting them experience how good life could get inside this place, and planting a different sort of desire in them.

It was to make them give up their freedom of their own volition and make them stay here instead. It was a simple yet smart approach. The slaves, once trained, would prefer the immediately attainable pleasures to a freedom that seemed so far away and unpredictable. At first, they might want freedom from the bottom of their hearts, but once they grew accustomed to the cheering of the crowd and the easy life they could enjoy here, their minds would crumble.

At a certain point, they might not even want to escape anymore.

That's not going to happen to me, Yuto thought, swallowing his food. All of this good treatment was just to lure him in. Even if he got better food tomorrow, and eventually a more luxurious room, he was just a caged animal while he was here. On an instinctive level, he hated the idea of somebody looking down on him and training him like a creature they owned. He couldn't say with any certainty why this was the case, or why he felt so repulsed by the idea. I know how to fight with a sword.

I know noble table manners, and I am aware of how it feels to look down on others from a higher rank. His memories were empty, but there was so much that his body remembered. That dissonance confused him, but he kept on cramming his mouth full of food, behaving like a faithful but hungry slave. He ate as much as he could. Eville had already left, but the guards were her eyes. The crazy fox...

He kept on remembering that small Evomon with its blindfold and chains.

It was found in the same forest as me. Could that be a coincidence? He doubted it. He did not remember its name, nor recall spending time with it, but he was confident that he knew that fox somehow.

* A few days had passed since Yuto joined the lower league of fighters. In that time, Yuto had fought two more times. Each match made the audience excited about him. It was possible for him to end both matches quickly, but he didn't do that. It would disappoint the watchers, and so he made sure that every fight was purposefully interesting. Even though he had a sword now, he did not use it from the start. Instead, he plunged it into the dirt openly and backed away, making the opponent grab it.

If he didn't do that, he used the sword fully sheathed, beating his opponent with it as if it were a blunt instrument. This skilled showmanship only pleased the crowd even more. In his second match, there were more nobles in the VIP seats than at his first, and in the third match, the number of nobles increased yet again. After each battle, Eville invited Yuto to a meal. The second match netted him a helmet from a noble, and after the third match, he received some other armor.

There were other gifts as well, which impacted his room. The first thing to change was his bed, which was replaced with a larger, more comfortable one. And then he received a new chair and a desk. After that, things that would help him be less bored while in his room, such as paper and pen, were given to him. Naturally, the food he was served also changed.

"I envy you so f*cking much," Garon said from behind the wall. At every meal, three times a day, Garon would sit close to a crack in the wall and sniff the food in Yuto's room while eating his own meal.

"If you envy me, you should try to fight better too," Yuto said.

"Do you think I want to lose?" Garon grumbled. Garon and Lugil had lost their previous matches. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten hurt, and this would not prevent them from doing well in their next fight. But they still had more losses than wins. It terrified every fighter in the lower league, including them, that they could be dragged to a death match at any moment.

"Don't just lie on the floor and rest. Do something. Practice. Do you want me to teach you?" Yuto asked.

"And how do you plan to do that?" Garon asked.

"I'll ask the mistress the next time I eat with her. It will please her if there are others in the lower league who fight in a more interesting way," he said.

"Do you mean that?" Lugil asked in a shocked voice from the other wall.

"Of course I do," Yuto said. He was still pretending to be a faithful slave and a fighter, but he wasn't suggesting this only to please his supposed master. He had chatted with these two over several days through the wall, and he had grown to like them somewhat. He wouldn't be comfortable if they ended up fighting a death match, never to be seen again.

"Ahem... Well, if you're willing, I won't refuse," Garon said.

"Thank you—" Lugil began. Loud footsteps suddenly approached them. The guards weren't usually around at this time of day, and the footsteps sounded very hurried.

"All of you! G-get ready!" the guard said urgently. Yuto cocked his head and approached the door. Fighters of the lower league were not allowed to ask questions, but Yuto was already enjoying many privileges.

"What's happening?" he asked.

"A-a very important guest is here! You have ten minutes—no, five! Hurry up!" the guard stammered.

A very important guest? It was already far past noon, and there were no lower-league battles planned for the day. Yuto moved away, puzzled. Whoever this is, they are far more important than the nobles who usually come here. He realized that today might be a tremendous opportunity.