Chapter 96 :

Episode 96 — Penalty

Regardless of the shock Lia had suffered, one that shook her entire life from its roots, the tournament continued as it was.

“Edan from Group 12 and Ran from Group 34!”

As my name was called, I left the waiting room and stepped into the arena.

Edan, who had already come out and was waiting, had a face stiffer than ever before.

He must have been certain Lia would be eliminated.

If the temple postponed Lia’s judgment, he probably planned to get payback on me in the first match and then cleanly seize the championship.

“Life does not go the way you want, does it?”

Seeing his face, full of frustration, I could not leave out the sarcasm.

Edan, who had been staring into empty air, raised his eyes.

“What did you do?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that question? What were you plotting?”

He looked like he had many things to ask, but putting all of that aside, he brought out the words he wanted to say most.

“You seem to have forgotten, but the one cornered right now is not me, but you.”

It was unfortunate that what he chose after all that was only a cheap threat.

Now that things had turned out like this, it seemed he at least wanted to keep his vow to grind my mouth apart.

It was a chilling threat, but I was not afraid.

“It was strange from the start.”

“What was?”

He asked back at my mutter.

“Why now, of all times? If you simply wanted to stop Lia from winning, why go through such a troublesome thing?”

If he had simply wanted to follow the temple’s order and stop us outsiders from winning, the fastest method would have been to defeat Lia in the match.

Publicly, the only people in Group 34 who threw punches were Jing and Lia.

Even if he could not beat Jing, if he could beat Lia, there was no reason to use such a dirty method like today.

He could give the excuse that he did not want to use violence against family, but, well.

He had already confirmed with his own eyes that Lia was being beaten badly by Jinger.

Rather than letting her be beaten by someone else, subduing her with his own hands would have been more ideal.

If Edan was truly stronger than Lia.

“I do not know what you are talking about.”

Letting his meaningless denial pass through one ear, I stared at his wavering eyes and opened my mouth.

“You are afraid of facing Lia head-on, aren’t you?”

Along with the sound of him swallowing his breath, the referee’s voice announcing the match rang out.

“Match start!”

Edan only stopped reacting for a few seconds. But it was enough time for me to make the first move.

“I forfeit!”

Edan could not move, as if nailed to the spot, until the flustered referee announced his victory.

Edan was strong.

Edan loved his family.

Edan sacrificed himself for his family.

Those were the most powerful propositions in his life, ones that had never been overturned.

He had never once doubted them.

With worry like a scream, Lia checked Ran’s body here and there.

“I am fine, though I lost the match.”

After confirming that all of Ran’s teeth were intact, Lia let out a sigh of relief.

“It’s all right. Jing and I are here.”

“It seems you are confident you can win now.”

Lia nodded at Ran.

“I said I would win.”

She knew that now was the time to set aside the many emotions swirling inside her.

Or perhaps it was an escape that had hardened into habit.

“No, I’m not sure. Right now, I do not want to think about anything else.”

Lia knew her answer was quite pathetic.

Even after confirming what Edan had done right before her eyes, she was still disgusted by her own indecisiveness and confusion.

“It does not matter. How many days in life can a person be filled with certainty?”

But Ran answered as if it was nothing important.

For some reason, his words drained the strength from her, but he was right.

Had it not just been proven that even the answer she had thought and thought over was wrong?

There was no need for it.

…Was that really true?

—Lia, do not use your strength carelessly.

—Your strength is nothing special. There are far more people in the world stronger than you.

—How can you leave the village when you cannot even defeat me?

Edan’s voice endlessly circled inside Lia’s head.

The things she had accepted as truth, and everything she had considered bitter words of concern for her sake.

* * *

“Group 12, Edan wins!!!”

At the referee’s voice announcing the end of the match, Lia pulled her mind up from the confusion.

Only then did she hurriedly walk toward the waiting room entrance.

The first match had been a battle between Ran and Edan.

What happened to Ran?

Would he be all right?

Lia, who had hurriedly tried to lift the tent flap, met Ran as he entered and pulled her hand back.

Fortunately, he was standing on two feet.

“Ran! Are you hurt anywhere?!”

Ran smiled weakly and took off his gloves, then placed them in Lia’s hand.

“Go win, Lia. There is nothing holding you back anymore.”

“…Yes.”

Along with a strange sense of liberation, Lia walked into the people’s jeers.

It was a strange thing.

Even though nothing had been resolved, she felt a rising exhilaration, as if she could do anything.

“Match start!!!”

At the referee’s shout announcing the start, Lia fixed her stance.

Her heart was still beating as if it would strike her ribs.

But this time, she did not hate it.

Lia stretched her fist toward the opponent rushing at her.

Without fear, with all her strength.

With Lia’s cheerless victory, and Jing’s victory, which likewise ended without dragging on, Group 34 moved toward the finals once again.

As soon as all the matches ended, the one who ran to us was none other than Edan.

* * *

Lia’s victory was silent once again.

Whether it was because of the unexpected victory, or because of her somewhat violent and clean method of knocking her opponent unconscious with a single strike without allowing an attack, I could not tell.

Edan approached while breathing roughly and urgently called Lia, but Lia’s reaction was cold.

“Go back, Edan. You lost once, so you have to win the next match.”

“I do not care about the match. Talk with me…”

“No, right now, there is nothing more important than the match, Edan. We have to meet in the finals.”

At her reaction, colder than his own when he had declared that he would grind my mouth apart in the match, Edan clenched his teeth.

Soon after, the place his anger turned toward was Ratel, who was standing beside Lia.

Edan grabbed Ratel by the collar.

“What nonsense did you pull!”

It seemed Edan had lost his fear because of rage.

Or perhaps he thought Ratel was an easier opponent than Jing.

Neither was a wise judgment.

I wondered whether I should wait until Ratel beat Edan just short of death before stopping him, or whether I should run away after he killed Edan.

But unfortunately, it soon became clear that my worries were completely useless.

Because there was someone else who did not want our victory.

“Where are those Group 34 bastards!”

The voice of the temple priest, who entered the waiting room with knights on both sides, rang through the tent.

It was a familiar face.

He was the man who had visited Edan’s restaurant.

He soon found us, where everyone’s gazes were gathered, and strode toward us.

At the priest’s appearance, Edan immediately released Ratel’s collar, stepped back, and lowered his head.

The priest looked down at his head with dissatisfaction, then soon turned his unpleasant face toward us.

“There have been reports from other participants that there was suspicious movement right before the match.”

Pointing his finger at Lia and Ratel, he ordered the knights.

“Bind those two immediately.”

However, the only one among us who was flustered was Lia.

Ratel looked at him crookedly without even getting up from his seat.

“Evidence?”

“Wh-What?”

At Ratel’s excessively short question, the priest stammered as if flustered.

A faint irritation settled on Ratel’s face.

“What is the evidence? Who saw what?”

“You insolent bastard, do you know whose presence you are in…!”

As he strained the veins in his neck, Ratel looked down at the priest as if bored, then briefly turned his gaze toward Lia.

After watching her tremble with anxiety for a moment, Ratel opened his mouth again.

“Seeing as you came here without even knowing who the original owner of the gloves was, that report does not seem trustworthy either.”

At Ratel’s point, the man raised one eyebrow.

“The real owner?”

“The gloves were originally mine.”

The person most shocked by Ratel’s lie was Lia.

Before any other words could come out of her mouth, which had opened in surprise, the priest burst into a dumbfounded laugh first.

“Ha! Where do you think you are lying? Those gloves belonged to Lia.”

“How are you so sure?”

“That is obviously…”

“Is there some reason those gloves absolutely had to be Lia’s?”

“Th-That is…”

When Ratel narrowed his eyes and asked, the priest mumbled.

At that sight, Ratel looked at him with pitying eyes.

“You cannot do anything except force things.”

The problem was that it did not end with his gaze.

The enraged priest raised his voice as if he would immediately attack Ratel.

The one who saved the priest’s life was Jing.

He quickly stepped between the two.

“He is a child raised in the countryside, so his words are rather short, priest. I apologize on his behalf.”

When Jing, the star of the tournament, lowered himself first, the priest snorted as if displeased.

“However, we also need a reason we can accept. What illegal act are you saying we committed?”

“There are people who saw Lia participating in the tournament with a weapon. They also saw that bastard hide it for her.”

At his confident voice, Ratel stepped forward.

When that large body suddenly approached him, the priest flinched backward for a moment in fear.

Jing, who had been about to stop Ratel, stopped moving when he saw Ratel calmly raise both arms to his sides.

“Wh-What is this?”

The priest asked, flustered by the sight of Ratel spreading his arms like wings.

“Search me. See for yourself whether I have a weapon or not.”

“You must have already hidden it somewhere!”

When he argued back, Ratel turned his head and shifted his gaze toward the entrance of the tent, which was also the only exit.

“You are the ones who came rushing in as soon as the match ended. You should know very well that there was neither a place nor time to hide it.”

At his answer, veins rose on the priest’s forehead.

“You must have used some dirty method that I do not know!”

At his desperate struggle, a sneer appeared on Ratel’s face.

“Here we go again. There must have been some method even you did not know. Are you saying ignorant villagers know what even those who serve god do not? If you know nothing and can do nothing, where does your right to judge people come from?”

At his sarcasm, the priest’s face flushed red.

“Grr! Seize this man at once!”

Perhaps judging that continuing the verbal fight would not benefit him, the priest shouted.

Fortunately, Ratel obediently offered both arms to the knights restraining him.

Ratel really was taken away to the temple just like that.

Very obediently too.

It seemed Lia thought Ratel being dragged away was her fault.

She followed behind Ratel until the very end as he was taken away.

If she knew that he could shake off the two men holding his arms and knock them down with only a few flicks of his arms, she might feel quite betrayed.

“Ratel! I’m truly sorry!”

Lia shouted toward the back of Ratel’s head as he entered the temple.

At her shout, Ratel turned his head back.

“Is that all you have to say?”

At Ratel’s question, Lia’s face grew even darker.

“I have committed a sin worthy of death. I will definitely repay this debt.”

Ratel looked down at Lia, who had lowered her head so deeply that she seemed ready to bury it in the ground.

At last, Ratel’s mouth opened.

“I do not need an apology.”

“Ratel…”

At his generosity, Lia trailed off, unable to speak.

“If it is only a verbal apology, I do not need it. If you are sorry, then win and take me to Limis Temple.”

Fortunately, the emotion did not last long.

“…Yes. Do not worry. I will definitely win.”

After hearing Lia’s answer, which had found a little confidence, Ratel soon turned his gaze.

The place his golden eyes turned was me.

“Do you have something to say?”

At my question, his lips rose annoyingly again.

“Try doing well. Next time, you will not be able to forfeit either.”

After provoking me one last time, he disappeared inside the temple, dragged along by the knights urging him forward.

That ill-tempered bastard.

Thinking that staying there any longer would be a waste of time, I turned around and headed toward the lodging.

“He probably was not serious.”

Jing, who had heard his last words along with me, defended him.

“No. I am sure it was a highly pure sincerity.”

Perhaps Jing did not think his own lie would work either, because he followed behind me without any particular reply.

“Wait! Are you really just leaving like this?”

Lia’s worried voice desperately held on to Jing and me.

“The finals are tomorrow. We have no time to waste here.”

Even at my answer, Lia’s face did not relax.

“B-But still. Being treated like a criminal inside the temple must be harder than you can imagine. This happened because of me, so I feel so sorry…”

At Lia’s words, Jing’s face became one that had heard the most useless worry in the world.

True, anyone who knew how diligently Ratel had gone around smashing temples in the capital would never worry like Lia did.

“He is probably much more fine than you think, Miss Lia.”

“What?”

“No, it is nothing.”

Jing kept his words to himself.

Yes, sometimes silence is better than an uncomfortable truth.