Chapter 50 : Chapter 50
Chapter 50. If Luck Repeats Three Times
The Bellatus Council.
As the name suggested, it was a council that discussed important matters of the Bellatus Arena.
All high-ranking executives of the arena were required to attend the meeting.
The venue for the meeting was in the highest place in the arena, on the top floor of the Market.
A long, extended table was placed in the center of the council chamber, and the executives were seated around it.
At the end of the long table, a man was looking around at the executives with a bored expression.
Lionel Bellatus.
The demon who ruled the Bellatus Arena and this surrounding area.
As if he had soon lost interest, he lowered his head and began to do something else.
The gathered executives, watching Lionel, began to throw their opinions at each other.
“Do you think that makes sense?”
“What’s wrong with it?
It’s about rewarding them for their hard work.
Since when has our Bellatus Arena been stingy about the achievements of our gladiators?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
The executive who had raised his voice was startled by his own voice and looked back at Lionel.
“……”
The others also remained silent, watching his reaction.
When there was no reaction from Lionel even after everyone had been quiet as a mouse for a moment, they continued their argument.
The monster named ‘Anesta’, first discovered in Gert, had caused both large and small damages not only to the Sylvester region but to the entire Demon World.
If they had not succeeded in subjugating the evolved Lafre swarm while it was spreading throughout the Demon World, it was hard to imagine how much more damage would have been caused.
The evolved Lafre produced by Anesta were that threatening.
Among them, the place most directly affected was the Bellatus Arena, where a large number of gladiators had participated in the request.
Therefore, the agenda for this meeting was about the ‘distribution of rewards for the gladiators who participated in the Sylvester request’ and the ‘replenishment of gladiators’.
The meeting grew increasingly heated.
The executives raised their voices and began to point fingers at each other.
Although the meeting was in full swing, the discussion about the ‘replenishment of gladiators’ had not even begun.
This was because opinions on the ‘distribution of rewards’ issue had not been narrowed down.
The main reason was that the reward for the human named Hyunwoo was too large.
How large?
It would be easy to grasp if you knew that the amount of Mana Stones Hyunwoo was receiving alone was more than the combined shares of all the other gladiators.
“He's just a human!
Do you think it makes sense to give that many Mana Stones to a human?”
“What’s wrong with it?
And, is he just a human?
A Rookie.
No, isn’t he a Super Rookie?”
At a glance, it looked like a debate between racists who hated humans and those who advocated for equality.
The atmosphere was gradually heating up.
“No, what is the problem?
Even Lord Bation Sylvester is acknowledging the human’s merits like this!”
One executive thrust the official document sent by Bation Sylvester in front of the other’s face.
The official document contained the details of the request, including compensation for the dead gladiators, additional costs due to the extension of the request period, and so on, all recorded in detail.
The fact that Lord Bation had borne all these costs was also emphasized.
But, what was most important was the message from the Sylvester side written at the end.
⌜Furthermore, thanks to the excellent gladiators of the Bellatus Arena, the hunt for ‘Anesta’ was successfully completed.
Therefore, an additional sum will be paid, and we request that it be distributed ‘fairly’ based on the hunting contribution determined by ‘Lord Bation’.
1. Hyunwoo: 79%
2. Lucas Cayenne: 9%
3. ……⌟
Along with Bation Sylvester’s official seal, the details of the use of the additional sum were written in a polite, diplomatic tone.
To put it simply, it would be something like, ‘I’ll give the gladiator named Hyunwoo some pocket money, so if you try to pocket it, it won't be fun.’
The reason the executives were gathered in the council chamber and arguing for a long time was precisely because of this official document.
Normally, they would have just pocketed the extra fee under the name of ‘arena public funds’.
However, since Bation Sylvester had spoken in such a way, they couldn't just ignore it.
The problem was that the amount was too large to just let it go.
The Mana Stones Sylvester had given as an additional sum amounted to a whopping 100,000 Mana Stones.
It was an amount sufficient for some executives, blinded by greed, to step up and strain the veins in their necks.
“Still, no!
Does it make sense for a Silver to receive that many Mana Stones?
In terms of contribution, the amount he’s taking alone is close to 80,000 Mana Stones.
80,000!
There's no history of ever setting such an amount of Mana Stones as a commission fee for a Silver!”
“Ah, so you know history so well that you went to another man’s wife to make a history of the night?”
“What?
You damned bastard!”
Just as the debate was turning into meaningless personal attacks on each other, and the council chamber was getting as noisy as a marketplace.
Lionel, who had been sitting silently at the end, opened his mouth.
“Quiet.”
A single, low, soft-spoken word.
At that one word, the marketplace-like council chamber instantly became as quiet as a mouse.
“……”
As the surroundings fell silent, Lionel opened his mouth again.
“Is the problem that the human is a Silver Gladiator?”
“Yes.”
The demons sitting in a row to Lionel’s left and right bowed their heads and answered in a disciplined manner.
“Then promote him to Gold.”
“……”
The executives, with their heads bowed, only rolled their eyeballs.
No one dared to open their mouth recklessly.
And so, the long, meaningless debate ended with a single word from Lionel.
He looked at the arena executives with their heads bowed and fell into thought.
The name of a gladiator flowed from the mouth of the man who had emotionless eyes and seemed to be interested in nothing.
“Hyunwoo.
That guy's name comes up often.”
He was a human who had once already fallen out of his interest.
Seeing him choose a cursed item as a reward for being a Super Rookie, he had thought the guy's ‘luck’ had run out.
‘He broke the curse…’
However, when Hyunwoo broke the curse and obtained the precious item ‘Footsteps of the Abyss’, his interest began to spark again.
His ‘luck’ had repeated three times.
No, more than that.
‘Now… it would be fine to see it as skill.’
To top it all off, there was even the testimony of Lord Bation, reporting his achievements.
If Bation, who was stingy with praise, went so far as to send a separate official document to take care of him, then Hyunwoo’s achievements were probably not exaggerated.
A ripple began to form in the lake of the indifferent Lionel’s heart due to the new point of interest.
“It seems an interesting spectacle might arise for the first time in a while.”
Hyunwoo’s efforts to avoid Lionel’s attention were futile.
Nangjungjichu..
No matter how hard you try to hide it, a shining talent cannot be hidden.
Tap tap―
“……”
The council chamber was filled only with the sound of Lionel tapping the table.
This state would continue until the order to resume the meeting fell from his lips.
Seeing as he had his fingers on his temples and was lost in thought, it seemed the recess time for today's meeting would be long.
The arena executives with their heads bowed swallowed a groan internally.
***
Three days had passed since Hyunwoo returned to the arena.
During that time, the arena had undergone a few small changes.
Many gladiators had died.
Hyunwoo could roughly guess the number by seeing the belongings being moved out of the surrounding dormitories.
However, the arena, as if showing off its power, quickly filled the vacant dormitories with new gladiators.
The commotion caused by the dead gladiators was quickly replaced by the vitality of the new gladiators.
The story of Pierre also came up among the black market merchants who liked to chatter.
It seemed Pierre, with his Sylvester Honorary Plaque, was poking his nose around here and there.
Of course, it was a piece of gossip that was quickly buried and passed over.
Among the various stories, there was a rumor that had spread throughout the entire arena.
[There is a monster-like gladiator in Silver.]
It was about Hyunwoo.
As is always the case with rumors that travel from mouth to mouth, various rumors mixed with truth and bluff were circulating in the arena.
That Hyunwoo had blocked the gate single-handedly, that he had plunged a sword into the neck of a monster that was fighting on par with Bation, and so on.
The Hyunwoo in the inflated rumors had at some point become a strong man on the level of a ‘demon hiding about three horns on his forehead’.
In any case.
Even excluding such absurd stories, it was true that Hyunwoo’s achievements were being subtly known throughout the entire arena.
The subject of that rumor, Hyunwoo, was now.
“How long do you plan to stay here?”
“……”
He was glaring at Lucas, who was leisurely enjoying his teatime.
“Mmm…… is this the rosemary from the Panellia region.
The aroma is deep.”
Lucas didn't even pretend to listen to Hyunwoo’s words and just kept commenting on the new tea.
Hyunwoo touched the shoulder of the Orc, Van, who was sitting opposite Lucas.
“You say something too.”
“Hey.”
Van crossed his arms and glared.
“To describe rosemary as just having a deep aroma, is your knowledge shallow or is your expressive ability lacking.”
“I didn't expect a beast like you to talk to me, so I just expressed my simple impression.
The aroma of rosemary is clean and rich, filling the mouth.
The quiet fragrance on the first taste penetrates deep into the throat, and the slowly spreading aroma that is continuously maintained is the exquisite tea that is rosemary.
So, what do you think of this tea, you bastard?”
Lucas, who had poured out a long speech about the aroma of the tea in one breath, held out a new teacup to Van.
Van, who took the teacup, drank the tea in one gulp.
“Kuh… tastes good.
Delicious, not delicious.
Two expressions are enough for taste.
You mosquito bastard with hot air in your lungs.”
“…You damned beast.
You, who do not know the aroma of tea, drinking tea.
That in itself is an insult to tea.”
“Isn’t insult your specialty, you bastard who shamelessly mooches off someone else’s dormitory?”
“……!”
It was a feast of abusive language that smoothly transitioned from a debate about tea to personal attacks on each other.
Hyunwoo, listening to their conversation, touched his forehead.
‘It looks like they’re fighting… but they seem strangely close.’
The two, who had a common interest in a soft sofa and tea, only spat sharp words at each other but got along well.
The proof was the fact that the two of them were more often sitting demurely and enjoying teatime than Hyunwoo, the owner of the sofa.
“Lowly beast.”
“Conceited mosquito bastard.”
If I told them, they'd probably ask what nonsense I was talking about.
In Hyunwoo’s eyes, the two of them were on good terms.
Anyway, after returning from Sylvester, Lucas had been living in Hyunwoo’s dormitory.
If he were just visiting for a short while, I wouldn't have treated him so coldly.
Lucas was living in one of the rooms in the dormitory as if he owned it.
Hyunwoo sighed and intervened between the two.
“Just how many days have you been staying here.
What about your administrator?
Why isn't he coming to find you?”
This was the biggest question I had all this time.
A gladiator had left his dormitory, but his administrator hadn't come looking for him even once.
“Do you think I would be under someone’s management?”
“…Is that something you can decide on your own?”
“Well, as I stayed here, the administrator just delivered the match schedule.”
“……”
What was so great about that, that he was speaking so confidently.
When Hyunwoo wore a pathetic expression, the first plausible excuse flowed from Lucas's mouth.
“…My dormitory only has a coffin.”
A coffin was a vampire’s bed.
It meant that Lucas's dormitory had only a bed and nothing else.
“Where did you sell off all the Mana Stones you've earned so far?”
“First of all, my staple food, cleanly refined blood, is very expensive.
Besides that, the clothes I wear, and so on….”
“Clothes?”
I hadn't paid much attention to Lucas's attire….
Looking closely at Lucas, he was dressed in expensive clothes from head to toe.
For Lucas, who was of noble birth, the standard-issue clothing provided by the arena was probably not to his liking.
Hyunwoo let out a deep sigh and looked at Lucas.
“So.
You have no money and you don't like your dormitory, so you're going to keep living in my dormitory~ Is that what you're saying right now?”
“……”
Lucas giving a small nod was no different from saying that he would live by freeloading like a parasite, just as Hyunwoo had said.
A slight blush appeared on Lucas’s pale complexion.
It seemed he was embarrassed, thinking about it himself.
‘…Was this guy originally this shameless?’
No matter how hard I tried to remember, I had no memory of setting his personality like this.
It seemed he felt comfortable with me due to the things we had experienced together.
There was no other choice.
Hyunwoo sighed and got up from his seat.
“Do as you please.”
Hyunwoo left the two idiots, who were enjoying their teatime while watching his expression, and headed for the training room.
The interior design I had asked Pierre for was finished this time.
The biggest change among them was the various types of swords that filled the weapon display rack.
Hyunwoo glanced at the awakened Cheonbyeondo once and moved.
Now, there was no limit to the storage of sword forms.
‘Shall I register the swords first?’
It seemed I would be busy with training for a while.