Have you ever heard of a gladiatorial match?

　Watching gladiators kill each other, a form of entertainment.
　When you think of a gladiator, many people think of a slave...

　I've heard there are people in the profession who specialize in it.
　I guess it's a lucrative business.

　And ... it's a bit of a dilemma, but it seems to be popular with the ladies.

　Public executions, gladiatorial fights, why people in the olden days liked such bloody things is hard to understand, but....
　If you think about it dispassionately, even in Japan, gory manga and novels tend to be very popular.

　Everyone has loved erotic and grotesque manga and novels since long ago.

　Human nature itself is much the same in today's Japan, with its evolved moral standards, as it is in the people of the past and the people of other worlds.

　It's quite interesting.
　If you think about it calmly, Homo sapiens was born 250,000 years ago in the history of humanity on earth.
　Farming began about 10,000 years ago.
　That is, human beings have been doing it for most of the time from their birth to the present day.

　And it is only in the last few hundred years that the natural law philosophy ... the concept of basic human rights was born.

　Humans cannot change in a mere few hundred years.
　Humans, after all, haven't been able to evolve much since the time of the apes.


　I digress.
　I don't care about the history of the human race.


　Why did I start talking about gladiators?
　The reason is simple.

　The reason is simple: "Gladiatorial matches are about to take place.






　"It's getting exciting!

　I look down at the arena from the special seat that has been prepared for me.
　The arena is filled with spectators.

　Two-thirds of the people filling the seats are from King Domorgal's country, and a third are soldiers from King Loseys' country.

　We have the right to watch the people of King Loseys' country.
　It was Carlo's consideration that

　In addition to me, Raimondo and Bartolo are in the special seat.
　Carlo and other important people in King Domorgal's country.
　And emissaries from various countries who came to witness the event.

　Carlo stood up and shouted loudly.

　''Everyone, you have gathered well today!


　They cheered.
　Carlo is the hero who defeated the kingdom of Roselle and brought peace to King Domorgal's country.

　The depth of his support can be seen in the eyes of the people.

　In the midst of the unusual heat in the hall, Carlo tells the audience in a loud voice.

　'Now!　Let the gladiatorial match begin!　The gladiators....

　The people's eyes are drawn to the eastern gate.
　The heavy gate opens and a man is taken away by two soldiers.

　The man's hands were bound with ropes.
　As they advance to the center, the soldier unties the ropes and then kicks the man away.

　'Aldo!!!!'

　When Carlo announced his name, the crowd cheered in unison.
　A public execution, called a gladiatorial match, was about to begin.

　They will see the cruel death of the man who made them so unhappy.
　The people are excited.


　A strange heat and madness swirls through the air.
　The heart races and the mood is naturally uplifted.

　There's a mixture of emotions of repugnance and anticipation of the horrors to come.

　Yes, it's a frenzy.

　You have to experience it to understand it.
　You can't understand this exuberance unless you feel it.

　Now, for the first time, I can understand the people's desire for gladiatorial matches.

　A people who cannot read is no match for a people who cannot even read a book.
　This gladiatorial match must be very exciting for the people who are starved for entertainment.


　''My opponent...''

　The people's eyes are drawn to the western gate.
　A blonde woman comes out.

　'Alice!

　The crowd cheers.
　Some even whistled and shouted at Alice, "Let me hold you," and so on.
　It's very popular.

　Adelnians have rare blond hair, perhaps because of their genetics.
　Alice, who has rich golden hair, is popular for that alone.


　By the way, both Alice and Aldo are bare-handed.　
　It's not a good idea to have one of them bare handed and the other holding a weapon, because it's not fair when it comes to the appearance of a gladiatorial match.

　You can't let Aldo hold a weapon.

　Well, Alice can kill people even with her bare hands, so there's no problem.

　The rules are simple. You just kill him. Aldo will be freed and Alice will be released from her slave status. Begin!

　The crowd cheers again as Carlo announces the start of the show.


　'Come on!　Get it done!
　We'll get our revenge!
　'Have some of that!　Aldo!!!
　'Alice, marry me!

　Well, well....
　We'll see what happens.






　Alice looked at the man in front of her.
　The man is stunned with a very pale face.
　I guess he still hasn't been able to sort out the situation he's in.

　A former master of himself.
　And the chains that still bind him to himself.

　Alice's heart beats violently.
　Alice holds her chest with her right hand.

　'Kill me!　　
　Get it done!
　Hang in there, Aldo!
　"Alice, little girl, ha-ha-ha.

　The audience looking down on them could see that they wanted a scourge.

　Alice's home town of Germanis had never had such a brutal event.
　What's the fun in killing people and killing people together....

　Alice had a hard time understanding.
　But it didn't matter right now.

　''........Aldo-sama, no Aldo. Are you ready?

　Alice braced herself.
　Killing intent poured out of Alice.

　Aldo fell on his buttocks as Alice's killing intent hit him head on.
　With a strong face, he backed away and tried to run away.

　Alice looks down at it coldly and chases it down.


　''Hi, ku, don't come!

　Alice meditates once and calms her breathing.

　-I can do it.

　Alice produces a thread from her fingertips.
　The hardened thread becomes as hard as iron.

　It's easy to tear a person's skin apart.


　'Brace yourselves!

　Alice pounced on Aldo.
　She stuck out her right hand and tried to stick a needle made of thread into Aldo's eye.

　But the needle did not pierce Aldo.
　This is because right before it touched Aldo's eyes, Alice's hand stopped.

　Alice's hand trembles.
　Her face turns blue and sweat gushes out of her entire body.


　''Ha, ha, ha........''

　Alice is breathing hard.
　She grabs her right hand with her left hand and manages to thrust it into Aldo.

　But Alice's right hand is as hard as a stone and doesn't move.


　''What are you doing!!!''
　Kill me now!　Guz!
　'Oh!　Aldo, this is your chance!
　Alice!


　Aldo has a puzzled look on his face.
　Why has the needle stopped....

　But when he saw Alice trembling, he finally grasped the situation.

　Aldo paid off Alice's right hand with his hand.

　''Ah........''

　Alice let out a small voice.
　Alice turned pale and backed away.

　Aldo slowly gets up and approaches Alice.

　''I'm sorry...''

　Alice has tears in her eyes and begs Aldo for forgiveness.


　'Hey, what are you doing!
　"I'm not running away!
　'Go Aldo!　I'm counting on it!
　'Don't bully little Alice!

　The crowd screamed in frustration and threw stones at them.
　Pebbles rained down on Aldo and Alice.

　Aldo ignored the falling pebbles and kicked Alice in the stomach.

　''Ugh........''

　Alice cried out in anguish and squatted down.

　Aldo grabbed Alice by the hair and punched her in the face as hard as he could.

　'What did you try to do to me, slave?　Alice
　I'm sorry, I'm sorry...

　Aldo kicks Alice in the face as she apologizes.
　She lets out a small scream and Alice rolls on the ground.

　Aldo presses down on top of Alice and punches her in her beautiful face.

　'f*ck off!　You're kidding me!　You've got to be kidding me!　I'm the king of the land!　The man who would be king!　Why, why, why!!!

　Aldo takes out his unreasonable anger on Alice.
　Alice begs Aldo for forgiveness, staining her beautiful face with mud, tears and snot.

　It's a one-sided match.

　"Look, Alice, I'm a forgiving person. I'm a forgiving man. I'm going to give you a chance. Die, kill yourself!
　....

　Alice knows.
　Even if she were to die, Aldo has no hope of survival.

　Aldo is to be freed.
　He's going to be released. Stripped down to his bare essentials.

　No one will touch him, not even Armes or Carlo.
　It's because it's obvious that the people will torture Aldo to death without permission.


　(But if you're going to die anyway........)

　Even if I beat Aldo, I will lose and Aldo will die.
　I won't cause him any trouble.

　Then it's a good thing.
　I don't know if I need to be scared to try harder....

　Alice ponders.



　'Really, is that what you want?'


　A clear voice echoed in the arena.
　It was a voice that came through strangely well.

　The crowd, Aldo and Alice all looked at the one who had made the voice.

　It was Alms.
　Almus looked at Alice and asked her in a loud voice.

　'You will not be free forever. Are you sure about that?　Such chains ... are you sure you want to end your life bound by chains that are weaker than spider silk?

　Almus said and then sat down quietly.
　His eyes were firmly fixed on Alice.


　'What the hell, that guy ... well, fine. Alice!　Die!

　Aldo starts hitting Alice again.
　He punches her in the face, in the stomach and in the chest.
　Occasionally he is yanked by his hair and rolled around on the ground.

　He grabs her chest and rips her clothes off.

　Alice thinks as she does what Aldo does to her.

　(I'm ... free ...)

　Aldo's fist was dropped on Alice's face again.

　But that fist didn't shoot Alice in the face.

　That's because Alice grabbed that fist.

　'Hey, what!　Alice!　Get off me!　　You can't hit me!
　'....I want to be, I want to be free!

　gucha

　Strangely, the sound echoed through the arena.

　'Heh?

　Aldo holds his crushed fist and screams.

　His fingers are bent in directions they shouldn't be, and bones are popping out of his flesh.
　A trickle of blood stains the ground.

　'I ... will ... kill you ... and be free!

　Alice punched Aldo in the face.
　Aldo bounces off the ground three times and then hits the wall of the arena.

　Alice slammed into the wall and grabbed Aldo's arm as he was breathing hard.

　'Heeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

　Aldo is thrown about ten meters into the air.
　It fell just in the middle of the arena.

　"Oh, geez, I'm the king of this country, I'm the king of this country...

　Alice rode up to the breathless Aldo and struck him repeatedly.

　'Ugh, gee, ah, ta, help me, ma, Mr. Merlin....'

　Aldo shouts out the name of his first love.
　But she doesn't come.

　He's in the middle of making his own pudding, having seen the pudding the diplomat brought in right now and wants to eat it.
　She puts on an apron and hums to herself.
　Baking sweets is a damsel's delight.



　'No, no, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to be in pain, help me, forgive me ... Alice!
　You're....

　Alice stops hitting him.

　'Oh, Alice I'm sorry.'

　He stomped on Aldo's stomach.

　'Ggggghhhh.'

　A sound comes from Aldo's mouth like a crushed frog.




　'Me!' van

　Air leaks from Aldo's mouth.



　'Help me!' bang

　The blood floods.


　'When I asked for forgiveness! whip


　It crushes your guts.

　'Never!!!!' butchery


　My guts overflow from my mouth.


　'That I stopped!!!!! gooey


　My guts flood out of my ass.


　'There it is!!!!!! gutter


　My stomach ripped open.
　Aldo was dead and Alice was free.









　Okay, I got it!
　What have you got?　Lord Mongoose. It smells sweet, but...
　Pudding. Want some?　I haven't made it in two hundred years, so I can't guarantee its taste.

　Kryu scooped up the pudding that Merlin offered him with a spoon and brought it to his mouth.
　Kryu's face broke into a smile.

　''This is good!
　Right?　I'll give you one.

　Merlin handed the pudding to Clue with a look of pride on his face.
　They were both in the middle of escaping reality after they left.

　'Hmmm, bad and fired?　A court wizard. Well, it's about time. I've got a lot of research to do, and now I need to focus on that rather than politics.
　'Ho........research? Let me know when you've completed it.
　Okay. You'll be surprised.

　They start making idle chit-chat.

　'You're happy about that, by the way?'
　What?
　Lord Aldo.
　Who's that?

　Merlin tilted his head.
　Clue chuckled.

　'I'm the little Domorgal boy.
　Oh, the little bastard?　Speaking of which, you said Aldo. What about it?
　'No, it's like I was in love with you... without the witchcraft.

　Merlin is popular even though he looks like this. Both when he was on earth and after he came to another world.

　Merlin himself is also a beautiful girl.
　It may be that the Gallic people, who are of Caucasian descent, find the Mongoloid Merlin exotic and attractive.


　'Not really?　Does it matter?　Oh, by the way, today is the day of my execution. In case you want to pray?
　Yes.

　They meditated for five seconds.

　'Yes, we're done. Now let's eat!
　Yes.

　They began to eat their pudding.