“Have you heard the rumor?”

“What rumor?”

“They say 「The Black Bride」 is back.”

That was one of the conversations amid the boisterous chatter in an inn in Perma, the steel city.

“Apparently she's going for a Gold Medal this time.”

“Is she?”

“You don't sound very interested. Didn't you used to watch a lot of 「The Black Bride」's matches?”

“I did. But... she lost to some pathetic little bastard, didn't she? And she hasn't fought a single match since her undefeated record was broken. I figured she was just a woman after all. One defeat and she'd given up, caught herself a man somewhere, and married him.”

“True enough. Now that she's lost her undefeated record, she's not such a special fighter anymore.”

The 「Arena」 was merciless.

Attention gathered here in an instant and quickly reached a fever pitch. But it cooled just as quickly as it boiled over. With duels held every day, the Arena overflowed with fighters. It was common for a fighter to become wildly popular, only to vanish from everyone's memory without a word.

Besides, wasn't the 「Endless Duel」 approaching?

That was where people's attention lay. With countless powerful fighters gathering whom they could never ordinarily see, everyone was waiting for the main event.

Well.

“Anyway, there's something else.”

That wasn't the only reason, though.

“You remember the 「Little Gladiator」, don't you? That brat who showed up with a strange sword, darted all over the place, and kept bringing down those huge fighters?”

“Ah, yes. There was a fellow like that.”

“He's back now, and I hear he's done something absolutely insane.”

People's attention was currently focused elsewhere.

“He said he'd fight fifteen matches in two days. And the 「Arena」 actually agreed to it.”

Insane.

Just as they'd said, what the Little Gladiator had done was utterly deranged.

And...

“Doesn't that sound tremendously entertaining? My heart's already pounding with excitement.”

The steel city was full of lunatics.

People here went wild for insanity.

Truly, passionately wild.

“We have to see that.”

* * *

Seolyun had secured a recommendation.

She said a knight from an academy I didn't know had written it for her. Apparently, he was a man of considerable standing. He had gladly sent her a recommendation without asking anything in return, simply because she possessed extraordinary talent. Honestly, I was jealous.

She had even secured her Gold Medal promotion match straightaway.

It felt as though mine was the only life that kept getting tangled up.

「It doesn't merely feel that way. It is.」

Master had to rub it in, which only irritated me further.

But I couldn't just sit around being irritated.

I needed to find an answer.

“I'm trying to figure out how to solve the recommendation problem.”

Someone whose standing was high enough for the 「Arena」 to recognize.

Did I know anyone like that?

And would they be willing to write me a recommendation?

There were a few candidates.

Lady Daisy White felt indebted to me for fighting as Petel's champion. If she wrote a recommendation, the Arena would certainly accept it. Judging by the authority I'd seen her wield last time, Daisy was no insignificant figure.

But I had no way to contact Lady Daisy White.

She had given me a pure white medal to use in an emergency, but it would be a waste to use it now. Besides, using it merely to ask for a recommendation didn't seem right. The object reminded me of Petel, too, which made me reluctant to break it. I intended to save it for a time when I truly, truly needed it.

What about asking Seolyun?

That probably wouldn't work. Her connections were people captivated by her genius. I didn't know whether my talent would measure up in their eyes, and more importantly, I had no time to prove it. Why would people of such standing spend their time coming all the way here just to assess my talent?

What about Sir Vermatin, the elderly knight who had told me to seek him out once I'd gained wings? He probably wouldn't help me either. His standing would be more than sufficient, but that was no guarantee he would use it to help me.

What about the orc elder I'd recently befriended?

For a moment, I pictured the orc elder laughing, “Puh-heh-heh.” Then I dismissed the idea outright without even needing to find a reason. My connections really were meager.

'Forget it. I'll think about the difficult problem later.'

I let out a deep sigh.

Then I raised my head and looked ahead. The vast circular arena spread out before me, while spectators chattered around me with snacks and beer in their hands.

Yes, this time I was sitting in the stands.

Not as a gladiator, but as a spectator.

「It's beginning.」

I had come to watch Seolyun's promotion match, which had been scheduled before my own matches.

“The duel between our fighters will now begin!”

I wasn't nervous.

“This sacred duel shall be dedicated to the goddess Lepri, guardian of justice!”

Because Seolyun—「The Black Bride」—was not going to lose this match.

* * *

The 「Arena」 officials did not look kindly upon The Black Bride. The decisive reason was that she had disobeyed their instructions during her duel with the Little Gladiator, causing the spectacle to unfold differently from their plans. They also disliked the way she carried herself so confidently instead of bowing and scraping, despite being an outsider from the eastern continent. Shouldn't a foreign outsider show some manners?

The 「Arena」 officials thoroughly disliked seeing that black-haired wench walking around with her head held high. Thoroughly, indeed.

But it was difficult to retaliate against her or insult her openly.

The Black Bride came from a prestigious academy, and among the many people captivated by her genius were figures with considerable influence in the Iron Kingdom. They already regarded the 「Arena」's organizers with disdain, calling them clowns. Openly meddling with The Black Bride, whom they cherished as a genius, would certainly provoke their anger.

Thus, the 「Arena」's organizers couldn't turn her promotion match into an execution ceremony as they had done to the Little Gladiator. But they could arrange a match that would humiliate her and crush her pride. In their usual petty, cowardly, dishonorable fashion.

“The Black Bride, who until recently made her name as an undefeated gladiator!”

Wearing her helmet, Seolyun slowly raised her head. The circular arena with its swirling sand, the spectators' gazes, and the pressure of the helmet against her head were all familiar.

“Her opponents are the five brothers known as the Knight Killers!”

As she raised her head, Seolyun saw men clad from head to toe in sturdy black-iron armor. Black iron was reputed to be far harder than ordinary iron—a rare metal that most blades couldn't even scratch.

“Even renowned knights have failed to pierce their armor! These brothers have never lost to any of the knights and swordsmen they've faced! And now they face The Black Bride, the undefeated genius who always won overwhelming victories until her defeat by the Little Gladiator! What a thrilling duel this promises to be!”

Under the pretext of a promotion match, Seolyun had been given five opponents.

An unfair duel of one against five. On top of that, the 「Arena」 had brought in fighters who put a swordswoman at a severe disadvantage.

'I know these men.'

The Knight Killer brothers.

Fighters clad in sturdy black-iron armor who never hesitated to resort to dirty tricks. All five always entered duels together, and they had made their name brutally crushing fighters renowned for their swordsmanship.

They were arguably the worst possible opponents for Seolyun.

They were also the best way the 「Arena」 officials could think of to screw her over without going too far. Seolyun was still a swordswoman who couldn't imbue her blade with Mana. Her blade was too weak to pierce black iron, and even if she fought at close quarters, she faced the physical limitations of a woman.

The outcome was as good as decided.

Yes.

“The duel between our fighters will now begin!”

If this had been before she met the Little Gladiator—before she met Arhan.

The Seolyun of today was no longer The Black Bride of old.

“This sacred duel shall be dedicated to the goddess Lepri, guardian of justice!”

As the booming announcement rang out, Seolyun slowly drew the sword at her waist. A menacing metallic scrape rang out as blade brushed against scabbard. Amid that ringing, heavy vibrations traveled up through the soles of her feet. The Knight Killer brothers were approaching.

“The Black Bride. We've heard of you, too. We've wanted to take you on someday.”

“Heard you've been getting cocky just because you're handy with a sword. Tsk. Don't know your place in the world, do you?”

“Wench, no matter how good you are with that blade, you won't put a scratch on us.”

The Knight Killer brothers' voices rang out amid snickering laughter.

“Do you know how many swordsmen have despaired before us?”

“First, we'll have to take off that helmet and see how pretty you are. After the helmet, hmm... I can't decide whether to strip you from the top down or the bottom up.”

“Let's leave that to the audience. They can vote by raising their hands—”

Seolyun listened impassively to the Knight Killer brothers' vulgar conversation. There was no need to react to the words they spewed so loudly for her benefit. These weren't novice fighters. They weren't taunting her pointlessly; they were trying to unsettle her.

Seolyun didn't fall for that sort of psychological warfare.

Getting worked up over a petty provocation was foolish.

She narrowed her eyes. Rather than recklessly swinging her sword, she slowly pointed it forward. She placed one hand behind her waist and extended her sword hand loosely before her, like a fencer, toward the five approaching brothers.

“... What's that supposed to—”

“A warning.”

Seolyun spoke in a terrifyingly cold voice.

“You haven't studied the sword long enough to know, so I'm warning you. This is the reach of my sword. Be careful not to step inside it.”

“...”

“The moment you step in, you die.”

The Knight Killer brothers stood stunned for a moment.

Seolyun's words trampled their pride. They were an insult that dismissed everything they had achieved as fighters. Yet the brothers couldn't rashly take another step.

“I'm not lying. And I'm not bluffing.”

They knew because they had fought countless battles.

Those words were true.

The moment they stepped in, they would die.

The black-iron armor that had made them seem invincible would be useless this time. Sweat ran down the brothers' backs. In their eyes, Seolyun was growing larger and larger. The long-haired swordswoman, far smaller than any of them, no longer looked small. A sword-wielding monster stood there.

But they couldn't back down.

The Knight Killer brothers knew that momentum mattered most in a duel. If they gave ground here, their lives as fighters would be over. Everyone would mock them for losing so pathetically despite fighting five against one, and many of the spectators who liked and supported them would abandon them. Their pride as fighters would also be mercilessly crushed. They couldn't accept that.

And so the eldest brother, standing at the front, stepped forward.

Overcoming his fear of the unknown, he took a step and swung the mace in his hand.

“U-uaa—”

And...

“One.”

The eldest Knight Killer brother fell heavily onto the dirt, his body rigid in the same posture he'd held with his mace raised high to strike. Thick red blood flowed from the fallen man's neck. With emotionless eyes, Seolyun flicked the blood from the tip of her blade.

“Do you want to keep going? I can't guarantee I can make you surrender while keeping you alive when you come at me in armor. So I'll kill you, one at a time. I won't spare anyone. Anyone.”

No one had seen exactly how Seolyun had killed the eldest brother. Not only the Knight Killer brothers standing right in front of her, but most of the spectators in the stands had seen only the result, not how it happened.

The eldest brother in his bulky armor had taken one step, then suddenly collapsed and died, blood pouring from him. Seolyun's sword didn't even seem to have moved.

“Y-you fucking—”

Unable to accept it, the second brother charged. He wielded a vicious axe. Swung with all his strength, it hurtled toward Seolyun with a deadly whistle. At the same time, her sword moved.

It traced a beautiful circle, as though painting a picture.

Following that sweeping circle, the trajectory of the second brother's axe twisted unnaturally. The axe cut through empty space, leaving him wide open. Seolyun's sword pierced a precise point like lightning: the narrow opening in his helmet. She drove her blade into the eye slit through which he viewed his enemies and pierced his head. Blood poured out beneath his helmet, and his body collapsed.

“Two.”

The duel was utterly one-sided.

Seolyun flicked the blood from her blade once more and looked at the remaining Knight Killer brothers.

“Anyone else?”

* * *

Disgruntled voices drifted through the Arena's stands.

“What the hell is that? Why are they all standing there scared stiff?”

“They're wearing black-iron armor! Why can't they attack? All five should just rush her together!”

“I bet so much on those fucking brothers. Fuck!”

Sitting quietly and watching the match, I considered what I saw.

「As expected, the spectators have no idea what's happening down there.」

“Indeed.”

The Knight Killer brothers.

The fighters who had appeared under that name were no pushovers. Keeping a suitable distance, they had slowly surrounded Seolyun and prepared to neutralize her with their respective weapons. They had supposedly made their reputation crushing sword-wielding fighters, and they certainly knew how to handle them.

The only problem was that Seolyun was far above their level.

「A genius really is different.」

“It seems she's copied the techniques I used and made a new sword style.”

「Yes. That's what geniuses do. Copy other people's skills without a second thought.」

Seolyun had transformed the swordswoman Mary's 「Needle」 into a more refined, thrust-oriented style and made it her own. And the abnormal destructive power she unleashed when striking a single point in an instant was probably...

「To think she could even imitate the Caravan line.」

“...”

「It may fall short of a true line, but the very fact that she can demonstrate such a technique without possessing the blood of steel is astonishing.」

Overwhelmed in an instant, the Knight Killer brothers lost their will to fight.

After standing in a foolish standoff, they conceded defeat to save at least their lives. The spectators booed loudly, hurling abuse at them.

They would probably never stand in the Arena as fighters again.

But it wasn't their fault.

Seolyun was simply far too strong to fight at the Silver Medal level.

「That girl should have been my descendant. Tsk. How did I end up with an idiot like this...?」

“Thank you.”

I gave my usual response to Liam's grumbling. With Seolyun's promotion match ending anticlimactically, the spectators lamented that it had been boring, that they'd wasted their time. Amid those voices, I heard one remark clearly.

“So what?”

Hearing that, I slowly rose.

“That crazy fucker's matches are starting soon. We can just watch those.”

Yes.

“The Little Gladiator's about to fight seven matches in a row, isn't he?”

It was time to leave the stands and head down into that circular arena.

“Isn't that what everyone here came to see?”

It was time to stop being Arhan...

And become Liam the gladiator.