[121]
“Gifts have arrived again today.”
Several boxes were delivered to the room.
Fans started sending gifts to the fighter called Wolf since he earned the Gold rank.
People who claimed they had been watching him since his rookie hunts, those who liked his clean fighting style, others thanking him for bringing them big winnings by securing victories at the right moments…
Chris returned these gifts appropriately. To be honest, not only was Wolf not his real identity, but he also felt uncomfortable being admired by others. Though he had to be in the spotlight due to the special nature of his mission, Chris generally preferred to remain inconspicuous, as if behind glass.
The biggest problem was that among these “gifts,” disturbing items sometimes showed up.
“Last time it was photos, wasn’t it?”
Someone had taken pictures of Wolf meeting another fighter in the lounge from a suggestive angle, scrawling curses in red ink. There was even a box that spilled fake money covered in fake blood. Later, there was apparently an attempt to include small animal carcasses in the gifts, which the facility management team discovered.
Fortunately, after someone damaged his door from the outside, there had been no direct contact. But when he went outside, he sometimes felt persistent stares following him.
A sticky, unpleasant kind.
“It seems serious competition has started since entering Platinum,” said Yuri, putting down his device. He appeared to have asked the broker Edgar about the current situation.
“What’s different about being in Platinum?”
“The betting amounts change. And if you win consecutive matches, you could become a champion.”
Literally, the stakes in each match changed, which meant there would inevitably be people willing to risk their lives to disturb a fighter’s mental state.
“If we just stopped accepting gifts…”
“The Colosseum said that’s impossible. They need fans to encourage continuous consumption.”
“Excuse me?”
Chris questioned with an astonished expression.
“In other words, even fights among fans help with betting. Of course, the desire to support your fighter is important. But not wanting your opponent to win makes people bet even more money.”
Even this was about business.
Chris nearly lost his composure.
“They’ve hidden such a large market well. It seems they expanded their business when surveillance decreased during the confusion after Rosenhauser’s downfall and the Esper alliance became chaotic.”
Yuri muttered in a barely audible voice with his head half-lowered.
Chris rolled his eyes. Anyone with even minimal interest in Esper society could make such assumptions.
“Anyway, we just need to make money, that’s all.”
Yuri concluded neatly. Even Chris, knowing this wasn’t Yuri’s true intention, nodded at how convincing it sounded.
“Those gifts…”
“Transform into a wolf and smell them. Set aside anything suspicious.”
Chris nodded.
He immediately got down on all fours and transformed into a furry beast. Yuri glanced at his frantically moving tail, then found himself looking back at the wagging tail while checking his device screen.
He always called Chris a dog, but seeing him actually walking around like this was disorienting in many ways.
After inspecting each box, Chris pushed several gift boxes aside.
When Chris returned to human form and got dressed, Yuri reached for a small package, but Chris stopped him.
“Don’t touch it.”
Yuri frowned.
“It’s well-sealed, but I can smell something acrid.”
It wasn’t the sickly-sweet smell of fake blood. Nor was it the stench of something rotting.
That made it all the more concerning.
“I’ll call the management team.”
Shortly after, a Colosseum employee arrived with a device to check the contents.
“This is sleeping gas. Enough to fill the entire room and then some.”
“Hmm.”
Chris showed his displeasure without filtering.
He was annoyed at the Colosseum for allowing suspicious gifts to be delivered despite having ways to check their contents.
“Sleeping gas on a match day? What are you doing not checking these things?”
Yuri intervened, noticing his dog had become agitated.
Strictly speaking, Chris wasn’t a barking dog but a biting one.
The employee, however, remained nonchalant.
“It can’t be helped. Do you know how many items come in for fighters? Besides, some fighters receive special drugs delivered this way.”
He added with an annoyed look that they would get angry if staff rummaged through their things.
“Ridiculous,” Yuri clicked his tongue.
The employee, thinking Yuri was criticizing other fighters, shrugged and agreed.
“That’s exactly right. Is there anything else you want me to take away?”
“No.”
At Yuri’s response, the employee quickly gathered his equipment and left. When Chris tried to follow him out, Yuri grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
“Where are you going?”
“There’s something I need to borrow.”
“Forget it.”
He had no intention of antagonizing the arena management.
At least not yet.
Chris eventually sat down on the couch.
The fighter’s waiting room they moved to after reaching Platinum rank was quite lavishly furnished.
‘But there’s not a single window.’
If sleeping gas had been released in this space, he would have fallen asleep helplessly. Then he wouldn’t have been able to participate in the scheduled match, meaning he would have had to forfeit not just the prize money but also pay a deposit.
Having thought that far, Chris paused.
“Wait a moment…”
Sitting up straight, Chris asked, “If I had failed to compete today, how much would the deposit penalty be?”
“Quite substantial. Since there are many fighters who forfeit due to drugs…”
Yuri stopped mid-sentence.
He seemed to have realized the same thing from Chris’s question.
It wasn’t that management was careless.
They were ‘deliberately’ not managing it.
“Ha, haha…”
A laugh escaped from Yuri.
Among the arena’s fighters, quite a few belonged to the Colosseum. However, neither Yuri nor Chris had thought deeply about this.
They had entered with suspicions that the Thorns Order was pushing troublesome Espers into the arena.
But how did other illegal Espers who weren’t affiliated with the Thorns Order end up leashed here?
‘The Colosseum is targeting Wolf.’
Yuri was stunned that he had realized this fact so late.
If he had no information at all, he might have noticed it sooner.
They frame fighters with drug addiction and increase the deposit penalties for missing matches.
At first, fighters might be able to pay the penalties, but they would gradually run out of money. Whether due to drugs or attacks disguised as anti-fan actions, as their participation decreased, so would their finances.
Chris recalled the gold bars piled in his guitar case, not even converted to credits. He realized that Obl wasn’t accumulating money that way for no reason.
‘They don’t even provide proper guiding. They get Espers addicted to drugs, make them fight other humans as a spectacle, and rake in money…’
It was an abnormal structure.
The Espers gathered this way would almost certainly go berserk eventually. Then, how would they be dealt with?
‘I need to find the longest-standing fighter in the current Colosseum.’
Silence filled the room for a while as they were each lost in their thoughts.
Suddenly, Chris stood up.
“I should get going now.”
Yuri watched Chris’s back as he strode through the carelessly scattered wrapping paper.
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’m not sure,” Chris muttered, stopping abruptly.
“But I will come back victorious.”
He moved along the corridor of the waiting room toward the arena.
-Thank you for waiting, everyone!
A loud mechanical sound came through the speakers as a large monitor descended.
Chris appeared on screen. Standing on what looked like a sandy arena, he was looking at his opponent with detached eyes.
-Wolf’s opponent is Genie, who had a nail-biting match against our champion last time! How many seconds will it take before Wolf gets knocked out?
Jeering spectators could be seen in the background.
Watching the screen with an expressionless face, Yuri whispered,
“Tear them all apart.”
As if answering his words, the wolf on the screen revealed his teeth in a smile.
***
“I’m dying here,” Fortuna murmured while lying down.
“I’m sorry,” Jessica offered an apology.
Thanks to Fortuna using her ability without rest, Baekyah was receiving a lot of help.
The formula for the guiding drug was discovered by Hannah, a pharmacist from the Spring Continent. However, that alone wasn’t enough to create a treatment. That’s when Fortuna stepped in.
She delved into the minds of factory workers who produced the guiding drug and filled in the missing pieces.
Because of this, Jessica found it difficult to tell Fortuna to stop working.
Wondering how she could help, Baekyah’s doctor asked, “Would you like an IV drip?”
“…For a moment, I got excited,” Fortuna replied deflated, then nodded.
She watched as Jessica inserted the needle into her arm.
In her mind, she imagined Jessica suddenly changing and injecting her with a sedative before stuffing her into a pod.
But even using her ability to scan Jessica’s mind, she couldn’t detect any ulterior motives.
‘This is awkward.’
The situation itself—trusting someone enough to put her body in their hands—wasn’t becoming any more familiar. Using her ability to check and recheck was less about suspicion and more like self-torture.
And there was one more thing that felt strange.
‘Someone worrying about my condition… not just my ability…’
“Well, I guess,” Fortuna’s lips moved.
“It definitely feels different from being exploited involuntarily.”
Her body was still exhausted, but her mind was clear.
“Did you find anything useful?” Jessica asked.
Fortuna smiled faintly. “Of course. I discovered a few things.”
Jessica brightened at these words. Fortuna wasn’t the type to make things up.
“What are they?”
“The mental Esper who placed the ban is extraordinarily talented.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
