Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Day 3 in Kilikia.

At around 11 a.m., Kim stepped out into the center of the city. It was the day of Asterique’s debut.

“Honestly, I don’t know if I need to see it.

Anyone can register as an athlete, as long as they’re not a criminal. Even civilians who have never picked up a gun or knife can try.

This means that the majority of the lower leagues are duds. If Asterique were to enter the picture, it would be unbalanced. It would be like a rabbit and a bear.

“Higo, pity your opponent.”

Roscoe sighed, as he and Kim waited in the officials’ box for the match to begin.

“I saw him earlier, he’s a young man, he’s racking up points and preparing for promotion, I’m afraid he’s going to be crippled.”

“When did you get so sweet? You should have been nice to me when we first met.”

“……Uhhhh. I guess the beating he took gave him a bit of humanity, and besides, if he leaves his limbs intact, he’ll get another match, right?”

“Oh, you want to use it as a win vending machine?”

“You need stairs to climb, and I’ve done my homework, and it looks like the bottom of the third division is just a bunch of punching bags.”

He strokes his beard, his eyes shining. Out of the corner of Roscoe’s eye, Asterike sits in the waiting area, staring at the ring.

She was nervous because it was her first match. Kim also started to get nervous. I thought, “What if I kill my opponent like that?

“I don’t think they have sponsors until the third division, and they have to pay for their own equipment and treatment.”

“It does look like a hostile environment.”

The stands were empty. A few homeless people lay on the ground. The facilities were aging and the referee, Mr. Irani, was hungover.

– …… is down! Blackburn, you’re down!

– Uh-oh, I don’t think he’s coming back to consciousness. The count has begun. 9, 8, 7……!

You hear the shouts of the broadcasters on the wind. The source of the sound was a first division stadium. Despite the distance, the heat was palpable.

The disparity between the stadium and the field was stark. Kim realized that if he had been a player in a lower league, he would have felt quite deprived.

But others seemed to be motivated by the opposite.

“She’s the one to go over there. Cancer, yeah. Uh, maybe we can go all the way and win the division……. Hehehe….”

“It wasn’t motivation, it was greed.”

Kim chuckled.

“Winning the whole thing, I don’t know if that’s going to work.

In fact, Kim didn’t really know what the level of the League was like. In-game, Kilikia was quickly taken over by Legion.

Naturally, the league fades into the background of history. Characters who have played in the league often show up.

Based on what little data we have.

“It doesn’t make sense to win.

Asterique is a tale of two halves. Her potential is ridiculous, but without a spell suppressor, she can’t use her abilities properly.

I didn’t even want to win in the first place.

“I just need to get the basic rewards.

Now, if Kim can just get his own agent rating to 3 stars, he’ll be able to realize Asteriske’s full potential.

“When are you coming up.

If he succeeds in changing Kilikia’s fortunes, he could reach three stars. I’d also break the agent record.

‘……It’s going smoothly, so far.’

After a few moments, the referee called the players to the sidelines.

In the lower leagues, all matches are one-on-one. Beast hunts and capture the flag battles are expensive.

No audience, no sponsorship. You just fight each other and keep records. There’s no romance until you’re at least in the second division.

Just before the match starts.

“Oh, is an acquaintance competing?”

A figure approached the officials’ table. Kim turned around.

It was Bryce. I recognized the face, then turned my attention back to the ring.

“They say today is your debut.”

“Is that the fellow you said you entered with?”

Bryce took it for granted that Kim hadn’t told him. It meant he’d done his homework.

He was invited as a guest because of his skills, but Kim was an outsider. An investigation is inevitable.

‘I was also given a pager to carry around.’

It was the reason Bryce had come to Kim. For surveillance, but also for contact. Kim Yi Hyun didn’t yet have a device he could call.

“Do you know anyone from ……?

“Just a coworker.”

“Ah… ah… I see.”

Bryce smiled casually and nodded his head. Roscoe, meanwhile, timidly hesitated to even make eye contact.

Working as an informant has taught me how to see people. It didn’t work for Kim.

Bryce was no pushover, at least as far as Roscoe was concerned.

‘I wonder what you’ve been doing all these years to get involved with this guy….’

I honestly didn’t want to get involved. Roscoe distanced himself from them, telling them to talk at ease.

The match has begun.

Asterique was bare-handed and unarmored. He wore a cheap T-shirt. His opponent, on the other hand, wielded a dull iron sword.

His opponent looked troubled. A bare-chested woman, even if she was peccatouched. He could only hesitate to strike mercilessly.

“It’s like watching a play.”

“What are you talking about again?”

“In the underground, if you see someone who’s not one of us, you point a weapon at them. It doesn’t matter if it’s a woman or a child, you never know if he’s a Bounty Hunter or an Outlaw. But up here, you can pick your enemies, and they’re just like that.”

“That’s an underground anomaly. If we did the same thing above ground, it wouldn’t be any different from the Outlaws.”

“I think so in my head, but my senses must have gone out the window because when I’m on the ground, I feel like I’m walking around a theme park…….”

Bryce’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.

Asterike was untouched. He breathed out flames and swung it like a whip, sending his opponent sprawling on the ground in disbelief.

My hair sprouted from the flames. As he screamed at the top of his lungs, it seemed to reach his scalp.

“Ouch. That’s gonna hurt.”

“……You’re a spellcaster.”

“Don’t pay attention. I’m not taking you underground.”

“Huh, what’s so cheap about that?”

“Well. Guardian and ward?”

The young man threw down his iron sword and withdrew. The match had ended in vain. Asterique scratched her head, wondering how it had gone.

When the flames subsided, Asterique looked up at the officials. When Kim waved her hand to congratulate her on a job well done, her face lit up.

That was it.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s go.”

It was time to go back underground.

* * *

Asterique didn’t have a hard time adjusting to the league because she’s a Pekatum.

More specifically, Pekatum, the forbidden jade leaf of a well-to-do family.

‘Sounds a bit like that.

In Asterike’s homeland, dueling was a regular occurrence among the officials. Their physical prowess is matched only by their reverence for nothingness.

It’s an old ritual I attended as a kid, and the warriors looked so cool then… but not so much now.

“Hot! Ha!”

With an exaggerated flourish, he extends his sword. A man with rippling muscles. His opponent for this match.

Bung, boong.

The cheap iron sword swung wildly. Asterike stepped back, twisted her upper body, and lowered her stance to avoid the blow.

Let the one-sided attack continue.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

The man stepped back, breathing heavily. He wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his hand and smirked.

“Looks like even the mighty Pekatum is no match for my swordsmanship. Consider yourself unlucky. I’ve risen to the top of the third division before.”

“Is that really that great?”

“Ha, the rookie is a rookie after all.”

He explained that it was no big deal.

“At first, everyone comes in imagining a future playing in the first division. Everyone does, and after a few games you realize it.”

His gaze turned toward the main arena.

“It’s different over there and over here. Yeah, it’s different. There’s some kind of invisible ticket, and only people born with it can get in.”

“Um…….”

Asterique scratched her cheek. It was something she did when she was embarrassed, but I mimicked it in a playful way and it became a habit.

She was questioning and struggling.

Question first.

I’d gotten used to the game itself… but understanding people was still a challenge.

Next, the difficulty.

“Roscoe told me what to do.

I thought back to the feedback I’d gotten from the previous match.

It’s called a league. It’s called entertainment, entertainment.

You don’t know who’s going to win until the very end, and it’s all about the chewy flavor.

It’s still the lower leagues, though, so your opponents might be too shitty, and if they can’t match you, there’s always a way.

And you probably said something like this.

If you’re overwhelmed, you’re overwhelmed, and that’s that… Be cool, be glamorous, and remember this.

“Be cool.

It was an adjective far removed from Asterike’s life. She couldn’t quite place it… but if it was a specimen, it was imprinted in her mind.

For now, I decided to emulate the warriors of my homeland.

“Isn’t that right now, Ms. Pekatum. I’m feeling the walls against me-”

Blame!

Asterique pushed off the ground with a stomp of her foot. The acceleration far exceeded his expectations. Horror flashed across the man’s face.

“What speed…!

The man thrust his sword out in a rush. It was a mistake. If he pierces the flesh at this rate, he will be mortally wounded.

It’s common in the lower leagues, where the players’ equipment is shoddy, yes, but… he’s not brain-damaged enough to kill people.

It was a fluke, of course.

“Huh?”

The tip of the blade pierced the air, not flesh. Pekatum’s form faded from view. All that remained was his hair, flowing from top to bottom.

Then came the shock. It felt like I’d been hit in the leg with a metal club.

“Billion!”

He lost his center at once. As he fell, Asterike caught his loose sword. The sword spun half a turn in her hand.

Boom!

A knife lodged in the side of the fallen man’s head. The fire from Asterike’s hand melted the lowly iron with ease.

“Blah, blah, blah!”

The molten iron didn’t even touch him. It merely transmitted heat, and the man shouted.

“Gee, abstain, damn it. Help!”

He had heard what he wanted to hear. Asterike straightened up again and put out the fire.

“…… is still awkward.

Dealing with spells. Thanks to the inhibitor, I was able to limit the output and use it without any problems. I didn’t find it difficult at all.

The naturalness of it is foreign.

I felt like I had an arm where I didn’t have one, and if you want to put it that way, it was Kim who gave it to me.

“Good, good, good, you’ve had a good day.”

As I walked down after the match, Roscoe came running up to me. His face grew brighter as Asterique racked up the points.

“Where are the strings?”

“Dean? I’m sure he’s working right now. I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’s busy.”

“……Okay.”

“Is that so bad?”

“I didn’t really say anything.”

“I can tell by the look on your face, but, well.”

Asterique glanced at Roscoe, but couldn’t deny it. Right after the victory. She liked the moment she made eye contact with Kim.

“Well, that’s a good thing, it means you’re happy with your life, right?”

“Why is that?”

“Hey, it’s not all because of you.”

Roscoe said in a tone that suggested he didn’t know.

“You did bring us to Kilikia, after all, and we’re settling in nicely, and if we hadn’t met you in Ulantz… neither you nor I would have had much fun.”

Roscoe, for example, would have made a living from information.

A stable life? Not exactly. Offend the mafia and you’d be dead in a day.

‘It would have been worse for a young lady.

You must have smelled blood every day of your life. You were forced to become a member of the Pavoni family. They didn’t treat you as an ally.

Of course, there are questions.

‘How he knew about you and sought you out, I still don’t know.

I didn’t want to know. There are some things in life that are better left unsaid. Roscoe tamped down his curiosity and simply recognized it.

Asterique was picked up by Kim.

“Yeah. I know.”

“That’s not to say I’m going to give you my liver, my guts, my everything, but I’m going to work hard at being a manager. It’s rewarding.”

Asterike nodded in agreement. Her thoughts were no different.