The Simple Job of Only Perishing to the Hero

「Stay on guard. Anything could happen.」

As Kain headed towards the colosseum, Ein whispered to him as she walked alongside him.

The notice detailing that he had passed the screening, along with a guide to where his next screening examination would take place, had reached him yesterday.

It was described to be a Knight Screening Tournament, but he wasn’t aware of any further details. It could very well be a trap.

In either case, there was no doubt that Mazenda would be there.

They’ve barely managed to get any information on her since they came to Kashnart(spelling?), but there was no way she wouldn’t attend an event like this. In that case, it was the place that would offer them the highest chance of coming into contact with Mazenda.

「…Well, we already have a ton of problems on our plate right now.”

「Right.」

Kain expressed his agreement as he took in the scene in front of him.

Mazenda was the trusted confidant of the First Princess Narika, who had made this city her base.

Taking her down would essentially mean turning this entire town into their enemy. Worst-case scenario, their infiltration would become even longer-term.

Even so, the first thing they had to do was to take care of the problem that laid in front of them.

Holding that resolve within them, Kain and Ein stepped forward towards the colosseum.

A facility like the colosseum, built to allow others to spectate battle between two people, did not exist within Elarc. After all, there were many people who would be against turning battle between people into entertainment.

But the existence of the colosseum in Kashnart contradicted with that.

Not only that, there were many more forms of entertainment that existed in Kashnart compared to Elarc.

Colosseums, brothels, and various gambling halls. The reason why Kashnart had so many facilities dedicated to entertainment compared to Elarc mostly came down to why Kashnart came into existence in the first place.

The lesser capital Kashnart was a city meant to be governed by the successors to the royal family after the king took the throne. In other words, the city existed to house the 「reserve」 members of the royal family that did not become king.

However, if the king were to have a son, it was only natural that the next king would be that son. So essentially, Kashnart was the city where the members of the royal family who were kicked out of the royal capital ran off to.

Seeing that they had built high-quality brothels and the colosseum in which placing bets was commonplace, those seeking to take advantage of their lack of resistance towards gambling began establishing gambling halls in the city. The result of all this was the current Kashnart.

If Elarc was the capital of light, Kashnart was shadow. The capital of shadow born from the shining light.

The colosseum was practically the symbol of the city, and today, there were many people gathering there to watch the show. The show being the fighting tournament that was the Knight Screening Tournament.

The rules of the screening tournament were quite simple. It was an elimination tournament where the combatant who displayed the most skill rose the ranks.

The combatants would bring in their own armor, but in order to prevent fatal accidents, blade-less weapons were to be used.

Also, outside of Greater Magic(was this a term? 大魔法), magic was allowed.

That being said, even magic not part of Greater Magic could have significant killing potential. There were many spells that could easily kill an opponent, and it was difficult to restrain it like with removing blades from weapons.

That is why in terms of magic, combatants are advised to avoid using anything that could kill their opponents.

They were far from strict rules, as this tournament was not meant only to determine who was the strongest, but who fought most appropriately as a knight. To that end, how exactly the combatants were to fight was mostly left to themselves.

Reaching the colosseum, Kain and Ein immediately went to choose their weapon.

Kain picked up a longsword and lightly swung it around to gauge its feel.

「Hmm, this should work.」

With his sword of choice in hand, Kain headed towards the exit of the armory.

Ein chose a longsword as well and followed Kain. The reason why she didn’t choose short swords or throwing weapons was to hide her identity from being figured out by the First Princess’s army.

There was a single knight standing at the exit who was meant to confirm the weapons they chose.

「Kain and Ein… The both of you will be using longswords, I see. Understood.」

After scribbling something down, the knight looked at the both of them one by one.

「I’m sure you’re aware, but these are rental weapons. You are forbidden to give them others or to sell them. If they are to break in battle, we will not hold you accountable for the damage. In the case of breakage, we will exchange your weapon for a new one.」

「All right.」

「Got it.」

Satisfied with their responses, the knight pointed to the exit door.

「In that case, good luck out there!」

There was still time until their matches started.

However, the colosseum was filled with heat as if there already was a match going on.