Chapter 14
“Hey, Darkie! Is it true you’re fighting Garner?”
“What? That butcher Garner? You’ve completely lost your mind.”
A rumor had already spread through the arena that he was going to fight the gladiator sponsored by House Valdemar.
A bunch of gladiators swarmed over and started making noise.
If you ask me, gladiators are basically a top-tier Teto job, so I have no idea why they like gossip so much.
Still, it was clearly different from the conversation I’d seen between Renoa and Hazel a little while ago.
That one was practically gladiatorial combat, except the weapons were words.
If the other side showed even the slightest opening, they would’ve stabbed a hidden dagger into a vital point.
‘It was vicious just to look at.’
By contrast, these muscle-brained gladiator idiots don’t scheme at all. They blurt things out without any filter.
Thanks to that, I don’t need to guess their intentions; I can just take them at face value.
How convenient.
‘If you ask me, they should be selling noble ladies’ conversations for money instead of gladiator matches.’
We’d make a killing.
It’d be way more entertaining than gladiator fights.
“Hey, Darkie. Can’t you hear what we’re saying? Did you lose your damn mind?”
“I can hear you.”
“What were you thinking, scheduling a gladiator match against Garner? Don’t you know who Garner is?”
“I don’t.”
“Ha, you bastard. So you’re the guy fighting in Alderin, and you don’t even know Garner.”
Before this whole thing, I didn’t even know Garner existed, but he seemed pretty famous in the gladiator world.
“Garner is infamous among gladiators for being brutally cruel. He grinds his greatsword like a saw and slices his opponents apart while they’re still alive.”
“Hmm.”
“Want me to give you one good piece of information?”
“What is it.”
“Just die now. Then at least you’ll go peacefully.”
“Get lost.”
Of course. I figured as much. There was no way these bastards would suddenly do me a favor.
Not long after, the match schedule was set.
Two weeks later.
It would be held in this underground arena.
I’d worried I might have to go on an expedition or something, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.
My home turf.
A familiar place is the most comfortable.
‘Two weeks from now…’
I’ve got plenty of time. I need to raise my proficiency as much as possible before the match.
For that, training was important, but there was something just as important.
“Master.”
“What is it, Leon? Do you need something?”
“No, that’s not what I’m asking. Don’t you need anything? An errand, anything at all? Give me a command—preferably a difficult one.”
To survive this miserable slave life, I had to make full use of the system.
One of them was quests.
The master’s order.
It was a daily quest that only appeared once a day, but its effect was guaranteed. It gave several times more proficiency than ordinary training.
You never know.
Maybe I’d even get a new skill.
“What are you talking about? How could I send you on an errand when you’ve got an important match coming up? Don’t worry about the arena—just train and manage your condition well.”
He’d been treating me like a dog not long ago, and now he was worried about me?
“Please, give me a command. I’m getting restless not having any errands to run.”
Bardik stared at me like I was some weird bastard, and after I begged desperately, he reluctantly gave an order.
“Hmm...”
“Make it difficult. Really difficult.”
“You’re a strange one. Then clean the livestock pens. We were short-handed because one of the handlers didn’t show up.”
“Ah, I’d rather not. It reeks of shit in there.”
“Damn it! You’re such a pain in the ass! If I tell you to do it, then do it without whining!”
======
『Master’s Order』
In the arena, monsters and beasts are just as important as gladiators. Clean the filthy pens thoroughly.
Reward: Additional proficiency increase for your next training session
======
After receiving the order, I headed to the livestock pens.
The pens are one level deeper underground than the arena. Since this place is beyond the reach of mana lamps, you can’t see a thing without a torch.
The deeper I went, the damper the air became. The ammonia stinging my nose and the stench of blood made it hard to breathe.
Once I got that far in, I could see the servants in charge of the pens.
“Leon? What are you doing here? Did Bardik finally decide to use you as beast fodder?”
“Cut the crap. I came to help clean. What do I do?”
“You?”
“Hurry up. I need to finish this and get to training.”
My indifferent reply left them staring at each other in confusion.
Then they remembered I was a slave and put on sly grins.
“Change into these boots and grab a rag. Start wiping the floor from Sector 3 over there. Those beasts have been having diarrhea, so it’s a total mess.”
I immediately changed into the boots and bravely took a step forward.
-Squelch——
“Ah.”
I froze as if I’d stepped on a land mine.
The sensation of something sticky clinging to my foot. It wouldn’t let go easily, like I’d fallen into a swamp.
Even if I desperately wanted to ignore what it was, the stench—capable of turning my stomach inside out—was vividly conveying the answer.
“Fuck.”
For a moment, I thought about throwing everything aside and running away.
☆★☆Reward: Additional proficiency increase on your next training session☆★☆
The reward shimmered in front of my eyes.
In a situation where even the tiniest bit of growth was desperately needed, I couldn’t pass up such a good opportunity. It was basically the same as saying I was going to die.
‘Fine, I’ll just grit my teeth and do it.’
One win in this match, and I’m free.
What wouldn’t I do for freedom?
I grabbed a wet mop and ran at full speed.
“Aaaah! Busterrr!!!”
“Aaaagh! Ptooey, ptooey! You’re splashing shit-water everywhere, you bastard!”
======
You have successfully completed the master’s order, 『Clean the livestock pens』.
Reward has been granted.
======
***
I successfully carried out the order. As soon as I got outside, I washed myself.
Then I went straight to find Doban.
The reward I got for completing the order this time was ‘additional proficiency on the next training session.’
Right now, what I needed most was combat proficiency.
If I messed around and ended up increasing some weird proficiency instead, all that effort would go to waste.
“Ugh! What the hell is that rotten smell?”
As soon as I arrived, Doban pinched his nose and frowned deeply.
“Haha. I just came back from cleaning the livestock pens. I washed as thoroughly as I could, but the smell won’t come off easily.”
Soap is a luxury only rich people can afford in this era.
No matter how much support I got from Renoa, the things I was given were only the ones useful for matches.
There was no way a slave could use soap. Rinsing with water was about the best I could do.
I scrubbed myself everywhere, but there was a limit to how much water alone could get rid of that awful stench.
“But don’t worry. It won’t affect training at all.”
“I do! No training until that smell is gone!”
“Oh, come on, Master. I’ve got a match in two weeks. My opponent’s a notorious bastard. I have to train.”
“D-don’t come near me! B-blegh!”
“Oh dear, you threw up? Then I guess we’re both filthy now. Shall we train?”
There was a little commotion, but soon we were able to start training without any problems.
Doban stood far away from me, pinching his nose as he watched.
“To treat your one and only disciple like this. This disciple is very hurt.”
“Why are you my disciple? Are we in a master-student relationship? We’re in a symbiotic relationship. Stop talking nonsense and focus.”
Anyway, what a heartless man. Even a little sweet talk can get you treats.
I grumbled for a bit, then started focusing.
Today’s training was the breathing technique from last time.
Even after repeating it hundreds of times as Doban taught me, I still couldn’t get the feel for it.
But if I got impatient, even something that could work would stop working.
“Hoo……”
I calmly closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Then the stench of rot scraped past my airway. It was the foul odor clinging to my body from cleaning the livestock pens.
‘Huh?’
The reason I had such a hard time with this training was that air has no shape.
Because you can’t see it, you can’t imitate it, and there’s a limit to how much help you can get.
But what was this?
The nauseating smell, drilling deep into my lungs, paradoxically showed me the way.
Like Hansel and Gretel’s bread crumbs, it drew a clear trail wherever the air passed through.
The sensation was like sticky liquid flowing downward.
My awareness, which usually wandered around not knowing what was where, used the foul smell as a signpost and dug into my lower abdomen this time.
‘...Is it here?’
The point where the smell was most concentrated. At the same time, the deepest bottom of my body.
The air mixed with the smell settled heavily in the spot commonly called the dantian.
I tried to consciously trap the air there.
——Zing.
In that instant, a pleasant shiver ran through the area around my lower abdomen.
The dantian, which had always been cold, started heating up as soon as it took in my breath, as if it had been waiting for it.
It didn’t stop there.
The heat that started in my stomach spread through my blood vessels. Every muscle and nerve swallowed that heat.
‘Wow, doing this really does make my body feel hot.’
It wasn’t just my imagination.
Feeling that sensation spread through my whole body, I slowly let my breath out in a thin stream.
“Hoo……”
Even though it wasn’t winter, my high body temperature made my breath come out in a white mist. That breath no longer carried the foul smell.
Only an oddly serene energy remained, as if impurities had been refined away.
At the same time, a system message flashed across my vision.
======
Notice: You have acquired the proficiency 【Breath of Mana】.
======
Huh. A new proficiency appeared.
No way, there really is a breathing-related proficiency.
Hey, you’re good at turning your head!
Nodding Proficiency!
Whoa? This guy can walk?
Walking Proficiency!
At this rate, maybe even Blinking Proficiency will show up.
“How was that, Master? That just now looked like a success, didn’t it?”
I said it confidently, certain that I’d succeeded this time.
“Y-you, you, you...!”
Doban, with even his remaining eye bulging as if it might pop out, was staring at me.
He was even opening and closing his mouth like a fish, as if he couldn’t believe it.
What’s wrong with him?