It was safe to say that the man from the tournament management committee wasn’t having a good day.

He had been looking around for a colleague who had disappeared when he heard some noise.

It wasn’t just any kind of noise either, it was the sound of something being destroyed, as if someone……or something, was running wild.

Although he had a bad feeling about it, he still went over to where the noise was coming from, knowing that any issues now would only cause more issues in future.

Of course, as a tournament committee member, he knew that the room he was heading to was being used as a waiting room for competitors.

He wondered if it belonged to a competitor who had lost a match……and considering further, he wondered if his missing colleague had been caught up in it.

With that in mind, he went over to the waiting room. However, the event occurring inside were far beyond his expectations.

His missing colleague was swinging a dagger at someone……attacking Crimson, a stand out in the tournament in many aspects.

Rei felt lucky to see someone else show up as he used the Death Scythe to strike Leonay, stopping him from moving as he asked the man to give him a hand.

「Huh!? No, what’s going on? Why is Leonay attacking you?」

For a moment, the man suspected that Rei had picked a fight with Leonay, but he quickly rejected the thought.

That was because Leonay was one sidedly attacking Rei while Rei focused on defense.

……Rei had used the shaft of the Death Scythe to attack Leonay after the man showed up, but that was all.

The main issue was what Rei had told him just earlier.

「What do you mean by brainwashed!?」

「It’s exactly what I said. ……Tch, stop moving.」

While stepping on the man’s back to stop him from moving, Rei struck Leonay’s hand……or more precisely, the hand that Leonay was holding the dagger with, sending the dagger flying away.

「The management committee has ruled that use of force is disallowed. Are you acting with the understanding that breaking that rule will result in disqualification?」

「……Hey, Leonay? What are you talking about in this situation?」

He couldn’t understand what his colleague was saying. The man voiced his confusion, but Rei shook his head in response.

「It’s no use. I’ve told you already, this guy, Leonay, has been brainwashed. He probably doesn’t even know what he’s saying.」

「Brainwashed……even if you say that, I don’t know what to do……」

The man looked at Rei in confusion.

That was only natural. As a member of the tournament management committee for a fighting tournament, he was more accustomed to rough behaviour than the average person.

That said, he was only more accustomed than the average person and couldn’t be compared to participants in the tournament.

There were many corpses lying on the ground and the waiting room was a mess. His colleague was attacking a participant while spewing words that made no sense. In was only natural to be confused at such a situation.

However……Rei responded bluntly to the man.

「If you don’t do anything, then I’ll just have to kill him, right? Please testify that killing him was the only option.」

「Wait! Wait a moment!」

The man immediately shouted at Rei, who had simply stated he would kill Leonay.

It was because the man knew that Rei wasn’t saying that as a joke or threat.

The corpses on the ground were the best form of evidence.

If things continued as they were, his colleague would be killed. Hearing the man’s shout, Rei told him to make a decision.

「Then think of what to do. I’m holding him down, but this guy is quite strong.」

Rei didn’t seem too stressed as he said that.

But that was only because Rei was Rei. It would be hard for an ordinary person to hold Leonay down right now.

He had the physical strength unique to people who had been brainwashed.

「……I understand, can you stay like that for just a little longer? I’ll call someone higher up right away. This is too big for me to judge.」

To be exact, he didn’t want to make the decision on whether to kill someone or not.

Rei understood that and nodded back.

It was clear that he couldn’t ignore the man’s request and kill Leonay now.

As a result, he let out a small sigh as he accepted the man’s request.

「Fine. But this is someone who’s trying to kill me. Please bring whoever you need back quickly before this Leonay does any more strange things.」

「Quick……I’ll be back quick! So please, don’t kill him!」

The man shouted out as he left in a panic.

Seeing him run off, Rei turned to look at Leonay, who he was still stepping on.

「You’re blessed to have a colleague like this.」

「Regarding illegal acts, we should have explained them in advance, so please look them up. In particular, the use of tamed and summoned monsters is strictly prohibited. If you use them, you will be disqualified……and in some cases, may be subject to punishment.」

Leonay was still spewing words as before as he tried to escape from under Rei’s feet.

Because their strength had been enhanced, they were stronger than ordinary people. Even so, in the end, under Rei’s strength, he was no different than any other person.

Luckily for Rei as well, Leonay only had the one dagger, which had been knocked away by Rei.

Eventually, Leonay seemed to realise that there was nothing he could do by just flailing around. He started to shift his body to try to escape from Rei’s pressure over his center of mass.

「It’s troubling that even though his personality and memories have been manipulated in various ways, he hasn’t lost his ability to make decisions.」

Rei couldn’t afford to ignore Leonay’s actions as he changed his force to match Leonay’s movements.

Several minutes passed before footsteps were heard again.

But, this time, it wasn’t just one person, but several.

(If they are from Requiem’s Toll, this would be a laughable situation.)

As he thought of that, he put more strength into the grip on the Death Scythe, just in case.

Normally, it would be a highly unlikely situation, but the fact that Lenonay, who was still struggling, was turned into a doll, was already an unlikely situation enough.

Fortunately, that eventuality didn’t come to pass.

「Is he still alive!?」

The man from before showed up as he asked.

There were several other people behind him, no doubt people that he had called for help.

One of them, an elderly man in his 50’s, took a step forward as he spoke up.

「I am their boss, my name is Asha……Crimson, no, Rei. According to what Ilcibel told me, Leonay is being manipulated by someone……is that true?」

「Manipulated……I guess so. Well, you can say that. Why don’t you ask him?」

Rei turned to look at Leonay, who was still struggling under his feet.

Fortunately, Leonay was still conscious, although brainwashed.

Maybe they were still considering whether to capture him, or maybe his position as a tournament management committee member had something to do with it. Rei wasn’t sure, but either way, it was a good thing that Leonay was still conscious.

「……Leonay, can you hear me?」

Asha called out to Leonay while keeping in mind what Rei and Ilcibel had told him.

「You can freely use magic, but please remember that if you kill your opponent, it will be considered as breaking the rules and you will be disqualified.」

「Leonay? Hey, Leonay. Can’t you hear what I’m saying?」

「As long as you don’t die, you’ll recover as soon as you get off the arena, so please fight with confidence.」

「……Leonay……」

Asha muttered in shock.

He had never felt so horrified by a conversation that didn’t go as expected. His cheeks twitched slightly.

Seeing Asha’s expression, Rei judged it was enough as he spoke up.

「It’s as you can see. Now, I think you understand the current situation……what should we do with this guy?」

「……Before that, can I ask why this happened?」

「It should be the work of Requiem’s Toll targeting me.」

Hearing the name ‘Requiem’s Toll’, Asha’s couldn’t process anything for a moment as his mind went blank.

It was the same for Ilcibel and the others who had come with Asha.

Requiem’s Toll. It was a name that was spoken with awe within the Bestir Empire.

Still, having worked in the arena for such a long time, he eventually came back to his senses as he spoke up.

「Is that true? Requiem’s Toll is targeting you?」

「Yeah. If you live here, you probably know, but a lot of things happened back in spring.」

At those words, the gazes of several people other than Ilcibel and Asha sharpened.

Rei guessed that someone they knew probably died in the war. But, in war, there was a high chance of death on both sides.

If they had volunteered for the army knowing that, Rei didn’t feel like he could be blamed for it.

However, even knowing that, he could still understand why people would hate him for it.

Regardless, Rei decided it would be a waste of time to keep talking about it, so he quickly shifted the topic back to the present.

「So, it seems that there are people among Requiem’s Toll who can brainwash people, or rather, manipulate them to do whatever they want. And I think this person, Leonay, had something done to them.」

Asha’s face frowned in displeasure at those words.

However, it wasn’t at Rei. It was at Requiem’s Toll for putting his subordinate through something like this.

「Leonay……um, will he return to normal?」

「I don’t know. I heard the people who attacked an inn I stayed in before lost consciousness after being caught. We left the city right after, so I don’t know what happened to them.」

That was Rei’s answer, but he guessed that those people probably never regained consciousness.

However, that was just Rei’s guess and there was no conclusive evidence.

That was why he said what he said.

Because hope was absolutely necessary.

「So, what do you plan to do with this guy? Considering what you’ve said, I think I can assume you’ll help me, right?」

「Hmm. As expected, I can’t abandon a subordinate who I’ve spent many years with. We’ll take him back and hand him over to security.」

Asha spoke with a pained expression as Rei gave him a warning.

「I’ll only say this once, I’ll hand him over to you this time. But, the next time this guy tries to attack me, I’ll be taking appropriate actions……if you don’t want me to do that, then make sure he never escapes.」

After Rei said that, the other members of the tournament committee approached at Asha’s signal. Seeing that, Rei lifted his foot off Leonay.

At that moment.

「This is a violation of the rule-rules-rul-rule-rulesssssss.」

Leonay suddenly raised his voice as he tried to storm out.

「Woaaah-!」

「Damn it, he’s so strong!」

「Hey, Leonay, get yourself together!」

「Mrggggh.」

The people grabbing onto Leonay all voiced their thoughts.

That said, with four people involved, they managed to restrain his limbs as they slowly carried him out of the waiting room.

Seeing that, Rei turned to Asha, who had a melancholy expression on his face.

He probably didn’t want to believe that his subordinate had ended up like this.

As he thought about it, Rei spoke up whil storing the Death Scythe into the Misty Ring.

「Then, can I leave this to you?」

「……Hmm. This time, it was we who caused you trouble.」

With that brief exchange, Rei left the waiting room, which would probably be of no use for the rest of the tournament.

 

 

「Gah……hah, hah, hah.」

「Sistoi, I’ll pull the dagger out. Here is the antidote.」

At one of the hideouts that Mulla and Sistoi had at the Imperial Capital, they were hurriedly treating Sistoi’s wounds.

Normally, the poison on the dagger Sistoi had been hit with would have instantly killed him. But, fortunately for him, he had drank an anti poison and paralysis potion before the attack. So, after escaping the waiting room, with Mulla, he was able to treat the injury.

「Hah, hah, hah……」

The reason why he was still in so much pain after drinking an anti poison and paralysis potion specially made by the alchemists of Requiem’s Toll just went to show how strong the poison was.

「But, you were able to survive. ……Regardless of what happens from now on, you have to recover from your injuries first.」

Mulla muttered those words as she continued to treat Sistoi’s injury.

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