Volume 4 Chapter 99 – The Cosmos Arena (10)
“Young Master, that’s—!”
As soon as they saw the object that Beradin revealed, the guards’ faces turned white in fear.
The young Zipfel put his index finger over his puckered lips.
“Quiet. And use your capes to cover us up.”
The guards bit their lips and surrounded Beradin, Jin, and Dante with their capes.
The crowd began to chatter, whispering amongst themselves at the sudden turn of events. No one detested Beradin’s actions after seeing the Zipfels’ insignia on the guards’ capes.
“The Zipfel Clan…?”
“That fellow… was a Zipfel?”
“Oh, what will you do? When that Zipfel cheered for Jin Grey, you swore at him to cheer for Paul Mick.”
“Yeah, maybe I-I’ll go home first.”
As soon as the Zipfel coat of arms was revealed, everyone—including the pirates—became as quiet and calm as a flock of sheep. Even Cosmos, the host, did not dare to step into the ring to intervene with the current state of events.
‘Shit’s going down. Did he come to kidnap Paul Mick because he’s a Runcandel?! Dammit. One wrong move and I’ll be saying goodbye to my pirate life. I must act professionally.’
“Everyone, close your eyes and plug your ears!”
Cosmos shouted. The charismatic host who warmly welcomed his audience suddenly ordered the sealing of the senses.
It was a very laughable situation, but the audience actually listened to his orders. Not a single person smiled or laughed.
The Zipfel Clan was not a force to be reckoned with.
“That fellow… He knows what’s going on. Maybe I can discount 100,000 gold from my winnings.”
Beradin had pulled out some kind of gemstone. At first glance, it was a spherical ruby. However, upon closer look, it had a much deeper shade of red—as if it were blood compressed together.
And they detected an ineffably weird energy from it.
‘That’s…?’
Jin had also seen it from somewhere.
But he could not exactly remember what it was. It wasn’t something he saw physically, but something he saw through a textbook when he was a student.
“It’s Numerous’s Blood.”
The moment Beradin divulged its name, Jin’s jaw dropped.
Numerousl
The God of Hope who disappeared because of a few incidents before the rise of the Holy Kingdom of Vankela.
All Numerous left before disappearing were eight teardrops and a hundred drops of blood, and humans led a bloody history in order to collect these artifacts.
Numerous’s Tear was an item that could resurrect the dead.
On the other hand, resurrecting the dead wasn’t easily possible with Numerous’s Blood. However, it could heal any injury or sickness with ease.
So far, seventy drops of blood had been used, and the rest were still missing.
It was the most pursued artifact at first, but as it became more rare, its existence became a myth.
And one of those mythical objects was shining in front of him.
“What…? Using this on Dante now…?”
Although Numerous’s Blood was a tier lower than the Tear, it could not be replicated anywhere. The Runcandels and Zipfels were still searching with bloodshot eyes for more copies.
‘And the Zipfels had one of them!’
In fact, it wasn’t even the patriarch who had it. It was in the hands of Beradin who came out for a trip. Jin could not understand.
It implied that the Zipfel Clan exclusively reserved the Blood for Beradin. The world’s greatest clan, the Zipfels, only had two of the gemstones.
“Shhhhh, let’s keep this between us. Me, you, and Dante.”
Jin couldn’t ask why he was going to use it on Dante.
From a rational perspective, Beradin’s actions were unreasonable. Although the Hairan Clan was smaller than the Zipfel Clan, they were still competing with each other. And Dante was the prospective successor of that clan.
As of the moment, Dante’s death was the best-case scenario for Beradin.
‘However, I also feel the same. Although Dante’s death is beneficial for the Runcandels, since he put away his sword at the last moment…’
Beradin grinned.
“I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you why I’m doing this.”
Beradin placed Numerous’s Blood near Dante’s mouth and spoke. Using magic, he cracked the gemstone, and a red mist emerged. The crimson clouds of energy slowly slid like water into Dante’s mouth.
Shshshshhhshhshh…
“Oh, and no need to thank me. Losing a rival is as sad as losing a friend, am I right?”
Flinch!
As soon as Numerous’s Blood entered his body, Dante reacted. They couldn’t see what was happening within him, but his pale face gradually reclaimed its normal color.
‘Beradin Zipfel… I didn’t think you would do something like this.’
Jin never thought that he would be so unpredictable. Doing a massive favor for another person who was no different than an enemy. He wasn’t an easily judgeable character.
While Jin trapped himself in complicated thought, he had one clear emotion.
‘He has a cool side to him.’
Puah!
Dante breathed hoarsely, as if he came out of water. Shocked, he looked at his own body in amazement. He knew that he escaped from the verge of death.
“How in the world…?”
“Let’s have a drink after the closing ceremony, Dante. You’re gonna tag along, right, Jin? Don’t say no. And whenever we meet anywhere, it would be nice if you noticed me.”
Jin remembered dismissing Beradin at the Runcandel banquet. Jin chuckled.
“Sure.”
As Dante slowly stood, Cosmos looked around and concluded that the issue was resolved. Then he knew what the three teens needed as of the current moment.
To make it look as if nothing had happened.
In reality, the audience didn’t know what transpired underneath the cloaks. Just assumptions that Beradin treated Dante with his magic.
However, everyone questioned the young Zipfel’s actions upon helping Paul Mick, who was assumed to be a Runcandel. Still, no one expressed curiosity as they valued their own life.
“Alrighty! That was a heated battle! The victor is the nameless teenage swordsman, Jin Grey! Ladies and gentlemen! Please give them a round of applause!”
* * *
* * *
The closing ceremony began that night.
The arena that was once filled with murder and assassination became a place of celebration. Whenever they had the chance, the surviving contestants sprayed wine on the floor to honor the dead contenders.
Usually, everyone would start stuffing their faces with great amounts of food.
However, people merely drank wine, not daring to eat before a Zipfel.
“The victor, Jin Grey. Please step forward!”
Jin stepped towards the podium made out of stacked wine bottles.
Cosmos waited in front of him with a trophy made out of shark bones as well as a bag containing 1,000 gold coins.
And at Cosmos’s feet was a small treasure chest. It was the secondary prize.
He could choose between 1,000 gold or the chest with an unknown prize inside it.
“Alrighty, choose your prize! Gold or treasure chest? What do you choo—”
“Just give me both.”
Jin responded, tired of the place. Laughter exploded from the audience.
In the history of the arena, it wasn’t the first time the victor requested for both of the prizes. But never this blunt.
‘I didn’t get to sleep for the first few days, and I almost killed Dante while fighting him. Risking my life to take these pathetic prizes… and to choose only one?’
He could not accept it.
Remembering the wave of despair when he thought Dante was dead, Jin thought that even owning Cosmos’s entire pirate gang didn’t satisfy his frustration.
“I understand that you want to have it all, haha. But you see, kid, we have this thing called tradition.”
“And I can annihilate that history and tradition today.”
Cosmos frowned then nodded.
“Yeah, okay, buddy. Take it all…”
At that point, Cosmos and the spectators knew that Jin was some hotshot from a famous clan. The Pirate King let him do as he pleased simply because he didn’t want to mess with him.
‘This runt kinda feels like he’s from the Hidden Palace… Ha. Starting next year, I’ll make sure to do thorough background checks. Make sure that there are only lowly runts who I can control.’
After the ceremony.
While the drunkards rampaged the arena, Jin and Dante reconciled in the cell they first met.
Together with Beradin, who escaped from his bodyguards.
“Wow… You two… lived here for multiple days? My goodness. I wouldn’t even survive one day! Even my clan’s stables are better than this.”
Beradin cracked open the luxurious wine, which he ordered the bodyguards to bring before the event.
Glug, glug.
While each goblet was filled, Jin passed the bag of gold to Dante.
“You’re giving it to me?”
“Yes. You take it.”
“But you’re the victor.”
“Well, don’t take it if you don’t want it, then.”
Dante stared at the bag then shook his head.
“No, I shall take it. Although the Hairan Clan has a lot of money… I will place this upon a pedestal when I get home. To commemorate this moment.”
With a lifted mood, Dante took the bag and shook it. A solid jingling sound echoed throughout the cell.
Seeing Dante’s look of satisfaction, Beradin licked his lips in disappointment.
“Jin, me too. Gimme something too. Some souvenir. Today was a special day for me too.”
Eyes glimmering, Beradin put his two hands forward.
‘Do it yourself.’
Jin would have responded heartlessly. However, since Beradin really did something special today, he felt kind enough to offer him something.
Jin wanted to keep the shark bone trophy with his name on it.
So only the treasure chest was left.
Thinking of a good idea, Jin nodded.
“Wait a sec.”
Clack!
Jin broke the lock and opened the chest. This was the first time he revealed the contents of the box.
‘Paper?’
Inside the box was a poorly drawn topographic treasure map with an ‘X’ near the middle.
“Oh? There’s ancient texts on there. I’ve never seen those characters before. Interesting… Give that treasure map to me—”
“No, your souvenir is the box. Take it.”
“Oh, that’s great too! Thanks!”
‘One guy says that he’ll display the bag of gold on a pedestal, and the other is thankful for some garbage. Are they idiots?’
Jin chuckled. As he laughed, the other two began to laugh as well. Then, Jin straightened his expression, and the others coughed.
“Hey, Dante Hairan. Let me ask you something.”
“Oh, ehem. What would you like to know?”
“Why didn’t you use your secret technique? I’m sure I said to not go easy.”
Dante scratched the back of his head and responded.
“You… did not use your secret power and went easy on me too. Therefore, I didn’t think that my secret technique would make it a fair fight.”
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