It was near dusk by the time Ismelda led Camilla, Kagriss, and Elyss out of the coliseum.

Kagriss had been the last one to fight, but she was the fastest one to end, eliciting a bunch of boos from the crowd. However, she didn’t care. Whereas both Camilla and Elyss played around a bit for a bit of that showboating action the audience love, Kagriss didn’t care and ended the battle as soon as it began with coils of chains that completely covered her opponent, and before her opponent could even attempt to escape, Kagriss sapped enough of his vitality to render him unconscious.

Even so, the person that Ismelda was glaring at was not Kagriss, but Camilla.

“Did you really have to do that?” she asked, annoying.

Camilla played dumb, not wanting think about it. “Do what?”

“Milla, it’s not good to lie,” Kagriss said, chiming in. Her words shoved the protests that Camilla had been about to raise back down her throat. No matter who Camilla lied to, she couldn’t lie to Kagriss. “When you remained down there by yourself, I kept an eye out for how the situation went and I clearly felt a life wink out while near you. It was fine until you went near it…”

“Fine…I did it.”

Ismelda turned, crossing her arms. “Why would you do something like—”

“Great job!”

“???”

“???”

Both Camilla and Ismelda froze as they stared at Kagriss. In particular, Ismelda looked like she just watched Kagriss spout a third head, while Camilla breathed a sigh in relief as she realized that Kagriss wasn’t opposed to what she did.

“Hang on, what do you mean by good job?” Ismelda demanded.

“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t it be a good job? Milla hasn’t killed a person since we left human territory no matter how annoyed she got at them. Now that she finally made an exception, and in a situation like that, then doesn’t it follow that she did nothing wrong?”

Ismelda narrowed her eyes, her mind spinning. Individually, all those words made sense, but when put together, those words became the same as black magic—completely incomprehensible to her. “Now hang on just a minute—” she said, only to once again cut off.

Elyss purred. “I agree. Camilla is usually quite reasonable, so the fault must lie with the other party. Therefore, good job!”

One after another, whenever Ismelda tried to say something, either Kagriss or Elyss would say something to interrupt her, accompanied with some kind of weird, twisted logic. Just because she was a troll didn’t mean she wasn’t educated! She’d read more books than they’d seen in their entire life!

At least Camilla wasn’t joining her, and after being interrupted once again, she suppressed the flames of anger in her belly and turned pleadingly toward Camilla.

However, she didn’t say anything for fear of inviting some weird new logic from Kagriss and Elyss.

“What’s wrong?” Feeling a burning gaze full of desire from beside her, Camilla blinked, her eyes full of innocence, as if the person being discussed wasn’t her at all.

Ismelda took a deep breath and opened her mouth, about to say something, but before the words came out, she looked suspiciously at the lich and lioness. Whenever neither of them said something, she continued, hoping to finish before anything changed.

“Did you kill him?” she asked, keeping her words used to a minimum.

The truth was already out that Camilla didn’t bother hiding it anymore. It’s not like Ismelda would believe her if she lied anyway. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t believe someone like him deserves to walk the same earth as me. It’s fine if you believe that your race is superior to everyone else, but it’s best to keep such thoughts inside your head in front of me. And suggesting that Elyss is somehow inferior is unacceptable.” She smiled coldly, not guilty at all, without a trace of regret at what she did.

Ismelda paused. “Were you not a templar before all this? Should templars not embody justice, protect the weak, and ensure that peace is being perpetuated? Should you really be killing someone who disagrees with you so easily?”

Camilla looked at her in disbelief. “Yes, I was a templar, but seriously…whose fault is it that I’m not one anymore? Besides, being a templar isn’t just about blindly doing good things. If a branch on a tree is rotting and killing the whole tree, I won’t do pointless things like trying to preserve that branch. It’s much better to simply cut off the rot.”

“So in the end it all just comes around to the other person disagreeing with you and you not caring to keep to yourself?” Ismelda glared at her, eyes full of disappointment.

“Hmph. Considering they were willing to start a fight over this disagreement, as well as putting all kinds of obstacles in front of Elyss for it, I don’t mind killing another one or all of them.”

Ismelda rubbed her temples, trying to soothe her headache. She sighed. “Fine, I get it. But why him in particular?”

“Is there anything wrong with him?” Kagriss asked. “It didn’t seem like he was anything special, considering how weak he was and all.”

“Yes! He’s an elf, and he’s a citizen of Celrantis that already bought his freedom. This whole thing would have been fine if he were neither of those things… but he’s both! Aside from vampires, the most populous race here are elves, so they have a certain amount of power. And as a citizen, he is owed certain protections within the city…if only he had an accident in the arena…” Ismelda counted out the problems, feeling more and more sad as she went. “According to the administrator, he’s also one of the more popular fighters thanks to his showiness, so that’s a big loss for the coliseum as well. So…”

“So…?” Camilla suddenly had a bad feeling. She did not like the eyes that Ismelda was looking at her with.

“So pay up!”

“Can I not?”

“No,” Ismelda growled.

Although Camilla didn’t want to part with her hard-earned money, she had no excuse. In the end, no matter her reason, she did kill the elf illegally. She could only look at the person holding the coin pouch and who took care of her finances: Kagriss.

With dark, stormy eyes, Kagriss sighed and took out the money. “How much?” she asked Ismelda.

Ismelda blinked, surprised that they weren’t making excuses or causing any more trouble. “Um… fifteen thousand bloodstone. It was more, but using various methods, I managed to get the administrator to drop the price. That’s how much that damned elf is worth to the coliseum. I paid already, so you’ll need to pay me back somehow.”

Hearing the huge amount, Camilla breathed in through her teeth as she realized how much trouble she caused. Was she guilty about killing the man? Did she think she did anything wrong? No to both questions. But her heart did hurt when she realized the cost of a life.

Even the way Kagriss looked at her was not as friendly as before. Fifteen thousand was just under half of the total amount they’d accrued! Her heart was dripping blood.

But Kagriss fished out the amount without a word and passed it over to Ismelda, who quietly accepted it without complaint.

Normally she’d say something, but Ismelda was afraid that if she teased them, Kagriss and Camilla would get so angry that they'd take back the money. She didn’t have the confidence that she could pry the money out of Kagriss and Camilla’s hands if they decided to not cough up.

Although she had more than fifteen thousand as well from her investments over the decades, that didn’t mean she could just spend such a huge sum like that painlessly.

“Are there any other problems?” Kagriss asked, shooting Camilla a glare that said, ‘I will take care of you later.’ Camilla shuddered.

With the monetary issues gone and managing to recoup her losses, Ismelda sighed in relief, her mood all of a sudden much improved. She happily shook her head. “No. Everything else is related to the laws regarding murder, but since the killer is Camilla, there is quite a bit of leeway. I can take care of it myself and even if I can’t, Victoria probably will.”

“This whole thing wouldn’t have been an issue if they were good people,” Camilla grumbled. “I feel there is a need for a new law regarding the treatment of beasts to prevent this from happening again. Or else… I’ll have to frequent the arena some more.”

Ismelda felt her eyes pulse from an incoming headache. Kagriss squeezed Camilla’s hand in warning and Camilla fell silent.

After a while, Elyss piped up. “Why bother changing the law? I’m fine living in the surrounding areas, so unless I really have to, it’s not like I’ll be frequenting the city anyway. Even if the collar feels uncomfortable, it’s actually quite convenient. Everyone that sees me takes a really wide berth back in Dianene.”

But a collar wasn’t good enough for someone like Elyss.

Unsure how to put her thoughts into words, Camilla tried anyway. “The collar is just a temporary solution. In the end, we’re not beast tamers and we don’t have any power over you.”

Elyss shrugged and yawned. “I don’t particularly care.”

“But we do. A collar is a mark of servitude,” Camilla said. “As long as you wear one, you’ll always be our lesser, symbolically. If that happens, someone will eventually find you an easy target to pick on and cause trouble, like just now underground. It’ll be dangerous for you.”

Although Elyss acted like she didn’t care, the way her tail lashed betrayed her true thoughts. So she did care after all; she just didn’t want to say anything. “I can handle things myself. It’s not like I’ll stay here for long anyway, as long as you don’t.”

Camilla blinked. “Are you going to come with us?”

“What made you think I wasn’t,” Elyss growled.

Camilla and Kagriss exchanged glances, thinking back to when they saw Elyss in the sun, how magnificent her fiery fur was, and naturally she looked standing triumphantly in the center of the arena. They thought that she’d be at home in the arena, but perhaps they were wrong.

“Do you not like it here?” Camilla asked, testing the waters.

“…It’s not bad.”

Once again, Elyss’s body betrayed her mouth as she averted her eyes, refusing to look Camilla in the eye when she answered.

Camilla pursed her mouth. “Why can’t you be honest with us? It’s been so long. Aren’t we friends?”

Elyss said nothing. Camilla sighed at how stubborn Elyss was. She nudged Kagriss. “Come on, say something. Ismelda, you too.”

“What can I say? It’s your problem,” Ismelda replied, taking a step back. Helpless, Camilla can only look to Kagriss.

After a moment, Kagriss stepped up, patting Elyss’s shoulder. “Can you tell us why you don’t want to stay here? What don’t you like about Celrantis? What about the arena.”

At the mention of the arena, Elyss stirred, shaking her head. “It’s exactly that we’re friends that we have to stick together, don’t we?” Elyss muttered, finally yielding. “If I stay here, what about you? Camilla, you said that you want to find a place and hide away with Kagriss, didn’t you? We wouldn’t be able to see each other anymore.”

Camilla tried her best to keep her expression still, and in the end, she gave up and froze her face entirely. She hadn’t expected Elyss to be thinking about her and Kagriss, about staying together even in the distant future.

Elyss had always been independent, so to think that Elyss would be willing to give up her own happiness in order to stay with friends… Camilla didn’t know how to react to that.

But even if Elyss was willing to give away her happiness, Camilla wasn’t willing to accept it, and she doubt Kagriss was willing to either.

She shook her head. “Everyone has things suited to them. You love battle, don’t you? At the same time, you like attention, even if you pretend not to.” Camilla smiled, with Elyss looking up in the sky, once again pretending to have not heard her. But she continued on.

“In the coliseum, you can have both without trouble. As long as you do well, you don’t need to worry about having enough to eat or drink, and every waking moment, you’ll be surrounded by strong opponents you can challenge. Even if you sit at the top, people below you will endlessly grow stronger to try and usurp you…”

Camilla took a peek at Elyss. Although Elyss still gazed upwards, she was still, listening to each word Camilla said.

Finally, Elyss looked back down. “But what about you and Kagriss?”

“We have each other,” Kagriss said, hugging Camilla from behind. “You don’t need to worry about us. If we get lonely, we’ll be sure to come visit you, wherever you are.”

“…Shouldn’t that be my line?” With two pairs of sincere eyes staring at her, Elyss nodded, giving in at last.

The whole time, Ismelda watched, feeling a headache now that it seems that Elyss was no longer going to be just a guess. Judging from their conversation, it was as plain as day that Elyss had a close relationship with Camilla. As Victoria’s daughter’s friend, she naturally couldn’t be mistreated in Celrantis.

Which meant some things, like the city’s attitude toward beasts of high intelligence, will have to change. Victoria will be busy. Ismelda didn’t want to see Victoria overwhelmed with work. But on the other hand, if Victoria was busy, then she might get to help.

No matter how she looked at it, it was a win-win situation. Slowly, the headache receded and Ismelda smiled too.

YuriDoggo

SH Bugged out and didn't upload my previous chapters. Also put them out of order.

Spoiler

[collapse]