NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26.2
Fourth match, Bash vs. Amond.
“Winner, Bash!”
In the next match, Bash also won with a single blow. The opponent was by no means weak. He was a dwarven warrior and the captain of the 3rd Engineer division. One of the top five warriors in Do Banga’s Pit.
He fought cleanly. He charged head-on at Bash and was finished off with a single blow. To the casual observer, it would have looked silly. “Didn’t you see Bash’s fight on the first day?” Some must have thought they did.
But that was the way of the dwarves. They believed in the armor they had forged and relied on it to break through head-on. To the dwarves, evasion was the act of a coward.
The brave dwarf was defeated, but was cheered with applause. Bash moved on to the semifinals.
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His opponent in the semifinals was the previous winner. Barabara Do Banga. The eldest son of the dwarf hero Doradora Do Banga.
“…”
Primera was trembling with nervousness when she saw Bash in the waiting room. Barabara Do Banga. He was the strongest and most skilled blacksmith of the Do Banga clan. Now that Doradora Do Banga was dead, he was the symbol, the pinnacle, the aspiration and the hope of the clan. He had participated in the festival with his self-made weapons and had won the tournament three times. Especially last year, he had been a relatively consistent winner, and this year he was the leading contender to win the festival, which implied that it was more than enough for him to win this time as well.
Until yesterday, Primera thought she could be better than Barabara Do Banga if she put her mind to it. But now she didn’t. She could see how diligent and good her stubborn brother was as a blacksmith. Sure he wasn’t far behind her father, Doradora Do Banga, but he was still at a level Primera couldn’t even come close to today.
She wondered if she could compete against such an opponent now. She, who had only won because of Bash’s strength.
“I assure you I won’t lose. Don’t worry.”
Bash’s words were encouraging. No matter who he was, there was no one who couldn’t believe in his words. Even on the battlefield, these words were absolute, and every soldier will feel confident. But Primera thought, will he be able to win?
“Yes.”
At least, when he won, she would not claim that victory for herself. Primera swore to herself.
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The semifinal.
Barabara was waiting for his opponent in the center of the arena. He was the previous winner. Before the tournament began, he thought he could win no matter who his opponent was. If it was an opponent like the one he had fought last year, he could win with a comfortable margin this year. He thought he had trained hard over the last year and had put on the perfect armor.
But his opponent was Bash, the Orc Hero. Barabara knew his name because he too had fought as a dwarven warrior when the war had come to an end.
And he knew that he had been able to survive because he had not encountered “them”. They were the best warriors fighting on the battlefield. Just like Bash, just like his father Doradora Do Banga. The luck of not having met those warriors is what allowed him to survive.
Once the war was over, they got the positions they deserved in their respective countries and continued to work for them. Both Nazar, the human prince, and Thunder Sonia, the elven Archmage, continued to work for their countries. He was sure that his father, who was called the War Fiend, and Leto, the Hero Beastman, who was a good friend of his father, would have done the same if they were alive.
They would not have participated in the festival. Or, they would have sat in the seats of the guests of honor. But they would never be in the arena like that. The opportunity to challenge them was gone forever.
Yes, it was a challenge. Barabara Do Banga was the king of this arena. But now, at this moment, he was the challenger.
He wanted to thank God. For giving him the opportunity to challenge him.
But I have to consider more carefully why he came…
The reason Bash, the Orc Hero, came to this country, to Do Banga’s Pit, was obvious.
The slaves.
There were orc slaves in this country. And there were quite a few of them. They were captured as stray orcs that appeared near Do Banga’s Pit. But in reality, they were not.
Most of them were prisoners captured during the war.
When the 12 races agreed on peace and this came, all prisoners of war held in each country were released. This treaty became official. So all female captives in the Orc Country were released, and all male captives in the land of the succubi were released. The captive fairies in the land of the humans and the captive ogres of the beast people were also released.
Why, then, were the orcs still captive in Do Banga’s Pit? Why were they not released at the end of the war?
No lengthy explanation was needed to tell this story. Because of the merchants of the Do Banga’s Pit. Those who ran the city after the death of Doradora Do Banga. They hid the existence of the slaves just before the end of the war.
The dwarves were stubborn and cunning. But not all of them were good people. Many, by the way, liked to accumulate wealth. The profits from the arena and low-cost slaves were enormous. The merchants, who considered it too good to give them up, thoroughly concealed the existence of the enslaved orcs.
During the first year, they locked them in the depths of the earth and made them fight in the subway fighting pits; from the second year on, they revealed their existence and made them fight in the arena, claiming that they had caught stray orcs. Many used that deception.
It was only recently that Barabara Do Banga learned the truth. Inheriting Doradora Do Banga’s pride, he immediately wanted to free the enslaved orcs. Then he met Donzoi, the leader of the orc slaves.
Donzoi was a proud man. Throughout his captivity, he had tried to break the status quo with his own hands. And he had found a way. A surefire way to win the Armament Festival and break free.
Barabara Do Banga knew this and thought: “I should face them as an enemy. This would protect their pride”.
He did nothing but secretly arrange for the enslaved orcs to receive the equipment he had made. As a result, last year Barabara won the championship and Donzoi was runner-up. It was a heartbreaking result for Barabara, but Donzoi did not give up. So Barabara sent Donzoi again this year, this time with armor and a blacksmith who could repair Barabara’s armor.
Anyone could understand Barabara’s actions upon hearing them. But he believed that, if he deliberately lost or gave up the fight, it would be an insult to orc pride. He believed that, if he did not fight and lost, the pride of the orcs, tarnished for more than three years, would not recover, and Donzoi’s suffering would be in vain.
But this year, Bash had come. An orc, a man even called Hero. To save his enslaved friends. With a fairy, just the two of them.