Tamed A Blackened Slave Man

“Grand Duke! Grand Duke!”

“It’s His Grace!”

Damian, being the first competitor, caused the crowd to cause another commotion. Maybe it was because Damian had maintained his title as the winner of the Swordsmanship Competition even with his heart condition, but the people cheered for him as if he were some God.

“Me as the first competitor. How annoying.”

With a small smirk, Damian was just about to move forward when he stopped, and spoke to Cassadin, who was standing nearby.

“I hope that you live until the end. I have also been wishing to clash swords with you.”

Cassadin just stared at Damian without responding. And Damian didn’t like the look in those eyes.

He had given the man the black hair dye as he requested, and participated in the fighting competition as he told him to, so why was the man staring at him with such cold eyes?

“Why are you looking at me in such a way?”

“…It’s nothing. May you also survive until the end.”

As if his cold expression had been a lie, Cassadin gave him a small smile. It had been merely a small movement of his lips, but it felt as if the faces of the other nearby contestants had turned into a haze.

‘Irritating bastard.’

Scowling angrily, Damian walked up to the arena stage. The arena kindly had extra seats arranged for participants outside of the stage to watch the matches when they weren’t in their own matches.

Cassadin sat down in the farthest seat from the stage. Just then, someone sat down right next to Cassadin.

“Oy. Nice to meet ya.”

A thick, hairy arm burst into Cassadin’s view. Cassadin exchanged his gaze between the face of the man who sat down next to him and then his arm before turning back to the arena stage. He just ignored him.

“So you’re ignoring me, huh…”

The man, who had been ignored by Cassadin, scratched his cheek sheepishly. The man had as much hair on his face as he had on his arm.

“My name’s Jerry. I saw you talking with that Grand Duke over there. Is it alright for me to ask how you know a higher-up like that?”

Even after Cassadin ignored him, the man persistently continued to talk to him. Cassadin glared coldly at Jerry to express his annoyance, then turned his gaze back to the arena.

Damian, who was holding a broadsword in his hand, and the opponent, who had a large spear, were facing each other up on the stage.

Damian had been staring at the opponent with a bored expression, but then looked up to find Aren watching him from the seats, and he smiled brightly.

“Let the match begin!”

“Urgaaahh!”

Almost at the same time that the host announced the start of the match, the opponent holding the spear charged at Damian.

Standing still until the opponent came close, Damian quickly started to move once the man entered his perimeter.

And the opponent stood stunned, disoriented by Damian’s sudden disappearance. He felt something cold touch his neck, but it was already too late when he realized what had happened.

After disappearing from his opponent’s vision, Damian already had his blade aimed at the man’s throat.

“How did he do that? I didn’t even see him move!”

“Just as expected from the Grand Duke Damian!”

“The Grand Duke is the best! Your Grace, please win!”

Then, the people started to cheer for Damian.

“Aargh!”

Upset by the one-sided support, the opponent attempted to swing his spear at Damian, even with the blade at his throat.

But faster than the man could swing the spear, Damian disarmed the weapon from the man’s hand with his sword sheath.

“Too slow.”

Clang!

With a sharp metallic sound, the opponent’s spear clattered onto the ground. Seeing his weapon fall to the ground must have also sapped away his aggression, as the opponent raised his hands and declared surrender.

“…I-I will surrender.”

The opponent surrendered, and the crowd went wild. The audience was already becoming rowdy from excitement at the first match.

“Yeaaah! Your Grace!”

“His Grace is the best!”

Damian smiled and waved at the people in the audience. Then, they began to cheer even louder.

Though he was pretending to be a kind noble on the outside, Damian was really thinking,

‘How boring.’

Unlike the Swordsmanship Competition, this fighting competition was also utterly inferior. Not only were all types of weapons allowed, but the crowd was just as unrefined.

Why were those who couldn’t even see his movements judging him? They weren’t even worth killing.

‘I don’t think winning a crude competition like this will make me feel even relatively better. What should I ask for from the Emperor when I win?’

Thanks to Aren healing him, Damian felt much lighter than usual, and, as a result, this entire competition was just like a light warmup.

Then Damian looked toward where Aren was sitting and smiled again.

“I guess it’s obvious that the Grand Duke is going to win. He’s a lot more remarkable than the rumors make him out to be. No ordinary person could stand a chance against him.”

The man called Jerry, who was sitting next to Cassadin, continued to ramble on. Cassadin hadn’t said a word to the man, but he just kept on talking.

“But, who has he been staring at? It looks like that woman over there.”

“……”

“Are they acquainted with the Grand Duke? They must be someone special, seeing that they’re in the royal seats. She’s incredibly beautiful with those blue eyes and platinum hair of hers.”

Cassadin’s eyes suddenly lit up at the man’s comment. He raised his head and looked at the seats reserved for royalty.

There, he found Aren. She was quietly looking down at the arena, watching the games.

Because he never expected Aren to be at this place, Cassadin didn’t care about who Damian was looking at. He had only watched the man’s movements and swordsmanship skills.

So, it was only now that Cassadin realized Aren was there.

She must have come with her father, as he was sitting next to her. Right next to that was a man scanning the arena with a serious expression, whom he assumed to be the Emperor.

But whether the Emperor was sitting there or not, Cassadin only saw Aren.

Just like the first day they met in the gladiator arena, no other person came into Cassadin’s vision. His deep purple eyes concentrated only on Aren.

When the autumn breeze started to blow, Aren’s platinum hair danced along with the wind. Her attractive blue eyes folded in gently. Cassadin merely stared up at her face.

“Do you also know that woman?”

Jerry’s question caused a frigidly cold voice to come out of Cassadin’s mouth.

“It seems your mouth will be the cause of your downfall.”

It was a short sentence, but there was a clear bloodlust directed at the man within Cassadin’s voice.

If he continued to speak any longer, this man might kill him before the games even started. How was it possible for such bloodlust to come out of his voice?

Jerry swallowed nervously, and he no longer rambled on without thinking.

Starting with the first match, the competition moved quickly.

In those matches, there were some who killed their opponent even after they announced their surrender, and others who refused to surrender even when it was clear that they would lose.

In return for protecting their pride, those who didn’t surrender lost their lives.

“Keurgh!”

That useless pride had ultimately just shortened their lives. They only accepted their defeat after they passed away.

Out of the fifty who were selected, there were now twenty-four, including Damian, who were moving on to the next round.

“Now. We are coming up with our final match of this first round.”

The host came out to introduce the match.

“Let me introduce you. The anonymous Dark Robe versus Jerry the Crackling Whip!”

Then Cassadin made his entrance onto the stage. The man who had been sitting next to Cassadin until then also picked up the whip in his hand after a short swipe under his nose.

“The reason why I rambled on next to you back there was because I wanted to fight with you. To think that I’m up against you for my first match, luck is on my side.”

“……”

“Oy, how long are you gonna ignore me for? That’s a lot more irritating than you think, y’know? Even if this is just a fighting competition, what’s the point of participating without even revealing your name?”

He vaguely remembered that the man’s name was Jerry. Cassadin believed that this man’s mouth would continue to talk even after he died. He stared at the blabbering man as if he were pathetic.

“But why aren’t you holding any weapons? Don’t tell me you plan to fight with your bare hands.”

“…….”

“Hey! Don’t underestimate me! I suggest you go get a weapon before it’s too late!”

Jerry angrily yelled at Cassadin after realizing that he wasn’t holding any weapons in his hands. But Cassadin just continued to remain quiet. Seeing Cassadin in such a state, the host also cocked his hand.

“Will the Dark Robe not use a weapon?”

“…I won’t do so for this round.”

The host didn’t seem to like Cassadin’s answer, but in the end, he agreed to his terms. Since they were allowed to use any type of weapon, using no weapon at all was also allowed.

But what was with his leisurely attitude?

‘For this round? He’s saying that he’ll win this round for sure. Is he out of his mind? He doesn’t even have a weapon.’

Criticizing him internally, the host announced the start of the match.

“Let the match begin!”

“Huryahhh!”

As soon as the match started, Jerry let out a strange yell and charged at Cassadin with his whip.

The victory had been decided in an instant.

No one was able to see anything. In the short span of three seconds, Cassadin stole the whip from Jerry’s hand and threw it out of the arena stage.

To think he had been humiliated by an opponent with no weapon. Anger boiled inside Jerry.

It had been the first time in his life that he felt this insulted. He had been a well-known mercenary back in his homeland.

But he had his weapon stolen by this handsome man he didn’t even know the name of. Not to mention that he had been so fast that he couldn’t see what had happened.

He had been able to at least trace the Grand Duke’s movements as well.

“Arghaaah!”

The fury he felt caused Jerry’s hands to tremble. He couldn’t accept this. Although he no longer held a weapon, the opponent didn’t have one either. Through his long experience as a mercenary, his fists dealt a heavy blow.

But Cassadin avoided his swings too easily. Cassadin moved much faster than the speed of his fists. It was hard for him to even follow the man’s movements with his eyes.

Crack.

With a snap, Jerry’s arm twisted in an odd direction.

“Aaargh!”

“Surrender now.”

“Do you think that’ll be enough to make me surrender?!”

Crack.

The wrist on Jerry’s other arm snapped. It had just been his wrist that had been twisted, but it felt like every single bone in his body had shattered.

Why was it that even though they were both bare-handed, the black robe’s hand reached him, but his did not? Still struggling, Jerry didn’t plan to surrender.

But as soon as his eyes met the man’s dark purple eyes, Jerry knew it. That if he didn’t announce his surrender here, he would truly die.

It felt as though the man wouldn’t stop shredding not just his body, but his soul as well. How could one human have such monstrous eyes?

So, with a trembling voice, Jerry opened his mouth,

“I…surrender.”