Leonardo frowned at the beams of light pouring down. When he raised his head, he saw a clear sky unlike his gloomy complexion. After continuous rain, only the central region had miraculously cleared up.
'I just want to rest.'
He wished people's hearts could be as light as drifting clouds, but his mood wouldn't improve easily. Yesterday he had stopped by the funeral held in Riverside.
Perhaps because it was a memorial service the entire village participated in, crowds lined up to the alley entrance. Though he could only watch like a shadow from a corner, his heart was together in being in the same space.
Unlike his eccentric aspects, Grimbleton seemed to have shown much warmth in life. Residents turned every bench he often sat on and every pathway into flower gardens. Mixed among them, he could occasionally hear anecdotes or deeds he had left behind. Among them, there was no evidence or circumstances of murder.
When he asked someone nearby about the cause of death, the answer came back as natural death. Though it was awkward to say they had fought, according to what he heard from Tergio, with whom relations had become distant, there were no traces of outsiders visiting afterward.
Leonardo, who could only see off the coffin procession, walked to the magic shop entrance holding a white bouquet. After finishing the flower offering, he immediately turned away. The rain had intensified, and a woman dressed in mourning clothes stood blankly in front of it.
Her face was covered by a veil descending from her black umbrella and hat, so he couldn't see her appearance in detail. But he knew she was crying hidden by the sound of rain.
"Please move aside."
As he stood blankly shading the sun with his palm, he occasionally bumped shoulders with others. Leonardo, walking through reminiscence with a dazed face, looked to the side. Soon he met an annoyed face. Though he tried to respond with a gaze sharp from fatigue, he soon saw the crowd flowing around him on both sides like water streams splitting along a pebble.
An awkward expression naturally formed, so he nodded and trudged to the edge of the pathway.
Where people were heading was the arena entrance wide open between pillars. The tall yellowish-brown outer walls made of travertine stone looked like a reconstructed dueling ground of gladiators from the past. Whether traces of time or intentional, the exterior had a somewhat rough and aged texture, but the grandeur of its scale was no less than any other arena.
That place was the 3rd Preliminary Main Arena, the venue where today's Part 2 test match would be held.
'I still have to go though. Having come this far.'
The death of an elder to whom he had briefly given affection. Friction with a business partner he had trusted and relied on. And the coldness of reality he had stabbed into his chest like a dagger.
A dishonest relationship, past resentment and present affection. A heart that couldn't give up either side.
The voice he had heard on a recent night spread tinglingly through his mind like nicotine rushing into his tired body and spirit. Though he knew it was bad, he couldn't quite quit.
Leonardo left such things behind and was swept up in the wave of participants.
Sometimes the world flows regularly to the point of being heartless.
If he indulged in sorrow or self-loathing, he would sink below the surface. Today too, he had to struggle desperately for his goal.
Unlike the Part 1 match, though Part 2 had changed test locations, there was no mental burden. Perhaps because the place he had wandered around hesitating to register for league participation was right here.
Rather, it was good that the number of journalists who had followed disgustingly had greatly decreased. Today he had covered his face more thoroughly, so it seemed no one recognized him yet.
Following the crowd through a tunnel that passed under the spectator seats from the entrance, the arena interior was bustling as expected. However, it wasn't as noisy as the 5th Arena in Agrizendro territory where the opening ceremony had been held. The spectator seats were completely empty, and except for occasional officials passing by, it seemed only participants had gathered.
'Last time there were so many people because schedules overlapped.'
Recognizing there was no seething heat or deafening roar, his heart approaching the match became considerably more comfortable.
"Participants, please line up in four rows in order of arrival!"
Right in front, white tents rose high in rows. Since they doubled as barriers to maintain security, it was impossible to grasp what state the ground was in.
'Are we taking portals again? That'll be annoying.'
Holding such idle thoughts, he was about to get in line as if entranced but turned his steps in regret and moved to a corner of the arena. Since there was still some time left, thinking it would be fine, he took out a cigarette case from his pocket and put one in his mouth.
Already on both sides, at intervals not very wide, there were smokers arming their spirits for the last time. Since smoking was prohibited once inside anyway, the league operations officials also created an atmosphere encouraging them to finish here before entering.
Leonardo squeezed in among the acrid smoke and lit up. With a hiss, whispering voices could be heard.
"Why are there so many people today?"
"There was balance adjustment after the Part 1 match, right? I heard the danger group from the 5th Arena scattered to other places, I hope it wasn't just here."
"Ah, the one who blew away half the arena?"
His golden eyebrows twitched.
'It wasn't half though.'
Leonardo, sitting on the ledge supporting the base of a pillar with the filter in his mouth, naturally eavesdropped on surrounding people's conversations. To grasp the new arena atmosphere and incidentally hear news from the smoker information network.
"There were particularly many strange guys at the 5th Arena."
"What was the Part 1 event there?"
"Tower conquest I heard, I don't know the details either. The match end times for each group varied wildly. I have a guy who worked with me before, and according to him, some bastard ganged up from the start and the match ended in an hour. The guys who formed alliances with that bastard all passed, and the guy who told me got eliminated."
"That works? Isn't that an insider?"
"The rules were a bit unusual I guess. But besides that, there are more crazy bastards. One group even collapsed the tower, and somewhere only one person passed."
"One person? Why?"
"What else? He eliminated all participants in the same group and climbed up alone. Fucking bastards. What would be lost by sharing the prize money?"
One person? Leonardo's eyes rolled naturally at the words muttered as if indignant.
"Someone in that group almost died apparently. Anyway, there are so many cruel guys."
"From the test? Lucky they didn't get disqualified."
It seemed there were dominators like Appendix in other groups too. Group F unfortunately had the prospective winner Lion, so it became useless.
Honestly, having experienced a crisis of elimination once, he wanted to avoid troublesome opponents before advancing to the main tournament with 1-on-1 matches. He had been so confident when first starting, but since the goal was victory, people look for the easy path.
"Then isn't it more advantageous to have more allies? Block solo runners and cooperate when necessary. Try talking to them? Let's form an alliance too."
The two participants who had been looking around glanced at Leonardo, who was closest. Worried about receiving some unnecessary awkward signal, Leonardo slyly turned his body's direction and pressed down his hat. The voice of Ero saying "Having more allies is advantageous until the main tournament!" suddenly came to mind, but he didn't want to increase his baggage to five or six. They didn't look very strong.
However.
"He looks weaker than you though?"
'Fuck.'
Hearing his own thoughts through another's mouth in one second, he felt keenly how arrogant a judgment it had been. His condition was already poor, and following the judgment as weak externally before the Part 1 match last time, his mood became shitty.
Leonardo, barely holding back from crushing the cigarette with the strength entering his hand, jumped up from his seat.
"Once you form a team and it's individual competition, things get complicated. If you meet as enemies later, it gets more annoying."
"That's true but... hey hey, they're looking this way. You were loud."
"So what, once we go in everyone's an enemy anyway. Want to show your skills first?"
One guy who spoke loud enough to hear while pretending to whisper shadow-boxed at the air. Leonardo stared directly at him, then soon shook his head and tried to leave. Having been at the center of commotion last time and suffering for it, he didn't want to cause trouble again.
It was when he, spinning his wrist, was consoling his regret with the cigarette in his mouth and about to go around the pillar.
Thud—
"Any ordinary guy I'll, eeeek—!"
The voice that had been babbling until just now screamed. Leonardo, who had hesitated, looked back.
"Wha, what!"
The guy who had been going on about his skills was suddenly sprawled out. The guy with him hesitated and stepped back two paces.
'...?'
A mysterious form was entangled in the sprawled guy's limbs. Having identical limbs, it looked like a human form wearing luxurious silk clothes. Looking closely, it wasn't a person but a rag doll the size of an adult man.
Its head was painted bright red with a mouth drawn torn to the ears. It obviously looked like some cursed doll, but the problem was that this monstrosity looked very familiar.
"Which bastard! Who threw this thing!"
"If you can't even dodge that, your mouth is really fast. Yap yap."
Click click, heavy sounds came from thick platform heels. Some woman dressed in gothic style approached with elegant steps, then grabbed the drooping rag doll by the scruff and picked it up.
"Morbang, sorry. Did it hurt a lot?"
The woman brushed off the rag doll's surface with lace-gloved hands. Then once again mercilessly swung it toward the man sitting down. The man instinctively raised both arms above his head.
Leonardo moved his lips soundlessly. He wondered why a business partner who should clearly be quietly sleeping at the Libertas residence was causing a disturbance before his eyes.