MBSGBC 05

Chapter 05

“Kill it, kill it!”

“If it dies here, I’ll kill it!”

“Oh, no!”

The thick stench of alcohol filled the air.

A dimly lit place filled with sighs, curses, and crude insults.

An indoor colosseum so crowded there was barely room to stand. I pulled the hood of my dark brown Magic Tower-issued robe low over my face and clutched the betting slip inside my pocket.

The faint perception-inhibiting spell on the robe was my only precarious shield of dignity.

“Waaaah! Behemoth!”

“Go, tear it apart!”

The massive bear-shaped magical beast flaunting its might in the center of the colosseum was said to have devastated several villages in the distant east—a trophy of the Behemoth Knights. The beast was the fiercest of the fierce, having held the champion’s seat for over ten matches in this mad arena.

Between its terrifying descending claws, a small white figure darted past.

A fluffy white ball that looked harmless to anyone’s eyes. When I saw its eyes flash crimson, a cry that fit right in with the crowd involuntarily burst from my mouth.

“Nice!”

…Wait. Before I start hating myself for jumping into gambling, let me take a moment to defend myself.

Hey, you!

What would you want to do if you went back to the past?

I’m confident nine out of ten would say the same thing. ‘First, I’d use my future knowledge to make money!’

That’s exactly what I was doing.

It was a peaceful time, with no foreign invasions or civil wars.

But they couldn’t just let the standing army sit idle while maintenance costs piled up, so the Senate dispatched knight orders composed of knights and mages to various regions to subjugate magical beasts.

These beasts were trophies captured during those subjugations.

And here, the state-sanctioned sacred gambling ring was held…

No, really.

The house for the gambling here was actually the royal family.

The modest fees paid with each bet, the taxes on the wagers, and the admission fees were all used to fund the knight orders and state affairs.

So this was gambling for the nation!

…At least, that was my brother’s excuse after losing money gambling—but let’s pretend I don’t remember that for now.

Because I was going to make money!

“Wooooah!”

“Aaaaaagh!”

Soon, the rough cheers and howls of the crowd filled the colosseum.

A small magical beast resembling a white rabbit was grooming its fur atop the fallen bear beast. The Behemoth, drenched in its own blue blood, was clearly incapacitated to anyone who saw it.

My heart pounded like crazy.

‘It worked…!’

Who knew a terrifying white rabbit with four red eyes could look so adorable!

The gamblers around me shouted curses mixed with screams and swung their fists at the air.

“That’s impossible—it’s just a nameless beast!”

“How could such a small thing…!”

That white rabbit, which looked like it crawled up from hell, had caused quite a stir in the capital for a while in my past life. Because no one had bet on that rabbit, the royal treasury had gotten a nice boost.

That rabbit was a common ‘nameless’ one.

‘Nameless’ beasts were individuals caught by private individuals and handed over to the state, not by the knight orders. They were usually just weaklings used to fill the colosseum’s headcount.

But today, that prejudice had been overturned in an instant!

“Damn it, this is a fix!”

The furious gamblers thrashing about reminded me of Schule, which made me uncomfortable.

Resolving never to come here again, I quietly rose from my seat.

—

* * *

—

The exchange clerk who took my betting slip glanced at my face beneath the hood with curiosity, then let out a small sigh and handed me a paper check stamped with the royal seal.

Following colosseum tradition, the check bore no owner’s name.

I quickly snatched it and tucked it deep into my pocket, then hurried out of the gambling hall at a brisk pace.

I’d only caught a glimpse, so I couldn’t confirm the exact amount, but it was certain that my capital—which I’d scraped together by selling off the few pieces of jewelry and gemstone payments I’d received as a mage—had multiplied by several hundred times.

My hands trembled.

‘Thank goodness the bank is close by.’

My pace quickened. No one knew yet that I’d won a fortune. But with a fortune on me, trembling hands and shaky legs?

I had to get to the bank before someone grabbed me!

“Hey there, miss.”

Please. Don’t let this be some cliché crisis where thugs pick a fight for money!

“Would you like to buy some flowers?”

Suddenly, a flower basket appeared before my eyes.

“Please buy just one flower. My siblings are starving…”

A scrawny girl in shabby clothes raised a basket full of flowers.

I let out a sigh of relief.

Just then, a sweet and sour scent burst from the basket the child held out.

My head spun in an instant.

I saw the corner of the girl’s mouth lift slightly.

‘Danger…’

Almost at the same moment I reached my sluggish hand toward the inner pocket of my robe, something happened.

As if the sky and earth were slowly swapping places.

Everything around me began to float at a leisurely pace.

The flower basket, slipping in slow motion from its owner’s hand, rose high into the sky and tilted.

Flowers of various colors spilled from the basket, swirling in the wind.

The scrawny girl who’d been hiding behind the basket, along with a few passersby nearby, flailed their limbs in the air with shocked, bewildered expressions, like birds hit by a slingshot.

I was no exception.

Just as my legs were about to give out and I was about to fall, my body began to float slowly, as if submerged in water.

And then.

A young child was looking up at me.

A boy in a plain-colored robe. His hood had slipped back slightly, revealing his cute face looking up at me.

Pale skin with rosy cheeks. Light-brown hair that looked incredibly soft. Large eyes sparkling with the color of freshly sprouted spring leaves. A color I’d seen somewhere—more precisely, every morning in the mirror.

But, good heavens!

So much so that I felt guilty for even thinking of it that way.

The child was impossibly beautiful and lovely.

The child, staring wide-eyed at me floating in the air, slowly opened its mouth.

The panicked cries and screams of the people sounded very distant, as if from beyond a veil.

And then, the child said:

“Mom?”