Chapter 386: The Gladiator Gauntlet II

I let Iona lean on me, being her support, her pillar. I half-wrapped an arm supportively around her, as I helped her sit down on the bed with me.

“The Valkyries are gone? What?! Tell me more. How did you find out? What do you know? Are you okay?” I fired off questions as fast as I could think of them.

Iona was shaky.

“Some - some nobles from Rolland. They were quite smug about it, and they had no reason to lie. They were even able to name which [Lord] had gotten which territory in exquisite detail. That’s not an off the cuff lie.” Iona’s jaw was clenched, and her knuckles were white.

I thought of and discarded a dozen ideas, empty platitudes. I was thinking about this, using all tracks of my mind bent towards the problem.

I quickly settled on words to say.

“Could they have exaggerated? Overstated the effect? From what I’ve heard, the Valkyries are well respected, I can’t imagine they rounded them all up and executed them, right?”

Iona’s jaw relaxed, and I felt her become less rigid. Less like a block of ice. She spent several long moments thinking about it.

“You’re right. Sigrun and the rest wouldn’t have gone quietly if there was treachery, the brats would’ve been crowing about it, and I doubt the established nobility would accept such blatant maneuvers. They never considered us one of them, but we were close. They know that in their heart of hearts. They let the crown execute us, it’s a short jump before they’re on the chopping block themselves, and the cowards know it. Plus, [Valkyrie’s Valor] is still intact… although that might not mean much, a single Valkyrie is enough to keep the skill alive.”

I could practically hear Iona going from denial, to depression, and straight to anger.

“What are you going to do?” I asked her.

“I should do nothing. I should just enjoy myself while I’m here. I should go try and find where they’ve relocated to. There’s no way they would’ve forgotten me, or any of the other Valkyries. But…” Iona trailed off, clenching her fists again.

“I don’t want to just let this go. To let the smug pricks insult us, and just get away with it. I want…” Iona trailed off.

“I want to hurt them. Badly. But it has to be done right.” Iona was clenching her jaw again.

We’d shared our respective restriction skills with each other. Possibly not the smartest moves, but we were in love, and Iona could read my skills. She thought it was only fair to share.

She was bound to act honorably. She couldn’t, like, stab someone in their sleep over a grudge like this, because it was the furthest thing from honorable.

“Beat them in the strategy games! Rub their face in it!” I cheered her, trying to raise her spirits and redirect her anger in a productive manner.

She shook her head, her hair waving like golden wheat.

“I know you think the world of me, love, but I’m frankly not that good. I’ll beat most everyone, but any true [Tactician] or [Strategist] will beat my ass seven different ways. It’s why I’m here as an independent. Good practice for me, heck, it might be worth a level, but I have no delusions of grandeur. I’ll get deep into the preliminaries, but I doubt I’d even qualify for the main event. More time to cheer you on!” Iona tried to put a good spin on it, but I could see she was upset.

“Okay. Alright. Um. What if I tried to get you on the School team?”

Iona thought about it for a moment and shrugged.

“I appreciate the gesture, and I’m willing to talk with… Shirayuki, right? I don’t think they’d be alright with changing the lineup of either team of theirs on short notice, and for no better reason than my grudge.” She said.

“What! Of course there’s a million good reasons! You’re a triple classed fighter! You’re a physical fighter with the best biomancy modifications possible! You could kick the ass of nearly anyone in our team in single combat! You’d be a great addition!” I rallied, continuing to try and raise Iona’s spirits, as well as giving a strong justification for why she’d be great on our team.

Iona gave a slow shake of her head.

“You know I’m right. An outsider, versus people who’ve trained and practiced with you all for weeks to years? You do have a good point though in trying other events…”

Iona stared off into the distance, the massive Valkyrie like a block of ice as she sat still. I continued to lean into her, to hug her, to comfort her with my presence.

“The free for all is too chaotic.” She said out loud. “The singles tournament is more about the people, and less about the backers, although there is an element of that. You do have a point about the team event though…”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Rolland’s a seeded team. You’d need to fight your way through the preliminary event, win a slot, then keep winning through the various high powered teams until you hit their team - if someone else doesn’t knock them out first.” I said. “On top of that, you’d need to win out in the singles portion of the tournament, because if they can knock you out going one at a time, you’re unlikely to beat them when it’s seven of them against you, with how the point system works. I thought your build wasn’t great for that sort of thing?”

Iona slowly nodded a few times, processing what I was saying. She slapped her knee and stood up.

“Well, it sounds like I’ve got my work cut out for me. Do you think I should talk with Shirayuki first, or sprint for the tournament registration? Closes at midnight, right?”

I glanced out the dark window.

“Split up. Go register, I’ll talk with Shirayuki. If I somehow manage to get you onto the School’s team, it’s just money, right? Who cares if we lose some, if it salvages your honor?”

I got the biggest hug from Iona.

“Absolutely not.” Shirayuki’s tails swished in annoyance. “I understand that she’s a high level warrior, and if she’d approached us before the event, before we’d formed the teams, maybe. There might have been a chance. Here, now? Right before the event starts? If something happened to a team member of ours, we’d replace them with someone else from one of our teams. From what you’ve said, she’s known about us for years, and is only just now interested. No. It’s not happening.” Shirayuki said with finality.

I wanted to argue more, to advocate for Iona as hard as I could. At the same time, I knew it was fruitless.

“Thank you for hearing me out.” I politely told the kitsune. “Is there any conflict with me helping her out?”

Shirayuki thought about it for a brief moment.

“No. Not unless she somehow manages to get paired against us. You’re compromised if that’s the case.”

I snorted.

“Sure, but she’s a single person. If our entire team can’t win, I don’t know what to say. Especially with Morning Breeze. None of Iona’s skills can touch her.”

Shirayuki nodded.

“Excellent. With that said, at her level, with a small amount of luck, she will actually manage to make it through preliminary rounds. It’s rare, but [Warriors]

over 512 do occasionally show up in the team event and solo their way to the main event. It’s hard, it’s rare, but it does let them show off before the world stage, usually for recruitment purposes. Usually they’ll go for the singles tournament, as it’s a better bet, but what Iona is doing isn’t unheard of. She’s in trouble the first time she meets a grease mage though.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the mental imagery. Those were always hilarious. Not particularly amazing, but they were one of the counters to a powerful physical classer. Without good footing, without leverage, it was hard to throw a proper punch and have it do anything.

“One last note. She’s after the Rolland team, yeah?”

“Correct.”

“Excellent. The one thing I can do for you is help arrange for her to meet the Rolland team in the first round of the main event. As you know, the seeded teams all sit down with the organizers and hash out what the brackets look like. I can advocate for her to meet the Rolland team in the first round, which they might be receptive to, and I know the organizers will love it. A grudge match to spice up the first round? They’ll eat it right up, and Rolland will see it as both an easy win, and a way to prove their decision was correct, while ‘crushing’ a minor ‘rebellion’. It’s not much, and she still needs to get there herself.”

“Thank you!” I told Shirayuki.

“Now shoo! I have things I want to do!” She flicked her tails at me, and the dismissal couldn’t be more clear.

I paced outside the building where we were staying, waiting for Iona to come back, thinking about all the things I needed to tell her. All the advice that would serve her well.

There was a combined team weight limit to gear. That wasn’t going to be a problem for Iona, who only had a single contestant on her team. Gems weren’t allowed, but she didn’t have any. Being out of bounds wasn’t an immediate disqualification, but it did ‘burn’ the protective shield that determined when someone had been knocked out. If a contestant spent too long out of bounds, they automatically lost. The length of time depended on how strong of a shield they’d gotten, how far out of bounds they were, along with how much damage it had taken. The flight ceiling, or practical lack thereof.

Then there was the meta. Grease [Mages] were just the start. Mages abusing [Trigger]. Harpies needed to be taken out fast, at the start, or it’d devolve into an aerial battle where their natural gifts gave them a strong edge. Centaurs, in a twist, rarely engaged in their normal hit and run tactics, instead crashing through with furious momentum. Kitsune’s often ran clever meta illusions, making it look like their opponents won. When they left the stage, they’d win by forfeit. Of course, half the time they disguised themselves so they wouldn’t look like a kitsune, which had everyone paranoid.

Companions were allowed, but they counted as a full individual, and needed to follow all the same rules. Poison was also allowed, but had strict rules around the shielding and usage.

Iona came back, thunderclouds on her face.

“What’s wrong?” I rushed over, searching her face for clues.

“Money.” I could hear the restraint in her voice. “Valkyrie’s accounts are no good now, given our uncertain status, and the entry fee’s more than I have on me.”

“How much?” I asked, willing to open my pockets and give Iona whatever she needed.

She named a figure. I whistled.

“They charge that much to enter?!”

Iona nodded glumly.

“And entries are closing in about an hour. Might just go punch something to let off steam. It’s the healthier thing to do…”

There were quite a few other things she’d want to do to blow off steam, and while I was game, I also wanted to help Iona.

I shook my head.

“Hang on. Let me talk with Pascal. I’m not sure if his family’s nobility, or just has more money than the gods, but either way, they own a Mallium mine. I have enough money back at the School that I can pay him back.”

“You don’t need to do that.” Iona protested.

“Yes, I do.” I firmly rebutted her. “We’re together. We’re partners. We support each other. We help each other. Right now, you need help. I have a potential solution. Now come on, let’s go talk with Pascal before registration closes.”

I knocked on Pascal’s door.

“Hey Pascal! You around?” I asked.

I didn’t hear anything, but a few moments later the door opened.

“Mind if we come in?” I asked my taciturn teammate.

He nodded his wolf’s head helmet and gestured, welcoming us in.

“A [Vow of Silence]. Wow. I’ve never seen one of those before.” Iona said. “I’m deeply impressed.”

Pascal’s wolf mask morphed, first into a surprised-alarmed expression, then into a proud and satisfied one.

“I’ve got the ability to see stat sheets.” Iona quickly explained.

“Pascal, we’ve got a favor to ask of you. A big one.” I cut through the small talk. Wasn’t Iona concerned about the deadline?? Why was she chitchatting?

Iona shot me an unamused look for some reason.

His mask morphed into a quizzical expression, and Iona sighed. She gave me a significant look, which I think I correctly interpreted. I should do the ask here.

“Okay, so. I’m asking this as someone who knows you, and not as your team captain. Feel completely free to tell me no and throw me out. Iona here is looking to enter the same event we’re in as an individual. Because reasons. She’s short on the entry fee, and while I have the money at the School, I don’t have it on me right now. I can pay you back. Can you lend us a few coins, so she can enter? Registration is closing soon, and you’re one of the only people I know who could make this work.”

Pascal thought about it for a few tense minutes. His true expression under his wolf’s mask was normally unreadable, but I inched a little closer to him, and got to see what was happening thanks to [The World Around Me].

He looked thoughtful, nervously licking his lips. His eyes flickered as he performed mental calculations, before he finally put on a resolute look.

He nodded at us, but his mask changed to display a 16.

“16?” I asked him.

His mask morphed into a 16%.

“Ah. You want us to pay interest. Deal!” I exclaimed, not bothering to think through the math on it. Yeah, I’d have to pay more than we borrowed, but whatever. It was all worth it.

He handed us the money, Iona made some polite noises, and we raced off to the registration.

“Team members?” The faun [Clerk] asked Iona, latest in a long list of questions.

Iona looked at me and shrugged.

Why was she doing that?

“Iona. Fenrir. Auri. Reinhard…” She named off a few more of her friends, bringing the total to 7 people. A full team.

“Hey!” I protested as the faun dutifully wrote down the names. Iona grinned and winked at me.

“All’s fair in love and war, right? Time to find a courier, I’ve got an urgent missive for the School.”