Chapter 178: Heracles (3)
“Then, let me go over it one more time. In exchange for Mage Njord paying Lady Aresia 10 talents per month (approximately 1,000 gold coins), Lady Aresia must use her combat power under Lord Njord’s orders in all circumstances. Do you agree?”
“Yep.”
“Yes.”
“Very well. Next: Lord Njord may use Lady Aresia’s body at any time. However, when using special methods or tools, an additional fee of 100 drachmas per instance (approximately 1 gold coin) applies. Do you agree?”
“Yep. Also, if it involves multiple people at once, there needs to be an extra charge.”
“…Understood.”
“Next…”
And so, after more than a dozen formalized clauses were established, Poseidon acquired(?) a slave!
“Hahaha! You’re thrilled too, right? See, I’m really good at judging people. I knew you had money.”
“…I feel completely swindled. Do you seriously think 10 talents a month is reasonable just to deal with the annoyance of the black market?”
“Kehehehehe. Stop whining. You didn’t even blink once during the whole thing. And now you hold the power of life and death over someone who has reached the rank of Archon (leader/ruler). One command from you and she’ll risk her life to bring you a king’s head.”
“Tsk. Sure, in theory. But didn’t a ton of other ridiculous conditions get tacked on underneath?”
“What! Those are just the price for commanding someone with my level of beauty and mastery.”
Poseidon simply let Aresia’s shameless words slide.
Right now, it was impossible to tell whether this was a slave contract or hiring a personal bodyguard. But if someone could employ a person so powerful that an entire nation would have to mobilize its full strength to stop her—for only 10 talents a month (roughly 12 billion in modern terms)—anyone would jump at the chance.
‘In that sense, I still don’t understand why someone of her caliber is playing slave… And it feels like she’s hiding the true extent of her level too…’
“So! Where are we headed now?”
Poseidon snapped out of his thoughts at the sight of Aresia walking ahead of him, practically bouncing with excitement as if she might dash off any second.
He had to rein in this slave who seemed ready to bolt and leave her owner behind.
…Or maybe this was her real personality?
“Wait. I’m going to store the luggage at Goblin Bank first, then we’re heading to the famous coliseum they have here.”
“Wooo! Coliseum? Now that’s my specialty. Back before I became a slave because of one little incident, I used to go there all the time. Hahaha!”
“What?”
Poseidon was genuinely startled by Aresia’s sudden casual slave-coming-out and asked again, but she was already far ahead, humming a tune.
“Blood splatters~ Guts spill out~ Eyeballs get yanked~ It’s the coliseum~”
“Ugh… What kind of beastly woman is this…”
Poseidon pressed a hand to his forehead as if getting a headache just looking at her.
Well… considering all the things he had done to other gods up until now, perhaps this was karmic retribution.
***
Goblin Bank treated Poseidon with the utmost respect. After all, he was one of the extremely rare holders of their legendary Gold-tier membership across the entire continent.
After receiving such VIP treatment, Poseidon and Aresia emerged.
“Wow. I had no idea my master was one of the legendary Gold-tier clients.”
“Hmm. It’s not really that big a deal. Truth is, I don’t actually hold that much physical gold.”
“Huh? Even back before I became a slave, I noticed this… Master, why are you so obsessed with gold? Who keeps real gold these days? Everyone just converts it into Goblin Bank notes or other equivalents.”
“What?! What are you even saying right now!”
Poseidon felt dizzy at Aresia’s words. Slave or not, how could someone lack such basic common sense?
Even without formal education, scorning gold was simply unthinkable.
Gold was ultimately the most essential thing—even for the gods—alongside magic. Wasn’t the gods’ own drink, nectar, golden in color?
“That’s why gold is what truly makes us rich. Got it?”
“Hmm… I didn’t know nectar was golden, but still, aren’t there things way more valuable than gold? Just as an example—for warriors like me, Lady Gaia’s adamant or even its lesser version, adamantium, is far more precious.”
“Argh! You idiots! Listen carefully—gold is…”
At Aresia’s counterargument, Poseidon immediately launched into an impassioned lecture on his gold theory.
However, Aresia had zero interest in her master mage’s theories. Her brain simply didn’t have the capacity to store such boring lectures.
“…Gold is the most perfect substance… even Hecate acknowledges…”
Aresia glanced once at the mage passionately ranting, then shrugged and turned her thoughts elsewhere.
Listening to that dull nonsense was a waste of time—better to think about the fights she could finally enjoy again in the coliseum after so long.
‘Magicians really are all eccentric weirdos. Anyway, forget the unimportant stuff. What were the odds for this coliseum again?’
An endlessly gold-praising mage, and a female warrior pondering coliseum betting odds.
The strange pair drew eyes from all around.
A peculiar atmosphere began to spread through the merfolk pirate crew’s black market.
***
“So… you’re telling me the mage who was throwing money around just hired that insolent bitch?”
“Yes, Captain. The very same one who stole your sword and ran off—she’s found herself a master.”
“Hmm… What kind of sucker would accept a contract like that? Is he some kind of sex-crazed fool? Maybe he just wants to try bedding an Archon-rank once?”
“Captain, it didn’t seem like that. He didn’t even glance at the mermaid café we run, which would be the first place for someone obsessed with women. And… didn’t that idiot’s contract include a clause requiring her personal consent?”
“Hmm… true. That makes it interesting. Very intriguing. Longkos, isn’t it about time we cleaned out the Atlantis anyway?”
“Yes, sir. It’s about time to sweep out the trash.”
“Then keep a close eye on that woman’s new master. He might turn out useful together with that kid in the coliseum.”
At the words of the mermaid with sea-green hair and pitch-black eyes, the shadows bowed their heads.
***
The coliseum run by the merfolk pirate crew had no rules.
It was exactly like the barbaric era before the gods established order long ago.
Even Poseidon felt a wave of nostalgia seeing a place reminiscent of the sea he had known before the war with Pontus.
—Kyaaaah!
—Heh, scream all you want. Who’s gonna help you here? Do you even know how much I paid to buy you?
—…Oh?
—Huh?
—Then die.
—Gahk!
In one corner, a man who had just bought a slave was instead killed by her.
—Hey! Why the hell won’t you pay out my winnings?! I clearly bet on this one!!!
—Heeeey, sorry sir, but the guy who was supposed to collect winnings says he’s never seen anyone like you before.
—What! How dare these bastards scam me—do they even know who I am?!
—Hmm… Do I really need to know who you are, sir? Wouldn’t it be better for both of us if you just walked away?
—You sons of bitches, I’ll kill you all!
—Oho, you’re gonna regret that.
—Bullshit, die—gahhhk!!
—That’s why I told you to be careful. The betting slip you’re holding? It’s cursed.
“Son… of… a… bitch.”
“Kekeke, that’s why you shouldn’t have gone so wild. If you’d just backed off quietly, you could’ve died a little more comfortably.”
In another corner, a gambler who had been scammed lost his life as well.
Elsewhere in the coliseum district, many people glared at one another with only the barest minimum of rules in place, each ready to pounce.
“I get that much… but why does it feel like everyone’s paying way too much attention to you and me?”
“Huh? Hahaha. Well… before I became a slave, I did cause quite a few incidents.”
Aresia spoke as casually as if she’d merely been chased out of her hometown for causing a little trouble—despite the dozens of piercing, murderous stares currently directed at them, some of whom were already preparing to act.
And sure enough…
“Aresia! How dare you show your face here again, you shameless bitch!! Die!!!”
Just as Poseidon had anticipated, a man wielding an axe dropped from the air straight toward Aresia.
BOOM!
The axe must have been quite a powerful artifact; even though Aresia blocked it, the impact drove her deep into the ground, burying her.
“Uahahaha! This is the [Woodcutter’s Grudge] I bought for a full 1 talent (about 100 gold coins) just to get revenge on you—the bitch who destroyed my organization!”
The man who struck first savored the sensation of the axe buried deep in the earth and let out a triumphant laugh.
He was convinced that not even Aresia could come out of that unscathed.
“Hey, that mage over there—you’re probably this bitch’s master, right? Sorry about this. We’ve got to take her with us no matter what. Looks like this is your first time in the coliseum, so consider it a lesson learned. Still, out of the kindness of my heart, I’ll let you walk away.”
The man spoke as if he had already captured Aresia, patting Poseidon on the shoulder as he did.
Poseidon glanced at the man and at the others still lurking unseen, then let out a deep sigh.
“Sigh… Picking up the wrong slave and now I have to deal with all this nonsense. And to think I’m even being disrespected by trash of this level…”
With those words, Poseidon pulled out a handkerchief and meticulously wiped the shoulder the man had patted—as if it had been stained with filthy grime.
That gesture alone was more than enough to trigger trauma and rage in everyone watching the scene, including the axe-wielding man. It was exactly the same condescending attitude they had received from arrogant nobles back in the outside world.
“You arrogant bastard with no sense of your place. No wonder you bought Aresia. Fine—I’ll drag you along too. And I’ll carve terror into your very bones!”
How dare some soft-looking mage act so high and mighty in their coliseum!!
In the man’s mind, he saw both the sneering eyes of the nobles who had once trampled him long ago and the lone figure of Aresia who had single-handedly crushed his entire organization. Gripping the axe handle buried deep in the ground, he resolved to turn both the slave and her master into minced meat.
Neither the slave nor the master had any luck at all.
“All right then. Die—huh?”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Just as the man was about to teach Poseidon a bitter lesson, a dull pounding sound echoed from deep underground where the massive axe was embedded.
The axe began to tremble like an aspen leaf.
“Why is it… doing that…”
BOOM!
Before he could finish speaking, the man couldn’t dodge as the axe handle shot upward—crushing his skull and killing him instantly.
He died without even understanding why.
Along with him, the axe buried deep in the earth lurched upward as a red-haired woman climbed out, gripping the blade.
More precisely, she kicked her legs into the wall of the pit and scaled it like climbing a sheer cliff.
Emerging onto the surface with a savage, bloodthirsty grin, the woman hurled the axe aside and roared wildly.
“Uahahaha! Who dares fight me?! Come out!!”
***
Poseidon glared down at the red-maned woman kneeling before him with both hands raised in surrender.
The ferocious momentum from earlier had vanished completely; now she looked exactly like a scolded puppy avoiding her master’s eyes.
If the now-deceased axe man could see this, he would probably cough up blood in sheer injustice.
From this scene alone, one might wonder just how worthless his own life had been.
“You… do you even realize you’re supposed to be a slave?”
Poseidon was furious at this slave who had taken an enormous amount of money while hiding all kinds of information.
He never should have taken in this damn slave… it was all because of that momentary curiosity.
At least, thankfully, it seemed this slave still had some sense of shame?
“No… Master, I swear I wasn’t trying to trick you. I really didn’t know those guys still held such a grudge against me.”
Poseidon was dumbfounded by Aresia’s brazen words. From the man whose name he didn’t even know to the persistent stares still clinging to them—
A whole truckload of trouble had come crashing down, yet she wore that “I had no idea~” expression. He genuinely wanted to smack her across the head.
SMACK!
“Argh!”
And so he actually did.
“It hurts!!! What kind of mage has fists this hard?!!”
“Because they’re filled with a master’s affection.”
“Ugh, bullshit! All my previous masters broke their hands on me!!”
Poseidon felt another headache coming on at the sight of Aresia remaining utterly shameless even after taking a hit.
From everything he’d seen so far, this idiot didn’t seem to have deliberately deceived him. She definitely wasn’t the type who wore a bear’s hide while being a cunning fox underneath.
The real problem was that the contract he had signed with this genuine fool was a five-year term. Money would continue draining every month, and now that things had come to this, even he couldn’t bear to just let such a capable fool go to waste.
“You… yeah. I knew you were hiding something. I’m the idiot for spending a fortune out of sheer curiosity.”
Talking sense to a fool would only tire himself out.
“Exactly! It’s all your fault for not looking into it properly, Master. I didn’t deceive you at all. I seriously never dreamed something like this would happen!”
“……”
Zap!
“…It’s entirely my fault, sir.”
At least Aresia wasn’t completely oblivious. She stopped just before Poseidon’s patience boiled over completely.
SMACK!
Of course, Poseidon had no intention of letting her off easy.
“Eeeeek! My head’s ringing!”
Aresia regretted opening her mouth again. Clutching her head from the reverberating pain, she rolled on the ground.
Poseidon looked like he was getting yet another headache at the sight, but soon gave up and simply prepared to move on.
It was painfully obvious she was just putting on an act to avoid further punishment.
“…Enough. There’s a proper use even for fools. Sigh. Get ready to leave. We still haven’t finished touring the coliseum.”
As expected, the moment Poseidon finished speaking, Aresia sprang to her feet and stood by the exit.
“Really? Then since I’ve taken all my punishment, let’s go to the coliseum! I want to feel that heat, the smell of blood, and those stabbing glares again after so long.”
She looked exactly like a dog begging to be taken for a walk.
“……”
For the first time in a while, Poseidon reflected on his own actions up to this point.
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