🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 5: “What Do You Mean My Ex-Boyfriend Had My Child?”
“Kill it! Kill them all!”
“Kill it before it kills you!”
“Whoa, no!”
The smell of alcohol filled the air.
The dark room was full of sighs, insults, shouting, and angry curses.
It was an indoor colosseum packed with people. There was barely enough room to stand.
I pulled the hood of the dark brown robe provided by the Magic Tower low over my head and tightly held the betting slip inside my clothes.
The weak magic on the robe that made it harder for people to recognize me was the only thing protecting my identity.
“Woooo! Behemoth!”
“Go! Tear it apart!”
In the center of the colosseum stood a huge bear-like monster.
It was said to have destroyed several villages in the far eastern region.
The Behemoth Knights had captured it as a trophy.
It was an extremely powerful beast that had remained the champion of this crazy fighting arena for more than ten matches.
A small white shadow suddenly flashed between the terrifying claws of the giant beast.
It was a tiny ball of white fur that looked completely harmless.
But when I saw its four eyes glowing bright red, I couldn’t help shouting along with everyone else.
“Go! You can do it!”
…Wait.
Before I started hating myself for getting involved in gambling, let me defend myself for a moment.
Hey, you.
If you went back into the past, what would you want to do?
I’m sure nine out of ten people would give the same answer.
“First, I’ll use my knowledge of the future to make money!”
That was exactly what I was doing.
This was a peaceful period with no major wars or conflicts.
But the kingdom still couldn’t let its standing army sit around doing nothing. Maintaining soldiers cost money.
So the Council sent groups of knights and mages around the country to hunt monsters.
The monsters used in this colosseum were creatures captured during those hunts.
And here…
The kingdom had created a perfectly legal gambling arena.
Well, technically.
The royal family really was in charge of the gambling here.
A small fee was charged every time someone placed a bet. Taxes from the bets and entrance fees were also used to support the Knights and run the kingdom.
So technically, this was gambling for the good of the country!
…
At least, that was the excuse my brother Schle used whenever he came home after losing money gambling.
But let’s pretend I don’t remember that.
Because I was going to make money!
“Waaaaah!”
“Ahhhhh!”
Soon, the colosseum was filled with the wild screams of the crowd.
The little monster that looked like a white rabbit was standing on top of the fallen bear monster, calmly grooming its fur.
The Behemoth was bleeding blue blood everywhere.
It was obvious that the giant monster couldn’t fight anymore.
My heart was pounding like crazy.
I did it…!
That terrifying white rabbit with four red eyes looked incredibly cute to me!
The gamblers around me shouted curses and shook their fists at the air.
“This is impossible! That’s just an unknown monster!”
“How could such a tiny thing…”
The white rabbit that looked like it had come straight from hell had become the champion of the colosseum.
In my previous life, this had become a huge topic of discussion in the capital for quite some time.
The reason was simple.
Nobody had bet on that rabbit.
Because of that, the royal treasury had made a huge profit.
The rabbit was an ordinary “unknown” monster.
“Unknown” monsters were creatures captured and handed over to the kingdom by ordinary individuals rather than by the Knights.
They were usually weak creatures used simply to fill the number of monsters in the colosseum.
But today, that assumption had been completely overturned!
“Damn it! This is a scam!”
The furious gamblers reminded me of Schle, which made me uncomfortable.
I quietly stood up.
I decided that I would never come back here again.
The employee at the exchange counter took my betting slip.
He kept glancing at my face under the hood, clearly curious about who I was.
Then he gave a small sigh and handed me a paper check bearing the royal seal.
According to the colosseum’s tradition, the owner’s name was not written on the check.
I quickly grabbed it before anyone could see and pushed it deep inside my clothes.
Then I hurried out of the gambling hall.
I hadn’t been able to see the exact amount clearly.
But I knew one thing.
The capital I had gathered by selling the jewelry and precious stones I had received as a mage had multiplied several hundred times.
My hands were trembling.
Thank goodness the bank is nearby.
I walked faster and faster.
Nobody knew that I had just won a huge amount of money.
But what about my trembling hands and weak legs from carrying all that money?
I had to reach the bank before someone noticed me and tried to rob me!
“Miss.”
Please.
Don’t tell me I’m about to experience the cliché where a group of thieves targets me because of my money!
“Would you like to buy some flowers?”
A flower basket suddenly appeared right in front of my face.
“Please buy just one flower. My little brothers and sisters are hungry…”
A skinny girl in dirty clothes held out a basket full of flowers.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
But then a strange sweet and sour smell suddenly came from the basket.
My head began to spin.
I saw the corner of the girl’s mouth lift slightly.
Danger…
At almost the same moment that my slow-moving hand touched the inner pocket of my robe, something strange happened.
It was as if the sky and the ground were slowly switching places.
Everything around me began floating upward in slow motion.
The flower basket slipped from the girl’s hands and floated high into the air.
It tilted over.
Flowers of many different colors spilled out and began swirling around in the air.
The skinny girl who had been hiding behind the basket and several people walking nearby all looked shocked.
They waved their arms and legs helplessly in the air like birds that had been hit by a slingshot.
I wasn’t an exception.
My legs had just started losing their strength, and I was about to collapse.
Instead, my body slowly began floating upward as if I had fallen into water.
And then…
Someone was looking up at me.
It was a little boy wearing a simple robe.
His hood had slipped slightly, revealing his adorable face as he looked up at me.
White skin.
Rosy cheeks.
Soft-looking light brown hair.
Large eyes that sparkled with the color of freshly grown spring leaves.
That color…
I had seen it somewhere before.
More precisely, I saw it every morning when I looked into the mirror.
But, my goodness.
I felt almost guilty for thinking this way.
The child was unbelievably beautiful and adorable.
He looked up at me floating in the air with his beautiful eyes wide open.
The voices and screams of the people around us sounded very far away, as if there were a thick wall between us.
Then the child slowly opened his mouth.
And said:
“Mom?”
