Night fell, and the slave trader had me taken to the venue where the underground coliseum tournament was being held. I was the only one going. I’d sent Raphtalia and Raph-chan to the slave auction, and Rishia was off elsewhere gathering information. And I’d assigned Filo to be Rishia’s bodyguard.

I’d taken a peak at the coliseum the slave trader managed earlier that afternoon, and it felt kind of like going to a baseball stadium. But this one seemed to put more emphasis on drinking and just having a good time. The spectator seating was sectioned off like an outdoor food court area despite being underground, and the coliseum itself was one of those fighting rings with the tall fence like you might see in a good, old RPG. There were slot machines and poker tables, too, so it almost felt more like an underground casino than an underground coliseum. Still, the coliseum was obviously the highlight, so the arena was what stuck out most.

I wasn’t sure what the current match was, but they were going at it. Let’s see . . . The odds were posted. It looked like betting ticket sales had already closed and the spectators were just watching the match. The match was between . . . Oh? Ohhh?!

“A panda . . .”

A panda therianthrope was fighting in the coliseum tournament. The opponent was . . . an elephant therianthrope, it looked like. What a crazy fight.

“Ha! That oversized body is all you have going for you, just like usual!” the panda yelled out.

“Hmph! At least I’m not the one just rolling around and running away!” retorted the elephant.

I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like the elephant might have had a slight advantage. I could feel the ground shaking quite a bit even from pretty far away. Was it using magic or something? I could vaguely feel the flow of magic coming from that direction.

The panda therianthrope must have been using magic, too, because the area around it turned into a bamboo forest. It looked like it would be slow, but it was jumping gracefully from one bamboo stalk to another, moving all around. The elephant therianthrope went about mowing down the bamboo, clearly irritated.

I looked over at the spectators passionately cheering them on.

“Go for it! That’s it!”

“Get him, big sis Larsazusa!”

“There’s your chance, Elmelo! No! You missed it!”

They looked like armed adventurers . . . mercenaries, maybe? There were several groups like that here. Of course, they were outnumbered by spectators that looked more like nobility or merchants. That’s the type that was sitting near to where I was. The bar area seemed pretty lively, too. So we’d be fighting in a place like this, huh? It was a spectacle through and through. Then again, the open coliseum had been, too.