I wouldn’t worry about betting until our odds were set to make a big win.

“In that case, you should have come a bit earlier . . . The main event has been over for a while now.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. See that monster they’re cooking over there?”

I looked over in the direction that she was pointing. They were right in the middle of chopping up and cooking some monster that looked like a dinosaur. The dishes were being served to the nobility, who were eating it like it was fine dining. Was that part of the spectacle, too?

“They’re cooking up the monster that was killed in defeat at tonight’s main event.”

“Those kinds of things fight in the coliseum?”

“Yep. That’s the specialty here—dangerous matches with no guarantee of survival.”

I guessed people wanting to see that kind of sensation is the whole reason entertainment like the coliseum existed, after all.

As I thought about such things, I looked over at the monster. From what I could see . . . Hmm, I wonder. What was the cause of death? It didn’t look like it had been killed with a blade or anything like that. It might just have been hard to tell—it had already been chopped up by the cooks—but judging from the head and the whites of its eyes and skin, it seemed like the cause of death had been some kind of magic. Powerful fire magic, maybe? That didn’t seem quite right, either.

“So what kind of coliseum match are you looking to fight in? I’ll tell you everything you need to know, darling.”

The woman continued on, cheerfully. She got on my nerves a little bit.

“Hey! Keep the drinks coming over here, will you?”

She was ordering me drinks without even asking! There was a whole row of drinks lined up in front of my seat now.

“You’re paying.”

“Am I, then? So what do you want to know?”

“Let’s see . . . Things to watch out for here. I’m especially interested in the next big competition.”

“I see. I’ll tell you all about it then, darling. The next competition is a team-fight tournament. The rules are generally three-on-three, no level limit, and you can bring your own weapons.”

“I already know that much. What I want to know are the nitty-gritty details of what to watch out for and things to be careful of. Then again, it’s not like I can really believe what you say.”

I was asking a complete stranger in a place like this. It was just for reference and nothing more. The woman was refilling my cup, again without asking. She seemed to be implying that I’d need to drink up if I wanted her to talk. Fine. I chugged a drink.

“Ohh . . . Let’s see, then . . . You’ll probably want to watch out for participants that send in wild and vicious monsters that have no monster seal.”

“. . .”