"I thought you found such occasions uncomfortable."
Hugo, seated in the place of honor, murmured quietly while staring ahead. His voice was extremely secretive, not reaching the VIP seats in the front row or the knights standing in the back rows. However, it was clearly audible to the other owner of the place of honor sitting right beside him.
Gladias, who had been sitting with her back straight, likewise opened her mouth while looking only forward.
"Noisy places are tiresome. However, how could I be absent from an event held in the family territory?"
"You speak correctly."
Hugo answered formally. Perhaps sensing this fact as well, Gladias twisted the corner of her mouth and let out a bitter laugh. It was such a minute reaction that anyone not continuously watching would not have noticed.
"Though it's only a ceremonial birthday, as your Grand Madam in name, I must personally offer congratulations. You'll be secluded in the palace again when the actual day comes."
Gladias was one of the people who knew why the duke did not welcome his birthday. So her remark emphasizing "ceremonial" contained a familiar yet painful cynicism that struck a sore spot.
"I am honored."
This time too, Hugo answered without any change in expression. However, unlike before, his inner feelings became a bit more complex. If one were to interpret the Grand Madam's words, they could also sound like she had personally made the journey for his lonely self with no one by his side. Of course, the intention of the earlier cynicism was probably greater.
The 'palace' she referred to meant the Agrizendro family mansion. Even considering it was originally a grand ducal residence, calling the mansion a palace was somewhat excessive. If done wrongly, it could result in treason charges for calling oneself a king.
However, Gladias often called the mansion where the duke resided a palace. Since it was the palace used by Logia's royal family, it wasn't wrong, but Hugo found that word particularly uncomfortable today.
To such a Grand Madam who idolized the family and had such high pride, he could vaguely imagine how he appeared - staying in the palace on his false birthday. To Hugo, who had hidden his Bermudian origins under the pretext of being the previous duke's illegitimate child, his birthday was not the day he was born into the world but the day he was secretly registered into the Agrizendro family. In other words, it was a fake birthday meaning he had abandoned his complete self and been reborn as a noble.
And the Grand Madam, who was both his great-aunt and knew this fact, had always been like a double-edged sword to Hugo. She was both the teacher of authority and protocol who had made today's Duke Agrizendro possible, and simultaneously the object of power struggle competing for the duke's position.
Hugo, who had suddenly recalled this now-natural fact, erased the strange expectation he had held toward Gladias when she had climbed the stairs and extended her hand earlier.
Between the two sitting like perfectly carved plaster statues, the unique coldness that only the family's legitimate heirs possessed flowed. The two pairs of blue eyes, looking exactly alike as if they were truly blood-related family, were chillingly cold.
Around the time they had grown accustomed to the arena's watery splendor and noise, it was Gladias who once again broke their private silence.
"I've told you several times to be especially careful because the duke is tall. Beyond having a sturdy build, being bulky makes one look dull and slow-witted."
Hugo's blue eyes reflexively shifted sideways then down to his upper body. The buttons of the uniform he had newly tailored around this time last year were straining. This was due to him dedicating himself to exercise for several months to replenish lost muscle after returning from the expedition and to relieve stress from various sources.
"I will keep it in mind."
"Puffing up one's body to create intimidation is behavior befitting beasts. A true noble should display authority with a single word or glance."
"How could there be any question?"
Hugo deliberately turned his gaze and meaninglessly adjusted his tie and uniform buttons. A silent sigh flowed along with it.
It was then that unexpected words were heard.
"Since there's still time, make sure to be presentable at least until next month."
Hugo's hand, which had been adjusting his collar, slowly lowered. After slowly blinking his eyelids, he looked toward the seat beside him.
"What do you mean?"
Gladias was still staring straight ahead.
"A decent marriage proposal has come in, so I mean the duke should also prepare gradually."
* * *
'22 people?'
The participant limit for this match was 26. When he realized only 4 spots remained, the sadist's mask he had been trying to tear off with his hands was instantly behind his back.
'It was 11 people just an hour ago?'
Even with his mind complicated, Leonardo twisted his body in mid-air and immediately struck his opponent with his heel. However, his boldly moving right leg only grazed the edge of the guy's cloak, instead ending up wrapping himself in the whip.
'Is it possible for another 11 people to pass in just one hour? Did I miss something?'
He immediately tried to ignite flames to cut the black cord strangling his ankle, but crisis reached him before the whip's melting point. This was because the sadist dragged Leonardo, who he had caught in mid-air, and hurled his body like shot put against various obstacles including the stamen tower, lake, and rocky mountains.
Fortunately, Leonardo barely avoided collision by causing an air explosion mid-air to change direction. Soon he charged at his target again using the same method, but that troublesome weapon was still the problem.
'First I need to do something about that...'
The guy's whip separated into two as easily as attaching and detaching clay. He wrapped one around the stamen tower to move at surprisingly fast speed, while wielding the other in the air to keep Leonardo's reach in check. Lengthening, shortening, splitting in half, handling it freely as if it were part of his own body - even Leonardo, who was skilled in speed and aerial combat, couldn't claim to have the advantage.
Leonardo immediately fired two red beams to stop the guy's swift movements first. The spheres that flew through the air drawing trajectories approached right up to the guy, but exploded alone in empty air before striking their target.
"...?"
Due to the aftermath, nearby stamen tower protrusions fell rustling down, and for a moment the tower's pillar swayed precariously. A black lightning rod briefly glinted within the thickly scattered debris and dust. When the startled Leonardo quickly turned his head, the sharp spear tip grazed past beside his head.
The instant felt like slow motion. Leonardo perceived that the two eyes within the opponent's silver mask, passing by with only a 30cm gap, were looking straight at him. Having made his judgment in the brief gap, he caught and grasped the spear shaft that had passed by his jaw. Then the spear shaft, once again becoming liquid-like and soft, wrapped around Leonardo's wrist.
'Did he transform the whip into a spear?'
Having realized early on that he had to become bait to attack the guy, Leonardo simply gave up his left wrist. Then instead of charging at the guy, he gripped the whip and flew at full speed toward the central stamen tower.
Grasping another's weapon again made his palm tingle and his whole body heat up, but he didn't mind. Leonardo spun the rope connecting him to the guy in mid-air and hurled his opponent toward the tower like throwing a capture weapon with weights at both ends.
When the black whip caught on the straight rising pillar, the two people hanging from either end began wrapping around the tower, unable to overcome centripetal force like metal weights. While rotating in different trajectories, they were gradually drawn toward the central pillar.
Leonardo increased his speed even more, circling around the tower as the force led him. Since his opponent couldn't fly but also used the whip as a means of movement, unless he was prepared for death like himself, he would never let go of the whip.
The guy immediately tried to escape the trap by grabbing a protrusion with the whip in his other hand. However, the acceleration attached to both their bodies was already at maximum, and the protrusion easily broke, failing to serve as support. When the black cord connecting them tightened around the stamen tower's perimeter, Leonardo gripped a blazing fireball in his right hand and charged at his opponent flying from the opposite side.
The silver mask also seemed to guess Leonardo's intention, as he steadied his posture in mid-air even while being dragged by the whip.
Seeing his target within range, Leonardo twisted the corner of his mouth.
"I've figured out all your patterns."
The whip transformed into a spear penetrated to pierce through his right hand. Leonardo willingly gave up his right hand while raising his left hand, sparking with electricity, beside his head.