บท 12: The first kill party and a discovery
The young participants exited the room and took a seat at the specially prepared chairs, the fights would be one on one, but the families would be watching them from their seats and other children would watch from theirs.
After all, what would be the point of showing off if no one could see it?
"Young lord Melon Bread!"
The high priest, who was also the master of the ceremony for the fights, called out the child from the family of the lowest standing amongst the participants and a short chubby boy stood up and walked to the center of the area holding a spear.
"Graough! (Huh? Could it be that the surnames in this world are just as ridiculous as the names?)"
Impressed Zombie growled to himself.
"Graough...? (I wonder what is Cranberry's family name? It must be something fancy, like Pana Cota or Creme Brule...?) Graough?! (Ah! What if it's something like a Wedding-cake?!) Graough...! (It would be amazing, in its own way...!)"
He giggled and glanced at his master.
That was staring right back at him!
"Graough?! (Master?! C-could it be that you understand me?!)"
Zombie gasped terrified.
"Hey, Zombie, the strong kick skill works better if you have shoes on. You should wear those."
In spite of Zombie's worries, Cranberry didn't say anything about his comments on the surnames but instead pointed at the red sandals that he was holding on to for her.
"Graough...? (You... you're kidding, right, Master?)"
He asked turning the sandals over.
"Graough... (Those barely count as shoes, they're mostly strings...) Graough! (And they have bigger heels than I'm used to!) Graough. (Not like high hills, but still.)"
The blue boy complained.
"Zombie, I'm not asking."
Cranberry raised her brow and started tapping her finger on her hip.
"Graough...! (But...! They are probably too small for me since I got bigger and all...!)"
"Try. Them. On."
"..."
They've looked at each other for a solid minute.
"...graough... (...fine... but if they don't fit...)"
Zombie was the first one to break the eye contact, he grumbled in a sulky voice and squatted behind Cranberry's seat.
"Graough, graough...! (Oh! Hey, these look surprisingly good one me! Ha! Red on blue doesn't look, like, amazing, but it works somehow...!)"
Zombie groaned, pleasantly surprised.
"Graough. (They're not bad to walk in either.) Graough? (But that's probably because I have the Toughness skill, right?)"
He wondered after walking around a bit.
Meanwhile, the boy with the spear took down a small shaking green dog with broken legs.
Much less than a fight, it was simply a mercy kill.
"Lesser frenzied dog... Breads' really didn't care this year."
The blond boy with the big sword shook his head and complained quite loudly.
"My father's territory borders with theirs, apparently they've spent a lot of money to hire a high-level adventurer to catch something good for them, but he never returned from the forest."
Some girl behind him leaned forward and explained.
"Oh... Sucks for them, I guess. That's why my mother always says to never pay for anything in advance!"
The boy shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms.
"Tsk!"
"Who just...?!"
Someone clicked their tongue and the blond boy frowned and looked for the source.
"...!"
What he found was an icy glare of the green eyes full of disgust.
Cranberry was looking at him as if he was a piece of filth by the roadside.
The blond boy's face became ghastly pale and he turned back as fast as he could.
"Young lord Orange Tart."
The high priest called and a tall, thin boy with a spiked mace stood up and passed the returning Bread's boy on his way.
He faced a striped black and brown clam the size of a big treasure chest.
"Ooh!"
Almost everyone present let out a shocked gasp.
"That's! That's...!"
The blond boy gasped.
"Graough...? (Master, what's going on?)"
Zombie leaned toward his master and groaned in a low voice.
"Haa... I don't remember its name, but apparently, that's some rare monster that sometimes can have a pearl that can raise status points inside..."
Cranberry glared at him but still ended up answering, though her expression turned grim the moment that the tall boy raised his mace and his body started glowing.
The fight went down rather boring, the boy just used his bash skill over and over again until the shell of the clam got shattered.
"Ah! It's there!"
Someone couldn't keep their voice down and shouted.
There was a pearl, big as an adult's fist, between the pieces of the blue shell.
The boy that just defeated the clam, claimed his reward and rushed back to the seats.
But he didn't return to his own seat, instead, he beelined it right towards a totally unassuming child.
With their perfectly androgynous features, it was impossible to determine their gender at a glance, and the robe-like clothes that they were wearing certainly didn't help to clear the confusion.
Zombie raised his brows looking at the young Tart standing in front of the androgynous child.
Orange Tart blushed and extended his hands, offering the pearl to the plain child.
That child looked at the pearl and then at the bowing boy.
"For me...?"
Even their voice was androgynous.
"Y-yes!"
The bowing boy hurriedly confirmed.
"I'm giving my heartfelt thanks to you on behalf of the whole Tart family, lord Claymore!"
He added.
"Graough! (Ah!)"
Zombie clenched his fists and gasped, which made Cranberry glance at him with disapproval.
But that didn't even register in Zombie's brain.
Because there it was, a unique name that stood out amongst the background characters.
That child had to be a part of the main storyline of the game!
And to think that the first person with a unique name that Zombie met, aside from his sister, was someone that didn't stand out from the crowd unless pointed out.
Zombie shook his head, with a name like Claymore it was entirely possible that that child would grow up to be a weapon dealer or something...
At least that what he thought until Claymore responded to Orange.
"Thank you, lord Orange, I'm so happy that my family has an ally in the Tart family."
Claymore took the pearl and put it in his lap, and bowed back at the Orange.
And then he smiled.
"Oooooh...!"
Almost everyone let out a gasp of awe.
When Claymore smiled, his face turned from the plainest face one could imagine into the stunning beauty that made one's heart skip a beat no matter the gender.
But there was one heart that was already long cold and dead.
"Graough. (He's definitely one of the capture targets.)"
Zombie grit his teeth and sighed.
Just like that, his hope that the main story of the game he doesn't know would pass without him being near crashed and lit itself on fire.
"Haa... What's with the delay? The high priest should just call for the next person."
There was another person with an equally cold, if not even colder, heart.
Cranberry was leaning back on her seat and making an annoyed face.
"!"
The high priest overheard that comment and flinched.
"Ekhem...! Young lady Plum Cream."
He cleared his throat and called out.
Claymore stopped smiling, returning to his plain-faced self, and released everyone else from his charms.
He turned towards Cranberry and lowered his head apologetically.
And winked at her.
Cranberry raised her brow and stared at him.
Under her glare, the androgynous child trembled and hurriedly faced towards the center of the area.
"Graough! (Ha! Know your place, capture target! Way to go, master!)"
Zombie growled triumphantly.
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