Heroine Hunter

“Boss! Thank you! I won 50 times my bet because of you!”  

From afar in the stands, the brothel district boss, Digo, shouted toward me.  

‘Don’t call me Boss… You clearly look older than me.’  

I turned back to my seat, leaving behind the modest cheers of my underdog supporters.  

Zeke was seated across from me. He gave me a double thumbs-up. 

I nodded back with a smile.  

Mika Verne, the female knight sitting next to me, stood up.  

I spoke to her.

“Good luck.”  

“Thank you.”  

Her deep voice was captivating.  

She went off to prepare for the next match.  

As I slumped into my seat, contestant number 1, Kaskal, glanced over at me and spoke.  

“You were hiding your strength.”  

“Not hiding. I just didn’t see the need to use it till now.”  

“Ever considered becoming a mercenary?”  

“Mercenary?”  

“You’d have to start from the bottom, of course. But it pays better than a… shop like that.”  

A shop like that? 

This guy…  

“You’re not planning to forfeit, are you, Kaskal?”  

“Hahaha. What’s your name again? Anyway, Dildo, was it? You still don’t know that fighting isn’t all about brute strength. Well, that’s the difference between a mercenary and a layman.”  

“Is that so? Well, show me that difference soon.”  

He smirked without a word.  

I didn’t even need to read his status window to know what Kaskal was thinking.  

[His stance is wide open. Not even as skilled as the guy from the first match, Delpier. Just another brute relying solely on strength. I should be cautious, but if I aim for the weak points, he’s nothing.]  

In the distance, Dodoria Pigman was being carried off on a stretcher.

In the following match, Mika Verne emerged victorious.  

I didn’t know much about swordsmanship, but her movements were smooth and graceful.  

It was like watching a sword dance.  

Matches 4 to 7 proceeded without much incident.  

Then came the final match of the round of 16, match 8.  

Finally, it was the turn of the red-haired Zeke.  

“Wooooooah!”  

As expected.  

Thunderous applause recergft.  

He swung his sword once, and the ground split, causing the match to be temporarily halted.  

Before the match could resume, his opponent forfeited.  

The last match of the round of 16 ended so anticlimactically.  

What the heck.  

Wasn’t my match the most entertaining?

“Then, after a brief intermission, we’ll proceed with the quarterfinals!”  

With the match announcer’s statement, the crowd began to stir.  

It appeared like the people in this world were hooked on the adrenaline of duels.  

Otherwise, who would go straight into the quarterfinals right after the round of 16?  

As the break was coming to an end, the tournament staff approached me.  

“Kaskal, Mr. Castoloni, please get ready for your match.”  

The quarterfinal matchups appeared on the big screen.  

Kaskal ┐__________  

Ian Castoloni ┘  

Holding the shattered hilt of my wooden club, I asked the staff member. 

“The weapon broke during the last match. Will I get a new one?”  

He scratched his head.  

“Uh… Probably.”  

Kaskal objected immediately.  

“How’s that fair? You should use the same weapon until the end. If your weapon’s damaged, that’s on you, isn’t it?”  

I looked at Kaskal and asked.

“So you’re saying I should fight bare-handed?”  

He arrogantly lifted his chin.  

“Isn’t that your specialty? Mr. Dildo?”  

Caught between us, the staff member hesitated before speaking.  

“I’ll go find out. Please wait a moment.”  

He hurried off to check.  

Maybe I should have picked a sword.  

But what if I accidentally killed someone innocent with it?  

Plus, the wooden club looked the most like a dildo out of all the weapons.  

It felt like a part of my identity.  

Since the audience expected a certain character from me, I wanted to meet that expectation.  

The staff member came running back, looking troubled.  

“Uh… They said no. You have to use the weapon you initially picked.”  

Kaskal crossed his arms and snickered.  

“You’re strong, aren’t you? People will think we’re evenly matched, Mr. Dildo.”  

I scratched my neck.  

“I’m worried for you. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing to lose to an unarmed opponent, Mr. Onahole?”  

“… What?”

He glared at me, provoked.  

“I’m going to go down there and utterly destroy you. You’ll be my onahole soon enough.”  

“You little brat, acting tough this whole time!”  

He reached for his dagger, looking ready to charge at me.  

The tournament staff, brave or perhaps just foolish, quickly stepped between us to stop him.  

“Ah! You can’t fight here. Both of you head down to the arena now.”  

We each moved toward our respective entrances.  

The voices of the caster and commentator echoed even in the underground passage.  

“Looks like there’s some kind of issue.”  

“Ah… Castoloni’s weapon broke during the last match. So what happens now? Does he have to fight barehanded?”  

“Yes, unfortunately, the rules state that only the initially chosen weapon can be used.”  

In my hand was a broken wooden club with no handle.  

“Now that I look at it, this actually looks more like a dildo.”  

The tournament guide motioned for me.  

“Mr. Castoloni, it’s time to enter.”  

Having done this once already, it felt more familiar.  

As I entered the arena, Kaskal approached from the opposite side.  

We faced each other with the referee between us.  

“Wooooo—!”  

The cheers from the stands were deafening.  

“Kaskal! Kaskal! Kaskal!”  

“Dildo King! Dildo King! Dildo King!”  

Both sides cheered loudly, competing with each other.  

It appeared quite a few people had bet on me this time as well.  

“Now, we have a showdown between speed and brute strength. What’s your take?”  

“Kaskal, as many know, has years of experience as a mercenary, making him highly skilled in combat.  

In his previous match against Delpier, he consistently targeted the vital spots until he secured victory.”  

“Yes, on the other hand, Castoloni possesses incredible strength, enough to defeat Pigman, but he has no real combat experience.  

Moreover, his chosen weapon, the club, is broken. How will this play out?”  

The referee looked back and forth between us.  

“Are you both ready?”  

Kaskal drew his dagger and sneered.  

“Kid, I must win this tournament at any cost. So don’t expect mercy from me. Even if you’re left half-dead, don’t blame me.”  

“Why do you need to win so badly? Doesn’t seem like it’s just for the title.”  

“That’s none of your concern.”  

Kaskal the Wind.  

This guy actually appeared in the novel.  

A lunatic mercenary whose only joy in life was rape.

In the original, he pretended to help the princess Evangeline who was on the run, but when she let her guard down, he tried to rape her but failed.

This caused the princess to distrust humans and become more obsessed with black magic.

This guy had only one goal in mind from the waiting room.

[Saintess. Please wait a moment. I will introduce a new pleasure to you who has lived your whole life without knowing men.]

“If your goal is to become a knight of the saintess who is young enough to be your daughter and rape her…”

I pointed a wooden club without a handle at him.

“This wooden dildo will condemn you.”

“The more I look at you, the funnier you get.”

Kaskal let go of the mask and revealed his hideous face.

I nodded to the referee.

The referee stepped back and waved a red flag.

“The match begins!”

As the announcer gave the signal, Kaskal’s figure vanished before my eyes.  

[Indestructible Body]  

He reappeared in front of me instantly and slashed a dagger across my neck.  

“Welcome.”

 I grabbed his hair. 

It was just the right length to form a grip.  

“Ugh!”  

Momentarily startled, he swung his twin daggers like lightning. He slashed mercilessly at my abdomen, arms, and the artery in my thigh.  

I stared at him in silence.  

Seeing my unharmed body, Kaskal’s eyes widened in shock.  

[W-what?]  

He didn’t give up and repeatedly stabbed at my abdomen with his daggers. 

The sensation of the tearing protective magic around me was clear.  

He noticed it too.  

[The protective magic is gone. Why? Why won’t the blade penetrate?!]  

His frantic stabbing gradually slowed down.  

Kaskal looked at me with despair in his eyes.  

“Are you going to surrender?”

“…”

“Should I make you like that pig from before, or will you surrender?”  

“S… Surre—”  

As his mouth opened, I shoved a wooden stick into it.  

“Arrghh!”  

He grabbed the stick at lightning speed, but it was pointless.  

With brutal force, I forced the stick into his mouth.  

“Guuaaargh!”  

His scream echoed throughout the arena. 

Teeth shattered from the inside, and the stick kept pushing deeper into his mouth.  

His jaw was stretched to its limit.  

“Guaaahhh!!!”  

Tears welled up in his bloodshot eyes.  

Kaskal fell to his knees, clutching my thigh instead of the stick. His face was one of desperate pleading.  

“You said you’d show the difference between a mercenary and a regular person. You sure do kneel quickly.”  

“Guaaaaah!”  

The referee was rushing toward us. 

The referee asked for Kaskal’s submission, and when he nodded, the match was over.  

I released his hair and kicked his groin.  

“Ughhh!”  

He flew in a straight line and crashed into the wall.  

Bang!  

I casually shook off my ankle. 

I could feel the protective magic on my toes shatter.  

Kaskal lay there with a wooden stick in his mouth, his eyes rolled towards his head.  

His body slumped to the ground, collapsing after hitting the wall.  

‘At the very least, he’s probably impotent now.’  

The referee rushed over to check Kaskal’s condition, then waved the flag.  

The announcer shouted, “The winnneeeeer! Iaaaan Caaastolooniiiii!”  

Cheers erupted in the arena.  

———-

I used the excuse of not feeling well to leave the arena without watching the next match.  

When the quarterfinals ended, crowds would pour out, and I didn’t want to be surrounded by people.  

“Castoloni! Wait a moment!”  

Damn. 

Too late.  

An orc and a dwarf I’d never seen before were running toward me.  

“That was an amazing match, sir. Could we get an autograph?”  

The dwarf held out a quill and paper.  

I silently looked back and forth between the two.  

[Evangeline Lorelein]  

[Occupation: Princess/Ian Castoloni’s Sex Slave]  

[Status: Disguised as a dwarf]  

[There’s no way he’ll recognize me, right? I’ll surprise him later. Ian was so cool today♥. I want to spend the night calling him ‘Master’ while he ravages me.]  

The large orc next to her stood shyly with her hands clasped together.  

[Emilia Rosebloom]  

[Occupation: Saintess]  

[Status: Disguised as an orc]  

[He won’t recognize me. I shouldn’t get my hopes up. But if he does, like we discussed, we’ll make sure to serve him all night long♥.]  

Instead of taking the paper, I grabbed each of their cheeks.  

Stretching their cheeks, I said, “Let’s go home.”  

The orc and the dwarf exchanged surprised glances.