My life is this colosseum now huh?
After the transaction two guards come into the office and pick my cage up. They carry me to another room and place me on a large table. Roderick takes out a collar and shows it to me.
"Alright first we're going to place this magic collar on you. It tracks your movements using magic and whenever you attempt to leave the boundaries set by me it will emit a powerful shock that will stun you. There is no escaping this." He explains.
He hands the collar over to one of the guards while the other guard opens the cage. They put the collar around my neck with no resistance from me.
"Good, I like how easy that was. Usually we have to sedate individuals in order to get the collar on them."
The guard pulls me out of the cage. It's so sudden that I end up falling to the floor. It's been days since I've stood, ever since I woke up I had been in a sitting position with no way to move.
"Remove the rope." Roderick orders his guards to take off my restrains.
They quickly remove the ropes from my wrists and ankles as they help me stand up.
"Listen, I want to put on a good show for my audience. You put on a good show then people come back for more good shows. More good shows equal more profit. More profit equals happy Roderick. Now try to kill me."
"Huh?" I stare at him blankly in confusion.
"Just do it." He orders.
I look at him and frown. "I...I don't really understand why I should try to harm you."
"Just do it and see what happens."
I think about it for a second and then feel like I have no choice but to comply.
I focus and lunge at him with my sharp claws. "Huh?"
When my hands are a few inches from his throat my momentum completely stops. I look at him confused.
"You see, that collar makes you unable to hurt me in any way, shape or form. If you try to attack me the collar will make it so you can't. This is just a safety precaution. I don't want any of my employees hurting me especially the ones who are here against their will. No problems will occur if you don't take hostile actions against me."
Roderick steps back and I look at him puzzled.
"Now from what I understand you're only twelve years old?"
I nod and he smiles. "Hm? It's certainly risky to just throw you out there but you did cost me some valuable funds and a half demon fighter would draw a crowd. So yeah you're going to be our newest attraction."
"Okay..." I say quietly.
"Now tell me your name."
"Laura."
"Laura huh? It doesn't really roll off the tongue and it doesn't really send a demonic shiver down my spine either."
"It's... It's not supposed to."
"Well Laura, we're going to think of a bone chilling name to give you so people really hype you up when you fight."
"What do you mean?"
"Look here Laura when presenting a fight in the colosseum the fight is only half the spectacle, the other half is the lead up to said fight. The advertising, the gambling, the merchandise. That's the heart of my business. So I want to spice things up a bit and I want to name you something that gets people excited."
I blink and look at him in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Roderick places his hand on his chin in deep contemplation. After a couple seconds he looks up at me.
"Ah, I got it! How about 'Carnivorous Blade Demon'?"
"Rejected."
"Come on Laura I think its perfect. It's catchy and it has the right sound to it."
"No." I shake my head.
"Well, alright." He shrugs. "Hmmmm. I got it, how about 'Slaughtering Angel'."
"That's rejected too."
"Oh come on Laura."
"But I'm a demon, why call me an Angel?"
"Because it sounds cool."
"No it does not."
"Fine then how about 'Dreadful Nightmare Demon'?"
"Also rejected."
"Alright fine," he pouts. "How about you come up with an name for yourself."
I scowl at him.
"I'd really rather not."
"Too bad, if you're going to reject all my super cool names then you try it."
I sigh and rub my temples. "Fine, I'll give myself a name."
"Great let's hear it!"
"How about..."
I pause and look at him. My mind flashes back to the day I had to run from my home to escape my fellow villagers. How they rejected me, how my mother looked in those moments.
I look at him again. "How about...The Reject."
Roderick stares at me with wide eyes.
"Um...what?"
"You heard me, how about the Reject? When my entire village found out I was a demon they rejected me, society rejects demons too right? So we'll call me The Reject. Got it?"
Roderick nods and lets out a small chuckle.
"I guess it could work." He says with a smile. "Now I'll have one of my assistants show you to your room at the colosseum. We'll have some food prepared for you so try to get some rest while you can."
He may sound kind but this could realistically be my last meal. People sometimes die in colosseum matches and since I'm a demon other fighters might even intentionally go for the kill on me. But I know I don't have much of a choice since I'm dead tired and my stomach is pretty much empty.
After a few minutes a young woman in a maid uniform opens the door. She's wearing a black frilly dress with a white apron. Her hair is blonde and her eyes are brown.
She takes one look at me and gasps.
"Whoa! It's a demon!" She slowly backs away toward the door but Roderick tells her to stop. She stop and straightens her back. I can see her visibly trembling in place.
"Laura this is Marie." He points to me. "Marie this is Laura. She's a new employee I hired for my colosseum."
"N...nice to meet you Laura." Marie's voice quivers slightly as she speaks.
"You're going to show her to the recently vacated room, understand?" Roderick says to the nervous girl. "Make sure she is given some food. And make sure to keep an eye on her."
"Y...Yes sir." Marie replies.
She looks at me, her smile looks forced and her trembling has gotten worse.
"W...well M...miss Laura please follow me." She turns and leaves.
"Thank you for guiding me." I say politely.
No response.
After what felt like an eternity of silent walking we reach the room I've been given.
"Here you go miss Laura." Marie opens the door. Inside is a single bed, a table, and a chair. There's also a bathroom connected to the room and a window that gives me an amazing look at the capital city. My only real problem with this room is that on the other side of the opposite hallway wall there are colosseum spectator seats so it'll probably get really loud here sometimes.
"Are you hungry?" She asks timidly.
I nod.
"Alright then let me go grab you some food, so please stay here and relax. I'll be back soon."
"Thanks." I reply.
She quickly rushes out of the room.
I sit down on the bed and prop my back against the wall. I fiddle around with my collar and let out a long sigh. I'm exhausted and starving after spending so many days in the forest and being trapped in a cage during that long carriage ride. It'll be nice to get some actual food for the first time in a while.
The door opens and Marie comes back with a tray of food.
"H...here you go miss Laura." She sets the tray down on the table. "I hope it's to your liking."
"It smells great." The tray has a decent amount of food on it. Meat, bread and soup with a whole pitcher of water.
"Please eat up." Marie bows her head. "I will leave you alone now, I'll just be outside if you need anything." She bolt out of the room before I can tell her thanks.
It seems like she's genuinely afraid of me. That's not surprising. Most people are terrified of demons.
I start to devour the food without reservation.
I chew it all up and drink the water in the pitcher. After finishing everything I take a deep breath and relax. I feel so much better.
I look out my window and realize it's dark outside. Looking outside at the Capital city Dawn I see the illumination of lamp light doting the entire city almost as if a billion little fireflies are lighting up the night for the city. A breathtaking sight for someone like me who came from a remote village in the middle of a forest where all we had to light up the streets were our own personal lanterns.
For the first time in a long while I feel safe and warm inside my bedroom. But in order to keep this fragile safety I need to fight people, I need to live and I might even need to kill.
I plop myself into bed, close my eyes and let fall into a deep peaceful sleep.
My life is this colosseum now huh?
After the transaction two guards come into the office and pick my cage up. They carry me to another room and place me on a large table. Roderick takes out a collar and shows it to me.
"Alright first we're going to place this magic collar on you. It tracks your movements using magic and whenever you attempt to leave the boundaries set by me it will emit a powerful shock that will stun you. There is no escaping this." He explains.
He hands the collar over to one of the guards while the other guard opens the cage. They put the collar around my neck with no resistance from me.
"Good, I like how easy that was. Usually we have to sedate individuals in order to get the collar on them."
The guard pulls me out of the cage. It's so sudden that I end up falling to the floor. It's been days since I've stood, ever since I woke up I had been in a sitting position with no way to move.
"Remove the rope." Roderick orders his guards to take off my restrains.
They quickly remove the ropes from my wrists and ankles as they help me stand up.
"Listen, I want to put on a good show for my audience. You put on a good show then people come back for more good shows. More good shows equal more profit. More profit equals happy Roderick. Now try to kill me."
"Huh?" I stare at him blankly in confusion.
"Just do it." He orders.
I look at him and frown. "I...I don't really understand why I should try to harm you."
"Just do it and see what happens."
I think about it for a second and then feel like I have no choice but to comply.
I focus and lunge at him with my sharp claws. "Huh?"
When my hands are a few inches from his throat my momentum completely stops. I look at him confused.
"You see, that collar makes you unable to hurt me in any way, shape or form. If you try to attack me the collar will make it so you can't. This is just a safety precaution. I don't want any of my employees hurting me especially the ones who are here against their will. No problems will occur if you don't take hostile actions against me."
Roderick steps back and I look at him puzzled.
"Now from what I understand you're only twelve years old?"
I nod and he smiles. "Hm? It's certainly risky to just throw you out there but you did cost me some valuable funds and a half demon fighter would draw a crowd. So yeah you're going to be our newest attraction."
"Okay..." I say quietly.
"Now tell me your name."
"Laura."
"Laura huh? It doesn't really roll off the tongue and it doesn't really send a demonic shiver down my spine either."
"It's... It's not supposed to."
"Well Laura, we're going to think of a bone chilling name to give you so people really hype you up when you fight."
"What do you mean?"
"Look here Laura when presenting a fight in the colosseum the fight is only half the spectacle, the other half is the lead up to said fight. The advertising, the gambling, the merchandise. That's the heart of my business. So I want to spice things up a bit and I want to name you something that gets people excited."
I blink and look at him in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Roderick places his hand on his chin in deep contemplation. After a couple seconds he looks up at me.
"Ah, I got it! How about 'Carnivorous Blade Demon'?"
"Rejected."
"Come on Laura I think its perfect. It's catchy and it has the right sound to it."
"No." I shake my head.
"Well, alright." He shrugs. "Hmmmm. I got it, how about 'Slaughtering Angel'."
"That's rejected too."
"Oh come on Laura."
"But I'm a demon, why call me an Angel?"
"Because it sounds cool."
"No it does not."
"Fine then how about 'Dreadful Nightmare Demon'?"
"Also rejected."
"Alright fine," he pouts. "How about you come up with an name for yourself."
I scowl at him.
"I'd really rather not."
"Too bad, if you're going to reject all my super cool names then you try it."
I sigh and rub my temples. "Fine, I'll give myself a name."
"Great let's hear it!"
"How about..."
I pause and look at him. My mind flashes back to the day I had to run from my home to escape my fellow villagers. How they rejected me, how my mother looked in those moments.
I look at him again. "How about...The Reject."
Roderick stares at me with wide eyes.
"Um...what?"
"You heard me, how about the Reject? When my entire village found out I was a demon they rejected me, society rejects demons too right? So we'll call me The Reject. Got it?"
Roderick nods and lets out a small chuckle.
"I guess it could work." He says with a smile. "Now I'll have one of my assistants show you to your room at the colosseum. We'll have some food prepared for you so try to get some rest while you can."
He may sound kind but this could realistically be my last meal. People sometimes die in colosseum matches and since I'm a demon other fighters might even intentionally go for the kill on me. But I know I don't have much of a choice since I'm dead tired and my stomach is pretty much empty.
After a few minutes a young woman in a maid uniform opens the door. She's wearing a black frilly dress with a white apron. Her hair is blonde and her eyes are brown.
She takes one look at me and gasps.
"Whoa! It's a demon!" She slowly backs away toward the door but Roderick tells her to stop. She stop and straightens her back. I can see her visibly trembling in place.
"Laura this is Marie." He points to me. "Marie this is Laura. She's a new employee I hired for my colosseum."
"N...nice to meet you Laura." Marie's voice quivers slightly as she speaks.
"You're going to show her to the recently vacated room, understand?" Roderick says to the nervous girl. "Make sure she is given some food. And make sure to keep an eye on her."
"Y...Yes sir." Marie replies.
She looks at me, her smile looks forced and her trembling has gotten worse.
"W...well M...miss Laura please follow me." She turns and leaves.
"Thank you for guiding me." I say politely.
No response.
After what felt like an eternity of silent walking we reach the room I've been given.
"Here you go miss Laura." Marie opens the door. Inside is a single bed, a table, and a chair. There's also a bathroom connected to the room and a window that gives me an amazing look at the capital city. My only real problem with this room is that on the other side of the opposite hallway wall there are colosseum spectator seats so it'll probably get really loud here sometimes.
"Are you hungry?" She asks timidly.
I nod.
"Alright then let me go grab you some food, so please stay here and relax. I'll be back soon."
"Thanks." I reply.
She quickly rushes out of the room.
I sit down on the bed and prop my back against the wall. I fiddle around with my collar and let out a long sigh. I'm exhausted and starving after spending so many days in the forest and being trapped in a cage during that long carriage ride. It'll be nice to get some actual food for the first time in a while.
The door opens and Marie comes back with a tray of food.
"H...here you go miss Laura." She sets the tray down on the table. "I hope it's to your liking."
"It smells great." The tray has a decent amount of food on it. Meat, bread and soup with a whole pitcher of water.
"Please eat up." Marie bows her head. "I will leave you alone now, I'll just be outside if you need anything." She bolt out of the room before I can tell her thanks.
It seems like she's genuinely afraid of me. That's not surprising. Most people are terrified of demons.
I start to devour the food without reservation.
I chew it all up and drink the water in the pitcher. After finishing everything I take a deep breath and relax. I feel so much better.
I look out my window and realize it's dark outside. Looking outside at the Capital city Dawn I see the illumination of lamp light doting the entire city almost as if a billion little fireflies are lighting up the night for the city. A breathtaking sight for someone like me who came from a remote village in the middle of a forest where all we had to light up the streets were our own personal lanterns.
For the first time in a long while I feel safe and warm inside my bedroom. But in order to keep this fragile safety I need to fight people, I need to live and I might even need to kill.
I plop myself into bed, close my eyes and let fall into a deep peaceful sleep.
