I explained to Mother and Mary about what happened over our breakfast before I decided to go check on Odeta to see how she was doing.
Lisa and Katsuki were accompanying me of course, while Sariena was being watched by Mary and Mother.
Lisa was leading the way through the ship while her arm was wrapped around mine. I'm pretty sure she was also intentionally pressing her chest against my arm as well.
"Ehehe~ This feels like a date doesn't it, Aster?" She giggled.
Did she forget we have someone following behind us too?
I turned back to see Katsuki following a step behind us, my Inugami maid maintaining an air of serenity while also keeping a fixed distance between us like she always does.
Lisa also turned to look at her and smiled, "What do you think Katsuki? Don't we look nice together?"
"I prefer Mistress walking by herself more."
"Ehehe~ Are you actually jealous?"
"Hardly. I just think that Mistress would be able to walk easier if you aren't latched onto her like that."
Lisa giggled, "Aww~ But Aster doesn't mind, do you?"
I actually don't, which is why I never said anything so far.
Instead of answering however, I decided to ask, "Are we really going to where Odeta is? What is this place?"
We've been walking for a while now but the place that we've been moving through looked like it was not meant for normal guests like us to walk through. We even went through what looked like a maintenance room where a single Nekomata was seated inside, giving us a side eye as we walked past but not saying a single word.
"We are, Mistress," Katsuki assured me. "A shady looking man saw Odeta and asked her if she was interested in competing before leading us here."
What? Shady looking? And you guys followed him?
Lisa added, "I bet they knew an Amrap like her would be able to put up a decent show in this underground arena of theirs."
I turned to her, "Hold on… Underground? You're telling me that this is something that Emilia has not approved of on her ship?"
"Ehehe~ Of course not, Aster~ It's just that bets are exchanged here and the players can potentially lose their lives in such a place. That's why they don't publicise it! That Nekomata we passed by was a guard to stop unknown guests from wandering in."
Now I'm a little worried… Odeta should be fine right? Sebastian would help her if she was in trouble, right?
I'm not worried about her fighting monsters, I'm more worried about some people trying to take advantage of her…
Eventually, we came to the end of the corridor where another guard was seated by the door.
He took one look in our direction before immediately standing up to open the doors for us to usher us in with a curt bow.
"Heh~ Isn't he polite?" Lisa mused.
I can't tell if he was doing that because he recognised Lisa and Katsuki as return 'customers' or myself as the young lady of our household.
Walking past the entrance, I found myself in what looked like a small, oval arena that was surrounded by various people of different races cheering at what was happening inside said arena.
Right then, there was the sound of bones snapping which further intensified my worry for what exactly Odeta had signed up for.
I quickly rushed towards an empty spot that allowed me to peer into the arena, finding a giant bear monster currently gnawing on a corpse.
Thankfully, the body was a male Mahun so that was not Odeta.
Still… Why are these people cheering over something like this?
"See? I told you that guy wouldn't last past two minutes!"
"How am I supposed to know he wouldn't at least try to run away?!"
"Noooo!! I bet on three minutes!!"
"Ahahaha! I'm on a winning streak today!"
Ah… Ok… So this is like an underground fight club basically…
That person who invited Odeta here must be one of the bookers or something and would be taking bets from the people during her match…
I don't even know how I should feel about this.
"Mistress, are you here to watch Miss Odeta's match as well?"
I looked behind to see the hulking form of Sebastian standing behind me, his butler uniform looking as crisp as always.
Right behind him was Lisa and Katsuki, both of them watching the scene of the monster eating the corpse with neutral expressions.
Both of them must have already seen what happened yesterday so the scene in front of them did not surprise them as much as it did me.
I nodded at Sebastian's question, "Yes. Has she already finished?"
He shook his head, "Not yet. I believe she's up next actually. Would Mistress be betting on her?"
"Oh? I can?"
"Indeed. The booker for her match is over there."
Well, I don't really know how the betting works around here but it shouldn't be that complicated right?
I went towards the obese male Inugami with tons of gold and jewellery decorated on his body.
"Next contestant is mine! An Amrap who seeks to test her strength against the monsters with her bare hands! Taking bets now!"
A number of people were already gathered in front of him while raising their hands with coins in them to get his attention.
"Fifty Decreas she lasts for a minute!"
"Ten Decreas she lasts for two minutes!"
"One Crea for a minute!"
"Twenty Decreas for less than a minute!"
Oh, so that's how you bet huh? I'm not sure what the odds are but I know that there's no way Odeta would lose so it doesn't matter. What's more, I still have about two thousand Creas saved up so I might as well just make use of them. This is easy money after all.
Lisa seemed to think so as well and she quickly called out, "One Crea that she beats the monster!"
There were a few people who gave her weird looks and several others who just laughed at her. The booker simply grinned and passed her a note after taking her coin before moving on to the next person.
"One hundred Creas she beats the monster," I called out.
Everyone turned to look at me in surprise, even the booker guy was staring at me with wide eyes.
He suddenly bellowed out in laughter, "Ahaha! You must be her friend eh? You have that much confidence in her? Very well! Here! Your ticket for a hundred Creas on her beating the monster with her bare fists! It's yours if you can actually prove you have that much money!"
I shrugged and raised my palm to the side.
Katsuki immediately deposited my money pouch there and I opened it up to lift a single small silver coin from within the pouch and pass it over to him.
He looked at the coin with a critical eye before breaking into a grin, "Ahaha! That's perfect, missus! Here you go!"
He handed the betting ticket to me and I inspected it to see the words "100 Creas - Contestant Victory" scribbled on it. So this is how it worked.
"Hey… That's a maid from the Nilm family?"
"Must be some really big noble family's daughter."
"No wonder she can just throw around a hundred Creas like nothing…"
"Nobles really are different…"
"Is the participant a noble too? Or maybe she's her slave?"
"Maybe I should change my bet…"
Hey! I'll have you know I earned all this money myself! None of the money I'm spending on myself came from my Family ok?! I'm a strong and independent futa!
Still, I'm quite surprised that they actually recognised Katsuki's maid uniform since I thought only nobles paid attention to these kinds of things. Unless they were also nobles but of the minor kind?
Not that it matters to me anyway, I'm only here to watch Odeta own that monster she was going to face against.
Going back to the arena, I realised that the monster had finished feeding on the poor sod that died to him and a thin looking man came into the arena to command the monster to return to its pen.
Ah, that guy must be a Kalomancer and he binded that monster to him.
So that's how they prevent the monsters from rampaging around the ship. I wonder just how many monsters are there? Does the same guy control them or are there multiple Kalomancers here?
A voice then started speaking from somewhere unknown, "Alright! Now we shall move onto our next contestant! An Amrap who has agreed to challenge a monster with her bare hands! How long will she last in this death ring?! Or will she actually beat the monster she's up against?! Let's find out, everyone!"
There were several cheers as one of the gates inside the arena opened up and Odeta strolled in with a confident gait, not even remotely concerned about the monster she was about to face.
She did not see us since her eyes were locked in the direction of where the monster would appear, just as the gates opened up and a figure twice as big as her stomped its way into the arena.
It was a minotaur except that its skin seemed to have a metallic sheen to it, making it look more like an automaton than a living creature.
[Name: Steel Minotaur
Race: Monster
Stats:
350 Strength
100 Dexterity
290 Endurance
80 Magic]
Oh wow… Yeah, Odeta's not going to have a problem with this guy.
As I said, easy money!
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