“...I’m sorry.”
“Oh? What’s all this now?”
“Even if it was spur of the moment, I injured one of your comrades. I thought I should start by apologizing for that.”
“Not bad. I don’t hate good and honest kids. It was our idiot who was about to start things, I don’t blame you for snapping.” Navie’s smile deepened as he heard Yuri’s apologetic words. “So I’m not angry at you. A broken arm is just what he deserved.”
“...There’s no time left. Please withdraw your complaint against Mr. Haring.” Yuri kept his head down, earnestly making his plea. “He’s a precious friend to me. I want to fight alongside him, to explore the dungeons together, to spend more fun days with him... He’s one of my precious comrades.”
He didn’t want to be unable to see Haring anymore, especially not like this. He didn’t want Haring to be gone from the days of excitement that lay ahead of him.
“Please. Don’t steal my friend from me.”
The whole time, he kept his head down to the man trying to drive Haring away.
“I see. Well, you lowered your head and all. I guess this is where I stand down.” Navie folded his arms, nodded a few times before—
“Like hell, did you really think I would say that!? How thick can you be!?”
Navie spat at Yuri’s head.
“Hyahahahahah! Don’t steal my friend from me, he says! After all I’ve done, you seriously expect me to say, ‘alright, I’ll go away’!?”
Back and forth, his laugh echoed through the streets. He laughed and he laughed until Yuri felt his detestable tone would be stuck in his head for all eternity.
A moment ago, he said, “After all I’ve done.” According to Athena, no duelists came forward to offer information. The posts on the bulletin were being diverted to an unnatural extent.
“I said...we’d have a fun game.” His mouth stretched tight enough to burst, Navie spread his hands wide in a grandiose display. “I call it—the watch-the-hopeless-pipsqueak-fall-into-despair-and-come-begging-to-me game! Thanks for the wonderful show!”
With each word from Navie, Yuri clenched his fist hard enough to break the skin. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to maintain his rationality.
“...Meaning, there is no room for negotiation?”
“Negotiation? Just how optimistic can you be? I’m telling you, I just wanted to see that despair-filled look on your face.”
And every time Yuri spoke, that malicious laugh resounded. If he wasn’t going to listen...then so be it. The city did provide another means of resolution.
“Let’s have a duel—Mr. Navie.” Anger seething in his eyes, Yuri held out his own proof. “I, Yuri Eniastar...challenge Navie Ionesca to a contractual duel.”
Directing more malice than he had ever in his life, Yuri glared at the man standing so brazenly before him. And yet—
“Hah? Of course not. Why would I ever do that?” Navie shrugged, his mouth in a vile smirk.
“What—you’re declining a duel!?”
“Hey, hey, heeey! You’re making it sound like it’s wrong to decline a duel? I mean, there’s no obligation to accept every duel thrust at you.”
He was correct, in that regard. In Duel City Babel, there was no actual need to accept a duel. It was shameful, deplorable even, to run away from a challenge, but this was simply a tacit understanding among duelists; no measures would actually be taken against someone who declined a duel.
“And then what...hahah! A contractual duel? You’re the one cornered here, there’s absolutely nothing in it for me. And yet, you put your idiocy on full display, getting all worked up over a duel!”
Navie teased him for acting like an honorable duelist should.
“Are you lot misunderstanding what a duel really is? When you get down to it, a duel’s just a fight to the death. Now, when your life’s on the line, it doesn’t matter what means you use. There’s no real difference whether you kill them, physically or socially, but you keep trying to bring in such ridiculous notions as sanctity and pride—” Navie said with a sneer. “And it’s because this place is full of idiots like you...that dealing with duelists sure is easy.”
Yuri was at the end of his patience.
“You don’t...get to speak of duelists.” His bloody fist quivering, Yuri took a strong step forward, knocking over the table. “Everyone...unlike you, seeks to battle with pride...!!”
Unable to contain the strength welling from the depths of his body, he concentrated it and his rage on his right arm.
“You don’t—get to speak of us duelists!!”
He swung his right arm at the man with clear murderous intent. A single, killing blow to pulverize everything before him. But—his fist didn’t reach Navie. His arm was contained, fastened to the ground by a pillar of pale-blue ice. A large sword held him down before he could take the next step.
“Yuri, you’d better not cross that line.”
“If you do that, you’ll be a step closer to that guy...!!”
Fram and Athena held him down, desperately trying to contain him. Even so, Yuri’s anger didn’t subside.
“Please let me go! I— That man is the one guy I’ll never forgive!”
Yes, the man simply oozing ill intentions right in front of him. The man who was about to steal his friend, without even leaving the option of dueling. The man who insulted the very notion of a duelist.
“Hahah! Nice, very nice. If the girls weren’t with you, I’d have been able to run you out of Babel, you know!” Watching Yuri driven mad by rage, Navie clapped his hands like he was watching the greatest show.
Yuri would never forgive him. This man alone, he would never forgive.
“Man, I had a good laugh.” Navie stood and turned his back to them. “There ain’t a thing you can do—Mix-blood.”