“I can get you a job that pays well, one that fits your skill with a sword. Then you’ll easily be able to pay off your debts and save your family.”
“A well-paying job...” With the job she had currently, she was just trying to make ends meet; even attempting to pay off the debts had scarcely crossed her mind.
I don’t have a choice, really, Paige thought. Like her father, she wasn’t the most intellectual person, and in this instance, she didn’t have the luxury of being able to think it over. So, as a last resort, she sold her soul to the devil. She thought she was making a courageous choice for the sake of her family, but it was a choice she would regret for the rest of her life.
“I’ll do it,” Paige said. “I’ll do anything to save my family.”
The man introduced himself as Rio. The job he described to Paige was far from wholesome; she’d be fighting in a spectacle in an arena in the Kingdom of Slidd. She would be a gladiator—in other words, a slave. But the offered remuneration was high enough to almost pay back all her family’s debts, so Paige had no choice but to take it.
Gasparo was suspicious on the day Paige left, as she was carrying far too much luggage for her usual day job.
“What’s with all those bags? Where are you going?” her father asked, looking her up and down.
“Um, I found a better job...” Paige said, trailing off at the end. She scratched at her cheek and avoided making eye contact with her father. The man had trained her daily in the art of swordsmanship, and that training had also included education in the moral code of knighthood. To Gasparo, using a well-trained sword to protect one’s master was a virtue, and he would never harm anyone for something as meaningless as a spectacle.
Paige hung her head as her feelings of guilt over her lie overwhelmed her.
“Well, all right then. Don’t be out too late or your mother will worry. Besides, we won’t be able to survive without you,” Gasparo muttered despairingly.
Paige knew she was needed at home, but she was also frightened by the heavy responsibility that had been placed on her shoulders. In truth, she thought the pretext of becoming a slave would give her a reason to escape the situation. Paige wanted to go somewhere far away, away from her ailing mother and depressed father. That was why she had accepted the suspicious and dangerous proposal to become a gladiator.
“Yeah... I’ll be back soon,” Paige said, smiling as best she could before fleeing out the door.
And then she was sold to Slidd.
Paige spent her days fighting men and beasts in the arena. It was nothing short of humiliation for her to throw herself into such vile and barbaric fights, far removed from the chivalry she had aspired to since childhood.
I hope mom and dad are doing well, she thought. The acrid smell of the beast she’d killed snaked its way up her nose. The blood flowing from a wound on her own head made her vision blurry as she looked up at the blue sky. She was always kept locked up in the basement of the arena, and the only chance she had to see the sky was during the fights. The sky was disgustingly beautiful and vibrant, despite the fact that every day was a living hell.
Paige thought about her parents as she scrutinized the distant sun. The only thing that saved her was the fact that her parents’ pockets had been lined with the money she’d sold herself for.
Two years had passed since Paige had first come to the arena. Although she didn’t know it yet, she would soon be sold off to her first owner.
“It’s good to see you again, Paige Lanchester. You look better than I expected.” It was someone from Paige’s past.
She hadn’t heard the name Lanchester since she’d come to Slidd. She looked up at the familiar, kind voice. Looking down at her from the other side of the iron bars of her cell and smiling wryly was Rio, the man who’d arranged for her slavery as a gladiator. He smiled at her, even as she was covered in filth and old battle scars.
“What about me looks better? I’m completely worn out. Why are you even here?”
“I wanted to see you.”
“Must be nice to have so much free time. How are my mom and dad?” Paige asked, leaning forward. Surely he would know how her parents were doing. Paige had told him not to tell her parents that she was being sold as a slave, since she’d lied about her reason for leaving and didn’t want to break their hearts. The corruption case had left her father exhausted, but surely he was now rebuilding their lives with the money from Paige’s enslavement.
The man in front of her let out an unsettling chuckle. He leaned in close to the bars. “They died. They committed suicide together.”
“What...?” She couldn’t believe it. Rio gave her no chance to process as he told her what had happened. The money from her sale hadn’t gone to her parents but instead had gone into Rio’s pockets where it had been used to buy the old Lanchester estate. Her parents had been at a loss, unable to contact her. Rio then told her that he’d informed her parents that she’d been sold into slavery in Slidd, and they had committed suicide in despair. The man’s face was twisted with amusement as he told Paige the story.
“You are a thoughtless, stupid child,” Rio said with a chuckle. “Too stupid to realize you shouldn’t listen to a man whose name you don’t even know, no matter how dire a situation you’re in. You may be good with a sword, but you’re not very smart, apparently. Just like your father.”
“Damn it...” She wanted to say something in response to the insults he’d hurled at her father, but she couldn’t get any further words out. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she’d known that this day would come. She’d left her father in a weakened state, and her mother sick in bed, to chase the whispers of a devil.
“But don’t worry, you’ll join your parents soon enough. Gladiators don’t live very long. I was just going to kill you, but I thought your beauty and skill with a sword would fetch a good price. I’m a fan of making the best of what I’ve got. But you’re more stubborn than I thought you would be.”
“What do you mean you were going to kill me?” Paige asked.
Rio’s shoulders began to shake and he almost doubled over in laughter. “My plan was that if I got rid of you, your parents would lose their emotional support and be too weak to recover. And then they killed themselves! It saved me the trouble of having to deal with them directly.”
“What are you...?”
“Oh, that’s right. Let me tell you something else. My name isn’t Rio.” He narrowed his eyes, which were filled with a terrible glee. “It’s Tiberio Reyn.”
At that moment, Paige’s mind went completely blank. Did the Lanchester family’s ruin truly hinge on this one man and his lurid smile?
“That vacant expression suits you. You certainly seem surprised. It was I who pressured Gasparo into isolation, and it was I who spread all kinds of unsubstantiated rumors about you and your family. Oh yes, even the day you took me up on my offer, I was the one who arranged for the women to throw stones at you.”
“You’re the one who made up the false accusations? What did my dad ever do to you?” Paige asked, her voice shaky.
“He learned something he didn’t need to know. He should’ve pretended he’d never learned of it. Your father ruined himself because of his honesty. I sold you here to muzzle him.”
“What do you mean by muzzle him?! Explain!” Paige shouted, but the man turned on his heel. “Wait, Tiberio!”
Tiberio left without any further words. Paige, still reeling, felt an unspeakably intense anger begin to well up inside of her.
Paige blamed herself for being thoughtless and stupid, but she continued to train and fight, and it lifted her spirits slightly.
Someday, I want power. I want enough power to get my revenge on him, Paige thought. She wouldn’t give up. She wouldn’t break. No matter how devastated or disappointed she felt, Paige’s spirit never withered. She held on to hope. She held on to the hope that someday, if she gritted her teeth and persevered then she would arrive at a turning point. She held on to the hope that there would come a day where a light as brilliant as the sun lit up the pitch-black darkness of the arena’s basement. She might not have been able to do anything but fight, but she had all the freedom in the world to hope.
I’ll never let a man like that tear me down, she thought. In this manner, she was decidedly different from her father, who had crumpled under the pressure from the same man.
Then Westalia appeared before her. Wise and noble, Westalia never gave up and worked hard to carve her own future, no matter what kind of adversity she was presented with.
“Let’s get out of here quickly, Paige.”
Westalia was something different from other people. Paige knew that if she took the woman’s proffered hand, a whole new world would open up before her. Westalia’s slender, elegant hand pulled Paige into the outside world. As they spent time together, Paige realized that Westalia was full of passion and fighting hard to pull herself up from rock bottom. Westalia, a genuinely pure person, was standing on her tiptoes, stretching out her arms, and desperately reaching to grab hold of her dream.
Paige found Westalia charming and precious. Just like herself, Westalia truly believed that even after the darkest of nights there would be light again. All the while, Paige tended the hatred in her heart, waiting for the day when she could get revenge on the demon who had sold her into slavery.