Chapter 424: En Route to the Colosseum

“Since your holiness has no interest in visiting Arachne Cavern, how about we go to the colosseum instead?”

“The colosseum? Sounds good, that was exactly what I had in mind.”

Well, it’s not like I have anything better to do right now. I might as well go visit this wide-acclaimed colosseum of theirs. It is, after all, the place where Solar-sama rose to fame. And as Solar-sama’s diehard fan, it’s only fitting that I make a pilgrimage to one of the holy sites where he worked his miracles.

Yet who would have thought that the moment we decided on this plan, Jezsere’s adorable little bunny head would suddenly show itself from around the corner ahead. As always, this timid little Dark Elf had her head down, lifting it up a little when she realised we were here. Her first reaction was to back away, most likely because our appearance startled her, or perhaps because Paliseth was a source of trauma for her. Either way, the moment she saw Paliseth, her body froze up, and a moment later, tried to turn around and flee.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t even gotten a step in before Paliseth called out to her.

Seeing her own daughter act like a mouse trying to flee from a cat, even Paliseth was a little miffed. “Jezsere, come greet his holiness.”

“Mast…master…” Caught like a bunny in a trap, Jezsere shuffled towards me uneasily first then glanced at her mother, though that only lasted a moment as she promptly lowered her head once more, ears beet red like she had been startled. “Mother… and master, how can Jezsere help you both?”

“What? We can’t look for you without a reason now?”

Unlike how she treated me, Paliseth was a stern matriarch to every other Dark Elf in her clan. With a simple glare, she could pressure any Dark Elf into submission. Jezsere could tell that her mother was displeased right now. Her body froze up once more and her face was a complete mess of confusion and terror. At this point, I would be surprised if she even remembered her name was Jezsere.

“That’s enough, don’t bully her too much.” I sternly chided Paliseth then reached out to grab Jezsere’s shivering hands. “There, there. Don’t be afraid, Jez, your master’s here now. I would like to see who dares to bully you now.” I said in the gentlest tone possible to comfort her.

Having said that, I quietly looked at Paliseth. If that old hag still had some wits about her, she would get what I was trying to say.

As I expected, she knew what I wanted from that simple gesture. “There, there. My little Jez, as long as you listen to his holiness, your mother promises to never scold you again.” She promptly switched her tone to match my own.

Man, that old hag sure changes her tone faster than she changes her clothes….

Jezsere did not answer her right away. Instead, she shuffled closer to me to the point where even her scent was now stuck to my body.

Speaking of which, exactly how much more insecure can this girl get? Whenever a person doesn’t feel safe, they would often use their hands to guard their chest, and that’s what I see her doing all the time. And that hair of hers… most people wouldn’t use their hair like a scarf… just that last point alone was proof enough.

One way girls like Jezsere expressed their severe insecurity was through their excessive kindness. Unhealthy though that may be, it was this trait that often elicited the feeling of wanting to protect them from others… Ahhh… no wonder you’re Solar-sama’s daughter… whether it’s your looks or your personality, they are all numba one! And that’s not just me saying so because I’m a big fan, she really is a girl I couldn’t bear to leave alone.

As Paliseth led us towards the colosseum, I quietly leaned in on Jezsere and chatted with her. Before that however, I made use of my special privileges to order Paliseth not to bully timid girls like Jez and especially not force them to do things they did not want to do!

“Jez, weren’t you looking after Reyage? What made you change your mind?” Because Paliseth had just mentioned that fact to me, I was more than surprised when we bumped into her along the hallway so soon. “Oh, and how is Reyage doing? Is he alright?”

“Brother is resting right now, he’s doing really well. By tomorrow, his wounds should be completely healed.” She answered while still grabbing onto my left arm. “That’s why I came out to find master…”

“Oh, what for?”

“Nothing…” Jezsere shook her head before biting down on her lips. “Jezsere just wanted to be by master’s side…”

“Oh…” Her current timidness was something I had to admit I liked. Naturally, if she were to be a little stronger, it wouldn’t be a bad thing either. With that in mind, I smiled gently at her and pulled out my trump card: the legendary head pat.

“It’s alright, you can always lean on me when you need to.”

“Master…” Jezsere’s eyes almost teared up at that moment. “Jezsere loves her master!”

Hearing her childishly confess her love to me, I couldn’t help but kiss her gently on her head. Having done that, I turned around to face a Paliseth that was giving me a conflicted look right now. My eyes narrowed sharply as I addressed this old hag that still retained the looks of a teenage girl. “Jez is mine, if you or anyone else tries to bully her… believe me, you wouldn’t want to deal with the consequences.”

Now that I was the godson of the Spider Queen, the entire Dark Elf race basically belonged to me. In some sense, whatever I said could be interpreted as the will of the Spider Queen.

Naturally, Paliseth wouldn’t dare show any disrespect to such a person. “Don’t worry, your holiness, I’ll make sure to look after her from now on…”

“You’d better remember what you said today. Don’t disappoint me.” I curled my lips to the corner. “If I ever find out that you bullied her…”

“Yes… I won’t disappoint you, your holiness.”

Time flew by in an instant and it didn’t take long before we found ourselves at the colosseum.

The structure itself consisted of a gigantic empty ring with towering audience stands on all sides. In fact, if one were to look carefully, one could make out what looked like VIP booths in the distance. However, whether it was the audience stands, the VIP booths, the tunnels or the stairs that led up to them, they were all carved out of the cave wall.

Honestly, I really had to hand it to these Elves. Putting aside all the rooms and halls I had passed by on the way here, this gigantic ring coming in at over one hundred meters must have taken considerable effort to dig out. Being as obsessed with beauty as one would expect any Elf to be, the VIP booths were also filled with all manner of intricately decorated furniture. Even the stairs that led to these stands were decorated with care. For example, on the back of every stone chair was a disturbingly lifelike spider carving while the tunnels were lined with dragons breathing fire. As for the stairways, they were lined with carvings depicting Dark Elven war history… In short, everything had to be beautiful for these Elves.

Under Paliseth’s guidance, we were quickly brought to a neatly carved out booth. Not long after entering this booth, a bunch of Dark Elven maids bearing refreshments entered the room as well. One by one, they laid down their platters until the table was full.

The food of the Dark Elves was a lot more varied than I had initially thought based on what they brought in. But this did not really surprise me much seeing as they often ambushed travelling caravans. The amount of loot they accumulated over the years was nothing to scoff at. In some sense, the region inhabited by the Dark Elves was akin to a Silk Road for the humans in the Western Human Realms. As long as the money was good, there would always be merchants daring enough to risk the journey.

The Dark Elves knew of this fact as well. That was why they would sometimes let some caravans through unharmed. By doing so, they would give the false impression that certain caravans were more successful than others, and then…

Honestly, everyone must have had that moment or two when they were young and thought that whatever they did was always right… till they messed up badly anyway…

Other than looting caravans, the Dark Elves also had their own farms and ranches. Amongst the races they kept captive, there was a lower-tiered race known as Duergars; they were the ones responsible for rearing the animals. The meats in the Underdepths were exactly what you would expect of a subterranean environment: dank. For example, one of the main sources of meat was the meat of the Rendworm, a creature similar to an extremely long earthworm but actually tasted great.

In terms of agriculture, the Duergars had more to look after. Whatever melons, seeds, shrooms and plants that could survive underground were basically tended to by the Duergars.

The Duergars were outwardly frail looking and resembled a Gnome. However, what distinguished them from a Gnome was their hair. A Gnome was bald while Duergars naturally had a mohawk.

The colosseums of the Dark Elves were open twenty four hours. Other than providing Dark Elves with an opponent of their choice to fight with, there were other forms of entertainment as well. At times, slave gladiators were pitted against starving magical beasts. Other times, they were set against other slave gladiators.

Right now, there was a thirty or so year old human male old facing off against a wolf-type magical beast that had to at least be 1.5m meters tall when standing.

This human was extremely muscular and wielded a gigantic hammer like a toy in the ring. With how fast he was swinging that weapon around, even water couldn’t break through his defenses.

His opponent was extremely quick, but it was no use. The wolf-like creature threw out multiple Windblades at the human but those were quickly smacked down by the spinning hammer. And with that gigantic hammer bearing ever closer to it, the wolf was slowly backed into the corner. Even so, it dared not risk that spinning hammer.

It had to be said at this point that this was quite a poor match for the agile wolf-type magical beast. After all, its forte was speed, not strength. And even with the notoriously sturdy hide of a magical beast protecting it, there was no standing up to a full-force swing of a strength-class Warrior.