Chapter 22: A Game ? ... not my thing ( not edited )
" Are they kidding me ? ", I thought tiredly.
Just when you thought they would do something real dangerous, I just happened to hear that they wanted to play a dodgeball game instead. So where were the shouting children now ? Add them to the background, then they fit in this ridiculous picture pretty well. Other thoughts such as ' Do I live in the right timeline ?' or ‚ Are they actually kids ?' or 'Was this genre actually a sport genre ?' or ' Perhaps I just misheard it.' circulated in my head. Using the opportunity of my confusion,
Alisa all of the sudden dragged me and the lifeless Cabel to our destination.
" Don't think too much, Rosie! " , my friend then said aloud, but it didn't bother me at all. My mind was still blank.
Time loop
' How did I get here again ? ', I thought absentmindedly, when I looked at the bare land before me. 'Forget it. I have a different… far bigger problem here. …How can I get out of this mess now? '
I came up with many plans, yet in the end they all seemed to rather fail. The reason for it was my very observant and eager friend right next to me. Nothing could help me out as long as this cute bunny kept an eye on me. While I agonised about it, she just had a huge smile and then spoke to the audience. During her whole explanation, I didn't listen one thing. Only when I heard her loudly exclaiming, " Now we can start !", my head made a fast turn and I shouted panic-stricken,
" WHAT ?! "
I gained many confused onlookers after that. For this I didn't care the least. My eyes focused on her. But the innocent Alisa also watched at me confused. Then she looked at me deadpanned, later on sighed and soon explained,
" Since we already decided our teams and finished selecting our teammates, we should now start."
She made it look like as if she already experienced this habit of me. It wasn't like I was always like this. …Only sometimes.
Trying to distract myself from my embarrassed scene just now, I looked at our game place more precisely and longer.
Our game should took place in the knight training ground. A waste sand land with many marionette- looking puppets standing in line near the fence. They had cuts and wounds all over their faces and chest, showing the efforts of the men. Weapons and equipments were displayed before a wooden house which was right on the edge of the place.
It looked similar to a desert, yet was a bit different. Outside from the fences, grass grew again. Imagine it as an oasis but only in a reversed form. Like a lonesome land with nothing but weapons.
I just wanted to convey that I felt like a fish stranded on the beach and suddenly landed in a desert out of nowhere. What now awaited for the animal was either to be eaten or to die because of dryness. In this case, I could be eaten, since this was…
" …War ", I murmured silently, saying it out of my mind. When it was said quietly, it was meant to not be heard but as usual someone had to listen somehow and now this particular one aggressively shouted,
" YEAH ! This is war. Now since we already decided on our teams, we can now start. "
I sighed.
"We already have our teams ?", I asked my war madwoman and childhood friend.
" Did you already forget ? Did you daydream again ? " , Alisa said with a pout, visible annoyed. " Come on, give me more attention !" Later on, she hugged me aggressively, burring her head into my chest.
Not knowing what to do, I just let go of her usual cuteness and gently smiled. Suddenly I heard something from the other side.
" Cough* Cough* "
Only then did I notice the obvious audience around us. Everyone were having a blank face, a few even tried to hide their reddened faces. But they were not the only ones who had to blush when I saw the archduke having a blank look as well. He looked at us as if we were from a different world.
"What the h*eck was this face ?", I asked quietly in confusion.
'Come on, it was just two girls hugging each other. What could they possible think ?
Ain't this normal ?', I thought annoyed.
Anyway, the point was that I just experienced immense embarrassment. I just hold my head with one hand and prevented from Alisa to further bury her head into my chest with the other one. I pushed her slightly away, which gained me a disappointed expression on her face.
' What do I do with you ? Please don't become something like a huge pervert.', I inwardly pleaded.
Not only her, Kitsune also kinda liked my chest for some reason. It wasn't like I had a huge chest. I was just 5 feet and 5 inches tall human being with a B-cup. B- Cup ! B-cup !
I just sighed about my complain. Luckily, Alisa finally stopped her attack and continued with her explanation as if nothing happened before. Not even having the slight redness on her face. Come on !
Sometimes, I wished I had the same great mentality like hers.
Eventually, we proceeded with our desired match. Of course, I was in Alisa's team with Cabel, whereas the male lead joined the other side. The game rules were the same like in my modern world, so I didn't have other huge concerns aside from the fact that this game was ridiculous.
From what I understood was that each team got one ball. Two balls in game. The so- called balls were soft balls which funnily enough could leave colourful marks on our body behind. My team got blue while the other one had red ....CHECK
Second, every hit count, except for the head. After being hit, they left the death ground which was on the enemy side. It surrounded the enemy place like a horseshoe. To free your friends they had to throw the ball to the death ground for the defeated mates could then aim at the enemy from there without overstepping borderline. ... CHECK
Third, no magic and any tools were allowed….. CHECK
That was it.
From what I heard, it should be funny game, but when I remembered the horrified expression of Cabel form before.
I hoped it won't become bad. Plus, please don't stretched the game out for long.
" Let's start ! "
My teammates already wear on their serious expression and took on a fighting posture. Alisa and I changed our clothes with light short dresses and long trousers underneath. We positioned ourselves as well. The two balls was thrown by .... The first one who threw was Cabel, already aiming for the male lead.
'Okay, let me survive this, please !', I thought to myself.
…
…
…
30 min later
" Woah …", I murmured dazedly from the outside line.
Sweated men all over the floor. Only two young men stood against each others. A swirl of dust like in the wild West went past them.
The two men were no other than Cabel and the archduke. Not really surprising.
Cabel was already talented and very athletic. In addition to this, his physics gave him a huge advantage in comparison to the archduke.
During this whole game, I came to know that this game was really dangerous, but not in a way I would expect.
So I explain it from the beginning what had happened:
When the game first started, Cabel was the first one to throw the ball, in particular at the archduke. But the male lead successfully dodged and the ball landed on a different enemy just behind him instead. It struck around his stomach.
Crack * was what I heard.
At that moment, I knew , " OMG, I will die !!!!! "
You see, I did have my fair share of sword training, but it didn't mean that I was sturdy enough to endure such immense bone- breaking pain and even willing to take it. I hate pain. Not even this knight who trained constantly everyday could hold on. Not to mention Alisa, who didn't get the same kind of education like me and Cabel. Should I protect Alisa or myself first ? Oh sh*t !!!
No matter who and what, even the heroine or the protagonist would surely like to avoid pain as much as possible. Even if they asked me to sacrifice myself for someone, I won't do it. I was responsible for my own life, so the person should do it for himself too. If I did die or hurt immensely, what would left for me after that ?
Hah…
Enough of my selfishness or whatever !
But then again, in this era I would either be criticised for my decision and I would have to live in shame and disgust from everywhere or when I sacrificed myself for him or her, I would get be praised for a short time but probably died already before to even know of them. If not dieting, at least my body would be too damaged. Ah…either choice was great.
Then I looked at Alisa and thought, " Just make sure, I and Alisa won't be hit. If necessary I push her away whenever a ball came to her." I sighed.
Fortunately, the knights and Cedric also seemed to think the same and that's why they always tried to throw a soft ball at us, … when it was possible. This could be compared to a " normal" throw you would see dodgeball back in my modern world. Which meant that everyone, except for us, would experience immense pain as they won't hold back with the men.
Normally, I, as a former member of high society, wished for equality, freedom and fraternity.
But really… equality, my *ss ! I prefer this way than to get broken rips late on like the one lying on the death ground. We could do this, then we thin about treatment and perspective, but right now I really prefer this way in this case.
"Slaughter" was everywhere. Screaming as if they were attacked with a sword and lost an arm… perhaps. Low growling from the pain. I even thought to hear someone wailing somewhere from the corner. It was painful in many ways, so without hesitation, I ran to the middle right before the enemy field and shouted out of my lungs,
" Stop it now ! This is too dangerous. We should stop this game immediately. "
At my call everyone stopped their movement, but regrettably, one person already threw his ball at the male lead again, just right before my shout. What's don is done. I wouldn't think much of it since it won't hit right now. How wished I wasn't that naive. Because after the the throw Cedric could somehow blocked it with his other ball in his hands. What next came could be expected.
The ball then hit me. Right on my left arm.
*Crack*
"ARGH !!!! "
Salt water already swelled up on the edges of my eyes.Trying to hold them back, I bit on my lip and hold my painful arm. At once it became silent.
Everyone stood in shock. It took them a while to release themselves from trance, but then soon became worried and dismissed the game by running to me. I was surrounded by huge male bodies, already afraid to be lost in this mass. Cedric was the first to come directly to me, took my arm and examined it carefully. I hissed as a result. Nervous gazes followed. Eventually, he sighed in relief, when he explained everyone that it shouldn't be so serious. To make it sure, Cabel suggested I should walk with Alisa to our family doctor who conveniently resided in our mansion for the time being.
To note, the game had just passed for only 56 seconds.
Oh, cool … so not only didn't I survive in this game, it also took me for less than 1 minute to be out and get hurt. Lucky me !
So this was my beginning to the journey looking for my doctor. I had to mention the path to this person took a bit of time. I believed it to be around 8 minutes. On my way I became slightly frustrated and this intensified even more when we finally found him in his laboratory. Actually, it was natural that he was there considering his job choice.
After getting the diagnosis that I had to rest for two weeks till my bones became fully restored, I immediately came back to the battlefield in hope they didn't continue this stupid game during my absence. This took 10 minutes.
At first there was resistance from Alisa as she thought my rest came first but she too believed checking out would be better …if it was alright on the other side. I, as one of the owners of this mansion and master of the knights, had to look after anyway, so it was a no brainer that I would go.
Now we came back to the current situation.
Around 30 minutes passed and I saw every healthy men lying on the ground being in pain, not even bothering to go to the death ground, they stayed in their field instead placing hindrance to their teammates. Only two men stood against each other already exuding killing atmosphere.
We immediately went to the first available one on the death ground who was still strong enough to explain us the situation. According to our teammate the massacre started after I left. The harm on their lady caused every knight to blame the archduke for it and now seeing this game as an opportunity to legally kick his *ss. Even the knights on the other side also joined forces. The betrayal wasn't missed out by the sharp eyes of the archduke. because of this, he began using is teammates as shield, as the aim of every knight o the playing ground become more and more obvious by each hit… And this was the result.
A great combination of real life war with betrayal and trust.
The following scenes just made me believe we should take petition to never hold this game ever again in this country. Believe me when I said, I liked dodge ball, but not this kind of dodge ball, please. I already missed the old times, no, rather my modern world one.
As you could see, the male lead mercilessly took everyone lives away like breathing. In addition to that, he didn't even sweat. Didn't the author overpowering their main characters too much ?
I would much appreciate that she or he had given him more brain and emotion in regard important matters like investigation instead of muscles.
Who would be surprised about his skills anyway?
"How could this b*stard be so good ?!", Alisa suddenly spoke frustratedly.
" Ah…", I nervously said.
"Should Cabel really lose now, I will give him a punishment.", Alisa said with sadistic smirk.
' You know, Alisa. Sometimes, you are really scary. For once I pray for Cabel to win, not for me to get revenge or anything but so he didn't have to experience punishment later on.', I thought with a pale face.
At the moment Cabel possessed two balls which was a pretty good sign. He used the one on his right hand to throw at the male lead. But his eyes seemed to wander around the left side. Surprised by the motion, I thought, " What will you do ?"
First, he aimed the ball, then threw and it finally landed on the death ground, rolling before a feet of his comrade. Immediately, every knight on this field surrounded it at once.
" I want to throw !!!", they exclaimed loudly at once.
" I want to hit him. My stomach hurts from his hit. That's why I feel like vomiting everytime… I'm sure you don't want to see it. I had fish and onions on my dish today. Just a warning. So before this could happen I want to kick this *sshole of an archduke.", said one knight with fire red hair angrily.
" Let we not ask, why you ate fish with onions anyway. …But I also want to do this. My back hurts so much after he left a mark there. How should I help in the library afterwards?", the man with glasses complained.
" It should be alright. It won't be that much of an issue anyway. ", a different knight joined in the conversation.
" Ey, you don't know how much I had to mend to get the books and place them in the right order."
" Dude, find a real life…", his other friend spoke which gained him a glare from the guy with glasses.
" Oi, at least I educate myself with books. That is one of the reason why I'm the brain of the team. So what ? I like books."
" Yo, for being our brain you didn't help with this game at all. I'm just your friend so I'm worried that you will never get a girl. Besides you need a social life. …
Now getting back to the issue, so who should throw the ball now ? ", a different knight calmly said ignoring the death glares of his companion.
" What did you say ?!", the glass guy shouted in rage.
" Stop now guys, this is not the topic. You can argue about it after we won this game… ", shouted the already sixth knight here.
After a short pause, he then continued,
"…Anyway,… I should throw the ball as I'm one of the best archers here. Also he should pay for my broken rips. I wanted to go on a date today but because of this I have to call it off. What if she was the right one ? I wanted to have a family ! " Some tears were even shedded.
" Dude, at least you can think about having family. He hit my balls real hard. Because of him I can't even have children at this rate.", the probably eighth knight joined in this discussion complained.
" Forget about the children, man. What if you can't get a boner ? ", his friend pricked him from the side when he said it.
" Oh no !!! ", shriek the knight with a horrified face ," Dude, you are right !!! What should I do ?! With this I can't even satisfy a woman anymore."
He directed his finger to his thing.
" Come on, it wouldn't be this bad. Besides who want to sleep with you anyway ? "
" Agreed. "
" You're not that wrong."
" You b*stards ! ", he shouted angrily before chasing them around.
"Come on, look at our boy, Cable. He is handsome and had a pretty childhood friend and possible fiancé waiting for him on the other side of the world. To top it off, he has a great personality. He could get any woman with these looks and charms. Also Leon, our commander is as handsome as hell. Every woman want him. He is the bachelor of the bachelors, if he wouldn't look like an ice-block whenever he speaks with other females. Also look, when the archduke is single again, I think a storm of ladies won't be far away. They won't even pay attention to us. "
Depression flooded around the circle of matured men.
When I looked at these pathetic damsels, I couldn't help but sympathise with them. Even Alisa felt like that. When I turned to the topic of this conversation, I saw an Cabel with a red beet face. The archduke was still waiting for the attack and ignored the topics of conversation.
Not knowing the embarrassed Cabel, the group of knights continued with the theme.
" You're right. I still remember the monster hunting with the archduke. At that time we had to stay for a night and so we took turns to stay guard, so the other went bathing. By coincidence the archduke joined us in our bath in the river. When he suddenly took off one cloth after the other, i looked quite… Don't get me wrong. I don#t swing like this… but he was hella sexy. It became stronger when I saw it.
" Wait, don't tell me you speak of…"
" Yes, I do…. His jewel. My memories were still vivid as if it was just tomorrow. It was 2 weeks ago, so not far away. When I first saw it. At that time I thought, ' A man of all men!' So I believed that if our young lady could actually take on his length, then I would not only have respect toward her in regard her swordsmanship but also for her endurance in bed. "
" Oh, holy cow ! Not only did he have the looks, the money, the power and status. He also have the length. What else did he have not ? ( Except for his personality ) "
" Come on, just stop speaking about this b*stard. Now look at our youngster Cabel. I still remembered him being a child. Compared to before, he became quite a man, everything had grown great, especially for his c*ck. "
" STOP IT NOW !!!!!"
To the sudden outburst, they all turned around to the loud voice and saw tomato -red faced Cabel and an archduke with slightly red cheeks and a death glare directed towards the knights.
Pale faces came at once. Gulp *
This didn't stop here, as they also turned their gazes at me and Alisa who just stood very near them."
Faces like the drawing of Edvard Munch: The scream . That what it looked.
" How could you not notice our presence when we were so near around you. Are you really knights ?", I asked myself quietly.
It seemed that they still had good hearing, so after their pale faces they immediately reddened.
" You !"
The shout didn't come from the circle but from behind me, so I turned around and saw Cabel pointed the finger at a knight who lonely stood there upside from the perverted group.
" Heh ?! ", responded this knight, lifting his finger to his face to ask if he was meant.
Cabel then nodded and said,
" You will throw it"
" What ?!", the group and the knight exclaimed surprised.
In the end, he nodded despite the hateful stares coming from his teammates.
At once they took the throwing posture and Cabel was about to give signal for the knight to aim for the archduke simultaneously. In the moment where the balls began to fly in the air, the archduke suddenly moved towards the front right before Cabel while avoiding the coming balls by doing a looping in the air. Now imagined it in slow motion when he moved like an asian movie.That was where the balls just critically passed his legs and face from both sides. Then he safely landed to the ground.
Naturally, Cabel and the knight became surprised. Eventually, the balls came towards the people who threw instead, leaving a gasping Cabel behind who looked at his chest, the place where the ball finally landed.
" ARGH !!!! "
He clutched his chest and rolled to the ground.
Then my childhood friend quietly murmured : "Arghh… I really hate this game. "
…
The winner: The archduke
'The protagonist halo was amazing.', I thought in awe.
' How could he avoid it, when the both of them threw the ball at the same time ?'
If the one knight wanted to throw at the same time, he first had shorten the distance since he need the similar distance between the archduke and Cabel and had the similar throwing speed like the his partner. As none of it was the case, it was naturally for the bad to arrive differently. Nonetheless, it didn't mean that it would have a lowered effect. When one ball miss the archduke, the other could still hit him. Yet nothing of the sort happened.
That's why I asked myself if he had either pretty much luck or had super great reflexes.
Did he predicted them to throw like this ?
'Like how could you avoid the ball this near?' , I thought deeply.
After some awkward silence where nobody moved an inch, only one person broke the ice.
…
…
" SH*T !!!!!" , shouted Alisa loudly. " How could this b*stard win ?!"
" Alisa. ! Watch out your mouth !", I spoke panic-stricken.
" Oh, crap ! Holy sh*t ! I knew that Cabel didn't like dodge ball but what was the result for ? Why ! Why ! Why ! " The bitterness visibly heard through her tone.
" Come on, he gave his best !", I defended Cabel who was lying on the ground still enduring the pain. " Poor Cabel …"
" But not enough. Now this a**hole duke is allowed to call you wife. I already can't take it anymore. Just the though ! Ugh !!! ", Alisa exclaimed angrily and crossed her arms.
I just tiredly sighed and said, " Now, now. You will get your chance one day. " ( Hope not )
" …Yeah, I will ", Alisa responded with a smirk sinisterly.
I shuddered upon this sight. As much as I enjoyed my time with her, I was sometimes afraid of her, She gave ominous vibes. I just hoped that she won't come into priso because of accidentally killing the male lead. ( more intentionally )
We all helped the knights to bring them to the mansion for examination. Poor doctor …
When I walked through corridor after this turbulent event, I really didn't feel like going downtown in search for a publishing company and Kitsune anymore.
Come to this of it, what did Kitsune do during my absence ? (30 minutes)
….
….
Meanwhile, Kitsune happily played with the family dog while eating many sweets.
Before I could reach my bedroom, I looked at the ball which hung on the wall in the floor.
" Woah, just afternoon ? But I already felt like a whole day passed. ", I said out loud, "Can I still look for a publisher and buy clothes for Kitsune at this rate ?"
Slight disappointment slipped from my face. was the first to notice
" What is, Rosie ? Why the bad mood ?", Alisa said out of blue behind me.
" Oh, Alisa . Why didn't you stay with Cabel in the infirmary ? He could need your help."
" Why would he need my help ? There are already the assistants of the doctor there. "
" You know that many knights are hurt because of the game YOU suggested. At least you could stay with them. Besides you did know that Cabel is pretty popular with the maids, so you should protect him. He needs a lots of rest."
" Yeah, yeah. I will do. I will do. But let's come back to the important topic. So …you wanted to go shopping ?!" Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"
" It wasn't that I didn't want to tell you, but I just didn't come to saying you this. You also suddenly suggested this ridiculous game. Ha…"
" Okay, okay. I know I was in the wrong. But I just can't like him."
" Why do you hate him so much ?"
"Of course. Through the way he treated you, I would naturally hate him. "
I Look at my childhood friend for a long time. I knew that she could be childish at times but now it became over exaggerated. Alisa knew his status, meaning she should have ate more respectably towards the archduke. Yet she toss it out just to challenge him was a bit too much, even for her.
" Alisa, was it really all ?"
" …"
" Alisa…"
" … It was just… that you remember when I climbed up the archduke mansion to see you. I got a slight glimpse of him accidentally. …"
Ah, the office was right under me. No wonder she saw him.
" … And ? "
" Ha…I heard …the servants complaining about you and you know what, the archduke just accept them. I was so angry about !"
" So you knew of the complaints ? So why didn't you tell me earlier ?"
" I thought that he would have talked with you before. But never did I thought it would result into this situation. "
" Ha … Just forget about this. Just please next time tell me everything, please !", I sighed and held my head.
" … Yeah, Rosie. Are you still angry at me ?"
"… No, I'm not angry at you. " After I said that I patted her head which made Alisa pleased. '… only a bit disappointed.'
" Ehm… SOOO you wanted to go downtown ? How about we do it now ? It is far away. ", Alisa said, trying to soothe the atmosphere. Even I had difficulty to smile a bit but just added,
" Yeah, but now I'm too tired to go."
" Come on, Rosie. I want to buy you something at least. As apology. Let's make everything out of the day. "
" …Then we could do it tomorrow."
" I know, this should be for the best. But the weather is so nice and who knows what could happen for tomorrow ? Just use the day when it was still early. Live like it was your last. You know my motto.", Alisa proudly exclaimed.
'"Live like it was your last." you said ' , I thought absentmindedly. Considering my past, I had only worked in this life and now add my previous life in the modern world I also missed a lot things because of much drama and pressure in school.
I stared at the window and saw the clear blue sky. I closed my eyes for a short time and answered,
" …Yeah, you are right. Somehow. Let's go, but let Kitsune stay at home. I will only look for a publisher. Time for shopping clothes is not enough. "
"Okay, let's go !", said Alisa happily and grabbed my hand and led the was tot eh carriage outside the mansion.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Jbee09
Jbee09 Hey guys,
sorry for the late update. It didn't have much time on hand anymore.
I think it will be like this in the near future too, so please understand my slow but hopefully steady updates.
Thank you for you understanding !
Sincerly
author-sama
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