Chapter 88: Chapter 84: The worst criminal

Chapter 84: The worst criminal

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-Aspen POV:

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*Click*

"You will be released tomorrow morning in order to begin your training, Until then, you might as well talk to the other inmates here, or sleep in order to recover your energy for when the [Clean-Up] starts. You will need it..."

...

Talk about cold...

After saying those words the guard left. When I turned around to look behind me, I saw several sturdy and fierce-looking men training themselves with fervor and determination.

Each of them had several scars on their bodies, and each of their bodies looked were incredibly muscular and savage. Compared to me, who had just average-sized muscles beneath my clothes, I looked pretty frail... Not to mention that I had no scar or whatsoever, which also probably could be interpreted as me not being experienced in combat or simply never facing hard battles.

In summary, I looked like a small yellow duck among a pack of hungry wolves ready to tear my body apart.

It wasn't long before one of the men approached me and grabbed my shoulder tightly with a vicious smile on his face, probably trying to establish his dominance, or to imprint fear on me before the fights started, which I consider could be a pretty good strategy if I really gave a fuck about it.

"Hey there, little brat, new here ain'tcha? Should I explain to you exactly how do things work here?"

Seeing his arrogant behavior, I simply smiled sightly and grabbed tightly the hand he placed on my shoulder. He acted a little bit surprised and tried to take it back, but unfortunately for him, his hand did not even move one inch even while doing his best to separate himself from me.

"Y-you, unhand me, bastard!"

"I could appreciate it if you explained how does this [Clean-Up] works? I'm from far away and this is my first time hearing about it, so I'm a bit lost"

I placed a bit more pressure on my grip and started crushing his wrist slightly, he squealed a bit and tried to punch me, but I just dodged, and then grabbed his other hand before I started crushing it as well.

"Could you explain then?"

He started getting angrier and angrier seeing my relaxed expression, However, when he noticed that his wrists could break at any time he finally gave in and lowered his head slightly before he started explaining how did things work here.

I released his arms and took a seat on a nearby bench while I listened to everything he said with a rather curious demeanor.

"The [Clean-Up] is a yearly event where they choose a bunch of random criminals like us across the Kingdom, and train them for a whole year until they are prepared to give a worthy spectacle to the public. When the time arrives we will all have to fight among ourselves, only the last survivor of this event will be able to gain his freedom. However, it all depends on how you performed during the whole fight... Because if the public is not satisfied by the end of the event, then you will be killed even if you were the last survivor..."

Why does this remember me of a certain empire from my previous world...?

"I see... So you guys here are all criminals?" I raised an eyebrow and started looking at the several guys around the prison. They were watching us as well, after all, whom I guess was a respected member of this prison was being right now ordered around by a newcomer.

"Y-yeah, everyone here has been imprisoned for one or another crime..." The man nodded slightly his head and started looking around and signaled one of the prisoners to approach us.

"What's up Reo? I saw you acting all shy before this newbie, should I beat him up for you?" A bald man approached us and started cracking his knuckles while trying to look intimidating. Reo, who I guessed to be the guy I had been talking to, turned to look at me and just shook his head lightly before he turned to look once again at the man behind him.

"It's okay Ryson, I just wanted to ask the reason you got imprisoned, my friend here is rather curious you see..."

"Hmm... well, it wasn't anything too flashy. I just murdered some old man that tried to report me to the guards for scamming people..."

Suddenly, from behind the bald man, another guy appeared with a strange grin spread across his face. He started giggling slightly before he spoke up with a rather twisted smile on his face.

"We are telling our crime stories? I killed some children from the orphanage when they refused to continue giving me their allowances, their faces were rather funny while being strangulated hahahahaha..."

Besides him, another man appeared and started telling us all his story.

"I raped some random whore who refused my invitation for spending a night with me, instead of with her husband"

Soon, we became completely surrounded and many of the prisoners started voicing their stories aloud with proud expressions on their faces.

"I killed a family of merchants that traveled between cities in order to trade goods. Unfortunately, I was caught and imprisoned soon after that happened, Hahahahaha!!"

"I stole money from a noble and bought several bottles of Alcohol with it. Unfortunately, I was discovered by one of the servants from that noble and then captured right away.

I suppressed my desire to twist their limbs in strange directions and continued smiling peacefully while listening to their stories. However, soon one of them asked me with a rather curious expression on his face.

"Hey newbie, what did you do to get imprisoned?"

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Well isn't that a good question? Let me remember correctly...

"Well, let me see... First I dismembered and butchered several dozens of guys, then I killed another man by asphyxiating him while enjoying seeing his suffering face, I injured a lot of people until they were unable to move anymore, tortured mentally a woman by throwing her into a small box where she was unable to move and then surrounded that box with monsters so that she had no other option but to stay there until the monsters left, stole a national treasure and escaped successfully without being discovered, entered into a quarrel with another crazy bastard and destroyed an enormous part of the city while fighting him, I blew up someone's eye, and finally... I burned alive a guy of high social status... that's pretty much everything..."

""...""

Suddenly, I was left completely alone and all the other inmates separated away from me while avoiding eye contact. Reo, who was the guy I had been asking things until now, also separated away from me several meters and started doing push-ups while shuddering slightly.

"Whatever..."

I then walked towards one of the beds at the corner of the prison and decided to take a nap since I was pretty tired already. Whatever happens, will happen...

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Two days later...

Thousands of people were cheering loudly at the coliseum. Their voices were filled with fierceness and anticipation towards the incoming battle, it wasn't hard to understand that these people were here to see blood flow.

Men, children, women, old couples, and even young people were there looking with eyes full of desire at the arena, waiting for the prisoners to come out. It seemed that no one really cared that much about age restriction in this kingdom.

At the Vip zone of the coliseum, a man with crimson-colored hair and a long and majestic beard covering his face sat calmly while looking at the arena with a tired expression on his face. He was wearing a beautiful golden crown covered in relucent jewels, and he was wearing a luxurious red robe that covered his whole body from the outside.

"I guess I might as well enjoy my only proper rest of this year..." He sighed loudly while looking with bored eyes at the fervent crowd surrounding the arena.

Soon, he took out a small paper with all the participants of this year present on it. He wanted to know exactly what kind of people he was dealing with this year, and if there could actually be a survivor that could not be killed by the public after the event ended.

His eyes moved back and forth rapidly while reading the names and crimes committed by the participants. It wasn't long before he sighed in resignation and moved the paper aside while looking at the roof with calm eyes.

"This year's participants sure are lowlifes... There's no way the public allows them to live after everything they have done... Hmm?"

Suddenly, he turned to look at the paper once again and noticed that there was a name written on the back of it.

"Aspen... A commoner without surname? His crimes are... banditry? That's oddly unspecific... he was added as a participant three days ago?! Sigh... I guess there goes the only option for this year's survivor to actually survive the Public's judgment..."

"Father!!"

From behind the man, suddenly a beautiful lady with Pink hair appeared and started walking towards him with a frowning expression on his face.

"Yuuki, hohoho... so you finally came to accompany your father in this event?" The man laughed softly when he noticed this woman enter the room and patted the chair next to him gesturing her to sit next to him.

"I still don't understand why we have such a horrible event yearly, and why are children even allowed to see such a bloody scene! As for your question dear Father, no, I came here because I heard that I heard that Sir Dolbere will give an important announcement about his investigation once the event ends... Besides, I don't think the King should be enjoying the brutality of the battle between prisoners..."

"Sigh... It's the only day I have to rest and relax properly Yuuki, try to understand your father a little bit..."

"Whatever, what are you looking at?" The woman called Yuuki glanced at the paper in the King's hands with curiosity and approached in order to read what was in it.

"This is a participant that had been added a few days ago... that poor lad did not even receive proper training and was tossed right away into the [Clean-Up]. I heard he tried to rob the owner of the coliseum while he was on his way to this city... Such an unfortunate bandit..."

"Aspen... What a curious name, he doesn't seem to have a surname either..." Yuuki muttered while glancing at the paper with squinted eyes.

"Well, let's hope that man has some abilities with the sword at least. He is the only one among this year's participants that would probably not get killed by the public because his crimes are rather light..." The King sighed in exhaustion while reminiscing the countless times no survivor had gained his freedom because the public did not allow it.

"Hmm..." Yuuki placed the paper down, and took a seat next to her father before she started looking towards the Arena with narrowed eyes.

*Bom Bom Bom!!*

Suddenly from inside the arena, dozens of drums started sounding with great strength. Announcing like that the beginning of the [Clean-Up].

*Criiiiiiiiieeeee*

The Iron gate where the prisoners were waiting opened slowly, and soon dozens of muscular and terrifying men started coming out with serious expressions on their faces. Some of them wore heavy and sturdy armors ready to protect their bodies against any kind of attack, while others chose to wear more light armor in order to not decrease their speed by much.

They were carrying with them different types of weapons like swords, sabers, spears, hammers,  or even iron knuckles... There was a lot of diversity between the warriors, but none of them was underestimating each other in any way possible. this was their only opportunity to get their freedom, and they were not going to waste it.

All of these men here had been trained by the most experienced fighters and taught how to fight properly and exploit their opponent's weaknesses. They were top-warriors in every meaning, and they were ready to die fighting if it meant they could have the possibility of gaining their freedom.

However, suddenly from behind all of the muscular and savage men, a rather slim man of long brown hair and tired expression walked slowly while glancing at the coliseum with obvious curiosity.

He... had no armor on himself, and only had a rusty sword in his hand that seemed to be on the verge of breaking down at any moment.

"What's with that guy?"

"Is he suicidal?"

"I think he is the bandit that attempted to rob the owner of the coliseum a few days ago... the other prisoners probably just forced him to go out like that"

"Such an unfortunate guy, no armor, no training, and a shitty weapon. I'm sure he will be killed in no time"

"Silence!!"

The deep voice of a man came from the VIP area, he had long black hair that reached his waist, and muscles that seemed to surpass the ones from the prisoners present at the arena. He had several medals attached to his coat, and a very long sheathed sword was hanging from the belt at his waist that gave him the aura of a very strong warrior.

"The King will give some words to the participants of this year's [Clean-Up]"

Soon, the audience turned silent, and the prisoners started kneeling down in front of the King while hanging down their heads with nervous expressions on their faces.

Well, actually there was one guy that did not kneel down like the others.

When the looks of everyone present in the coliseum started gathering on him, the man suddenly snapped out and started looking around nervously.

"Ah fuck, I had to kneel down too...?"

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