I Became a Gladiator in the World of Gender Reversal

88 – Qualification-1

“An extraordinary thing has happened! Defending champion Dana has fallen to her knees like this!”

A loud shout filled the Colosseum. The gladiator’s victory, which everyone thought would lose, was an event that always evoked cheers and admiration from numerous spectators.

“I won!!!”

“It’s a victory of reverse defeat, you foolish bae-chung Jeong bastards!”

Women who bet on the side with a high dividend cheered more passionately. Praise for the winners and criticism for the losers echoed here and there.

“Dana has already won enough victories, so it’s not really a significant loss. He just needs to fight well in the tournament, so you can think of it as physical fitness.”

The moderator tried to protect Dana, but he didn’t mean that he could change the outcome. Dana was down, and her opponent had won.

What he said was not wrong. Just because he was Dana didn’t mean he could win every fight. There were far more fights she won than battles she lost.

“Hmm…”

However, the performance was worrying. I couldn’t trust my eyes, but with that level of performance, I couldn’t guarantee victory even if I entered the tournament.

After the fight ended, the crowd got up one by one and scattered. In the meantime, I was looking at the waiting room of the Colosseum where she entered.

Really, is there any problem?

/////

“Okay, start with the one who won. How did you do it?”

“I don’t know. It seems to work somehow because I just grit my teeth and fight…”

“What we studied, did it help?”

Before going to bed, several gladiators with nefarious intentions were gathering and whispering. Among them, there was a gladiator who returned with a victory report today.

“Habit of dropping shoulders? It seems to have helped, but… I don’t think I should trust it too much. Dana seemed to know that he had such a habit.”

“Then, should it be discarded?”

“It’s a bit ambiguous. When I first used it, it seemed like it was eaten somehow. It’s so fast that I haven’t tried anything with it…”

“Ah, did you write it from the beginning?”

“Yeah. After using it once, it was used harshly. When it was painted, the expression on its face was said to be… Art. I had no choice but to be fooled.”

The gladiators nodded. Most of the people here were people who came to watch the game, but no matter how clear the screen is, there are cases that cannot be seen.

When she fought Dana, she was aware that she had strangely lost a few times, even though she hadn’t had anything worthy of losing in the psychological warfare.

What happened in the actual fight was unknown to anyone other than the gladiator who directly participated in the fight.

“But you did win in the end.”

“In the second half, after losing his stamina, it seemed like he didn’t have the energy to care about even that.”

“Aha…”

“Other than that, I don’t know. I’m also bad at brains. I couldn’t use everything I memorized…”

“Kh, I should have fought Dana first.”

“If you went out, you would have lost? Dana is Dana. Even if you know everything, you can’t win?”

“By the way, can I use this in the next sword fight… It might be a bit difficult.”

“Wait a minute. I found another interesting thing while watching this gladiator fight…”

Numerous gladiators were butting their heads to find a way to keep Dana in check.

“Evan, do you remember anything?”

“Well…”

And, I was also caught between them.

Roughly referred to as a ‘meeting to check the previous year’s champion’, this organization was literally a meeting to share opinions in order to fight and win against Dana.

It was half like bullying, but it is said to be a tradition of the Colosseum in its own way. It is said that a few years ago, Dana also got caught in the middle and passionately expressed her opinion.

“You’re the one who meets Dana the most. You really don’t know?”

It was quite recently that I joined this gathering.

Once you meet and fight with Dana, gladiators below a certain level do not need to be considered. It was a reality that if you weren’t the best gladiator, you wouldn’t even get a chance to fight Dana.

The people in this organization also didn’t want to get help from someone who hadn’t even fought Dana. Halfway gladiators are not helpful to the organization.

“It reminds me of something unique to Dana… Maybe I’m still a beginner, isn’t it?”

“Eomsal. If you were a real beginner, no matter how much a man you were, you wouldn’t have been invited to this gathering.”

“Even if you know it in your head, it’s difficult to explain in words. Except for how strong and fast it is.”

“Is that so… You, by any chance, don’t you intend to eat information raw?”

“Of course not. These days, they don’t even sparring with me.”

“…Really?”

“Are you tired? Have you lost love? Are you thinking of meeting another woman…”

But, in the end, they were also women. An ordinary woman who wants to make her own place by digging in at the slightest chance.

“It’s not like that. It looks a bit difficult… And then they say that I have nothing to learn.”

“There’s nothing to learn… Well, it must be like raising a tiger cub? Evan If it were you, you wouldn’t be able to play with Dana while playing against him.”

Among the gladiators here, there were no gladiators who defeated me or gladiators who defeated me.

They were people who could objectively judge my level of skill.

“That’s also the case, but it just… Didn’t look good.”

As I brought up her story, I wondered if I had neglected her too much.

“Certainly, Dana wasn’t young today.”

“A win is a win, but…”

These were actually gladiators who fought with swords. Like the enthusiastic gladiator fans who can often be found in bars, it was not about ‘condition’ to diminish the victory or despise the losers.

The important thing for them was to fight Dana and win in the end.

If you came back with the same tactics that worked against Dana, who was in poor condition, and then lost badly against Dana, who was suddenly in better condition, there was nothing to say.

And, I was also one of the gladiators who came together to defeat Dana in the end.

“But, isn’t that a strategy you can use if you’re not in good shape? If Dana knows that and uses feints, then she’ll act as if she’s been tricked by the feints…”

The discussion is not over. The gladiators, gathered for an impure purpose, endlessly discussed how to attack Dana.

/////

“I lost… Yes.”

Dana, lying alone in her hospital room, looked out of her window with her weary eyes.

I forcibly caught her shaking spirit. It’s just one defeat, and it’s not enough to be a problem in qualifying for the tournament.

However, the pressure on her was too strong. She’s on her own, to the point where she can’t tolerate a single defeat.

It was different from when I was in the position of a challenger. At that time, I was able to be satisfied with the position of a ‘skilled gladiator’, ‘a strong gladiator worthy of becoming a champion’.

However, the current Dana couldn’t do that. She had to be a champion, she had to be stronger than anyone.

What’s more, let alone defeat, he showed such an unsightly sword fight. It was nothing to be ashamed of.

“Evan… Was there.”

If it wasn’t for his eyes, she might have suffered less than now.

Why did he have to show up here, and walk past her as she watched her lose?

Right now I was alone, but I wasn’t alone all the time. Numerous friends, including Evan and Florence, Marie and Jerry, visited her hospital room.

Normally, she wouldn’t have been so obsessed with melancholy. She must have prepared for the next fight with her fists clenched, constantly thinking about why she lost and what she had to do to win.

“Ugh…”

However, Dana didn’t have the strength to do that right now.

Her hands and feet are shaking. It can happen, and she knows in her head that she just needs to do better next time, but her heart refuses to admit her defeat.

“If I lose, I can’t…”

Her enormous burden is weighing on her. She is no one else, she is herself, she is rebuking Dana more severely than anyone else.

“I, always… Should be the strongest gladiator…”

Then, Evan will be able to look up at me.

Rumors spread that the princess was interested in Evan. Evan, too, blurted out her words, but didn’t laugh it off, saying it was nonsense.

Rumors circulated that the warriors of the north, among them Oksana, had fought against Evan. Dana’s knight friends also talked about the tremendous fight.

Even though Oksana didn’t stay in the Empire right away, she said that the sword fight left a ‘very deep impression’ on her, and that she would one day come and live in the Empire. Dana could hear everything.

A man’s value varies greatly depending on the kind of woman he meets. And, Evan instantly became a noble man who seduced the women of the Empire and the Northern Kingdom.

Of course he wouldn’t give up the gladiator way, but he couldn’t imagine that it would last forever. Evan was above the sky before he knew it.

And, Dana was in a situation where even the only title she had was about to disappear.

“You have to win, do it…”

Dana gathered her remaining strength and clenched her fists.

The wound on Dana’s palm tingled as her fingers touched her palm. It was a painful, painful, painful sensation.

Soon enough, Dana stopped her thoughts and fell asleep.