My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem

“You certainly had a lot to talk about with her.” A huffy voice stated as I walked away from the ring.

“You’re not jealous, are you?” I asked teasingly.

Bernice’s face turned red. “H-how could I be? Not at all! You’re a well-known philanderer who seduces every woman!”

“Yeah…” I sighed. “Well, this one is taken.”

Her argumentative glare quickly slipped as she noticed I wasn’t in the mood. “Is everything okay?”

I nodded. “It will be.”

As I was saying that, I noticed a face that I was hoping not to see again. It was the well-dressed man who was running this ring. He was waiting for us as we entered what constituted a locker-room in this place, which was more just a back room where the contestants could dress wounds in peace.

“Hello, Deek Deekson.” The man smirked as he looked at me.

I froze where I was. “You know…”

As soon as I heard that name, I felt my spine tingle. During the match, the lioness had guessed my identity, but the cheering was so loud I didn’t think anyone would have heard. I didn’t know if this was a coincidence or if he had listeners.

“You’ve been climbing the ranks quickly this last week, people would naturally look into your identity. It’s not particularly difficult to reason out who you are. You are traveling alongside the current Lord Reign, after all.”

It was Bernice’s turn to jump. She had not hidden her presence as Bernice, but without the crown on no one should have been able to guess it was Lord Reign. The illusion magic that made Lord Reign was top-notch. It not only had fooled identification magic, but Lord Reign should also have had a drop of blood on file with the Capital for life insurance, although perhaps they had a fake. A well-placed bribe probably would have been enough to get that switched.

As for Bernice giving me away, she was known down here, but we thought that being known would only help our alibis. Bernice was a former champion and gladiator who was training a young apprentice, using the underground rings as a whetting stone. That was our official story. Since we both used swords and my skill outstripped most of the riffraff here, this seemed believable for most. As for connecting Deek Deekson, Bernice, and me… the last time the public ever saw me was in Alerith before my physical change, so as long as my face was covered, who’d guess I suddenly grew a foot taller?

“What do you want?” Bernice asked, her eyes narrowed dangerously, and an aura of battle emanating from her.

Bernice was somewhat hot-headed and only knew violence. I wasn’t as quick to jump to fighting, but I understood her feelings. I held up my hand in front of her to keep her from leaping at him. He only glanced at her, seemingly unperturbed by her actions. The man didn’t give me any pressure, but there was something about the way he held himself. Bernice was known as the top gladiator in the city, and he didn’t feel threatened by her at all. It made me a bit wary as his eyes fell on me.

“That depends on why you’re here.” He finally responded after a tense moment.

“I’ve been climbing the ring for two reasons. One… I’m looking to find people with the ability to fight. Alerith is currently barebones when it comes to guards. The former… Lord Reign… he stripped the countryside clean of the military when he left. You see, Dioshin is attacking, and I need every person I can get.”

“Oh? Is that all? You should have come to me sooner. I can put out the request for you.”

“I would have, but someone said I needed cred…” I gave Bernice a side-glance and blushed.

He nodded. “It’s true that they’ll be more willing to follow someone well-known.”

“There is… um… one more thing.”

“What is that?”

“I need to speak to the Catgirl of Doom.”

His originally relaxed expression suddenly turned serious. “That is something I cannot do.”