If You Win, Your Prize Is The Princess

“Ugh, uuh…” Sylia groaned.

When she came to, she found a familiar ceiling.

“Oh, so you’re finally awake?”

Sylia got up as the familiar voice spoke, she felt dizzy.

“Kuh, ah…” she gasped.

“Oh-oh-oh, calm down,” the voice said. “It’s dangerous to move around suddenly like that.”

Sylia wobbles and drops back down on the hard bed. She managed to turn her neck and face the large-legged man, sitting on the chair beside her bed.

“Well then, congratulations on your victory, champion,” he said.

“… Thanks,” Sylia muttered.

It seemed that the battle earlier was real. The pain in her midsection where the knight’s sword had hit her was too inexplicable otherwise.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d win… I’m really surprised,” Sylia muttered.

Syria thought there was a half-chance it would be called a draw. There were winners or losers in an arena setting, so a victor could be named, but that was not the case on a real battlefield.

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(I’m the champion,) Sylia thought.

She beat that knight but she didn’t know what to do next. She won’t be able to take a chance like that again. If she finds herself in another situation, with Sylia being inferior in physical size and muscular strength…

(Stop, stop, what are you doing, feeling sad just after winning a tournament?) Sylia thought, forcibly suppressing her anxiety.

“And as a ‘thank you’, have a look at this here!” the man said.

He took out a cloth bag. It seemed to be extremely heavy, the sound of metal coins ringing and clinking against each other could be heard from inside.

“I thought you were betting on the knight?” Sylia asked.

“Ah, that was a lie, I lied,” the man said. “I believed you had a chance and trusted in it.”

“Then, well, that’s good, isn’t it?” Sylia asked.

As she listened to the man talk, it seemed that he took care of her while she was unconscious and was talking about what happened while she was out.

“You seemed to have a lot of people with ill-intent trying to take advantage of you. I brought you here because they were trying to claim you knew them.”

They were trying to ask if he knew what inn Sylia was staying at, but the man decided to use the last place they’d think of, an inn right next to the arena.

“Do you have any ulterior motives yourself?” Sylia murmured.

She was staring up at the ceiling. To be honest, she was so exhausted she couldn’t even put up a hand to defend herself as she was.

However, the man just laughed at the prospect.

“I’ve always only been interested in the big, mature, hourglass-figure women!” he said. “You’ve got the wrong idea, Missy, you’re strong but you’ve got a long way to go.”

As he said that, Sylia got mad but didn’t bother pressing it. The man was still genuinely worried about her and went so far out of his way for her sake, he was the one who saved her.

“Thank you very much for that,” Sylia said.

As she said it, the man shook his bag of money about. It may be how he says “You’re welcome”.

“Well then, you’re awake, so I’m heading out now, alright?” the man said.

He stood up. As he tried to leave, however, Sylia called out:

“Please wait a moment. About the prize for the tournament…”

It was a narrow victory, not a great victory, but a win is still a win. She’s entitled to the grand prize. Then, the man stops for a moment and speaks with his back to Sylia, his face to the door.

“We’ll probably talk about it here tomorrow,” he said.

“Is, is that so?” Sylia asked.

She took a relieved breath. Even when the previous champions won, some refused to talk about the prize, teasing others about it because they wanted to be smug. Sylia stayed herself with willpower herself those times, but this instance it seemed this time there would be no fuss.

“Well, there’s going to be a lot of things coming your way, but you keep doing your best,” the man said.

Sylia felt the man’s words were a little confusing.

“Haah, thank you very much…” she muttered.

On the other hand, it would be a problem for a young girl like Sylia to continue the mercenary life. When she thought about it, the man’s been involved with her since she first started participating in the tournament, and she believes her feelings about him have changed a bit.

The man said, “See you.” and left the room. Sylia watched him go, decided to sleep again till tomorrow. She wasn’t very tired because she was unconscious till a short time ago but it’s already dark outside. She was forced to take a rest now and whatever prize she gets tomorrow, she’ll have to leave this country for a while.

Outside Sylia’s room, the man put on a thoughtful expression.

“I didn’t think that girl would win…” he muttered. “Nah, that was the plan from the beginning. And it might just work out, surprisingly…”

He laughed it off then walked away.

Sylia didn’t know anything yet. She thought the prize of the tournament was going to be money, but that wasn’t the case.

And that may lead to a lot of different problems.

“………”

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Are the stars shining to guide the way to her future? The view of the sky from outside the window was terribly beautiful and enchanting even for Sylia, who usually didn’t feel so sentimental about scenic sights.