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Now, don’t go asking why I say the humans are obviously stronger than the Elves -some things don’t need facts to back them up.

In all seriousness however, it was a fact that the humans commanded a territory dozens of times larger than the Wood Elves. As for the Dark Elves, the ones who chased them underground were the Wood Elves. Just based on that fact, it was safe to say the humans as a race were stronger. After all, only the strong could hold such large swathes of territory.

That was why that Sword Dancer’s attitude rubbed me in all the wrong ways, especially since I was previously a human!

“Since your holiness dislikes him so much, then there’s no need for him to continue existing.” Having said that, Paliseth turned and waved in the direction of Sarkath, and nothing else. A glint of resolve flashed past her eyes and she lowered her head to whisper in my ears, “Paliseth will give your holiness a satisfactory answer.”

“Who is that Sarkath anyway?” Now that I had made my displeasure known, I became a little curious about this Sword Dancer’s background.

However, Paliseth remained silent and it was Jezsere who raised her head up from my chest and explained, “Master, that’s Jezsere’s older brother…”

“Older brother?”

I was stunned. If that Sword Dancer was Jezsere’s older brother, then didn’t that make him Paliseth’s son?

I gave it some thought for a second before deciding to rescind my order to kill him. “Since he’s your son, how about we…”

Yet, it was too late. There was no need for me to say anything further, because Sarkath’s head just slid off his neck… Just moments ago, he was on his way out of the colosseum, then he was beheaded. In fact, his body even took a few steps forward, as if it hadn’t caught up with the fact that it was dead…

How?! Why is his head gone?

I stared at Sarkath’s headless body in shock, hoping to gleam some sort of clue as to how he died.

There was nothing that stood out at all. The cut on his neck was extremely even, as if something razor thin had sliced its way across it. But there was no such object to be found in the arena at all. There weren’t even any signs of someone else having entered the arena. The only clue I had was Paliseth waving her hand before stating that she would give me a satisfactory answer… don’t tell me…

Hold on! I see it now! It’s a spider silk, lying almost invisibly across his neck. Where did that even sprout out from? And how was it so strong that it could silently slice off a person’s neck like that?!

I gasped to myself in disbelief. However, no matter how hard to believe this sight was, it was also a fact that he was now dead.

With that in mind, I turned my wide eyes towards Paliseth. She still had her head lowered as before, standing there quietly like a beautiful statue. Had it not been for Lolthe’s blessing, perhaps I might not have even seen that spider silk hanging just above the area where Sarkath’s head used to be…

Just frightening… No wonder they say that Dark Elves are some of the most terrifying assassins in the world. Just that silent kill alone spoke volumes about their capabilities. Even more chilling was the fact that the Sword Dancer was actually Paliseth’s son…

If one were to include Jezsere and Reyage, Paliseth had a total of seven children, five of whom I hadn’t seen yet. But based on what Paliseth told me before in the treasure room, it was only Jezsere and Reyage whom she truly viewed as being her children. Which wasn’t a surprise at all, seeing as they came from the seed of the one and only Solar-sama.

Even so, those five other children were her own flesh and blood as well! Yet she killed him, just like that! Even a tiger did not feed on its own spawn, let alone an intelligent race like the Dark Elves. It truly felt like I had just seen a new side to the cruelty of the Dark Elves. As long as it benefitted themselves, they were capable of anything.

Honestly speaking, I couldn’t even be sure what it was that triggered such decisive action from her. Was it when she asked me if I hated that Sword Dancer? Or perhaps it was when she said she would give me a satisfactory answer. Or perhaps she was afraid I would blame her for my foul mood?

Going back to that match I had just witnessed. It was clear now that the Sword Dancer was vastly superior to that female human, especially with his ability to transform into mist. That Sword Dancer had clearly wanted to kill that female human as well, but he chose to humiliate her instead. Because of that, he even ranted on about some nonsense for a good long while. Yet if one were to consider it from another way, he didn’t have to participate in this fight at all. In all likelihood, it was Paliseth who arranged for this match to be as such. She then commanded him to humiliate that female human in public.

Putting it another way, that female human’s unfortunate demise was caused by Paliseth as well. But Paliseth was calm enough to realise that if she killed Sarkath, she could prevent my mood from being soured further. It was her way of showing subservience to me, as if to say that even her son wasn’t exempt from punishment as long as it pleased me.

Naturally, by killing her son, she was also hinting me to not to pursue this matter any further, seeing as she had even sacrificed a son in penitence. At the end of the day, this whole fight was her bright idea, and she clearly had some responsibility to bear. That was why she decisively sliced off his head.

Either way, whatever her true motive, it was a fact that I really couldn’t pursue this matter any further seeing as she had already done so much.

In some sense, that female human died because of me. Because Paliseth wanted to entertain me, that female human was brought out to die. While that might have sounded a lot like self-aggrandizing pity, I couldn’t help but feel guilty seeing as this was the first human I had seen in a long time. Having been stuck with Devils for so long, I couldn’t help but have an attachment to the first human I had seen in a long time.

Now, if it was a male that had died… well, the colosseum is a cruel place…

Either way, the deed was done, and I had no reason to pursue this matter further. However, there was still the matter of that little drama between those two. I clearly saw a deep-seated sense of hatred in that female human’s eyes. If not for that, she wouldn’t have fought so desperately in the first place.

The colosseum had a rule that once the victor laid claim on the loser’s body, he or she was forbidden from harming the loser, else no matter who they were they would be thrown to Arachne Cavern.

It was said that Arachne Cavern had a certain species of arachnid magical beast that could lay its eggs into a living creature like a parasite. Once hatched, the spawn from these eggs would then feed themselves using the flesh of the host… That was a fate worse than death.

With such a cruel threat of punishment looming over his shoulders, the female human would have definitely survived as long as she listened to Sarkath. So why did she do it? Clearly, it wasn’t because of her treatment as a slave gladiator. If it was, she wouldn’t have tried to curse him even in death.

“Do the two of them know each other?” I asked. “There was some mention of a Lewell as well, who is that?”

“Lewell is also Jezsere’s older brother…” With two deaths happening before her very eyes in such a short span of time, Jezsere’s already pale face was even paler now. She leaned into my shoulders and timidly said, “Before Jezsere ran away from home, brother Sarkath had killed brother Lewell…”

Sarkath killed Lewell? Then what relation did Lewell have with that female human? From the looks of things, it wasn’t just a simple relationship too.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

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If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.