The Expelled, Oblivious Strongest Boy Saves an S-Rank Beautiful Female Adventurer and Unknowingly Forms a Harem - 45-46

Chapter 45: Meria, Won’t Forgive Zayn

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Challenger Passageway in the Arena

The time was dawning near. Zayn would soon fight against the Empress. Zayn, along with his two party members, Bella and Radd were chatting with smirks on their faces. 

“I thought we were done for when we were blown away into that snowy area, but it turned out we were lucky instead! Thanks to that, we can reach the Demon Kingdom faster and take this nation as ours.”

“Right on~”

“I can’t wait!!”

Zayn nodded at the excited voices of his party members. He then took out a bottle containing a liquid that could weaken the demon race from his pocket. Zayn then smirked confidently. 

“Still, that so-called Empress… Unfortunately for her, her luck is not as good as ours. She only faced useless opponents who couldn’t even have enough brain cells to prepare something like this. And now… Her undefeated streak is about to come to an end.”

“Poor thing~”

“Yeah~”

Bella and Radd quipped teasingly. Zayn tightened his grip on the bottle and said again. 

“Just a little bit more… Just a little bit more until we can take down that shitty Liam.”

“That’s right! I also can’t forgive him for having two beautiful girls by his side!”

“Just be patient for a little bit more. Try to hold yourself back by imagining his face when we knock him out and leave him in despair later.”

“Got it!”

The three of them continued talking in that fashion until eventually, Zayn was called to the center of the arena.

“I guess they’re calling for me now.”

“Do your best, Zayn!”

“You have to win!”

“Yeah, just leave it to me.”

With a confident expression on his face, Zayn said so. He then turned his back to the two as he walked toward the center of the arena.

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Me, Lydia-san and Meria-san were sitting on the top seats of the spectator area. The seating area was filled with many demons. We could see the entire arena from our seats here. 

“There are so many people here…”

“I already had a hunch when we were fighting in front of the inn earlier, but it seems most of the demon race are pretty hot-blooded, huh?”

Indeed. When Lydia-san and Meria-san were fighting in front of the inn, it didn’t take long for a crowd to be formed. The demons were watching from the sidelines, some were even shouting to hype up the battle. 

“I might be biased and maybe this is nothing but a mere stereotype, but if there are more people who are hot-blooded than not in this country, then I can see why the arena is filled with so many people. It’s only natural for them to want to watch a battle between their Empress and her challenger.”

Meria-san said and then, one of the entrances for the challengers in the arena started shining. At the same time, the cheers erupted within the crowd as Empress-san made her appearance. There were two entrances for the challengers to enter the arena. Only one was lit up, it meant the fighters were meant to enter the arena one by one, huh?

“OOOOHHHH!!”

“EMPRESS-SAMA! SHOW US YOUR POWER!!”

Just from her stance alone, I could tell she was quite strong. Her popularity also showed that she must be an incredibly strong individual. Empress-san stopped walking after reaching the center of the arena. Meria-san then said to me. 

“That being said, I think most people already know the Empress of the demon race is really strong. She said her challenger is a human man. It makes me wonder just who is strong and confident enough to take her on?”

“Who knows? Maybe just like me, he also wants to test his strength so he can train to be better?”

“Maybe~”

I wasn’t powerful nor confident. I just wanted to gauge my strength so I could train better. While I was talking with Meria-san, finally the entrance for the challenger lit up. This time, the demons were cheering in a different way. The cheering sounded more like excitement and anticipation for the battle which was about to begin. The challenger made his way into the arena. Slowly, the figure of this mysterious man came into view and…

“Huh?”

The moment I saw who it was, I was shocked beyond belief. I couldn’t stop myself from letting out a surprised voice before I loudly exclaimed. 

“WH-WHY ZAYN-SAN IS HERE?!”

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Next to the surprised Liam, Lydia murmured to herself. 

“I see. We were talking about whether the challenger was either powerful enough or he simply wanted to test his strength… But we forgot the third possibility. The challenger is nothing but an arrogant fool who overestimated his own abilities.”

With an expression as cold as Lydia’s, Meria then said. 

“He dared to try to destroy the Elf Kingdom and made Liam-kun cry… Unforgivable. I will never forgive him…”

Liam, who was still shocked, couldn’t hear their words. Liam was oblivious to the fact that Lydia and Meria were boiling with anger toward Zayn, more than ever before. 

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Chapter 46: Zayn, Facing the Empress

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Amidst the rising cheers, Zayn stood there, facing the Empress. he then thought to himself. 

So this is the Empress… Based on her face and her body alone, she is an excellent woman indeed… Just imagining making her my servant after I defeat her is enough to make me feel so excited…

“I don’t know how strong you are, but you won’t be able to defeat me.”

“Oh? I do have to say, I can’t feel much strength from you even though you’re standing there in front of me. But well, you must be pretty confident in your power since you dare to challenge me.”

“This isn’t about power. I will tell you now. I’m not like the brainless fools who have challenged you before.”

Zayn said so and the Empress sharpened her glare at him before replying.

“I respect everyone I have fought, whether they are strong or weak and yet… You dare to call them brainless?”

“..!!”

Zayn could feel the immense pressure coming from the Empress even though she hadn’t released any of her magic power yet. He tried to remind himself that he had that bottle. The bottle contained the liquid that could weaken the demon race. He repeated to himself that he had an advantage over her. He wiped the bead of cold sweat threatening to roll down his face and said to her. 

“I’m just telling the truth… After our fight, you will find yourself cowering before my cleverness and ultimately, you will come to agree to my words.”

“Rather than running your mouth off like that, let’s get the fight started. However… If what you’ve said is proven to be false, you will have to face the consequences of insulting those honorable warriors.”

Heh. The Empress is pretty cocky, but… Her confidence will soon falter after I douse her with that liquid. She will have no choice but to kneel before me. 

“I don’t mind. Do whatever you want with me then.”

“I see, then… Let’s begin.”

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A few moments ago. 

After recovering from the shock by the unexpected appearance of Zayn-san, who I had blown away somewhere, I turned to Meria-san and Lydia-san. 

“Zayn-san looks very confident though. Does that mean he has found a way to defeat Empress-san?”

“Ah, come on! What are you talking about, Liam-kun? There’s no way that guy can win against Empress-chan!”

“Huh? So does that mean… Zayn-san is fighting Empress-san just to test his strength as part of his training, just like me?”

“Don’t ever compare that fool to you again, even if the one’s doing the comparison is yourself, Liam-san. Anyway, I can’t imagine that fool would have that kind of determination. That being said, he does seem confident he can win this fight.”

Win, huh… I never saw Zayn-san fighting on his own… I can’t help but to be curious what kind of fighting style he will use in this fight… 

I thought to myself as Meria-san, who was sitting to my right, turned to me and looked straight at me for some reason. 

“Ughhhh…. Staring at that guy’s face for too long is bad for my eyes. I need to heal my eyes by looking at Liam-kun’s cute face!”

“Huh?!”

Then Lydia-san, who was sitting to my left, also turned to me and stared straight at me. 

“You are absolutely right. Just looking at Liam-san’s brave and yet adorable face really puts my heart at ease.”

“Lydia-san too?!”

“Why are you so surprised? You do understand our feelings, right? Of course we don’t want to look at that guy’s face if we could help it.”

Indeed. Zayn-san had said he was eager to see Meria-san’s crying face after her homeland got destroyed by him. Zayn-san was one of the culprits who had tried to destroy the Elf Kingdom. 

“Yeah. I can’t forgive Zayn-san either.”

I said and Lydia-san and Meria-san leaned closer to me from both sides. Meria-san gently patted my head as she said. 

“Yeah. Me too, Liam-kun.”

“Of course, I also share the same sentiment as you two.”

After that, we both waited for the battle between Empress-san and Zayn-san to begin. I was feeling warm all over, something I never experienced when I was still in Zayn-san’s party. Eventually, the battle between Zayn-san and Empress-san was about to commence.

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