Sitting in one of the chairs in front of Elizabeth’s, or rather, Madame Lee’s desk, Sigmarus raised a brow towards the hesitant expression on her face and asked, “What’s up?”

“Well, I may or may not have had someone follow you to find out what you wanted to do to help Grace…” She answered, trailing off as she studied his face in return to see his reaction.

Sigmarus narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything right away. After a short pause, he quietly asked, “Did you not trust me or something?”

“Well, there is that, but, either way, I want to know why you went to Fallen Leaf for help. You do know they’re the Green Devils’ biggest rival in this district, right?”

“I’m somewhat aware now.”

Madame Lee sighed and mumbled, “I never knew you were so impulsive.”

Shrugging, Sigmarus said, “Honestly, even though you helped me a few times in the past, I don’t wholly trust you either. You’re in the pockets of the guys I’m trying to avoid, after all.”

Unable to retort, Madame Lee pressed her lips together and averted her eyes.

Continuing where he left off, Sigmarus added, “I don’t know how much you actually want to help that girl, but the guys over there offered to help me help Grace to get out of here once her debt’s paid off. They want something from me. You don’t. Which one sounds more honest?”

“...What do they want from you?”

“Does it matter?”

“Well, yes. It’ll tell you if they’re serious or not.”

Sigmarus rubbed his chin thoughtfully before asking, “Does anything I say here, stay here?”

“Yes. I can promise you that,” Madame Lee answered while looking him straight in the eye.

Hmm… Well, I guess it doesn’t really matter, Sigmarus thought before saying, “They want me to climb.”

“Climb? Like, find a way back upstairs? That’s imposs-” Madame Lee stopped herself mid-sentence, and her face paled as she fell silent.

Raising a brow at the sudden plummet in her attitude, Sigmarus inquired, “Do you know something about it?”

Maybe it has something to do with the reason she’s down here despite her previous high status upstairs?

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Oh.”

An awkward silence fell between the two for a few moments, not that Sigmarus cared that much. The one to break the silence was Madame Lee.

“Sorry. I want you to trust me at least a little bit, but it’s something really hard for me to talk about…”

“Well, I don’t care either way.”

Madame Lee’s eye twitched at the dismissive attitude in his voice, and a hint of color returned to her face.

“I always wondered why people went out of their way to bully you even though you were already on the chopping block to be banished. I think I get it now.”

“How rude.”

“Do you try to irritate people with that apathetic attitude? Or is it just ignorance?”

Sigmarus raised a brow since he didn’t quite understand what she was talking about. Of course he didn’t talk like this in the past. Back then, he had been even quieter than now. Those guys who went after him all the time were just petty bastards.

“I’m different than back then,” Sigmarus calmly retorted. Then, he added, “You are too.”

The words halted Madame Lee’s little rant. Her eyes lowered as she slumped down in her chair and struggled out the words, “I guess that’s true.”

Maybe it’s just me, but she seems more caught up in the past than me. It’s like she can’t separate the old me from the current me.

Setting aside his contemplations for the moment, Sigmarus said, “Back to the climbing thing. They want me to climb in something called the Sky Coliseum, though I turned it down for the time being.”

“Sky Coliseum?” Madame Lee asked, bolting upright with widened eyes. Then, her face contorted with disgust.

“You know it?”

“Unfortunately, yes. My father took me to see it after I graduated, saying that I ‘needed to learn about it and form connections there since I was the only heir of the company’ or whatever. What a joke.”

“So it’s really like the Roman Coliseum?”

“A more advanced form of it, yes. Don’t join it if you care about your life. I saw three muskrats die while I was there, and that was apparently a low number. It only takes place once a month, but the muskrats in it have to fight tens of times within a few days. It’s horrible. And brutal.”

“Tens of times?” Sigmarus mumbled to himself. Originally, he had been under the impression that it would be like a tournament with only a few fights. Even if he could get an experience point or two, it didn’t sound any better than the exercises from the Freedom Technique. However, tens of fights over the course of a few days? That peaked his interest. And caring about his life? Since when did he have such a sentiment?

If I can win all of them… that’s a lot of experience.

All of sudden, the coliseum didn’t sound too bad.

“Wait,” Madame Lee said upon noticing the newfound shine in his eyes, “you’re not thinking of joining now, are you? Are you actually insane?”

“Maybe a little.”

“Oh, god… maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Since you’ve been there, do you know how many participants have PSM’s?”

“Positive mutations? How many people do you think even have those?! They’re, like, one in a million!”

“Really? I only heard rumors about them upstairs, but I’ve apparently met two people down here who have them.”

“...Are you serious?”

“Yep.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Do I look like a joker?”

…

Madame Lee stuffed her face in her hands and mumbled, “Since when were our intercity defense force’s secret weapons as common as bread crumbs? True, there were a few in the coliseum when my father took me there, but I never got to go back since…” Her words trailed off, and her demeanor turned cold as she quietly added, “Well, I ended up down here before the next coliseum event rolled around. I don’t know anything else about it.”

“Umm… alright.”

Sigmarus sighed inwardly since the more this woman stopped herself from talking about how she ended up down here, the more curious he became. Of course, it wasn’t really any of his business, but she was basically asking for his curiosity to grow every time they spoke.

Instead of prying into her past right now, though, he decided to change the subject by asking, “Do you remember the time you stopped those assholes from breaking my arm?”

“Hmm? Uh, yes? Why are you asking about that all of a sudden?”

“There were two other times, too, where you stopped them from hurting me too badly.”

“I don’t really understand what you’re getting at. Are you trying to thank me or something?”

“Somewhat. I feel a bit indebted, so,” Sigmarus briefly paused and raised three fingers, “I’ll do three small favors for you in return. Nothing big, though. And it has to be for you, not your owners.”

Not expecting such a thing, Madame Lee stared at him with wide eyes. After a few moments of stunned silence, she smiled lightly and said, “You’re a strange person to say such a thing, but thank you.”

An awkward silence started to fall upon them again, so Sigmarus stood in order to leave since Grace would likely arrive soon. However, Madame Lee stopped him by muttering, “Hey, umm…”

“Just say it.”

“Erm… since it’s kind of… no. Since it’s really lonely down here… Do you want to come up here and talk to me sometimes?”

“The hell? Don’t you have those girls here to talk to?”

“You don’t get it. I’m their boss… and also the one who keeps them shackled here. They won’t be my friend no matter how nice I treat them. But you… you’re more like an equal.”

“Then favor number one is being your friend?”

“Well, I guess that’s one way to put it.”

Sigmarus nodded and said, “Sure. I’ll come by from time to time.”

“Thank you. Also, if it’s just in private, you can call me by my name if that’s more comfortable.”

“Is that favor number two?”

“What? No! Ugh. Forget I said anything.”

Sigmarus chuckled to himself as he left the room. After he left, Elizabeth slumped back in her chair, sighed, and muttered to herself, “Such an annoying and strange person.” Her lips then curled up slightly as she mumbled, “Even if it’s a bit forced… I guess I don’t have to be so alone anymore.”