"Wait, seriously?" Alesha asked, feeling pleasantly surprised. "You want me on your team?"
"Yes, little girl," Victoria affirmed with a cheerful nod. Though her words could have been insulting, something about her earnest demeanor and kind smile made Alesha briefly wonder what her home's culture was like. Was it not necessarily an insult to call someone a little girl?
Presently, however, she had other things to focus on. Questions about Victoria's origins and culture could wait.
"Do you have anyone else on your team yet?"
And what do you plan to do if we win together but have to fight and kill each other after that?
She didn't mention this question, though. It seemed more likely to cause unnecessary problems than anything else.
[Heh,] Rogork chuckled briefly. Alesha ignored it.
"Yes, I think you are not strangers? Natalia, she was a red fox girl for the hero's ritual Tale. Come! Eat with us."
Alesha cocked an eyebrow. Could it be?
After fetching a plate of food that looked suspiciously delicious (considering they were supposed to be gladiators), she followed the older woman to a table where a pretty girl with curly red hair was glaring at them.
Alesha stopped, certain it was her. "Natalia? Wait, the third Symbiotic Mage?"
"Yes, it is I. Looks like you managed not to die, good for you." Her voice was haughty, her posture as well, yet her eyes held something unexpected: recognition and relief.
"No thanks to the King," Alesha remarked with a sardonic laugh. She had no intention of hiding what that man had done, even though she knew repeatedly bringing it up was unnecessary and probably counterproductive.
[Yes, that's it,] Rogork cooed unexpectedly. [Seethe yourself in anger, steep yourself in bitterness!]
She was so caught off guard by the System's blatant advocacy for harmful coping strategies that her resentment cooled off in an instant. It was as if her smoldering hatred, like a red-hot ball of iron, had been tossed in a bucket of ice water.
"Hmph, are you that surprised to see me?" Natalia asked, misinterpreting her expression. "Obviously if you can survive up to this point, then I can as well."
"Girls, girls! Play nice, we're all glad to be alive. Let's focus, focus!"
Victoria's pleasant voice and motherly air quickly resolved any conflict before it began.
"Now," she continued, "What weapons and spells have we? Alesha, girl, you chose the spear, what else do you use? Let's all share and strategize who else to fish."
The somewhat awkward phrasing of Victoria's sentences left Alesha confused, until she deciphered what she had meant. "Oh, so we can recruit people with abilities that synergize well with ours?"
Wait, did I ever officially agree to be recruited? Alesha suddenly wondered. Ah, whatever. They seem nice, and have to be capable to have made it this far. Plus, it's better to team up with someone I know than someone I've never met, regardless of any other factors.
After that, Alesha asked about how to make their teamwork official. As it turned out, there was a mechanism for it in the Team Lead Role System that Victoria had been given (its name was so bad that Alesha choked on her water). They made their team official and shared their abilities in hushed voices away from everyone else.
"Wait, how many people do we need?" Alesha asked.
"Ten," Natalia sighed, annoyed.
"Well, shit," Alesha grumbled. She idly scratched the back of her neck. "This just got a whole lot more complicated."
----
Later that day, the dining hall of a different arena
Hatil hunched over her food, feeling dizzy. Having already fought and won two battles, the food was simply so delicious that she'd found herself coming back for more after her second bout even though she wasn't actually hungry. She neither knew nor cared why they were feeding the Participants such luxurious fare -- she felt it was warranted.
Every meal could be her last, after all.
In light of that, it was hard not to appreciate how bountiful and exquisite the food they were being served was. Better to die after eating sumptuously than after eating some discarded scraps.
She leaned over the wooden table, elbows propped up on its coarse surface, gripping her head between her hands.
The dizziness quickly passed. Blinking rapidly, her vision cleared, and along with her recovered vision came a serene clarity of mind.
It was a partially euphoric sensation, just barely present enough to make itself known yet subtle enough it slipped beneath her conscious notice.
She idly rubbed her calves together to deal with a slight itch.
Man, this food is the best! Hatil thought to herself. I wish I had food like this back home!
Neither she nor anyone in the cafeteria noticed the slight change in her after that.
Nor would they, until it was too late.