Rita walked through the village with heavy steps, feeling a strange pressure settling onto her shoulders. She wanted to relax, but she couldn't — as if the village itself was pressing down on her.
Yet whenever she asked someone where Reno was, dozens of smiles — painfully sincere — were turned toward her. Many had tears in their eyes. It was hard to believe they weren't real.
Some even extended their hands toward her as if approaching something sacred.
At first, Rita instinctively stepped back. Her experiences with hands placed on her had not always been pleasant — especially with her own mother. She couldn't help thinking that deep down, there was probably a trace of injustice inside every human being. Except perhaps Reno… and his village, detached from reality.
But when she looked into their eyes, it was as if she could see their souls. These people were as traumatized as she was. They had simply done everything they could to live as if nothing had happened.
So slowly, she let herself go along with it.
At first, elderly women simply held her hand gently, tired but relieved smiles on their faces. Then children began to gather around her, their eyes filled with admiration. After that, the men came and bowed respectfully without touching her. Other women followed, bowing as well.
Little by little, the village that had only dared to observe the proud warrior from a distance began to approach when they saw she accepted them.
Rita watched the number of people increase and didn't know what to do. More and more hands clasped hers gently. More and more people bowed — lower and lower. More tears fell to the ground. More sobs rose into the sky.
"Thank you…"
A chill ran down her spine.
She did not feel good at all. This was the first time this had ever happened to her. It was a different kind of gaze than the one from her native village… or from Reno's one. These people were not welcoming her as a normal person. They were looking at her as a savior. A heroine fallen from the sky. A symbol not to break. A gift to cherish.
She was placed one step above them.
She was being considered grand.
Even Reno had never made her feel like that.
And she was afraid of it.
She raised her hand forward, prompting a dozen others to release her.
"Please. I didn't do anything special. You don't need to do all this."
She knew Reno would have puffed out his chest, resting his club on his shoulder and shouting:
"HAHA! See who's the strongest!"
But strangely, that didn't suit her. Being looked at like this didn't fit her. Maybe because for most of her life, no one had looked at her at all. Maybe because, without even realizing it, the idea of being seen like this had long vanished from her mind.
In any case, she simply walked toward one of the first women who had held her hand and crouched down to speak to her.
"Just tell me where he is."
When she opened his tent, sunlight poured inside — and she saw the ogre of Nozras lying there with his head nearly vertical, drool spilling from his mouth, sleeping peacefully. The pose was utterly ridiculous, but he seemed completely unaware of it.
Rita looked at him with contempt and disgust… before reminding herself that he was still her boyfriend — and undeniably strong.
"Hey. Wake up."
She kicked him in the face, thinking that would be enough.
Reno didn't move a single inch. A red footprint slowly appeared on his cheek, but it didn't disturb his sleep at all.
"Oh, come on…"
Rita pulled her leg back, tightening her muscles as if preparing the perfect strike. The murderous aura she released instantly woke Reno, who sensed the danger. But that didn't seem to stop her.
Her attack fully charged, she launched her foot at such speed that Reno couldn't possibly dodge.
However, not noticing that Reno had already stood up — or perhaps simply ignoring the fact — her foot flew straight toward the one place every man fears most…
Some time later, they decided to leave the village that had welcomed them with open arms. They had eaten so well that Reno looked as if he had grown twenty centimeters. Strangely, in Nozras, people did not gain fat when they ate — it almost seemed impossible. Instead, they gained muscle and height at an alarming rate.
Rita had not indulged as much, but she too had grown slightly. Her lean, powerful muscles — as if carved from stone — had stretched subtly. Together, the couple formed two of the most powerful beings the country had ever known.
They warmly thanked the villagers and resumed their journey toward the capital. After all, their original goal had not been to slay the King of Ouhkor. They were aiming for the capital — and the throne.
As usual, Rita glanced at Reno to see his reaction as they left the village.
He wore the same satisfied smile.
A wide grin, all teeth showing, gleaming under the burning sun of Nozras. Over time, she had come to call it "the warrior's smile." The smile born from frenzy — from the slow, creeping madness that took hold of warriors as the thrill of battle approached. They all ended up wearing it proudly when they chained together crushing punches, brutal blade strikes, pure tests of strength, mass slaughters…
Rita knew she would have to endure it.
Rita had fought alongside Reno for many long months and had understood that it was inevitable. Other warriors always ended up blocking their path. Blood and madness always took hold of them, but the couple inevitably emerged victorious. Alone, each of them was already enough. Together, they were invincible.
And the journey continued in the same way. Reno led them in almost random directions. He knew how to cook and had an incredible affinity with nature — that was what his village had taught him. As for Rita, she had been programmed only for combat. But as their journey went on, she began to see life.
At least, life in Nozras.
There was always fighting, yes. But there were also campfires under the open sky, incredible discoveries, magnificent landscapes, welcoming villages… and then there was Reno. The one she loved so much because he was the one who had shown her all of that. He had probably been the one who pulled her out of that machine-like state. He was the dreamer, and she had been able to cling to his dream so that she could eventually dream as well.
Always smiling, he embodied a kind of freedom she had ignored all this time: the freedom of the strongest.
Rita might have been strong, but she had not been free. Her dark, black eyes had always been turned toward a form of order she was not meant to break. But Reno had broken that order. Even if the end goal was the same, the path was different.
So different.
She smiled too — but it was a smile of pure, renewed joy.
Reno noticed.
"What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
She began walking with a light, skipping step while Reno looked at her as if she were crazy. Then, after a moment of thought, he wondered if maybe it wouldn't be better if he started skipping too.
The village they had just left watched them in disbelief, wondering if they had just unleashed two idiots who were about to destroy the world.
But a journey worthy of its name must eventually collide with a wall — and that wall was the one surrounding the arena.
An imposing barrier, as dark as whatever lay behind it.
Reno knew what was inside those walls.
Endless destruction.
Corpses everywhere.
And a throne.
A throne upon which Nozras himself had sat. A throne he had forged with servants he had personally subdued. A monster — worse than an anomaly — had slain the king in place, stopped the civil wars by himself, massacred entire armies, and united the country through sheer force alone.
Reno stood there, staring up at the top of the wall.
Rita did the same.
Neither of them could see the summit.
This wall had not always existed. It was Nozras who had ordered it built. At the time, people had wondered why. The king had no reason to fear anything.
Eventually, they had simply decided that the wall represented Nozras's own impenetrability. The kind of gesture that meant: if you are not strong enough to get past this stupid wall, then you have no place in the arena.
That was how people chose to understand it.
Only Nozras knew the true reason.
And he had never revealed it.
In any case, there they stood, the two of them alone.
No one came to welcome them — except for the immense pressure weighing down on their shoulders.
For a moment, they simply stared at the towering wall.
Then Reno turned to Rita.
"How do we get in?"