Heh, the path to the military barracks, where the arena is, was much less exciting than one might have imagined. I avoided the Pratus because I didn’t want to get swarmed by the guy. I’m happy I didn’t meet anyone I know on the way here.

I should be around thirty minutes early for the duel, give or take. One thing I had not imagined, however, was the dense queue outside the barracks.

I get to the end of it and look around, seeing the mass of people not moving in the slightest.

“People! We are already out of seats! Go back!” Someone shouts from the front, probably a [Soldier] or some military staff.

“Fuck you! Let us in!” A scream comes, not too distant from me.

“Huh, they really want to see the Human die,” I remark off-handedly.

“Everyone does! Did you know the idiot accepted a military duel thinking that he would be able to use—“ the man cuts himself off as he turns to stare at me. “You are a Human!”

“The Human, thank-you-very-much,” I smile at the guy, “Now, would you mind moving? I have a non-magical duel I need to attend to.”

“The Human is here!” Another Elf shouts as the first moves out of the way. Many faces turn, and soon, the crowd is splitting in two to let me pass—well, not just to let me pass: there’s a distinct feeling of… fear? Nah, not fear. Maybe disgust. There’s a distinct feeling of disgust that permeates through the air. I can see a few people recoiling when, pushed forward by the sheer size of the crowd, they are about to brush against me.

“Woof!” I bark at a terrified woman who’s clawing at the crowd to get away from me. When a dozen people fall on their butts from fear, I shake my head and move forward.

When they finally notice I don’t seem much rattled by this experience, the boos commence.

“Damn worm, go back to where you come from!”

“Throw him in the river!”

“Look at his stupid hair!”

“Has anyone seen my bag?! Hello?! I dropped some coins!”

The last shout makes half of the crowd search the ground frantically, hoping to get some cash after coming all the way up here. If one cannot see the Human fight, one might as well get a free meal out of it.

Also, my hair is not stupid.

“Silence!” Suddenly, someone screams at the top of their lungs from the entrance to the barracks. “Where’s the worm?!”

“The worm’s here,” I say, walking over to two familiar goons. One is skinny, and his face is full of pimples and red spots; the other is much larger and brutish.

“AH, worm, you finally showed! We all thought—“

“Yeah, yeah,” I say, frowning as I try to remember Wario’s and Waluigi’s names. “Are you chaperoning me?”

“You insolent—“

“No? Alright, move,” I walk behind the pair, looking around the barracks.

The smell of iron and sweat invades my nostrils, the undertone of horse manure only adding to the charm. The buildings are more functional than decorative, built from raw stone and rough-hewn timber that could be replaced at a moment’s notice. It’s more of a makeshift town, the uniformity of its stark architecture shattering any illusion of charm or warmth.

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To my left are the horse stables, the source of the smell. The few horses that are walking in and out look imposing, the only elegance found in this place so far.

Other than some civilians that are being carted to where I suppose the arena is, there’s a whole lot of sneering [Soldiers] stopping to look at me. However, a few stoic-faced men and women go about their tasks, completely ignoring me.

Not everyone is an idiot, no matter how bad the crowd is.

"Welcome to your final stage, worm," the fatter of the two laughs, “I hope you are ready to die. I see you made yourself all pretty for it.”

I roll my eyes at the cliché situation and their ‘evil’ ways.

“Where’s the chief idiot?” I ask, looking around. “Also, is that where we are supposed to go?”

“[Corporal] Appius is waiting to chop you up, worm,” the lanky one says.

“Ok, good. Where?” I sigh.

“You think your big sword will save you? What is it, a prop for a [Fool]?”

I inhale and click my tongue a few times, following the other civilians I see in the distance. This place is a small citadel. Smaller than the Watch somehow, but still huge. Though the Watch resembles a castle, this looks more like a makeshift encampment that happened to turn into shoddy buildings.

“Do you people get in debt to live here?” I ask with a frown. “I thought this place would feel more luxurious and decadent.”

“Are you trying to attack the honor of the military, worm?” The skinny guy retorts.

“Are we going in the right direction?” I ask for the umpteenth time.

“Yes,” the larger one replies, “you are walking right into the end of your stay in Amorium.”

We pass by a huge building, like a condo that you would expect to find in Vienna, as the Sunday-morning duo of villains keeps egging me on. “Is this for officers?” I ask.

Amidst the idiotic insults, I actually get an affirmative reply.

“Huh,” I look up, realizing I’ve not heard the chatty [Archmage] say a word since we entered.

Are you still there?

This is your trial, young Luciani. You’ll have to face it on your own.

“So, is there anything—” I cut myself off when I see Plinius, Irene’s brother, up on a balcony of one of the buildings. Behind him, on each side, there are two older men, older than Tiberius and Quintus, and a quite old woman, roughly as old as Clodia’s mom if I had to guess.

I see the man glaring daggers at me, but it’s the two behind him that actually manage to make me shiver for a second. When the old woman smiles at me, a cold sensation spreads down my neck.

That’s how I expect the actual villains to look like, I think to myself. Should I flip them off? Heh, maybe next time. Let's tackle one villain at a time.

“I’m surprised Appius didn’t welcome me himself,” I tell the two.

I see an exchange of glances that makes me raise an eyebrow.

They thought the same, didn’t they? Is Appius even… here?

“Does your boss have a wife or children or something?”

“What’s it to you, worm?” The skinny one spits at the end of his reply.

“Just asking, never mind,” I shrug.

“The boss doesn’t have any children or a wife that you could exploit if you were thinking of that. I know that Humans are well-versed in blackmail,” the same man adds.

“Good to know,” I sigh in relief.

As we come to see a circular building that kind of reminds me of a wooden colosseum, I hear someone calling my name.

“Joey! What did you do to your hair?!”

I turn to see Clodia and Camilla standing outside the place. Behind them, there’s the other two sisters of the Three Roses.

“Hey!” I walk up to Clodia and give her a large smile. “You’re here to see your employee kick ass? Also, cool hair, am I right?”

“Are you going to kick ass?” Clodia asks with worry in her eyes. “Do you think you can do this?”

“Yeah, it’ll be easy,” I say, giving her one of my custom winks with a mouth click, adding a swoosh with my new braid.

“Joey, have you thought about my offer? If this goes well, I think we should—”

“Sure,” I nod to Camilla. “Let me take care of this business, and then we can discuss the rest of the other business. I have some ideas, in fact—”

“Worm! Stop wasting your time. It’s time for you to go!” The fat guy walks to me with a dangerous glint in his eyes and moves his hand to push me.

I smirk.

[Inexorable Momentum Redirection, Double-Up]

As the man’s hand touches my shoulder, I gently push my scapula forward and twist my torso. The man’s hand, followed by his whole body, suddenly changes direction as soon as it makes contact with me and falls to the ground at twice the speed.

The idiot faceplants as I keep smiling and wink at the girls again.

“I’ll see you inside, ladies,” I say, walking to a side entrance and leaving a [Soldier] with a bloodied-up face behind.