There were five more group battles. One of them involved another duel where I freed some slaves. At this point, my identity as someone from Chalm got out. Chalm was apparently a well-known city for their way of emancipating slaves. As soon as this got out, the crowd’s opinion of me flipped one-eighty. A lot of people were still confused about why I had four slaves, but they had seen me place my 1000 gold bet twice.

This was a staggering amount of money for most commoners and it made an effect on the crowds. Now, in everyone’s mind, I was putting everything on the line to free a few slaves at the time. It came off as heroic and impressive. Even the Dragonmight crew came up to me and apologized for misunderstanding my intentions.

Of course, not everyone was completely happy with my results. Those that lost a slave, particularly from the second group, were quite unhappy. They actually lost two slaves. They were a pair of twin girls who were wielding hammers. Well, they were magicians, but they seemed pretty strong.

“Why is master only freeing women?” Terra asked innocently.

“Ah? You’re imagining things!” I declared, “If there were men that had useful skills to bring to Chalm, naturally I would recruit them as well.”

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“…”

I got looks and I was doubted. I was really just wanting top quality people to be part of my new city. Those big muscular beefy slave men were probably filled with testosterone. They’d bring violence, rape, and crime to my innocent city! I was merely being practical!

None of the battles were that difficult. I heard from a few that my particular bracket was rather weak this year. At least, when it came to group fighting, we had dominated our section. However, it sounded like things were going to get a lot more dangerous come tomorrow.

“Since you have won all of your fights today, you will continue on to the next battle.” A representative came around and spoke to us, and then handed us a ticket. “This will allow you to enter the dance tonight.”

‘Actually, I don’t really want to-“

“It’s mandatory!” The man added before I could reject it.

“Oh…”

The man noticed my discomfort and shrugged. “I heard that the dance will be quite something. Although the king is busy, the prince will be there. So will the lord overseeing this entire competition, Lord Tibult.”

That name sounded strangely familiar to me. It was probably just a coincidence. I got the last bit of information form the guy and then waved to get the girl’s attention.

“Come on, it looks like we’re going to need to buy some clothing. I’ll need something dressed for this banquet, and I might as well get you girls some city dresses too.”

The stuff made in Chalm is fine, but I had seen some nicer cuts here. I guess I’d buy the girls some nice dresses for the night. They all seemed very happy about that.