“If she can’t take the matches…” I started.

“When we initially signed up, we did sign it as a team, basically, everyone who was part of your party at the time. That means that Shao, Miki, or you could stand in for Carmine if needed.” Drake finished.

So, that was what he was getting at. He thought that we’d need to take turns fighting. I could hear a bit of worry in his voice, so I felt his advice came from a genuine place. He didn’t just want to win, he was also worried about Carmine. Having lived close to the girl for the last month, and seeing her fight numerous battles to the death, as he called them, I could imagine he had developed a sense of comradery with her. Perhaps he even saw her as a sister.

Thus, I considered his words with a great deal of weight. However, with my bonuses, Carmine should already be much stronger than she normally was. If she could get this far on her own, then as long as I made myself available these days to help boost her, she should be fine. We could be worrying over nothing. She had faired fine over the rest of the season. I didn’t see any reason that the Championship would suddenly crank up the difficulty by that much.

As the team owner, it turned out I was able to get special seating in a box overlooking the field. It seemed like my fake identity as a rich merchant was holding out fine. This was partially thanks to Faeyna, who occasionally sent parcels to sell in Alerith to help sell the illusion. She was always thoughtful like that. Because of Alerith’s taxation, it wasn’t very valuable to sell anything in this city. Most merchants that were here were solely concentrated on supporting a gladiatorial team.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Drake had only mentioned it in passing, but it turned out that I was becoming popular as well. My alternative personality, Reynolds the merchant, was one of the only merchants still selling anything in town. As I said, I don’t make money off it and was only doing it so that I could maintain the illusion as a merchant, but it was single-handedly keeping the markets in Alerith going. It was the only reason people were even eating. I wondered what Lord Reign’s face would look like if he knew I was the reason his lower and middle-class citizens weren’t starving and revolting.

If I was a more capable guy, I probably should be helping the collapse along, as it’d be advantageous to me. However, that would require me to allow children and women to starve, and I just couldn’t allow that. I’d probably send more goods to Alerith now that I knew there was a problem like this. It was probably very easy for nobles to suppress the lower class in this world. After all, nobles and their soldiers could be resurrected, while peasants couldn’t afford it.

Think of it this way, Lord Reign had already accepted foreign aid. If a peasant revolt truly began, to what length would he go to squash it? At best, he’d invite a foreign army to help him quell them. The low-caste would die for good, and anyone they did manage to kill would only keep coming back. I couldn’t imagine the death toll, and I didn’t want to have the blood of innocent people on my hands if I could help it. Thus, I had a plan to follow, and quelling the Bandits to the south was just step one of said plan.

As I considered my next moves for not the hundredth time, the afternoon matches began.