Chapter 20:

Oliver awoke to hear the birds chirping, the sun was just about to rise over the horizon. Oliver wasn’t much of an early bird before the new world began. He’d usually only get out of bed if it was necessary, or if he was hungry. Of course, now that things have changed, Oliver needed to be awake, because if he didn’t wake early, possible threats would be awake before him. To say the least, Oliver had become slightly paranoid, power does that to a person.

Oliver undressed himself and used his great magical power to conjure up some rain over his head and took a quick shower. He didn’t have soap, but he knew where he could get some, back at his first home. The Pentagon had lots of fairly important resources, but those could wait. He stretched, and threw on his old scratched up clothes. Oliver refrained from putting on that heavy armor, and instead just equipped the red cape over his clothes.

“Good morning my liege.” Said Reinhard as Oliver opened the door to the halls, “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, thank you for asking.” Replied a yawning Oliver, “Anything eventful happen during the night?”

“No, my lord. The occasional passersby, but nothing that posed a threat.”

“Good, let's make our way to that mage.” Commanded Oliver.

As the two walked down the poorly lit stone walls, many of the people inside looked with contempt, or maybe it was fear. Oliver assumed it was because of Reinhard's immense pressure that he imposed on those around him. Or maybe it was because they smelled funny.

Making their way out of the fort and into the courtyard, they were met with a sleepy Sevy sitting on a bench under a tree. Bags under her eyes, she groaned as if she was dying. A young girl was sitting next to her. They seemed to be talking about something precarious.

Oliver approached Sevy and the young girl. As he drew nearer, the young girl quickly finished the conversation and left the courtyard quicker than a bee buzzing home after finding some nectar rich flower. Sevy looked over at Oliver approaching her, and immediately her drowsy condition was no more. Instead, a cheery and very awake old lady ran over to meet him.

Sevy stopped right before bumping into Oliver, she whispered in his ear, “Good morning!”

“Ahh!” Oliver stepped back, the old lady had nearly ran into him. “Why di–”

“Here, have some bread.” She took out a freshly baked piece of bread from her robe, she smiled as Oliver took it and began to eat it. Of course, Oliver hadn’t wanted to eat the suspicious bread that just appeared out of thin air from with-in the shady grandma’s robes. “I’m terribly sorry, but that's all we can spare for our great guest.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“It’s the truth, our city isn’t completely established yet, but later down the line, I think you’ll be able to enjoy a hearty breakfast when in our care.” The old lady smiled.

“Thanks anyway, now… tell me about this coliseum.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Sevy froze for a moment, turned away and started to laugh monically. “Hahahah, whohaha, hahahahaha!!” She turned back to a estranged Oliver, “Riggght, I’ll explain on the way.”

***

“I do love the fights, you should have seen the coliseum back in the Barony, it was gigantic. The one that was just built is only temporary, until we get more resources. Our Barony was famous throughout the kingdom for our competitions. We made so much money from it… hehehehe!” The Old woman laughed as she remembered the gold coins piling up like mountains, “I used to run the coliseum, it was… so… much… FUN.” She grinned and clenched her hands in the air.

“Riggght, and HOW exactly does it work?” Said Oliver, entirely annoyed by Sevy’s stories.

“Oh, right… Well, here. Right there is our coliseum.” She pointed to a large hole in the ground, it didn’t look special from the top, just five feet tall bland walls surrounding it, the occasional gap in between. There were, however, lots of people walking down into the hole through those gaps.. As Oliver got closer to the pit, he heard the clashing of metal from behind the short wall, he could sort of look over it, and when he got into the perfect spot, he could see down into the coliseum perfectly.

There was a battle going on, and the stands were filling up with people. The coliseum was basically a circular hole in the ground, with seats on every side of the circle. And in the middle was the arena. Currently, a knight was fighting with a small hydra.

“Amazing,” said Oliver, staring in amazement. Though there wasn’t any ornate or fancy decor on any walls and the seats were just cut stone blocks, it was beautiful. All the people sitting and cheering, watching the knight fight the ferocious monster. It really was beautiful, just thinking about all that money made Oliver all warm inside. “This is a nice feeling.” He whispered to himself.

“What was that?” Asked Sevy as she approached Oliver.

“Nothing,” Oliver replied as he turned away from the arena, “how much money does this place make? I’m just curious.”

Sevys’ eyes lit with gold coins, and then she slumped over. “Sadly, the arena isn’t making any money right now.” She stopped, “It’s free for the moment, the grand opening.”

“Ah, so… where do I sign up?” Asked Oliver.

Sevy pointed over to a man sitting at a table. “There, have fun. I’ll grab you if Lord Fur comes back.”

“Thanks.” Oliver left Sevy and headed to the stand, Reinhard followed.

***

“So, you want to fight in the arena, that's ridiculous.” Said the middle-aged man, sitting behind the registration stand.

“No, I wish to fight, I’m a mage.” Oliver said.

“Eh, a mage. You’re too young to be a mage. Move aside, don’t you see the guy in black behind you. He looks like a true fighter.” He looked over Oliver to Reinhard. “Hey, are you here to sign up?”

“Only if my Lord permits it.” Replied Reinhard.

“Your lord? Are you one of Lord Furs knights? You don’t look like a knight though, where's your sword?”

Reinhard did not respond with words. Instead, the dark priest's eyes lit crimson red, he approached the man, and picked him up by his neck with one hand. “This is my Lord!” He pointed to Oliver with his free hand. “Don’t disrespect him, or I’ll have to dispose of you, vermin!”

Reinhard dropped the man, and returned behind Oliver, his eyes still raging with red crimson, his hands shaking violently, as if he was still strangling the insolent man.

“O-of-co-course, I’ll let you fight… young man… cough, cough.” Replied the man, rubbing his neck, trying to breathe again.

The man handed a wooden token with the symbol of a lion engraved on it. “Just head down those stairs, and hand this token to the boy at the bottom of the steps. He’ll lead you to your room, from there you’ll enter the arena when called out.”

“What are the rules?”

“...There is none, just win. Knock the other guy out, or kill him, anything is permitted.”

“Thanks, I’ll be on my way.” Oliver started to head for the stairs, but was stopped when the man yelled back at him.

“That knight can’t fight for you, you’ll have to enter him in separately.”

Oliver looked over to Reinhard, “Win.” Was his only command.

“Yes, my liege.” Reinhard headed back to the man, and received his own token, with an eagle engraved on the wood. He then went down a different set of stairs.

Oliver looked down the stairs before him. He smirked. “This should be fun.” He said as he headed down into the passage below.