Tension of Gladiators

Ramero was woken up early in the morning by Alessia and many kinds of delicacies.

Beside the bed was a small table with three plates of food that consists of meat, fruit, and some kind of soup. A glass of water and another pale concoction can also be seen served on the small table, which looks mesmerizing for breakfast.

Groaning a bit, Ramero sits up and sits on the edge of the bed while scratching his head.

"Are you feeling any better?" Alessia asked, already in different clothes.

Unlike the white nightdress that she's wearing last night, Alessia is wearing a ceremonial dark green dress that covers her body all the way down to her feet. Only her left shoulder is exposed, boasting her fair and smooth skin.

Alessia's appearance only trapped Ramero's attention for a second though, "Not that good"

"Still a little bit tired from last night, and I also have a bad dream although it's not as bad as that one" he added while looking at the food, he slowly collects his soul before he grabs the wooden spoon and tries out the soup.

While he was doing that, Alessia huffed grumpily.

From the looks of it, Ramero doesn't look like he puts Alessia in his eyes, he acted pretty casually.

'Even though I tried more to prepare myself this morning to look good, does he not find me attractive at all...?' Alessia puffed her cheeks while secretly cursing at Ramero who is oblivious to this and enjoying the food.

But then Alessia then said, "Quickly change to your battle armor after eating, alright?"

"Is the fight going to start soon? The birds haven't come out yet, are there even people inside the Colosseum already?" Ramero asked, he saw the sky through the windows and finds it still quite bleak and pale.

Around five to six in the morning, still quite early for a massive event like the Gladiator Match.

Standing up and heading over to the weapon cabinet to prepare for Ramero's armor and weapons, Alessia then replied, "Well, the Regulator of your school will brief you for the upcoming match. The fight will start when the sun is above our heads"

"Hmm... alright" Ramero replied before he hastens his eating.

Despite never being used to eating fast, he was from a military background so he can eat fast.

In under three minutes, he finished the entire food starting from the meat, soup, and then the fruits. Not taking any pause, he chugged the concoction that tasted bland before chugging the water swiftly.

It was so fast that Alessia saw him finish from a moment of preparing the armor and weapons.

Ramero then went to freshen up by washing himself before he came out and instantly wear the chest plate that is provided and marked with a roaring lion crest, belt armor to protect his crotch and also for his short sword scabbard, and also shin armor.

The standard armor that a Gladiator wears, topped with his helmet looks pretty standard too.

After hugging the helmet on the side of his body with his arm, he nodded his head as he finished preparing himself in under ten minutes. Most people aren't able to be this efficient, this is just the military background speaking.

"Okay, let's go. I'm ready" Ramero said and turned his body towards Alessia.

Upon hearing this Alessia snapped out of her daze before she quickly nodded her head, she brought Ramero back into the circle engraving before activating the circle engraving by pressing a magic circle on the wall.

Soon the circle engraving glowed, and with another tap, their bodies instantly got teleported.

Not long after their bodies materialize somewhere else, Ramero slowly opens his eyes to adjust to the surroundings and finds himself inside a small hallway that looks similar to the hallway in the school.

The only difference is that this hallway is cleaner and made of deep blue stones.

"Follow me, I'll take you to your school's quarter" Alessia mutters and leads the way forward.

While walking along the way Ramero finds that he was not the only one there, other Gladiators can be seen walking around and every one of them are from another school. It's easy to tell since they all have a different crest on their chest plate.

But there are some that don't wear the standard armor, it's hard to tell which school they are from.

From stealing glances at the other Gladiators' crest, Ramero finds that there are a couple of crests that are dominant here such as a snake, a two-headed horse, and an eagle that flared its wings open.

Leaning to Alessia's ear, he then whispered, "Which one is from the Gladiator School of Clarity?"

"T-The gladiators with a two-headed horse crest are the ones from the Gladiator School of Clarity" Alessia replied stutteringly, the warm breath that brushes her neck made her entire body shiver in surprise.

Upon hearing this, Ramero began inspecting the Gladiators with two-headed horse crest.

One of the traits he caught the Gladiators with two-headed horse crests have in common is the way they walk, they seem to be walking in an orderly manner, almost like a robot. It threw Ramero back to the time he was in the military.

Aside from that, most of them have a sword as their weapon of choice.

'Pretty knightly of them, I guess that is the theme they are going for' Ramero thought to himself.

Just as he thought of that he unconsciously bumped his shoulder with a Gladiator that doesn't wear standard armor, he's bare-chested with only leather straps, a belt and leg armor, and also a big pauldron on his shoulder.

Glancing over his shoulder, the Gladiator stopped and sent a sharp stare at Ramero.

"My bad..." Ramero apologized casually.

The Gladiator stood there while keep staring at Ramero, his eyes then landed on the roaring lion crest on Ramero's chest plate before he shifted his eyes back to Ramero's eyes and resume his walking without even replying.

But Ramero didn't want to chase further as he saw an eye-catching slave mark on the back.

It was a tiger-shaped slave mark, indicating the power of that Gladiator.

Upon seeing this, Ramero now noticed that the slave mark seems to be a universal thing amongst the Gladiators. Every Gladiator has a slave mark, and the hierarchy of the slave mark must be the same too.

"Shall we keep going?" Alessia asked softly from in front.

Ramero nodded his head, but a Gladiator that passes by suddenly stopped by him and pointed at the short sword in his hand, "Hey, I think there's something wrong with your short sword" he said with a serious tone.

"What's wrong with it?" Ramero asked back in confusion, the short sword looks fine to him.

Immediately after he asked that the serious expression the Gladiator wore change, it turns into a mocking smirk as if he was ridiculing Ramero, "A corpse is holding it!" he laughed alongside another Gladiator beside him.

After commenting on that, the two Gladiators spat at the ground and walks away.

"Little Dog"

"Fresh meat in the Colosseum, seems like we're having a treat today"

While walking away they still keep on running their mouths, and Alessia felt bad when she heard their nasty comment. Out of everyone, she was the first one that knows Ramero has a dog-shaped slave mark.

Showing clearly that he's a Greenhorn, a new Gladiator that entered this brutal profession.

Reaching out her hand to signal Ramero to ignore the two Gladiators, she grabbed his arm but stopped when she saw a murderous look on Ramero's face, "Damn assholes, I pray to God they are going to fight me in the arena" he mutters, a clear anger can be seen on his face.

The ridicule caught him off guard, and that is also what makes him this angry.

Clicking his tongue he then shakes his head with a grim expression before signaling to Alessia to lead the way, and after traveling through the hallway they finally reached a big wooden gate with a roaring lion symbol on top of it.

Upon reaching this place, Alessia turns to look at Ramero, "I guess this is it..."

"I guess it is, thanks for your help last night, I appreciate it. See you around, Alessia" Ramero said before he reaches for the door and open it, revealing the other Gladiators from his school that are already inside.

Alessia was about to reply but Ramero's back already disappeared into the room.

Once again Ramero just has to find a way to annoy her even at the last moment, she can only sigh dejectedly while looking at the wooden gate, "I'll see you around too, Sir Ramero. Don'd die in there" she mutters softly.

While looking around the place, Ramero closed the gate behind him and strides inside.

Inside there are already a couple of Gladiators that came in earlier than him, and one of them is Silver Fists that is already sharpening his big bastard sword in preparation for the fight. Sitting alone in the corner as always.

Aside from the Gladiators, there are a couple of furniture and banners of the school displayed.

Ramero decided to approach him while waiting for the others to arrive for the briefing.

Sensing that someone is approaching him, Silver Fists raises his gaze and finds that it was Ramero. "I thought you're a warrior, how can you fall to the temptation before a fight that involves your life" he suddenly commented.

Upon hearing this, Ramero frowns, "What do you mean by that?"

"It's bad to screw around before a fight, your senses are going to be dull. How many times did you do it with your personal attendant last night?" Silver Fists explained with a side-eye, he looks quite disappointed at Ramero right now.

Realizing what he meant, Ramero defended himself, "I did zero times! This is not because of that"

"But heck, why do I even feel the need to justify myself to you? I didn't do it with her, I'm training all night long to prepare for today. No matter what, I'm surviving today and getting the wolf-shaped slave mark" he added determinedly.

Knitting his eyebrows together, Silver Fists asked, "Since when are you concerned about slave marks?"

"Since that damn bath house lady said that the leather uniform is wasted on a Dog like me, I'll definitely come back there with a wolf-shaped slave mark and smeared that achievement to her face" Ramero replied, still remembering what that woman said to him in the bathhouse.

Out of every insult, she has the spiciest words that sting his heart and pride.

Upon hearing this Silver Fists chuckled lightly before he went back to sharpening his bastard sword, ignoring Ramero's runt about the woman in the bathhouse. It went on until the other Gladiators finally gathered inside the room.

The Regulator is the last one to arrive, he walks slowly with a cane to the center of the room.

Sitting at the prepared table and a high seat at the center for him, the Regulator sits there before he eyes every single Gladiator inside the room. But his eyes fixed on Champion of Tyranny and the other Gladiators near him, "As always, we are the Gladiator School of Tyranny. I expect nothing less than a gruesome death for our enemies, especially since our enemies are the weaklings of Clarity that is obsessed with their hopeful dream of becoming a knight"

Many of the Gladiators laughs in ridicule when they heard this, showing their high spirit.

"Special for today as we are against those little boys, the top ten would be granted a wish if they won the fight. Fight vigorously and freedom might be just around the corner. But even though I want to stress that you win, your life is still the most important so give a spectacular fight"

After saying that, the Regulator then glanced at the other Gladiators.

"For the others, you will also be rewarded if you win. But most importantly, don't bring any shame to our school. If you give a weak performance and shame the school, a delicate punishment awaits" he added with a warning tone.

A clearly different treatment, but this world only respects the strong.

Ramero doesn't mind that one bit, and in fact, he got even more excited for the battle ahead of him. 'It's my first performance, what should I do to catch the crowd's attention... Oh, I got a perfect idea!'