Chapter 8: New Stage

To made a successful rebellion, I needed a strong pawn on my board; luckily, this Colosseum provided just what I needed, but first I needed to become the unofficial leader in here, a shadow headman, so to speak. In an isolated environment with no asset or connection, I had no choice but to use the dominance through strength strategy. I acted highly, showing off my ability without fear, and spoke brazenly. I expect I'll get an angry reply from the prideful fighter here, yet it didn't happen.

All of them, although shocked by my magic, only maintained the expression for a while; it was total silence followed by "Bwahaha! Hahaha! Weesh..Hahahah! Wahahaha!" None of them took me seriously; it seems all that stun did was making me sounds like a wannebe tough kid.

"Man, the applicant today sure is lovely."

"Hey, man, which stupid town did you come from?"

"This newbie really thinks he can pretend to be tough on his first day."

"Well, good news kid, no one cares about your ambition as we all here also want to be the sole victor."

"Pfft kinghood, he really did say that. Perhaps the mob boss would be more appropriate. Bwahahahahahah!"

There were many human men, and I'm really surprised to also see a woman here. Not only that there were many bugganes like Bjorj, but their fur was different; most of them were red, brown, or a gradient between those two colors. There was also a race of tiny humans that had wings on their backs; that I assumed would be the fairy race, and the description exactly matched as the one I read in a fairy tale book when I was a kid. Only those from the Scylla race weren't here; I guess that particular race just hates fighting. Regardless, my debut here was a complete failure because no one took me seriously; now it's time for plan B.

If my word wasn't enough, I needed to back it up with action. I scanned the entire room for the toughest guy here. There was a fairy with a rainbow wing and a mythical aura, a buggane with the size of a silverback gorilla, and a human couple with great physiques wearing traditional eastern clothing. There were too many strong people here, but I couldn't back down, not when I already declared I would win this gladiator fight. I didn't know if it was my bloodlust, my gesture, or my face, but when I was about to swing my cutlass, a hand touched me from the back.

"Aye, tone down the bravado, won't you?" When did he get behind me!? Even though I'm not an expert, I've had my share of experience living in the village in a dense forest that was surrounded by dangerous wild animals, so I've developed some kind of instinct that allowed me to detect when something was behind me, yet this man could easily sneak past it. The man behind me was a gaudy man from human rave in his 50s, wearing a tattered marine cloth with an iron hook in his left hand. He wobbled his posture constantly, trying to act like a drunken seaman, and yet his eyes signified intelligence not befitting of his outer appearance. "Look here outsider, we might be a slave or even a noble, but here in this Colosseum, we're on equal ground. So everyone why don't we just forgive this arrogant young man and settle it on stage fairly like a true warrior?"

Having said that, I saw many people withdraw their hands and wave them in the air, as if this man's word were a commandment. Perhaps my assessment was wrong. It was not the mythical fairy, the scary bugaboo, or the duo of human fighters; this old man could be the true unofficial leader in this Colosseum.

The logical thing to do here would be to apologize and act meekly so that old man could share some of his influence with me, but... I'm tired of that. Bowing to Astarte, bowing to Don Westel might save my skin back then, but that cowardly way of life, even if it leads to success in my journey, would never fill me with satisfaction or contempt.

I bowed my arm, sword at hip, diagonally facing the floor. "I Trevor Herscher declared myself as the sole victor of this gladiator fight once more." "Old man of sea life, if you still have any honor left within you, then accept my fight; we will settle it honestly on the stage."

The old man was stroking his chin, unbothered by my demeanor. "Umm... Trevor, while I admire your tenacity and would gladly accept it, I'm afraid fighting you was not an option at this time."

"What? Why not!? Are you saying I'm not strong enough to be your opponent?"

"Eh, nothing like that. Here, as I said, we're on equal footing; weak or strong, I'll fight you all the same. But if you really planned to fight me officially, I'm afraid you don't have the qualification."

"I guess that damn Bjorj never explained anything about qualification."

"I mean, every fighter here has their benefactor already explaining the basics to them. Don't tell me your benefactor just left you in the dark."

"More or less. Let's just say there was some bad blood between us."

"Hoof, this is going to be difficult." He called a young male fairy with a beautiful translucent green and blue wing by waving his hand. "Ventra meets Trevor, and Trevor meets Ventra. That's enough for introduction, and now I've left it in your hand. Ventra, please explain to this newbie the general rule." "This conversation already bores me, and I want to take a short nap." He said laying down his body, he was right there defenseless in front of me.

"Don't even think about it; a small fry like you will never be able to hurt Hook even in his sleep," said Ventra. "Honestly, it's tiring how that old man always reduced me to being a newbie guide. I don't have a lot of time on my hands, so you better listen closely since I won't repeat myself."

"I'm all ears."

"First of all, about the fight itself: tomorrow morning, the matchup will be decided during the benefactor meeting. Essentially, all of them will discuss and set up the match so all of their predictions will favor them making huge profits using gambling. Except for one person, the others here were no different than slaves in that they produced money for their owner; even during our fight, we couldn't escape the influence of money. The champion is the only free man here, his decision carry the utmost influence."

"Wait, don't tell me."

"There's no need to say anything; your assumption is correct. Hook has been the undefeated champion for the past decade. Not only you; everyone in here came just to fight Hook personally." "Of course, this led those greedy benefactors to profit from it, and they added new rules where a fighter can only fight Hook if they have gathered five winning point in this Colosseum. Remember that losing or drawing will deduct from your winning point total."

"I suppose even a place designed specifically for brutes has rules to keep it in place. Well, Ventra, there might be more obscure rules I need to follow, and if it exists, I look forward to your additional assistance."