Enchantment and Departure

While inside a trance, as the time slows down with Ramero thinking about how to go through this big entrance that leads to the training ground, the sounds of clanking steel boots make Ramero feel his heart about to burst.

It's true that he's ready to be punished, but if it's before he meets Leandra then it's a problem.

Ramero is wrecking his brain trying to find a way to the training ground, the fact that the hallway is only one path with nothing and also his wearing a crimson uniform doesn't help his condition at all. If there's a guard walks past, he would be exposed.

'Nothing, I can't do anything at all. I can pick lock a door lock this big...' he thought with a frown.

The door leading to the training ground is not small at all, even the door lock is as big as his hand which is impossible to be opened with a small piece of metal. But in that second, he heard guards talking with each other.

From the sounds of it, the next batch that went for a bath has returned from the bathhouse.

Looking back he tries to find a place to hide in a panic, he then decided to go to the cafeteria which seems to be empty and devoid of people. Upon reaching there, he scans the place and can't find any hiding place.

'Shit, they are heading this way!' Ramero exclaimed inside his head.

While backing away from the entrance to the cafeteria that doesn't have a door, Ramero slowly resigns himself to the situation as there's nowhere he can run. But as the footsteps were very close, someone suddenly pulled him from the back.

Tap!

Ramero blinks his eyes and realizes that it was Leandra that pulled him.

But soon he realized that they were inside some kind of closet with cleaning equipment, the room is very narrow especially due to the cleaning equipment that makes their bodies almost touches together and their face a couple of inches away.

"Are you sneaking to get here too?" Ramero asked whisperingly.

In response to this Leandra only puts her hand on top of Ramero's mouth signaling for him to stop talking for a second. Looking at the door Ramero can see the guards through the partition on the door taking a couple of bags.

From the looks of it, the Deathbound Colosseum seems to be far for them to bring rations.

While staying silent with Leandra's soft hand covering his mouth, Ramero looks at her who seems to be distracted by the guards outside. A pair of arched brows can be seen on her face, her entire focus is greedily sucked by the guards.

Even with Ramero looking directly at her in this cramped room, she doesn't seem to notice.

At this moment Ramero can't help but train his eyes down to her facial features, she has a delicate set of ears and a nose that matches her small face, but the set of ocean-blue eyes was still the most prominent thing that decorated her face.

Like it was instinct, Ramero's eyes train down even more to her sweet and puffy heart-shaped lips.

'If I look at her, she's quite beautiful. At the level of models I dated back in my home world, sadly in this world, her beauty was damaged by her status' Ramero thought as he saw some red stain on her face, she probably just finished healing someone and that should be a bloodstain on her face.

But even though she lived in this place, she still emit an alluring scent.

Ramero was caught in surprise when his nose pick her scent that is fragrant despite a mix of sweat in it, and unconsciously his hand moved right around the same time as the guards left, "I think we're clear, the guards didn't notic-"

Just as Leandra said that she was surprised to see Ramero's hand already on her cheek.

"W-What are you doing...?" Leandra asked with her reddening face.

Upon realizing that his hand moved on his own, Ramero smiled lightly to appease the hot tension inside this cramped room and quickly wipes the bloodstain on her cheek, "Nothing, I just wanted to wipe the bloodstain on your face" he raises his thumb with the wiped bloodstain.

"O-Oh... I didn't realize I left some on my face" Leandra mutters while wiping her face.

Soon the both of them came out of that cramped closet and finally get a whiff of fresh air, Ramero then looks at her that is turning her back against him before he asked, "So, what is so important for me to meet you with my sword?"

"R-Right... It's about this" Leandra quickly turns around before she grabs Ramero's sword.

Leandra raises Ramero's sword with her left hand before her other hand glows with a blue hue, the glow is even brighter than before. With her glowing right hand, she touches the sword before the blue hue slowly envelopes the entire sword.

As if he was nine years old, he watches this magical moment with wide eyes.

But in his defense he came from a world filled with technology and science, magic is foreign there so every time he saw magic it was always fascinating. "What is this for?" Ramero asked while pointing at a symbol engraved on the sword.

"It's something you need, Greenhorn doesn't have this privilege" she replied with a light smile.

Pausing for a moment which increases the suspense of curiosity inside of Ramero right now, Leandra then continues, "Many don't know about this, but Gladiators' weapons are given Enchantment by Mages. It's to add the theatrical effect which helps fascinates the crowd, it amplifies the power so their clash would create louder sounds"

Upon hearing this Ramero came to a realization, what Leandra said makes sense.

Inside his head, he imagines Deathbound Colosseum is the same as the colosseum back in his home world, the arena is very big and their weapons clashing against each other wouldn't produce enough sound to reach the crowd's ears.

Gladiators are a fighter that is only there to serve the entertainment of the crowds.

Without the proper 'theatrical effect' in their fights, they wouldn't be as entertaining, and the Greenhorn was not given that is probably because they are not famous enough. "If that's the case, aren't you going to be in trouble if they knew about this?"

"Don't worry, it's not as potent but enough for your first performance" Leandra replied confidently.

As she said that their conversation was disturbed by the sound of guards approaching once again. Ramero in reflex pushes Leandra back to the closet before he said, "When they catch me and brought me to the punishment room, use that chance to get back to your quarter"

"Keep silent and don't make any sound" he added before he closed the door of the closer.

Leandra was not given any chance to say anything as the door got closed in her face, she saw through the door's partition the guards arriving at the cafeteria before they were surprised to find Ramero standing there.

Instantly after that, their surprise turns into anger as they grab Ramero by the name.

"Why are you here? And how do you get out?!!"

"It seems you are taunting us, little Greenhorn. Maybe you miss being whipped by Captain Baldates. Is it that good?"

Ramero keeps his mouth shut as he was dragged by the guards outside of the cafeteria, he gave a thumbs up when he reaches the entrance of the cafeteria signaling to Leandra to not worry, he will definitely be fine.

A moment later, Leandra walks out of the closet when she heard them going further away.

Looking at where Ramero was brought by the guards, she can only smile wryly before she glanced to the side where a door is located but it's quite hidden due to the angle, "He doesn't need to do that, I can get back easily without them noticing..." she mutters.

But seeing that Ramero was taking the punishment for her, she blushed a little.

"Silly guy..." she mutters before she heads to the door. Upon opening the door, turns out there are stairs leading to the second floor from there. Leandra ascend the stairs before she closed the door behind her, it seems her quarter is on the second floor.

Meanwhile, Ramero was dragged into the punishment room and chained once again.

Ramero remembered that this is the same room as to when he was whipped by Captain Baldates due to protecting Leandra from his kick, he now already stripped from his uniform to expose his now muscular back.

Due to the amount of increase in his physical stats, his body went through immense changes.

Some of the scars that were left from the whipping he received before can still be seen, but now it seems the number of scars would increase. But Ramero can only smile wryly, 'If I think about it, I got punished two times because of Leandra...'

As he thought of that, a crack in the air resounded that ended with a sharp katcha sound.

"Grrghh!" Ramero grunted as he got whipped very hard by the guard, the lashing burn directly seeped into his spine. It still very much hurt to be whipped, but he can feel clearly that he was handling it way better than before.

Crack!

Crack!

Crack!

Blows after blow, Ramero sustains the whipping lash that was hit against his back.

It's very painful and he didn't enjoy this one bit. But for some reason, there's a smile on his face that almost makes him look like he enjoys being whipped. 'So that's how it is, now this incident allows me to know a way to increase my constitution stat...'

[Constitution of Sparta is activated! The host gained 0,2 constitution stat points!]

Ramero smiled when every time he get whipped he gain 0,2 constitution stat points, turns out he needed to put his body under stress in order to increase his constitution stat. Being punished is one of them.

'Hmm... maybe if I fight then I'll gain points too?' he wanders while being whipped.

Although his body tensed every time he got whipped powerfully, the smile on his face becomes wider and wider realizing that fighting stronger opponents might just be a broken way to increase his constitution stat.

It needs to be tested, but luckily the performance is coming, and that is the perfect spot to test it.

Just about ten minutes later the guard finally finished punishing him for getting out of his cell without permission, in total he got whipped 20 times which is not as many as when he got whipped by Captain Baldates.

Since he got whipped 20 times, he gained 4 constitution stat points from that.

Now that he was put back into the cell once more after being treated a little bit so he would not bleed while wearing the uniform, Ramero doesn't find this incident regretful at all, he gained valuable information from that.

On top of that, he also gained an Enchantment on his short sword.

'Huh... I'm starting to feel the tide of my fate changing' Ramero thought with a smile, he now can't wait to see what kind of Gladiators he would meet in the Deathbound Colosseum. Just thinking about it makes his body boils.

Even the thought of fighting excites his body so much that he's unable to sit down properly.

'Not only that, I wonder what kind of world is out there except this small city. I can't wait to get there and look around' Ramero also thought excitedly, it would a great adventure to refresh his mind.

A couple of hours later, the time for their departure has finally come.

Ramero and all the other Gladiators from the Gladiator School of Tyranny were escorted out by the guards in fully matching outfits, there are six crimson wagons with a banner of a roaring tiger parked in front of the school.

Each one of them got fitted into these six wagons, nine or ten Gladiators are inside each.

At the very front was the exclusive wagon that looks even fancier where the Regulator was, he poked his head outside finding that the Gladiators are already inside before he finally gives the signal to the driver.

With that, the wagons departed to the Deathbound Colosseum.

Only a handful stayed in the school alongside the guards to keep the school safe when the others are not around, Leandra was one of them and she gets out to see the departing wagon. Clasping both of her hands in front of her chest, she closes her eyes in a praying position.

'I hope you came back safely, Ramero...'