Preparing for the Sparring Tournament

"Waah!" Ramero woke up with heavy breaths and instantly sits up.

Instantly after his eyes jolted awake he feels a heavy migraine hitting his head like a truck, he felt dizzy for a brief moment. Ramero needs to squint his eyes for a good moment before the dizziness disappears and he's fully awake.

Looking to the side, he finds the woman leaning on the wall asleep.

Ramero noticed that her lap has wet stains on it which instantly made him realize something, 'Did I sleep on her lap? Well, I did help her yesterday so it's not that surprising for her to give back in some ways for me'

But then he remembered that today is the sparring tournament, and he hasn't trained yet!

Glancing at the glazed window at the top of the hallway walls in reflex, Ramero finds that it's still dark so there are at least one or two hours for him to train. 'I need to shadowbox, my body still feels stiff but it should be fine'

Just as he thought of that, he realized that yesterday he got whipped like hell.

Reaching his back trying to feel if the injuries have gotten any better, he finds that it was not as severe as he thought. Out of the thirty whips that definitely leave a mark each, he can feel that some of the marks have already gotten way better.

"I tried my best to heal you, but that's all I can do. I'm sorry" a womanly voice caught him off-guard.

Looking over his shoulder he saw that the woman is already awake, he frowned when he saw this.

"Aren't you asleep? Did I wake you up?" he asked.

Upon hearing this the woman shakes her head lightly, and a light smile crept on her face which made her eyes disappear, "I'm meditating to replenish my mana..." she answered softly, her voice is so gentle that made Ramero praised Captain Baldates from last night.

'I admired his level of 'assholeness' if that's even a word, to actually think of hitting this woman...'

Shaking his head, Ramero then remembered and asked again in confusion and a little bit of anger, "If you're not asleep then why don't you wake me up? I could've used some time to train and prepare, if I lose then you're going to be humiliated remember?"

Ramero can see the woman's body tense a little when she heard what he just said.

But he finds this is how it is supposed to be, she should've been more worried that her entire life and dignity are on Ramero's shoulders now. "It's okay, you don't have to win for me. I know you're new here, I've seen you got bullied by the other Gladiators... there's no reason for you to-"

Just before she can finish her sentence, she stopped realizing that Ramero's expression darkens.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean any of that to offend you" the woman apologized.

From the way she framed her words, it's clear that she doesn't have any faith that Ramero would win his match. Why would she after she saw Ramero get bullied by the Gladiators? Ramero knows that she's not trying to offend him, it's just reality.

Although that was the case, his pride definitely got hurt there.

Despite the pain that still stabs his back and makes his back feel sore and stiff, Ramero stands up without saying anything before he faced the other wall. Taking a deep breath, he started to assume his battle stance with one fist forward and started shadowboxing.

Ramero started to feel his body by moving left and right, trying to test how his body is reacting.

Mostly he's trying to work on his footwork and balance as he would rely on dodging instead of muscling his opponent later, his body is not developed that much yet to wrestle with these Gladiators that have trained probably all their lives to fight.

Inside his mind, he imagined the charging Gladiator and the movement of other Gladiators.

Since he got bullied due to being a 'Greenhorn', he knows how they attack and even the expressions they are making when they are about to attack. It's a natural instinct for him to analyze their movements due to his unique background.

Back then he was trained in his reaction speed to shoot from the slightest bit of threat confirmation.

Knowing facial expressions and muscle twitches that the target is about to attack is his expertise, and now he's trying to teach this new body of his to react when his mind caught those threat confirmations.

Ramero stayed bouncy while still moving left and right.

On the other hand, the woman is watching him from the side in confusion and interest at the same time, she has never seen someone trained like this even amongst the Gladiators. Most would train their physique and weapon-wielding.

It was her first time seeing someone training using such a bizarre method.

Although she has her doubt the determined expression on Ramero's face shows that he's actually serious, there's not one hint of him joking around while doing this. Soon he also started throwing thrusting and slashing motions into the mix.

Mimicking wielding a short sword, he trust that he would be given a weapon of his choice.

Not wanting to disturb Ramero who is already fully immersed in his training, the woman closed her eyes and went back to meditating. Albeit her calm and hopeless demeanor, her heart is racing as time passes by.

Deep inside her heart, she hoped that Ramero would win or she will end up with a bad fate.

Soon enough when the time for breakfast came, Captain Baldates with a red band on his shoulder came to his jail cell with a wooden plate filled with fragrant food. Ramero already stopped his training when he heard the footsteps approaching.

Unlocking the jail cell, Captain Baldates looks at the two with a mocking smile.

"Eat up, the sparring tournament will start in two hours. Prepare all you can before then, not that you would possibly win though" Captain Baldates said before laughing descendingly, he tossed the wooden plate into the jail cell as the food spilled out messily.

Ramero and the woman kept silent, there was no use arguing with Captain Baldates right now.

After locking the jail cell again, the guard pointed at the woman with a fierce expression, "I look forward to hanging you naked little woman, it's not an everyday occurrence I can hang a slave Mage like you" he said before leaving while laughing sinisterly.

Glancing at the woman, Ramero finds her body trembling uncontrollably.

Despite her best effort to hide the fear inside her from the fact that she would be hung naked, the tension from the thinning time made the fear obvious. Ramero can only sigh, 'This is the medieval times, I guess. I can't even imagine if this happens back in my home world...'

Ramero went to the food and finds that it was mostly meats, all kinds of meat which is surprising.

It was the first time he got this kind of food, usually, it would be plain food but this time it was actually good food. But he clicked his tongue finding that most have already spilled to the ground where mice have walked through, only a handful is left on the wooden plate.

Looking at the content, Ramero reached out his hand to give the wooden plate to the woman.

Upon seeing the wooden plate shoved at her, the woman looks up with tears decorating her cheeks. "Eat it, today's menu is quite good so there's no reason for you to refuse this plate" Ramero said.

"It's okay, you eat it. You need it more than me" the woman replied with her head still hung low.

Ramero hesitantly retracted the plate for a moment, it was clear to him that the woman is feeling hopeless right now. Her words implied that vividly. "What's your name?" he asked, trying to take her mind off of the bad fate that would happen to her if he lose.

Albeit stuttering, the woman replied, "L-Leandra..."

"Well, Leandra. Have some hope, will you? I'm not going to let that stupid guard do anything to you. Don't worry, I'll win" Ramero replied assuringly, he has never liked seeing a woman cry. It's just a bad omen for him, and Leandra crying would just jinx his match later.

Slowly raising his gaze to see Ramero's eyes, she tilted her head with a frown.

Although she thought that Ramero is just saying that so she can feel better about her situation, she was confused when she saw that his eyes doesn't contain anything but confidence and conviction. It's like his eyes alone are able to convince her that he would win.

For a moment there, the scene where Ramero got beaten flashed inside her head.

'H-How can he be so confident when he already knows how strong the other Gladiators are?' Leandra thought in confusion, if she was in his place then she would definitely not have that kind of confidence.

But that confidence is exactly the thing that made a speck of hope appeared inside her heart.

Wiping the tears, Leandra nodded her head and grabbed the wooden plate that is shoved to her once again, "Okay... I'll be rooting for you" she replied softly. Looking at Ramero eating the spilled food and even complementing the taste despite the dust and sand, Leandra smiled before she eat the food on the plate.

A moment later, Ramero was pulled out of the jail cell by the same guard.

Leandra was left behind as all Gladiators are brought to the training ground where the sparring tournament would start, the guard gave her a nasty look before pulling and shoving Ramero to lead him outside.

It made her heart beat faster again, but Ramero's confident smile give her a little bit of ease.

Ramero stumblingly makes his way through the hallway as Captain Baldates deliberately shoves and kicks his back knowing that his back is filled with injuries from the punishment, he groaned and hisses in pain before he finally reaches the training ground.

Just earlier before he was brought out, Leandra already healed his back for the second time.

Although it was not potent enough to heal it completely, it's quite better compared to before. Leandra told him that if she has the mana, healing him would be easy but she was exhausted of mana.

This is why her healing spell is not that effective, but nevertheless, it's better than nothing.

Upon reaching the training ground he was greeted by the sight of the other Gladiators already adorned in their unique leather armor. Some even have steel armor, while some have only simple leather armor to cover their arms and torso.

Aside from the Gladiators, there are more guards compared to the usual.

On top of that, he also saw the middle-aged man that made him sign the Oath Contract to become a Gladiator sitting at a desk beside the arena, he's the Regulator and he would be watching the spar between the Gladiators here.

Ramero was inspecting the place before he suddenly caught something thrown at him.

"Wear that and be ready, your name would be called when it's your turn. Good luck, Greenhorn..." Captain Baldates tossed him a simple leather armor and said descendingly, he even chuckled a bit while turning around to leave in anticipation of seeing Ramero lose miserably.

But while looking at the simple armor he's been given, Ramero looks at the guards' back.

Realizing that he hasn't been given a weapon while the others are given real weapons such as swords, battle axes, and clubs, he then asked, "I don't see any weapon for me, where can I get one?"

Stopping in his tracks, Captain Baldates turned around exposing his sinister smile.

"Well, if you don't have one you don't get any" he replied before resuming leaving.

Although he can be considered a quite patient guy, right now he already cursed the guard hundreds of times inside his head. 'How the fuck can I win without a weapon? It's unfair! I could actually die if I don't have a weapon!' he cursed.

Just then, Silver Fists approached him from the side.

"I meant to tell you yesterday but the fight prevent me from doing so" Silver Fists suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, Ramero glanced at him with clear confusion on his face. Due to Silver Fists saving him numerous times, they developed some kind of friendship with each other. Silver Fists still rarely talked to him, it's just he sometime engaged in the talk first just like now.

Sighing lightly, Silver Fists then pointed at the weapons around the training ground.

"Can you see the weapons besides the others? Many of the Gladiators here in this school have more than one weapon in their arsenal, the weapons you see around definitely belong to someone." Silver Fists explained.

But then Ramero frowned, "Why would anyone need more than one weapon?"

"It's for the performance, the more weapons they have here the more weapons they can use during a performance. Imagine if the sword broke during a performance, what would they do then? The school can toss them a backup weapon, but that weapon needs to belong to them"

"Because of that, Gladiators have many weapons. It's for their survival during a performance"

Silver Fists explained which makes Ramero nod his head in understanding, he hasn't tried to learn weapon-wielding so he hasn't tried to touch the weapons in the training ground. If he did then he would probably be beaten by one of the Gladiators.

Now that he knows this, there's only one thing left to be answered, "How do I get my weapon?"

"You need to take the weapon of other Gladiators, even at the cost of them challenging you to a deathmatch" Silver Fists replied after a brief pause, and this made Ramero choke on his own saliva just from hearing it.

Looking around the other Gladiators, Ramero sucked in a cold breath.

'Wonderful, absolutely wonderful...'