Chapter 25: I Mean No Harm
A moist smell mixed along with sweat and blood evoked a disgusting feeling. Even Calian, who used to spend his years smelling this kind of stench, couldn’t stop himself from furrowing his brow at it.
A young man stepped towards Calian and put up two fingers.
“Entrance fee. 2 floren.”
Calian nodded and gave the young man 2 coins, and the young man gave a nameplate with a number written on it in return. The number plate was his calling in this place, instead of his own name. Calian took the plate without any words and stepped inside.
Inside the gambling den was a wide steel cage, and inside two men were starting a fighting match. One had a black headband, while the other hand white one on their head.
Around fifty or so gamblers were on the outside of the cage, looking on the fighters.
As he was looking around the gambling den standing in place, one person came up to Calian. She was a young girl with silver hair with a deep cleavage and short skirt one piece. Calian was slightly annoyed at the fact that she was wearing something that didn’t match her age. It was clear that she was wearing it not because she wanted to, but because she had no other choice.
The young girl soon wrapped her hands around Calian’s arm and pointed at an empty seat to go sit down together with.
‘Looks like she can’t speak.’
As Calian sat down, the girl took off for a bit and then came back to him, shoving a sort of tray to Calian’s hands. The tray was split in half by color, with one side black and the other white. It wasn’t too difficult to figure out what the tray was used for after realizing the situation.
You bet on black or white, and if you win you would win double your money and if you lost, you would lose triple the amount of money. The rules also stated that you cannot bet after 3 minutes had passed after the fight began. It reassures the gamblers somewhat by stating that they would never do such thing as fight fixing. Calian laughed at the reassurance that they were giving.
‘I’m sure it’s that they CANNOT do match fixing. There’s plenty of knights in the city, so they knew they could be one of the people watching as well. In anycase, you double your win, but lose triple your amount if you lose, huh. What a ripoff.’
Staring at the fighting arena and the men fighting for a bit, Calian pulled out 3 gold coins and put it down on the white side of the tray. He was betting that the man with the white headband was going to win. The young girl wrote down the number that Calian was given along with the 3 florens that he betted, gave the note to Calian and went back to her station.
Calian turned his gaze again. The man with the white headband was stunned by an attack that the black headband man landed on him.
“You should have went in lower!”
“Be careful of the elbow, you stupid!”
He heard yellings and swearings of those types from the crowd. Calian calmly closed his eyes instead as if he didn’t even need to see the outcome of the match.
Some time passed.
– Thump!
With a loud sound of a body landing, there was simultaneous sounds of cheering and jeering. As he opened his eyes, he saw the man with the black headband on the floor. It was hard to even make out his face, as he was beaten to a pulp.
The young girl who took Calian’s money a little while ago came over, took Calian’s piece of paper and then went back. It was a certificate that the man with the white headband that Calian bet 3 floren on has won and that the amount double of that will be paid to him.
“Okay then! Bloodsplattered Zerad has won again today! Now then, today’s third match shall begin!”
Since he said that the third match will begin, it seems that the first match had ended before Calian stepped inside the place. The man with the black headband was dragged away, and the man with the white one staggered out the steel cage.
There was no short break as the next match began immediately afterwards, and the young girl that came to Calian before came to him again. This time, Calian bet on the black side of the tray. However, this time he didn’t bet money, but the certificate of 6 florens that he won from the previous match. The young girl wrote down what he had betted again and left. It took around 5 to 10 minutes for each fight, and Calian would each time bet the certificate of winnings onto the tray and predicted who would win.
And so, the 10th round ended.
“The tenth round has ended. The winner is steel knee Panteron!”
The match host bellowed out his voice. Soon, the young girl walked over to him with the certificate of winnings over to him again, but her hands were slightly shaking.
It wasn’t hard for Calian to predict who the winner would be. So therefore, the 3 florens he betted in the first place already multiplied to 1500 florens, a massive amount of money.
Calian felt the gaze of the match host, as if he had received word about the gambler who was winning the bets constantly one after another. Calian simply gestured with his head to him. The gesture meant ‘go on with the next match already’. It was because he felt anxious and impatient.
‘I didn’t come here to gamble in the first place.’
Kyrie still didn’t arrive. Perhaps he got the wrong information, or perhaps the timing wasn’t correct. Or, perhaps he already lost Kyrie since he had left in the first match before Calian arrived.
In anycase, the match host had to begin the next match for the impatient gamblers, so he opened his mouth again.
“Now then. This is tonight’s final match. The winnings for the bets for this match is actually quadripled! I’m sure many people here had been eagerly waiting for this match!”
As he spoke, the crowd started to cheer loudly as if agreeing with the host, and the match host bellowed loudly as if carried by the crowd’s mood.
“Introducing! Blood hammer Shawn!”
A giant man with muscular body stepped in the steel cage, stomping his giant feet several times on the floor and then lifting both his hands in to the air, letting out a warcry. The crowd all cheered at the sight.
“And his match for tonight, the man who never gives up!”
The final round. The fact that he may actually not appear even at the final round of today, Calian nearly stopped breathing at the thought. As the match host spoke, his voice started to overlap with the memories he had set aside since long ago.
“To this date, he had lost ten rounds to him, but only just! He may not have ever won against Shawn, but will he have the same outcome today!?”
– At that time, I was shackled to a place where one earns money through fighting.
The challenger stepped into the steel cage. He had a black headband on. And above that headband, was his clearly waterish blue colored hair. Calian flinched at the sight.
“But don’t count him out yet. He came back much stronger than he was just yesterday!”
– But after my sister died, I escaped and left Kailisys.
The challenger lifted his head and looked around. His gaze went towards where Calian went, and thanks to that Calian was able to clearly see who he was.
“Introducing!”
One eye blue, while the other black. Odd colored eyes.
“Monster’s eye!”
Kyrie.
“Kryie!”
Found him.
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