"Take the slave, we're leaving here immediately!"
The beautiful-faced young man, shouting after pointing at the hulking orc to his bodyguards, started to move away from the exhibition with quick steps.
"Come here, scum, or I'll drag you!"
When the bodyguard pulled on the chains with ambition, his aim was to make Alyon fall to the ground, batter him a bit, and get into his boss's good graces. Considering the atmosphere created, his plan was perfect, but there was a point he missed. No matter how much he pulled, the orc at the end of the chain didn't move an inch.
Epiphanes, seeing that the bodyguards remaining behind him were not bringing the prisoner, went berserk.
"You bring the orc here, or your heads will stay here with him!"
When the bodyguards, starting to sweat bullets, grabbed the chain all together, they looked at each other in disbelief at what was happening. Even though they pulled with all their might, they couldn't make the hulking orc take even a single step. They withdrew the pressure on the chain in despair, and a miracle happened for them.
Alyon, understanding that the humans were slaves even without collars around their necks, had started to follow them with calm steps. Marcos, watching what was happening, also left the region after enjoying the moment for a short while and headed towards the customs gate belonging to him.
"Hello orc, we must set off now!"
When Eftelya called out to Nafız with her enchanting voice, the orcs carrying the palanquin moved to change their direction. Nafız, surprised by Alyon's gesture, was startled by the carriers calling out.
"Follow us! The little lady wants to return home; we're in no mood to wait for your pleasure!"
"Walk on, you milkman's nag. Is all this ass-kissing just because they didn't put a saddle on your back?"
Nafız was not a person to mince her words. The rickshaw orcs blushed with anger, but a laughter was heard from inside the box covered with tulles.
"I'm hearing this kind of talk for the first time. Judging by your previous actions too, it seems we're going to have a good time with you!"
When the group arrived in front of the mansion inside high walls passing the rest of the way in silence, Alyon was also entering through the gate of the Agustus gladiator school. The hulking orc, entering through the gate amidst the gazes of the heavy armored soldiers standing guard, would attract the attention of others doing training fights by kicking up a cloud of dust.
"New goods have arrived? I wonder how long this one will last?"
"Ha ha ha! The previous one wet himself out of fear. Isn't he an orc; he'll die before seeing the first battle!"
Although the words of the crowd training in the garden of the gladiator school were full of arrogance and humiliation, it was obvious they were speaking the truth. The role assigned to orcs for arena fights was to be the fatted calf for the main character to slaughter.
What could orcs, reaching adulthood on the road due to the ruthless methods of the orc tribe, do at this wolves' table where they picked up a sword for the first time?
"A handful of softies playing soldier! Do they pay money to watch these?"
Although Alyon didn't fall for the provocations, he couldn't help but answer. He called out to the bodyguard pulling the chain tied to his neck in a way everyone could hear.
"Look at the hulk; I hope your hand works as well as your jaw?"
When Alyon heard the voice of the man who was at least a head taller than other humans, large-built, and had many scars on his body, though not as much as himself, he turned around and looked in that direction.
"Instructor Morrison!"
The gladiators, interrupting their work to mess with the newly arrived orc, brought their hands to their chests and saluted upon the appearance of this person.
"Lock him in the dungeon. Let's see how long he can last!"
The dungeon the instructor sent Alyon to was the place of punishment for those causing trouble in the school. While the other gladiators grinned wickedly upon hearing this, the bodyguards set off to take the hulking orc to the ordered place. Alyon, entering through a small door opening towards the underground, was following the steps of the bodyguard walking in front of him.
Finishing the stairs and stepping on the ground, the group had descended to an area with facing cells. The cells, surrounded by purple alloy iron bars, were places where gladiators stayed outside of training and battle.
When the door of the place where he would stay appeared at the end of a long corridor, Alyon's gaze suddenly changed. The outside of the place, which had an entrance half his height, was completely built of stone except for the door.
"Thank you for what you did at the market; you saved our lives. The height of the inside is as much as the door you will enter; this place, which is torture even for a normal human, will be hell for you!"
The words of the bodyguard, trying to make him fall by pulling on his chain, had pushed the giant orc's thoughts into pessimism. When the door opened with a weeping sound after a short silence, Alyon turned to the bodyguards and said, "When will they make me fight for the first time?"
"The next matches are three day-cycles later; keep your wits about you until then!"
Alyon had already started murmuring, lying on his back in the dungeon he entered almost by squatting.
"Only three days, do you think you can daunt me with this?"
While her friend Alyon was having tough times being bought after a simple bargain, Nafız was quite comfortable in her new home she came to following the events that turned into a duel of two noble families. In the large mansion she entered together with the little lady of the house, she was only acting as an aide to her.
Using this closeness, she became privy to a secret many people didn't know. Eftelya, despite her delicate beauty and enchanting voice, was actually a very sick girl. The young girl, who lost her mother during her birth, suffered pain attacks that struck from time to time and couldn't control her body from the waist down.
Nafız, approaching the girl she wheeled around in a wheelchair made for her with pity at first, couldn't help but admire her as days passed. Her father, sealing his heart after her mother's death, had only taken care of his daughter, bought whatever she wanted, and done whatever she wished. Despite this, the little girl had managed to grow up without compromising her polite and merciful character at all.
"Nafız, how is the outside world? How do people live outside this city?"
Eftelya, constantly wandering with two bodyguards around her, called out to the female orc who had to walk five steps away.
"Ma'am, I am an ignorant orc; I can only describe the tribe I was born in!"
"Never mind, you are the smartest orc I have seen so far. That's why I couldn't leave you in the hands of that cruel man!"
Nafız didn't want to reveal herself immediately in the place where she lived her third day yet. She had no choice but to give evasive answers to the young girl's questions.
"Did you know, there are fights in the arena today. The orc I assume is your friend will also fight there today. What a pity, there hasn't been an orc who survived stepping into the arena yet!"
Pretending to be surprised at what she heard, Nafız answered Eftelya in panic.
"My Lady, that orc is the person I love. According to what you say, he will die today; if I wanted to see him for the last time, would I be going too far?"
As the young girl's soft heart tightened due to Nafız's pained facial expression and what she said, her breathing became frequent.
"Prepare my palanquin immediately; I want to be at the arena before the fights start!"