"This cold feeling of killing!"
Suddenly turning his back in panic, the city lord looked in the direction the danger came from.
"A few servants and a scrawny female orc; I guess I must have been mistaken!"
Astute, moving to the prepared seat, signaled Quintus to start the matches. The chubby and ugly man, whose duty it was to make the opening speech as the owner of the arena, leaped from his seat excitedly as if a bone had been thrown in front of him.
At these moments, his son Epiphanes, after inspecting the final preparations of the gladiators, was taking his place next to his mother. The young man watched the city lord sitting in front of them with admiration and saw him as an example in every respect.
"My fellow citizens of Parthenia! Today, we have a guest who will honor our arena, which warriors bless by fighting to the death. Our supreme city lord Astute is among us, showing infinite grace and humility!"
Seeing the people getting riled up after his speech, which he made by shouting at the top of his lungs, Quintus's short hair stood on end. Taking a deep breath and puffing out his chest, he shouted, "Let the Fights Begin!"
While the arena was shaken, Nafız's mind remained on the tattoo she saw. She couldn't be mistaken; the owner of the tattoo was a member of the Black Lily Clan, but how had he managed to seize such an important duty?
"Nafız, you are very nervous because your friend will fight, but don't lose hope!"
When the polite and kind-hearted Eftelya saw that the orc standing next to her was terrified, she thought Nafız was scared because the person she loved was taking part in a fight to the death.
"Ma'am, can I tell you a secret?"
When the beautiful girl turned her back to speak to the female orc standing a few steps behind her, her father standing next to her also pricked up his ears to the conversation, wondering what it was.
"If you bet on my friend to win when he goes out to fight, you will definitely win!"
While Eftelya tried to make sense of her servant's words, Niko intervened and scolded her.
"Stupid thing! Not even once has an orc victory occurred in this arena before!"
Instead of being scared and cowering after the head of the house got involved, Nafız started speaking with more enthusiasm.
"Sir, I am one hundred percent sure my friend will win. I can bet my life on it!"
The words of the audacious orc surprised the father and daughter greatly. Just as a feeling of curiosity fell into Eftelya, an idea came to her mind.
"Daddy, since I came all this way, a small bet wouldn't hurt, right?"
When Niko, unable to resist the request of his daughter speaking with all her sweetness, bet on the orc, the leaders of the other two families also got involved in the event.
"You really love your daughter, my friend. Knowing you would lose, you put your money on the orc!"
As soon as the man with braided hair sitting on his right side finished his sentence, Quintus, completing his announcement, spoke with laughter.
"You were always soft-hearted like this, Niko, but even I, as the owner, am sure the orc you bet on will be defeated!"
"Father, girls decide only based on appearance. Being larger than normal must have pulled the wool over Eftelya's eyes!"
While the young girl's face fell after Epiphanes' words, Marcos chimed in.
"Uncle Niko, I think I will join this game too. Whatever amount you bet, I am putting double that on the warrior orc winning!"
With the words coming out of the mouth of the swarthy young man whose curly hair ended below his ears, the area where the three families were located filled with whispers.
The city lord, sipping his drink without being interested in the events among the others, had set about watching the fight of the warriors stepping into the arena. Although Astute seemed to rule the city through the council formed with noble families, in reality, these people had not an ounce of value.
The first fights were the section where gladiator schools sacrificed the orcs they bought from the slave market to the fighters of other schools. Novice gladiators cutting down weak orcs gained experience, and the atmosphere warmed up with bloody fights.
For many years, even since the arena was established, this process had continued without interruption. Today, there was nothing changed either. Human warriors were cutting down orcs, who were made slaves the moment they were born, like a lawnmower.
While the bloody traces of a few unfair fights wetted the arena, Alyon's turn came. Those in the section where the three noble families were located turned their attention to the arena not to miss what would happen.
"The moment I expected has finally arrived; I will take revenge for the humiliation you caused me that day!"
Epiphanes was muttering while checking out the beautiful Eftelya out of the corner of his eye. He had bet the amount of fifteen thousand gold, which he was willing to sacrifice to buy the female orc, on his own fighter losing. Considering the contrary bets of the two people he saw as rivals, he couldn't help his hands trembling from excitement thinking about the victory he would win.
"Niko, you can still back out. As your friend, I would be displeased to take your money!"
While Quintus, the ugly and fat head of the Agustus family, spoke to the father and daughter, contrary to the humility in his words, he looked like he was about to explode with arrogance.
"You've forgotten the old days too quickly. Has it ever been seen that I lost a bet against you?"
When Niko spoke rolling his eyes, which were the blue of open seas, he felt a familiar gaze wandering over him. The woman whose love he hadn't reciprocated since his youth was looking at him with indescribable feelings again.
"Those days are long gone, my friend; you will see that there is a first time for everything in a moment!"
While the two childhood friends were bickering, Fernandez was only watching them without intervening. The situation had been like this for as long as he could remember, and he had long accepted that it wouldn't change no matter what he did. He was just surprised that his son got involved in the event and made a bet.
"Little rat, you wouldn't enter any war you could lose. What happened that you showed the courage to take a risk!"
While the smile forming on his son's face, to whose ear he leaned and whispered, made the matter interesting, Marcos answered his father.
"The other day, when the slave to fight was sold, the female orc beside Eftelya was also there, and she showed me very interesting things!"
Fernandez, seeing that the female orc he turned his gaze to after his son's words was already watching them, started laughing.
"You always had good eyes; now I've become even more curious about the result of the fight!"
When the arena stopped churning with the excitement of the previous fight and calmed down, the parties of the next struggle came out to the field of honor from the slowly rising iron gates. On one side, while the armored warrior was riling up the audience by swinging his sword with artistic moves, the orc of abnormal dimensions stood calmly.
When Nafız took her eyes off the Cervantes family and turned them to the arena, she suddenly burst into involuntary laughter. The state of the orc in the arena wasn't really laughable, but when Nafız saw her friend turned into Captain Caveman, she couldn't restrain herself.
Alyon had put on an animal hide slung over one shoulder. His lower part looked like he was wearing a skirt due to the fur cut short so as not to hinder his movements. Together with the thick tree branch shoved into his hand, he was stepping into the arena as if representing the warriors of the primeval age.
The arena managers had taken every precaution not to cause any surprise in the orc massacre conducted under the name of first struggles. Compared to Alyon's wretched state, his opponent had armor and a real weapon in his hand.
Judging by his nervous state, the human warrior was new to the arena. After rigorous training, he had to prove his mettle, and like every gladiator, he would start the job by cutting down orcs.
"Heeeeyyyyyttttttttt!"
The warrior, starting to run while letting out a long yell, went after a fantastic strike by jumping into the air to kill his opponent gloriously and win the love of the arena. Meanwhile, Alyon had thrown away the branch piece in his hand and was taking a fighting stance by pulling his right foot back slightly.
The orc throwing the piece of wood, his only weapon, to the ground was met with astonishment in the area where the three families were located. After the move watched with arrogance by one side, astonishment by one side, and sadness by the other, only Nafız was sure and comfortable about the result.
The warrior, gripping his sword tightly and jumping into the air three steps away from his opponent, raised his weapon above his head as if wanting to split the orc in two with one blow. The whole arena was imagining the blood that would spray from the orc's severed head, but during the ten seconds of silence, no one could believe what they saw.
When his novice opponent attempted artistic moves, Alyon quickly stepped forward two steps and delivered a solid uppercut, lifting the dust on the ground into the air with his arms resembling iron sledgehammers. After this fascinating blow, which he delivered from so low that he almost touched his fist to the ground by kneeling, the human warrior's head would have to leave his body.
Alyon, killing his enemy, pointed to the sky with the index finger of his right hand. His gaze was on the spectators, struck dumb with astonishment.
Those in the section where members of the Three Noble Families were located hadn't shaken off the shock; only Eftelya stammered and asked Nafız, "How is this possible? What does the move your friend made mean?"
Although the Agustus house had distanced themselves from the moment with the sadness of the bet they lost, the members of the other two families heard the young girl's question and turned to Nafız to learn the answer.
"Here is what my friend means to say, little lady! I hit a man once, and there is no need for me to hit the one I hit a second time!"