Chapter 600: Combat Slave Exhibition
I figured out a while later that the guy who challenged me most likely only sought me out to get me to enter the tournament in the first place. He was probably some promoter or something hired to get people to join the tournament.
Him claiming that this was his seat was probably also bullshit and was just an excuse for him to rile me up to pick a fight with him, especially since he disappeared after that.
And because of that… I’m now looking at the ticket that marks me as an entrant to the tournament that would be happening later.
I learned that you needed a team of five people to enter not including yourself which would have put us at one person short.
So how did we manage to get past the numbers requirement?
That’s easy when I have a literal army of Shadow Guards following me around. All I have to do is call up Eins and she was entered as the fifth member of our team.
“This feels like cheating a little,” Lisa commented while looking at Eins.
Odeta tilted her head, “Huh? How? The rules just say to have a team of five that are serving the master or mistress right? So we’re not cheating at all!”
I think she was referring to the fact that Eins wasn’t exactly a person and we’re using her to skirt the rules for this.
Lisa shook her head, “Oh no, what I meant was that we have two Asters on our side. Even having just one is enough to probably wipe out all our competition but two? Yeah, I don’t think they stand a chance.”
Ah…
I scratch my cheek, “Umm… Maybe we should just forfeit after all?”
That was when an announcer got up on to the arena stage, “Good morning ladies and gentlemen!! Welcome to this year’s Combat Slave Exhibition! For those who have yet to register for the Combat Slave Tournament, you better hurry up and head down there because registrations are closing in one hour!!
There’s a lot of good prizes to be won this year including an all you can eat coupon for you and your slaves at any patisserie of your choice in the city!!”
“We’re going to wreck everyone and win this competition, ok?” I decided.
All of my companions gave me a weird smile before nodding their heads.
What?! The all you can eat coupon is not just for me but for everyone, ok?! And the sweets here are nice!!
The announcer continued, “There’s already a lot of participants this year and if you are short of slaves, you can either rent or purchase the missing number at any of the traders nearby! Also, do note that all participants have to be a registered slave! Make sure to get your companions collared if you want to participate with them!”
Yeah, that’s right… Of course only slaves could participate in the combat slave tournament so everyone agreed to be my temporary slave for the duration of the tournament.
Lisa seemed especially happy with her collar and I know exactly why.
They even had several Kalomancers who were going around helping people form slave contracts for a small fee. I spotted several parties of Mercenaries who were also using this service to participate in the tournament as well.
I wondered why they would even allow this since this exhibition was supposed to showcase slaves, then I realised that the common people attending the event would not know who were actual slaves and who were the temporary slaves.
Because of that, they might think some of the temporary slaves were actual combat slaves and feel more inclined to get a combat slave for themselves after witnessing the fight.
They really commercialised everything they could huh?
Oh well, it doesn’t concern me anyway… I’m just here to win the prizes.
In the meantime, we went back to the seats that we initially fought over and settled down to watch the first event.
The tournament we were participating in was the second event while another tournament was being held as the first.
The first tournament would involve a fight between the slaves trained by slave trainers of the Modgnik Republic so these two events were sort of like the professional leagues and the amateur leagues for us I guess.
With the announcer signalling the imminent start of the first tournament, most of the people around us started to find seats and settled down to watch.
The girls seated themselves around me so that no one could take a seat that was directly near me, forming a sort of wall around like how the other slaves were in the other sections of the stands.
Soon enough, the seats around us were filled to the brim and several people even had to stand since all the seats were taken up.
“Ladies and gentlemen!! The first round of the Combat Slave Exhibition will now begin!! For the first match, it is my great honour to bring you the slave trainer Bjorn!!”
Oh, it’s the guy who I met in the slave market and told me about this place.
He entered through a side door near the arena and behind him were five slaves that were a mix of different races and genders, all of them dressed in combat gear.
He raised his fist into the air and several people roared out in cheer for him.
I’m gonna bet that there’s gambling involved for this as well, though I did not see any brokers around taking bets so I assume they must be located elsewhere.
The announcer then gestured to the other side of the arena, “And for his opponent this round, we have trainer Taritia!!”
A female Mahun came in through the other door followed by her group of slaves that I noted were all male Mahuns.
She was even wearing a leather outfit with furs sewn on it while a long whip rested in her hands. Instead of waving at the crowd, she cracked her whip in the air and the roars of the crowd came in a wave, mostly from the men.
I’m pretty sure I heard several of them asking her to step on them…
“Now, will both contestants step up to the arena?” The announcer requested.
The slave trainers got up on the stage while their slaves waited below.
“Now, both of you already know the drill! We’ll decide who goes first with a coin flip and we’ll do a draw of how many times the trainer is allowed to support the fight. The fight will end once one side has run out of combat slaves to send out. Are both sides in agreement?”
Bjorn tilted his chin at his opponent, “Sorry Taritia, but I’ll be the one winning here.”
“Ha! This time it’ll be different Bjorn! I gave these five very special attention from yours truly and they won’t let me down! It is you who will be stepping off this stage!”
“We’ll see about that. Flip the coin.”
The announcer did as he was asked and a coin flipped through the air before landing on his open palm.
“Trainer Taritia will be starting first! Now trainer Bjorn will draw the number of support the trainers are allowed to give!”
The announcer pulled out a box with a hole at the top and Bjorn stuck his hand inside and dug around for a bit before pulling out, a folded piece of paper held in his hand.
The announcer took the paper from him and unfolded it carefully before raising it up into the air, “Trainers will be allowed to give a total of six supports during the course of the fight! Once you’ve used up these six supports, you will no longer be allowed to influence the fight from the outside! Trainers, take your positions!!”
Hmm… Despite joining the tournament, I’ve yet to have the rules explained to me so I’m not actually sure how this tournament is supposed to go.
They aren’t going to yell out commands for the slaves to do from the outside while taking turns, are they? I guess I’ll find out…
The two slave trainers stepped off the stage and the announcer moved towards the edge before gesturing towards Taritia, “Trainer Taritia! How many will you be sending first?!”
She turned to her slaves and gave a nod, prompting two slaves to step up onto the stage.
The announcer raised his hand into the air, “Trainer Taritia starts off the first round with two slaves! How many will trainer Bjorn be sending in the first round?!”
Bjorn crossed his arms and jerked his head at the stage while looking at one of his slaves which happened to be a male Wrunch.
The Wrunch nodded and stepped up onto the stage, towering over the two Mahuns in front of him.
“Oh! What a surprise! It seems trainer Bjorn has decided to only send out one combat slave against trainer Taritia’s two! Is he that confident of his own slave? Let’s find out! A note for the newcomers!
While inside the arena, the slave collar would automatically send a slave outside the arena when the slave receives a fatal blow, so there’s no need to leave your seats for fear of it being too bloody! That slave cannot be sent back into the arena again unless a support is used!
I suppose that was to be expected… Although I would not be surprised if there’s actually an event around here where the slaves actually kill each other.
“Are both sides ready?!”
The two slave trainers nodded.
“Then let the first round of the Combat Slave Exhibition… Begin!!!”
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