Chapter 7
After being banished from the fight club, Urich headed to the red-light district. It had become a routine for him and his partner. The courtesans took his coat as if they had been waiting for him.
“The usual tonight as well?” One of the women asked Urich as she handed him the hookah pipe. Urich raised his eyebrows in annoyance.
“Get that thing away from me.”
The woman knew what Urich meant just by the tone of his voice.
“What about some drinks?” The woman waved her glass in Urich’s face. He snatched the glass from her hand and threw it against the wall.
Crunch!
The glass shattered. The courtesan’s smile quickly faded away as she backed away from Urich.
“Dammit!” Urich yelled out of frustration, and it wasn’t because he had killed someone.
‘I couldn’t control my own strength.’
There was nothing more humiliating for a warrior than letting himself get out of control and allowing his body to become dull and slow. This was a big problem for Urich’s pride.
“Is this why you climbed the Sky Mountains? To get high and fuck women? Huh, Urich?” Urich yelled at himself in anger.
Bang!
Urich kicked the table in front of him so hard that it shattered against the ceiling.
“Ahh!”
The courtesans screamed out of terror and quickly fled the room.
“Damn, that Urich is causing another ruckus.”
The thugs who ran the red-light district exchanged worrisome glances with each other. By now, Urich’s name had been spread throughout the whole city. The undefeated champion, and now a man who had just killed another man with a single punch. The terrified thugs couldn’t do or say anything to the raging fighter.
“Where is Donau?”
“He just said he had some errands to run and left.”
Urich was left alone in the private room after the courtesans and thugs scurried out.
Cling.
Urich rummaged through his luggage to find his sword.
“Fordgal’s sword.” After his battle against Fordgal the Empire knight, Urich kept his sword. The light of the room reflected off the smooth and shiny blade.
‘This sword is made of great metal. It almost makes my other weapons seem like dull stone weapons.’
A good weapon makes a warrior feel euphoric. It becomes a partner that saves their lives. If a weapon breaks in the middle of a fight, its warrior soon faces the same fate.
Swish.
Urich closed his eyes and got into his fighting stance. He traced his memory back to his fight with Fordgal. In the middle of the ruthless Sky Mountains blizzard, the two men fought for their lives. At that moment, there were no excuses or justifications. Survival was the only justice.
Urich converged his mind on a single point.
‘The reason why I left my home to come all the way here…’
Cling.
Urich wielded his sword in a slow but controlled motion. Sweat beaded on his muscles.
‘…was to see what I did not know of with my very own eyes.’
His vision was no longer blurred. The fog that had been occupying the inside of his head had been cleared out.
“I’ve spent enough time here. It’s time for me to leave.”
Urich lightly spun his sword and slid it back into its sheath. Urich did enjoy his time in Ankaira. Every night was like being in heaven with all the liquor, weed, and women he could think of.
“Heaven is for the dead warriors, not those who are still living.”
Urich was a man walking on the path of a warrior.
* * *
Donau called Urich, saying he found a new way to make them money. Urich saw this as a good chance to leave Ankaira with some traveling money.
‘I’m going to need money regardless of where I go.’
Urich had already adapted to the new economic system that he was in.
‘If anything, I could rob people… but it probably isn’t the best idea to do it alone. It would’ve worked if I had a couple more brothers with me.’
Urich had the clarity back in his mind for the first time in what felt like ages. After he was banned from the fight club, He had stayed away from women, weed, and even liquor—basically everything that had been dulling his mind and slowing down his body. His sharp senses drew an invisible circle around himself. He was ready to slay anyone who dared to step inside it.
“This is a big one, Urich. If we pull this off, we’ll be set for months doing whatever we want.” Donau smirked as he patted Urich on the back.
‘You’ve helped me a lot in my time here.’
Urich was planning on parting ways with Donau once he made his last bit of money.
‘Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to adapt to this place.’
If Urich had come to Ankaira by himself, he would have been arrested and jailed for public disturbance a long time ago.
“An arena?”
The two men arrived at an arena. Urich looked at Donau with a questioning look on his face.
“You won’t be fighting with just your bare hands today. You get a sword. But don’t worry, it’s only a wooden sword.” Donau said to Urich with no expectation for him to understand any of his words. He was just hoping for Urich to go with the flow.
“There’s no crowd.”
The stands were empty with the exception of a handful of spectators, some of them armed.
“Hmm.” Urich was intrigued by the sharp gaze of the men in the stands.
‘They have blood on their hands.’
Men who have killed other men have a distinct bloody odor. These men would kill again without hesitation.
Clink.
Urich’s fingers twitched involuntarily, inching toward the hilt of his sword.
“He’s not bad, look at him getting ready to grab his sword right away. He’s got good battle experience,” one of the few spectators pointed out.
“You’re right. From a quick glance, he seems like he’d be a good purchase. I do have a good eye for these people,” a flamboyantly dressed middle-aged man agreed. He was a slave trader who specialized in gladiators.
“No need to keep your voices down. He doesn’t speak Hamelian,” Donau remarked.
“We’ll take that into the price consideration,” the slave trader replied with a slight grin on his face.
“Since when did you start caring about what language your gladiator slaves spoke? Just watch how he fights first.”
A wooden sword was sheathed in the center of the arena. A gladiator walked onto the arena holding another wooden sword.
“Go on, Urich, show them what you got!” Donau demanded Urich as he pointed at the wooden sword in the middle of the arena.
Urich narrowed his eyes in skepticism.
‘So that’s it, huh. They’re testing me.’
Urich drew the wooden sword. Its little weight indicated that it was hollowed out, not nearly heavy enough to kill anyone.
“A new gladiator slave. I’ll teach you a lesson, rookie,” the free gladiator said to Urich.
Step, step.
The two fighters walked in a circle, both with a wooden sword in their hand.
‘Come on, Urich, please give him a good beating. You have to drive your price up.’
Donau had an insidious grin on his face. As a slave, Urich would easily fetch a few million, maybe over ten million cils.
“Huph!” The gladiator swung his wooden sword with intent.
‘Good attitude, but too slow.’
Urich jerked his upper body back and dodged the swing. His eyes remained locked on the wooden blade.
Creak.
Urich reached for his opponent’s sword and snatched it out of his hand.
“H-huh?”
The gladiator couldn’t believe what just happened.
“Haha, you want it back?” Urich cackled at his dumbfounded opponent and tossed the sword back. The gladiator’s face turned bright red from the utter humiliation.
“You bastard!”
Urich threw his own sword on the ground and taunted his opponent by flicking his finger.
“Come at me.”
“I’ll kill you!”
The gladiator swung his wooden sword with all his might. Although he was consumed by rage, his technique remained under control. He was just unfortunate with the matchup.
Crush!
Urich snatched his opponent’s sword once again, and this time, by snapping his wrist.
“I’ve had enough of this child’s play. I’ve been wielding real blades since I was five.”
Urich threw the stolen sword on the ground behind him. This was no longer entertaining for him. His opponent was weak, and the fight didn’t have the thrill of a life-or-death battle.
“Ugh,” the gladiator groaned in pain as he stepped back with his flail wrist in his other hand.
“Stop right there! I’ve seen enough!” The slave trader who was watching the fight from the stands shouted at the two men in the arena.
‘What an amazing uncut gem.’ The slave trader couldn’t contain his excitement as a big grin spread across his face. He immediately called to Donau.
“How much!”
Donau’s weaselly brain spun the numbers as soon as he heard the slave trader’s words. It was time for a negotiation.
“How about you give me your offer first, Horus!”
“Five million cils.”
“Are you joking right now? He is worth at least fifteen million. You saw him yourself; he is amazing! You’ll never find one like this anywhere else.” Donau was giving all his effort to convince the buyer to pay what he wanted.
“Hah, it’ll take months for me to train a slave who doesn’t even speak Hamelian into a proper one. I’ll give you eight million cils for him.”
“You know what, fine. I’ll be nice and keep it under ten million. Nine and a half million.”
“Nine million and we have a deal here,” Horus the slave trader proclaimed as he set his final offer.
“Nine million… Very well. I’ll take the payment upfront. I’ll treat him well with a ton of food and a great place to sleep for his last night,” Donau giggled as he thought about the fortune that he had just made off of Urich.
‘Thank you so much, Urich. Not only did you save my life, but you are leaving me with such a big paycheck.’
Horus took out his shiny gold coins from his inner pocket.
“Here’s three million cils, for now. You’ll get the rest after we’ve completed our deal, Donau.”
Donau reached for the gold coins as he smiled at Urich.
“Look, Urich, we’re rich now, hehehe. Let’s have some fun with this, shall we?”
The gold coins clinked as they clashed together in Donau’s grasp.
“Hmm,” Urich spoke in an undertone as he scratched his head and took a look around himself.
‘Two armed warriors.’
Horus had two guards by his side. They were yawning as they were patiently waiting for the transaction to be over.
“Look at all this money, Urich! Haha!” Donau was blinded by the money in his hands. He didn’t know how to stop himself from smiling as worldly greed took over his mind.
Slash.
It only took half a second or maybe less.
Urich snatched the sword from the yawning guard and drew it in the blink of an eye. His hands were faster than anyone else’s.
Clang.
The gold coins clattered to the ground. Donau fell to the ground as he let out an excruciating scream.
“M-my hand, my hand! A-ah… Ahh!”
His right hand was cut off. Urich’s blade was covered in Donau’s blood. No one was able to react to Urich’s sudden movement. If he wanted to, he could have killed Horus as well on a whim.
“U-ugh, ugh!”
Urich yanked the groaning Donau by his hair and threw him to the ground. The guards looked for a signal from Horus, but Horus stood by and just watched.
“Open your mouth, Donau. I’m going to cut out your tongue now,” Urich calmly said to Donau. The words coming out of his mouth were being spoken in Hamelian. Slurred, but it was clearly Hamelian.
‘When did he learn to speak our language? Or has he always been able to?’
Donau was speechless. He dropped his head as he trembled in fear and pain.
“Urich, sir, please have mercy on me. We were g-good friends, were we n-not?”
“Speak slowly and clearly. I can’t understand you if you speak too fast,” Urich told Donau as he wiped his blood off the blade.
“Let me live, please. I’ll do anything, anything.”
“That’s enough talking. Just open your mouth.”
“U-ugh… Ugh!”
Urich shoved his fingers inside Donau’s mouth. He dug his nails into Donau’s slippery tongue and pulled it out with force.
“Say goodbye to your tongue. It worked really hard for you!”
Snip—!
Urich swung his sword lightly. Donau’s slimy tongue fell to the ground. His deafening scream filled the entire room. Urich wiped his bloody hand on his pants as he got up.
“Ooh… A-ahh.”
Donau wailed as he rolled around on the ground. He was bleeding out, but no one lifted a finger to help him. He was as helpless as a mere worm.
Sss.
Urich’s eyes were as calm as ever after he had killed Donau. He felt no rage from the betrayal. He tossed the sword back to the guard whom he had stolen from as if he was just doing what he had to do.
“Nice sword. You must take very good care of it—well done. I used it well,” Urich said to the guard as he lightly shrugged.
‘Scary bastard.’
Horus broke out in a cold sweat. His clothes were sticking to his back from being soaked in his sweat.
‘That is not a beast to be tamed.’
Horus didn’t even consider ordering his men to try to capture Urich. Even if they succeeded, a mad dog like Urich would never listen to its owner.
“It seems like you two had a miscommunication. We’ll be on our way and don’t worry, I won’t call the guards. It looked like self-defense to me,” Horus said to Urich as he scurried to pick up the gold coins near Donau’s cold, severed hand.
“Where do you think you’re going? Our negotiations aren’t over yet,” Urich said to Horus as he set the tipped-over chair straight and took a seat with his arms lazily crossed.
“What do you mean?” The wrinkles around Horus’ eyes deepened.
“I’ll work for you as your gladiator. Are you not one of those people who go around making money off gladiator fights?”
Horus was a very calculative man. He took a seat across from Urich.
“A gladiator who is not a slave gets to keep half of the money they win from the fights. We’ll take care of your food, drinks, and clothes, of course.”
“And the women?”
“That goes into the ‘food’. Was that not obvious?”
Urich laughed out loud at Horus’ comment.
“Hah, I don’t mind that at all. Alright, let’s shake on it, then.”
Urich held out his hand. Donau’s severed hand on the ground not too far from them made Horus hesitate to reciprocate, but he forced himself to do so as nonchalantly as he could. The new partners shook hands in agreement to their new deal.
“Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Horus, and I am a broker of gladiator battles. I also dabble in slave trades.”
“And my name is Urich.”
“Welcome, Urich.”
The deal was complete.
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