After forty-nine days, Mark Reuss appeared at the balcony on the second floor again. This time, the two female slaves that came with him had been replaced by a Persian and a Parthian. They were doing their best to serve him as he sat in a chair.
Mark Reuss, however, didn’t seem too happy because the arena’s attendance rate had dropped again in the past two months. He had to increase the number of battles Habitus had to execute every month, and even that only managed to bring back some audience to the arena. Simultaneously, the greedy Habitus had also taken the opportunity to ask for a larger share and his commitment to growing him as the school’s trump card.
On the other hand, Mark Reuss had also got some political news from the front line. It seemed like the new emperor, Commodus, was unwilling to take over the mess left by his father, Aurelius, and he was preparing to negotiate with the Germanic. This was not good news to Mark Reuss because prisoners of war played an essential part in his gladiator’s pool. Most of the highly-talented gladiators were prisoners of war, not to mention that he had been busy looking for Sethnets’s successor. Mark Reuss could only pin all his hopes on Bach.
According to the tradition, a great gladiator show would be held each time a new emperor was crowned. In order to win the hearts of the people, this show was admission free and would be held in the Flavian Amphitheater, the largest arena in the entire Roman Empire. The arena funded by the royal family took 80,000 slaves and eight years to build and could accommodate up to 90,000 spectators. Considering its age, it had to be said that this was one of history’s greatest architectural wonders.
An arena without gladiators would be pointless, seeing how they were the highlight of the show.
Although the royal family also owned a gladiator school, it was not large enough to support a grand performance like this. It required the cooperation of several gladiator schools from the private sector to supply them with their gladiators. Of course, that didn’t come free of charge. After all, growing and training gladiators were known to be costly. However, since this performance’s nature was to win the hearts of the people, there would be no income, and the organizers had to bear the cost.
And asking money from the nobles and emperor was no easier than asking for money from the commoners.
Mark Reuss would lose a lot of money if he asked for too little money from the organizer, but he was afraid it would offend the powerful or the emperor if he asked too much. If that were to happen, he would not be able to stay in Rome anymore. Usually, Mark Reuss would choose to overlook the slight loss. By doing that, not only did he get to show his goodwill to the emperor, but he would not lose too much money too.
Still, this was something genuinely annoying to him.
Marco Cruz came to inspect his goods with all those troubles and dissatisfaction for the new emperor. He had spent a lot of money on this batch of slaves and had to know if the money he spent on them was worth it.
The order of the battle was decided by the lots drawn yesterday. After Gaby paid a respectful salute to Mark Reuss, he began to organize the assessment. The rules of the battles were the same as the gladiator performances, except that they would be using wooden weapons this time. In a one-on-one battle, each gladiator could only use one weapon. A sneak attack from the back was an act that the audience would despise. The other side could not attack his opponents if he admitted defeat. Besides, a trainer would be there to act as a referee during the battle.
After confirming that everyone understood the rules, Gabi started the roll call.
The first gladiator candidate that stepped on the stage was Griff. A Roman citizen, it seemed he was in luck. His opponent was a young man who had just become a gladiator for half a year. He was a little younger than the gladiator candidate, and his combat experience was not as rich. Nonetheless, the young gladiator won after a rather lengthy battle. The gladiator candidate didn’t fight back, but he managed to catch Griff’s weakness, eventually defeating him.
Gabi then commented, “You should concentrate more on the battle. You did fine during the first half, but later, you seemed distracted. And your attacks were not decisive enough. It is good to be cautious of your opponent, but sometimes, the situation requires you to make quick decisions. Even a wrong decision is better than hesitation.”
Griff looked a little frustrated when he heard the comment. He knew that Gaby was telling the truth. The fact that he was a newcomer, and this was the final assessment that determined his fate, it was inevitable that he would overthink everything. Sometimes he would hesitate to attack when he saw his opponent’s flaws, worried that it could be a trap. Hence, he missed a lot of good opportunities.
After Gaby watched Griff for a long while, trying his best to fight his opponent, he announced, “You pass the assessment.”
Griff’s expression instantly turned from worry to joy, and Gaby did not say anything after that. He let him stay in the room on the west side.
After Griff was a slave named Galata’s turn. His opponent was a well-known gladiator with three years of combat experience. If Griff was cautious of his enemy, Galata acted like he was going to face an invincible nemesis.
As soon as his opponent made a move, Galata quickly took a few steps back. And Gaby was displeased by his response. Fortunately, Galata soon realized that his action was going to cause him to lose some points. In order to make up for his big mistake, he ditched his defensive posture and started to attack his opponent.
However, his opponent keenly noticed the flaws in his attack and evaded Galata’s attack easily, managing to place his training sword on the latter’s neck in the next second. The battle did not last very long, and he won easily. Immediately, Galata’s face turned pale.
He looked at Gaby with an imploring gaze, but the latter remained unmoved. Gaby then announced in a merciless voice, “You’ve made bad decisions during the battle. You attacked your opponent without any plan, and your ability to respond to attacks is worse than a pig. You fail the assessment. Go to the house in the east.”
“For the sake of the hard work that I put in my training, please give me another chance. I wasn’t well prepared this time. Next time… the next time, I will not make this kind of mistake again,” pleaded Galata. He knew all too well what going to the house in the east meant. Since he failed the assessment and wasn’t a Roman citizen like Griff, the only fate that awaited him would be getting sent to the mines.
“But death will never give you a second chance, my child,” Gaby continued coldly. After that, he blinked, and two trainers pulled Galata away, who had almost collapsed on the ground.
On the second floor, Mark Reuss had not said a word, eating a fig peeled by a female slave next to him.
Having not much interest in the previous battles, the only thing that he really cared about was Bach. Today was the deadline he gave Gaby. He wanted to see how much improvement Bach had made after the hellish training given by Gaby. After all, he was the appointed successor of Sethnets. However, Bach’s battle was arranged almost at the end of the assessment. Hence, Mark Reuss could only wait patiently.
Once Galata was dragged away, Gaby spoke again.
“Zhang Heng, Garba, it’s your turn.”
