Today we set off toward the indicated location to at long last secure my spot as the Vesper Consortium’s Vesper Phenom ranked member.
Kaelira, or Ambition as I’ll have to call her from now on until we get home, received Kai’s wonderful parting gifts he left behind for me as her new teammates. While the issue of her having 5 ranged allies didn’t change, they were an extreme upgrade over the five archers. Shallan with her Anemomancer class and Liora with her Healer class were the biggest boosts she got, but the others were no chumps either.
Since Kai had left me with six wonderful subordinates but Kaelira could only have 5 Heralds, I left the trapper girl at home with the mission to transform the surroundings of my home into a nightmarish dead zone. I’d already thrown a lot of traps around, but my amateur handiwork made the girl erupt into a burst of laughter when she saw the traps lying around in a disorderly fashion, so I thought it would be best to leave things to her.
The six women had undergone a complete psychological transformation over the past month. In the beginning, they kept looking at me so that they could find proof that my claims and their contract’s clauses were just part of my sick perverted joke where I wanted to give them hope only to take it away when they least expected it, but they were forced to come into terms with the cruel fact that I just wanted strong combatants on my side, nothing more.
Once they accepted their new reality, their real personalities surfaced and we could see each of them lose their doll-like poker face and have cheery smiles, joke around with each other, and conduct many other normal human stuff.
As for Kaelira and her smithy, it was… uh, coming along. She kept asking me when it would be finished with big puppy eyes, but all I could say was ‘as soon as possible’. Money wasn’t the issue since a basic smithy didn’t cost much, but the manpower was just not there for now, so it was the two of us and the magnanimous help from Blossom and Lucille who worked on its construction in our spare time. Aurora was busy with manufacturing copious amounts of potions for our army. Without her, the number of deaths would’ve been an ugly, depressing statistic to look at.
Anyhow.
Our destination was once again in bumfuck nowhere. The Consortium smartly built their biggest bases away from everything, so we were looking at a week of travel on foot. We deliberately planned to arrive last minute so that we didn’t have to linger for more than necessary. The Consortium was not an ally I could trust, just an organization I wanted to milk for all it was worth.
The syndicate seemed to love their secrecy just as much as I did, so their biggest bases were always tucked far away from prying eyes. This time, though, we weren’t dealing with some shady outpost like before. No, when we arrived, we found ourselves staring at an entire hidden city.
It was impressive. The streets were alive with all sorts of questionable individuals – traders who were clearly dealing some illegal stuff, combatants looking for stuff, and I could even see smugglers getting ready to haul these illegal goods into Vraven Kingdom cities. However, there were also normal civilian-looking people as well.
The buildings were a mismatched bunch made of metal and stone, clearly built for function over form. Signs were displayed on top of multiple buildings, advertising everything from weapons to potions, and even places of adult entertainment were not hidden away in obscure alleyways, giving the place a unique, outlaw-style atmosphere.
We were let in without any trouble, which was nice for a change. One of the guards, a grizzled man who looked like he’d seen better days, grunted out a quick instruction.
“Things’ll start soon. Head to the arena.”
Simple enough.
The “arena” turned out to be a colossal structure smack in the middle of the city. It towered over the surrounding buildings. It was a massive, circular colosseum built from dark stone and reinforced steel. It wasn’t just a fighting pit; this was a place built for spectacle. Rows upon rows of seats stretched up to great heights, enough to fit many thousands of spectators. The outside walls were adorned with banners of the departments the Circle Members were heading. Their symbols were painted in bold, eye-catching colors.
When we stepped inside, the grandeur of the place became even more exceptional. The arena floor was huge, with a mix of dirt and stone tiles, probably to give fighters different terrain to work with – or just to make the blood stains less noticeable. Magically powered lights lined the walls, though they were not active for now since it was still daytime.
I could also see numerous artifacts I hadn’t seen before. They seemed to surround the arena. After a quick telepathic chat with Kaelira, I learned that they were defensive artifacts made to contain the destruction caused by the fighters from hitting the audience. How nice. Now normal civilians could also enjoy the show without having to fear for their lives throughout the entire duration of the event.
Speaking of spectators, the arena was filled. Loud chatter reverberated over the big space as thousands upon thousands of people huddled down into their seats. Numerous food merchants offered most assuredly severely overpriced meals and drinks to make the viewing experience even more pleasant.
Looking around, I couldn’t help but smirk.
“A bit over the top, isn’t it?” However, just then I managed to somehow lay my eyes on a friendly face. “I’ll be back in a bit,” I said to the ladies sitting next to each other and made my way over to Jasmine.
“Oh. Devil, long time no see.” She replied in a cheery tune while snacking on her popcorn – yes, she literally had a little popcorn basket in her lap. I’m assuming the vendors found some way to make it. While technology was not nearly as developed in these lands as it was back on Earth, one would have to remember that these people have a much longer history than the people of Earth. It’s just that due to the existence of magic and artifacts, the people who were in the position to develop technology didn’t do so, while the people who would benefit the most from said technologies, namely the common people, were not in a position to develop them, because they were always busy with starving, paying immense taxes, and growing potatoes.