Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 93

“Look over there! It’s Captain Kamren of the third legion.”

Dante’s eyes followed the path of Leah’s pointed finger into a viewing booth. The man she was indicating was middle aged with a rather imperious air. He very much looked the part of a captain.

Leah’s arm swiveled as she pointed at a new target, this one was in the hall they were walking down. The youth was around their age and surrounded by a contingent of guards that was only slightly smaller than their own. “That is Greggory Arnost. His father leads the Purple Falcons, one of the largest mercenary groups stationed in the valley.”

Leah’s arm moved again. “And that’s-”

“Leah. Be quiet.” Candice rolled her eyes. “You’re babbling again.”

Leah glanced at him in embarrassment, her face flushing a deep shade of red. “Sorry…”

Dante waved a hand dismissively. “There’s no need to apologize. The information really is valuable.” Leah had already pointed out over a dozen prominent figures, and truthfully, it was a bit much.

Hearing his response, Candice rolled her eyes a second time.

“You said that Captain Kamren was a part of the third legion? I thought that Sloria only had mercenary groups.”

Elizabeth answered his question. “That was the case initially. But shortly after Sloria was founded, it became increasingly obvious that there was a need for a consolidated power. Five legions were formed, and they are only answerable to the first lady or city lords.”

The creation of a consolidated power would have helped equalize the influence of the city lords, he wondered what would have led them to such a decision. “I still have a hard time believing that a city like Sloria could exist in the wastelands.”

Elizabeth lightly snorted. “Creating Sloria wasn’t hard, maintaining it is an insurmountable challenge.”

Dante’s head tilted slightly. “Are there that many issues?”

“More than you can imagine.” Their group stopped moving outside one of the larger viewing booths. This one had a door for privacy, which was rare. The guards that were following them lined up outside, joining the other guards that were already there. It seemed that whoever they were meeting was also of a high status.

Elizabeth opened the door and stepped through. He, Candice, and Leah followed closely behind her. From their brief interaction thus far, he had already come to understand that Elizabeth was the leader of the group.

The viewing booth was like all the others. A decent-sized open room that had a rail on the far side instead of a wall. It allowed everything in the pit below to be easily seen, even though it didn’t offer much in the way of privacy.

There were four others in the room, all of them looked to be in their late teens. Two of them, a boy and girl, were off to the side chatting. They completely ignored their group’s entrance, and judging by the way they were interacting, were a couple. Other than those two, there were two other males. One had black hair and refined features, the other had dark blonde curls and a rough face that spoke of violence. They both turned to Elizabeth with a smile on their faces, but the dark blonde’s smile tightened when he saw who was following behind her.

The boy with the dark blonde curls locked eyes with him. “It’s bad enough that you let those two line-drawers follow you around, but must you also pick up every piece of trash that you come across?”

Dante noted that he was drastically underdressed for his current company. Even Candice and Leah could be considered underdressed, even though only slightly. The others in the room were wearing clothes that even Melisandre would consider to be up to standard.

He was also surprised by how Leah and Candice took his insult, or at least what he thought was an insult. The two of them just looked away awkwardly.

Elizabeth glared at him. “Feeling a bit insecure? Who I chose to be friends with doesn’t have anything to do with you, Arron.”

Arron snorted disdainfully and turned to lean over the rail so that he could watch the fights taking place below.

Elizabeth gestured to the black-haired man. “This is my brother, Cade. Cade, this is Dante.”

After Elizabeth mentioned that they were related, he realized that they truly did resemble each other. Cade stepped forward with a smile and shook his hand eagerly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Dante returned the smile. “Likewise.”

“You’ve already had the distinct pleasure of meeting Arron.” Elizabeth then pointed to the other two that were in the room. “That’s Cassius and his girlfriend Kara.”

Cassius and Kara looked up momentarily to nod in greeting before they resumed their private chat.

Elizabeth stepped toward the railing so that she could watch the fights below. “Has Ferris already started fighting?”

Cade shook his head. “No, but he seems eager. Now that you’ve arrived, I’m sure he’ll be stepping onto a stage soon.”

Dante moved to where Leah and Candice were standing by the rail, they were somewhat removed from the others in the room, but still close to Elizabeth. “Do you guys know Ferris?”

Candice nodded. “Elizabeth does. She, Cade, Ferris, Arron, and Cassius are all children of the city lords, so they try and maintain a decent relationship between themselves.”

Leah whispered into his ear conspiratorially. “Elizabeth and Ferris have a very decent relationship.”

Dante’s eyebrows raised slightly. He didn’t think that he would be in a room with such important people. Also, Arron’s initial reaction no longer made much sense. He had thought that Arron was jealous, but if Elizabeth was already with Ferris, Arron shouldn’t have reacted like that.

“There he is!”

Dante cast a sideways glance at Elizabeth. She seemed both excited and nervous, and he could see her knuckles turn white as her grip on the rail tightened.

He followed her gaze down to the arena where a single figure was stepping on the stage to challenge another fighter. He could see why Ferris was so popular. Something about the way he carried himself seemed so imposing, yet elegant at the same time.

Ferris was looking up in their direction and smiled, likely at Elizabeth, and off to the side he could see Arron frown. It seemed like there was a love rivalry, probably an unwanted one from the looks of things.

Dante turned back at Leah and Candice. “What are the rules for the Combatant’s Hall?”

Candice shrugged. “There aren’t many. Step on the stage to fight. Lose when you are knocked off the stage, concede, or are unable to continue.”

That was an interesting change from the academy’s arena. Logically speaking, the easiest way to handle an opponent would be to knock them off the stage. “Anyone can just step onto a stage?”

“As long as you are registered and there aren’t already two combatants on the stage.”

This Combatant’s Hall was interesting indeed. “Are there any rules against killing your opponent?”

“Yes, the punishment for killing in a regular fight is death or crippling depending on the intent of the killer.” Leah cast a glance in Arron’s direction. “Of course, there has been an exception.”

Seeing his expression, Candice explained. “Arron broke that rule some time ago. It caused quite the commotion. By the time things finally settled, he was flogged publicly and banned from fighting in the Combatant’s Hall.”

It was strange that public flogging and a ban seemed like a harsh punishment for killing in a fight. But that was probably because of his past experience at the academy. The punishment for killing there was only a three-day ban.

On the stage below, Ferris started fighting. He was up against some kind of close combat fighter. That fighter ran forward and Ferris merely held up his hand. From his palm, fluttering black objects that looked like butterflies flew toward his opponent. The butterflies swarmed his attacker, completely covering him for several seconds before vanishing. When they finally disappeared, Ferris’ opponent was already knocked unconscious.

It was quite the performance.

“You seem pretty interested in the Combatant’s Hall, are thinking about fighting yourself?” Leah said the words teasingly, as though the idea of him actually fighting was ridiculous.

Dante shrugged. “I might try it out. I don’t really see the point though. What do fighters get if they win?”

Both Candice and Leah seemed genuinely surprised by his answer. Apparently, he didn’t look like much of a fighter. Candice spoke. “Fighters are given a small percentage of the hall’s profits from the betting, should they win.”

Leah waved her off. “That’s not important.” She looked at him seriously. “You shouldn’t try to fight on stage. Killing may be prohibited, but serious injuries are still frequent. More than one person who tried their luck has been permanently disabled.”

Below them, another fighter stepped up on the stage to fight Ferris. This time it was a magic Classification. Ferris’ butterflies seemed to eat through his opponent’s mana shield, and other than that, it was a repeat performance.

It was almost funny how genuinely worried Leah seemed. “Don’t worry. Even if I can’t win, I’m confident in my ability to avoid being injured.”

Leah didn’t seem so sure, and was about to say something when Arron snorted disdainfully. “Nothing but empty words. Every fighter down there is a hardened mercenary. If you stepped on one of the stages you wouldn’t last more than five seconds.” Apparently, he was listening in on their conversation.

He couldn’t help but think that Arron was a moron for just baselessly assuming that someone was weak. That was a great way to get yourself killed.

Leah glared at Arron. “At least he can fight in the Combatant’s Hall.” Leah froze, as if just realizing who she had just spoken to.

Thankfully, Arron didn’t seem too upset by her words. He merely smiled coldly. “I’m not banned from all nine stages.” As the sound of his voice faded, he looked back to the fights that were occurring below, completely ignoring them.

That reminded him of a rather important detail that he had neglected thus far. “What is the stage in the middle for?” The large stage that was surrounded by enchantments and ornately etched with gold still hadn’t been used.

Candice answered. “Sometimes it’s used for events or preplanned matches. Most of the time, it’s used for deathmatches.”

That sounded absolutely delightful. “What does the enchantment do?”

Leah looked at the enchantment disdainfully. “Originally, master just created a common barrier enchantment. But because someone wanted to use the enchantment as a decoration, they had another enchanter come in and add extra lines.”

That certainly caught his attention. “Your master is an enchanter?”

A deafening roar rocked the stadium. Ferris had just blasted an opponent that he was fighting equally with off the stage.

Leah nodded with a hint of pride. “Our master is actually the best enchanter in Sloria. Candice, Elizabeth, and I are her only apprentices.”

It was interesting that Elizabeth, as the daughter of a city lord, focused on a noncombat Classification.

Dante smiled. “The three of you are quite impressive. I’ve always had an interest in enchanting. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t receive the Enchanter Classification.”

Candice looked between the two of them and smirked. “It’s not that impressive. Even though Leah has high attainments in enchanting, Elizabeth and I could only be thought of as beginners.”

I tinge of red spread across Leah’s cheeks, the reason for Candice’s offhanded compliment was obvious. She was trying to raise his opinion of Leah. “I’m not that good.” She looked at him seriously. “If you’re interested in enchanting, you should stop by the Enchanter's Hall tomorrow. Even if you can’t pick it up as a profession, you could still benefit from learning the basics.”

Dante thought it over for a moment. He really did need to learn enchanting, but he was pretty sure Leah only invited him over because she was interested in him. It would be a bit much to lead her on so that he could learn enchanting and then disappear two days later. “I would love to learn the basics, but I’ll only be in Sloria for three days. Would we have enough time for me to pick up on a few things?”

As he expected, Leah’s excitement was visibly deflated, she still smiled though. “Of course! Even just one hour could be of benefit to you.”

Dante nodded gratefully. “I’ll have to rely on you then.”