The next few weeks were filled with a lot of learning. I got some documents from the local government of Messana. It was a mess. I don’t know how they managed to keep the city running. There is a head tax which everybody has to pay and there is the tax on business which is also a fixed amount. In fact, all taxes were fixed amounts.

I discussed my findings with teacher and we looked over a few alternative taxation systems. The fairest and efficient were the percentage and stage based systems. Niloticus gave me his opinion on my ideas and gave me the task to find my own system, once I reached Alexandria.

The town also had a big problem with homeless people and criminals. The guards never entered areas not controlled by wealthy or noble people. And it was easy to bribe them. I did so myself, just for tests of course. Could be useful later on.

They had at least a good administration within the controlled areas. Family registers, tax records or business revenue were established and maintained. Some records didn’t add up, but it came as no surprise to me, that those officials are also bribable.

The city was a good example of what I didn’t want to be the norm in my realm. There would be a need for extensive reforms sooner than later. The biggest problem would be to keep corruption to a bare minimum and trusted officials and guards to enforce laws.

The ruler of the city did one thing right and better than Napule. The trade with outsiders was tax-free. It made the city a hotspot for traders around Italia. I have already visited some markets and planned to visit others. Trade seemed to be the backbone of this cities economics.

I got more books from teacher again and had to solve his tasks with the help of those books. It good easier for me to find and solve Niloticus’ problems. My combat and magic training also allowed for more interesting bouts with Alaric.

We mostly stayed to unarmed combat, because I lose every time we fight with melee weapons and he can’t really stop my bolts with a sword, though with a proper shield I would lose again. Alaric’s aim was also awful, so he lost the ranged competitions.

The gap between me and Alaric in close combat seemed to grow smaller and smaller with each bout. His stronger physics as a vampire was one, if not the biggest problems in our mock battles. That also showed in our current fight.

I looked closely at Alaric’s mana flow. It gave me the time I needed to read his moves and prepare a counter. He tried to swing his left fist into my stomach. A rather painful prospect. I saw his goal and steeped back to evade.

When I realized, that my retreat was not fast enough I diverted the blow with my right arm. It was smarter to divert Alaric’s attack than to block them. It always ends with bruised arms, when I block. He just hits too hard.

He casted a spell to move him forwards. Alaric used them more often now since I can keep up with him better. I used his thrust forward as an opportunity to sidestep to the left. In hindsight, not the best idea. Alaric’s used his outstretched arm to tackled me to the ground.

“Ow, that one hurt good”, I complained to my friend.

“Next time evade faster and out of my reach. You were wide open”, Alaric said and smiled at me. Fangs exposed. The vampire really likes to win and is one of the sourest losers I have ever met.

“It’s not fair. You are faster and stronger by birth”, I brought attention to my biggest problem. “I can’t achieve that speed and strength.”

“No, you can’t. Not without magic, which you are clearly missing, but you could better your technique and reaction time. Your sight should give you an early warning”, Alaric helped me up.

“It’s not like my sight is perfect. It’s fucking hard to find out what the change in your mana means. I know that something is coming, but not what is coming”, I complained again.

“You will figure it out in time. Just get beat up more. It seemed to help you so far”, Alaric laughed and I caught myself smiling as well. As painful and one-sided as the training was, it helped me a lot. The vampire was also good company if you get to know him a bit.

“Let us call it a day for today. The others will be waiting in front of the arena”, I told him and we packed our things. We headed to the arena together, after cleaning ourselves. No reason to smell bad around your friends. Anaitis had showered us personally the first time we met after a bout. Her magical created water is always so cold.

When we reached the arena the others were already waiting. Constantine and Valerius joined us today. I spent more time with them since they also lost their home in Napule. It was also good to have more contacts. Constantine showed talents in diplomatic affairs, while Valerius is being trained to be the next head of Napule’s guard, despite its evident destruction.

I also wrote letters to other acquaintances from my birthday. Brizo served in our navy, directly under Titania. Juladia was serving under her mother. To quote her herself ‘I’m exterminating vermin’. No need to go into the gory details.

Statilia was learning administrating in the province of her parents, the province of Syracusa. The Oakenshields siblings were learning different crafts and how to manage the guilds and craftsmen. Next month we would all meet together.

“Hello, I think we are all present. Let’s get in”, I ignored the looks I got. It was Alaric’s fault, that we were late. He wanted one last bout.

We reached our places. Alaric had reserved a loge for us. We would be isolated from the rest of the audience and had a nice view of the fight. The extra services in the lounge were also nice. It has its benefits to be a noble.

We sat down, Alaric to my left and Constantine to my right. The first fight started shortly after. Six gladiators entered the arena from one side and three beasts from the others. The gladiators had the brand of a phoenix burned onto their backs. Titania branded higher officers of the enemy army with our national symbol.

They were three women, an elf and two humans. The men were an elf, a human and a sea-folk. I didn’t know what kind of sea folk he was, but Anaitis enlightened me.

“He is a fin-folk. They live mostly on the smaller Mediterranean islands”, she explained.

The beasts were a young wyvern, a dire wolf and a massive black cat.

“Aellelorn do you know which race the last one belongs to?”, I asked the elf.

“That is an oceous. They roam the forests in southern Italia. You can compare them to other big cats”, he explained. I focused back on what happened in the Arena.

The wyvern tried to fly away, but it hit a dome-like shield. The creature decided to land again, after trying a few times to break the magic. The gladiators used the chance to advance on the dire wolf.

They had no armour, one spear and a short blade. The oceous stayed back and waited for a chance. Two gladiators watched the cat and one the wyvern. The wolf and the rest of the gladiators meet in the middle.

The wolf charged one of the fighters and jumped on him. The lying gladiator kept the maw of the wolf away with his spear. It seemed to be quite durable wood because the wolf didn’t manage to bite through it.

The other two gladiators saw the opening. One spear embedded into the wolf’s side and a blade through his eyes. The creature ceased its struggle and fell limp. The gladiator’s attempt to stand up failed. The wolf seemed to have broken something within him. He also got a lot of wounds from the claws.

The other gladiators ignored their comrade and turned to the oceous. The wyvern ignored them all and started to eat the wolf. The cat had received a few wounds, but also managed to injure another of its enemies.

They circled the cat and attacked at the same time. Painful shrieks run through the arena until one of the gladiators put the animal out of its misery. Impaled by four spears and a dagger. I winced at the sound and could see, that Aellelorn also felt uncomfortable.

While the gladiators killed the second beast, the wyvern moved from the wolf to the lying fin-folk. It seemed more interested in the screaming thing than the dead wolf. It circled him a few times and bit into his limbs. The painful screams of his victim made me shiver in fear. Was there a fate worse, than dying while being eaten?

The wyvern lost interest in the limbs and bit into the stomach of its prey. It looked up when the other gladiators approached. The intestines were still in its mouth and connected partially to the man. The wailing and screams of the victim got louder until it suddenly just stopped.

I felt like puking at the scene. I had just seen a man be disembowelled by a wyvern. The next nights would be sleepless. I forced myself to look at the gladiators and tried to forget the scene. The five people circled the beast, one visible injured.

They attacked at the same time and tried to inflict as many wounds as possible. Their strategy seemed to work until one of them was impaled by the wyvern’s stinger. The human woman watched in horror as the wyvern threw her against the dome. Right in our direction.

She splashed against the dome. There were three meters between us and the remains of the woman. Most of it fell down, while some things stuck to the barrier. I got up and puked into the next best bowl. A shame for the salad.

I could hear how others had followed my example. Constantine was the only one, who just turned his head away. Alaric showed no signs of unease and just changed places to get a better view. I couldn’t believe, that the scene didn’t produce a reaction in him.

He even fucking smiled! I didn’t know how the fight ended but also didn’t care. We sat all in our places again, after 30 minutes of recuperation. Everybody was a bit paler than before. Nobody spoke about what had happened. Well, except …

“You really should have seen the end. The last one who lost was eaten alive from his legs”, Alaric explained to us how the fight ended. The wyvern had won, but not without sustaining heavy injuries.

“How … why didn’t you react to … that?”, I asked my friend.

“Have experienced worse in my training. You get used to it with time”, Alaric said and I left it at that. I didn’t know what kind of training the children of house Dracula undergo and would probably like to keep my ignorance. He might tell me later when we knew each other better.

“That was a rather uncomfortable experience. A first for me as well”, Constantine said and we just nodded at his statement.

I tried to focus on the current fight in the arena. Afraid to relive the scene in my head again. Currently, two people were fighting. Both with small round shields and short swords. One had a few scratches, while the other seemed uninjured. The first a human and the other an elf.

The fight continued one-sided. The elf attacked again and again. His opponent did her best to block or evade but was time and time again too slow. More and more wounds marked her body. The soil reddened around the woman.

The elf tried to pierce into the thigh and this time the human didn’t evade or block the attack. The sword went into the thigh. Elven eyes opened wide when the enemy held his hand firmly and sword tight in her own. Ignoring the fact, that her thigh was pierced. The human pulled the elf forward and headbutted him. The sword followed into the elven chest soon after.

The human woman collapsed as well. Somebody rushed into the arena and tended to her wounds. Guards from the arena entered and cleaned up the area. The human was carried away on a stretcher, now visible less pale.

“Hmm, I really didn’t expect her to win the fight. The elf shouldn’t have made that last attack”, said Constantine and I just noticed now, the conservation between him and Alaric.

“Overconfidence. He could have won if he played it carefully. He didn’t and paid the price for his action”, Alaric said with a smile on his face.

“Do both of you really enjoy those fights?”, I asked them.

“Why shouldn’t we? They attacked us, burned down our home and pillaged the countryside. Why shouldn’t they pay by entertaining us?”, countered Constantine.

“I consider it as the right of the victor. They would have done the same to us or even worse. No hard feelings it’s just as it is”, said Alaric.

They did have a point, but we could also just execute them directly, ransom them or trade them against the enemies captives. Well, I knew one reason why we let the prisoners fight in the arena.

“Messana’s council is probably profiting from the fights as well. In terms of money and popularity”, said Aellelorn. Yes, the arenas generated a hefty revenue for the city. I had the related papers in my hands.

“You are right about that Aellelorn. Still, there is no reason to forbid it. I would say the advantages outweigh the disadvantages”, I noticed Aellelorn’s glare, but choose to ignore it. “They can also earn their freedom if they win enough fights.”

We watched a few more fights that day. Not one was as bloody or close as the first two. It was clear the later gladiators fought to impress the crowd and not to kill each other. They were not marked, meaning those fighters got paid to show their skills here.

Constantine and Alaric both made comments about the fighting styles of the enemy. I added my own insight on the magic in the fights with mana sight. The others joined our discussion later on. Even Aellelorn took part in our conservation when the fights were not to the death.

I didn’t learn much from the fights. No crossbows or bows were used in them. The magic of the fighters helped to train my mana sight though. The ones which profited the most were Alaric and Valerius. Both focused on close combat and reinforcement magic. The next bouts with Alaric are going to be more painful again.

We left the arena when the sun set. We said our goodbyes to each other and headed home. I thought a lot about the first two fights on my way home. I shuddered when the picture of the crushed person against the arena dome came up again.

That fight was no fight. It was a one-sided slaughter from the start. The wyvern just played with them until it got bored or realized the danger. I didn’t eat much at dinner with the rest of the family. Mother sent my siblings away after dinner and turned to me.

“So Lucius, you gonna tell what happened today in the arena?”, mother asked with a concerned look.

I was still for a time until I told her everything from today. I left out the gory details because I would like to forget them, but it seemed mother knew when and what I was hiding.

“That is why I was against the arena, but it had to be done. You will see similar or worse things as a ruler. Villages after a famine, plague or war look all the same. It is not beautiful, but you have to endure”, mother now stood behind me and enveloped me in a hug. The warmth reassured me and helped to calm down.

“If you ever have something, that burdens you just talk with us. We are there for each other. It will not help to keep your problems to yourself”, mother said.

“Thank you mom. And I will, I promise”, I told mother and meant it. It was nice to have somebody to talk to which you could fully trust.

I told mother the other things from today and asked her a few questions. She hesitated when I pointed out the bribery and corruption I found in the papers.

“It is not easy to root out corruption. Especially if so many people and organisations are involved. We have our hands full with the invasion”, mother tried to explain, but felt visible unease when I didn’t stop my questions.

“Why are we not enforcing the laws? We could use the missing money from corruption for the war and the realm”, I inquired.

“It is not so simple my son. We have only direct control over Napule and the area around. Now even less after the destruction. Our vassals in southern Italia and Sicillia are more allies than subjects. Our hold on them is loose. Some already broke away or would at the next chance”, mother explained and I felt anger rise up in myself.

Those damn nobles are going independent again after we defended their homes from the invasion. Instead of helping us, they try to profit from the current situation as much as possible. I stopped questioning mother and hatched my own plan of revenge against the deserters.

I spend the rest of the evening with mother and my siblings in the living room. Ivy and Iris read me stories. They had started to learn to read a year ago and wanted to show me their progress. I listened to them and helped my sisters when necessary.

Silas and mother sat on the couch and my brother soon fell asleep in mother’s arms after a few stories. She brought him to bed and we followed soon after.

I didn’t sleep for a few hours. There was a plan to form for the next years. A plan to get southern Italia and Sicillia under proper control and punish the local lords for their treachery. Those were my last thoughts before I fell asleep.