The sounds of the raucous crowd were almost dizzying. Following closely behind Cara, Rin kept her eyes to the right, on the pair of beefy guys on the stage, currently trying to knock each other out.

She hadn't noticed him before, but there was one much smaller dude standing beside them, wearing a white robe.

It was honestly quite fascinating. She and her teacher sat down a little while later, not as high up as the nobles were, but at the center of the same area. Once here, Cara crossed her arms and began watching properly, as did Rin.

The two fighters weren't too quick, but it looked like their punches were heavy. They were wearing some strange wrappings around their hands and wrists, and both men were shirtless. The stage had dried blood on it, though the two competitors weren't too injured themselves, so Rin understood that the stains came from previous fighters.

One guy landed an uppercut on the other, and Rin briefly saw something in his teeth, as the guy's head pulled back and his mouth opened.

"Did they have anything like this at Dren?" Cara asked, and Rin turned toward her.

"No. At least, not that I know of."

"Hm. This place has been around for a few decades," Cara explained. "I first found out about it when I came here with..." She trailed off, and then looked over at Rin. before shaking her head. "Never mind. Point is, I came here a while ago, and... Yeah. Ever since then I've come back on occasion."

"Why?"

"Just to watch," Cara shrugged. "It's different seeing people fight other humans as opposed to fighting creatures. The strategies change. The pacing changes. But, it's good to observe, even for us. Every now and then, on a mission, you might run into a bandit or two. If that happens, you might be able to overpower them through brute force, but if the person you're fighting is stronger, things can get complicated."

"Is it even possible for random bandits to be as strong as adventurers?"

"Anyone can use Essence, Rin," Cara told her. "Anyone can limit-break. Anyone can learn spellsigns. So, yes, there are definitely some bandits out there who, if they chose to ditch that life and pursue something within the Guild, they'd likely be classified as Rank C or even Rank B adventurers."

"Hm..." Rin nodded, and then, a smacking sound from ahead earned her attention.

One guy had tackled another to the ground, and both of them were engaged in some strange wrestling that looked pretty funny to Rin's eyes. In a moment, though, one managed to wrap his legs around one of the other guy's arms, and pulled back on it, stretching the limb until the guy started tapping the ground. The guy in the white robe then stepped in and the one who had locked in the hold ceased, as the crowd began to cheer.

The victor, with the smaller guy lifting one of his hands up, basically gave a roar of success as the crowd cheered him on.

"This fight just ended, unfortunately," Cara told Rin. "It might be a while before the next one starts."

Understanding that, Rin looked toward the others in the audience, trying to get a feel for the people in the building. All in all, she was surprised at how many people of different backgrounds, as far as she could tell, were here. The nobles behind her, the people in the audience with shirts and pants so tattered and dirty that Rin could only guess they were peasants, and those in between, like herself and Cara. In Dren, and in Libera as well from what she'd seen, a lot of these people wouldn't be caught dead near each other. And, yet, here they were, patiently waiting for the next fighters to come out.

Something that happened sooner rather than later.

From a door up ahead, two guys walked out, and the audience grew excited.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" A voice suddenly spoke up, and Rin flinched.

[Oh, a microphone?] She asked herself, looking around.

"This upcoming match is to be a bout between two experienced warriors! Fighting on the left side," he stated, as both fights stood at opposite ends of the stage, with one closer to Rin and Cara, both facing the entrance the adventurers had come from, "he is a blue-ranked contender. Holding a professional record of four wins and zero losses, Nathan Ivyll!"

The crowd gave a half-hearted cheer, applauding just a little.

"Fighting on the right side, he is a blue-ranked contender as well, holding a professional record of five wins, and one loss. His name is, Bloodstone Vandalheart!"

"... What?" Rin asked, raising a brow as the audience cheered much more strongly. She turned toward Cara. "Who the hell named their kid that?"

Her teacher chuckled, shaking her head.

"It's a stage name, Rin. Some fighters take those up so that they can either hide their real identities or try to make a little character for themselves, so they stand out more in the eyes of the crowd."

"Oh... You can do that?" She asked.

"Yeah. This shit is legal, but a lot of people see this stuff as being brutish. The fighters all have their own lives outside of here too, so, yeah. A lot of them try to make it at least a little harder for people to recognize them. Though, obviously," she gestured at them, "when they look like that, they get recognized all the same."

"Let the battle begin!" The voice said, and the same small guy in the white robe from earlier looked at both fighters and nodded. Then, he stepped back, and they charged at each other.

They collided in the center of the arena, placing their hands on each others' abdomens, grappling, as the crowd buzzed.

[Hm, I guess it is pretty entertaining. Kinda wish I had something to eat, though.]

"Say, how much money do they make from this?" Rin asked.

"Dunno," Cara replied. "But, I imagine it's probably a lot, given the kinds of hits they're taking."

On cue, one guy was punched so hard in the chin that his body was sent flying back. He nearly fell off the stage, and he didn't get back up. The small guy in the white robe made a gesture at someone and then ran over to him, quickly casting a healing spell.

"Your winner, Bloodstone Vandalheart!"

And, as the strangely named fighter raised his hands in victory, the crowd roared.

---

A while later, both women were walking up to the Academy. They were only at the Arena for a couple of hours, but it was still fairly enlightening for Rin. It felt like she'd stumbled upon some sort of subculture in Libera, that had been condensed into that small building this entire time.

"You should get to work," Cara told her. "I assume Maria's probably not too happy to know that you aren't training."

As her teacher said that, a slightly sad look came over Rin, and she cut Cara off, standing in front of her.

"I..." Rin paused, as Cara raised a brow. "I just wanted to let you know, uh, it's not your fault. You know, what happened on the first mission."

At that, Cara let out a deep breath and turned away.

"I appreciate the thought," she replied softly. "I should have acted faster, though. And, I didn't go quite as hard on the enemy as I could have. When you're a high-rank adventurer, you learn to hold back a little, just in case a stronger enemy appears mid-fight, so you can have some energy saved up for it. I should have assumed that wouldn't happen though. Still, thanks," Cara gave Rin a little smile. "It's nice to hear you aren't holding it against me."

Rin gave Cara a little smile of her own.

"Of course. Well, see you later, teach'!"

As that was said and done, Rin raced up the stairs all the way to the Meditation Center, where she wanted to get started on today's training. Additionally, seeing those guys fighting earlier had put her in the mood to throw a few punches.

As she arrived at the fourth floor, she walked over to the Meditation Center's door, where she stopped as she heard Maria speaking inside.

The voice that responded to her was one Rin wasn't expecting, though she couldn't hear what was being said.

As she opened the door and walked in, her suspicions were confirmed, as she saw Elisa sitting cross-legged in front of Maria.

As soon as she saw Rin, Elisa gave her a friendly smile and a wave, which Rin took as a testament to how they were finally on fairly good terms after their situation had gotten off to such a troublesome start.

"What's up?" Rin asked, walking in.

"We were waiting for you," Maria replied, standing up.

"Oh?" Rin tilted her head. "Why's that?"

"I had something a little bit different planned for today, and these next coming days," Maria said, walking over to a pair of wooden swords that had been laid down next to the wall to her right. She threw them over to Elisa, and the girl caught them, twirling them in her hands.

"I wanted you to fight Elisa today," Maria stated. "Just so you can get a feel for different styles. I don't want you thinking every enemy is going to fight like me, or like a mindless undead."

"How about it, roomie?" Elisa asked, pointing one of her swords at her. "We haven't gotten to spar too much these days. Wanna go a few rounds?"

[In a few different ways,] Rin thought. That remark snuck into her mind so suddenly that she nearly blushed before she nodded.

"Okay. You're on."