Mercenaries and Adventurers

Keir's description is a bit harsh, but very vivid.

Others were not as cautious as he was. Mr. Scott even cursed directly: "Rosa, you short thing, you told me not to run around at night, why are you still like this!"

He seems to come here often to play, so he knows each other well with the managers here.

"Oh, it's Mr. Scott from Burning Furnace. I'm sorry, I scared everyone! It's my fault. It's all my fault."

The visitor stopped 'rolling' and then walked slowly over. With the barely illuminated light on the stone passage, Keir saw that the person coming was a short, middle-aged man who was extremely fat.

The upturned beard on his face is a little funny, but the fat thug following behind him is a real existence that most people will not look down upon.

"Ah, there are Mr. Dripari and Mr. Ottos Fitten here. Good evening, two distinguished gentlemen! This other one must be the northern knight who came to town today, right? Hello, hello."

After saying hello to the other two senior stewards, the middle-aged fighting arena steward who had matured from a barrel of wine reluctantly bowed to Keir. Looking at the effort, Keir doubted that this man could actually bow his head when he was bowing his head. Can't look past your belly and see your feet?

"Well, it's my first time to come to the town of Dorne. I just happen to be attending a banquet tonight and come here for some entertainment. What fun things do you have here? Mr. Bontorissa has previously claimed that your place is better than the Colosseum in the town. Huh? Is there any?"

The short, fat, middle-aged manager named Rosa glanced at Mr. Bontorisa unexpectedly. He didn't expect that his territory, which had not been taken seriously in the past, would be so favored by his superiors?

He quickly responded to the young knight's question: "Yes, yes! Although it is already half way tonight, there is still an ornamental competition here that has not been brought out! Since all the knights and gentlemen are here tonight, I must let the following People will compete with each other with their best games, and everyone will be satisfied! This is not the place for talking, please move your steps and go to the viewing platform inside!"

Stepping out of the way, the short and fat Rosa moved her calves sideways and walked in front, making way for the people who followed to enter the passage.

-

Compared to the slums outside, which are pitch black at night, the inside of the fighting arena is much stronger than the outside despite the narrow rock passages and insufficient lighting.

After entering the gate, everyone first walked more than ten meters towards the curved passage on the right, and then walked into a special thick wooden door opened on the side amidst the echo of gradually noisy sounds.

This thick wooden door is carved with two little figures holding daggers and swords fighting. The movements are quite abstract. It is obvious that the carver does not have the ability or skills to fight, so the symbolic meaning of the carving on the door is greater than the actual meaning.

However, upon entering this thick wooden door, the oncoming stone steps inside were actually covered with a rare wool carpet.

Keir raised his eyebrows and walked at the front of the crowd. He followed the short and fat steward who led the way. After climbing more than ten steps with turns, he arrived at a large indoor viewing platform.

It is about twenty square meters, with a rock wall on one side and a viewing platform covered with a thick curtain on the other side.

At this moment, noisy and noisy sounds came faintly from the other side of the thick curtain, mixed with cheers and curses, as well as people's screams and cheers, and some vicious curses that only locals used. Keir even heard It took a while to realize that he was cursing someone.

"I'm sorry, adults. Most of the people watching below are uneducated poor people, and their low voices disturb the ears of the adults."

The short and fat steward wanted to bow and apologize, but Mr. Scott didn't care about that. He came to the edge of the thick curtain, picked up a corner with his hand, and looked at the bright and chaotic environment outside with interest: "Okay. Okay, this is the feeling you want, haha, hurry up and arrange the new fighting event tonight. It must be exciting and beautiful, and you must not lose to the Colosseum in the city. Otherwise, someone's boast, But it will never come back round.”

Mr. Bontorisa snorted angrily and ignored the sharp-tongued Scott. He found a seat near the edge and sat down, tapping the empty small table next to the seat with his fingers. : "Rosa, is this how you entertain distinguished guests? Not even a drink? Where is your collection?"

When his immediate boss said this, the pudgy steward immediately jumped up and screamed excitedly at the thugs who came in last: "Yes, yes! Where is my collection of wine? Where is the maid that I called?" There are also fruits and desserts! Come on, come on! Go hurry up! What are you still doing? Do you want to go down and fight with others in person? Move quickly!"

The goons who were urged panicked and immediately ran out to contact the various supplies and equipment in the VIP room of the fighting arena.

This VIP viewing room is not used once in a month or two on average and is usually empty. Fortunately, the cleaning is never missing here, otherwise some of them would be really unlucky today.

Mr. Ottosfiten struggled to find a seat and sit down, then panted and waved his hands to his subordinates: "Open this curtain and let me see what it looks like here."

Manager Rosa was so nervous that when others went up to open the curtain, she personally started to help, which made Mr. Bontorisa frown in displeasure.

The curtain with tracks above was opened left and right, and in just a moment, everything bright and noisy outside was visible to the VIP viewing platform high above.

Keir was not in a hurry to find a place to sit down. He came to the edge of the stone fence in front. Like Mr. Scott, he leaned his upper body out and looked at everything below from a height similar to the second or third floor.

The fighting arena is an open indoor circular venue with a rock dome on top, with several huge lamp holders extending out from it. Firewood with oil is burning inside to provide lighting for the entire spacious indoor environment.

There is a hole the size of a human head next to the lamp holder, and the smoke produced by the burning material in the lamp holder is somehow sucked in and discharged to the outside of the building. It is obvious that the designers of this building took the smoke exhaust and ventilation areas of the lighting into great consideration when designing the building.

Directly facing the bottom of the round stone top is a fighting arena with a diameter of about fifteen meters. The place is not big, but more than 100 square meters is barely enough for viewing the battle.

The ground of the fighting venue was reddish sand soaked with blood. The ground was flat, but there were a few broken weapons scattered on the ground. At this time, two men were fighting each other randomly.

The onlookers were cursing and shouting in the higher-level auditoriums around the fighting venue. When Kil heard this, he knew that most of them were cursing at the level of the two men's fighting. I can do whatever I want, pick up broken weapons on the ground and beat the enemy's words, mixed with local slang and curse words, and they are reflected back and forth in the room.

Along with the intrusion of the sound, what was even more impressive was the indescribable smell that came over.

Different from the simple smell of blood, the smell that Kil smelled at this time was also mixed with vomited food, feces, the smell of human sweat, and the bad breath from everyone cursing and making noise.

All mixed together, they were all illuminated into the VIP viewing room from the opened curtain.

Mr. Scott sniffed the smell intoxicatedly, with a strange smile on his face: "Haha, Knight Kiel, how about it? Does this smell make you digest well?"

Keir's expression remained normal and he shrugged easily. It was obvious that this was just a small matter to him.

But the friends behind him couldn't do it. Mr. Ottosfitten's face quickly turned pale, and he called his entourage to find something to catch the vomit.

But fortunately, this thing had obviously been prepared in the VIP room. A delicate wooden barrel was brought to Mr. Ottosfitten's mouth, and he directly held the thing and spit it out. But he didn't eat much tonight, so he didn't vomit anything and could only lie back on the chair, breathing weakly.

The pudgy steward had a frightened expression on his face, fearing that Mr. Otto Fitten, the senior steward of the United Chamber of Commerce, would dislike him.

But apparently others don't see it that way.

Mr. Bontolisa lightly covered his mouth and nose with a pure white handkerchief he brought with him, and asked with a smile: "How do you do, young man?"

However, Mr. Ottosfitten was also an extremely stubborn person. After he vomited and panted, his complexion became slightly better, and he also covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, and responded feebly: "It's very good, Bon." Mr. Tolisa. I'm so good now, um, um, here, it's just that."

At this time, some of the hospitality expected in the VIP room was gradually delivered. The wine collected by the local steward Mr. Rosa turned out to be two large bottles of imperial wine in glass bottles, which surprised everyone present.

"What a good thing, Rosa. I didn't expect you to have such good wine hidden away. I haven't seen you bring it out to entertain me before? Okay, now that Mr. Bontorissa is here, you can bring it out, right?"

Scott screamed strangely, walked over and snatched a bottle from the thugs. First, he found the origin and year of the imperial wine on the bottle, and then shouted excitedly: "This is the wine produced by Palandolu! Look at the year. , is a fine wine produced in the Empire in 773, ten years old. Rosa, don’t tell me that this is a new product you just got?”

Rosa, the short and fat steward, waved her hands with a dumbfounded look on her face: "I really just got this wine. It's worth collecting. It's really a gift my relatives brought me last winter."

However, everyone present did not believe it. Scott even grabbed the wine glass from the hand of the maid who arrived, opened the bottle and poured himself a glass.

But he didn't drink it in a hurry. Instead, he let the wine fully contact the air in the glass, and in the process, he carefully smelled the aroma of the wine in the glass.

"What a shame, this place is really not worthy of this fine bottle of wine."

Mr. Otto Fitten refuted Scott's view: "That's not the case. The smell of blood here, well, the smell of blood here is quite suitable for this glass of dark red wine. Didn't the poet Konynders say so: 'Drink is like blood, and is most suitable for drinking on the battlefield.' Although this is not a battlefield, it is still a place of bloody fighting, so it should be quite suitable, right?"

He didn't believe what he said, but after taking the glass of wine poured by the maid, Kil leaned slightly on the fence, watching the two young men fighting with each other below, sniffed the wine glass he raised, and poured I think it's quite appropriate.

He himself felt that he felt more at ease here than in the previous banquet hall.

Especially the roars and curses of the poor people watching below reminded him of the fighting matches held every day after the army camped in the past period.

The aroma of the wine reminded him of the times he was knocked down in those games, and the subsequent experiences of knocking each opponent to the ground.

Mr. 'Fuck-up Oriel', who had been silent for the whole time, looked over at the fight below. He frowned and said to Rosa, the steward here: "We've been here for a while. Why, those two weaklings?" Haven't you finished fighting the shrimp yet? Are the audience a little bored if you don't see it?"

After receiving the instruction, the short and fat steward immediately bowed and said yes, then turned around and shouted loudly and sharply to his thugs: "Did you hear that? Mr. Deripari and other distinguished guests cannot see this." The time-consuming fight, go down and tell those two people, it won't end in fifty breaths, no matter who wins today, their debt will not be less! Defeat the opponent! I will award the winner a silver, no, Twenty, copper, copper coins!”

The thug in front of him rolled his eyes, feeling helpless for the stingy in charge, so he had no choice but to accept the order.

Soon, everyone on the viewing platform saw the thug come to the edge of the stone fence of the fighting arena and say something to the two people below. Then the two young men, who were still hesitant and fighting cautiously, rushed towards each other with roars and hugged each other as if they were beaten to blood.

The audience was startled, and then they gathered their energy and came to the front, waving the small pieces of wood in their hands at the two people who were hugging each other and fighting fiercely, shouting hoarsely in support of the bettors.

"Hit! Hit him in the eye!"

"Idiot, just bite his ear! That thing is right next to your mouth! Open your mouth and bite!"

"Okay, you can trip him up! If you win, I'll buy you a drink!"

"Asshole! Asshole! %%￥, step back and drag him down! Hey, what happened!"

Soon, in less than fifty breaths, the fight was decided. The young man who tripped his opponent stood on the ground with a bloody face, roaring loudly, enjoying the cheers and abuses of the people around him. His opponent was lying unconscious on the reddish sand, with one arm folded and blood at the corner of his eye.

Soon, the low iron doors on both sides of the fighting arena were opened, and the staff of the fighting arena walked out, carried away the injured, and delivered a paper document to the standing winner.

The young man who defeated his opponent carefully looked at the paper document in front of him, and even compared whether the red handprint on it matched his own palm.

Finally, the young man cheered and tore up the paper, waving his fists and cheering even more excitedly.

Keir chuckled lightly: "Is this the debtor's debt document? Is that thing really fake?"

The short and fat Mr. Rosa did not dare to respond, but Mr. Bontolisa solemnly said: "Of course it is true. If it is false, can this place continue to operate for a long time? Right? What the business pursues is like the mountains. It is maintained for a long time like a stream, rather than just seeking temporary profit gains like a mountain torrent. Therefore, reputation, whether it is the reputation of decent people among the partners of the chamber of commerce, or the low reputation of these debtors, is important and needs to be Sustained for a long time.”

This was not only a response to Knight Kiel, but also addressed to the stewards here.

Mr. Rosa looked understanding. I don't know if he was pretending or if he really listened.

The other senior managers all understood these truths, so they didn't take it seriously. They all sipped the rare drinks while guessing about the next fighting event.

Because he came in such a hurry, Rosa, the steward, didn't know what his subordinates had planned next. He wiped his sweat carefully, hoping that his subordinates would come up with something that would be interesting to watch, so that these big shots he couldn't afford to offend. , I hope you are satisfied with watching it tonight.

He usually dominates here, but he never thought he would be so nervous today.

Fortunately, Scott comes here often. Although he is a senior steward of the Burning Furnace Chamber of Commerce, his personality is very compatible with him. Usually, he will not come to this high-altitude place to watch, but will get up close and personal in the auditorium. Cheer and enjoy the game from a distance.

Especially this rich man, the amount he bets every time is not small, far beyond what the poor people with little money in their pockets can compare to.

But his immediate superior, Mr. Bontorisa, who hardly came here today, also came here, which made him extremely nervous, for fear that something would go wrong, or that something should be seen that he should not see.

Because his position, to be honest, can only be appointed or dismissed with a word from Mr. Bontorissa.

In the final analysis, this is completely an independent industry of the Golden Sickle Chamber of Commerce, and no other chamber of commerce funds or personnel are involved, so how to manage it and who will manage it are all a matter of one sentence from the senior steward of the chamber of commerce.

Moreover, in the United Chamber of Commerce in Dorne Town, unlike other chambers of commerce, Bontorisa, as the senior steward, has no one else to share power with him. The Golden Sickle Chamber of Commerce has the highest authority in all matters in Dorne Town. He is the manager. Other members of the Chamber of Commerce also have properties in other places, and their stalls are very large. The president and vice president are not in Dorne Town.

Especially with the current chaotic situation, it is estimated that other managers of the Chamber of Commerce will not come over in the next year and a half.

That's why short and fat Rosa was so nervous at this moment.

-

"Next, what I present to you is that the orc hunters from the southern mountains faced off against a group of goblin monsters with several lives! This is tonight's special program, dedicated to the VIPs in the VIP room, let us cheer , the long-haired lynx orc in the southern mountains and forests!”

I don’t know where the host was hiding to speak, but his own voice came out through the sound device in the corner of the fighting arena, echoing repeatedly in the vast Colosseum.

The audience was very excited when they heard these words. The long-haired lynx orc who had just arrived a few times before did not expect to play again tonight, which was very surprising.

Many people had never heard of the name of this alien race, so they asked those who had seen the last time the long-haired lynx orcs appeared to know what the strength of these guys was.

After all, the time before the game starts is when they place their bets.

The opponent of the long-haired lynx orc is the backbone of the monster group in the fighting arena - Goblin!

Goblins captured by hunters were specially tamed in prisons under the fighting arena, and they often performed bloody and fierce competitions against farmers alone, or a group of ten people against small groups of beasts.

This is a heavyweight event that only happens once a month. Unexpectedly, VIPs will be watching the match in the fighting arena today. The fighting arena is dedicated to such beautiful and bloody battles, and many poor spectators are screaming with excitement.

They all looked in the direction of the VIP viewing room where the thick curtains were rarely opened.

It seems that in their eyes, these distinguished guests who can come here to watch such a bloody battle are something even more rare than the fight between monsters and alien races.

The first thing that caught my eye was Mr. Scott from the Burning Furnace Chamber of Commerce. However, this guy came here often and many poor people knew him. This guy actually waved and said hello to the crowd with a smile. .

"Oh! It's the distinguished and wealthy Uncle Scott!"

"Who is that person? I don't know him."

Keir leaned against the fence of the viewing room, holding a wine glass in his hand, and looked down. Every poor person who looked at him was agitated and avoided looking at each other.

Some old gamblers who often hang out in the fighting arena even feel that the smell of blood on the young man who does not look like a businessman is stronger than the blood and gravel that never changes in the fighting arena.

The other three senior stewards sitting on the viewing chairs put on the thin wooden masks handed over by the short and fat steward Rosa in advance. This was a cover-up worn by the distinguished guests who did not want their identities to be revealed.

Mr. Otto Fitten wears a white smiling mask, which matches his face very well.

Mr. Bontorisa wore a yellow mask of sadness, and the old gentleman made no comment about it, but Rosa, the steward, had a face that matched the mask of sadness very well.

Mr. Dripari, the 'dry flat Olier', wore a blue mask of calm, just like his expression since arriving. He neither liked it nor disliked it.

Not liking this place means that he likes to envy the life of nobles, and he prefers more elegant entertainment activities.

But he didn't express dislike, but he expressed it to Knight Kiel. After all, Knight Kiel, as a young knight, seemed to like it here, so he couldn't show his disgust. So as not to disgust Knight Kiel.