After forty-nine days, Mark Reuss appeared on the balcony on the second floor again. This time, he was accompanied by two female slaves. One was a Persian, and the other was a Parthian. Both of them helped him to sit on the chair.
However, Mark Reuss did not seem to be happy about it. The number of seats in the arena had declined again in the past two months. He had to increase the number of Habitus's appearances to win back some of the audience. However, the greedy Habitus also took the opportunity to ask him for more shares and promised to train him as the ace gladiator of the school.
On the other hand, Mark Reuss also heard the news from the front line. It was said that the new emperor of the empire, Commodus, seemed to have no intention of taking over the mess left by his father, Aurelius. He was preparing to make peace with the Germanic. This was not good news for Mark Reuss because prisoners of war were an important part of his gladiators. High-level gladiators were often selected from prisoners of war. Now that he was busy looking for Sethnets' successor, Mark Reuss could only pin his hopes on Bach.
According to tradition, a grand gladiatorial performance would be held when the new emperor ascended the throne. In order to win the people's favor, the performance was free. The venue of the performance was the Amphitheatrum Flavian, the largest arena in the entire Roman Empire. It was funded by the royal family and used 80,000 slaves. It took eight years to build it, and it could accommodate up to 90,000 spectators. Considering the era it was built in, this arena was a miracle in the history of architecture.
However, it was not enough to have an arena without gladiators. The latter was the highlight of this performance.
Although the royal family also had a gladiator school, it was not large enough to support a grand performance. Therefore, several private gladiator schools were required to provide gladiators. Of course, it was not free. After all, gladiators were known to be expensive consumables. However, since this performance was used to win the hearts of the people, there was no income from it. Hence, the organizers had to bear the cost.
Of course, it was not as easy to get money from the nobles and the emperor as it was from the civilians.
If he asked for too little, Mark Reuss would suffer a great loss. If he asked for too much, he might offend some big shots or the emperor himself. If that happened, he would not be able to survive in Rome anymore. Therefore, under normal circumstances, Mark Reuss would choose to suffer a small loss. That way, he would be able to earn a favor and not lose too much money.
But no matter what, it was still a troublesome matter.
Mark Reuss came to inspect the goods with these messy troubles and dissatisfaction with the new emperor. He had spent a lot of money on these slaves, and he wanted to know if the money was worth it.
The order of the battle was also decided by drawing lots. Gaby bowed respectfully to Mark Reuss and began to organize the assessment.
The rules of the battle were similar to the usual gladiator performances, except that wooden weapons were used. In a one-on-one battle, each gladiator could only use one weapon. Sneak attacks from the back would be despised by the audience. Once one side admitted defeat, the other side could no longer attack. Other than that, a trainer would act as the referee.
After making sure that everyone understood the rules, Gaby began to call the roll.
The first gladiator on the stage was a free gladiator named Griff. He was lucky that his opponent was a young gladiator who had just become a gladiator for half a year. The young gladiator was a little younger than him, and he did not have much combat experience. In the end, the young gladiator won the battle. However, the two fought for quite some time. In the end, Griff was caught by the young gladiator's flaw, and the battle ended.
Gaby commented, "You can't focus your attention. It's fine for a while, but the longer you fight, the more distracting thoughts you have. And your attacks are not decisive enough. It's good to be cautious, but sometimes the situation requires you to make a quick decision. Even if it's a wrong decision, it's better than hesitating."
Griff looked a little frustrated when he heard that. He knew that what Gaby said was true. He was a newcomer, and this was the final assessment that would decide his fate. It was inevitable that he would overthink things. Sometimes, when he saw his opponent's flaw, he would wonder if it was a trap, and he would miss a lot of opportunities.
Perhaps Gaby saw that Griff could fight back and forth with his opponent for a long time. After a pause, he finally spat out two words, "Pass."
Griff's expression suddenly turned from worry to joy. Gaby did not say anything else and asked him to stay in the house on the west side.
Griff was followed by a slave named Galata, and his opponent was a famous gladiator with three years of combat experience. If Griff was cautious, Galata's performance was like he was facing a formidable enemy.
As soon as his opponent moved, he could not help but take a few steps back. Gaby frowned at his fearful behavior. Fortunately, Galata quickly realized that his actions just now had reduced his score. After that, he made another big mistake. In order to make up for his poor performance, he changed his defensive stance and began to attack his opponent.
His opponent, on the other hand, was keenly aware of the flaws in his attack. He neatly dodged Galata's attack, and he placed the training sword on his opponent's neck. The whole process did not take much effort, and he easily won the battle. Galata could not help but turn pale.
He looked at Gaby with pleading eyes, but the latter was unmoved. He said in an emotionless voice, "Your choice of battle is terrible. You are reckless, and your ability to adapt to the situation is worse than a pig's. You are not qualified. The house on the east side."
"Please give me another chance for the sake of my previous hard training. I was not prepared this time. Next time, I will not make this mistake again," Galata begged. Of course, he knew what the house on the east side meant, especially since he was not a free man like Griff. If he failed the assessment, he could only go to the mine.
"But death will never give you a second chance, son," Gaby said coldly. Gaby said coldly. After that, he gave a look, and two trainers pulled Getara, who was almost paralyzed on the ground, away.
On the second floor, Mark Reuss had not said a word since the beginning. He was eating a fig that the female slave next to him peeled for him.
He wasn't too interested in the previous battles. There were so many people below him, and he only cared about Bach. Now it was the deadline he had agreed with Gaby. He wanted to see how Gaby was training Sethnets' successor. However, Bach's battle was arranged very late, and Mark Reuss could only wait patiently.
After Galata was dragged away, Gaby spoke again.
"Zhang Heng, Garba, it's your turn."
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