Chapter 114: the award giving ceremony

After a week of waiting, the award-giving day finally dropped by. It was a Monday, and the whole gladiator district was riled up for this day. The spectators could finally see their best gladiators get their awards in the arena.

Today, the Roman team members were going to get the reward for their labor of 3 years. After years of only wearing armor and light clothing as gladiators, they were finally going to dress corporately again.

Clark froze in place with a smile on his face, as he stared at his new look on a suit. After so long, he finally cut his beards yesterday.

It felt funny to him; he already entered the vicious men's circle of cutting your beard to avoid it looking bushy.

He was not even sure if Sonia would recognize him again if she saw his bearded appearance now. Despite already cutting the beards, the slight signs to indicate that he was a man with beards were still left there.

He carefully admired his electric blue suit, as his smile slowly morphed into a grin. Paired with his black tie with white stripes, he currently looked like a groom about to be married. His gold wrist-watch succeeded in making his look seem even more stylish.

He finally lifted his eyes to admire his face. For so long now, he only focused on improving his strength; he could finally admire his face.

He didn’t choose his current outfit randomly; he did some research before going for it. The electric blue suit succeeded in complimenting his slightly dark-toned skin, as it seemed to sparkle under the shine of the dressing room’s light.

After admiring himself to his fill, he finally came out to the parlor to meet his teammates. His handmade trending fashion shoes, made clacking sounds behind him, as he went forward to meet his teammates. Everybody was already here, except the 2 girls on the team.

“Damn, so you look this good Arthur?” He was completely dumbstruck when he saw his teammate in his red-colored suit. The outfit completely changed him, forming a completely different contrast to the battle maniac Arthur he knew.

“I already told him that he should smile more often. Or, at this rate, it’ll be doubtful if he would even get a wife. I never knew he was this good looking also,” Mark chipped in, as he stood up to admire Clark’s suit.

Unlike the boys, after donning his black suit, he looked like a refined gentleman. His face now looked more middle-aged and calmer, a huge contrast to the vibrant appearance of the 2 boys.

Arthur didn’t see the reason for answering his 2 blabbering teammates, but he couldn’t help but blush from the praise. He secretly cursed them, as he maintained his effort to keep his face stern.

Click!! As the 3 men discussed casually, the sound of the female dressing area’s door opening, reverberated. They tacitly ended their discussion, as they turned to face the 2 girls, and the rest was history.

Despite trying hard to distract himself, Clark could not help it, as his face froze in surprise at the sight of the 2 girls. A prophet is not appreciated at his own home; this saying was perfect to describe their situation.

After staying so long with these 2 girls, they thought they already knew them. But the scene before them was a complete refresher course, to the knowledge they thought they had.

The 2 girls haven’t noticed the dumbfounded expression of their teammates yet. Emily covered her mouth slightly with her left hand, as she giggled while facing her friend.

Both friends dressed in the same type of suit, with the same color and design. With their dark hair cascading down their backs, they looked just like 2 fairies from a fictional world.

The pink suit succeeded in complimenting their skin tone, making it glow with a slight yellowish pink hue. As Emily giggled, her face seemed to become as bright as the morning sun.

Despite Aurora not giggling nor smiling, her serious expression succeeded in enhancing her look in her unique way. They both currently looked like identical twins, despite them not resembling in their face outlook.

The clicking noise made from their high-heeled shoes succeeded in taking their gorgeousness to the next level. If you compare their current look to their look when in battle, the difference was too glaring to relate.

“Ehem…, Cough…, cough,” Mark recovered first, as he coughed to draw the 2 boys out of their mesmerized state. Clark quickly recovered, but he found it hard to keep a calm face, as he directly went online through his implant to distract himself.

Arthur was the one whose actions were unexpected. It seemed like the cough took something valuable from him, as his face slowly morphed into a frown, while he glared at Mark.

On seeing his Captain’s surprised look, he finally knew his mistake, as his face grew red from embarrassment. He quickly looked away, his stern expression returning to his face.

For the first time in years, he felt as if a string was pulled out of place in his heart. Since his sister was taken away, he vowed to not get close to any other girl till he got her back.

But his resolve was shaken today, as he couldn’t help but glance secretly again at Emily’s glowing face. His face was about to bloom into a smile, but it stiffened as he felt the stare of his captain.

The 2 girls, having no idea of the commotion they just caused, finally came forward to meet the 3 boys.

“Hey, what are you guys still waiting for? Can’t you see that we have only 10 minutes left before the award ceremony begins”. Emily asked while glancing at the boys, with a puzzled look on her face.

“Oh, let’s go then. We were waiting for the both of you previously,” Mark replied, as they all stood up to go.

“By the way, you both look good. I must confess that I’ve never seen women as beautiful as the both of you in years, 10 stars for that”. He complimented with a thumbs up, before leading the way outside.

The 2 boys quickly joined in with some small compliments also, as they followed their Captain outside.

Emily didn’t know if it was a coincidence or if it was a problem of her sight, but she thought she just saw Aurora blush a little when Mark praised the both of them.

“Maybe it’s just my imagination,” she concluded, as they quickly went out to enter their team car. In her perspective, she could not imagine the cold Aurora blushing because of a man.

…

On reaching the stadium, entertainment music was already being played as a form of the start-up procedures, indicating the start of the award ceremony.

As soon as they entered the stadium, the other teams also started coming, and finally, the 2 top teams also arrived at the stadium. Unlike regular country’s award ceremonies, the gladiator ceremony was more direct and straight to the point.

The never-changing commentator, mc happy mouth, took to the stage again under the mixed cheers and boos of the spectators. He smiled at them while sending a kiss to them, as he quickly climbed the erected podium.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, Seafarers and friends from afar. You are all welcome to this special award-giving ceremony, to celebrate the winners of this gladiator tournament”.

“Like regular, I won’t bore you out with any long words. Put your hands together, as I welcome the manager of the entertainment industry to the stage, the no. 1 entertainment man, the pride of the Seafarers alliance, Mr. Patrick Ambrose”.

Cheers rose like a tide, as the spectators yelled the manager’s name loudly. As the manager of the alliance’s entertainment industry, his fame was not to be questioned.

Under this excitement-filled stadium, the manager took the voice amplifier as he addressed his fellow entertainment lovers.

He didn’t spend much time on talks, as he directly skipped all the long processes to start the award-giving. Just like the spectators, he was not interested in the details; he appreciated action and direct results more.

“Let’s welcome the Roman empire team to the stage, to take their reward as the third-place team”. The spectators cheered and applauded loudly, as the called team members came to the podium with a smile.

The gladiators followed the lead of their team captain, as they calmly walked forward to the manager’s position. On reaching there, they bowed a little to greet him, before waving at the audience.

This same arena was the death ground of a lot of soldiers, and these same spectators cheered at their death. But that was already things of the past. As they were about to take awards from the organizers, they naturally had to act nice.

The manager smiled at their gestures, before resuming his speech with a smile. “After a lot of brainstorming, my team finally decided on the right reward for the 3rd and 2nd place teams”.

He snapped his fingers, and a projection immediately appeared at his side. The image displayed was that of exotic armor, with a stealth symbol painted on its front, and an exotic sword surrounded by a force field.

“You have to choose between these 2 options, as the reward for your valiance in the gladiator battles. They are made according to the standards of a country with high-grade strength”.

Despite feeling a little disappointed at the stark difference between the rewards for the 1st place and 3rd place team, Clark was still satisfied. He already made his decision, but before he could talk, Arthur beat him to it.

“I choose the exotic sword,” he blurted out immediately, as his eyes narrowed in desire. Despite coming from a country with high-grade military strength, he had never wielded such a high-grade sword.

“I choose the stealth armor,” Clark finally had the time to choose, as he calmly announced his decision.

Mark decided on taking the exotic sword, while the only 2 female gladiators both choose the stealth armor. After confirming their choice for the second time, the manager finally approved their decisions.

As soon as he approved their decisions, the space close to him warped a little, as the awards of the 5 gladiators were teleported to the arena directly.

After congratulating them and taking pictures with them, the manager finally handed their award to them. They finally took hold of the result of their hard work, the result of their rigorous training throughout the years.

The spectators decorated this moment with their applause and cheers, as the ceremony moved on to the next phase.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. If you love this book, please leave your power stones behind to support it.]