36 Ch. 27, Pt. 1- Second Colosseum Fight Bronze League

I thought that I would continue to be a loner who went into dangerous places with only myself to rely on. Alexis has changed all of that on its' head. I still don't trust or like most others, but she has proven to be a valuable and loyal partner to have. We can cover each other's weak spots and have the other's back, which has already been proven during the monster break and our first hunting trip together two days ago.

It seems we weren't the only ones to have an exciting few days since Mira wouldn't stop talking about her potential success at work as soon as she got home last night. I was proud to help contribute to her success, but I was even more proud of my big sister getting close to accomplishing her dream.

She's been working so hard and learning as much as possible about alchemy that it was almost inevitable for her to have a breakthrough in her research. When she managed to perfect the recipe and prove its' effectiveness she would be not only famous but quite rich as well.

We didn't really have to worry about finances now, but extra money never hurt to have. This way she could afford all of the luxuries and things that she had to sacrifice when raising and taking care of me. If anyone deserved to be pampered, it would be Mira. She gave up so much when taking care of me and never once complained about it, that's saint material right there.

I got to the apartment before her yesterday, since my "date" with Alexis ended after a few hours of going around in shops and getting some food. Neither of us really bought anything, since still we're far too practical and miserly to buy some useless trinkets or clothing that would just get ruined or destroyed if we wore it hunting. That's not to say that we don't have some nice clothes, but as far as I can tell we only have a pair or two for special occasions.

That's not to say that I wasn't tempted to buy something for her like a necklace or an especially nice looking blouse that she looked at for a while, but I resisted getting her something so mundane. I wanted to get her a gift, but I didn't really know what would be appropriate for her. Then I realized that since she's a summoner, she would need jewelry or the like that would help her in some way.

This genius thought popped into my mind when we were browsing bracelets and I thought that it would have been nice if they actually did anything. I wracked my brain to try and figure out just how I would get something like that, which was a fairly rare thing to possess. Only strong summoners or extremely rich civilians would be able to afford them.

The effects of a monster core would be most effective when the jewelry conduit was made from monster parts that used the skill or had the elemental affinity when it was alive since their body has been adjusted into being a proper conduit for it. This process was known as artificing and there was a far higher demand than supply of these things.

This means that the only way I would be able to reliably find one would be at the auction, and they would be expensive too, which meant I needed even more money to buy one for her. She had already become a special person to me, and I wanted to show that by getting something that is either extremely useful or could save her life potentially. I should really get something similar for Mira, except only the protective features would be useful to her since she wasn't a summoner.

I always worry about Mira since she doesn't have the ability or skill to defend herself against people who could literally summon terrifying and dangerous summons on a whim. She was the most important person in the world to me, and I never want anything to happen to her. An artificed protective accessory would be perfect for her and give me some peace of mind when I wasn't able to be around her.

I would really need some money if I planned to purchase these things, and one of the quickest ways was to fight in the colosseum. The one thing I was certain of was my strength, so this would practically be giving me free money.

Before Alexis and I split from our date to go home, I suggested that we should meet up and participate in the colosseum with our new tier 4 summons. Having a tier 4 summon was enough to qualify for the official ranking colosseum battle, each new summoner to the league would start out in the bronze league and face opponents of a similar level.

If the new challenger was defeated by one of the lower-ranked summoners, they would be kicked out. Summoners who failed at the initial ranking trial would only able to try again in a month's time. If they failed this attempt they would only be able to try again if their summon used for fighting evolved, or a different summon managed to break into the 4th tier.

Failing this attempt would result in permanent expulsion from participating in the colosseum. It was rare that someone got to this stage, but it did happen, and usually only occurred to an especially weak and impatient summoner. Most usually took the first failed attempt in stride and greatly improved their strength in order to ensure a win during their next fight.

The impatient or delusional summoners who failed thought that it was a fluke or unfortunate match up that caused their loss and another fight would prove that they deserved to be there. Unsurprisingly, most of these immediately challenged when the month's time limit was up and lost once again.

These types didn't really bother to gain more experience fighting, and only relied on their summon's evolutionary tier to suppress weaker monsters. Doing this resulted in no practical experience gained, and only taught how to fight against those weaker than yourselves. These summoners were rightly thrown out and banned from wasting people's time in the colosseum.

People want entertainment, not someone who never bothered to teach their summons how to fight. I highly doubted I would fail the initial test with all of the fighting my summons and I had done, not to mention that Jareth was special even amongst lower stage tier 4's due to his variance.

Alexis also should be fine with her new poison drake Hemlock. She may not have much experience fighting with her new summon, but it took a concerted effort for our summons at the time to take her down, so she should probably be fine.

Speak of the devil, "Hey Alexis, over here".

I wave my hand to stand out from the few people milling around me and catch her attention. I'm currently leaning against one of the pillars near the entrance of the outside of the colosseum where we said we would meet. She seemed interested in fighting with Hemlock, especially since money could be easily made.

We got here early before the fights began so that we could register to fight today. Normally these arrangments would be done ahead of time, but with the promise of a high stake summoning battle, I'm sure they wouldn't mind adding us to the lineup. The colosseum usually had a few summoners on retainer to fill in any gaps in the fighting schedule or to fight people like me and Alexis who show up in the morning to register.

"Hey Thomas, are you ready to fight in the big leagues now?" (Alexis)

I could hear the faint teasing in her voice as she asked, and so I gave her an equally teasing answer, "Only if you're ready to lose to me when we fight each other again."

I knew that we probably wouldn't fight each other any time soon, nor did we really want to, but it was fun to think about. Neither of us likes to lose, and the thought of being able to really fight against her in an epic no holds barred match was really tempting.

Unfortunately, the reality would just be that one of us would be resentful of the other since there could only be one winner. It was realistically a lose-lose situation, and I didn't want to damage the relationship that we had right now. I was fine accepting my loss during the tournament, but I don't think either of us would be able to gracefully accept a loss.

We both just chuckle at the light ribbing we gave each other and begin heading towards the entrance with a guard on either side. We flash them the colosseum invitations we received and head on through towards the betting booth.

I nod to the lady at the desk sorting through some paperwork and go to the manager's office door behind the large booth. Alexis is right beside me showing unwavering confidence on her face, and I try and do the same to show the manager that we are strong enough to warrant putting us on today's roster.

He is a businessman at heart from what I can tell, and as long as adding us to the lineup would be beneficial to him, there is no reason he wouldn't put us on it. That heavily relies on whether we would put up a decent fight or not, and acting confident in my strength would go a long way towards reassuring him.

*Knock Knock*

I rap twice on the door to get permission to enter his office, it would be outright rude to just barge in and demand a spot for today.

I hear a muffled voice saying, "Come in", from inside the office. The door opens with a faint creak and I see a surprisingly fit looking individual in their late 40's behind the desk. He has a serious but not unpleasant expression on his face and still has a full head of hair. He completely goes against the stereotype of the overweight and balding manager that I had built up in my head.

Alexis chimes in before I get the chance to, as a result of being distracted by the surprising appearance of the manager. "Hello, Mr. .....?"

"Castle, but you can call me Bert. What can I help you with this morning?" (Bert)

"My name's Alex, we came to see if you would be willing to add us to the fighting roster today for the entrance to the bronze league." (Alexis)

"Oh? So both of you have a tier 4 summon, that's pretty rare for someone so young. I don't see why not, but first let me see your summons for myself to verify and decide who should fight you." (Bert)

I look around the surprisingly spacious office and see that there's enough room for both of our summons if we take turns. I turn to Alexis and say, "I'll go first.", and then turn to Bert the manager and inform him, "My name's Thomas, and my summon is a four-armed titanium Ogre named Jareth."

With that, I bring out the correct summoning core and bring out Jareth. He nearly touches the ceiling with his head, and with his large size, I'm worried about him knocking things over, so I tell him to be careful and try not to move.

I can see the glimmer in the manager's eyes as he looks at Jareth. The hammer and mace in two hands each makes for an intimidating sight, but Bert doesn't seem to be fazed at all, as if Jareth doesn't really pose a threat to him.

More and more Bert seems to be defying any expectations I have of him, it makes me wonder what other secrets he has.

"I'll be honest, I didn't expect you to have such an impressive summon to fight with. Usually, I get new summoners with fairly normal summons that turn out to be average at best. I'll have to bring out someone a bit stronger than usual to fight Jareth over here. However, being at the 4th tier doesn't mean much if he can't fight well, I hope you don't disappoint me." (Bert)

He shuffles through a few folders before finding the right one on top of his desk, "Here's the person I'm looking for. You'll be fighting Wallace Benson as the 5th fight of the day, and he has a dullahan summon named Mort. The name is a little on the nose for my tastes, but for any more information you'll have to find out for yourself, good luck."

With the end of my showing, I unsummon Jareth to make room for when Alexis brings out Hemlock.

"Now what about you Alex?" (Bert)

"This is my poison drake, and her name is Hemlock." She says with confidence, almost like she is guaranteed a spot already. I mean she probably isn't wrong, but I find it hard to have the same level of confidence when dealing with people.

She brings out Hemlock, who stands up proudly in the suddenly cramped office. Her scales are a bright purple just like I remember from the last time we fought against the drake, and she looks just as deadly as the plant she was named after.

I make sure to give a wide berth to the spikes poking out along her body, wouldn't want to get accidentally poisoned before I even got to fight.

"It's pretty impressive to get a dragonkin summon, I'm certain she'll put up a good fight today. Now let me see who I should get to fight her. I wouldn't want the main attraction of today to sweep the competition against a weak summoner, or vice versa." (Bert)

"Here is a worthy opponent, they are in the middle ranks of the bronze league. Her name is Charlotte Gains, she should be able to put up a pretty good fight against your drake. Her summon is a Rougarou or swamp werewolf named Gromit, and you'll be fighting in the 10th and final match of the evening." (Bert)

"I'll put you both on the roster for today, now if you don't mind, I've got more paperwork to take care of." (Bert)

With that dismissal, we got the hint and exited the office. "Whew, looks like we managed to get on the roster, and you even got to be the main attraction. Congrats." (Thomas)

"Thanks, it sounds like both of our fights should prove interesting. I don't think the fights will be as simple as Bert made them sound to be, our opponents are ranked summoners who have been fighting in the bronze league for a lot longer than us. We'll have to give it our all to win." (Alexis)

"I was thinking the same thing, why don't we go to the fighter's waiting room to get changed and then head to the stands to watch the other matches. We got lucky enough that our fights are far enough apart to watch the other's fight." (Thomas)

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With that decided on, we go down to the competitor's hall and enter the waiting room to change.

There is a tv to watch the matches from and a couple of benches for the competitors to sit on while waiting. In the old era, there would have been lockers as well to store our stuff, but now that everyone has storage watches, lockers are pretty much obsolete.

We quickly throw on our hunting gear and head towards the spectator stands to get a better view of the fights. This is only my fourth time in the colosseum, so I can't help but fidget in anticipation of the coming fights.

"Wait, we need to place bets on our fights before we sit down to watch the fights. I'm certain we'll both manage to win, so there's no point in not betting."

I wanted to palm my forehead for almost forgetting the entire reason we had come to the arena. With my intervention, we turn around and head towards the nearest betting both to place our bets.

Looking at the info chart on the wall, I see the fights and odds for each one. Going down a few, I manage to find my fight, which has my name and summon type against my opponent with 50/50 odds since not much is known about my fighting ability.

Being able to double my money isn't so bad, so I go up to the betting booth and place 10,000 credits on myself. I left 5,000 in my account on the off-chance that I don't win the fight.

Fortunately, fighters aren't forbidden from betting, but any bets can only be for your own victory. There isn't much worry about fighters intentionally losing since winning is expected of regular fighters. Summoners who lose get fewer and fewer opportunities to fight in the colosseum, so most do their best to win.

There is the occasional case where a fighter desperately needs immediate money and intentionally loses while having someone place a bet on their opponent, but any fighters found forfeiting intentionally are banned for life.

I don't need to do something so degrading since I'm confident in my strength against others at the same level. That doesn't mean that others haven't tried it though.

Alexis bets on her fight for a few thousand credits and then we head off to the stands to spectate while waiting for our fights.