Chapter 796: Mark Reuss’s Worry
The person responsible for welcoming the gladiators from various gladiator schools was a disabled Slav.
He led the crowd to gather in the arena to let them familiarize themselves with the venue. After everyone arrived, he reiterated the battle rules. In the morning, the beastmaster’s performance would be held first. The arena had collected all kinds of exotic beasts from all over the country. During the performance, the beastmaster could showcase their beast-taming skills on those exotic wild beasts, or they could showcase their appetite to the audience.
Come afternoon; it was the gladiators’ turn to present themselves. Like the show Zhang Heng experienced in the Victor Arena earlier, the Amphitheatrum Flavium was divided into different types of fights. No matter the kind of fight, only the victorious gladiators were qualified to advance to the next battle.
For the final battle, the arena would select seventy-two best gladiators to participate in the final mixed-fight. The situation was very similar to the twelve-man mixed fight that Zhang Heng participated in at the Victor Arena earlier. This time, however, instead of fighting in pairs, the gladiators were asked to do a one-on-one fight. And the ultimate winner would be the champion of this gladiatorial show.
On the surface, this looked like a fair way of fighting, but in fact, that was not the case. As we all knew, there were many types of gladiators. Even the most popular twelve-man mixed fight in the Victor Arena did not include all kinds of gladiators. That was because certain gladiators were more powerful than the rest. For example, Andabata and Eques would generally overpower the other types of gladiators. The former was equipped with a horse, and the latter was given a chariot. Other than that, Sagittarius could use bow and arrow to kill their enemies.
Under normal circumstances, these special gladiators would only fight against the gladiators with the same professions, such as andabata vs. andabata and eques vs. eques.
However, in order to increase the enjoyment, the gladiatorial performance would, for the first time, bring in all types of gladiators to fight against each other. In other words, if the popular gladiators who were previously favored by the public were to fight against a profession that bettered his, the famous gladiator might lose the battle. However, if they somehow managed to beat the gladiators with a more powerful profession, the fame that they received would surely multiply.
When Zhang Heng was familiarizing himself with the venue, he met several old acquaintances. One of the gladiators was given the nickname Giant. His real name was Philos, and he possessed immense strength. The second gladiator was Thracian Danaus from the Isaiah Arena. And the third one was the gladiator that he just offended, Sartonilos. The latter had been glaring at Zhang Heng coldly. Zhang Heng believed that he would not hesitate to kill if he came across an opportunity in the performance later.
Also worth noting were also some special gladiator professions.
After Zhang Heng and others did some warm-up exercises, they were taken to the lounge on the side. There, they were asked to wait until it was their turn to fight. Fortunately, the arena had prepared breakfast and lunch for them, and they could also make use of the two small training rooms next to them.
Afterward, Mark Reuss arrived at the Amphitheatrum Flavium to boost the morale of his gladiators. “Everyone, it’s time to test the promises you made and uphold the honor of the Victor Arena. When you stand in the arena, you are not just representing yourself but the arena behind you. So no matter who your opponent is, don’t be afraid. Show your strength and courage. Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, will always look after you!”
After Mark Reuss finished speaking, he took a special look at Zhang Heng, who also nodded at him.
When Mark Reuss saw that, he felt a little relieved. And he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Although he was not the one about to fight these gladiators, he realized that the battle tomorrow might affect the gladiator schools for at least ten years. In other words, his income would be significantly affected if his gladiators lost in the fight tomorrow. That was why he did not even sleep well last night.
And now he finally understood what Gaby told him earlier. It wouldn’t be easy to control Zhang Heng.
Last night, the conflict between the latter and Sartonilos was definitely something he did not want to see. Fortunately, the outcome was a tie, with Zhang Heng having a slight upper hand. When Mark Reuss weighed the risk-benefit of that battle, he thought that the unexpected battle was completely unnecessary. Winning would bring him little benefit. However, if Zhang Heng lost the battle, Sartonilos would definitely smash his head to a pile of mush. In this case, before the gladiatorial performance began, Victor Arena would be losing a lot of money since their trump card was gone.
Besides, he could also see that Zhang Heng wanted Commodus to favor him, which was in line with his interests. Mark Reuss hoped that the young emperor, Commodus, would notice his gladiator school and visit Victor Arena to watch performances more often. The fact that the emperor visited his arena would be more effective than any publicity attempts so far. However, Zhang Heng did not discuss this matter with him beforehand. He improvised the whole incident instead. At the same time, Mark Reuss felt that Zhang Heng wanted to get close to Commodus and quit his gladiator school. And it made Mark Reuss a little uncomfortable.
But now, he needed Zhang Heng to win this battle for him. He had to suppress all the thoughts and doubts that he had in mind right now. As for other things, they could only be dealt with after the show was over.
If Zhang Heng won the championship, he would be able to step further away from Mark Reuss’s control. Mark Reuss thought that this was the kind of trouble that he was happy to deal with.
Mark Reuss did not stay in the gladiator’s lounge for too long. After encouraging his gladiators, he made a move to the stand reserved for him. And he would watch the gladiatorial show from there.
As soon as Mark Reuss left, another man appeared in front of Zhang Heng.
When Sartonilos got up and walked toward Zhang Heng, the guards in the lounge immediately drew out their weapons and warned Sartonilos. It was strictly forbidden for the gladiators to engage in a fight in the arena lounge. No matter the grudge between the two, they were only allowed to sort it out on the battlefield.
However, Sartonilos ignored those warnings. He walked towards Zhang Heng and said, “I will pray for you, easterner. I want you to win the battles and get promoted to the final brawl. As long as I get my hands on my weapon, whatever happened last night will never happen again. ”
“This is true,” Zhang Heng nodded. “If we all had weapons, what happened last night would have never happened.”
The lounge guard was forced to call his companion not far away due to the pressure brought by Sartonilos. However, when the other guard arrived in the lounge, Sartonilos had returned to his seat and had stopped glaring at Zhang Heng.
And it did not take long for everyone to hear the footsteps and noise coming from above their heads. They knew that the audience had begun to enter the arena.
This time, the gladiatorial show was funded by the royal family and prepared by the senate with the goal of entertaining the people of the city of Rome. Hence, they did not charge any fees from them. Although the arena had ninety-thousand seats, it was still not enough to fit all the people in Rome. That was because the population of Rome was 1.5 million.
Among them, the nobles had their own designated seats. The commoners, on the other hand, would be given a domino block with their seat number, gate number, and zone engraved. It was somewhat similar to the concert tickets of later generations. It was to ensure that everyone could enter the arena in an orderly manner.