Eventually, I got enough money to pay for a house in the merchant's district. It was a middle-class area of the city. That was a pretty good place to live. The house was spacious and generously furnished. I could look around and find everything that you would find in a renaissance era city. From the top floor you could see most of the city as the house was in the middle of a hill. There was something about earning my freedom that I found rewarding. The first visitor I got was Alvin. He had gotten a small house in the commoner's district. As the "Golden Boy", he was every bit as famous as I was infamous. He asked what I was going to do now that I was free. "Milk the gladiator fights for all that they are worth. Eventually, I'll head to Epic City and see what I can do there." I told him. He just laughed in my face. When he saw me frown at him, he calmed himself and said "Sorry. There's just no way you are going to get to Epic City alive if that's your attitude. Everyone over here wants you dead. The same thing with me. People would rather bury a hero than see me leave to do something else."
His advice was to buy a slave myself. Getting a cheap warrior after they were named and proven to be able to win. I would have to negotiate with them. The paid warrior would be giving up their ability to be free after their 10th win. In compensation, they could be just as famous with a plethora of wins under their belt. They would be more likely to survive all their fights since I would be bank rolling them and giving them cool weapons and stuff. I did not have the cash on hand to pay for any slaves. That was because I wanted a nicer house. I was going to have to go back and fight more in the colosseum. Alvin saved up some money to buy a slave. He would definitely be able to pick out a winner and give them the training needed to win. He was going to go down soon to buy one. After Alvin said that I decided to go with him. The sooner I got more wins and cash under my belt, the sooner I could do the same thing. We got to the pits and we looked around at the slaves that were there. Alvin took a young kid that had somehow managed to get away with 3 wins by hiding behind others. He was cheap.
The name of the boy was Ying. He seemed to be a user of light fire magic with Asian features. We saw him huddling together with an older boy. It seemed he was from a tribe of magic users that were taken by the kingdom as slaves. Alvin probably knew what he was doing. Ying begged him to buy his brother as well. Alvin looked him over. He grabbed the boy by the chin and looked closer at his face. The boy tried to move away but was not strong enough to escape. "This one is not going to make it much longer. I give him 1, maybe 2 fights tops. I can buy him too since he's so scrawny, but you're going to need to work hard for me. Do you understand?" he said. Ying just nodded and said "I'll fight! Save him! Please!" He begged Alvin and the Golden Boy just looked at them. He took them both and paid for their contracts. I was looking for an opponent for a good fight. There were a few high rank elves that were sitting around. I challenged 2 of them for a fight. They just glared at me. We fought and I took them apart piece by piece. Once again, the crowd wanted them to live. I let them go.
Penalties applied now that I was a freeman. I could be fined large sums or put in jail for disobeying the will of the crowd. I was given lots of money since the had 7 and 5 wins. Szicut the femboy drider was still only at 4 wins. The weapon he had won made it a death wish to challenge him. Since he was not too popular, the slavers did not see fit to have him in action. He only had one match since the prize fight. I looked at him and asked if he wanted to be bought. He looked at me and said "You were a hero when you killed that traitor. I would be honored if I fought for your cause." He would be a good fighter to have on my side. There were other driders in the pits as well. 1 of them was a female black widow with 1 win. Szicut was a brown widow. I decided to buy her as well. With 2 driders in tow, I had a plan. Slaves had no rights and they had to serve all the whims of the master. If I could get them to the peak fighting conditions and then have them breed, the offspring would be strong as well. First, all of us needed to fight in the colosseum. When the wins began to roll in, we would be golden.
