It did not matter. They were still bearing down on us. We did our best, but we were all downed in the big melee. My guys got at least 2 kills each in the clash before going down. Our squad made a name for ourselves. When I got up, I had to check the casualties. I lost 4 men; 2 of them were from the infantry charge. All of my surviving men got to rank up. I was level 8 at the end of the battle. I had killed enough men to rank up again. I was now able to be a centurion. That meant I could lead 100 men into battle. This was a private army raised by a noble. It did not count at all. Lucius decided who his favored champions were. This was not the imperial army. Still, ranking up meant that I had the choice of becoming an Imperial Menavliaton or an Imperial Veteran Infantryman. It was obvious. I lost the big shield. Instead I gained mail armor and a great pike and one handed sword. I was going to be a bit more offensive than an Imperial Legionary would be. That was more than fine with me. It was not like I was taking part in the shield walls from so far back. My men were now all Infantrymen too.
Personally, I believed we won the battle by the skin of our teeth. The Western Empire was really good at their defense. We had to cross back into Ainon. It would be too dangerous to continue on. The noble brothers had also been through a lot during the campaign. They were bruised and injured as well. We went directly to Ainon City to recover. There was a tournament arena like in all the cities, but nothing was going on at the moment. The gladiator pits were always open though. Penal slaves were made to fight there for the entertainment of the residents each week. There were events where they might face a huge wild animal. They could also be set to fight each other. They lived at the arena itself in cages. Private gladiators, both free men and those owned by others, could also compete. They could fight the beasts, the pit slaves or each other. People could die in these fights. Penal slaves had a choice: 3 private gladiator fights, 5 fights against beasts or 10 fights with other slaves in the pit. If you were downed by another gladiator, the crowd watching decided if you were executed.
Quickly, I had made it all the way to rank 4 in the Vesnius Protacius army. Because there were so many armies running around, there was a hierarchy of affiliation. It went lord, household, dynasty, and then faction. Lucius knew me now. I could go to him and retain my rank 4 status at any time. Lars knew of me because the armies were together. He might decide to keep me at rank 4, or he might demote me back to rank 3 in order to make me prove myself to him. In another household of the Vesnius dynasty, I would automatically start with a demotion due to leaving the army once before. Outside of the armies raised by their dynasty, I would have 2 demotions. In any other faction on the map, I would start from scratch. While the Vesnius Protacius house was tenacious, they clearly did not have the skill to actually do much. Only nobles could become rank 6 troops. I only had one more promotion to go here before I would be capped anyway. If I wanted to be a career soldier, I could just join the emperor's army. I would start at rank 2, but I might actually advance in the faction's hierarchy.
