Being that I did not know, I just waited for him to tell me. "Were you not a member of an auxiliary army against the rebels!? All you need is to get a signed note from your commander and present it to the authorities. They will acknowledge your efforts for the good of the empire. Then you may put your name on the census when it is time." he said. If it was that easy to accomplish, I would do it. Lucius Vesnius Protacius was my commander. I served for at least 3 whole battles and gave him the warhorse. As someone who was polite to him, he had to be willing to do this for me. It would mean chasing him down and then asking him to write the letter. Vel Leon did not fight in the arena every week. I could miss a few fights and things would still be fine. People might actually be willing to make more bets on my fight after an absence. It could all work in my favor. "If you would like, I will contact him for you. You don't need to do anything aside from focus on the next fight." he said. I had to really think about it. This was important. Agreeing now, it would cement him as my patron. "Handle it." I said.
I honestly did not want to chase him down. I also did not want to have to get into a long quest chain. To be honest, he did not dismiss the army. I left when I felt like it. He might not want to give me the letter for free. Having this man be my advocate would be better. I had the time to ask around. I could not legally leave the province. As I was only a free man, I only had the right not to be forced into slavery. I could not marry anyone. I could not use the court system. I could not even migrate to a new area of the empire. If I wanted to leave Ainon Province, I was going to have to get my citizenship for the empire. The old man's name was Tertius Uulius Aper. He gave me 500 lin and told me to get a house. The last words he gave me were "I expect you to continue with good results." A side quest was given to me. I had to win 3 matches in a row. With the amount that I was making, I could technically have a manor built anywhere in the province. I went to the builder's guild. I gave them a lump sum of 10,000 lin and told them to build a manor for me. They asked me for their building permits.
Costs were one thing. Bureaucracy was another. I did not know I needed one. I sighed deeply. "I don't have it now. I just wanted to reserve your services until I get it for you." The man handed the money back. "It doesn't work like that David. A free man can't enforce contracts even if they fall through. You should wait until everything is in place" he sneered. Clearly he normally would try to scam me. The only reason he did not was my reputation. I kill things 5 times his size on a weekly basis. He liked the fights. Still, he was of a higher status than me since he was a citizen. That meant yet another side quest added onto my plate. I had to find a settlement with land and then get the owner or ruler to allow me to build there. With my decently high reputation in the region, that would not be too hard. I did not want to be closer to the border with the Western Empire than I needed to be. I decided to venture south from Ainon City. There was still the border with Namregia. Two thirds of the way between Ainon and Bonna City was a scenic village of Mazaca. I walked around it. It was amazing.
