Inside the cell of a Colosseum, a woman in her twenties is sharpening her khopesh. The color of her khopesh is black with a white lining on it.
"Another hour left before the fight," the woman muttered.
She is a beautiful woman with dark hair and purple eyes. There are not many people with purple eyes in this Empire and thus she stands out among her peers.
The clothes slowly flew into the air and landed on her palm. That is the ability she got last year. It was too sudden. She was in the arena, fighting a troll at the time when she got that ability. Her khopesh was sent across the arena by the halberd of the troll. She can try and run around the arena if she wants her weapon back, but it will take a lot of her stamina. It was when her khopesh flew back directly into her hand. Because of that, she was able to defeat the troll easily.
And another strange thing was the star-shaped mark on her shoulder. She was sure that it was not there before. She touches the mark on her shoulder.
"Is this somehow related to my family? Was it a curse?" she thought. She has never seen her family before. Her only family member was the old caretaker from the orphanage. She was in the orphanage since she was aware of her surroundings and surrounding her was the kids in the same situation as her and an old caretaker.
'Jolan,' was the name she got from her birth parents. She had never seen them and does not want to see them in the future. They will not throw her away if they want to keep her. She does not want to keep that name, but the caretaker told her that it was the only memento she got from her parents, and the need to treasure it. There was only a piece of paper in her basket when she arrived at the doorsteps of the orphanage. The old caretaker was informed about her name and her birthday from that paper.
She got 'Jovita' from the old caretaker. It was the family name of the caretaker, and she gave it to all the orphans in her orphanage. She was a happy little girl in the orphanage, playing with the children of her age and the old caretaker loves all the children in the orphanage equally. But that happiness does not last long. The village where the orphanage is situated was raided by the bandits when she was 8 years old.
She became a slave at the age of 11. Before that, she did everything she needs to survive. Stealing, scrapping around the trashes, and hunting the wild animals. She was caught by one of the slavers when she was too tired and hungry to move.
Now, it was already 10 years since she had become a slave and she will turn 21 years old tomorrow. Only if she will not go and die in today's fight.
"Get up! Prepare to get into the arena. Today, you will be fighting another gladiator," her Master shouted at her from the outside of the cell. She gets up and walks out of the cell.
When she got outside, she was greeted with the sight of a thin man shorter than her by a head. "I don't care if you live or die but be sure to give them a good show. I heard that the head of Gregory Company came and watch today's match. I will get rich if she decided to invest in this Colosseum like what she did to hers," he warned her.
"The Gregory Company," she muttered. Even a slave like her knows about that company. It is one of the four biggest companies in the Empire, and it was started by a woman to boot. A woman and her knight simply waltzed into the capital and started the business. When the company started growing, the three companies were too late to stop, and the prior three biggest became the four biggest companies in the Empire. It is not related to her so, she doesn't think much about it.
During the last three months, there is news that was as famous as the forming of the Gregory Company. It was the news that a nine years old child had killed the dragon. She was unable to believe it. It was not just her, people from the whole Empire were in denial of it. All of them were jeering at the one who started the rumors to make the actual believable story. If she were to remember it correctly, the rumors came from the Gregorios territory.
But then, all the jeering and the mocking stopped when the Gregory Company, the Adventurers' Guild, the Zestina Family, and the Prime Minister himself confirmed the rumor as the truth. The truth that the nine years old kid had killed the dragon. To this day, only the heroes were able to kill the dragons because of their ability to overcome their level limit. Now, because a child as young as that killed a dragon, people are starting to believe that he is a hero in making.
But that is also unrelated to her. She is not someone who can meet those people. They too, will not take a second glance at her. She is, after all, a simple battle slave, killing another living thing for the amusement of the people watching.
She is now standing at the entrance to the arena. Her opponent is already in there. He is tall and there is little to no hair on his head. He also carries twin axes in his hand. His upper body is naked and is toned with muscles.
The door opens and she walks into the arena steadily. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Jolan Jovita!" the announcer shouted.
She walks toward the front of her opponent, turned toward the place where the referee is. She and her opponent swear the oath. "I will endure to be burned, to be bound, to be beaten, and to be killed by the sword," the two of them shouted at the same time. And then salute the Empire and the Empress who are watching the battle, "We who are about to die, salute you!"
She stabbed her khopesh into the ground and grab a handful of sand. She rubs those sands in her hand to make sure her weapon won't slip past her hand. After that, she grabs her weapon again and faces her opponent.
"Start!" the referee shouted.
Just as she was about to rush in, her opponent kicks the sand right to her face, making her momently blind. She was careless. She forgot that this is the first time she fought a human being like her. She forgot the fact that fighting humans are totally different than fighting monsters.
Her opponent rushed in while she was trying to clean the dust from her eyes. Her instincts told her to dodge to the right and she immediately stepped to the right. She trusts her instincts as they had saved her many times in the past.
Her opponent is not giving her any time to prepare as he keeps on pushing her. She sidestepped to the left to dodge the blow, lowered her head to avoid the blow to her neck, parried the ax coming for her arm, and so on. It is already ten minutes into the battle and not once had she gone on the offensive mode.
She was knocked to the ground by the kick to her stomach. She was guarding the twin axes that she forgot about the leg coming for her stomach.
"Gah!" The air inside her lungs was pushed out from her mouth.
She kicked her opponent into his nuts when he stands over her to deal the finishing blow. She searched for her weapon and found it not too far from her. She rushed there and wipe the blood falling from her mouth.
Her opponent is watching her like a hawk, eyeing her every movement for her weakness. She is also doing the same. Then she noticed that her opponent is limping slightly. She can make use of that.
She rushes toward her opponent to slash one of the legs. But it was like her opponent predicted, he swings down his ax with full force, making her drop her weapon.
"Did he just do EMIYA style?" she heard the shout from inside the crowd. She does not know what EMIYA meant but she is going to die here.
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From his other hand, another ax follows suit trying to cut off her head. It was then, something or someone shoved her to the side, making her crashed into the wall. But luckily, she evaded the blow to her head. And her weapon mysteriously flew back into her hand.
She did not let this moment pass. She rushed toward her unaware opponent and slash her khopesh right at the abdomen, making the blood spray out from it. Her opponent grabbed his stomach with wide eyes and fell down. She is finally the winner. And this is also the first time she killed a human being.
The crowd cheered with all their might, congratulating the winner.
"We have the winner here, folks! The winner of today's match is Jolan Jovita! The winner, please go back to your cell," the announcer announced and informed her.
She walks back into her cell. After her match is finished, she had nothing to do and does not want to stay here anymore.
After arriving at her cell, she tends her injuries. There are many cuts and blows on her body and she is washing those away with water first. But water is also limited. So, she soaked the cloth with the water and rubbed the place where she thinks dirty.
"Jolan Jovita, the master is calling you," one of the servants of her master informed her when she was about to get rest.
"I am coming," she replied and stand up from the floor to follow behind the servant.
After knocking, "Come in," she heard the voice of her master from behind the door.
There are already two people inside the room. One is her master and another one is the child who seems to be the noble.
"You told me that you have something to tell me when she arrived. Now, what is it?" her master demanded.
"I want to buy her," the child said.
She was shocked. Why would a child want to buy her? And she knew that her master would not sell her easily. She is one of his main moneymakers after all.
"Are you serious, kid?" her master asked for confirmation.
"I am serious," the kid nodded.
"What? Was it love at first sight for you?" her master smirk.
"Just tell me the price," the child growled.
Why would the child fall in love with her? She is not attractive, and her body is full of scars.
"5 Platinum coins. I will sell her to you with 5 Platinum coins," her master demanded. She knew it. Her master will not sell her easily.
"Deal," the kid said and put five white coins on the table.
"Are you serious?!" her master shouted.
"Yes. She belongs to me now, right?"
"Yes, she belongs to you now," her master sigh, making the slavers turn the control over to the kid.
But before the slavers give him the control, the boy asks, "How old are you?"
"I am turning 21 tomorrow," she replied not knowing why he asked.
"I see. You do not need to give me control over her. Free her from the slavery," the child demanded the slavers.
The slavers look at each other and look at her former master. "Do as he says," her former master nodded.
"Why?" she asked, her voice starts shaking.
"It is nice to have you back into the family, my dear Aunt," the young child smiles at her cheekily.