HATERS AND RIVALS (PART 1)

With the end of the tournament, the crowd dispersed to their various homes or inns to go rest for the next day's event. Some had wide smiles on their faces, courtesy of their good fortune whiles others had deep frowns on their faces accompanied by their inaudible grumbling.

These were the ones who had been forsaken by lady luck during the day's event. They had either bet on the wrong fighters repeatedly or been stupid enough to bet everything they had on a single fighter, going broke in a single fight.

One such person was Rollo who had been doing well until he saw Joda emerge from the north gate with Aia for their tag team match. After he had gotten over the near heart attack that Joda's presence almost gave him, he had bet all his money immediately on Joda losing his fight even before George had whispered into Einarch's ear.

When he saw the knight going for the cute girl instead of Joda like he had predicted, he had thought of calling his bet or changing his prediction but his pride wouldn't allow him, and the Knight's fight with the girl had also been too good to ignore. He hadn't been able to bet on that fight so he just watched.

Following George's death at the Samurai's hand, Rollo had taken a deep breath to calm his nerves as he realized that he would have lost money If he had bet on that fight since he had initially thought of betting on the knight's victory. His worry for his money had gone up a notch when he noticed that neither Joda nor his opponent was attacking each other.

Scenes of Joda immobilizing him and knocking him out with just a couple of punches started flooding his mind as he saw the confident look on the boy's face. He had started doubting his brash action and had almost called the bet collector, but he hadn't. He now regretted not just calling the fat bet collector and changing his prediction.

He had fallen prey to the false sense of hope Einarch's prowess had given all those who had bet on him. When the Viking fighter had flown at Joda and almost decapitated him with that first attack, Rollo had jumped in both joy for landing a big win and then satisfaction at seeing that pompous slave get put in his place, even if not the way Rollo wanted it.

Alas, that wild shot had passed right over the boy's head as he slid underneath it. With that fail, Rollo's dream of seeing his nemesis put in his place along with his dream of making a big win took a big turn for the worse.

In one smooth move accompanied by a heavy hit, Rollo's dream came crashing down. Joda had won his duel like he feared and with it, all his coins had been lost. His panic attack had been real then and with it, his hatred for the slave who kept defying him time and time again had soared.

As he made his way home, he kept running through crazy schemes that would enable him pay back Joda during the tournament. The only problem though was that he didn't want any of his schemes to be traced back to him in case they failed. He had witnessed the boy's strength firsthand and had just gotten a reminder of what a dangerous person that skinny boy could be.

Also, most of his ideas were stupid if he was being honest and he most definitely wasn't willing to put his neck on the line for a stupid plan like he had done the last time.

"Oh, you wait, filth. Your punishment is yet to come at my hands. And this time around, I'll take my time to plan everything from scratch so that when I rope you in, you'll all be mine." Rollo said under his breath as he made his way steadily through the chattering crowd and towards his home.

Back in the holding room, the fighters who had owners were being picked up one after the other, and Joda found Orion and Bello waiting for him at the back entrance of the western holding room that led outside.

He joined up with them and they made their way outside where a chariot was waiting to take them home.

Most of the fighters though were staying at the colosseum since they had no owners to get back to. They were mostly wanted criminals Fighting for protection under the Officiator's wing and this was the group that Aia found herself in.

After all the other fighters had left to go home, and the ones who stayed had crept off to their lodgings, she had emerged from her own room where she had been hiding all day and made her way to the training room to go train, believing that it would be deserted by the fighters until dawn. The normal time most of the fighters trained.

So she was surprised when she saw another person training Inside the room. The person was a female who looked very fit and had a physique to die for.

The moment the other person heard Aia's footsteps, she whirled around to see who had joined her. A look of surprise manifested on her face as she recognized Aia, then she grinned cheekily whiles looking the cute Samurai up and down.

Aia said nothing as the other girl sized her up, instead, she made her way to the training dummy used for hand-to-hand practice and started her training routine.

"You really are impressive up close." The girl started in a clear voice that sounded like the sound of a flowing stream on a path of pebbles.

"Pardon my rudeness. My name is Nynna, the female knight assassin in this arena and also one of the four gods awaiting playthings. i hear you're something of an assassin yourself. Care to spar with me?" Nynna's voice that was tainted with mockery at the Samurai came from behind Aia and she paused her assault of the training dummy to give her reply.

"No," Aia said simply and she heard the other female assassin take in a deep breath that spoke of her displeasure at being turned down.