Chp.45: The gladiator dormitory

When Misune finished cleaning Haku's teeth, Hara nodded to both of them and led them out of the room. The trio walked down several corridors which fortunately were wide enough for Haku to pass without problems (most likely they were designed to allow the passage of large fighting beasts). Occasionally they passed a few slaves, but they quickly moved away as soon as they saw the dragon.

Finally they came to a large door at least four meters high and equally wide. The door was made entirely of iron and felt very solid, and Haku wouldn't be surprised if it was also enchanted. Outside the door were six armed guards guarding the passage, and they looked at Haku curiously as soon as they saw him.

"Beyond this door is the dormitory, the realm of the gladiators" Hara explained. "Actually, technically, it's more their home. Beyond this door are three rooms: the middle one serves as a recreation and eating area, the one on the left is for sleeping, and the one on the right is the bathrooms. When you're inside, Haku, you won't be able to get out again until a guard comes to call you. If you need something from outside, send your slave to get it. Is everything clear?"

Haku nodded. "No doubt. Thank you"

Hara seemed to appreciate that thanks. "Our paths separate here. Try not to get into too much trouble. Gladiators aren't elite soldiers, but they can be very dangerous" she said, then she nodded to the guards. "Let them in"

One of the guards approached the door and hit it with some kind of metal bar. As he did so, a whistle was heard and the doors swung open. As Haku had guessed, that door must be enchanted. Hara motioned for the dragon and Misune to enter; the two obeyed, and as soon as they were inside the door closed behind them with a thud.

Haku looked around. The room he had entered was enormous: at least fifty meters long and twenty wide, it was spacious enough to hold several hundred people. It wasn't very well maintained: the walls were peeling and the floor had several broken tiles, but at least it didn't seem to be too dirty (although there was still a lot more dirt than usual). The decor was very minimalistic: there were only benches crowded along the walls, while in the center of the room there were several circular tables, each with at least ten chairs. Haku remembered Hara's words: this must have been the dining and recreation room. In the middle of the room there were, on opposite sides, two openings which probably led to the bathrooms and the actual dormitory.

There were several people in the room; Haku counted at least forty of them, and they were probably only a small part of the total gladiators since he heard a strong buzz coming from the dormitory, a sign that many others must be sleeping there (probably, even if he couldn't say for sure, it was already night). The gladiators belonged to the most disparate races: Haku saw beastmen, humans, elves, orcs, ogres and even races he didn't know. Most of them were chatting or stretching out on the benches, but pretty soon everyone turned to him. Clearly, they were surprised by the dragon's presence.

After a few moments of silence, one of them, an elf (or maybe half-elf? Haku still hadn't figured out how to tell them apart), approached and said: "Hey, slave, you've got the wrong room. This overgrown lizard needs to be taken to the other side of the building"

Haku narrowed his eyes and let out a growl. "What did you call me, pointy ears?"

The elf nearly fell over in shock. "A talking animal!? Wait a minute... you're a dragon!?"

"Wow, how insightful" Haku said, then he fixed him with a murderous glare. "Try to call me a lizard again and I can assure you that you will beg me to kill you. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about"

The elf nodded. "Of course! I meant no disrespect! I'm sorry!" he said in a cold sweat, then he turned and walked away quickly. The other gladiators stood dumbfounded for a moment, then they began to mutter among themselves.

Haku ignored them and started exploring the place. Misune followed without saying a word. Haku checked the other rooms, and was able to confirm that he was right: in fact, there were many more gladiators in the dormitory, all of them asleep. The dormitory consisted of several beds stacked close together. In many of them there was more than one person. The smell was not at all pleasant to smell, so the dragon immediately left. As for the bathrooms, they consisted of several holes where it was possible to do one's needs separated by some thin walls for privacy. Some slaves were cleaning those holes. Even there the smell wasn't the best, so Haku decided that he would only go back there when he needed it.

While studying the place he also acquired information about the people who lived there. It was clear that there were two categories: slaves and gladiators. Gladiators were instantly recognizable because they were physically better built, had better clothes, and mostly slept or sat around doing nothing. The slaves, on the other hand, were decidedly thinner and smaller, dressed worse and were busy working to clean the rooms, giving the gladiators a massage, or sleeping with them in their beds. The slaves were also almost all girls, but there were also some boys: Haku suspected that they reflected the tastes of the gladiators they had to serve.

When he finished exploring the area, Haku let out a grunt. "Apparently there isn't a bed that fits me" he said. It was true: the beds in the dormitory were far too small for him.

Misune was playing with her thumbs, as if she didn't know what to do. "Well... if you wait a bit, sir, I can go to the cattle area and get some straw... it won't be very comfortable but..."

"No, you don't need to do that. I've slept in worse places" Haku cut her short. "But I don't want to rest on this floor, too many broken tiles. I want at least a smooth surface"

"So what..." Misune tried to say, but her words were cut off an instant later: the dragon's tail shot out and struck a nearby table. The legs of the table were severed with a sharp crash and the top fell to the floor with a thud. The gladiators whirled around to see what had happened, and Haku was sure that some of the sleeping ones had woken up. He didn't mind it: it didn't interest him in the slightest. He climbed onto what was left of the table and lay down on it. It wasn't super comfortable, but at least it was a smooth surface.

Now there was only one thing missing. "I just need to find a fur coat to make it comfortable, and it will be perfect"

"A fur coat?" Misune, who was still quite shocked, was now even more confused. "Where will you find a fur coat?"

"I don't need to find it. It's coming to me right now" Haku replied pointing to a spot in the room. Misune turned and saw one of the gladiators approaching with a furious glare.

He was a minotaur. He was one of the biggest gladiators in the room: muscular, tall, with two huge horns and a cow's face. He was approaching with such rage that his hooves made the ground shake slightly. "You there!" he exclaimed in a voice like a bellow. "What do you think you're doing? You know we use to eat at these tables?"

"You used to eat at it. Now I sleep on it" was Haku's curt reply, who didn't even look at the minotaur.

Misune felt her blood run cold. Suddenly it became clear to her what Haku wanted to do and she started sweating. Terrified, she motioned for the minotaur to leave, but he ignored her. "You think just because you're a dragon, you can do whatever you want? You may be big, but don't expect to be the strongest here"

"Sure, sure. Now shut up, I want to sleep" Haku answered in an evidently mocking tone while scratching something inside his mouth.

The minotaur bellowed in anger. "Don't try to ignore me!" he exclaimed, lightly kicking one of the dragon's legs, in an attempt to get his attention.

Suddenly Haku stood up. His body moved slowly and his head turned. The eyes of the minotaur saw his murderous eyes, and felt the urge to back away. "Did you dare touch me, bipedal cow?" Haku hissed in a voice that sounded like the breath of death.

The minotaur gulped. His survival instinct was screaming for him to run away. Finally he also noticed Misune who kept waving him away. He thought about listening to her, but then realized he couldn't: by now he had attracted the attention of almost every other gladiator in the room. If he backed out now, everyone would laugh at him. He had to remain courageous and self-confident. "Yes, I did. Any problems?"

Haku stretched, as if he was getting up in peace, but his every move betrayed his murderous intent. "What a pity. I just wanted to get some sleep... but it doesn't matter. You will serve me as an example for the others" he said, then he licked his lips. "Besides... I still haven't eaten tonight. I thought I'd take something from my bag... but living flesh, which kicks and fights... is definitely better"

The minotaur's eyes widened, but before he could say anything the dragon leapt and was upon him. He used all the mana at his disposal to fortify his arms and raised them, and the dragon's teeth dug into them. The minotaur bellowed in pain, but at least he suffered no permanent damage. Without his mana, the bones would have cracked like appetizers. At the moment he was at a disadvantage: he had no weapons with him, while the dragon had his entire body as a living weapon. The only solution now was to fortify his punches with mana and use that. But before he could make any move Haku smiled and with his tongue slightly lifted his lip where he was scratching before, revealing a small drawing. The minotaur didn't have time to see it well: as soon as his tongue touched it, the drawing exploded in a torrent of flames that hit the minotaur's head.

The minotaur bellowed in pain as his skin charred. He tried to drag his mana to his head to heal it, but suddenly felt a searing pain in his neck, and realized that he had let his guard down due to his head being on fire. Haku had taken the opportunity to bite his throat and rip off the entire jugular. The minotaur fell to the ground in agony and Haku with a sharp blow of his tail cut off his head.

Misune let out a cry of terror and disgust, and then she vomited. The other gladiators watched the shocked scene: it was not uncommon for two gladiators to kill each other in a fight, but certainly not in such a brutal way. But it was Haku's words that scared them the most: "Nobody else?". He said it in such a calm and quiet manner that it sounded like he had just cut a cake, not killed a person. Immediately, all of them turned around, none of them intending to go and avenge their comrade.

Haku grinned. Everything had gone as he had foreseen. In one stroke he had established his position. Now, hardly anyone would come looking for trouble with him. After the king gave him the green light, he no longer had a problem killing gladiators or slaves. Eliminating the minotaur had been easy: it had been enough to count on speed. Haku had carved a rune of fire under his lip while the minotaur was still speaking; when the time came, Haku attacked first; the minotaur had instinctively raised his arms and concentrated his defenses there to stop him, but in doing so he had neglected the rest of the body, and Haku had burned his head. It had been so easy because the minotaur had no weapons with him; otherwise it would have been much more complicated. Also, the minotaur wasn't very strong by newcomer standards: roughly, Haku felt it should be a level gold. Probably for gladiators it was high (they were still prisoners of war, so they couldn't be too strong or they would be killed) but it was nothing compared to strengths like level adamantium.

After making sure that the other gladiators would not have caused him any trouble, Haku began skinning the minotaur. "You" he said to Misune. "Clean up your vomit, then come here and clean up this fur"

The half-elf let out a disgusted noise. "Clean... the fur...?"

"You don't expect me to sleep on dirty fur? I want you to make sure there are no fleas on it" Haku said. "Move now"

Misune felt dizzy. She wasn't wrong: Haku had deliberately provoked the fight to get the fur of the minotaur, just to create a comfortable place to sleep! It was terrifying and horrible. She wanted to puke again, but she didn't want to incur the dragon's wrath, so she ran to get some tools and immediately started cleaning up.

In fact, that had been Haku's intent. He had tracked down the right table thanks to his nose: in fact, the smell of the minotaur was present on it, a sign that he often sat there. The newcomers were very emotional and tended to attach themselves to certain objects and habits, so Haku was sure that the minotaur would be enraged, giving him the excuse to kill him.

However, his purpose wasn't to sleep comfortably. He didn't care if he slept on the floor or on the table or on a fur coat: he was used to sleeping on rocks or the ground or even trees, it wasn't a problem for him. His motivation was purely intimidation: he wanted to make a bed with the body parts of the minotaur, so that all the gladiators knew what happened to those who challenged him. That way they would leave him alone. For the same reason he hadn't gone directly to kill the minotaur: he didn't want the gladiators to think he was a serial killer, but that he shouldn't be disturbed. The minotaur had died because he had challenged him; all the others had ignored it and survived. That would have been the message. Within a few days, no one would have dared to approach him anymore, exactly as Haku wanted.

Haku finished skinning the minotaur, after which Misune cleaned the skin while he devoured the innards; as soon as they were finished, they spread the fur as much as possible over the table, until it formed a comfortable layer of fur that made the table surface considerably more comfortable. Haku made sure the other gladiators saw what he was doing. Then he took the leftover pieces of the minotaur and placed them in his dimensional bag. "You can go to sleep" he told Misune. "We're done here"

The half-elf nodded happily and hurried away, but suddenly Haku added: "Oh, Misune? As I told you before, dragons don't kill without a reason. It's unlikely you'll ever give me one... but please, in the future, don't try to warn my prey, okay? That way we'll be sure to get along"

Misune gulped and felt another retch rise in her throat, and she had to muster all of her willpower to suppress it. No, she hadn't been wrong about dragons at all: they really were monsters. Haku might seem kind on the surface, but inside he was a fierce and ruthless creature who didn't possess the slightest empathy.

Haku didn't know the slave girl's thoughts, and even if he did know, he wouldn't be interested. He lay down on his new bed, now much more comfortable thanks to the minotaur fur, and closed his eyes. However, he did not fall asleep immediately: his mind returned to images of sixteen small silver-scaled dragons. 'Wait for me, brothers, sisters. I will find a way to get back to you. I promise you! I will never give up, not anymore! We will be a family again!'