Chapter 34: The Gamble (above)

 The Antala Legendary Mercenaries finally had a place to settle down, and the group got a respite like never before.

 During the few days of rest and recuperation in Sarnara, Radha realized that the mercenary group's income still could not cover their expenses, and after a long discussion with Borg, Zayin, and Zana, the few people made a bold decision.

 Zayin led the mercenaries to clean up the gangs in the city's neighborhoods, and the gang leader of the neighborhoods, "Sour Wine" Lahan, mysteriously disappeared that night. At this point, all the gangs in the city were occupied by the Antala Legendary Mercenaries.

 Borg and Zayin, with their mercenaries, threatened the caravans in the city, and the prices of the commodities that the caravans brought to Sanalla were manipulated by Zayin and his men. Butter, dates, flax, wool, clay, olives, cheese, and other inexpensive household items could only be sold at the silverware store. The silverware store was like a grocery store, with a variety of items stored inside, while the tables used to make silver jewelry were covered in dust.

 Some caravans didn't listen to the arrangement of these gang minions, after the caravan left the city but encountered a mercenary group of dozens of strong blockade, if they paid the toll, they would also be released peacefully. If you don't even pay the toll, you will only hear the phrase "see blood", the whole caravan suffered heavy losses.

 Later, these head iron caravans also learned smart, early to sell goods to the silver store, price dinar slightly lower, but can be safe and sound in the vicinity of the city of Sanalla, free to go business, along the way, even on horseback looters will not be encountered, and for this, the merchants and happy a few points.

 The goods that were received at the silverware store were sold at a uniform price to the freeholders of the city. The freemen always scoffed at the slightly higher prices, but they couldn't find anything lower than that in the city.

 Farmers who traveled to the city to sell their goods were also greeted by gang members. Farmers could only sell goods at a price equal to or higher than the price of the same goods at the silverware store, or, the farmer would sell the goods directly to the silverware store at a low price. Otherwise, he will receive a severe beating on his way back to the village. The farmers did not abhor this, and selling the goods at a high price was what they wanted. Even if the goods were sold at a low price to the silverware store, these low-priced goods earned more dinars than usual. The farmers felt that the gangs in this city were very different from the past.

 Vahan purchased 60 hunting bows and a few hundred barbed arrows one after another from the caravan, spending about 8,000 dinars, and every member in the Legendary Mercenaries of Antara was able to own a bow and a few arrows. The back street was set up as a training ground by a few of Vahan's men, where the group practiced archery on a rotating basis.

 When Lada heard that Vahan was asking for dinars to buy bows and arrows, he agreed like never before and took out the dinars with a sharp hand. Bow and arrow can kill the enemy long distance, avoid close combat to be hurt, besides, Vahan several people are seen Nadim holding a bow and arrow in the bandit nest arrogant and domineering kind of. Rada had also purchased food such as fried chicken, black bread, and jerky as a reward for the most accurate archery, motivating everyone.

 The young girls and boys rescued from the village of Mabwazi practiced their bows and arrows along with them in their free time, all of them were extra serious about it, all of them didn't want to be left stranded when the enemy came again.

 Edem sat quietly in the stands of the arena, his left index finger and thumb gripping the bow of his hunting bow tightly, his right hand squeezing the arrow as he kept his eyes on the few people fighting in the arena. Edem had followed Alvar's march for many years, and also participated in battles with Nadim, and even learned Nadim's archery skills, but did not have Nadim's strong physique, so that he was seriously injured inside the Hubia City Arena. Although his left arm could not carry weight for a long time, he was still able to draw the bow and arrow a few times for a short period of time.

 Both Ramtuo and Vahan entered the arena and participated in the gladiatorial combat, and the two who entered the arena took care of each other as if they were training for a match. These two people do not kill people in the arena, after seriously injuring someone to the ground, they will let go of the person who fell to the ground. And for those who want to try to sneak attack, the two also always will not leave their hands, will not hesitate to stab them to death.

 Radha, after learning that Vahan and Ramtuo were fighting in the arena, no longer kept an eye on the silverware store, but left it entirely in Borg's hands. With a large amount of dinar in his pocket, Radha sat on the platform and quietly stared at the fight in the arena. When there were only two people left in the field, Vahan and Ramtuo, Vahan and Ramtuo will sword fight, in a long sword fell moment, one of them will fall to the ground pretending to be dead, angry at the bleachers of the crowd cursed.

 Radha was not surprised by this, and when Vahan was the only one left in the arena, Radha would smirk and head to the gaming table on the platform, sliding his arm across the table and pocketing the dinars in his arms.

 After a few battles, with Vahan and Ramtor regularly winning and living to tell the tale, the inhabitants of the city of Thanalar bet more and more on either Vahan or Ramtor, after all, it was often one of the two that won within the arena.

 Until one day, there were a few more unfamiliar faces participating in the competitive matches within the arena, neither slaves nor soldiers, but rather the owner of a silverware store, the leader of a gang in the backstreets, and a girl selling medicine on the street that the residents of the city could often see.

 For this rare tournament, Rada had the mercenaries, the teenagers, the young girls, and the merchants who came and went through the city hard for half a month to publicize it, and the gossip spread all over the city of Thanalar.

 The girl selling medicine on the street was not a peasant's child, but a nobleman's daughter exiled from Valandia, trained in the teachings of knights since childhood, and well versed in horseback riding and slashing.

 The newly ascendant leader of the Back Street gang is a slave warrior from a distant tribe in the south of the continent, and after being hunted down by numerous slavers, he was still able to calmly establish a gang within the city of Sarnara, annexing the Back Street, Waterfront, and Promenade districts, and appropriating the three gang strongholds in the city for himself.

 The new owner of the silverware store, who had fought bravely on the battlefield and personally beheaded the Southern Empire's troop commander, Nifong, in a battle with the Southern Empire, had enough dinars to purchase a silverware store in the city only after selling Nifong's armor and weapons. I heard that he was also secretly controlling the prices within the city.

 The residents of Thanalar finally waited for the opening day of the tournament, and the arena stands were filled with spectators, all standing straight up. Edem stood at the forefront of the crowd, his left index finger and thumb gripping the bow of his hunting bow tightly, his right hand squeezing the arrow, constantly sweeping the platform and the crowd in the arena with his eyes.

 Lada was already standing at the gaming table on the platform.

 The arena keeper and Lada worked together to organize the bets and yell hard. The arena manager was particularly impressed with the guy who won every bet. Previously, because this fat guy won too much, the arena administrator really couldn't bear to let this little fat guy leave with a belly pocket of dinars, so he sent a few guards to follow privately, preparing to rob him in a less crowded alley, but he was robbed by the mercenaries that the little fat guy had ambushed into the alley in advance. Little Fatty led a group of mercenaries, tied up the guards, all the way to the arena, found the arena administrator, after a few people on the spot confrontation, the bound guards could not resist the punishment of chopping off their fingers, one by one confessed. The arena administrator can only make amends, in the small fat man's repeated threats, the arena administrator had to the arena's 20% of the rights and interests as compensation, delivered to the small fat man. In response, the arena administrator remained unconvinced.

 The arena administrator had sent people to assassinate Little Fatty at night, but was discovered by Borg, who cut down several people in turn under the surprise attack. Boggs carried the heads of the assassins in one hand and a sword in the other; with the fat man behind him, the two of them went to the arena manager's home, and Boggs vowed to kill the arena manager, but the fat man tried his best to stop him, and he talked about how much the arena manager took care of him and how many dinars he won, and talked about how the manager's goodness was so insignificant, and the arena manager was scared to his knees and begged for forgiveness. Finally, Borg wiped the blood from his face and smoothed his hair back along his forehead, the blood glistening in his hair in the light. The arena administrator, after witnessing this scene, no longer dared to belittle the little fat man. In the time that followed, it was as if the arena manager had become Little Fatty's follower.

 Little Fatty Lada became one of the shareholders of the Thanalar Arena. The arena administrator, however, was left with only 10% of the proceeds, and this remaining 10% of the proceeds could still be replaced at any time. The rest of the arena's proceeds belonged to the Emir of the city of Sarnara, the family in which Winjid was from, and the arena was nothing more than a venue for its profitability.

 These nobles never cared about who managed the arena, they only needed to receive their due dinars on time every month.