Luke was shocked because this very important information suddenly was told by Baston. He didn't know whether it was true or not because he didn't have the capability to confirm it. Nevertheless, he believed the fat boy wouldn't utter such nonsense in this dire time. Baston rarely told a lie so he decided to believe it for now. As for the source of information and how could the fat boy get it, he would ask it later. If he hurriedly questioned Baston right now, everything would be heard and he was afraid someone would hear it. The walls here had ears so he better spoke less.
While both of them were heading to the coliseum venue, Luke was still thinking hard the next thing he should do when Baston handed a second piece of paper to him. Looking at it, Luke sighed and nodded. The paper said that he needed to delay the time when he confronted Viktor later. Since the fat
man was fake, there was no need to be serious. Still, the noble boy couldn't believe his uncle was in somewhere else because when he talked to him before, Viktor's posture and gesture was perfect with no difference. If not because he trusted Baston more, he would just fight his uncle right now.
On the other hand, the real Baston was far from Paradise Resort. While he was controlling the fake him for Luke, he also controlled a simple and honest man to go to Carpel Inn. The place opened like usual but he could sense the atmosphere wasn't right at there. It felt his puppet was being
monitored in each of his movement. Once he showed suspicious gesture, someone would
surely take him out from there. Because of this, he tried to blend with other guest so the real Viktor wouldn't keep his attention on him. Since the situation was complicated at Carpel Inn, Baston made a decision to tell the truth about Viktor at Paradise Resort. There would be many questions but supposedly, Luke would refrain from asking until everything finished. At present, he needed the noble boy to spend much time for delaying the matter at the resort. Baston
needed to focus himself at Carpel Inn so he didn't have much time to divide his
attention back to Paradise Resort.
Unlike the casino, the venue of coliseum was bigger and more crowded. It was like this because betting the money with slot machine, coin, or card seemingly bland without any exciting moment. Because of this, people were terrific once they came to the coliseum to watch two people fought each other. The betting was wild here and even the nobles could act out of control, unlike when they were in public. Watching how much the blood was spent apparently made the spectators clamored frantically. Although it was quite rough in this kind
of arena, yet people seemingly didn't mind it. The show in the coliseum was for people who seek skilled and exciting clash between 2 opponents. Death might happen in here and people wouldn't pursue the matter unless the opponents themselves.
Baston looked at the crowd in the coliseum, full of life and fighting spirits. He was thinking that Viktor should probably challenge Luke
for a match. The fat man might do everything just to kill his nephew. Regardless the outcome, it was useless since the real Viktor was in somewhere else. Luke only needed to delay his time, pretending to fight seriously. It
would be the best if Luke could lose on purpose, forcing the fat man to do something out of norm. Judging by the behavior, Viktor should not waste his time anymore and wouldn't wait even for one day. Baston came to this conclusion since the fat man should already prepare the best plan.
"GO! GO! GO!"
"QUICK! DEFEND, DEFEND!"
"WATCH OUT! BEHIND YOU!"
"BE CAREFUL! HE'S GOING TO USE MAGIC!"
Any fight here surely made a commotion because most participant would use their raw power to the fullest. The spectators preferred a fast battle so any slow-thinking of fight would be booed directly. Baston pondered that his match would be boring since not only he took a time, he also would use the smallest possible effort to win the match. His style was almost taking a
defend for the first time before he made a counterattack. There was a case he took the initiative to commence the first confrontation, but it was only to measure his opponent's capability. After that, he would arrange the best strategy to finish the match.
"Such quick attack style won't really fit me…" Baston thought, looking at the participants who ended the battle as fast as possible.
Before Baston and Luke could take a seat, Viktor's servant came up to them. Even though the situation around was crowded and full of exciting spirit, the man looked haughty and confident. Without wasting any
time, he told both of them what he wanted to do.
"You…" he pointed to Baston, "Because you offended my lord before, I challenge you to fight me. Do you dare to accept?"
"No…" Baston simply shook his head.
"What?" the man was dumbfounded because he thought the fat boy would fall into the trap easily, "I see, you are coward! Don't you have a pride? Once the news about your rejection spread, people will ridicule you everywhere…"
"Alright, stop it…" Baston snickered, "Before that, do you know who I am?"
"Of course, I know… Your name is Baston, right? Even though you have a talent of using ice magic, but still, your poor status will stain your development. In this world, having a higher status is a must for everyone to get acknowledged. You thought you can change your fate quickly but unfortunately; your poor status is burdensome forever."
Baston nodded thoughtfully since the opponent had already investigated him. To make sure Viktor's plan succeeded, it seemed the fat man tried his best to learn anything about Luke from start to end. Based on what Viktor's servant talked about him, Baston concluded the enemy must already prepare everything here. It looked too hasty to confront him out of nowhere but it should be a part of the plan. The man must know about his ice magic but he still dared to challenge him which meant the servant possibly tried to strike his weakness. He knew he couldn't escape easily so he decided to probe the man first.
"You say I'm a poor person, right? Since I'm the lowest of people here, why I need to care when people ridicule me? Whether I accept your challenge or not, will my reputation be affected? What do you mean about my pride? Can I eat that thing? Please, if you want to challenge me, pay with your money first…"
"You! Preposterous! Why I need to pay the money just to challenge you!"
"I see… So, you don't have any money…" Baston clicked his tongue, "Are you also poor like me?"
Viktor's servant wanted to snap but he held back against his anger. There would be no benefit once he made a commotion here. The coliseum was indeed a place for fighting but at the spectator area, it was better not
used to fight each other too because the guards around would kick you in no time. Baston looked calm but Viktor's servant gnashed his teeth before leaving. He didn't bring anything because any money and expense was handled by his lord. With nothing to do, he could only helplessly go back to Viktor. For sure, the fat man would scold this useless servant since he couldn't accomplish such easy task.
Luke chuckled, watching the man disappeared in no time. If he thought it from Baston's view, it was indeed useless if someone threatened the fat boy with the damage of reputation. Since Baston was already at the bottom of the society, an increase or decrease in the reputation meant nothing because his poor status still attached to him. Right now, the more practical one was surely getting the money. As long as Baston could pay his debt, his status would change into commoner. Despite this positivity, Luke didn't know that the fat boy never meant to let the money went outside from his pocket. For Baston,
being a poor or commoner didn't differentiate too much. There were many restrictions when entering some towns or cities at best. The fat boy himself rarely went outside and just lived inside the dormitory of Prius Academy, so this limited freedom didn't bother him too much at present.
A few minutes passed on before Viktor's servant brought back the money. There was cash inside the pocket plus Luminos card. It seemed the servant was prepared in the case the money wasn't enough, he could use Luminos card to pay the money. Still, the servant was really in a hurry to never think
further that Baston should not have Luminos card. Even though the fat boy had one, he surely wouldn't tell anyone the truth. If somehow his secret was leaked out, people must be shocked to find such a poor fat boy actually had more money than a commoner.
"Here's 1000 pounds. Now, fight me!"
"What? It's too cheap. At least, you have to pay 10,000 pounds to fight me."
"Are you crazy? Even the best fighter here is not expensive like yours!" the servant complained.
"But I can use ice magic. Does another challenger here can use it?"
"What do I care about it? I don't give a damn about what attribute you have in magic. I just want to fight you in order to restore my lord's
reputation."
"I also don't care about your big lord's reputation. What I care is the money."
"You… You said my lord is fat again…"
"No… No… I never said that word…" Baston denied and shook his head.
Luke could only watch 2 people argued each other from beside. After contemplating the situation, the servant then raised the payment to 2000 pounds, but the fat boy still insisted to be 10,000 pounds. Both of them were haggling just like buyer and seller, making the noble boy dumbfounded. The tense atmosphere at the beginning turned into comedic. Viktor's servant tried hard to decrease the amount of money that he needed to spend while Baston kept increasing his payment with several excuses. Luke wanted to laugh, but he closed his mouth because both of them were very serious when probing what the best amount of money for the challenge. It kept
continuing until Baston made a concession.
"Alright, how about this… You pay me 5000 pounds and I will let you make the first attack."
"This… Are you sure? Don't regret about it later. Let's take a magic contract first then…"
"Pay me first then we will sign the contract," Baston insisted.
Viktor's servant hesitated for a few seconds before he agreed. Because the man didn't bring enough cash, he transferred the money through Luminos card. At present, the 5000 pounds was paid into Luke's card.
After confirming the transfer, both of Baston and the man signed the magic contract. The man sneered, thinking that the fat boy was stupid and innocent. On the other hand, Baston also sneered because the contract wouldn't affect him in the slightest since it was the puppet who signed, not the real one. Even if the puppet would be injured badly by this specific condition, he would be fine.
He only needed to delay the time here while another puppet searched where the real Viktor was located at Carpel Inn.
"Be careful, Baston…" Luke reminded, "Even though he's just a servant, my uncle won't make this a simple fight."
"I know," Baston nodded, "The main purpose is still be with you. Remember what we need to do here."
"Alright."
Luke understood that they only needed to delay the fighting here. Baston must already prepare for the next event since they were in
Paradise Resort just to fool with the fake one while someone monitored the real one at Carpel Inn. Although he couldn't finish his own uncle by his own hands, it was good enough as long as the trouble was solved. Both of Baston and Viktor's servant confirmed their participation at the coliseum before they waited for a while until someone called for them.
"Let's do this…" Baston thought.