I have to say that the hotel that the captain of the city guard found for himself is indeed the best. After enjoying the large bath by himself, Charles slept beautifully on the large velvet bed, and his comfortable bones were soft.

Just as Charles was immersed in his dream, there was a sudden knock on the door. Charles got up from the bed with a little unpleasantness, slowly stood up and opened the door, and saw the face of a Rhodoc mountain man - it was Ham, the leader of the caravan guard.

Before Charles could ask a question, he heard the man on the other side excitedly shouting, 'My lord, come out and have a look!' It's so lively! There is a competitive meeting today, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event, don't you want to go and see it! “

"Do you know now? I'll probably have to participate in the competition later, and you'll all have to cheer me on! “

Looking at Ham, who was shocked when he heard this, Charles couldn't help but smile knowingly: "Why, you don't think well of me." ”

Ham hurriedly waved his hand and said no.

Charles stopped teasing him, and politely sent Ham away, who was starting to become a little distracted.

After seeing off the embarrassed captain of the guard, Charles shook his head and tried to make himself sober.

It was an early spring morning in the year 253 A.D., and the citizens of the kingdom of Rhodok, the various districts of Djerkhala, had gathered in the streets before dawn. All the people are flocking to today's star - the arena.

From the crooked, narrow, but very densely populated alleys of ordinary residential areas, all sorts of people of all ages, professions, genders and hobbies, all of whom today flock to a common destination with the same joy.

Craftsmen, merchants, teachers, scarred and vicious-looking mercenaries, beggars, ordinary women, children chasing and playing, ordinary citizens, clerks in the lord's palace, dancers, playboys, and all sorts of people, poured forward one after another. Their lively faces, carefree gossip, and all sorts of sarcasm and laughter all indicate that they are hurrying to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime event.

All these various, noisy, and innumerable crowds filled the great city with a vague, chaotic, but cheerful noise, a noise that could only be compared to the hum of thousands of beehives in the streets.

Share mingled in the crowd, listening carefully to the chattering captain of the city guard, and despite the man's incoherent words and sometimes unable to grasp the main points of the narrative, Charles understood the origin of all this.

The first arena in history was built by the ancient Kalad Empire, around 197 BC, and was later expanded and promoted by the third emperor of Kallad, Dargus the Conqueror, after unifying the whole of Calradia.

After that, more and more cities began to take pride in having their own independent arenas. As a result, the arena gradually became common in various regions. The most incredible thing is that in the era when the arena was at its most proliferated, almost every village had an arena, and although it was all shoddy garbage, the importance of the arena in the hearts of the imperial people at that time was evident.

In fact, the original arena did not provide such harmless performance conventions, and the active people in the arena were generally outlaws or lowly slaves, who at that time had a uniform name - gladiators, who did not have their own names, and were sent to the dueling arena after being uniformly numbered. At that time, there were not all kinds of armor like now, and even the swords were wooden. At that time, gladiators were shirtless, armed with real weapons, fighting each other, and only the victor could live. Usually after a gladiatorial fight, it is often a river of blood.

Therefore, there is a saying that can well sum up the tragic situation in the arena: ten people who enter vertically, nine come out horizontally, and one can no longer be found.

Later, after experiencing the collective rebellion of gladiators and the protests of people everywhere, the Karad Empire abolished the barbaric practice of gladiatorial fighting, and turned life and death fighting into skill competition. This is also the origin of the real sword conference in the arena later, it is just a skill exchange, and there will be no casualties.

Even though the ancient and powerful Kallad Empire had long since ceased to exist, and the continent of Calradia had long since been divided among the six kingdoms, this rule was largely maintained.

Therefore, except for the Salander people, who still practice slavery, there is probably no one on the mainland today who will watch the life-and-death struggle between their own kind in the arena.

The arena in Djerkhara was located in a large clearing on the right hand side of the city gate, and next to him was the city's literary academy and school. The arena in Djerkhara is naturally inferior to the first arena in the history of the Kalad Empire, located in the capital of the Kingdom of Swadia, located in the capital of Paravon. But in any case, it is always a magnificent building, which can accommodate more than 10,000 spectators. You know, the number of people in the city of Djerkhala is only 8,000.

The arena was boxy, and Charles was dragged through the crowd through the tall gate, on which two huge swords were carved behind a huge shield relief. Before Charles could take a closer look, he was already squeezed into the arena.

Charles looked at the tall stand and wanted to squeeze through the crowd and go that way, but the captain of the city guard beside him hurriedly grabbed him: "The stand over there is for women to enjoy, and we men are not allowed to sit there!" The platform carved with reliefs next to it is specially for the dignitaries and nobles in the city to sit on, and the stone steps around it are our seats! Make no mistake! ”

Charles didn't know that there was such a rule, so he nodded sheepishly and followed closely behind the captain of the city guard.

Gradually, Charles could see that the arena was lined with stone steps from the heavy and huge gate, and these stone steps were the seats for these people, and the many steps around the stone steps separated these seats, and people could follow those steps to find their own seats. The steps are connected to the many steps behind the stands, and everyone can follow them down through the many side doors around them.

The stone staircase encloses a wide open space where many warriors will be seen in display, and the winner of the event will reap great fame and wealth. Many beautiful girls have already wove beautiful garlands and are just waiting to wear them on the heads of their heroes after the competition.

Even though the crowd is already overcrowded, there are still people coming in a hurry outside the stadium, and their numbers are increasing every minute. The people who came after couldn't find a stool and shouted and cursed the crowd around them. The first to arrive sat firmly on the stool, looking at the crowd still running around in front of him with a haughty and disdainful look.

Our venerable captain of the city guard had already found them a whole row of empty seats, and no one dared to compete with him.

He mysteriously leaned into Charles's ear and said loudly, "My lord, I have already registered for you, and I don't even need you to participate in the preliminary round." So do you want to watch their preliminary game from the stands, or do you just go to the back of the prep room to warm up? ”

Charles chuckled and said, "I'll take a look at their game first, after all, it's the first time I've seen this kind of game!" ”