Sporting a toothy grin, Doctor Oslac hastily sent off Sigmarus and Torin while waving goodbye with the severed arm. Neither of them wanted to squander more time than necessary in this grisly establishment, so they complied without complaint. Before long, the two of them were walking along Red Street again while talking in hushed voices to avoid eavesdropping.

Torin sighed and said, “Guess we didn’t find out if you have a positive mutation. Well, it’s not too surprising since that quack always does whatever he wants. He’ll probably tell us about what he finds in your blood sample a few days from now.”

“Doubt he’ll find anything.”

But I’ll be really curious if he does find something unusual. It would be interesting to know what kind of effects the Freedom Technique has had on my body.

“Either way, we’ll find out later. Go ahead and head home for now, then come back to the gym at the same time tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.”

“Good. Oh, by the way, Duke asked you about climbing, right?”

Sigmarus’ brows furrowed as he answered, “He mentioned it.”

“He said you weren’t interested since you used to live upstairs or something. Is that right?”

“Kinda.”

“Did you not have a good time up there?”

“I didn’t.”

“Hmm…” Torin looked around to make sure nobody was within earshot and asked, “Have you ever heard about the Sky Coliseum?”

Raising a brow, Sigmarus paused for a moment before glancing at Torin with a curious gaze for the first time and answering, “I haven’t.”

“Makes sense. Most people who aren’t members of widespread gangs wouldn’t know much about it anyway. When we mention climbing, we’re talking about the Coliseum.”

“A fighting coliseum?”

“Pretty much. Those birds upstairs love their entertainment, which I’m sure you know.”

Sigmarus nodded.

“One of those forms of entertainment, at least for some of the high-ranking people up there, is watching us muskrats beat the shit out of each other.”

Realizing what the man was explaining, Sigmarus grimaced. It sounded similar to the ancient Roman Coliseum he had seen mentioned in several books over the years. Disgusted by the thought of dancing for those bastards who had banished him, he growled, “Why the hell would you guys fight in a coliseum like caged animals?”

Torin raised his brows at the angered reaction, but his face quickly reverted to a placid expression, and he calmly answered, “It’s not like we don’t know we’re filthy rats in their eyes, but the rewards are good enough to make us climb willingly. You saw all that equipment in the gym’s basement. Everything but the boxing ring came from upstairs.”

“And you want me to do this ‘climb’ too?”

“If you’re up for it, yeah.”

“I get a choice?”

“Yes. It’s somewhat dangerous. They have good medical equipment for the participants, and the rules are set to prevent too many accidents, but deaths still happen from time to time.”

At least he’s telling me up front. Means they probably won’t force me into it. Still, there’s nothing up there I want and plenty of things I want to avoid.

“Let me be honest here,” Torin continued, “The only good climbers we have right now are Duke, Shad, and I, and I’m honestly not that great compared to most of the fighters there. There are other climbers from other branches of Fallen Leaf in other districts, but they’re even less useful than my mediocre ass. We used to have another guy on Duke and Shad’s level, but he died not too long ago. In other words, we’re pretty desperate.”

“...I’ll think about it, then.”

I probably won’t do it, but I should at least consider it since Duke offered to help me out with Grace’s situation. Doubt they’d take well to me being a mooch.

Torin smiled and said, “Thanks. Honestly, Duke inviting you to the gang before was because you had decent strength despite being a muskrat. He thought you might be able to climb, but none of us have any hopes for you or anything, so no pressure.”

“Gee. Thanks,” Sigmarus replied in sarcastic monotone while rolling his eyes.

“Heh. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Torin said, stopping at the street leading to the gym. Sigmarus finally realized how far they had walked already.

“See ya,” Sigmarus replied, waving goodbye as he left. He wanted to sleep off the aches and pains from getting knocked down on the hard surface of the boxing ring earlier before heading back to the brothel in the morning.