I had to deal with the Baron’s orders first.

The wording of the order was simple and uninformative,

To arrive at the Gladiator Academy to participate in the battles for the honor of Baron Riny Hickent Strong Fist

You have 4 days to complete the task

I didn’t know what I had to learn; whom I was going to fight or the rules of these fights. I didn’t know how to treat the lack of information either: if it was frightening uncertainty or complete freedom of action. I wasn’t going to send myself and the boys to slaughter. After reading the list of occupations and classes again, I sighed.

Enmyra White claimed that we would die by the fourth round. It would be possible if we competed in squads. But there surely would be breaks between battles. I will do everything I can to prove Enmyra Write was wrong. The Baron would bet money on us and try to win. The longer we survive in the arena, the more money this bastard would get. But there was nothing to be done.

On the other hand, I could deceive Enmyra White. The vile woman was sure that we would fail, so she would surely put all her money against us. If we survived, she’d go bankrupt. But I doubted I could persuade the warriors to pretend to be sick and wounded and then to win. It would be better to operate openly.

How can I improve our chances of success? According to the map, Lysandra had shown me, our journey would take at least two days. We were travelling from a remote province. However, the road was far from the border and therefore safe. My fighters needed time to sleep, eat and rest. I couldn’t offer the soldiers to get into cart with us, there wasn’t enough room.

“Spine, come to me,” I called my assistant.

“I’m here, Your Honor.” The half-orc reluctantly distracted from Lysandra’s tale about the mountain people and forest creatures.

“Show me your weapon, please.” I asked him.

“Why? It’s okay. Don’t worry.”

“I want to see how good it is.” I held out my hand, and the soldier unwillingly gave me the narrow-bladed axe.

This was a simple ax deprived of magic and bonuses. Its handle was rather worn out. I could see the almost worn pattern on it. Spine cared for his weapon well. The ax was perfectly sharpened. But it was made of second-rate steel. I wish there was a forge nearby in this thick forest…

Intelligence Check

Base

2

Bonus

0

Dice Roll

1

Requirement

3

Success

“Why is the ax handle worn in the middle?”

“It’s wide,” the half-orc didn’t understand my question, “My palm is slipping when I take the axe.”

“Do you realize that if you hold the ax properly, the blow will be stronger?”

“Yes, but…”

“Well,” I interrupted him, “hold on.”

I thought I would be able to improve the soldier’s weapons even without forging. I wouldn’t change the cutting edge, but I could make the ax more comfortable. Fortunately, I’d brought all the tools I used when we opened the chests.

At first, I worked with a file, improving the pommel of the ax and making the handle a bit thinner. Then I drilled a hole in the ax handle and threaded a rope through it. Fifteen minutes later, the weapon was more beautiful and functional.

Good convenient ax + 1

“Well, try it again.” I gave Spine his ax back. He took it in disbelief and struck the tree with force. Obviously, the half-orc was very strong. He cut down the tree as if it was a thin reed. Spine went to the next trunk and repeated the same.

“Sir!” The assistant ran to me in a few minutes. He was so excited while checking his weapon, that he fell behind the cart and had to catch up.

“It’s a miracle Thank you, Your Honor! My axis so much better!”

I expected such a result and nodded with satisfaction.

“Bring me your weapons, guys! One at a time!”

The soldiers brought me their things and even lined up. Their weapons were old and terrible. I was sorry they had been given such stuff. These items were so bad that they could hurt themselves while handling their axes and spears. Some weapons had to be thrown away. I couldn’t fix or improve these things.

There was much work to do; fortunately, it wasn’t very complicated. I kept replacing handles of the axes and manufacturing new spears.

Luckily, our road passed through the thick forest. My soldiers collected firewood, searched for thin branches for arrows and cut down young trees to make spears during the halts. Some warriors replaced their broken swords with strong clubs and inserted the blades inside.

My squad had no armor. Unfortunately, I didn’t have stocks of leather and iron, the rope was gone too. However, we found a way out. Vasilisa showed the soldiers how to weave rope from young tree bark. The soldiers made new armor from wooden tree branches and makeshift ropes. The wooden armor was rather fragile, but it was better than nothing. It defended from clubs and light sword blows. Three days later, my men were equipped.

During the day, my soldiers explored the forest and brought much useful stuff: mushrooms, berries, herbs. My mother was an elf, so she had taught me how to brew potions. I made a simple Health elixir during one of the halts. Lysandra helped me. At first, we didn’t know what to put it in, because there weren’t suitable utensils. Vasilisa helped us. She ordered to cut down a tree, hollowed out vessels from it and treated them with tree resin.

“Sir, I don’t know if you’re a good soldier, but you are a magnificent supplier,” Spine confessed.

“Thanks for the praise, but unfortunately we don’t know what is in store for us. We may have to fight well-armed knights. Have a rest while you have time.”

I was lying on the soft branches, looking at the magnificent starry sky. After several days of hard work, I didn’t feel exhausted and was almost completely satisfied with the work.

I hoped that my warriors were rather experienced fighters. Their skill would compensate for the lack of weapons and wooden armor. After all, they were the representatives of the Baron’s guard and not some bums.

I hoped we wouldn’t fight immediately with a well-armed and disciplined army. I was afraid even to think about it.

In the evening Lysandra said grimly, “I like that your squad has weapons and armor, but more than half of the soldiers are criminals. Fortunately, our cart is guarded by Triya, otherwise, we would have been robbed long ago.”

“I know. Have you forgotten that I am the Black Guard? Each soldier has a charge and unpaid fines of half a gold coin. I hope they won’t let me down in the arena.”

“I hope we’ll get to the Academy alive.” Lysandra muttered thoughtfully, “they keep looking at your chests. They must think they’re filled with gold.”

The mermaid’s furious hissing confirmed Lysandra’s words.