Great Lord Lokth’s mansion was placed near the cliff of the island. The front of the building looked like it was the property of some merchant. A lot of wooden boxes and barrels. Three separate buildings one of which was a warehouse. Compared to other great lords his mansion was the simplest in design. No fancy ornaments. Columns were only in places where they should be. Not for decorative reasons. Because of the constant flow of goods, there were many guards on the property.

The side of the mansion from the cliff, from the sea, was the more concerning one. From up to the bottom of the cliff there were many holes. The whole stone wall was made into the dungeon. In those cells, there were three kinds of people. Criminals that Lord Lokth wanted behind bars, his enemies, and most of his fighters for the arena. Only the high-rankers slept in the mansion in the left wing made just for them. Of all twelve high-rankers one of them was locked in the dungeon.

The special high-ranker was the second rank, Tae. While all fighters were loyal to the Great Lord, he reminds silent. He almost never talked and his expression didn’t change. He looked broken to most of them. The only reason why Lokth kept him was his blessing. He wasn’t scared of Tae turning to kill him because of the slave mark.

Not many prisoners talked with each other but one morning was different. They all were chattering about the same thing. About the fight that surprised everyone. About the fight that drastically changed the sphere of influence between lords.

[ Prisoner ]

“Goro lost a fight! You heard that?”

[ Fighter ]

“To who? Did fifth rank finally accept his challenge?”

[ Prisoner ]

“No! He lost to a new guy. Someone outside the ranking.”

[ Blind Prisoner ]

“I heard that the guy only thought three times. After the third match, he angered all the fighters. They all jumped on him and he defeated them.”

[ Fighter ]

“Now I see why Goro challenged him. Someone strong appeared that would accept a duel with him.”

[ Blind Prisoner ]

“It was a close fight but this guy used some strong spells. I also heard the guard talking that he summoned a dark wolf from his shadow.”

While the whole conversation only made him gaze toward the conversation for a second. The part about the dark wolf coming from a shadow caught his interest. He stood up and leaned against the bars.

[ Tae ]

“This guy… Who defeated Goro… What’s his name?”

[ Prisoner ]

“His name? Uhh… Something with… Er… Ero… Eri…” Hesitated for a second, surprised by Tae talking for the first time, prisoner.

[ Tae ]

“Eric?”

[ Prisoner ]

“Yes! Eric.”

[ Blind Prisoner ]

“I heard that three people placed a bet on him. Great Lord Gregor was one of them.”

[ Prisoner ]

“Gregor placed a bet on a random guy?”

[ Fighter ]

“They sure made a lot of money.”

[ Tae ]

“He came… He kept his promise.” Said Tae as he fell to his knees with tears in his eyes.

While Tae was happy to hear Eric’s name, Lord Lokth was cursing his name. Losing a high rank damaged his reputation. It wasn’t enough to make his title a joke but it gave a chance for a shift of powers and even the appearance of a new great lord.

[ Lokth ]

“How did he lose?! Everyone in the ranking was scared of him! Who the fuck is that guy?! Came out of nowhere! Even my golden slave took some time to get to the third rank! I need to do something about it…” Angered Lokth shouted in his room while two of his servants listened. “Looks like I’ll no longer keep it in chains. Inform the arena that I’ll give them the monster for free under the condition that this bastard will be the one fighting it.”

[ Servant ]

“Which one?”

[ Lokth ]

“The one we caught before the winter. The fish-looking one.”

[ Servant ]

“Are you sure lord?”

[ Lokth ]

“Do it.”

[ Servant ]

“Yes, my Lord.”