Chapter Thirty-Eight

  The champiorance had it all. Shorter lines, fancier doors, and access to specialty areas like the guilds viewing room; other entities had rooms of differing sizes, including the United Gym Alliahe Hazeldown Uy Alumnists, and even Lady’s Coodly’s garden party had a small viewing room. All ringside seats, special rooms at ground level, where the masses sat above iadium’s seats. Even the petitors didn’t get such a view, needing to emerge from tunnels below for their entrahe undergrouion art of the dungeon’s domaier for training aially prepared to fight.

  The neancer could feel the death-ced tendrils of the domain stroking the soles of her feet. In her opinion, the dungeons area stopped an inch above the ground on purpose, or the whole structure sunk after stru. It was not a feeling she particurly waoday. If anyone made her feel like she was being watched, weighed, and measured, it was Old Bones.

  Even as Harmony’s feet itched, she kept quiet as she followed the Lady Coodly through the gilded corridors and painted frescos of past pet battles. A dragon-like lizard with its fiery tail fighting a pnt turtle hybrid. The house boys might have been able to he beasts and even the year they fought, but she could merely admire it as they walked quickly by. This was not how she pictured her first visit to the Colosseum.

  The guild’s box shocked her. The room had no wall to block views of the matches, and the wind and rumble of the crowds drifted in. Dozens of uhrones faced the arena, thrones of gems, metals, bone, and wood, each carved as a symbol of the multi-kingdom spanning anization’s power. The number of people here milling about those art pieces surprised her. She’d expected this to be a bidding war between Hemlock, Lady Coodly, Duke Darren, and Princess Rose, and even then, not much of one.

  Even if Harmony didn’t reize everyohere, the sense of personal power in the room was overwhelming. People of power, those who even skipped the masquerade, milled about. ission head Serena Vale idly chatted up Lady Somerset, Lady Coodly’s sometimes rival in the garden club. Giovanni, who headed the loose alliance of gyms, ughed at some joke guild master Hemlock was telling him. Lennon, who ran the religious temples. Professor Dunphy, she reized as he gestured wildly, had to represent the college with a nervous Len at his side.

  The maid assured herself that this was because the guild master rarely opehe guild’s room at the Colosseum. They were here more for that and the semi-finals than any minor employee tract au. Inside, one of her bonds throbbed. Harmo herself from muttering, “Oh, no.” It wasn’t associated with the toad or knight at her side. Her eyes flickered briefly to a tall masked man ag as a bodyguard to some mert baron she didn’t reize, the mask was a bck hood ong meraries to hamper iion skills, but she khe dazzlingly pretty fader that mask, and the idiot who wore it. He was only a dozen paces away from the duke and princess hunting for his corpse.

  A slight jabbing feeling brought her bato her body. Astel offered her a gss of the wine being served. The poking had to have been from some skill. Harmony mao not flush from embarrassment and accepted the drink. The refreshment represehat she was not here for this party as a maid. She was a resource to be bartered for and an individual free to be themselves at this social event. The attention burned into her as the eyes started to linger in her dire, analyzing today’s prize. Lifting the gss, she swallowed more than a mouthful of the wine and made her way into the crowd.

  Rose swung by first, “I’m fident in my ces. Even if the Duke takes the rings from his fingers, I’ll have more funds.”

  Lem approached nervously after, “That madman dragged me here to assist him even as I ag my room. Says you’re the type of ing dy with the right mio his b. The maes nightmares, and sometimes they get loose.” He finished with a shudder.

  Guild master Hemlock approached, and the short man in his all-white outfit smiled. “You’re up for a Challeoday,” he said with a hint of eagerness, then drifted away as quickly as he’d arrived.

  Astel kept her gss full, and Harmony did her best to be short and polite with potential employers. The heads of merts, associations, and businesses all effitly stepped forward to check out the maid. Sometimes she could feel a skill i her. Other times it was just their eyes.

  The trumpets announg the start of the opening ceremony for the semi-finals was a relief as it ehe stant stream of introdus, but that was when the hollow Duke stepped in with a cruel eager smile on his face. “ce was not your friend. Be grateful you have a use.”

  Harmony ignored him, watg Serene Vale step through the viewing threshold and onto the sandy bat grounds. People started to grab seats. Harmony chose the bone one, hoping it would settle the ache inside her with its sympathetik to her neancer css. If there had been a throne for a maid profession, she would have taken that one, but with how long today was turning out to be, any fra of easing was a goal. Tyler sat tht and tried to give her a f look. Lady Coodly watched the show from her left.

  Fshes of red and blue sparks swirled over Serene Vale’s head as she walked towards the ter. They coalesced into a proje of her floating at the ter of the Colosseum. It was a bit of magiot unlike what Ambrosia’s band had done for their cert, allowing the audieo get a better view of the ission head.

  “Wele to the semi-finals of the panion championship. Here the best of Hazeldown’s region will pete to battle in the capitol, where ceous trainers show how far their bonded pets advanow for the ision anthem, fresh from the streets, the rising stars of Hazeldown, Songstress, and the Flows.”

  The band shimmered ience as Serene made her way back. The neancer’s thoughts froze in shock. This was the st pce she expected Ambrosia.

  A soft beat started to rise as Grohl began to tap his drum.

  “This is for you, Harmony White!” Ambrosia announced. Dedications weren’t unusual, usually for a petitor or former champion.

  Fel’s smirk repyed in Harmony’s mind. Who needs enemies when you have friends.

  Then the songstress started to sing. “They want to be the very best….”

  Harmony expected some kind of twist. An act of defiance from her friend against the system that the best tamer viciously criticized for taking advantage of pets. But no. The crowd cpped along as all the bandmates showed off their talents. It was that cssig about catg, training, teag with battles, fighting, and victory.

  “...your dream!” the beast tamer fio a r crowd and her shocked friend. The band shimmered out the same way they shimmered in. The illusion of them disappearing sighe start of the petition.

  The announcers yelled to hype up the crowd. “In our first match, we have a rare growth pet that starts extremely weak and only through difficult and dangerous training. Wele, Ree, the living ward.”

  A geometric symbol floated up and into view. It glowed with are blue energy and shifted between symmetrical shapes, squares, triangles, and stars, fshing plex designs as the lines of its body transformed. The crowd cheered.

  “Opposing him, physical to Ward’s ethereal, everyone’s favorite pet rock, Ferris.”

  The earth elemental that strode out was an unon version of a ohat some dungeon divers used. Iron veins streaked a rocky eyeless body. The pets were great for crushing shamblers, pulping piles of flesh, and shattering bone. Harmony figured every pet had trained against them, so one making it this far meaher it was amazing or the beast tamer behind it was.

  “You don’t o watch that.”

  Harmony turo the voice. “Ambrosia?”

  “One of the perks of being the musical guests. You get to hang with the elites, though we’re somewhere above the servants and below them. You know I wouldn’t miss seeing you today.”

  The crowd roared, and the neancer gnced back at the battle. A proje of the testants floated above the actual melee. sidering that is what happened when Serene annouhe start and the band pying Harmony figured it was built into the Colosseum. Ree, the living ward, was getting rocked by boulderous fists whistling through the air. Blue sparks fshed every time there was a csh against the floating shape.

  “Ree is going to win. Some of these matches are pointless. “The beast tamer ented disdainfully.

  Harmony wondered if they weren’t watg the same match as the ward barely seemed able to do anything as it got smacked bad forth by full-strength strikes. Ferris’s strikes weren’t getting any stronger. Was Ree getting worn down? Outside of being pushed around, the ward didn’t appear to be taking any damage. It almost charged into the swinging fists. Why she didn’t see it sooner, it was like fighting a skeleton. You could batter it about but, eventually, get into trouble unless you mao break it. “I see.”

  “You feeling okay, Harm?”

  Anyone else asking, and she would have lied. “Uled. ge is happening. I hate feeling at the ter of it.”

  Ambrosia seemed happy at that response, not the hug and sympathetic petting Harmony expected. There would be time to call her out on that ter. With a little bit of [Manipute Dead], She tugged on her friend’s hair.

  “Ow.”

  That was more than a little childish, but the neancer wasn’t in the mood for her friend’s amusement. All she wanted was to get through the few rounds of pet battles, find out who her new employer was, and have her idiot of a pet not be discovered. With the prin her mind, she probed her primal bond with her pet allowing her gaze to flick to the masked Prince Adric chatting up the fiddler Stiriling. The petite girl felt his muscur arm with looks of admiration. Harmony wished the woman would drag him away to some private room to get him away from his sister, who sat not twelve paces away on a pink quartz throhe employment tract had days off written so she could front Ambrosia and him properly ter.

  Searg for a distra, Harmony switched to watg the fight. Watg the blows until Ferris missed. That brief reprieve was all it took for Ree’s pattern to shift. With it, a wave of kiiergy stored in him shot out, snapping the rock elemental in half at the middle where the legs met the base. The crowd reacted to the sudden shift of fortune.

  “Ree took what he was given aur back. Those whnize ward work will notice that it was in a simple defensive mode to e and store some kiiergy. Clearly, Ferris couldn’t ha when the living ward ged to transference mode to give back all the punishment it had been taking. We’re getting a report from the training stations that Ferris’s master is g the match.” The announcer called out.

  A crew moved out to clear the area for the match. A geomancer used his powers to clear out the severed limbs, dragging them away with magic while carefully staying outside the area projeg to the audience. Harmony supposed that could be her new job, maid of the arena. Selene was here for the au. She could be spending her days dragging dead bits of pets off the sand as the dungeon’s presenipped at her heels. As unlikely as that was, it gave her a crete image of a potential future to focus on.

  The match moved into the field. A living swarm of hive-minded white blood-sug worms surged like a tide to face a mystical stag whose antlers sparkled with blue light. As thrilling as the match promised to be, Harmony wasn’t into it. Her future was about to be decided, and even as the elites watched the bat, she could feel the focus on her.

  An item for their colle, not unlike Lord Tyler’s niacks, but people. Many would be pting preventing her from going to some rival. That would almost be ideal, someone who only put value into the idea of her and wouldn’t look deeper. Between the duke, the princess, and the guild master, that wouldn’t happen. Each seemed fident in their pns.

  Violent fshes of bat fshed in front of her. White worms scattered and exploded. The stag cried in pain as some of the swarm tched onto its haunbsp;

  The neancer’s mind brushed the a away and dissected what the big buyers wanted from her. The typical pettiness of the duke due to being rebuffed when he felt it was his time to shine and the sweet revenge he craved. The princess’s guilt at not being ho when hoy wouldn’t have gotten her anything. The guild master’s focus is on the dungeon and using its i in her as a way to i with it. They all had expectations and ideas about who and what she was, and she could feel that attention. It itched even if it meant they’ll overpay for her traough that she could probably buy a house by the time css and profession evolution happens. Maybe Ambrosia’s un-asked for help to increase her popurity for a bigger payday out of this mess wasn’t bad. That smug look in respoo her disfort still deserved that hair tug.

  When was decred the winner, Harmony was too focused ohoughts to figure out if that was the stag or hive-mind. No matter the oute, she knew Ambrosia wouldn’t abandon her. Hyath would always be at her side. Her moronic pet Adric wouldn’t stay away when she wanted him to, though, at this point, it was a relief to be able to keep an eye on him. Two more matches before her turn to be the ter of attention, a little [Poise and Bearing] for that, and then she could deal with the fallout after. Logic had everything be a simple step forward, but then why did she feel like she was walking toward the edge of a cliff?

  A giant silver ape smmed a three-headed goose half the size of a house into the ground. The force sent a wave of dust about the arena. Barrier magic blocked the dust from entering the rooms.

  The unusual hydra’s heads honked with fury, and a skin-tingling skill effect radiated out, c the whole arena with a hint of forced fear. [Hail the Hyd-goose] was in effebsp;

  The outside skill’s influence drew a quick response from the neancer as she removed the fn effe her mind. The animal’s skill was desigo make you extremely wary. How little it affected her current state of mind before she shrugged it off implied she was as already in that state. She watched everyone else’s behavior ges from the pet’s skill.

  In his masked bodyguard guise, Prince Adric leaned away from Stiriling a his hand go to his on as he shot Harmony a Look. The fiddler, for her part, draped herself more on the man.

  “It’s an honor to be Harmony’s friend,” Ambrosia replied more than a little forced and an octave too loud as she chatted up a guest.

  The duke ughed nervously. Hemlock seemed ued, which wasn’t shog. Rose’s hand gripped a purse until her knuckles turned white. Each rexed some as they shook off the effebsp;

  Harmouro the fight, and the silver ape lesses grip ohree-headed goose as skills’ effects caused it to hesitate.

  The bird beast exploded out of the grapple when it loosened enough for it to act, its heads snapping viciously.

  “A Penalty mark has been given to Quabeast for that skill usage. While not a restricted or damaging skill, if anyone feels faint, feel free to sult a medic at an aid station.” The announcer reyed to the crowd, sounding a little shaken himself.

  Regardless of the penalty mark, Quabeast’s three heads took advantage of the skill, honking and using crushing bites on the slightly disoriented oppo. The crowd started shaking off their wariness and roared at the violehe goose’s three heads moved as one and tched onto the ape-like pet’s arm, biting down with such might that a crack could be heard as the arm’s bone snapped.

  “Julioso has ceded! Julioso has ceded! It’s an upset of epic proportions!” The announcer cried.

  The audience also went wild at this news. The r settled as the crew came out to help the wounded pets away. “As part of the mid-match festivities, guild master Hemlod Duke Darren Gnomstock will have a special annou. So be sure to keep in your seats.” The announcer added to little fanfare for those in the general popuce seating.

  Those awaiting the au in the guild’s colosseum suite reacted differently as chatter rose. Lady Coodly looked past Harmony to Lord Tyler sitting on the opposite side. “Do you know what’s going on here?” She asked him with more than a bit of irritation.

  Selehe issioner, marched grim face straight over to Hemlod started chewing him out in a whisper. However, her face was screaming with anger.

  Princess Rose merely gred at the Duke.

  Professor Dunphy excitedly talked to Len, who ailing as the versation tinued.

  Harmo relieved the attention was not ohe mysterious annou close to the time of her au was unusual. Would that happen before or after? She imagined her tract being purchased and then made an example for those in attendance. “Lady Coodly, my employment au be after the annou?” She asked her employer.

  “I’m sure the pair of them are trying to muddy the water, but your instincts about beier to know what is going on first is right. You ’t pete with the unknown, and if someone is scared away from bidding on you due to whatever words those two have, then they didn’t deserve you in the first pce.” The matriarch said firmly.

  “Of course, m’dy.” She let [Poise and Bearing] keep her stead but felt anything but that.