Arena City
I’m not sure what good laxatives will do, but I traded for a pack anyway in exchange for patching up the cart on the way. Electronics aren’t the only thing in my bag of skills. When you live in nothing but a cardboard box, you pick up the bare essentials needed. Thankfully, the carts in this world, despite being powered by magic, still operated on the basic principle of the wheel and axle.
The trip was long but uneventful. No bandits stood in our path, no dragon randomly swooped in to attack. I also finished a speech to text engine based on the language samples of the merchant and his crew. Here’s the first test run of the program:
“Hey you. You’re finally awake.”
I opened my eyes and looked around the cart I was riding. A shabby, rather rickety affair, weighed down by the goods that the merchant was ferrying to the arena city of Onmusfall. The city itself could be seen in the distance now, a grey, drab dome dominating its silhouette.
Glancing back at the guard who had spoken to me, I croaked hoarsely, “How much further?” Sleep had left my throat dry, and I croaked not out of any sense of dramatism but from physiological need.
The guard stared at me as if looking at a madman, a gleam of fear in his eyes.
“An hour or so to go. Uh, why are you talking to yourself?” said the guard in a shrill, papery voice.
“My voice is not papery, whatever that means,” he quavered.
“Look, just cut that out.”
The guard made a snort of annoyance at my narration.
“If you want to narrate things, go be a bard.”
Binglebangle banglebingle clop clop clop gzzzzzt.
And there you have it, that is how it works. Still a bit buggy at the moment, but at least it works. Unfortunately it is merely a speech-to-text engine for now. I’ll try hooking it up to the image sensor so that I don’t have to narrate everything I encounter out loud.
The merchant dropped me off at the entrance of the city. I guess this is where I’ll be starting my new life, for now. The first thing I did was to hit up the arena registration counter, since this was why I came here, after all.
As it turns out, I wouldn’t be able to afford to register as an independent entry even if I wanted to. All participants needed to provide a permanent workshop address somewhere in the city, which I don’t have, and needed a license in the operation of one of these magic armors for the arena, which I also don’t have.
Well, I wasn’t really adamant on becoming a robot gladiator anyway. What I want first and foremost is to get my hands on the tech. That’s the fun part, right?
To achieve that, my best bet is to get a job as a mechanic. The workshops in the city mostly belong to a few big gladiator guilds. This is what I found out about them:
Iron Gauntlet. The oldest guild in Onmusfall, whose leader practically founded the city a couple centuries back. They have pedigree and prestige and clout. Which means it’ll probably be hard to accept some random hobo who knows very little about magic armor – although I do know a fair bit about powered suits of the normal, technological variant – walking in and asking for a job.
Demon’s Tongue. The biggest guild in the city, even if it is one of the younger guilds. They own the most affiliated workshops here, and are said to have almost limitless funding. Of course, as with most rich folk, they get badmouthed for their money and are suspected of being wealthy through dubious means. I totally get it. They are big and have standards, but given how big they are, maybe there are a few workshops of theirs which are more lax in their employment criteria.
Divine Hammer. A large guild associated with the church of the land. I haven’t bothered really looking into the religious aspect of this world so I have no idea what they worship. They’re average in size and reputation. It seems that they are willing to hire anyone poor enough, or at least looks poor enough, so I think I might have a good shot.
The Junkyard. A scavenger’s guild that makes its living from cobbling together armors for cheap from the scrapheap, and then renting them out to gladiator wannabes for a fee. Obviously, they are a guild that doesn’t know what the word victory is, even if you pointed it out in a dictionary. They know the word profit very well, though. I should be able to get in just by looking like scrap myself, I think?
Scarlet Queens. A famous female guild, apparently full of pretty women. Boasts of having the reigning arena champion, but they don’t have a lot of workshops around. Hey, maybe they might make an exception for my good hobo looks?
Besides that, there are also quite a number of independent workshops, underdog teams that are of lesser repute. Perhaps I might have an interesting encounter or two if I apply for one of those workshops. It would also help me keep a lower profile. Just in case, you see.