City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

Ashton Harbor

Seeing the small ship, docking at the port, a smile appeared on the face of the man with the staff.

It is not an undead ship, but a common ship, filled with the powerhouses. It is a risk to bring them here in the current geopolitical climate, but it is a decision we made after deep thinking.

The merchant states had increased vigilance in the ocean, a pressure tactic they are using in the negotiations.

We are employing the same approach with our methods. They are more brutal.

“They have arrived,” informed the man with the staff.

They could have waited for the negotiations to finish instead of taking this risk, but there is a chance the negotiations could fail, or draw out for a longer period.

That would have messed up their plan.

They want to attack the moment the ceasefire is over, and this time, they are going to attack with such force that nothing and nobody will be able to stand in their way.

“Now let’s hope the negotiations are successful. I want to lead the horde and crush every that stands before us.”

“Especially that Silver; we have to make an example out of him,” said the armored man. “It will happen, my friend.” The man with the staff replied.

…

Esa Raak

“Enter,” said the secretary as I reached the door.

It opened as she had said, and I stepped inside it. Entering the familiar office.

It’s a grand office, from which one could see the whole of the arena and the fights that are going on here. Today is the best battle day.

I only looked at it for a brief moment before focusing on the woman in front of me.

“Prefectus Prisca,” I greeted. There was no reply; she kept looking at me with those deep blue eyes. “Take a seat, Esa,” she finally said.

Since she had come to know my real name, they had stopped addressing me with the fake name.

“Thank you, Prefectus.” I thanked her and sat down in front of her.

Once more, she didn’t say anything and just kept looking. I didn’t like coming here, but choice isn’t a thing, you get once you’re bound to the arena.

“You should really talk to your son,” she said finally. “The undead are going to come at him, and this time, it will be a real horde, led by a Great Mage and Knight.”

“There is no way your son will survive it. It wouldn’t be the case if he agreed to be our subject. He will have the power of the Masal Colloseum and Heavenly Arenas behind him,” she said.

This is the first time they have asked me directly. They had hinted it before, but never been direct.

“He is a master; they are not going to kill him,” I replied, but the woman smiled.

“Yes, but everyone else is expendable, including your children, his mistress, his staff and the whole damn city,” she replied.

“If he joins us, then they will not be able to touch your children and his staff. “We will even be able to stop the undead from touching his citizens,” she replied.

“But not the horde taking his cities?” I asked, and I could see anger flashing in her eyes for a moment before it disappeared.

“We might have, if Velvet Garden had been a throne, but unfortunately, it is not,” she replied sharply.

Masal Colosseum is a Grade IV and powerful one at that, but not powerful enough to stop the undead.

Heavenly Arenas could do it and rather easily at that, but they rarely interfere in matters outside of the continent.

I wanted to say fuck you. Instead, I smiled.

“I have no hold on my son, but I will try,” I replied. Keeping the language vague. It’s not wise to promise anything to them, given the contract I have.

“You do that because once the undead conquered the city. Nobody will be able to help your son,” she stated.

A few seconds later, I was out of the office, walking out toward the gate.

I do not have guards guiding me. They have upgraded my access high enough that I could come and go to the arena any time.

I even have access to the seats to watch any fight I want.

It’s extremely hard to get access like this in a legacy as powerful as this, but it’s one of the privileges of being a mother of a master of legacy.

However, they are not great enough for them to release me from my contract.

They might have, if Remus’s were an ordinary legacy and still at Grade I, but it is not.

In the past year, I have learned a great deal about my son. Things that shocked me: he didn’t feel the son, I knew, but what I know, when I left him, he wasn’t even ten years old.

It had been over a decade, and people change. I have changed. I am a different person now than I was a decade ago.

The meeting had worried me, Prefectus Prisca calling me personally to convince Remus, is proof of how serious things are in the empire.

I know nothing would happen to Remus. He is a master; they would not kill him.

He also promised to send the children away. If he feels like he couldn’t guarantee their safety against the undead, but things could happen.

Even conquering a city by the undead would be terrible. He would become their prisoner forever. They would not let him out of the city ever.

I understand that very well.

I had been a prisoner of this place for more than a decade. Every day is unbearable; they become even more unbearable since the children left.

It is the best decision I made.

Children write to me every week, and I talk to them once a month.

They miss me, but they are happy there. Remus is taking good care of them and his mistress. They talk about her a lot.

I wish I could be there with them, but these people wouldn’t let me even when my term is over. The contract they made us sign is full of exceptions.

They could extend it however much they want.

I was in my thoughts when I was brought to the real world by the loud cheer. The mist itself seemed to react to it, and as the waves of it formed.

The Colosseum is a powerful legacy, with hundreds of thousands of people visiting every day to watch the fights, for which it is famed.

Oton is full of colosseums, and fights are a pastime for the strongest continent in the world.

Masal Colosseum offers all types of fights. The standard fights, the duals, and the beast fights. Along with survivors’ fights, prisoner fights, and slave fights.

There is something for everyone, and I participated in nearly every type of these fights.

Life is hard here, and surviving is a challenge. The colosseum will protect you if you show potential and keep improving.

If not, it will throw you into the most dangerous fights. There were only two options: improve and survive, or stagnate and die.

It is due to this approach that they have a large number of powerhouses.

Making a heavenly colosseum is one of the strongest forces in the world. The alliance only has one spirit, but they are powerful enough to go against the titan.

Soon, I got out of the arena and sat in a carriage waiting for me. Earlier, I paid the driver extra to wait till I finished my meeting.

One of my privileges is that I am free to move around the city. I could go anywhere as long as the place is in the city.

I could move earlier as well, but my freedom was limited to a single block.

Masal Colloseum is powerful, and they track every moment. Since it became Grade IV over three hundred and fifty years ago, nobody has been able to escape from the city.

The enforcement is strict, on top of that. There are very powerful skills involved.

The moment one reaches the forbidden zone near the city gates. The alarm is triggered, and they get captured within minutes.

After that, it becomes very hard to survive.

The colosseum didn’t extend the contract or join them. No, they do much worse. They throw people in impossible fights where over 90% die and die a very painful death.

Soon, the carriage stopped and I got out.

It’s beridon lane, and there are lines of beautiful two-story homes. All belong to the fighters and not just the common fighters, but those sponsored by patrons.

Their patrons need to spend massive amounts of money to buy such privileges from their favorite fighter.

Another way to live here is to become a champion or win the fights with a special reward.

I had just thought that when the door of the house beside mine opened, a man in his early forties walked out. He is a tall man, slightly overweight, and doesn’t look like a fighter at all.

He has one of those faces that always look joyful.

“Anna went somewhere?” asked the man. He is Nemoris, my neighbour for one month. Though I have known him for nearly a decade, since the day he entered the arena.

“Yes, arena,” I replied. He looked up and down at me. I would look different if I came after fighting. Yes, I still fight, and some are dangerous, but not life and death.

“I heard they had new hargers monsters, today. How were they?” he said. “They were good,” I replied.

“I am going to the arena as well. Mhykos is fighting, and I want to cheer him,” he replied.

He likes to talk.

Before he ended up here in the arena, he was a manager, and before that, an announcer. He started as a scribe and rose through the ranks.

He worked in arenas all his life. Even his punishment is in the arena.

It is why he knows them so well and uses it to his advantage. That’s how he got the place here, and not the first time, he did.

Although this will be his last, in a few months, his ten-year contract will be up, and he will be free.

It made me envious.

“Tell him good luck from me,” I said and quickly walked toward the door.

“I will,” he replied from behind.

Click!

I opened the door of my house and walked inside. The conversation with Prisca had made me tired, but I didn’t go to bed to rest.

Instead, I sat down behind the desk and took out the paper.

I need to write to Remus. I would have loved to talk to him, but he didn’t talk to me. He only writes letters, and it is mostly about the children.

He never wrote anything personal, despite me asking about his life.

He is angry, and I wish I could tell him the reasons for my not coming back to him. I will, but not through letters. There will be a day when we will meet, and he will know the truth.

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