“Three-on-three, no level classes, no race restrictions. That’s it. Yes sir.”

“Surprisingly simple.”

Simple was nice. Oh, and then there was the issue of how the winner was decided. I’m sure the slave trader had purposefully omitted this part. He handed me a pamphlet that appeared to be the coliseum rule book. It was written in the languages of all the different countries, including the official language of Melromarc. It said that a victory would be declared when an opponent died, lost consciousness, or admitted defeat. And then, below that . . .

“The key point is there at the end. Yes sir.”

“Participants are to provide their own weapons?”

“Yes sir! The sponsor of the next coliseum fight is the weapons merchant guild. Yes sir.”

So it was an underground coliseum backed by the weapons merchant guild . . . I could only imagine what kind of powerful weapons would show up at such a competition. Of course, we were using the legendary shield and a vassal weapon from another world, so we couldn’t really complain, regardless.

“If you like, perhaps you might consider observing the underground coliseum tournament that is currently being held. It may prove to be informative, I think. Yes sir. The tournament is being held at the same time as the slave auction. What would you like to do?”

Well, that did make sense. Seeing what went on would make it easier to come up with a strategy.

“In that case . . . Raphtalia, can you go to the auction tonight and keep an eye out for any Lurolona slaves?”

I could have gotten Keel and the others to help, but showing them that kind of thing probably wasn’t a good idea, since they had been traumatized and all. Then again, the same could be said about Raphtalia . . .

“Yes. That’s fine.”

“We really should make a complete list of everyone that was in the village. Can you do that, Raphtalia?”

I gave Raphtalia a pen and something to write on. It would be more efficient if we took full advantage of the slave trader’s connections, to search for the slaves, instead of just relying on Raphtalia’s eyes.

“Oh, umm . . . yes!”

Raphtalia started making a list on the piece of paper like I had asked. After all, not all of the slaves would be appearing in the auctions. I’m sure there were some slaves being held elsewhere, too. If we made it clear whom we were looking for beforehand, it would be possible to move straight to direct negotiations later.

“Fehhh . . .”

“Alright then. Since we’ll be competing in a dangerous coliseum fight, we should give some thought to how Raphtalia should approach offense.”

“Oh, umm . . . okay.”