The Ashen Dominion
Chapter 37 - A Bottle

Chapter 37: 37 - A Bottle

The next day...

Jin and I were accompanied by a guard to the prize room after eating breakfast.

Khan and Brock told us to enjoy ourselves before we left the cell.

Though... Jin and I went our separate ways not long after anyway.

The prize room for silver ranks was located deeper inside the coliseum compared to the one for copper ranks, so our paths split there.

"Let’s meet later, kid."

Jin said that to me as I stood in front of a large, elegant double door made of wood. Behind it was the prize room for copper ranks.

Jin, on the other hand, had to walk with the guard a bit farther down the corridor.

"Yeah. Let’s meet later."

I replied to him with a casual nod.

"See ya, mister."

"Mhm."

We both gave each other a brief wave.

And with that...

CREAAK—

Tap—

I entered the prize room.

...

...

Inside the room, I saw a few other fighters—probably four or five of them.

’The others who won too are probably still in the medical room, getting patched up.’

I saw most of them almost die before winning.

Anyway...

Each fighter in the room had a servant accompanying them, going through their rewards.

And just as I scanned my surroundings...

"Oh, hello."

A voice greeted me.

It was a servant.

The same servant from last time—from my first visit here.

"Ah... I didn’t expect to see you back here so soon, kid."

He said, genuinely surprised.

I just shrugged my shoulders at his reaction, and opening my mouth—

"I didn’t expect it too. I’m just as surprised as you are."

I responded to him with a straight face.

"..."

The servant went quiet for a moment.

But I ignored him...

Fwish—

"..."

I turned my head toward the long table set up on the right side of the room. It was packed with food just like when I saw it the first time.

The smell of them alone was enough to make my stomach growl, even though I just had breakfast.

"Hm?"

The servant noticed where I was looking.

"You can eat while I go through your rewards if you want."

So he suggested that.

And without missing a beat—

"Cool, let’s do that."

Tap- tap- tap—

I agreed to him and started walking toward the table.

Tap- tap- tap—

The servant followed after me right away.

And when I got to the table...

Fwip—

I Immediately grabbed a roasted rib—

Nom!

And I started eating it.

"Let’s see... What was your name again?"

The servant asked behind me.

"Kaiser."

I answered simply, chewing as I spoke.

"Hmm..."

Swish~

The servant took out a list and he started searching through it.

Nom- nom- nom—

I just watched him, eating without a care.

"There... Kaiser."

Then he seemed to found my name on the list. I saw his eyes scan where his finger was pointing.

And after that...

"...?!"

His eyes widened slightly. The look on his face shifted to shock.

"...?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, still eating.

"...!"

He looked at me, then quickly opening his mouth—

"You received fifteen battle points this time!"

He exclaimed that, clearly surprised.

And I—

"Oh, nice. That’s five more than the last time."

Nom-

I replied casually, taking another bite on the pork ribs in my hand.

And looking at me—

"..."

The servant frowned, clearly not impressed by my lack of enthusiasm.

"Don’t you know that getting five more battle points on your second match is extremely rare? That means you performed way better than your first fight! And that’s just a week ago...!"

He shouted, almost throwing his arms up in disbelief.

"Look, I don’t really get what you’re talking about. I mean, I did better than last time, so it makes sense I’d earn more points, right? Let’s just skip the explanations and get to my other rewards."

I told him that, brushing past his excitement.

"Wha..."

The servant’s eyes widened, his mouth half-open like he wanted to argue.

He looked genuinely frustrated—like he was dying to educate me about the system but didn’t know where to start.

But after a few seconds...

"Haaaa...."

He just let out a heavy sigh.

"Whatever. If that’s what you want."

He muttered under his breath, turning around with his brows furrowed a bit.

"Follow me. Barnus’ items are already prepared."

He added flatly.

And without wasting any more time—

Tap- tap- tap—

The two of us started walking.

*****

It didn’t even take us a minute to reach our destination.

I was now back in the room where white cloths were laid neatly on the floor—on top of them were the belongings of fighters who lost in the event.

Tap- tap- tap—

"Nom..."

I walked behind the servant, still chewing on the ribs in my hand.

I was looking around, like I was doing some kind of shopping.

And not long after—

Tap-

The servant and I stopped in front of one of the cloths.

"These are all Barnus’ items."

He said, turning slightly and gesturing to the pile of items in front of us.

Then, stepping to the side to give me space—

"Take your time picking."

He added.

"Mhm, thanks."

I replied, stepping forward and shifting my focus to what was laid out.

"Hmm..."

Right away—I spotted Barnus’ mace and the clothes he have.

But neither of those caught my interest.

Barnus had more items than Umar.

But just like Umar’s items... Most of them weren’t useful to me.

’Ugh... At least Umar accidentally had a javelin.’

I thought to myself, sighing internally as I scanned the rest.

I’m trying to find another unexpected item.

...

...

But even after searching for a couple more minutes—

"Tch..."

There was still nothing worth taking in my eyes!

Most of them are just clothes and fake looking jewelries. I don’t need any of them.

’I guess I got unlucky.’

I grumbled internally.

I was at least hoping to find any kind of armor. But with how Barnus had that freakishly tough skin, I guess he didn’t think he needed any.

So in the end—

Fwip—

"I’ll take this."

I just picked up an expensive-looking bottle of alcohol from the pile with a small frown on my face.

Barnus had several of them. No wonder his stomach was that big.

"That’s a great pick. A lot of people are asking for that."

The servant commented with a smile, standing beside me.

"Then that’s good."

I mumbled, glancing over my shoulder at him.

I was planning to trade the bottle for battle points with the other gladiators in the copper cell.

And if no one wanted it—

’Then I’ll just drink it.’

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a drink.