Ning rinsed after returning from the depths of the ocean where the many pearls had sunk to. Fortunately, they had still been there and no giant sea beast had accidentally eaten them.
He decided to change before going to visit the princess for today's lesson when he heard a knock on the door.
Ning opened the door and was surprised to see staff standing outside.
"What's… did I miss a match?" Ning worried.
"No, sir. The boss is asking to see you," the staff said.
"The… boss?" Ning looked confused. Which boss was this?"
"Boss runs the arena," the staff explained.
"Ah, that boss. What does he want with me?" Ning couldn't think of anything good or bad he had done. If anything, it was Saphandra who had been more of a star in the Arena recently, not him.
"The boss will explain himself," the staff said.
Ning sighed. "Very well, let's go."
The staff took him through the wide hallway, then through a few flights of stairs then back into another wide hallway before arriving in front of two massive doors.
The staff used the ring attached to the door to knock.
"Come in," a voice spoke from the inside.
The staff opened the door and Ning walked in. The very first thing he saw when he walked in was a bunch of people on the floor, going through a bunch of slips of paper.
"What the…"
He recognized some of those papers too. Those belonged to fighters that were found in the arena and would then win Pearls from the betting area.
From the closest one he could see, someone had won 33 pearls from one of the battles today.
"Please don't mind those. We don't have many places where we can gather up to handle the transactions of the arena, so we have to do it here," a big, buff man spoke as he walked out from behind the only desk in the room.
"I wasn't really minding anything," Ning said. "I was just thinking that you should get a few desks and chairs for the people here."
"We tried before, but it doesn't work," the man said as he finally arrived next to Ning
"Hi, you must be Ning," the man said. "I am the boss of the arena. You may call me as such."
"Hi, boss of the arena," Ning said as he looked at the man's face. Something about that face, it felt so familiar to him.
"Have I seen you before?" Ning asked.
"Me? Maybe. I walk around the arena all the time," the boss said.
"No, not here…" Ning thought for a moment and finally remembered. "Right, it's your face that's familiar. Are you part of the royal family?"
The boss's eyes narrowed. "How did you know?" he asked.
"Your face looks not that different from the king. Maybe a little chubbier. You must not exercise as much as the king does," Ning said.
"Oh, you speak as if you know the king personally," the boss said.
"I'm princess Janice's summoning tutor at the moment. So, yeah, I know the king personally," Ning said.
"You are teaching summoning to my niece? That girl is barely 6 years old," the boss said.
Ning shrugged. "They wanted me to, so I did," he said. "Besides, Age has nothing to do with summoning for the most part. After all, the princess already managed to form her first bond yesterday."
"What? Little Janice is already a summoner?" the boss asked in surprise.
"Her hair is already red. You should go meet her soon," Ning said.
"Yes, yes, I will do that," The boss said. "I should celebrate with her soon."
"Well, good for you," Ning said. "So, why did you call me here?"
"Right, right, I almost forgot. Let's walk while we talk," the boss said as he started walking. Ning got curious and followed him.
"I watched your match a few days ago," the boss said.
"Which one?" Ning asked.
"The one where you made a mistake on your summoning and had a beast nearly go on a rampage," the boss said as he kept walking.
Ning stopped for a moment to cringe. He didn't want to remember that. He didn't want to remember the mistake he made. Saphandra had scolded him plenty that time, he didn't need a reprimand from the boss too.
He sighed. "Yeah, that was a mistake I made while I was in a hurry. I can guarantee that won't happen again," Ning said.
"Hmm?" the boss looked back with a confused expression. "Oh, no, I'm not here to tell you what you did wrong. You likely know that more than I do. Besides, that was a one-time offense and nothing bad even happened. I've seen your later matches too, you're doing fine. In fact, you're doing quite good."
"Oh, so… why am I here?" Ning asked.
"Can I ask why you chose to fight with beasts instead of yourself?" the boss asked.
"No reason," Ning said. "That just seemed more fun for me."
"Do you have anything against fighting yourself?" the boss asked.
"Not particularly, no," Ning said, still quite confused as to where the conversation was going.
"If given the opportunity, would you fight by yourself? Without beasts, I mean," the boss said.
"I'm not opposed to it," Ning said.
"You see, I saw your fight that day. Not the one where your beast fought the other beast. I mean the fight where you beat your own beast, and that gave me an amazing idea," the boss said as he dramatically turned towards Ning.
"Man Vs Beast, a battle where a single man fights beasts one after another until he is either beat or can no longer fight," the boss said. "How does that sound to you?"
"Dangerous," Ning said it just the way it was.
"It is, and that's why people will love it. The tougher the battle, the more they will cheer. The tougher the battle, the more they will bet, and if you win, you will make a hell of a lot more money than a normal battle," the boss said.
"So," he looked at Ning again. "Do you want to become our first fighter that will fight against an endless horde of beasts?"
