Alien Knights

Ackerman's wish to change his gladiatorial opponent was ultimately not realized.

Since the director of the arena had just been executed by the king, no administrator was willing to take any risks that might be brought about by making unauthorized claims at this juncture.

This also means that the battle between Ackerman and Casper against the two barbarian sisters will proceed as scheduled.

On the night when he learned the news, seeing Ackerman turning around in a hurry and foaming at the corners of his mouth, Todd advised him: "If you are worried about the embarrassment when meeting, you'd better explain it to them in advance before the game."

"The embarrassment when we met?" Ackerman shook his head like a spring: "I don't care about such trivial things as revealing my identity. What I worry about is the gladiatorial fight!"

Casper wiped the tower shield, and said in a muffled voice: "Be clear in advance, I will not show mercy to women."

Ackerman picked up a stone and threw it on the shield, angrily: "If you don't speak, no one will think you are dumb!"

Todd rubbed the bridge of his nose and said, "I don't understand. When you are fighting against the pair of sisters, you just need to release the water a little bit, just like our battle, wouldn't it be fine?"

Ackerman and Casper looked at Todd in surprise, as if they didn't understand why the other party made such a suggestion.

Casper closed his eyes, pursed his mouth, and hummed in a nasal voice: "It won't work, it won't work."

Ackerman patiently explained to Todd: "The fate of a gladiator is not controlled by oneself. The real decider is the audience. If you perform poorly or even fight passively, even if you survive to the end, the audience has the right to demand that your life be taken away."

"In the last wrestling fight, Mr. Boyle, you had many opponents, so the two of us had the opportunity to help you secretly. But this time, there are only two opponents, and it is extremely difficult to release the water." Ackerman sat on the ground, holding his head and said: "If I have to do my best to hurt the woman I love, I will definitely not be able to do it; but if the performance of the wrestling fight does not satisfy the audience, the four people participating in the fight will all die!"

Todd sighed, and said to Ackerman: "Did you misunderstand what I just said about 'letting water'?"

"You can regard the gladiatorial fight as a performance, a grand and gorgeous performance..."

Todd's words made Ackerman's mouth open: "A show? You mean a show? A show like in a play? Two guys in gorgeous costumes, fighting like children with wooden swords?"

Caspar frowned and said, "Gladiatorial combat is a duel between fighters, not a play between clowns!"

Unclear why these two people suddenly had such a big reaction, Todd said while thinking: "The gladiatorial performance I am referring to is more real than the fighting in the drama. It looks like a real battle, but it requires a lot of design and rehearsal beforehand."

Finding that the two still looked confused, Todd realized that it was difficult to explain the fighting performance in the movie with words, so he simply picked up a long sword on the ground with the back of his foot, held it in his hand and started to enter the "combat mode".

Swinging a sword, dodging, blocking, and being injured, Todd obviously has no enemies in front of him, but every movement shows that he is fighting to the death; pain, anger, panic, and excitement are clearly facing the air, but every expression of Todd puts people in the non-existent, but extremely "tragic" battle.

Watching Todd end the "battle" with a slash, Ackerman and Casper stared blankly in disbelief.

Ackerman stammered, "Is this a performance? Isn't there an invisible enemy in front of you? This looks exactly like a real battle!"

Todd put the long sword on the ground again, and said, "This is a combat performance. It is much more real than a drama. Every movement, expression, and even eyes have been strictly planned in advance, and a lot of rehearsals are required."

Casper was still somewhat paranoid: "But this is not a battle after all. What the audience wants to see is blood and death."

Todd shook his head and denied this point of view: "Blood and death are not the only possibilities to mobilize the audience's emotions. Think about it, the audience paid a lot of money to enter the arena, if only five minutes later, before their butts are hot, they see the loser's head fall to the ground and the battle is over, how will these people react?"

Casper was a little puzzled: "Then what do these audiences want?"

"Brilliant fighting, ups and downs of the plot, unswerving feelings until death..." Todd tilted his head and said: "If it can be boiled down to one word, it would be—cool!"

Since there is no suitable vocabulary in Northland to express the meaning of "cool", Todd specially used the word in the common language here.

Ackerman, who had a flexible mind, suddenly realized that he had already understood the deep meaning of Todd's words; but Casper, who was a soldier in the Holy Acropolis, still couldn't accept this idea: "Battle is sacred! Using false appearances to blind the eyes of the spectators, is this behavior a desecration of the battle itself?"

Todd scratched his head, and had a lot of dealings with these war honors in the Middle Ages. He also gradually figured out the thinking circuit of these people, only to hear him say: "I don't agree that all battles are sacred and noble. Let me give the simplest example, comparing war with gladiatorial combat. The sacrifice in war is to achieve a valuable purpose and vision; but what is the purpose of death in gladiatorial combat? Is it to please the spectators who pay to enter and the masters who deprive themselves of freedom?"

Casper lowered his head, lost in thought.

"Sacrifices in battle are divided into valuable and worthless according to the purpose of initiating and the results achieved. In my opinion, sacrifices in war are valuable, while sacrifices in gladiatorial combat are worthless!"

After listening to Todd's words, Casper thought for a long time, and finally nodded slightly, accepting this point of view: "Master Boyle, I agree with you."

Seeing that the three had reached a consensus, Ackerman clapped his hands happily: "Master Boyle, your wisdom and intelligence opened my eyes! Many people say that you are a person who can only use brute force to solve everything. I want to say that they are all wrong!"

Casper raised his head and looked into Todd's eyes. Although he didn't speak, his expression revealed an intriguing inquiry.

Todd looked away, and naturally changed the subject: "Ackerman, there is still one problem that has not been resolved."

"what is the problem?"

"Your acting counterparts, the pair of barbarian sisters."

Ackerman's expression froze.

"You need to persuade them to join the 'show', but in this way, the fact that you deceived them will be exposed..."

"To me, this is a trivial matter!" Ackerman patted his chest, and said loudly confidently: "The feelings of the two of them for me are as warm and sincere as the morning sun of Irmagus! Look, as long as I move my mouth, they will not only forgive me, but also thank me for avoiding a disaster for them!"

—————————————

"You liar! Go to hell!"

A young woman in gray fur with a ponytail clenched her five fingers, punched Ackerman's handsome face heavily, and then hit the opponent's stomach with a knee.

With a painful expression on his face, Ackerman bent over, stepped back a few steps, and begged with his hands up: "Parley! Listen to me, I am sincere to you and your sister..."

Another young woman with short hair in a beige linen shirt grabbed Ackerman's arm, threw him over his shoulder and knocked him to the ground, then kicked him hard and hit the opponent's lower leg, cursing: "Scum! Maggots! You are a demon, playing with our feelings!"

Standing not far away, Todd, who watched all this, covered his crotch with a pale face, and grinned empathetically. He looked at Casper with a calm face beside him, and asked in a low voice: "Looking at this posture, it won't take until the day of the gladiatorial fight. These two women can kill Ackerman now!"

Casper polished the dagger in his hand without raising his head: "Keep watching."

Kneeling on the ground, Ackerman grabbed the woman's ankle and yelled in pain: "Parni! You don't need to show mercy, come on! Kill me! I'm being gnawed at my heart by two poisonous snakes of panic and self-blame every day, and I don't want to live anymore!"

The barbarian woman called Parni stopped attacking and exchanged glances with her sister.

Ackerman, who was lying on the ground, squinted his eyes and glanced at the expressions of the sisters quickly, and then there was a bit of crying in his voice: "Parney! I love you deeply! But I also love your sister deeply! I know that falling in love with two women at the same time is my fault and my fault! But you are so beautiful and perfect, I have no way to choose between you!"

Todd was dumbfounded when he heard that, and it took a long time before he spit out two words: "Shameless..."

The expressions of the barbarian sisters gradually softened.

Elder sister Palli frowned and said: "Your lies in the past have already made me unable to believe every word you say now."

Ackerman slammed his forehead heavily against the ground, and the stone slab made a heavy bang sound. His voice and expression perfectly expressed his regret and deep love: "If I don't love you, why would I bother to expose my evil deeds? If I don't love you, why would I bother to find you to discuss countermeasures? If I don't love you, why should I be in such pain?"

The anger on sister Parni's face slowly faded away. She knelt down and looked at Ackerman and said, "Do you really think of a way to deal with this gladiatorial fight?"

Ackerman raised his head and looked at the other party affectionately: "For you, I have tried my best and suffered so much, and finally I found a way to survive the day after tomorrow safely. Please help me up first, there is a hut behind here, and I will explain it to you slowly when I get there."

Watching the two sisters off, and helping Ackerman to the room around the corner, Todd said helplessly to Casper: "Is he like this only today, or has he always been like this?"

"Always."

Todd was about to say something more, when there was a rustling sound from the hut not far away.

While Todd was still confused, the moans of men and women in the room finally made him realize what was going on there.

"Let's go." Casper sat up from the ground and walked in the opposite direction: "The voice won't stop within two or three hours..."