Nisha went back to the Dharnas estate after meeting with the Alchemist and Golden Heel.

Finding Annabelle and Lydia in the house, the twins were currently discussing the distribution of the first harvest they bought up and the storage situation in Dharnas villages, which all required coordination to ensure that the produce did not spoil unintentionally.

Fortunately, the [Adventurers Guild] offered a mail service, which allowed for fast delivery between branches.

It made the management a tad easier for the twins. Nearly the entire harvest vanished from the market and got transported to cities under Dharnas control.

Until now, the unusual movement of grain had a minimal impact on the kingdom’s market. Perhaps bread got half a copper more expensive due to a lack of ingredients, but most places were more than happy to substitute the resulting shortage with more meat from local hunters.

Even if another party snatched up the entire supply of grain in the entire kingdom, it would be quite difficult to turn a profit by inducing an artificial scarcity.

Food was cheap in Leandar, grain was only more convenient to store and transport, which made it a popular product.

What Nisha and the twins banked on was the influence of the [Black Plague] on the price of readily available food, which would allow them to profit greatly from the margin.

The three of them exchanged some thoughts regarding the storage situation and talked about the price to rent carriages to transport grain among other things.

As they just recently founded their Merchant House and did not really acquire their own fleet ready for transport, they relied on hiring them from local merchants at a high price.

Nevertheless, the expected profit down the line justified the spendings.

Lydia managed the entire assets and grain singlehandedly with the help of a single notebook, which transformed the worth of simple paper into the equivalent of thousands of gold.

As long as the book was seized and fell into the hands of a competitor, they could figure out the location and size of each grain storage, essentially enabling them to take over the assets in the worst case.

 

Nisha also mentioned that the [Thieves Guild] ordered an early batch of grain to alleviate their immediate worries and address a shortage when the plague started affecting the city.

There were no real arguments against bringing in a first carriage full of grain, at most they would store the foodstuff in the capital instead of a village under Dharnas control, so Lydia noted down the transfer and made preparations to have the delivery arrive within a few days.

With most of the first harvest in their hands, the newly established Merchant house would eventually have to sell off their grain, or suffer a drop in price when the second harvest came along and increased the amount of food available.

Thankfully, most farmers knew the rough amount their fields yielded, so they already sold the yield in advance.

Who would refuse a good price when they could already have the payment in advance?

The penalty was not horrendous either, in case they failed to deliver the stipulated amount of grain, the farmers only had to pay compensation according to the current market price of the delivery date.

Sending a single cart of the rather vast reserves was almost nothing, so Lydia found it no trouble at all to arrange it.

Having dealt with the mission from the [Thieves Guild], the dragon returned to her room and contemplated the door to the next rank in cultivation, as well as the darker aspect that were revealed in this trip.

She was not sure if the reflection on the darker side of the guild helped, or if it was a pure coincidence that the elf visualized and found a path forward at the same timing.

Even now, the door hovered in the air when Nisha directed her attention inwards, although it was an entirely separate space from her [Inner World].

Furthermore, the chains did not really tie down the door, the dragon was able to feel them on her skin and in her bones, preventing her from ascending through the first great divide.

At all times, the [Dragon Force] ground against them, slowly eroding and destroying them.

Even if she did not actively seek a way to break through, with enough time it was inevitable that Nisha ranked up.

 

Night eventually fell and the girl’s meditation on advancing and the past incident came to an end.

Her body rested, while Nisha’s spirit roamed the [Inner World] without pause.

The following two days did not have particular incidents either, so the elf mostly went to the Academy and the Dungeon to stock up on monster corpses for food.

It was on the third day when something extraordinary once again broke the usual patterns.

Tyne Pinewood arranged for another special warrior class.

Ever since Nisha beat the living daylights out of Grace Silverwood and Kian Ravenstone, they did not show up for the subsequent lessons.

Aaren inquired with the [Eternal Warrior] why they were absent, although the man only informed him that they took a leave of absence because of a unique training opportunity where they temporarily could not leave.

Hence, it was only a youth and the elf that met Tyne Pinewood in the bamboo yard.

“It’s been a while since I saw you, I hope that each of you kept up with the training and running, it requires a healthy body and a constant drive to advance as a warrior.

Cultivation is a constant fight forwards, as long as you rest and stop pushing your limits, you regress.“

It was hard to reconcile the title of [Eternal Warrior] with the slouched over middle aged man in front of them.

Nevertheless, Aaren and Nisha had been subjected to his Manifestation in the past and therefore knew that a tremendous amount of power was residing inside him despite the outward appearance.

“To motivate you and show you some of the possibilities of climbing the ranks as a warrior, I have a special place in mind for an outing today.

Try to keep up with me.”

Not bothering with their reactions, the man began jogging out of the yard and in direction of the exit of the [Royal Academy] compound.

Aaren had a puzzled face and wanted to ask Nisha a question, but the elf already started following their teacher without giving him a chance to voice out his query.

 

Surprisingly enough, the group did not head for the larger entrance leading to the Noble district, but rather the smaller gate heading for the Commoner district instead.

Seeing three figures jogging along was not quite common either, yet it did not improve as they exited the school and encountered passerbys instead of students.

Nonetheless, it was not weird enough for the guards or any concerned pedestrian to stop them and offer help, so the [Eternal Warrior] and his two students closed in on their destination without trouble.

Normally, there were few targets worth mentioning in this district, as most of the official organizations such as the [Adventurer’s Guild], the [Seven Stars Church] and offices under the kingdom were located at easily reached main streets, leaving only residences and small shops in the distant parts of the Commoners district.

Their destination apparently was one of the notable exceptions, as the residences gave way to a massive building complex nestled into the south east corner of the city walls.

Nisha never visited this far away corner before and was puzzled why Tyne led them here, although Aaren next to her got excited and tried to speak between his wheezes.

Their teacher set a harsh pace for their jog, almost leaving the boy behind and never looking back if they were still following him.

“This is the arena, isn’t it?”

He had more to say, but only got a short sentence out while sucking in air like the bellows of a forge running out of air.

“Have you been here before?”

Tyne Pinewood did not deny that they arrived at the arena. He slowed down and gave his student time to catch his breath, allowing a small grin that no one fell behind.

In his opinion, Aaren should have practiced running quite often, otherwise he could not have kept up. Nisha was more difficult to judge, as she had a higher aura rank and a bigger stamina pool as a result.

 

“No, my parents would not allow me to come. I only heard rumors.”

Seeing that the other two gave him time to cool down, Aaren got his breathing under control and had less pressure on him.

Taking deep breaths, he explained further.

“Mostly, the rumors said that the arena hosts matches, and sometimes even to the death.

You can pay to get a seat and bet on the winner, some people even wagered a few silvers and ended up with gold coins as the payout.

As for participating, there should also be some prizes, but I haven’t heard much about it.”

Clearly, Aaren was excited about the prospect of entering the arena.

Although he only heard rumors and never got concrete information, many boys dreamt about fighting in a glorious ring and dominating everyone else, becoming a famous hero.

“Not bad, it’s not entirely correct but that’s about the gist of it.

Come on, I will explain the details after we enter, we need to get tickets first.”

Tyne Pinewood did not allow his students to pay and handed over three silver coins, one for each of them.

Nisha had not much of a reaction, but the young man next to her was startled to see the exchange.

It was a great sum of money for a commoner, and the ticket only allowed entry for a single day.

After the group climbed some staircases and followed the other viewers, they ended up on a huge grandstand with rows of seats.

They spotted a free area and sat down, giving the students a chance to observe the entire building.

Three of the four sides were covered in stands, while the last one had private viewing areas that were mostly shielded by thin veils, which allowed the guests to view the sandpit in the middle without being seen themselves.

 

“Welcome to the arena, the only place where it’s legal in Thurgau to spill blood.

Pretty much every day, there’s a spectacle to see here.”

Since Aaren’s information was not accurate and complete, it fell upon the [Eternal Warrior] to explain the circumstances to his two students.

“You can think of the arena as an artificial battlefield.

There are three main categories of fights that are held here.

First would be the Arena League, where everyone is able to sign up for.

From first to third rank is the same category, as there is not much difference between the prowess of the fighters.

The fourth ranked fighters are the highlight every moon, you can take a look if you are interested, though it’s hard to get tickets.”

As the man explained the rules and peculiarities of the arena, the crowd around them cheered and whistled as a metal grate on each side of the sand pit got pulled up and a fighter entered the arena from each entrance.

From the group’s left, a heavily armored fighter emerged, shielding most of his body with a tall tower shield.

On the right hand side, it was a leather clad combatant with twin daggers. He raised his hands and played to the cheers of the crowd, making them flip out entirely.

“Based on the reaction, these two should be rather famous around here, you can get a set of information from the counters if you are interested in coming here to watch more often.

Once you garner a series of wins, the prize money can get quite handsome, even by Thugau’s standard.”

Tyne Pinewood was naturally not very interested in a fight on this level, the members of his team [Silverveil] almost all reached the eighth or ninth rank in mana or aura cultivation.

No matter how sophisticated and flashy a fight between combatants at the third or fourth rank were, it was merely squabbling between kids, just like Nisha and Aaren.

“Did you also come here to fight in the past? You seem rather familiar with the arena.”

Nisha did not want to dig into the instructor’s past, she was only intrigued because of his detailed information and in-depth knowledge.

“No, it was not in Leandar at all. Arenas are rather common in most major forces, even the schools and family clans can apply to set one up once their settlement reaches the requirements set by the arena management.

If you ever have the chance to travel to the Terus empire, you should really visit Mt. Terus Arena, it’s much more magnificent than this one.

It’s a grand construction made of stone and marble, at least four or five times bigger too.

My team and I were on a long term mission a long time ago, so I fought a few times back then.

The most popular fighters can live like kings, that’s how much they revere the arena fights.”