Chapter 12)

"What's with this damn line?!"

Iris peeked her head out, as she saw the endless trail of people standing ahead of us. There was a point where you couldn't even see people anymore.

We were waiting in line to go watch the event at the coliseum, but I didn't expect literally everybody in this city to go watch it as well. The line trailed on for almost a mile, and we were almost at dead last.

"Are you sure you want to stay in this line for that long to watch something that lasts for 10 minutes? We could easily be searching for that man right now."

"No, I am not one to quit on something once I've already planted my foot. We are going to stay in this line as long as it takes to watch this show! I paid good money for these tickets!"

"You stole them."

"No I didn't~"

I wasn't one to be impatient while waiting for things, I would sometimes have to wait long lines while going to get a game from the store, and that would take almost an hour at times. Maybe an hour or so wouldn't have hurt me, and I was actually looking forward to seeing what was going to happen in the coliseum.

"It shouldn't take that long for the line to go by, right? It won't hurt to stay here for a while."

Iris sighed, defeated as I knew she could not persuade Barsanti and I into not seeing the event. 

"Fine... We can stay in line."

"Alright! This will definitely be worth it."

I hope so, at least.

It was decided, we were going to stay in line for as long as it took to get to the coliseum. It was still day when we first got to the line, the blue sky still shining above us. It wouldn't take that long, right?

The sky went orange.

I was exhausted, my feet felt sore for standing so long that I was contemplating on just sitting down for a couple of minutes. Iris looked like she was ready to tip any moment now, as she kept her hands folded while looking forward without a blank expression. With the little time I've spent with her in the past days, I eventually grew into knowing that was her 'I'm going to flip the hell out' face.

Barsanti was, as expected, still smiling as he kept looking forward, looking at the orange sky without seeming impatient at all. In fact, sometimes it looked like he was just spacing out, since he wouldn't even say a word at times while me and Iris talked about what was going to happen at the coliseum. 

Talking to her, I learned that they were going to have a large battle in the coliseum, a massive fight with over 30 gladiators. Instead of killing each other to win though, they would instead be taken out of the match when they were cut. The last man standing would be called the winner, and they would win a large gold trophy. 

"Do those type of things happen a lot here?"

"Coliseum fights? I don't really know since I don't come to Modena often, but I heard that this is usually a yearly event, where the top fighters would fight for the trophy."

That got me hyped up. You usually wouldn't be able to see something like this on Earth, since it was obviously illegal to cut somebody with a sword in a competition, but here it was like being in the past, seeing the things that people in history would call fun.

Of course, it wasn't fun waiting in this line. We had been moving in a rapid pace, moving up every couple of seconds or so, but the line was so long that it felt like there was still more than a mile left. The coliseum was so small when I could see it, I could place two of my fingers on the coliseum and it would completely cover it. 

Soon enough it was dark outside, still waiting in this never ending line we had finally managed to get to the coliseum entrance. Iris and I were practically forcing our bodies to stay up, I thought I was going to pass out before we even got in, but the blaring lights woke me up. 

When we finally got to the ticket booth, Barsanti turned in our tickets as they told us the direction we needed to go to get into our seats. When we entered the massive door, thousands of people could be seen in the crowd waiting for the event to start, there wasn't a single seat left vacant. One of the employees led us to our seats, which were at the very top of the coliseum.

"You could've at least gotten some better seats."

"These were the only tickets available. Besides, you can see just fine with those eyes of yours, right?"

"I suppose so."

Iris illuminated her eyes purple, as she stared down towards the round field where the gladiators would be fighting. It was just like having front row seats.

"Why do we have to get these crappy seats when Iris is able to see just fine with her eyes?! I can't see past all these people's head!"

"Whoops! Looks like the event's going to start!"

As Barsanti said that, the large crowd of people around us grew silent, as a man stepped onto the field, all eyes on him. 

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the annual gladiator war! Our finest warriors of Modena come once a year to display their techniques, their strength to this city! And joining us yearly is our own Niccolo II! Modena's king!"

Pointing towards one of the large sections of the coliseum was a small box which held two seats separate from the rest, designed and ornamented with lavish patterns as two people sat on the chairs. The named Niccolo II, who was wearing a blue military suit which held a large patch across his body along with several golden medals, sat with his presumably wife, who was wearing a dark blue dress with a small crown on her hair. They both looked young, not a day over 30 at least.

The crowd went wild as the king and queen waved, growing silent once again as the queen put her finger on her lips as a display. The man on the field waited patiently, before resuming his speech.

"We know you've all been waiting for this moment, but worry no longer! Now is the time to finally start the gladiator games!"