48 Hours a Day

Early the next morning, Zhang Heng saw the Germanic sitting in a prison wagon.

At this time, the Germanic people were not as promising as their descendants that later spread all over Europe. To the Romans, these people were deemed barbarians, where “Germanic” was a collective term used for the barbarian tribes on the Rhine’s right bank. The Romans and the Germanic had a long history fighting each other; the first conflict between the two sides tracing all the way back to 113 BC.

Two Germanic tribes crossed the Danube River to attack the Roman towns, intending to get in, get what they wanted, and get out quickly. Their plan, however, was discovered, and they were ambushed up by the Roman legions stationed there. When it came to raw strength, the Germanic people had the advantage. The Romans, on the other hand, were more disciplined and well-equipped. They were also smart enough to develop different strategies to deal with different enemies. These strategies were so solid that many of their tactical ideas were adopted by modern militaries centuries later.

Hence, the Germanic who advocated personal glory suffered a great loss. The Romans, however, failed to cease their desire to head south. Afterward, they had to deal with the Germanic at their border for a long time, especially in the first century, where Wei Qing and Huo Qubing sent the Xiongnu west, causing Europe a great deal of trouble.

The Germanic were stuck in the middle and had to pick up their pace as they headed south. When he was alive, Aurelius dealt with the Germanic invasions and both sides were engaged in constant war. After hundreds of years of fighting and learning, the barbarians made great progress, and at the same time, accumulated valuable experience in dealing with the Roman legions. Once they improved their production techniques, they became more and more challenging to deal with.

Zhang Heng knew that the war between the two sides was about to end soon. He had learned from Varo that the current year was 180 AD. The former emperor Aurelius had just died of illness on the front line, and his son, Commodus, had inherited the throne.

Commodus had no interest in the war with the Germanic. If Zhang Heng remembered correctly, the emperor would later sign an armistice with the Germanic leaders: a truce in exchange for annual subsidies for the Germanic tribes.

Considering the distance between the front line and the capital, the two sides might have signed a treaty, but they had not received the news yet. Hence, this group of Germanic could be the last prisoners of war.

Obviously, their journey to this arena was not very pleasant. As invaders from the north, their image was tainted to the Romans. Some even threw stones while they were being transported. These Germanic were not afraid of them, though, laughing at the bystanders instead.

One of the tallest men among the group turned his head in disdain and said to his companions, “A bunch of pussies.”

In short, they had come to the gladiator school in an extremely hostile manner.

After the trader in charge of the escort and the person in charge of the gladiator school counted the Germanic, they began to discuss the final price. Soon, they managed to agree on a deal—3000 sestertius per person. However, they couldn’t agree to a price for the last one since he was the strongest and biggest among them.

The person in charge of the gladiator school hoped to buy him at the price of 5000 sestertii, but the slave trader insisted on 10000 sestertii.

Since they were quite a distance away, and both sides spoke very fast, Zhang Heng could not hear what they were saying. So he asked Varo beside him, “What are they talking about?”

“Uh, the slave trader said that the man was courageous and caused a lot of trouble to their army—many soldiers were killed by him. And he has a strong physique. Once they train him well, he could become a lady killer. All the noble ladies in Rome will be fascinated by him. By that time, he will make his owner here a lot of money,” Varo explained.

At the same time, Varo began to worry about his future again, “These Germanic are prisoners of war, and they all seem very powerful. The average gladiator costs only two thousand sestertii. The reason I sold myself for two thousand and five sestertii was that I had the ability to do business. Each of them will sell for three thousand sestertii, and the last one is going for ten-thousand. There’s no way we can defeat them.”

Zhang Heng was on the fence when he heard what Varo said.

He had been checking out the place since last night. It seemed the higher-ups did not think two of them were any threat to the gladiator school; hence they were not very strict. As long as they did not walk out the door, they could roam around the school.

As for those slaves who had become gladiators, they seem to enjoy more freedom. They were even allowed to walk out of the gate. This seemed to be different from the gladiator school that Zhang Heng imagined. With his skill, coupled with his newly acquired Shadow ability, it was not difficult for him to escape come nightfall. The problem was what he should do after he escaped.

As the only Chinese who had gone deep behind the Roman Empire’s lines, he was like a sore thumb that stood out among the people. Since he was not a Roman citizen, he could get into a lot of trouble if found out that he was a slave on the run.

After giving some thought, Zhang Heng gave up on the idea of escaping. Instead of risking his life, it would be better to acquire a status for himself in the gladiator school.

Varo was afraid of becoming a gladiator, but Zhang Heng was not worried about it at all. Having Lv4 swordsmanship, the Germanic group might not be even as skillful as him, especially when it came to combat experience. In fact, Zhang Heng’s attention was not on those barbarians.

In order to bring in these slaves and prisoners of war smoothly without any trouble, the gladiator school had dispatched some people to ensure that nothing would go wrong, including six gladiators and two trainers. It was not the muscular gladiators that attracted Zhang Heng’s attention but a Persian trainer.

Stumpy, aging, and unremarkable, he wasn’t the most attractive person. If it is not for his pale blue eyes, he was no different from an ordinary Roman who walked on the street.

Usually, Zhang Heng could extract a lot of useful information from a single glance of a person. When he saw the Persian trainer, however, he saw nothing.

The person in charge of the gladiator school negotiated with the slave trader for a while, and the two parties finally agreed on a price. Considering that the school was willing to pay three-thousand sestertius for each Germanic, the trader caved in and priced the last Germanic at seven-thousand sestertius. He then cursed with dissatisfaction, causing his companions to burst into laughter.

These people were fighters of various tribes. After being captured by the Romans, they quickly lost the will to live, unfazed by the knowledge that they were getting sold to the gladiator school. On the contrary, they were still in a good mood, unbothered by the Romans around them.