Chapter 89: Bet on Me

Upon noticing the howling cry, everyone in the stands rose to their feet, while the arena manager rushed towards the stage with great urgency.

'Was the attack too big?' Max thought after seeing the pain the guy was going through. However, it was smaller than the one he had practiced earlier, and after witnessing the guy's agility, he did not seem too weak, either. He was clearly an above-average-level awakener with at least Level 50 or something.

"What have you done?" asked the arena manager after checking the damage the Reversal attack had caused to the guy's stomach.

'What do you mean by what have you done? We obviously fought, you idiot,' thought Max, dumbfounded by the question. Didn't they come here to fight? The opponent attacked, and he countered the attack, yet now he was asking questions. Wasn't this guy even ready to pay attention to the battle?

Everything seemed very strange and weird, with people from different countries acting high and mighty, even going as far as asking an opponent to kneel down and accept defeat. This world was definitely a twisted one; however, when he thought about his own world, it was not much different.

"We fought," said Max as he stared at the arena manager. "You should have concentrated on the stage rather than doing something else."

"You… You are disqualified, and the winner of this battle would be him," said the arena manager angrily after hearing Max's words.

"Well, that's not fair at all," said Max as he looked around the stands, where people were eagerly discussing what had happened there. Max quickly walked off the stage, jumped over the stands' railing, and called out to two middle-aged men who weren't as reactive as the others.

"Excuse me, I want to know if this moderator's announcement was valid. Did he have the authority to change the outcome of the fight? Since I was clearly the one who won the fight, you watched, right?" Max asked the two. He didn't think the moderator had the authority to change the result. If that was the case, then what was the point of the tournament? They could just call a few people they liked and hand over the prizes directly.

"Aren't you from Kempen?" asked one of the guys.

"Yes, I am from Kempen. Am I not qualified for your answer?" Max asked, as this same thing had been happening from the start.

"Of course not, kid. We’re Pirelli men. Our countries are friendly enough. Well, out here in Blaver, anyway," the second man said.

"So, does the guy have the authority or not?" Max asked to confirm.

"No, he doesn't have the authority to change the outcome, which you clearly won, so don't worry," said the first middle-aged man.

"Oh, okay, my name is Ma… Uh, Yorick Lakemeier. Nice to meet you," Max introduced himself after hearing the middle-aged man. At least now he had found someone who wasn't making an issue of him or constantly insulting him based on his country.

"You are Lakemeier?" asked the middle-aged man, his tone filled with surprise.

"Yes, Yorick Lakemeier. You are?" Max asked.

"My name is Simon Sigurdsson, and he is Richard Atterdag. Nice to meet you, Yorick," Simon introduced them to Max. Max nodded his head, climbed into the stands, and sat near them. These two didn't seem difficult to talk to, so he decided to learn something about what was happening here.

Furthermore, these people recognized his family name, 'Lakemeier,' which indicated two things: one, the person named 'Yorick Lakemeier' was well known in their country, though whether it was for better or worse, he did not know; the second was that his family name must be known across the countries, and it could carry either a good or a bad reputation.

"So, you two were here to participate in the tournament?" Max slowly started a conversation.

"No, kid, we are here to make money," said Richard. Surprised by the answer, Max looked back at the two. Now that he was looking at them clearly, these two looked very weak, not like warriors who came here to take part in a tournament. The man named Simon was a bald guy with a pot belly, who looked like he had never swung a sword in his life. The other one had a similar build, but he had dense hair on his head and a beard covering his full face.

"So, how is it going? Made any money yet?" Max asked.

"No, we lost some just now," said Simon.

'Lost some just now?' Max wondered. Did these two bet on his fight and lose? If yes, then they must have bet on the other guy rather than himself. That served them right; they should have done their research before betting on the other guy. Max didn't say anything; he simply looked at the stage.

The guy still lay on the ground, though the howling had stopped and more staff members had gathered to start healing him.

'Did these two bet on the other guy, knowing Max was from Kempen, which was considered inferior to others and whose warriors hadn't reached the top five in almost a century?' This thought suddenly came to his mind. That was definitely what had happened. If he went through everything that had happened so far, his opponent had a clear chance of victory, added to his claim of being from Roden country, which he didn't know what was special about and his being from Kempen country. These two must have thought the Kempen guy had no chance of winning, so they blindly bet on his opponent.

A source distinction matters: carries the author's chapter, but this copy was not permitted; readership there supports the writer.

While he was about to start another conversation to get to know more things, he sensed that the two had stood up and were ready to leave.

"You are leaving?" Max asked.

"Yes, kid, see you later," Simon said without turning back.

"I have another fight in the evening. You can place a bet on me. You have a clear chance to win big," Max said, looking at the two walking towards the exit. After hearing Max's words, the two stopped and looked back. Max stared at them with a big smile on his face. It actually worked; he needed someone to help him learn everything about what was happening. Now, seeing that these two, who considered Kempen people their friends, weren't willing to tell him much, he had to lure them with money and betting on him. Since they had already seen him win, he was pretty sure they would agree. Betting on Max had a clear chance of winning, rather than blindly betting on someone just based on where they were from and losing.

"You sure are confident about winning the battle already. Are you that confident?" Richard asked as he stroked his long, unkempt beard.

"Hahaha, of course I will win. Didn't you just see me win the battle?" Max said.

"What is the time of your fight?" Richard asked.

"At 4 in the evening," Max replied. After hearing him, the two walked away from the stands. Max looked ahead at the stage; the guy had already been taken away from the stage as well. The whole arena was empty now. "I hope the party is faring any better than myself," Max muttered, stood up, and walked out of Practice Arena 22. He would take some rest in his room before his next battle, where he needed to go to Practice Arena 7.

Max walked back toward his room; he needed to have lunch. Since he had practiced the Reversal technique, he still felt a little tired and needed to eat something to recover from that fatigue. So, he quickly navigated through the colosseum inner structure towards the food court. He wasn't ready to leave the colosseum yet even for food; if he did, he would definitely get into trouble. So, he would have something inside the colosseum, which would be a lot safer than venturing outside.

"Hey!"

Max was walking through the path when he suddenly heard a call that was definitely directed towards him. He turned back and saw a group of people walking towards him. The group had a lot of people of different ages and sizes, and leading the group was a tall man with neatly combed hair who was dressed nicely.

"From which country are these people here to insult him?" Max muttered, seeing the unpleasant looks on their faces.

"Lakemeier, I heard you won your first fight by cheating!" the tall man asked as the group came to a stop before him.

"Cheating?" Max was taken aback by this and slightly surprised that the man was calling him by his family name rather than directly identifying his country. Which meant these people knew him? But who could these people be? Since he didn't know, questioning them would be a bad move; thus, Max simply stood without saying anything.

"Don't embarrass our country's name any further." The guy scoffed and walked away.

"Our country? Are these guys from Kempen as well?" Max was taken aback. And what did he mean by "don't embarrass our country any further"? Max was thoroughly confused by all these weird interactions he was going through. Everyone he met either started insulting him based on where he came from, and now people from the same country were mocking him. What kind of situation had he gotten stranded into?

With a shake of his head, he got rid of the unnecessary thoughts. All these things didn't concern him; he needed to focus on the things he needed to do to exit this place rather than worrying about other things. With those thoughts, Max reached the food court hall, where the crowd was bustling, with spectators and participants alike having food while merrily discussing things.

Max silently walked towards the food counter and selected some flatbread, meat stew, and a big piece of steak. Once he ordered, he searched for an empty table, but every table in the hall seemed occupied. There were empty seats at the tables, but not knowing anyone at a table and approaching them would not be a good idea, as it was like asking for trouble. So, he quickly asked the worker to pack the food so he could eat in his room. However, takeout food was not allowed in the colosseum. With no other option, he took the plate and waited for a table to become empty.

While he was standing and looking around, he suddenly saw someone signaling him, waving their hands towards him. Max saw the signal; it was the two guys from the arena he had talked to earlier. Max quickly walked towards their table.

"Sit," said Simon, signaling him. Max sat down and started to eat his food silently. The other two also didn't say anything, even though they had already finished their food.

"How confident are you about winning the evening fight?" Simon suddenly asked.

"100%, unless the moderator does some tricks to give the win to the opponent by disqualification or anything of that sort," Max said as he slurped the stew and ate a chunk of meat.

"Don't worry about that. The fights are strictly monitored and regulated. Just because of a moderator's words, the result wouldn't change. Furthermore, the news about some Kempen guy beating a Roden guy has already spread throughout the whole colosseum. There would be less chance of the moderator attempting something like that again," said Richard.

Hearing this, Max's wooden spoon remained suspended in midair as he gave the two a look. Based on the reaction of the guy he had fought earlier and how much he took pride in the fact that he was from Roden, this news wasn't good for Max's current situation. However, since the news had spread, more people would show up to his next fight, and he would be put in the spotlight. Max silently continued eating while thinking.

Considering everything that had happened so far, this news of him beating someone from a famous country wasn't bad at all. Even though his own country's people mocked him for some reason, this news was mostly good for him, though it was possible that people might target him to eliminate him or even attack him outside the arena. However, if he were to give too much concern to these things, his objective wouldn't be achieved.

Max finished the food, brought out a small pouch, and placed it on the table. It contained the gold coins he had with him; he didn't have much, but he could place a bet on himself, earn a few, and spend them on things that were unique to this world. Who knew, he could find some treasures for cheap compared to his own world.

"Use this to place a bet on me, and you can take a 5% commission as a handling charge," said Max. With his current growing popularity, he wouldn't be able to do all these things, so letting these people do the betting would solve a lot of issues for him. Hearing this, the two looked at each other with strange looks on their faces.