Bab 24: Renovations
Despite his rage Icarus was now feeling more deflated than angry. 'No sense in getting worked up over nepotist idiots i suppose.' Icarus comforted himself with such thoughts before he got a message from his master that actually threatened to drive him insane.
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While all the rounds were going on over the last several hours Priscus had been busying himself raking in huge sums of money at the betting tables.
With Icarus being a practically unknown gladiator coming from an equally obscure ludas, the odds were overwhelmingly against Icarus in every fight he faced.
As a consequence Priscus was able to turn the 2 million denarii he won in the lawsuit into 14.72 million denarii. He was so excited about the things he would be able to do with it that he almost didn't notice the urgent message he got from his system.
*Alert! Host new information has come up and you must withdraw Icarus from the games immediately!*
Several tense moments went by as Priscus tried to come to grips with the outrageous demands of the system. After all Icarus was doing phenomenally well and Priscus was looking forward to nearly doubling their money by betting he would make it to the semi-finals.
It wasn't until the system started beeping at him again that he finally came out of his temporary stupor to ask what what was going on.
'And just why would I pull him out when he's this close to winning us a planetary title?' The sarcasm and incredulity in his voice were hard to miss, prompting the system to go with shock and awe tactics in an attempt to force it's host's compliance before he got them all killed.
*ALERT!! If the host brings too much notoriety to his family name before appropriate measures are taken the likely hood that we will all die is 97.6241% The evidence for this is held in the new information I was able to dig out of the main imperial systems hard drive, as well as the recent news of Lucius Claudius mysteriously ending up dead for having failed some secret mission he was given. More details on that will be given later but I must insist you withdraw NOW!!*
Icarus felt a cold tingle run down his spine as he slammed his hand down on the withdraw button set in the console before him.
His seat, in addition to the privacy screens, had a large console in it with which Icarus could watch the matches of the gladiators he wanted to. Make bets, and even withdraw his gladiators from the fight should he have any.
This was the way the lower level lanista families saved their gladiators from having to fight in later rounds that their skill levels just didn't hold up in. Also it was how families withdrew their injured gladiators.
The moment he slammed his hand on the button a bright screen popped up in front of Icarus informing him that he had been withdrawn from the games in 10th place. And that all of his earnings would be credited to his Ludas after which his master would pay him.
Utterly confused and feeling slightly betrayed Icarus vented in his room before he was escorted back to the entrance where Priscus was waiting for him.
Grabbing hold of Icarus' arm Priscus practically dragged the man back outside to the waiting taxi that would take them home. "Don't ask any questions..." Priscus whispered, the fear in his eyes caused Icarus to pause in his planned tirade of unfairness. "I will explain everything once we return to the compound."
Icarus nodded and simply allowed himself to be dragged along, his master was a good deal stronger than him so there was no point in trying to resist.
Priscus sat in silence during the return trip after paying the taxi an advance to get them back ASAP. The normal two hour flight through space back to their home planet took only 20 minutes, there was no speed limit in space but the cost of traveling that fast was prohibitive.
Upon exiting the taxi at the front of their compound both Icarus and Priscus wasted no time retreating to the training room and locking the doors behind them.
The training room was the only upgraded space they owned, and Priscus was sure that it would be safer to talk here than anywhere else probably on the entire planet.
'System please block all audio, visual, and other such communications from this place. I want absolutely no one to hear what I am about to tell Icarus.'
*Acknowledged...done.*
The system was more than capable of keeping their entire villa off grid if it wanted too. It had hacked the entire sector by this point and could cause untold havoc if it so chose. So hiding this little bit of conversation was less then nothing against the systems capabilities. It would still take several more hours for its hack to infiltrate the rest of the empire, but alas it couldn't be rushed.
Priscus paced back and forth for a few moments trying to wrap his head around exactly how he was supposed to tell Icarus all the things he had learned.
Flopping down crisscross apple sauce in the center of the room Priscus motioned for Icarus to join him. Then turning his head towards the sparing bot he said. "Sentry mode, any unauthorized guests are to be turned away with extreme prejudice."
The sparing bot equipped itself with a sword and shield from the wall before it began to walk in slow circles around the two men. Like a silver clad warrior hell bent on defending his lord.
At this point Icarus was beginning to feel a deep sense of dread. He had never witnessed his master in such a state, and the clear emotions of fear coming off of Priscus in waves were beginning to affect him as well.
But choosing to wait until Priscus had collected himself he sat patiently, silently musing to himself about all the different possible scenarios that would drive a man so miraculously capable to such a state.
"We're in danger." Was Priscus' opening line, it wasn't exactly earth shattering according to Icarus, he had known as long as he'd been training here that the other Lanista families were targeting them. "And when I say danger I mean if the ruling class find's out about us they will kill us."
...That was different.
The ball game had completely flipped on its head with the empire itself gunning for them, but before Icarus could launch into a series of questions Priscus held up his hand to forestall the tide.
"I know that doesn't make sense," He began, the shakiness of his voice betraying how desperately he was struggling to maintain his composure. "But please just bare with me and I will tell you everything. Once I'm done we can decide what to do."
All Icarus did was nod but it seemed like that was some sort of trigger as the words began to flow from Priscus' mouth without any end in sight.
"From what I've been able to learn our troubles go all the way back to the founding of the empire itself." Priscus went on to explain the long history of Romulus and Remus and the threat of the 'Terrible Wolf'. How the Lupus family once was an aristocratic family but was slowly whittled away by power hungry paranoid adversaries bent on political and galactic conquest.
The story ended with the families relocation to Gaul 334 2 centuries ago and the subsequent degradation of his families assets.
Icarus was taken aback for sure, even a little bit incredulous at the fantastical story of thousands of years of history now resting squarely on the shoulders of the young man before him. But the conviction and honest light in the eyes of his master convinced him that the truth was being told. And knowing that lit two different fires within Icarus' breast.
Seeing that his master had paused to collect himself Icarus put forth his hand to rest it on the shoulder of the man he called master. Giving him a brief smile of encouragement just trying to say that it would all be okay and that he wasn't going anywhere.
The relief Priscus felt was visible, the tension in his body seeming to drain away as Priscus realized he wouldn't be left totally alone in the fight to come.
Straightening his back to restore a proper sitting posture Priscus continued on with his story, ever more grateful that his father had the foresight to bring Icarus into their lives.
"I also learned that Lucius Claudius was working for some branch family of the ruling class to sniff out and destroy the remnants of the Ludus clan. It was lucky for us actually that Lucius was so incompetent in the job and never took the rumors seriously, otherwise all of us would be dead by now.
After the botched job the people he was working for erased him from the galaxy, he never made it to the prison he was to serve his time in. And the body still has yet to be found, suffice it to say we can take an educated guess as to what happened to him.
The problem we are facing now is the people who hired him are still searching for my family. If they find us they'll erase us, the only reason they haven't yet is because my family changed the name of the Ludas when they first arrived here. We had just been calling it the Lupus ludas internally and my father made the mistake of mentioning the name at a gathering Lucius was attending.
Additionally we made the mistake of registering you as a gladiator from the Lupus ludas in the games we just left, and if that news gets out who knows what kind of hell will descend upon us."
The more Priscus spoke the more Icarus was grateful for whatever gifts his master had that alerted them to the danger, and more so the beating he took from Achilles that woke them up to the reality of the danger.
"Thankfully," Priscus sighed, a slight smile tugging at his lips telling of some good news to come. "I was able to leverage our unknown status to make some substantial bets, also with your 10th place finish awarding us 1 million denarii and the several hundred thousand you won in bounties, we are set up to do some major...renovations... to the Ludas we call home."
"Renovations?" Icarus smiled as he recalled the magical scene of the training room he so loved unfolding before his eyes like a dream.
"Indeed." Priscus chuckled mischievously, a devilish grin spreading across his face. "...Renovations."
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
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Billy_Bunn_5040 Thank you to all of you who have contributed your powerstones! It really makes me happy to see that you enjoy my work.
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