While Hugh was being dragged out of the pit, Osric received his win earnings.
'A total profit of over 8 silver from one fight. This is great.'
Osric was very unlucky to have been picked by a lunatic that he hadn't enough information on, but this money made it worth it.
'The good thing is, that now I get to decide who to fight.'
Everyone in the arena had the same reaction upon seeing Osric remain in the pit.
"He can still fight?"
"How does he have the energy to go again after that brutal fight?"
"I know right? But doesn't Osric almost always fight more than once?"
"Yeah. Not many elite fighters do that."
"Maybe it's true that he wants to prove himself."
The spectators kept talking amongst themselves.
"Will we see a new champion soon?"
Meanwhile, the remaining twelve fighters had different opinions about this situation.
Some were scared to get picked, others desperately wanted to be picked.
Osric already knew who to pick.
'I need to fight someone that can be knocked out quick and that I am confident against.'
He pointed at a smaller framed man among the fighters standing by.
But unlike the other low rankers who were scared, this one was angry to be looked down upon.
'Just because he showed decent technique against that idiot, he thinks he can beat me? He's obviously looking down on me because of my size.'
This time Osric put 10 silver coins on the betting table without hesitation.
This only angered his opponent more.
'He might have better technique than me, but I have seen him fight multiple times. It's not just that I am physically stronger, but I am confident that I can defend against his speed and technique.'
His opponent then walked to the betting table as well and put 5 silver down.
"I'll make you lose all your money big guy."
After announcing their names and records, the referee told them to start.
"Fight!"
The small fighter moved incredibly fast and threw a faint to the body before moving behind Osric and kicking his leg.
But unfortunately for him, Osric reacted too quickly.
The blocked the kick.
And before everyone's eyes, the overconfident small man got caught with a brutal hook to his temple.
He had underestimated Osric's speed because of his height.
"Thud."
The crowd erupted the moment his body hit the ground.
"Woahhh!!"
"That was amazing!"
"That's one of the fastest knockouts I've seen here."
However, Osric was currently not happy at all—
Because on the ground, the small man wasn't just unconscious, he wasn't breathing.
Osric's heart started beating faster.
'Shit.'
'I shouldn't have hit his temple, that's too dangerous. But because he's so short, it was easier than aiming for his chin at that moment.'
"Hey referee! He isn't breathing. Send someone to check on him."
Everyone that heard that was surprised.
Not just because of what was happening to his opponent, but because they didn't expect a fighter here to be so concerned for their opponent.
"Did he just kill someone with just a hook?"
"That's crazy."
"We can't be sure that he's dead."
The other fighters were also surprised.
'What strength.'
'Why does he care about the dead guy?' Another one thought.
'Interesting.' Someone else thought.
The arena's men were checking on him.
But they only had people with some medical training, not skilled doctors and definitely not a healer.
"Damn, he's dead." One said.
"Haa. Get rid of his corpse." The man behind them said nonchalantly.
Osric didn't show it, but he was completely in shock.
'Why wasn't I more careful?'
This was different than before, when he killed bandits or the adventurers that tried to kill him. That was self defense, but this was only supposed to be a fight.
'Fuck.'
Osric couldn't believe it.
'This feels disgusting.'
He already knew about his opponent.
'His name was Hans. He was a mercenary that enjoyed gambling and other activities.'
'He might not have been a good person, but he didn't need to be killed.'
The organizer in charge interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey. Don't worry about it. We'll clean this up. The city guard also doesn't care about underground fighters dying here."
It was obvious that this man didn't care either.
'Disgusting asshole.'
He frowned for a second before calming down.
'Understood.'
Although his plan was to fight three times tonight, Osric didn't have the energy to keep going after this.
He took his win earnings and left the arena without looking back.
Although he didn't realize it, this incident didn't just influence him, but it left a big impact on a lot of people watching the scene.
Especially three people in particular.
'He looked genuinely hurt by what happened.' Alice thought.
'I want to observe him more closely.' Adam thought.
'That was some serious killing intent towards that arena thug. He gets more interesting the more I see him.' A man in his late forties thought while caressing his thick dark beard.'