Chapter 802: Only Somewhat Alike?

The gladiatorial performance on the first day, in all fairness, was a rather remarkable spectacle. The partic.i.p.ant gladiators were rather formidable fighters, and they were also quite famous in their respective schools or the places they had come from. During their fight, they would not hesitate to use their signature skills to deal with their opponents. All in all, the spectators were pleased by what they saw.

Those battles had all happened before Zhang Heng stepped into the arena.

Both of Zhang Heng’s performances managed to elevate the spectators’ experience to another level. Hence, the gladiators who fought after him were unlucky. No matter how hard they fought or how much blood they spilled, they still could not get the audience to cheer for them. That was because most were still indulging in the previous bullfighting performance.

When they turned their attention back to the gladiatorial performance, they found that those battles were not as exciting as before. Since they had made Zhang Heng return to the arena for the second time, it would not be nice to ask him to return for the third. After the performance ended, Rome’s people started inquiring more into things related to this mysterious Eastern Gladiator.

So on this day, only one name echoed in the streets and alleys of Rome. The audience had completely ignored all the other gladiators who fought on that day. Unfortunately, the internet did not exist in this era, or Zhang Heng would have become famous throughout the Roman Empire with only two fights.

Zhang Heng even welcomed an unexpected guest after the performance on the first day ended.

The unexpected guest was Commodus.

According to Zhang Heng’s original plan, he expected Commodus to visit him two days after the performance. He did not expect that after watching the b.l.o.o.d.y bullfighting performance, Commodus was unable to calm down for a long time. On that night, he traveled to where Mark Reuss’s gladiator school was located.

Since this was a private visit, Commodus had put on ordinary clothing and brought only four guards. When he showed up, he almost scared Mark Reuss to death. The gladiator school owner then hurriedly asked someone to prepare refreshments, only to be refused by Commodus.

Commodus then rubbed his hands in glee. “I’m here to find Zhang Heng. Is he here?”

“Of course! I will send someone to summon him, Your Majesty,” replied Mark Cruz respectfully.

“No, no, no, I’m a guest. I should go and find him. You can look for someone to lead me to his residence. I want to chat with him alone.”

“About that…” Mark Reuss was stunned when he heard what Commodus said. The thing he dreaded most had happened. Zhang Heng had now captured Commodus’s attention and interest. Controlling him from now would be extremely hard, to say the least.

Mark Reuss was still in the Gladiator School and had not returned home. He came to see Zhang Heng take advantage of the fact that he had not gained the emperor’s full attention by winning the champions.h.i.+p, and he wanted to find a way to bring him under his control again.

For now, Mark Reuss was not going to treat Zhang Heng as his personal cash cow. As long as Zhang Heng was willing to work for him for three years, he was willing to return his freedom to him. There was no second option. Although it was a painful decision to make, Mark Reuss had to admit that after repeated evaluations, this might be the best one at this moment.

On Zhang Heng’s side, he was not worried that Zhang Heng might reject his offer because he was still the master of Zhang Heng. He was the one that controlled Zhang Heng’s life and death. Even Commodus could not say no to this. If things went south and insisted on killing Zhang Heng, the judge would still rule that he did nothing wrong even if this case was brought to Basilica Julia.

Although this was legally right, it did not mean that Mark Reuss would dare to offend Commodus, the emperor of the Roman Empire. Both were on a different level altogether. In the gladiator school, Mark Reuss was like a king. However, when he stood in front of the royalty, everything that he said carried no weight. If Commodus did come tonight, Mark Reuss could still pretend that he knew nothing about it. Since Commodus was nowhere in sight, Mark Reuss’s plan could take a different turn now.

In other words, Mark Reuss had now lost his last chance to threaten Zhang Heng. These were the thoughts that flashed through his head. Mark Reuss would never dare to refuse Commodus’s request, so he quickly found someone to lead Commodus to see Zhang Heng.

When Commodus stood outside Zhang Heng’s house, Zhang Heng’s slave girl happened to come out to collect clothes. Since the emperor and his guards wore nothing that revealed their ident.i.ty, the slave-girl thought that they must be Zhang Heng’s avid fans, and they must be trying to sneak in to see their favorite gladiator.

These things had happened before. As the hottest idol of this era, gladiators would inevitably encounter all manner of hara.s.sment. The slave girl was unqualified to watch today’s gladiatorial performance, but she heard that Zhang Heng had done amazingly well. While she felt proud of him, she also felt the burden on her shoulders becoming heavier.

The time she lived with Zhang Heng was also her happiest. Born in Rome, her family was not wealthy, but they were not considered poor as well. However, the good times did not last long. Her father committed a crime not long after she was born. When he pa.s.sed on, and his wife and daughter were sold as slaves.

She never thought her life was miserable, though. Maybe she was too young to feel the pain caused by the significant change. She had been a slave since she became a little more mature, which was why she could accept her current circ.u.mstance easily. At one point, she could even foresee her own fate. So when she was a.s.signed to serve Zhang Heng, much mental preparation had already been made.

However, she did not expect her new owner to be someone this special.

Zhang Heng might look cold from the outside, and he said little when he came home. Recently, he had asked her if she felt cold when she slept on the floor. After that, Zhang Heng took out the time to build a small bed for her. And she was flattered. Since then, she had been smiling for several days. She decided that she would take even better care of Zhang Heng.

So she stood very firm in front of Commodus and others, and she said fiercely, “Stop, stop, who are you, and where are you from? Do you know that outsiders are now allowed to come here?”

“Who are we?” Commodus raised his eyebrows, and she amused him. He then took out a Sestertius from his pocket and threw it to the slave girl.

“You can’t bribe me.” The slave girl saw the coin, and she was unmoved by it.

“It’s not a bribe. Look at that coin. This is a sample coin. If everything goes well, all the new coins will be minted according to this sample coin.”

“Huh?” The slave girl looked down at the copper coin in her hand, wondering, “Now why does this person on the coin look like you… somewhat?”

“Just somewhat?” Commodus frowned, “It looks like I have to make a few more versions to compare.”