by Floyd Fiftynames, Licensed Bard
At first, Lothar thought the Ubus Regia would be kind of dull, a place for him to wait while Salem, Riordan, and Lioto attended to business related to their advancement and overall betterment.
Then, he found the stadium.
Lothar couldn't resist - he signed up for a morning battle. He wasn't sure what to expect in his first go-round, these being professional fighters and all, and he didn't have any of the fancy, trusty equipment he'd picked up in his earlier adventures, but he was pleasantly surprised that he won his first match pretty handily. After seeing the ease with which he dispatched his opponent, he was quickly bumped up in the bracket by the stadium management.
When he managed to beat his next opponent - that is, opponents, as they pitted him against a pair of fighters, the surprise began to outpace his delight. Lothar wasn't uncomfortable with attention, but he could sense in the crowd an excitement at seeing a total newcomer burst onto the scene.
Don't get too big too quickly, he thought, It can only lead to trouble.
Lothar was quickly bracketed into the final round of the day. When fight time came, he faced his strongest challenge, but he still won (throwing the fight wasn't in his nature), and the crowd went nuts. Attention came from gamblers, agents, and women - and made our young hero decide to lay low for a little while.
FF
