With the addition of two new clones, Septimus began by getting rid of the slaves.
Capua slave market
Septimus, along with two clones and the three slaves, stood in front of a slave trader.
"Give me 2,000 denarii for the three slaves and I'll sell them to you,"
Septimus said to the fat slave trader.
"Young man, with the current political situation in Rome, the price of slaves is falling every day," said the slave trader with a fake smile on his greasy face.
"Take it or leave it. If you're not interested, there's no deal," Septimus replied. He was already offering a low price; skilled slaves sell for between 600 and 900 denarii each.
Offering 2,000 denarii for the three slaves was already a low price.
Seeing that Septimus was turning away and refusing to negotiate, the slave trader changed his expression and hurried to stop him, regaining his fake smile.
"Hahaha, young citizen, I was just joking. 2,000 denarii is 2,000 denarii."
While Septimus received the money and the guards took away the three defeated slaves.
One of Septimus' clones observed a group of gladiator slaves.
Septimus and his clones had the same idea: they could use gladiatorial combat to gain experience in hand-to-hand combat and train his clones and himself in combat.
As he closed the deal, the idea began to blossom in his mind, but then, like a bucket of cold water, he remembered that for this plan, his clones would have to be slaves.
Although Septimus craved combat experience with bladed weapons, he didn't like the idea of having to be someone else's slave and obey their whims.
With a sigh, Septimus headed to the bakery with his clones.
With three clones in the bakery, Septimus assigned one as a miller, one as a flour mixer, another as a baker, and himself in charge of sales and accounts.
Although the bakery business generated little income, it was a stable income to start with.
Another week passed.
This week, four clones were added to Septimus' bakery, and the idea he had previously had about turning some of his clones into gladiators reappeared.
Being in ancient Rome, not to mention the 21st century in this ancient society where might makes right, Septimus became increasingly distrustful of the protection that his Roman citizenship could afford him against potential criminals or the Roman elites and nobles.
With this thought in mind, Septimus went to the nearest ludus lanista with three of his clones.
As he approached, he was stopped by two guards at the door.
"I wish to speak with your master. I am a Roman citizen and have a deal to propose," Septimus said to the guards.
"Wait here, I will inform my master," said one of the guards as he went inside the ludus, while the other guard remained to watch Septimus and his clones.
Ten minutes later, a middle-aged man approached with the guard and two slaves. When he saw Septimus and his clones, he frowned. Septimus' predecessor, the owner of a small bakery in Capua and a spendthrift father, did not have much income or good clothes to wear. His clones wore simple linen clothes commonly worn by slaves.
As the middle-aged man approached, he said, "My name is Gaius Ofellius Rufus.
I am the lanista of this gladiator ludus. What is your offer, young man?" The middle-aged man spoke with a hint of impatience on his face.
He had thought he would have a business opportunity when the guard came to inform him, but when he approached and saw a 16- or 17-year-old boy in simple clothes accompanied by three young slaves, he lost interest.
"My name is Septimus Novius, and I have come to make you an offer," Septimus said seriously.
"These three beside me are foreigners who work for me. I want them to train and serve as gladiators in your Ludus," explained Septimus.
"Volunteers? Foreigners? They look young. Do they have combat experience?" replied Gaius with some interest.
"They have no combat experience, but they learn quickly," replied Septimus.
Gaius frowned.
"Young man, gladiatorial combat is not a game. Training a novice to be a gladiator will take six to nine months to be ready for the arena. Don't waste my time," Gaius said impatiently as he walked away.
Watching him leave, Septimus thought of a solution.
"Wait," Septimus called out.
"I can offer two volunteers every week until I reach 30, and pay for their monthly food," Septimus offered.
Gaius stopped and considered the idea. Having more gladiators for free and working for free benefited him, and if this young man paid for their food, he had nothing to lose even if they all died in the arena.
"All right, I accept. The monthly food for a gladiator is 10 denarii. If you come back next week with volunteers, you can inform the guards directly and leave the money with them," replied Gaius as he turned to leave.
"Wait, first I want to clarify that they are volunteers, they are not slaves and cannot be treated as such, or the deal is off," Septimus clarified seriously.
Gaius looked at the young man in front of him with amusement. He found his words funny; even though they were volunteers, they were foreigners, and if he treated them as slaves, there was nothing this young man could do once inside the ludus.
He agreed to help the young man anyway. He had nothing to lose with the deal and stood to gain a small profit.
"All right, young Septimus, I will treat these volunteers the same as a gladiator in training."
With everything settled, Gaius, along with his slaves and clones, headed for the ludus.
Seeing them leave, Septimus sighed.
He could do nothing; he was a modern person and had to adapt to the cruelty of this era, and the quickest way was to be ruthless with himself.
At first, he thought of selling the clones to the ludus as slaves, but the idea of enduring the humiliation of slavery was unbearable to him.
The second-best option was to offer the clones as volunteers to a ludus, although he would still have to endure difficulties. If you want to forge good steel, you have to strike the iron many times.
In Republican Rome, some citizens who could not make ends meet and had experience in the army offered themselves to the ludus as gladiators to earn money, thus avoiding becoming bandits.
It was rare for foreigners to do so, because if the lanista had ulterior motives, volunteering at a ludus was tantamount to giving oneself away as a free slave. Septimus had no other choice; every day at this time, without the ability to defend himself, stressed him out.
Although he could clone himself indefinitely, his clones were weaklings. If they faced any average thief in Capua, he could only be ruthless with himself and offer his clones as volunteers to a ludus.
Septimus thought coldly, with my cloning ability, I don't care if all 30 clones die. As extensions of my body, if they are treated unfairly, I will take revenge on this ludus in the future and inflict the most cruel torture on those responsible.
Just thinking about the idea of leading an army of clone soldiers experienced in combat excited him a little.