"But I have a question."
Yan Huan looked at Sparkle.
"If I were a sponsor and wanted to support a contestant, why wouldn't I just give him the good stuff before the match?"
"That would save me the sponsorship fee and make sure it reached him."
Luka had already seized a Cloud Knights crossbow. Wouldn't it be awkward if someone else picked up the equipment Yan Huan sponsored while it was being dropped into the arena?
"Hehe. There's something you don't know, boss."
Sparkle gave him a mysterious smile.
"Contestants have to pass a security check and a drug test before they go onstage. One person can't carry that much good stuff in."
"But once they're onstage, the security staff have no say."
"Then who does?"
"I do."
"..."
Yan Huan watched a few more matches.
Reality was just as Sparkle had said: there were limits on what contestants could bring in, but none on sponsored support items.
"..."
He watched someone sponsor two women into a match.
"Thank you to our generous sponsor!" Jimi cried excitedly into his microphone.
"These two ladies have joined the battlefield as temporary support members! Let's see how they perform!!"
"What the hell!" Someone in the Audience Gallery began questioning the Martial Arts Ceremony's rules.
"You can even sponsor people into a match? How much does that cost?"
"Apparently, the price is based on the going rate for interstellar mercenaries..."
Watching the fighters gang up on their opponent in the arena, the spectators began guessing what that sponsorship had cost.
Could money really get people sent into the arena?
"Don't bother guessing."
An old man seated in the Audience Gallery offered his analysis.
"I saw where those two young women came from. They belong to some galactic security organization."
"Mercenaries?"
"You could call them