With the addition of two new clones, Septimus began with his plans to get rid of the slaves.
Slave market of Capua.
Septimus, together with two clones and the three slaves, stood in front of a slave trader.
"Give me 2000 denarii for the three slaves and I will 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 going down 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 is no deal." Expected Septimus, he was already giving a low selling price; skilled slaves are sold between 600 and 900 denarii denarii each.
Giving a price of 2000 denarii for the three slaves is considered a low price.
Seeing that Septimus turned around and refused to negotiate, the slave trader changed his expression and hurried to stop him, recovering his fake smile.
"Hahaha, young citizen, I was just joking, I agree with the price of 2000 denarii."
Septimus received the money while the guards took away the three dejected slaves.
One of Septimus's clones observed a group of gladiator slaves.
The same idea came to Septimus and his clones; they could use gladiator combat to forge experience in bladed weapons and temper his clones and himself in combat.
While closing the deal, the idea began to flourish in his mind, but then like a bucket of cold water, he remembered that to achieve that plan his clones would have to be slaves.
Although Septimus longed for experience in bladed combat, the idea of having to be someone else's slave and obey their whims did not please him.
With a sigh, Septimus headed with his clones to the bakery.
With three clones in the bakery, Septimus assigned them to various roles; 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, for a start it was a stable income.
Another week passed.
In this week, four more clones were added to Septimus's bakery and the idea that he had previously had about turning some of his clones into gladiators reappeared.
In ancient Rome, not to mention the 21st century a modern society, in the ancient society where the fist of the strongest is right, Septimus increasingly distrusted the protection that his Roman citizenship could provide him against possible criminals or against Roman elites or nobles.
Septimus needed to have the necessary combat ability to be able to defend himself and survive in this era.
With this thought, Septimus went to the nearest lanista's ludus together with 3 of his clones.
As he approached, he was stopped by two guards at the door.
"I wish to speak with your dominus, I am a Roman citizen and I have a deal to propose," said Septimus to the guards.
"Wait here, I will inform my dominus," said one of the guards as he headed inside the ludus while the other guard remained watching Septimus and his clones.
In 10 minutes, a middle-aged man approached together with the guard and two slaves; upon seeing Septimus and his clones, he frowned. The predecessor of Septimus as the owner of a small bakery in Capua and with a spendthrift father did not have much income and consequently did not have good clothes to wear; his clones also had simple clothing made of linen that slaves commonly wore.
As the middle-aged man approached, he spoke directly.
"My name is Gaius Ofellius Rufus, I am the lanista of this gladiator ludus, what is your offer, young man?" said the middle-aged man 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 as he approached and saw a young man of 16 or 17 years old with simple clothing accompanied by 3 young slaves, he lost interest.
"My name is Septimus Novius and I come to propose you an offer," said Septimus seriously.
"These three men at my side 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 a bit of interest.
"They have no combat experience, but they learn quickly," replied Septimus.
Gaius frowned.
"Young man, gladiator combat is not a game; training a novice to be a gladiator will take six to nine months to be ready for the arena, do not make me waste my time," said Gaius with impatience as he walked away.
Seeing the lanista about to leave, Septimus thought of a solution quickly.
"Wait," said Septimus suddenly.
"I can offer two volunteers every week until reaching 30, and pay for their monthly food," said Septimus with a serious expression.
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 lost nothing even if all of them died in the arena.
"Alright, I accept; the monthly food of a gladiator is 10 denarii, if you return next week with volunteers you can inform the guards directly and leave the money to them," replied Gaius as he turned around to leave.
"Wait, before that I want to clarify that they are volunteers, they are not slaves nor can they be treated as slaves or the deal is canceled," clarified Septimus seriously.
Gaius looked at the young man in front of him with amusement; his words seemed amusing to him, although they were volunteers they were foreigners, if he took them as slaves there was nothing this young man could do once inside the ludus.
Even so, Gaius nodded to the young man in front of him; he lost nothing with the deal and obtained a small profit.
"Alright, young Septimus, I will provide the same treatment as a gladiator in training to these volunteers."
With everything clarified, Gaius together with his slaves and the clones headed to the ludus.
Watching them leave, Septimus sighed.
Septimus could do nothing; he was a modern person, he had to adapt to the cruelty of this era, and the fastest way was to be ruthless with himself.
At first he thought of selling the clones to the ludi as slaves, but the idea of enduring the humiliation of slavery was unbearable.
The second best option was to offer the clones as volunteers to a ludus; although they would still have to endure difficulties, if you want to forge good steel you need to strike the iron many times.
In Republican Rome, some citizens who could not make ends meet, with experience in the army, offered themselves to the ludi as gladiators to earn money, avoiding becoming bandits.
It was rare for foreigners to be volunteers because if the lanista had ulterior motives, offering oneself as a volunteer in a ludus was the same as giving oneself away as a slave for free; Septimus had no other option, each day in this era without the capacity to defend himself stressed him greatly.
Although he could clone himself indefinitely, his clones were weak without the capacity to defend themselves, unable to face even any average thief in Capua. Septimus could only be ruthless with himself and offer his clones as volunteers to a ludus.
Septimus thought coldly, with my cloning ability it would not be a great loss even if the 30 clones die.
On the other hand, as extensions of Septimus's body, if the clones were treated unfairly, as a consequence there would be a bloody revenge against Gaius's ludus and those directly responsible would be cruelly tortured.
Septimus's mind contemplated the idea of leading an army of clones, soldiers experienced in combat, with excitement on his face.