We won! We actually won the entire tournament! Well, not the entire one, there are the two other categories so... I mean, I'm not too excited about that or anything either... okay, no, I am. I don't actually know what the reward for winning is, but it has to be something amazing! Yeah! Totally.
Eh, so, things kinda didn't go as I planned. My strategy worked at first, but then he broke out of the ice spell I made around him. Maybe I should have risked him dodging it and did the chant... but, things worked out fine! Ashin and Theca came out of pretty much nowhere, and then Theca wrapped him up with some threads he apparently left all across the floor before. His Thread Manipulation skill is seriously way stronger than I thought it was. Before, I thought it just could make threads move and stuff, but apparently, he can change the size of the threads after he's already made them! So, during the events of the entire tournament, he spread out a ton of threads across the area, of which were thin enough not to be seen.
Moving on, since he was tied up, he wasn't able to get out, and that lead to Ashin tackling him and then us winning. Basically, we won because Ashin and Theca were able to break through the ice wall. I'm assuming Theca melted some of the ice in a particularly weak point, and then Ashin broke through with brute force!
Oh, but, I could have totally won if they didn't help! I was doing perfectly fine, I'll tell you. Even if I'm completely out of mana... that doesn't matter!
Right, right! I learned a new trick, too! Since Yuu somehow gained a new skill that allowed him to detect airflow and stuff, which was totally unfair, by the way, I realized that I could like hide that stuff using Gust! If I use Gust at the just-right strength, I could make it like the air around me never even moved! My body would still displace some air, so I couldn't completely hide my presence. Although, he should have still been able to track me using Mana Sense... maybe I accidentally did something to that, too.
Anyway, pretty genius, right? I know, I know! I'm just that smart! I bet there's simply nobody as intelligent as me! One hundred percent!
Okay, so, moving away from all of that, we're completely away from the arena colosseum place thing now. Where are we now? Well, the king's castle! Eh... why are we here? I have literally no idea. Some guard guys people just lead us here, but I'm guessing it has something to do with our reward!
Well, we're right outside of it. Geez... I saw it before from above, but it's seriously insanely big! Like, all by its self, just the castle alone takes up like fifteen percent of the entire capital! Well, the area also apparently serves as a place to train the army and guards, so, it sorta makes sense...
Well, the knights switched out, and now we're being lead even further into the castle by these different people. Hm... they seemed to be higher up in the food chain! Well, metaphorically speaking. They had better armour and weapons which covered their entire body.
We all followed them through the halls and stuff of the castle, further and further inside. I've gotta say, the castle was pretty glamorous on the inside! Is that the right word? Well, you know, fancy and stuff! Doesn't completely suit my tastes... but I don't dislike it.
Eventually, we reached a large room. A throne room, of sorts! Well, not of sorts, it was. In the far back corner was a large throne, of which was sat upon by a man. A large man, and by large, I mean tall! Like, over six feet at least. He had a beard, a long white one. Along with that, he wore these super fancy robes and stuff. His face was wrinkled, showing how old he really was. He sat there with a smile on his face, looking at us... no, wait, more specifically, he's sorta looking directly at me, isn't he? That's creepy, who even is this guy?
Huh? And now everyone is kneeling... wait, hold up, is this guy the king or something? Oh, shoot! I should probably kneel too, the knight guys might get mad at me.
"Ahem, you are in the presence of his majesty, ruler of the great kingdom of Draila, Great King Mugra Fitri Draila! Kneel, or be punished!" One of the knights standing close to the old man yelled out, maybe more at me...
Uh oh, I was right. Look, this isn't my fault! He didn't even give me enough time to kneel! Oh, right, I should probably, you know, do that.
Before I could even make the action to kneel down to this king guy, he himself spoke, "Oh, please. I thank you, Fierce, for you hard work and dedication, but these are the winners of the lower category of the tournament. They deserve a certain amount of respect, no? So, for now, do treat them as if they are my equal."
The king spoke in this really gentle tone, calm, kind... whoa, he seems like a pretty cool guy, just from the looks of it! I was sorta expecting him to be this egotistical rude guy that yells out 'I deserve to be respected!' and then execute me or something! But, Draila is a pretty successful nation, so I guess it makes sense that its ruler is a good guy.
"Ah-- are you sure, your majesty? Oh, no. excuse my rudeness, I should not question you." The knight, who I'm guessing is named 'Fierce', now pacified, bowed his head slightly toward the king.
"No, no. You have the right to question me, Fierce. After all," He looked back at all of us, "a king is only a king because of his people. Without you knights, the nobility, artisans, farmers, adventures, all the citizens of Draila, I would be no king, only a fool with a dream."
Oh, hey, that's actually a pretty interesting view he has! I think I'm starting to like this king, he's earned my respect!
The knight simply nodded in response, looking back to all of us as well.
With that, the other four decided to stand up, seeing how King Mugra gave them permission too. Well, I, with my genius foresight, already knew this was going to happen! Which is why I didn't kneel, totally not because I didn't know he was the king or anything, totally not.
"Ah, allow me to get to the point. You five were the victors of this year's tournament, as such, you deserve a reward I give to all that prove victorious. Each of you can ask one request of me. Should it be money, a noble title, maybe you desire a position as a knight? Perhaps you even want knowledge, my royal library is sure to have anything you desire. I shall grant anything to you, should it be in my power, of course." He chuckled slightly at his final words, his smile growing wider as he stared us down.
Wait, seriously? I expected something good, but this is above good, this is fantastic! Anything, I could seriously ask for anything?
Hm... but, what do I want, really?
[Chapter 45, end.]