Arriving at the fighting competition, Lander told Yan Yan and Grey to wait at the very back of the buzzling crowd surrounding a three feet high oval platform. On the platform were two men, both of them were holding swords.
Lander watched as one of the men hacked and slashed his way against his opponent. He noticed the sword of the man slashing and emitting an icy chill while his opponent radiated fire. They were both on equal grounds and Lander watched with awe and interest. He wanted to learn this magic, "So this is magic?"
While Lander was attentively watching, a young man pushed him as he made his way through. "Don't you dare block my path!"
"Ah it is Young Master Brokko, please go ahead," The crowd suddenly oppened a path upon learning the man's identity.
Lander hated that kind of guy, using his background to do the things he wanted and looking down on people. He noticed a bag of coins hanging from the man's waist and he wanted to take advantage of the situation. As a man who became a thief at a young age, he wanted that man to taste his medicine so Lander pushed his way forward and with his agile movements, he was able to steal the money from the man that they called Young Master Brokko.
Stealing the money, he grabbed all the coins, pocketed two and threw the bag as he made his way towards Yan Yan and Grey, "Yan Yan take this money and wait for me here. Do not show it to the people around you."
Lander went back near the platform and watched until the fight was over. The winner was the man with a sword radiating fire. The audience cheered, "Who else wants to fight me?"
The winner arrogantly challenged as he used his sword to point around the audience. Lander then decided to try and fight against this sword user. It made him excited after watching the fight, "Let me!"
Lander shouted and raised his hand as the people around him opened a path. Some praised him for his confidence, some scorned him for batlling the sword user and the others were purposely pushing him infront.
"What kind of clothes is he wearing? He looks funny!" The crowd murmured and laughed as they gazed at him. Obviously, most of the crowds were wearing robes and some wore like the Spartan's outfit.
As he was about to go up the platform, "YOU! It's you? You are that bastard!"
"Shing, do you know him?" The bald man beside him asked.
"He's that bastard who tied me up! He's an outcast!" the elder named Shing agitatedly shouted.
"An outcast tied you up? How weak could you be?" A man from the crowd questioned as he laughed. And the others also laughed at him.
Knowing that his identity as an outcast was revealed, Lander removed the cloth covering his hand and showed it to the people around him and pointed at the perverted elder named Shing "So what if I'm an outcast? I was able to tie you up without magic so I have the capabilities."
"Arrogant!" Some people blurted out.
"Insolence! How dare an outcast talk back to us?" The Young Master Brokko shouted.
"What? You want to fight against me?" Lander challenged with pride.
"You!" Young Master Brokko and the crowds was infuriated.
"Just words from an outcast made you all infuriated?" A loud voice came from the back of the crowd.
"Who the hell.. Pardon my ignorance Great Baron Bobby," Young Master Brokko shrunk his arrogance as he saw the man who just spoke.
Great Baron Bobby stared at Lander and nodded at him. Lander also nodded back and went up the stage. Seeing how the Great Baron Bobby was acting, the people around became respectful and began evaluating Lander.
Before starting the fight, one man who was acting like a referee asked Lander, "Do you know the rules?"
"Please enlighten me," Lander said.
"There are three rules of this competition. The first one, death will never be allowed and anyone who caused the death of any participants will be imprisoned for ten years. The second, if you won you can challenge anyone from the crowd. And the third rule, you can only move out from the platform after winning three fights consecutively or if you lose. We can only know that the participant lost if they surrendered, was thrown out of the platform or if they were knocked unconscious," The acting as the referee told him.
"Excuse me elder, but can I add another rule?" Lander asked respectfully.
The man looked at Great Baron Bobby and when he saw him nodding, "State you're rule."
"Betting." Lander casually said.
Upon hearing his words, the crowds clamoured. Although they knew about betting, the fighting platform was only an entertainment and a place to prove strentgh. The acting referee looked at Great Baron Bobby again as he doesn't know how to proceed.
"Interesting! Let's do as you say." The Great Baron Bobby smiled. And some of the audience got their interest peaked.
Lander smiled and took out the two coins he pocketed. It was two bronze of coins. "So I'll bet two bronze coins if I win, who will bet against me?"
All the crowd raised their hands as they shouted, "ME!"
"But how can you pay us if you lost? There are a lot of us." One of the crowds shouted.
'Damn it! It actually backfired on me. I'm sure that I can win but these people really wanted to bet against me. So I guess I have to bet against one." Lander thought for a while.
"Well, since that case I can only choose one to bet with." Lander said.
"How about I'll bet with all of you?" Great Baron Bobby said as he was still smiling.
"Great Baron, you are ctually betting on him?" Young Master Brokko said while pointing at Lander.
"Why not? Don't be shy, it's only a couple of bronzes." Great Baron Bobby said.
"Since you said so," Young Master Brokko said as he took out money but then he realized that his bag of money was gone.
"Who stole my bag of money?" He looked at the crowd angrily not daring to shout as the Great Baron was among the crowd. He suppressed his anger and borrowed money from one of the crowd.
"Then I'll bet with you perverted elder Shing," Lander pointed at elder Shing smiling.
Elder Shing was obviously angry about his past with Lander and his anger grew once more now that he's provoking him, "FINE!"
"How about you sire? You want to bet?" Lander asked his opponent and acted as he was about to take money from his pocket.
"Five bronzes! You'll pay after the fight" his opponent nonchalantly said.
"Great! Then it's settled." Lander smiled.
"Let the match begin," the acting referee announced as he went off the platform.
"Hmmph! An ignorant outcast wanted to challenge me," the sword user said as he slashed his word and it began radiating fire.
The sword user went straightly forward and hacked Lander. Lander with his agile movements dodged to the left. He was used fighting against people who use knives but it was different when facing a sword user. Still, he fought his way through by dodging and never let the sword or it's radiating fire hit him.
The sword user stabbed Lander, but Lander dodged it and kicked the man's hand making him drop the sword. Then Lander grabbed the hand of the sword user, kicked his belly and used his hand to hit the back of his neck making him unconscious.
And the sword user dropped on the ground. The crowd became silent when they saw the scene - dumbfounded.