The participants couldn't help but smile once they heard the host. The fifty gold coins alone were enough for them to live without doing anything for a year, and their smiles became wider knowing that there was still something beside the money.
And the crowd gasped upon hearing the rewards; they didn't expect that there would be a weapon included in the first event's prize.
While the representatives knitted their brows. One of their purposes for attending the festival was to win a weapon from the kingdom's treasury, and a dagger made by the current king himself was a part of that.
"Damn it! I should have join earlier," a man from the Heartfall Kingdom stated, expressing his frustration.
"That's absurd; you've got me there," Kreigster said, then he chuckled and shook his head while the king laughed, seeing the crown prince's reaction.
He predicted that the representatives wouldn't join the first event, so he decided to put a weapon in the rewards to spice things up, and like he expected, no one of them joined.
"May I invite our representative from the Bluelion Kingdom to cast a teleportation spell to send our participants inside the grove." Grazielle's voice echoed in the field.
Then a man wearing a magician's robe stood up. He was walking towards the field when the host introduced him.
"I hereby present to you all the man who specializes in space magic, one of the Twelve Pillars of the Magic Tower, the youngest grand mage, Seth Cael Ira," she said.
The crowd gave him a round of applause. Magicians were very rare to see in their kingdom, and now a grand mage was right before their eyes.
The mage didn't ignore the people's cheers; he smiled and waved his hand to them. His hair had a burnt-umber color, and his eyes radiated a brown-orange hue.
"I feel flattered by how you introduced me," Seth commented while smiling, and then a large magic circle appeared beneath all the participants as soon as a grimoire materialized in front of him.
"I wish you all good luck," he said.
Then the magic circle emitted white light, and it vanished along with the participants.
Afterwards, they were shown in the magic crystal. They were teleported inside the grove in that instant, and each of them was sent in different directions away from one another.
"A teleportation magic that's capable of transferring hundreds of people in a second. Magicians are quite scary." Lux uttered before he looked at the giant crystal and searched for Aichelle.
. . . . .
Cinn was done cleaning herself, she stepped outside of the bathroom with only a red towel covering her body. Her white hair was still soaking wet, and a few droplets of water dripped on the floor.
It was tied at the top of her head and a black crescent moon with a key penetrating from its side was tattooed on her nape.
She picked up the clothes that Aichelle had prepared for her. It was a red battle gown that would barely cover her chest and had a slit that would reveal her right thigh when walking.
"Will I attend a duel or a ball?" she asked while shaking her head.
But she still put it on. Then she went into the cabinet and strapped something above her right knee. After combing her hair and putting on her boots, she left the inn.
'Maybe I should've brought my hat,' she thought upon seeing that all eyes were staring at her.
Then she felt bloodlust and based on her perception, it was coming from a man walking several meters from her. She was not intimidated, but she was curious why she had been targeted with such a threatening presence.
She walked into a less busy street to lure the person, but he didn't approach her. Not far from where she stood, she sighted a building with statues of gargoyles near its door.
It was old and full of dust, and it looked like humans didn't like to enter the place, so she decided to confront the man once he followed her inside.
'If you seek the truth, you're in the right place,' she read from the signage hanging on the door.
'Is there still someone believing in this?' she thought before entering.
A few moments later, the man who was tailing her came inside the building. She assaulted him and pinned him on the wall as soon as he entered through the door.
"What do you want?" She asked; her voice was still calm, but her hand was ready to crush the man's neck.
"I'm just wondering why a vampire is walking in broad daylight," the man said. "Especially when she belongs to the vampire's noble bloodline," he added after seeing the crimson-red eyes.
The man was the Kingsword family's patriarch. He was on his way earlier to the festival events when he smelled a vampire in the middle of the streets.
His hatred for beings born in the dark surfaced, and his bloodlust went out of control.
Cinn was about to squeeze Kizeler's neck when a silhouette appeared behind her and spoke.
"If you're going to kill him, can you please do that outside? I don't want my little store to be stained with blood," an old man said.
Cinn turned her head and looked at the owner of the voice.
"A warlock!" she exclaimed, confused.
'First, that strange demon, then this beautiful vampire, and now an old warlock. If I remember correctly, this is not the Forest of Nightmares,' Kizeler thought; he was getting choked, and his hand was already holding the grip of his sword, but he didn't pull it. He wanted to observe for the time being when the warlock stepped closer and smiled.
"Ahhh, a vampire noble, welcome to my humble place," he said while looking straight into Cinn's eyes.
"What is a warlock doing here, owning a store inside a human territory?" She asked.
"Though I embrace the power of darkness, I'm still a human, young lady," the warlock replied. "And I'm already retired; I'm just now an old man waiting for his death." He chuckled at his own words.
"Can you please let go of him? His heart is too pure for him to die at an early age," he asked.
"And can you turn a blind eye regarding our existence? It's the only way for you to walk out here alive," he added after averting his gaze from Cinn to Kizeler.
The man contemplated for seconds; he wasn't sure if he could win against the two of them, and he didn't know the true capabilities of the vampire. So he let go of the sword's hilt and raised his arms to his side.
Cinn did the same thing; he listened to the warlock's words and released Kizeler.
"Thank you," the warlock expressed his gratitude, turned his back, and walked further inside the store.
Kizeler took one last glance at Cinn before leaving, while Cinn remained standing, looking at the old man's back.
"Why are you still here?" The warlock halted his steps and asked without looking back.
"Why did you choose to save him? If not for you asking, I wouldn't let him go," Cinn replied.
"Like I've said, I'm too old to clean up some bloodstains inside this store," he replied.
"Nonsense!" Cinn fretted, then she walked out the door.
The old man sighed before resuming his steps.
"Her temper reminds me of him," he said before he laughed. "A storm is coming."
Then his figure vanished, and so did his voice.
. . . . .
Inside the grove, hundreds of participants were already eliminated; they were those who couldn't control their energy and broke the sword even before engaging in a fight.
The maid looked at the small orb following behind her; it resembled the object that the host held. These orbs could be found scattered inside the grove; they projected the scene happening inside the area onto the large magic crystal.
Aichelle already found three coins and she was surveying her surroundings to find her fourth coin. However, a woman filled with muscles jumped from above, not far away from her. Her hair was shaved, despite her being a woman.
"Hand over your coins!" She yelled while extending her hand.
However, Aichelle stabbed her sword in the air, and a portal materialized. The tip of her sword passed inside the portal, and it appeared in front of the woman, stabbing her arm.
The pain she felt made her let go of her sword, and its blade shattered as soon as it fell to the ground.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed, surprised by what happened.
Aichelle pulled out her sword, then jumped upward the next second. She leaped from a portal that appeared above the woman and gave her a kick on the head.
"Good night," she uttered.
The woman lost consciousness and lied on the ground. Then the maid searched her body, and her eyes shone upon seeing three pieces of coins from the woman's pocket.
"Thank you!" She bowed to the woman before she left to continue searching for coins.
"I need to win those fifty gold coins so that I can buy Mistress a lot of good dresses," she said before humming in joy.
After several minutes of searching, he found another coin. It was placed beneath a tree. She dashed in its direction to pick it up, and when she was about to lean forward. A man appeared at her side and struck his sword, aiming for her head.
Aichelle raised her weapon to block the attack, then the man moved his leg to give her a kick, but a portal took shape at Aichelle's side.
His leg passed through the portal, and he was surprised to see it disappear. He pulled it back as soon as he noticed that the thing was closing.
Then Aichelle pushed his sword away and swept his feet with a kick. He fell to the ground, and when he was about to stand, a sword had been pointed at his neck.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"I have no obligation to answer that," Aichelle replied, then she retracted her sword and spun around, giving the man a kick in the face strong enough to take away his consciousness.
"Have a nice sleep as well," she said, then smiled after seeing that the man had eight coins inside his pocket.
Afterwards, she picked up the other coin, giving her a total of fifteen coins.
. . . . .
Meanwhile, in the open field, the people were silent. They were trying to process the scene that they saw in the object floating above them.
"Are you sure he's not a diamond-class?" Kreigster asked while his focus was on the man shown inside the crystal.
"I am certain, but after seeing that, I'm starting to doubt," the king replied.
Even the other representatives were astonished upon witnessing the man's unique Legacy and his incredible feat.
A ruby-class mercenary singlehandedly defeated a group of ten people with the same rank as him in a matter of time, making him the leading participant with forty coins in hand.
. . . . .