Third person POV
"So, any of you had a scheduled fight for today?" Robert asked them.
"I do, at 9 this morning," Peter answered.
Then, he pulled out a piece of paper and placed it on the table.
"This is the current schedule of fights for today," he said to them.
In response, the rest looked at it, reading the names of the participants and when those fights will take place.
"My fight will be scheduled at 11:15 this morning?" Emma asked.
"Mine is at 10:30 a.m.," Harold commented.
"Mine is at 1:20 p.m.," Robert added.
"Yes, and we can do our best, guys," Peter said to them.
They then nodded with agreement.
At that point, Robert thought, "It doesn't matter if I win or not, as long as I enjoy it."
Meanwhile, at the council building in the center of the city, Takashi, Sol and the entire General Council are having an early, emergency meeting regarding the assassination plot by Vanworth.
"So, we should put guards around the capital wall just in case those assassins would come and kill Harold?" one of the members asked.
"Not just that," Takashi responded back. "We should also put guards around the plaza arena as well for the entire tournament period."
But another member objected, "But that'll cost us our available city guards!"
"Hey, it's an assassination plot, so it might happen at any time," Sol responded to this. "What do you expect that to be?"
Because of Sol's logical question, that member became silent, feeling bad of what he had said.
After that, Sol continued on, "As I was saying, those guards supposed to be equipped with katanas and crossbows and had good martial art skills."
"You mean, our best ones?" Takashi asked.
"Yes, and we can provide medical assistance in the form of nurses and healers just in case anyone gets injured," Sol replied.
The majority agreed with that part of the plan.
"That's because...," Sol continued on while his head is tilted downward and his fingers crossed.
He then rose his head and looked at them while continuing on, "...Harold is my student, and it's my duty as a headmaster and teacher to protect my students."
Takashi and the entire General Council looked at his seriousness of his duties. They really agreed with him.
Meanwhile, south of the capital, at an estate guarded by stone walls, Arnold, Sevan, and their group were in a negotiation with an old sage named Zaiaku and his students, who were assassin ninjas. That was a notorious assassin clan known as the Akuma Clan. And Zaiaku himself is an assassin nicknamed Dark Blade. And in that negotiation, Arnold gave a medium-sized bag of gold coins as an exchange for the clan's alliance with them for Harold's assassination.
Eventually, Zaiaku accepted and shook hands with Arnold.
Sevan, who can't stand it anymore, decided to warn the shogun about this.
But he'll do that in the right time.
Back at the palace estate, after breakfast, Robert and his party dressed up, this time differently, and went to the tournament with their weapons. Harold, however, was still anxious about the assassination plot, but he'll just watch out for it.