Victor Shieldman's proclamation of a duel echoed throughout the throne room.
At the same time, the sound of approaching troops resounded louder and louder through the corridors. Defense reinforcements were arriving at the throne room, so Victor was surely already surrounded. So the duel seemed more like a pretext for him to escape certain death than an original plan, after all, an invader would never be forgiven in normal situations, but with a duel there was a chance.
Councillor Steegar didn't seem surprised or insulted by the challenge. He just took a deep breath in the face of the uneasy silence in the room and said:
"It's absurdly impressive how far a madman can go when motivated." He massaged the ends of his gray beard with his right hand and then spoke to the duke: "Your Grace, I'm sorry you have to put up with this. It was my responsibility to take care of matters relating to Miriam's murder, but I failed to assume that everything would be calm until at least tomorrow morning. When this man is killed by the guards, I'll make sure that his daughter can say goodbye to the body before the cremation and..."
At that moment, Duke Olyno raised one of his hands, practically ordering the counselor to stop talking.
Steegar was stunned and looked at the blond-haired young man with astonishment.
"To be killed by the guards...? That man just challenged you, Steegar," said Olyno with a smile, still staring at Victor. "You think he explained the universal law of dueling earlier for what reason? Do you think he really had time to waste on that? He wanted to make it clear that it would be a stain on my honor, as duke, to ask one of my guards to kill this man after he asked for a duel."
"But, Your Grace..."
"Steegar, when a challenge is proclaimed to a real man, all he has to do is accept the challenge or willingly accept the conditions the challenger is demanding. Nothing more." said Olyno, looking a little impatient now.
So Victor finally realized why this young duke had a bad reputation. He was a bit overbearing with his ideals and not at all easy to convince when determined, because he had the soul of a classic warrior.
So Steegar was left with no other options. He took a step forward, raised his head, looked into Victor's eyes and, with his right hand on his chest, spoke:
"I accept your challenge to a duel, Hunter Victor Shieldman. However, I am not a warrior, so I will exercise my right to choose a champion and I choose Ardann, Commander of the Duke's Personal Guard." Steegar pointed to a man in the center of the bow-shaped vanguard, who were all pointing their spears at Victor.
"Very well, then Ardann will be Steegar's champion." Olyno said. "Now, old man, I must assume that you will be the one to fight, right? Because the champion must be appointed within a minute and still agree to the duel, and I don't see anyone here but you willing to do that."
Victor lowered his sword and nodded as he looked at Ardann. "Yes, I'll be my own champion."
Olyno nodded and continued to look at Victor with his cold steel blue eyes and a smile at the corner of his mouth. His posture, however, was firm, as if he was aware that every word that left his lips were words of power.
Soon, the throne room was even more crowded than before, but the soldiers arriving as reinforcements could do nothing against Victor. That's why, while the preparations were being made, the voices of the soldiers of the personal guard mingled in whispers with those of the soldiers of the reinforcements who had arrived, explaining the situation.
Ardann, the commander of the guard, was a tall man with a stern look. His light brown hair fell in neat waves down to his shoulders, and his brown eyes seemed to assess Victor with military precision. He had accepted the role of Steegar's champion with seriousness and was waiting for them to bring him his sword.
To everyone's surprise, Victor was the one who seemed calmest in the whole room, which was more than anyone expected from someone who was completely surrounded by enemies and was about to face the most skilled soldier in the entire city of Kozáni.
Olyno watched all this with great interest. It was genuinely like entertainment for him.
Victor paid close attention to Olyno and realized that the boy didn't seem like the kind of man who would interfere in a duel when he saw that one of his own was going to lose. On the contrary, he even threw a gold coin in the direction of some guards who were collecting bets. Obviously, he bet on Ardann.
When Ardann's sword finally arrived, Olyno raised a hand again to silence any conversation that might disturb the imminent duel, and everyone stopped talking.
Ardann took the handle of the sword in one hand and began to draw with the other. As the sword was drawn, he looked at his own reflection in its blade and said:
"Invader, know that this is the sword my late father gave me when I became a soldier. He told me that because I had become a duke's soldier, I would have to fight long battles at some point."
The golden pommel and blade were remarkably sturdy. It looked like the kind of sword forged to withstand a war that could last for years and still need no more repairs than sharpening.
"However, my father was wrong. In twenty years of service, I've never had to use this sword in a war or a long siege. Still, my father's blacksmithing skills have been proven, for in all these years, even though it was responsible for ending the lives of many men on behalf of Duke Olyno and his father, not a single blacksmith has touched it, not even my father." Ardann raised the sword, pointing it upwards and, as he turned it back towards his father, he said, "Then know that you won't be the first man who has threatened the duke's peace to die for this weapon, and you'll be the last too!"
Victor looked at the sword and chose not to say, because at that moment he knew that Ardann had no chance against him, after all, a warrior who boasted about his weapon rather than his skills was nothing more than a fool.
So Victor extended his sword forward as well, showing that he was perfectly ready for the duel to begin.