Chapter 176 - Duel

Nick nodded since what wesley said made sense while also making note of the belios family for future reference. "are all events like this so boring? I'm not certain that i could stand many of them if so." nick said to wesley who laughed. "of course not ,so far this has only been the time of the party where people make connections , once the king makes his speech there will be a time for the younger generation to duel." wesley explained honestly. "that's good i suppose though i am curious as to when the king will make his speech." nick replied. wesley thought for a moment "I'd reckon that in another hour the king ought to make his announcement." wesley said before excusing himself. nick began to drift threw the room from noble to noble ingratiating himself with the higher up of the kingdom or rather that's what nick had hoped was occurring since in truth the nobles who he was leaving an impression on seems to be mostly the women. nick cursed himself for his vanity when choosing a disguise since it was obviously working against him at the moment.

After an hour of nick trying to make nice a knight in ornate armor yelled out silencing the low din in the room. "his majesty sir elric malbrook who like to impart his words upon you!" the knight yelled loudly. from behind the knight a average sized man walked up "thank you for your help sir nick." he said to the knight who bowed and moved out of the way. the man in question was of course the king who was a middle aged man that had black hair that was starting to turn grey and plain grey eyes that gleamed with wisdom. the wasn't particularly eye catching however not a single person in the room could look away from him as just his mere presence demanded no less. even nick was amazed at the kings bearing as it seemed to draw a sort of respect from deep in his bloodline that acknowledged another king. "friends i stand before you now at my own fiftieth birthday party to announce that in one years time i will abdicate the throne to whomever is chosen to replace myself and so i officially sanction the start of the kingship trials!" the king says loudly without yelling but everyone present heard his words.

Everybody in the room made a large space in the middle of the room before the same ornately dressed knight from before walked into the middle of the empty space while the king sat at the sidelines comfortably watching. "ladies and gentlemen we have come to the part of the evening where the new generation will compete to discover who their competition is before the tournament in six months to decide the final victor!" he said loudly. everyone looked excited and the younger generation all moved closer to the clearing nick included. the knight swaggered around the clearing like an expert hype man "which pair of young warriors will step forth ?" the knight questioned the crowd. nick walked out of the crowd and into the clearing "i will."