Chapter 176 Recognition

When Princess Ravastine appeared on Kaizen's side, the Arena exploded in excitement once again. Even for Queen Niah and the new Captain of the Royal Guard, Thenomor, who were watching the event from the royal box, this was a huge surprise.

Niah stood up from her throne, slamming both hands hard on the arms of her seat and, with an expression of disbelief, thought:

'But what! Why on earth is she wanting to fight one more time?!'

This was not only astonishing to the Queen, the thousands of people in the stands were also in shock.

"Princess Ravastine is going to fight?"

"It hasn't been long since the last fight, when she almost died to some Taznaar subordinate... Is she going to be okay?"

"I can't tell if that's courage or stupidity."

"A princess participating in an adventurer's duel. I don't think I've ever heard of that."

"Well, with everything at stake in that duel, I can't say that's unbelievable."

Since Kaizen was the one who saved Ravastine from Leohorn's hands, for some people it was not so unimaginable that she would want a rematch after such a vexation, but it was still surprising Kaizen chose her as one of his two allies in a trio duel, since she could not even defeat Leohorn.

Although most were in doubt about Kaizen's decision to accept Ravastine as an ally, thinking that it was too risky to take a princess into a battle with extreme potential mortality, some people with sharper eyes could tell that the current Ravastine was no longer the same as before. This time, when the princess set foot in the arena, her countenance didn't look worried; on the contrary, she was focused.

Thenomor, even from a distance, closed his eyes, staring at the princess. Then he gave a low, indecipherable grunt.

Beside Queen Niah, a woman with brown hair like Ravastine's, but with a, shall we say, more mature beauty, looked at the second princess with the same amazement as her stepmother. This was Lydia Spelloyal, the firstborn of the current King of Tretidian and Ravastine's older sister.

"Not her. She cannot fight in that arena one more time." Desperate, Lidia said to Niah, who immediately tried to disguise her surprise.

"Khum!" The Queen straightened her posture on the throne and picked up her small binoculars. "That's not my problem. I promised her father that I would take care of her until she turns eighteen. So, since she is of age, she is also already more than responsible for her own actions."

"But she could die..." With her voice weak, Lydia almost pleaded.

"And what do you want me to do? You want me to interfere in an official duel between adventurers? It's been a government law for generations not to do that, and if I did that, the people might revolt. Don't forget that your father is still the King and he is ill. If a civil rebellion happened now, we would be in big trouble."

Nevertheless, Niah was right. Preventing a duel from happening or even someone chosen by a competitor from participating would generate enormous outrage, however understandable such a decision might be.

Seeing her little sister enter the arena to fight Taznaar tightened Lydia's heart and made her apprehensive.

'My sister, I was wrong when I chose to avoid you. I thought that by doing so you would think me not worth such an effort, but even when I hid from you in the palace halls and rejected your constant visits to my room, you still chose to try to help me.' Lydia thought with a racing heart.

The firstborn was with both hands on her chest, holding the gold necklace that bore the only picture of her late mother.

'Somehow, you noticed my silent grief and it was probably that kind heart of yours that motivated you to be here today... I hope you will be well and come back to me, Ravastine.'

The Queen looked at Lydia out of the corners of her eyes and smiled. 'Humph. If Ravastine dies today, at least you will have someone to put the blame on. Kaizen, an interesting individual, no doubt, but too foolish to think Ravastine is ready for it."

Lidia's gaze inevitably rested on Kaizen. This was the first time she had seen this famous masked man in person. Still, she could tell that Kaizen did not intend to let any of his allies die by the way he was putting himself in front of both of them.

"No, if my sister dies today. It won't be Kaizen's fault, it will be Taznaar's fault." She muttered, directing her gaze to the opposite side of the arena, where a barred gate was opening.

Just after the elation in the audience over Kaizen's entrance subsided a bit, three more people entered the Arena.

One of these people was a very large man, with very broad shoulders and even larger arms. The appearance of this man made many players in the crowd stunned. This man was none other than Ricroar, a very famous player, but one who was rarely seen and who, as a result, not even Kaizen knew.

Ricroar had white hair, light skin, wore a completely white suit from tie to shoes, and the most important fact about his appearance was his pointed ears.

On Ricroar's left side was a man. This one was easily recognized by Kaizen, after all Taznaar was unmistakable.

The most influential male player in the Tretidian Kingdom had red hair, his eyes were purple, and he was wearing a gray military overcoat, whose sleeves only went to his elbows. At chest height, the buttons of the overcoat were open, and even the high collar of this garment could not hide that he was wearing a strange black necklace, which went up from his neck to his left ear, where there was a black skull covering his ear.

With his left hand in a pocket of his pants, Taznaar smiled and waved to the audience, feeling great. His sure smile was irritating to Ravastine.

Following the same gender pattern as Kaizen's group, Taznaar's second partner was also a woman.

This woman had caramel-colored hair and wore a military uniform of red tunic and white pants. Her expression was that of a complete idiot, not even appearing to know where she was, but the fact that she was carrying a musket surprised the Psyker.

As the two trios approached the center of the gigantic arena, Kaizen was in the vanguard of his group, and Taznaar was in the vanguard of his.

When Kaizen and Taznaar finally stood in front of each other, the entire crowd in the stands became quiet. You could feel the tension between them.

The red-haired boy was about to mock someone with his carefree smile, but Kaizen spoke first.

"So you came this time... I thought you would be scared like before and send some subordinate in your place."

Taznaar's brow wrinkled. "Afraid? Of you or your friends?" He pointed at Jayaa and Ravastine as he was on the verge of laughing.

"I'm talking about your fear of defeat. You are someone so self-centered that you dare not fight a battle where you see the slightest possibility of losing... You knew that Ravastine had a plan to defeat you in the solo duel between you and you didn't know what that plan was, so you sent Leohorn, thus ending her strategy."

Throughout the stands, people began to whisper, creating an atrocious babble for Taznaar.

For the first time in her life, some people began to look at him with contempt, others with disgust, and a few were lost, not knowing if they believed Kaizen. Even the players, who respected Taznaar, were wary of him now. Simple words and short sentences had put his vast influence in check.

Was Taznaar really a figure supported by such a weak pillar? Was the secret to his strength really to ensure his victory using trickery?

For Kaizen, choosing to fight only in situations extremely favorable to victory had nothing wrong with it. However, this is not what one would expect from the second strongest adventurer in Tretidian, behind only the Bloody Lily. Taznaar was a figure of raw power, not political power.

This distrust of the public was what Kaizen hoped to get from speaking speculation on a pyphic and speculative basis. And the reason he did this was because Taznaar had the advantage a few seconds ago, precisely because he was fighting in his city, where everyone knows him and cheers for him. Now this scenario had changed, at least a little.

Taznaar gritted his teeth like a beast about to pounce, and orange flames began to be released from his skin and hair.

'As I thought, his emotions are unprepared.' Kaizen analyzed, seriously.

The timer on the system hovering over the Arena was still ticking 60 seconds to start the fight, but Taznaar was about to advance uncontrollably against Kaizen, ignoring the standard preparation time.

Taznaar took a step forward and the high temperature of his foot made him sink a little into the ground, burning the grains of earth he stepped on.

The hatred with which he was looking at Kaizen chilled every last hair of Jayaa, who was trying his best to keep his posture as Kaizen asked.

Just as Taznaar was about to take a next step and extend his left hand in the direction of the opposing trio, Ricroar put a hand on his shoulder and said:

"If you do that, I will kill you. Don't embarrass me."

Ricroar's voice was thick and from his tone of voice this was no empty threat. The heavy hand of the man in the white suit on his shoulder, as well as the impressiveness of it created by his size, made Taznaar wake up quickly from his impulse of hatred.

Taznaar threw Ricroar's hand aside, turned his back on Kaizen without looking him in the eye, and began walking back to his team's starting point.

"I'm going to make your life a living hell, you bastard." Taznaar swore.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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