“Jurot, aren’t I strong?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” Jurot replied.

Adam slowly nodded his head. He checked his payment, and realised it was more than he expected, considering his showing up to that point. ‘Yeah, he was pretty strong, I guess…’

The next day, Jurot and the other Iyrmen dealt with their opponents with relative ease. Adam continued to bet, wanting to make as much free money as he could while in the tournament. He no longer felt any gold troubles, and was glad for it.

‘My weapons have probably auctioned off by this month? How much have they made me?’

Once the fifth fights were dealt with, the next two days were exhibitions to show off the prowess of various warriors and the great magics some possessed. The military, the priests, and even the various orders put on a show for the crowd, taking donations as they advertised themselves, inspiring the people with their shows.

Adam didn’t spend much time at the arena during the weekend, though allowed his group to watch as much as they wanted, using the party fund to pay for them. Instead, Adam spent time with Vonda, exploring the market, which seemed as lively as ever.

“What?” Adam asked once they were back at the guild, with his group currently relaxing together with drink and food.

“The Grand Master of the Order of the Thousand Hunts is a Paragon,” Jurot repeated. “He has revealed his ability to use Fourth Gate spells during the exhibitions today.”

“Oh,” Adam replied. “Nice.” ‘I guess that’s pretty big news then?’ Adam thought, though he couldn’t quite understand how big it was considering he was certain the Iyr had far more Paragons than Aldland.

“He can now match King Merryweather,” Jurot said, seeing how lost Adam was.

“Oh,” Adam replied, before his eyes flashed with even more surprise. “Oh! Wow. Yeah, I forgot about that.”

“Their bout would be too close to tell, but King Merryweather would have the slightest edge.”

“That sounds like pretty big news, then.”

“The city will speak of it for some time.”

“Are there any other Paragons who are Grand Masters?”

“There are two which are confirmed,” Jurot stated. “The Order of Wings, and the Order of Three Hundred Blades each have Paragons.”

“Why would they not want to reveal it?”

“There are many reasons to hide one’s strength.”

Adam noted the look in Jurot’s eyes, before bowing his head slowly.

“The Order of the Thousand Hunts has closed its gates,” Jurot said. “It is an order within the south, which is rebelling. They have decided to remain neutral, though some warriors, who had been sent outside before the war began, have chosen to fight for King Blackwater.”

“So they’re not neutral?”

Jurot slowly nodded. “The Grand Master remains within East Port. His presence will deter any skirmishes from approaching too close to the city or the coast. Aswadasad has chosen against sending any ships near the area since the tournament is ongoing, but once the tournament passes, and duskval approaches, they may think to send their navy.”

“Aswadasad? Ah! They’re fighting their civil war and Aldland at the same time, aren’t they?”

“Yes.”

“I wonder how the war is going…” Adam glanced around, before recalling Dunes wasn’t around. ‘Oh, right.’

“Prices have begun to increase in East Port,” Jurot said. “Trade has decreased, and though Central Aswadasad deals with much of the food supply, East Port still needs to send some supplies southward.”

“I heard the war was going to end before the year ends.”

“It will,” Jurot said, with the certainty of an Iyrman’s truth. “It will be too costly for all sides to continue the war. Neither side will be able to make any significant gains. Even Aswadasad’s borders have been drawn, with Aswabayad, the name of the eastern shendom, taking much of the northern forests, and has expanded itself southward towards what was once South Aswadasad, but is now an ejirate.”

“How long ago did the borders shift like this in the regions?”

“Aldland has rarely changed borders, save for it expanding further north, it has remained a unified kingdom. There were various calamities, plagues and great invaders, which had temporarily changed its borders for no more than a year at a time. Aswadasad, too, was similar, though it had lost much of its eastern territories during a terrible betrayal of family. However, Aswadasad is recognisable today as it was during the formation of Aldland.”

“Two thousand years?”

“Yes. Aswadasad grew much larger, expanding to cover most of the confederacy, but that lasted no more than a couple of generations, and its currently borders have remained near constant since.”

“Damn,” Adam whispered. ‘Cool.’ “Oh, Flaming Hyena, Rook, he was from Aswadasad wasn’t he?”

“He is from the Confederacy,” Jurot stated. “The Golden Savages follow particular oaths, drawn from many of the mercenary groups which are active in the east. The region has a long history of mercenaries which follow such a path, and there have been many Mercenary Kings, though the title now holds less weight after the Confederacy of the Seventeen United Free Ejirates of the People of Many Bloods and One Tribe.”

“The what?”

“It is the full title of the Confederacy.”

“Oh…” Adam couldn’t recall any of the title. “What’s so special about them anyhow?”

“It is a great place,” Jurot stated. “The land was split by neither family, or people, but by the terrain.”

“The terrain?”

Jurot nodded. “Even the Western Confederacy, which was once a single state, split among its terrain. It had held the most influence, and gave it away, in the same way other states had, in order to form the Confederacy. It still holds the most sway over the western states, as they were all once part of Aswadasad, and share many of its beliefs and culture. The largest state still dominates, since it must do so.”

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“Why?”

“Aswadabayad borders it, and it has held bad blood with the region for a long while. Once, the land was ruled by a great Faro, whose renown was probably as great as any Shen’s, though he was lorded over by the greatest Shen in history. The Shen of Shens, they titled him. The Faro was in charge of the western region during the beginning of the decline of the great empire. Once he passed, the territory was split between two brothers.”

“Ah,” Adam said.

“One brother killed the other. The child of the dead brother lived on to fight, and fought his uncle. He was killed too. His descendants eventually managed to deal with the family which had betrayed them, and though there have been many changes of land since, it never lasted long. The current borders have remained since the Confederacy was formed.”

“Damn,” Adam whispered. ‘I should go to the Confederacy.’

“The Bloody River makes the current border,” Jurot said. “Aswabayad will surely wish to reclaim the eastern portion of the Confederacy, for it was once the, now, Shen of Aswabayad’s territory. However, it will be difficult to regain the territory when even when the Shendom was whole, it did not wish to war with the Confederacy.”

“Damn,” Adam whispered.

“The road network in the western most ejirate of the Confederacy is the greatest.”

“It’s roads?”

“They call the roads the Web of Azhar, after the name of the Faro who started the project to connect the various settlements of the hills together,” Jurot said. “The only roads which match the ejirate is the neighbouring ejirate, which was also part of Azhar’s domain.”

Adam whistled. “Damn. That sounds so cool. So is Rook from that particular ejirate?”

“He is most likely from one of the various tribe states. They are those who refused to join the Confederacy, and are considered neutral territories, though some are antagonistic towards nearby regions. However, they are costly to deal with due to the fact they are typically within the hills, mountains, or the deserts. There are also greater threats to the Confederacy.”

Adam leaned in slightly. “Greater threats?”

“There are fifteen Dragons which are antagonist towards the Confederacy,” Jurot explained.

“Fifteen?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t Lady Shamia say that three of the ejirates had fallen? So that’s more than one per ejirate within the Confedracy.”

Jurot nodded.

“That’s a lot of Dragons which don’t like the Confederacy.”

Jurot nodded again.

“Damn.”

“Rook must come from one of the various tribe states or free states, many of which provide great warriors as mercenaries,” Jurot explained. “Many are neutral, and provide warriors for various resources. Even the states which are antagonistic provide warriors to other ejirates. It is often a sore spot for the ejirates which border such tribe states.”

“Yeah, that would sound annoying.”

“The Golden Savages come from one of the many mercenary groups of the tribe or free states. They are a group of six who are firmly Experts.”

‘Between Experts and Masters? So about Level 7 then?’ “They’re more experienced than I am, then.”

Jurot watched as Adam thought. He was unsure of what Adam meant by that, certain that Adam was more experienced than them.

Since they had finished five fights, the preliminaries were over. Those who hadn’t gained enough points were cut off from the second stage of the tournament. The groups were also shuffled so it was unlikely for someone to face the same person again.

Though Adam had defeated Blade and Rook, the pair had managed to enter the second stage of the tournament, as well as the other undefeated warriors, which included the likes of Sir Roseia, Sir Karra, and Vasera.

Though Jaygak had the opportunity to continue fighting, she dropped out of the tournament, not wishing to face against any of her companions. Kitool, Timojin, Amokan, and Jurot all had passed, and each held the title of Undefeated. There were still many warriors to fight, but the people of East Aldland made note of how many Iyrmen had passed through. Each of the Iyrmen youth had also managed to gain the title of Undefeated, and so had Nobby.

As the days passed, the fights almost seemed like repeats of previous fights. Adam beat his opponents with relative ease, still betting large sums on himself and the others. There were three fights this time, the points adding to the previous round’s points, in order to find the best of each segment.

There was also an important event he needed to deal with.

“Happy birthday, Dunes,” Adam said, casting his Sending spell, which allowed him to sent a short message to anyone he knew.

Dunes glanced around in the morning, before looking to Korin. Then he realised what had happened. “Thank you, Adam. I wish you the best of luck in the tournament.”

Adam wondered if he should tell Dunes he was about to place in the top four, but there was something else he needed to deal with which was more important.

“Happy birthday, Taygak,” Adam said, casting the spell a second time on the same day.

Taygak, who was currently in the middle of exercising, stopped, glancing around. Kaygak threw a look to her daughter.

“Thank you, Cousin Adam,” Taygak replied.

Kaygak blinked. “Taygak?”

“Cousin Adam, speaking,” Taygak said, tapping her head.

‘What?’ Kaygak thought, before taking Taygak to go see Elder Zijin.

Meanwhile, the young Iyrmen prepared themselves for their last fights. Due to the fact all of them had managed to reach the higher stage, some of them had begun to face one another.

Nobby faced against Nirot first. It was a fight between two people who knew the Rot family’s way. The hugely built Nobby managed to force Nirot back almost immediately. Even with Nobby attacking wildly, Nirot found that Nobby was much harder to hit than even Jurot. Nobby, somehow, was not only as strong as Timojin, he was almost as nimble as Kitool, and he was tougher than any of the monstrous Rage Dancers that were Adam’s compatriots.

Nirot’s heart pounding heavily, and her lips almost formed a wild grin as she faced the monster known as Nobby. Thanks to her rage, she lasted longer than anyone who had faced Nobby thus far, but she was eventually whittled down, like Jurot’s wood carvings, until she finally fell.

“You did well,” Adam reassured her.

Uwajin also faced Faool. The Rage Dancer had prepared herself, while Faool resigned himself to his fate. He couldn’t blame Fate, as he had managed to reach the top ten in his first ever tournament.

After the fight ended, Faool clutched his staff tightly, staring down at Uwajin. His face was full of uncharacteristic confusion. The crowd erupted into hectic applause as the greatest upset in the entire tournament set them off.

Even though Uwajin had forced herself conscious from the first time she was knocked out, and had managed to press Faool back, Faool had managed to knock her down for good. He stared at his staff, questioning how it had managed to do it.

‘Uwajin lost?’ Naqokan thought, hearing of the defeat as she stepped into the arena. She exchanged glanced with Laygak.

The Devilkin Iyrman approached her and took off his helmet to reveal his bewilderment, before bowing his head. “Okay?” he asked.

“Okay,” Naqokan replied, as the pair prepared themselves.

Spurred on by the knowledge that Uwajin had lost, Naqokan fought with an even greater abandonment than typical as she faced Laygak. She had managed to leave a deep dent into his shield as she found victory.

Laygak sat beside his cousin, Jaygak, wincing as he felt the pain in his arms. Jaygak pat his back, smiling down at her cousin who had managed to place in the top ten, as had the others.

Naqokan sat beside Uwajin, who had accepted her loss to Faool. Though it was a shock to her, it did make sense, since Faool was quite skilled, and he could strike as many times as a typical Expert, though he wasn’t one himself.

“The last phase is full of Fate’s Golden,” Vonda noted. “Even those in the top ten, they’re mostly Fate’s Golden.”

‘Crazy,’ Adam thought, glancing between the teen Iyrmen. His pride was overtaken by his shock. Adam was sure Uwajin was going to win. He would have bet five hundred on her if he hadn’t made a rule not to bet when his people faced one another, but she lost to Faool?

‘The Ool family is so damn scary.’

Shaool came to Adam’s mind, Kitool and Faool’s grandaunt. She was one of the first Iyrmen who had truly frightened him, and was considered to be one of the top ten in the Iyr. ‘Yeah, that makes sense.’

Adam had forgotten it wasn’t just the top ten in the Iyr, but in all of Aldland.

Then came the last fights of their segment, with Jurot and the others also fighting that day. They had all managed to win, as expected. Jurot and Amokan had managed to take two of the top four spots.

“What?” Adam had been worried something like this was going to happen. It was more than obvious that at some point the youth would be facing against one another due to how many of them there were in comparison to the others in their age range.

However, each of the older Iyrmen had yet to face one another since Jaygak faced Kitool, and somehow, Kitool was fighting another Iyrman. He glanced between Faool and Uwajin, wondering how this could be.

As the bets came, Adam refused again, and the others took the same cue.

Jaygak, too, refused to bet.

“Who do you think will win?” Vonda asked.

“Kitool will win,” Jaygak said.

“Why is that?”

“She should win if she beat me.”

Adam narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Jaygak. ‘She’s starting to sound like me.’ Adam’s eyes fell to Kitool’s opponent. If Adam truly had to bet, and he wasn’t close with Kitool, he’d have bet against her.

However, he had thought the same when the younger Jin and Ool faced against one another.