The next day, the tournament held no official fights as the final phase was prepared.

Instead, Adam gave the teens each some pocket money from his own personal coin, and allowed them go and buy weapons for themselves, or whatever else Iyrmen would buy in East Port.

The last day had taken too much out of Adam. ‘I need to find some normalcy.’

“What?” Adam asked, staring at Sir Landon.

“You will be the first to face Sir Roseia,” Sir Landon repeated.

Adam squirmed within the seat, which was far too comfortable for his liking. Sir Landon had invited him to eat lunch at an extremely expensive restaurant, one which did not have a menu, nor prices. Their room was small, private, and though there was little which furnished the place, Adam understood everything here cost more than a year’s worth of income for the average person, even the fork in his hand.

Sir Landon, seeing that Adam held the question in his eyes, bowed his head. “You cannot beat her.”

“Let’s get this right, I can definitely beat her, but we’d rather not that I beat her,” Adam corrected the young sir.

Sir Landon relented to Adam’s words. “You will be facing each of the finalists. The placements will be formed once you have faced them all. I will request that you do not beat Sir Karra either.”

“Two losses in the finals?” Adam asked, sighing. “You’re just asking me to lose, right?”

“I am not foolish enough to ask the Iyrmen to surrender.”

“Fair.”

“I know you usually bet a lot, but this time…”

“I’ll just bet on my fight against Vasera,” Adam said.

“She, too, knows not to beat the young knights.”

“Oh, really? Is she also hired by a small noble family?”

“She is hired by my elder brother.”

“Sir Manon? Adam frowned. “I’ll be sure to beat her good then.”

“No, my other brother.”

“Oh. Sir Tamon, was it?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. Is she from the Golden Savages?”

“Yes.” Sir Landon wasn’t sure if Adam was pretending to be an idiot again.

“Ah! She must be the strongest within her group, then. What was his name? Rook? Flaming Hyena? He said he wasn’t. I thought Blade and, what’s his face, uh…”

“Sir Carter?”

“That’s the one, yeah.” Adam snapped his fingers, causing a server to step into the room, ready to take his order. “Uh…”

“Star wine,” Sir Landon stated, before the worker swiftly left them.

“I thought the pair of them would be in the top four with me.”

“You beat them both,” Sir Landon said.

“Yeah?”

“Vasera is undefeated. It was expected she would remain undefeated until the finals, where she would understand her place.”

“Now you’re asking me to understand my place?” Adam asked, the words annoying him to no end.

“Yes.”

“How blunt.”

“I have a vested interested in making sure you aren’t killed for your audacity.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“You and the Iyr.” Adam chuckled. “I suppose I’ll let it slide this time…” Adam fell silent as the food arrived, along with the wine.

Adam sipped the wine, tasting how sweet it was. It tasted similar to honey mango. ‘Nice.’

“I thank you for your understanding.”

“I want you to understand the gravity of what you have asked of me,” Adam said, staring down at the food. “I could gain first place in my first tournament and show off to my children, and my sister. You’re asking me to give that up in order to keep the fragile ego of the nobles intact.” Adam’s eyes fell up to meet Sir Landon’s. “You are very lucky I have children now, otherwise you would have to inform Sir Roseia and Sir Karra to wash their necks and prepare for me.”

‘Wash their necks?’

Adam ate silently opposite Sir Landon. As the minutes passed, he only grew hotter and hotter. ‘I bet they won’t even appreciate it, the bastards!’

Once Adam was done eating the delicious food, with Sir Landon footing the bill, he returned back to the guild.

“He asked you to surrender,” Jurot said.

“Yes.”

“The Grand Master of the Order of the Thousand Hunts came to speak with me,” Jurot said.

“What did he say?”

“He asked me if I intended to win.”

“Then?”

“I told him that first place would belong to the Iyr,” Jurot said with a bluntness that only came from an Iyr’s words, and not its blades.

“…” Adam’s lips twitched slightly.

“His words held a threat.”

“They did?” Adam frowned.

“As a Paragon, he would pave the way for my future success, he said.” Jurot paused.

Adam remained silent, waiting for it. He knew Jurot had probably said something like…

“You are just a Paragon?” Jurot said.

Adam tossed his head back, biting his lower lip as he shook, refraining from laughing as tears began to sting his eyes.

Wisdom Save

D20 + 4 = 10 (6)

His laughter burst, and he was glad no one was within the guild due to the tournament.

“Is it the Half Elf?” a guild worker asked another.

The other guild worker nodded their head, and continued about their business.

When evening came, Adam made sure to tell the group not to bet. He sent the same message to Rose too. Jaygak, unbeknownst to Adam, had sent word to Yellow Turban.

“Son of dogs,” Yellow Turban grumbled one he heard the news. “They should let the blood fall where it falls!”

Kalid shook his head, piling the seventy eighth gold coin he had made while betting on Adam and the Iyrmen. It was in the twenty first pile of one hundred gold coins.

Omen: 12, 19

‘Damn it! They want me to lose just because they were born lucky? What a bunch of-,’

“Sponsored by the Duchess, the one who will claim the title of the Greatest King’s Sword in less than a generation, Sir Roseia Drakkenslayer!”

‘Damn, that is a cool name,’ Adam thought, his annoyance falling away.

“Sponsored by Sir Landon Littlesea, the warrior who shines in purple, Chief Executive Officer Adam!”

Adam stepped out through the main gate, staring out at the crowd all around them. This time, the crowd was even larger, and far more colourful. There were as many peasants as there had been during the previous fights, but these peasants were those which held slightly more money than their average fellows.

Adam held out his axe, walking along the side, while the peasants waved their colourful scarves around. As he circled around towards the centre of one side, a pair of guards motioned for Adam to approach, while a large group of peasants held out an extremely large banner of purple, with two words, each which were bold and giant.

EXECUTIVE ADAM

Adam stared at it, stunned.

A guard stepped up to him and whispered. “Take it and wave it around.”

Adam blinked, before nodding. He took the large banner, holding it within his hands for a moment, before he swung it over his shoulders, and held it up behind him. His heart pounded wildly as the chorus of shouts began from both sides, alternating between the phrases.

“Executive Adam!”

“Sir Roseia!”

Adam sauntered around the arena, holding the cape over his shoulders as it billowed. He saw that Sir Roseia was doing the same, before they made a full circle around the arena. Sir Roseia handed the large banner to the guard beside her, and Adam did the same. The pair stepped towards one another to meet in the middle of the arena.

Sir Roseia was adorned in full plate, silver and red. Her armour was no doubt magical, due to the tiny runes along the trim. She also wore a heavy cloak, which fell to her knees, billowing even in the slightest breeze. Adam swore it was made from blood considering how it glistened. Her cape was without the symbol of the Grand Duchess’ family, which did not need to be shown, though was perhaps kept at bay due to the fact Sir Roseia was one of the King’s people.

‘How does that even work?’

“So you are the leaf ear who has made his way to the final?” Sir Roseia said.

“Excuse me?”

“I am sure you are quite strong, but your luck ends here,” Sir Roseia said, drawing her greatsword. It was one of the only Greater Enhanced weapons within the tournament, and was rumoured to be even greater than Wraith.

Adam remained silent. He donned Strong Shield. He rubbed a hand along his holy symbol, bringing it up to his lips to kiss it. Then he grabbed Wraith, feeling the cool metal, before he drew it.

“She must have called him a leaf ear,” Jurot said, watching from above the crowd.

“So that’s why he became so tense,” Jaygak said, narrowing her eyes. “Will he…”

“Adam will keep to his word,” Jurot reassured.

Jaygak wasn’t sure if they could deal with the fallout if Adam beat the King’s Sword’s heir, especially if she was representing the Grand Duchess. ‘Will Yellow Turban help us to smuggle him out?’

The crowd fell silent as the pair prepared themselves to fight. It was a match which deserved the price of the tickets and food increasing to roughly triple.

Battle Order

D20 + 1 = 15 (14)

Adam stepped forward as Sir Roseia gripped her blade tightly, before stepping towards him, ready to strike the Half Elf as he approached. Adam inhaled deeply, before raising Wraith.

Mana: 21 -> 20

Spell: Thunderous Smite

“I guess I won’t hold back.”