Sabatsday, 6th of Aprillia, 470th year of the 5th Era

As the fifth round of the match commenced, Josias was sitting in slight suspense as he saw his two friends duelling out once more upon the great courtyard, trading blows and strikes in a final onslaught. The source of his unease was mainly due to the bet he had wagered with his other friends between the matches on who would emerge victorious at the end of the entire duel. Josias had put money on Mateus’ victory for the duel hence Sadrach’s sudden showing of magical talents during the second and third rounds had made him worried but Mateus’ onslaught on the fifth round brought him back some confidence in earning his money back. When Mateus won the fourth round, Josias cheered almost as hard as the Sigompul clan warriors before he exchanged looks with Johannes who had placed his own bet on Sadrach’s victory.

Josias was confident of a victory now, especially when he saw that Sadrach had spent up his mana reserves and in turn his aura as well looked almost as depleted. Though Mateus was in an equally rough shape, when it comes down to raw unadulterated physical strength of arms, he truly believed that Sadrach couldn’t even hope for a victory against the larger and more imposing Mateus.

As the fight went on, it became apparent however that the two men were becoming greatly fatigued as the tempo of the match was slowing down significantly as event the blows the two warriors landed on each other dulled as their movements became sluggish. Josias had tired himself out trying to cheer on Mateus, but regardless of all that, he still felt assured of Mateus’ win in the match. However, on this final round of the duel, Josias started noticing something that was becoming more and more apparent within the fight. For whatever reason, despite understanding that fatigue can indeed cause a drop in focus and performance, Josias felt it was especially so for Mateus in this round.

The scarred Mateus had looked unfocused as his attention didn’t even seem like it was on the match anymore as he kept glancing out towards somewhere. This was in contrast with Sadrach who even though looked like he was struggling greatly when it came to the fight still had that grit and determination upon his expression.

“Where the hell are you looking at you dumb brute?!” Josias had stood up and shouted towards Mateus as he couldn’t help but feel frustrated at what he was watching “Focus on the match and bloody his nose!!”

“Get back down, boy!” Parulian pulled Josias back to his seat as the young man’s expression was still focused on the match.

However, as if his words were falling on deaf ears - perhaps also due to the roaring and cheering of the crowd of spectators - Mateus didn’t seem to heed any of it. When Josias was scanning around the area Mateus seemed to give glances to every once in a while he finally noticed what was most probably the source of his distraction. Upon the stands of the noble families sat the granddaughter of Elder Sintong of the Idabagak clan. The Lady Arta Idabagak. When he saw this, Josias merely groaned in exasperation as he brought the palm of his hand to his forehead. He was now thoroughly convinced that there was no chance in hell that Mateus would get his focus back.

As if noticing his frustration, on the opposing stands, Josias could spot Johannes laughing heartily as it appeared that he had come to the same conclusion as him. Josias dreaded the fact that he would most probably end the day with a thinner coinpurse than when he started.

Regardless of his dejected feelings, Josias continued on to watch the match. It was several more minutes of a sluggish back and forth before finally something happened that ignited a little bit of spirit in him. Sadrach had went in for a strike at full force towards Mateus but perhaps it was his fatigue catching up to him or some other factor but he had appeared to lose his balance and Mateus had caught this and managed to swipe away at Sadrach’s handle of his sabre and properly disarmed him. Sadrach, who was caught off guard, dropped to his knees as he fell. He closed his eyes in what looked to be resignation as he banged his hands to the ground and screamed in frustration. Though no blood had been drawn, the conclusion of the match seemed to have been determined with that.

At the sight of the young Hutabaru warrior on his knees, many of the Sigompul clansmen stood up and cheered for Mateus. Josias was also about to jump to his feet to cheer the unexpected victory but just as he was about to raise his arms and shout in acclamation, Mateus threw his own sabre to the side before he picked the dejected Sadrach up. Soon enough, the entire courtyard quieted down as no one seemed to know what to expect. And in that moment, Mateus raised his fist and gave a solid punch to Sadrach’s left cheek before he let the man go, in clear violation of the rules. When this happened, it was as if a thunderbolt was struck in the middle of a quiet field as the members of the Hutabaru clan rose up in anger at the action with many even getting down the stands and heading towards the courtyard looking fully intent on attacking Mateus as they had brandished their own weapons.

In response to this, many of the young and brash Sigompul warriors also entered the courtyard with their spears and sabres on hand with many of the ones equipped with matchlocks and arquebuses even firing rounds to the ground in front of the Hutabaru. It was complete pandemonium upon the courtyard as what looked to be an actual bloody skirmish involving dozens of warriors would erupt.

Just as Josias and his father were about to stand up along with many of the village guards to settle the situation, King Parhal had stood up stoically and unleashed the full might of his golden aura which quickly caught the attention of everyone on the courtyard who ceased what they were doing immediately. Slowly but powerfully, even though his gait wasn’t exactly the steadiest, King Parhal had walked to the center of the courtyard.

Mardomu - who was already busy trying to calm the situation - immediately and respectfully backed away as the King followed by Elder Marasi had entered the courtyard, his blazing aura still enveloping the entire area. Finally, the King had arrived in front of Mateus whose body was already trembling from the onslaught of the King’s mighty pressure that seemed to be focused towards him. Though he was visibly struggling, some praise had to be given as Mateus still remained standing even with the King already in front of him.

From behind, Elder Hagogoan and Ronggur were already at the courtyard as they had immediately performed the ‘somba’ in respect to the king. The two men were pleading towards the King to show some leniency towards Mateus’s actions with Ronggur even trying to get his son to kneel as well, but Mateus wouldn’t budge. Finally, King Parhal looked into Mateus’s eyes and spoke.

“What is the meaning of this insolence…?” Though the king’s voice was calm, the power of it laced with aura still made it reverberate throughout the space.

Despite that, Mateus still looked intent on standing and showing a strong front towards the old King. Josias had no clue what that big oaf was even thinking about doing. Ronggur was about to stand up and just tackle his son to bow down to the king, but before he was able to do that, Mateus had bowed his head on his own and clasped his hands together before bringing them towards his forehead in respect towards the King. Finally the man spoke up, though he was visibly shaking and sweating from trying to defy the power of a seven-star Swordsaint.

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“I have no excuse, my King! I did that to satisfy my own desires and I did that fully conscious of my own actions.” Mateus said firmly “And with that, I formally declare my intent to forfeit this duel!”

“You fool! What do you think you’re doing?!” Elder Hagogoan had gotten up and was about to chastise his grandson further but King Parhal merely raised his hand to stop the Elder of the Sigompul clan.

“...Do you think that… this duel is a joke, boy..??” King Parhal said seriously but his strong tone had the slightest hint of gentleness to it.

“Not at all, my King! I had first taken part in this duel to retain my honor as a man and as a warrior so it would not be said of me that I had stood down meekly when another man was intent on pursuing a lady that I was courting… and I believe that I’ve proven in this match that at the very least I do not lose out to the Young Lord of the Hutabaru clan… But I’ve realised something, My King…” As Mateus began his explanation, he had raised his countenance to look upon the King directly and met his eyes as he was going to continue his explanation “...From the start, I shouldn’t have pursued this action as I now stand lying to my conscience. Though I know that regardless of whether I win or lose, Lady Helena will be betrothed to Sadrach, it is only now do I realise that this is a folly for even in my deepest of hearts I know that I do not and have never looked at the Lady as a suitor… I had tried burying my feelings, truly, but today I will make this clear in front of everyone… I truly love the Lady Arta Idabagak and it would make me the happiest of men if once more I would be allowed to pursue her!”

As Mateus gave his heartfelt and public confession, audible gasps could be heard among the crowds - mostly from the noble ladies - as the courtyard fell into a wave of gossip. Though many of the people there were shocked at Mateus’ declaration, including Elder Hagogoan, many among the younger warriors looked like they weren’t the slightest bit surprised. Josias could only rub his temples at this sudden turn of events. This past week had really been something in terms of eventful happenings but this really took the lion’s share of the spoils when it comes to the most bombastic.

As the crowds were once more becoming louder, King Parhal raised his hand once more to quiet the crowd before Elder Marasi bellowed out, “Silence!! The King speaks!”

When the situation calmed once more, the King had finally retracted his golden aura as the warriors who were standing in the courtyard looked to him in anticipation of what he was about to say.

“...I declare the duel to be over… Young Master Mateus has forfeited the match… and I declare the duel to be won by Young Master Sadrach!” The King said as he looked to walk towards the Great hall but before that, he had whispered something to Elder Marasi. Elder Marasi nodded before he gathered his energy within his chest and shouted out once more.

“The King declares for the festivities of the courtyard to continue!” Elder Marasi bellowed out before he spoke again to the stands “However, the King extends a summons to the Elders and Nobles of the Clans to the Great Hall for discussions regarding the Marhusip and betrothals of the young heirs of the clans! The young heirs, ladies, and warriors are excused from attending.”

After saying that, Elder Marasi quickly trailed behind the King who was already at the main entrance of the Great Hall. Josias saw that following behind not far from them were the other elders of the eight great clans of Goria, including Mateus and Sadrach’s grandparents and fathers. Unlike the usual meetings of the elders however, many of the elders and the Lords of the Clan were followed by their wives and the elder female members of their clans. It was clear from that that the main topic of discussion would indeed be that of marriage.

Thinking on that topic, Josias was reminded of his own relationship and courtship with Serena. It had already been about two weeks or so since he put in his order of jewelry for his planned proposal to his beloved. However, it was obvious that he couldn’t ask about it right now because the jeweler in question - Sadrach’s father - was obviously busy with more important discussions within the great Hall. Josias could only breathe out and sigh as he decided to bring the plans for his own proposal to a more apt time perhaps tomorrow or the day after. That is of course assuming that his uncle would deliver on his promise in producing the craftwork within the span of two weeks.

Putting his own thoughts to rest, Josias redirected his attention towards the courtyard where two groups were starting to coalesce around Sadrach and Mateus respectively, mostly made up of their fellow kinsmen and other younger warriors. Johannes and Helena had quickly approached Sadrach who was sitting down on the benches being looked after by the medical team. Josias decided to approach that group first as he also saw Hesekiel was already standing close to Sadrach.

“That was quite the match, huh.” Josias said as he approached with his arms folded while laughing looking at Sadrach whose bruised face was still being healed “Well, I’m at least glad to see that Lae Mateus is a man of his words, isn’t that right, Pris?”

Priscilla, who was volunteering as part of the medical team, couldn’t help but chuckle at Josias’ comments.

“Wait, what does he mean by that?” Sadrach couldn’t help but ask in a curious tone

“Don’t worry about it, lae. All you need to know is that I am very gladenned and very happy for your victory. A great honour to my mother’s clan!” Josias said as he clapped his hands.

“Why does it sound so backhanded coming from you, lae.” Sadrach shook his head at Josias’ patronizing tone.

“That’s ‘cause he’s full of bullshit and is seething from losing his bet.” Johannes said as he laughed and held out his hand towards Josias “Now cough it up and don't shirk on even a single coin!”

Josias only grit his teeth before he reached into his pouch strapped to his sash-belt on his waist before throwing several silver coins Johannes’ way. Johannes merely laughed as he caught the coins in the air.

“You bet against me? I’m your cousin! How could you bet against me?!” Sadrach looked at Josias and asked with an indignant tone and a shocked expression. Josias merely shrugged before continuing to explain himself.

“My beloved brother in Christ, if you go back far enough, every single person here our age are my cousins. Also, I was certain that Johannes was going to place his bets on you. Besides, it’s only fair that I placed my bets on Mateus, else who’s going to bet on him?”

As soon as Josias said that, Johannes had gone around the group of youngsters and started collecting money from them as it was apparent that the majority of them - even some from among the Hutabaru clansmen - had bet against Sadrach. Sadrach could only scratch his head and hold his mouth agape in shock at how little faith everyone had in him. However, before he was about to complain again, everyone’s attention was caught by Mateus who was walking towards them flanked by a couple of the young Sigompul warriors.

Josias could only raise his eyebrow as he saw this. The match was officially over, but you’d never know what any of these young-bloods would do. It was because of this thought in him that Josias quickly greeted Mateus first, “That was a good match, lae. Don’t be bothered by anything as I’m sure the elders and our parents are sorting it all out…”

Mateus only nodded towards Josias, acknowledging his comment before he looked towards the technical victor of the duel who was sitting down. “I have something to say to Lae Sadrach here…” Mateus said as he gazed seriously towards the young master of the Hutabaru clan.

Josias didn’t know what was about to be said, but he could only hope there wouldn’t be a continuation of the drama between the two as he needed them both for the looming grand Gotilon festival. However, what came out of Mateus’ mouth next surprised everyone there.

“I desire peace between us…” Mateus said as he slightly bowed his head towards Sadrach. “May we bury the hatchet?”