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After the umpire disabled the mana shield holding me in place, I was brought to a holding area where there were refreshments set for those who got eliminated, there was even the same bartender who served me in the lounge between my bouts for the Swordsmanship Duels. And seeing that I have been constantly running and fighting for hours, I am hungry and thirsty.

I immediately went to the buffet table, piled a plate high with food, and went straight to the bar to eat. “Ah, Young Master Ironcrest, we meet again. What can I get for you?” the bartender said.

“Start with a jug of ice cold water and follow that with a milkshake, I see you have been experimenting with different flavors,” I said as I spotted a small chalkboard listing the flavors of milkshake he had available, “Surprise me with the flavor.”

While I was busy demolishing my plate of food, Dave and Sam plopped down on the seats beside me, “Hey Luke, what took you so long to get your ass kicked? You are the last solo out there, by a long shot.” Sam said.

I washed down the food with half a jug of water before replying, “Of course it took a long time, its hard work kicking ass as hard as I do, I reckon I scored at least ten kills on solo fighters and wiped out just as many teams, a third of them being full five men teams.”

When I said that, Dave, Sam, and the bartender looked at me boggle-eyed, “Bullshit, I know you are good, but not that good, come on, how did you really last that long?” Dave asked.

“I am not bluffing, you can ask around when we get out of here. The only reason I was taken down as early as I was, was because they removed the cover of the ruins, otherwise, I could have sneaked around and ambushed more people” I replied.

But apparently, someone nearby who was listening in on our conversation took umbrage with my answer and spoke loud enough for those around him to hear, “That's a stretch, the only reason you managed to last so long was because you disguised yourself, like a coward!”

From the coat of arms on his shirt, it was obvious he was a noble, and when he made his assertion of my cowardice, only a handful of them readily agreed with him, while the rest of the people paying attention only looked on in confusion. It was most likely because my identity was only revealed after the ruins were gone and revealed my spearmanship.

It was then that a familiar-looking kid stood up and shouted while pointing at me, “It is true, I am Janos Cassor, and that… that brigand, robbed me of my surcoat before finishing me off, he was already wearing my surcoat before the umpire even took me away!”

This caused the room to break out in mutters, and I am pretty sure I picked out people calling me “Miscreant” or a person “Unbecoming of nobility”.

I just shook my head and laughed, “Ha! Nowhere in the rules said I could not do it, not like I had a choice due to a certain somebody putting a bounty on me for this tournament event, and who knows, maybe other events.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The moment I finished my sentence, the place got really quiet, and as I looked around, I saw that half of the people in the room were looking anywhere but at me, while the other half was just looking confused.

Due to the awkward silence, for which I did not know the reason for, I leaned over to Dave and asked, “Did I say something wrong?”

Dave just shrugged his shoulders and said, “No idea… what was that about a bounty on your head?”

It was then that the bartender leaned over and softly said to me, “Young Master Ironcrest, if what you said is true, that can be counted as match-fixing, and it is a rather big deal in tournaments. The crown takes this rather seriously, for all parties involved.”

I just smiled maliciously at the rest of the room, “Really now? That is a most fascinating bit of information I have just learned, and from the look on half of the faces in the room, I am sure to have a lot of fun with this.” I said as I focused my malicious glare on the noble brat who called me a coward.

Under my glare, if it was physically possible for him to shrink, he would have down so to hide behind his chair.

Soon enough, the sound of conversation started picking up once again as those who were not in the know about the bounty started asking around. Dave then leaned in close to me and whispered, “If the allegation of match-fixing is so serious, why do you not take this up with the tournament staff? And who was it that put the bounty on you for the tournament?”

I just shook my head and replied, “I could report this, but without solid proof, it could escalate the conflict with the person who put up the bounty, these kinds of things are hard to prove because this is in exchange for a minor favor, no money or items changed hands, not yet at least. Besides, I think it already looks suspicious that I, as a solo contestant was targeted by so many teams the moment the battle started, and I am surely not the only one to notice. As for who placed the bounty on me, I will tell the both of you later in a more private setting.”

As I looked around at the people talking, some of them getting agitated as they did so, I knew it was only a matter of time until Edmund Berkeley’s name was implicated, I don't expect a bunch of 12-year-olds to keep their lips very tight, and the best part was that nobody could tie me to saying his name, because I did not, the rumor mill would take care of the rest.

The best-case scenario is the people in charge of the tournament pick up on the rumor and take action against Edmund, at worst, the rumor of his match-fixing would just float around like a stubborn fart and taint his family's name. Either way, I come out on top by simply keeping my mouth shut, or at most, insinuating his involvement by roundabout methods.

Soon, as the last of the defeated teams entered the rest area, it was announced that the Melee Battles event was over and we all made our way out to the stands to see the award presentation.

The winning team ended up being one of the teams that ignored me when my identity was revealed, and out of the five team members, they won with only two remaining. Their team leader, who was some noble kid I did not know, and the two other teammates who were eliminated joined the two surviving teammates on stage.

After the king was done praising them and extolling the virtues of teamwork and cooperation, the prizes were presented. They got a trophy sword and a cash prize to be divided up at their discretion.

After the king went back to his seat, the halftime show came on as they prepared the stage for the next cohort’s Melee Battles.

As for me, since I was not taking part in the Jousting or Archery events, I had two days of rest before the Magic Events started. This meant I had more time to check out the food bazaar that was set up outside The Arena.