While I was creating a new pet for myself, rumours were being escalated into truths thanks to Sake continuously adding fuel to the fire. He had positioned many men inside the audience, spreading rumours about my background and how I would love to kill Hein. However, I wasn’t paying attention, and was too busy establishing my authority over Erebus. Or Ere for short.

…

Within a few minutes, these rumours had reached the captain of the imperial guards, who is also the one in charge of the safety of the participants. He quickly took action and sent guards over to where Hein was laying down, with me next to him.

“Hey you!” Said one of the more straightforward guards.

“Huh, what?” I exclaimed. Being awaken from deep musing and constant trial and error for communication, I was completely startled. A sudden shock to my soul, which almost made me lose control of all the mana I had extracted!

“Jon, is it? We have come here to confirm the health of participant Hein, and ensure no malpractices have been used on said participant. Move aside.”

“Ah, sure. Go right ahead.” I said

Walking straight up to Hein, the guard noticed that Hein wasn’t waking up and quickly called for the doctor, who was waiting around us for quite some time. He gave a cursory glance at Hein, and gave his statement.

“This poor boy has been poisoned with something that does not exist within the understandings of the doctors in the kingdom today.”

With this, my suspicions were confirmed. This doctor is part of Sake’s whole plot. Had he been a real doctor, or had he actually checked up on Hein, he would have deduced that Hein was perfectly fine.

As worried gasps were coming from the crowd, I noticed two things. One was that Sake was making his way to the stage, and that another figure was making their way to the stage, through the crowd. Looking at the other figure, I recognised her instantly and told her to wait.

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Back to Sake, he had almost reached the stage, where the guard was preparing to arrest me for fatal poisoning. However, by this time, I had already formulated a plan to completely ruin Sake. I can’t kill him, but I sure as hell can ruin him and shame his family! As a wide grin formed on my face, I sent some of my remaining mana to the seated Joester, and dragged him to the stage.

Sake’s Point of view…

That f*cking mother and son have insulted me enough! Last time she was threatening the king directly and so I could not do anything. However, all my sources point to the fact that she has returned to Descite. Now, I can finally have my revenge. I will kill both the brats, and their little friend is already on death’s door.

Saying this, I unsheathed my sword from its sheath. Pointing it towards that stupid brat, I said,

“Jon, with the power vested in me by the high king of Krothguard, as a Baron of the Kingdom of Krothguard, I hereby declare that you are a criminal awaiting the punishment of death by my sword, for the crime of conspiring to kill a fellow contestant!”

Leaping towards him I swung my sword to cleanly behead him. However, before I could reach him, my sword was blocked by a shield, behind which was another brat! How infuriating.

I jumped backwards to gain my bearing, before leaping back into the attack.

Jon’s point of view…

With that, Krog and Sake entered into a battle of attrition with a flurry of attacks from the baron, while Krog was strategically deflecting all the attacks. I actually cannot believe that he has enough brains to pull off something like that. It must be his instincts! That guy can just naturally fight in the most efficient way possible!

My mana was nearly exhausted, and I had barely a few drops of mana left with me. Deciding to risk it, I used 2 of those drops to boost my voice, and then shouted.

“What proof do you have that I tried to kill someone? Are you trying to slander me? Look here, Hein is perfectly fine! I was just helping him recover from his injuries. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Hearing this, Hein opened his eyes and got up, much to the surprise of everyone, including Sake and the doctor. Walking up to the doctor, I announced using the little mana I had left,

“Get this man out of here and strip him of his post! He was not conducting his duties correctly and didn’t even bother to check Hein’s state using any magic! He cannot be allowed to slander others like this.”

Next I looked at Sake, “You! How dare you attack commoners using the power given to you! Although you title protects you from death penalties or slavery from such acts, I can ask the king to give your family a very nice and sweet fine. You can send that over to me anytime. I’ll be waiting.”

Saying this I looked at the king and he nodded, shocking a few of those ministers around him.