28th September, 3032 B.E.

Jacob woke up early as usual in the morning. He looked towards the left and found his father sitting cross-legged on his bed, with his eyes closed.

"Good morning, father."

"Good morning."

After greeting the elder, Jacob got up and went to the bathroom. After returning from it, he wore his shirt and looked towards the window from which slight sunlight was coming.

"Father, how much time to go till eight." Jacob was a bit uncertain about the exact time. He knew that it was early morning but could not pinpoint the exact time. The nearby window opened into an alley and he was incapable of seeing the sun through it to determine the time of the day.

"There are still two hours remaining." The elder replied without openeing his eyes.

Jacob then sat on his bed. Today was very important for him. He was going to fight with other people to get a spot in main matches tomorrow. Today was also the first time he was participating in a proper battle where weapons were allowed.

He was very excited. He could not help but anticipate about the upcoming preliminaries. He was also slightly nervous. This was the first time he was performing in front of many people.

Although he knew that the audience would not be much because the matches today were not main in importance but it still made an impact on him. He still remembered that day when he had visited the coliseum for the first time.

He had imagined himself standing in front of the applauding audience with a glorious posture then. Today, he was going to take the first step toward realizing that dream.

That one and a quarter hour passed excruciatingly slow for him. He was excitedly waiting for the time to pass but each and every minute was very slow for him due to his conscious perception of time.

When it was only forty five minutes to go till eight, he quickly got up to equip his armor and longsword. This time, he was helped by his father in wearing the chainmail armor so he finished in a couple of minutes.

They went down and Jacob had a simple breakfast. This time, Gifford himself came to serve them and he repeatedly told Jacob to take care of himself. After that, they set out for the coliseum.

When they reached there, they saw a large crowd gathered outside of it. They saw three large lines formed in front of the entrance that were lenghtning with time. Jacob noticed that the people forming them were all young like him which were all armed in some way or other.

Behind the lines, a large crowd was gathered. They were mostly older citizens with children in between. Jacob assumed that they were the relatives of the participants.

He knew that he had to join one of the lines but he was not sure of which one to join. Are they lining up randomly or is there some order in it? These were his thoughts as he looked around.

He could not detect any kind of personnel or signs directing anything. So, he found it best to ask a lean middle aged man standing near them. He was waving at someone standing in the lines.

"Umm.. Excuse me, uncle." Jacob tried to attract the attention of the uncle toward him.

"Yes." The middle aged man replied as he stopped waving and started looking at him.

"Do you know why three different lined are formed? Is there some order in it or is it all random?"

"Are you also a participant?" The man looked at Jacob from head to toe for a second or two before asking a question.

"Yes. I am also participating."

"Hmm. You see, there are three boards placed at the forefront which we cannot see right now due to increasing crowd. The rightmost line are for those participants whose names range from letter a to i. Thr middle line is for the names ranging from j to q. The leftmost one is for those whose names lie between r and z. Got it?" The man said while pointing towards the lines.

"Yes. Thank you for your help, uncle." Jacob thanked the middle aged person for his help.

"Welcome."

After that, Jacob started looking at his father as if asking for permission.

"Go ahead, son. I will be watching over you." The elder made an encouraging expression as he motioned his head towards the lines.

Jacob smiled at that and quickly joined the middle line. Along the way, he attracted a few gazes. He was clad in a chainmail armor and carrying a high quality longsword made up of alloyed iron, light and sharp. His armaments were worth several gold coins.

He looked back and saw his father standing with the relatives of the participants. The elder was also smiling back at him while making an encouraging expression. It decreased the slight bit of nervousness that Jacob was feeling inside of him.

After that, he started looking forward. He found that the line was quite long and thought that it would take some time for his turn to come. By now, about one minute had passed since he joined the line but six more participants had come to stand behind him in this span of time.

There are really so many of them. He thought about his conversation with those young men ten days ago. They were right in their words.

The criteria should be strict to eliminate this many. I should remain prepared at all times. He throughout about the passing criteria of the preliminaries. He was aware that to cull so many, a strict criteria must have been made.

Contrary to Jacob's assumptions, the line was moving forward at a respectable pace. It seemed that the organizers were taking things seriously.

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With passing minutes, the line kept shortening in front of him. Soon, he could see the entrance more clearly, along with a wooden board. Only a few words were written on it but they conveyed the meaning perfectly.

"Line. Names starting from J to Q"

Jacob could also see a man standing in front of the line. He was holding a register in his hands and asking the participants some questions that Jacob could not hear due to distance.

Whenever a participant answered him, the man looked down on the register and wrote something on it. After a few questions, he let the participants go inside.

Jacob could also see a few young men and women leaving the line in front of him intermittently while making expressions of embarrassment. After some thing, Jacob realized why it was happening. He again felt deeply grateful to the middle aged man he met a few minutes ago. Thankfully, he did not make a fool of himself.

Jacob tried hard to ignore the existence of the opposite gender around him. He was an adult now. He was aware of some things. He could still remember that unfortunate day a couple of years ago clearly when a special class was held.

He had found himself sitting in front of his father as he explained the things between males and females in excruciating details. Many shocking things were revealed during those few hours that Jacob could not help but sweat badly throughout it. In addition to that, his father had said all that without any hesitation while making a normal face. It was as if they were discussing everyday matters.

There was too much detail that day. A tinge of red came to Jacob's face along with a helpless smile as he thought about that day. But a few seconds later, his smile turned genuine as he thought about the elder's final words.

"Son, never think of them as toys. A marriage is far greater than physical relations. It is a name of trust, harmony, love and compassion" Those words still resonated in his mind as if they were said yesterday instead of two years ago.

That was why he tried to ignore the opposite gender as much as he can. He did not want to get distracted right now.

Soon his turn came as the man in front of him started asking questions, his voice void of any emotions.

"Name?"

"Jacob."

"Age?"

"Fifteen."

"Guardian's name."

"Father."

"Yes, what is your father's name?" The man with the register asked again as he kept looking on at it.

Jacob thought that the registrar in front of him was misunderstanding something here. So, he decided to tell him more clearly.

"Mister. My guardian's name is Father."

"Huh?" The man looked up toward him with a raised eyebrow. He then started looking down on the register and his expressions turned strange.

"Very well. Go stand with your group. Don't wander around." He let Jacob go while looking at him strangely.

Jacob ignored that and entered the passageway. He was thinking about the group mentioned by the man previously. But soon, all his doubts were cleared.

A short man approached him and said,

"Line?"

"Middle." Jacob could see a group of participants standing behind the man.

"Go stand with them." The man pointed at another group standing further along the passageway.

Jacob understood everything right away and started walking toward his group after nodding at the short man.

As Jacob approached it, the man leading it asked without looking at him.

"Middle line?" His voice was quite bored and lazy.

"Yes."

"Stand with us for a while."

Jacob joined them silently at that. He thought that they were waiting for something. In the next couple of minutes, a few more people joined them before the man started moving.

"Follow me." He said as he started walking towards a nearby side door.

The group started following him without saying anything and they all entered the door. Soon, they were led to a large room that was already half full with young contestants before they arrived. With them joining them, the room became a bit crowded.

"Alright. Now, listen well. I won't repeat it. There are a few rules. If you break them, you are disqualified. No cheating, no killing and no abusing. A roster for the matches will be displayed here soon. As for the criteria of qualification, you have to win five consecutive matches without losing even one. If you lose, you are disqualified. No refunds even if you lose on the first match. This is everything."

The man explained everything with his bored voice. Upon mentioning the refunds, a few grumbles could be heard in the crowded room but nobody dared to ask him any question.

After waiting for a few seconds, the lazy man left the room. Even after he left, the crowded room remained deathly quiet. It was the first battle for most of them present there. So, everyone cloud not help but be nervous. A nervous atmosphere was present in the room and it also started affecting Jacob a little.

He was slightly confused about the refund thing. Except it, he understood everything that the man said. What refund? We have not paid anything. Jacob nudged fellow young man sitting near him.

"Brother. Can you tell me about the refund thing that he was talking about?" Jacob whispered to him.

"He was talking about not refunding the entrance fee we had to pay in order to take part in the tournament. Five silvers are worth a lot you know. Don't you think they are taking undue advantage of poor people like us?" He finished his piece with a question.

Jacob nodded unconsciously at that with a blank expression. What entrance fee? We have not paid a bronze till now. Jacob kept thinking as he stopped paying attention to the young man sitting beside him.

Soon, the face of a certain fatty came in his mind. It was he who had registered him. Jacob could not help but smile slightly while remembering his chubby face.

After thinking about his for a few seconds, he brought himself back to present and looked around. Now that he looked closely, he could see that many of his competitors were clad in low quality weapons and armors. Most of them were wearing leather armor while armed with a low quality sword or spear.

He also saw one without any kind of armour. He was wearing thick layers of clothing. Jacob was aware that this thick clothing would not protect him from sharp weapon. The armour-less man was clearly hypnotizing himself into believing in something that was not reality in order to calm his mind.

Jacob could also see a couple of competitors that had armaments of comparable quality with his. There were also females present in the room. Their ratio was a bit less than the males. They were occupying one side of the room.

He could see that most of the males were minding their own business. But a few of them were leering at the opposite gender with lustful eyes. Jacob could not help but feel disgust after seeing it. He decided to ignore them for the rest of the tournament.

He started waiting for the matches to start. He was excited as well as a bit nervous. He wanted to show his father the fruit of his hard work.

After about fifteen minutes, the lazy man entered the room with a paper in his hands. The room went deathly silent at that. He quickly attached the paper on the wall and turned towards the crowd.

"The matches will start in about half an hour. Prepare yourselves. If any of you dilly dally after being called, you will be disqualified." After giving the warning, he left again.

This time everyone stood up simultaneously. The males quickly walked toward the rosters to look up their names while the girls kept standing at their place. They were waiting for the men to finish before going there.

The space around the roster quickly became overcrowded. There was not even any place left to step.People started pushing each other in order to make space. Jacob also persisted in the crowd but he did not push anyone. Gradually he came near the list and started looking at it.

It was a name list from letter j to q. His name was at the forefront. The first match was between him and someone also known as Jacob. Thankfully, there are only two Jacobs. Otherwise, it would have turned really confusing. Jacob chuckled inwardly as he came back to sit on his original seat.

He then started waiting for his turn. There were still about twenty minutes remaining. By now, most of the young men had already seen their matches and they were returning to their seats. The girls were starting to move toward the list.

Father. Soon, you will see me in action. I will show you that all the time you invested was not a waste. I will not disappoint you. I will dazzle everyone with your teachings. Jacob tightened his fists excitedly as he thought about his upcoming match.