The Stonehearted Knight
Chapter 381: The pre-competition Challengers (4)

Chapter 381: The pre-competition Challengers (4)

Trid Seachurn was a tall, lean man whose eyes seemed distant. As far as Hex could tell, his tanned skin seemed to have hardened over time. His sandy brown hair stuck to his scalp like seaweed and appeared dry and messy.

He wore blue pants that ended in leathery flip flops and a buttonless shirt that he held together to the front by tying a thick rope around his middle. On his head he had a similar rope with an emblem of a sea wave in the middle of his forehead.

Trid was flanked by similarly dressed men and women – the open shirt of the women elicited cat calls from few spectators but the women walked without paying them any heed – and walked to the battle platform.

Their appearance had halted all the other battles. People scurried away when Trid walked toward the battle platform toward the center of the arena. A servant, one clad with a jacket above his servant uniform, hurried toward the platform.

"What is happening?"

Quid voiced the thought going in the head of everyone.

Hex saw Trid lean over to say something to the servant that joined him at the center. He focused his energy on his ears. His base level abilities to hear exceeded the auditory faculties of Enlightened Knights. Further enhancements helped him hear things as if they were whispered to him.

"I am waiting for Coralaine Whitesand. She has challenged me to a duel. I am here, she isn’t. Announce it. I don’t intend to waste my time."

"Who is Coralaine?" Hex asked, confused. He hadn’t seen the name on the list. According to the rules, anyone could challenge anyone. The list was ranked according to the number of battles and win percentage. The people in the top all had battled at least forty times and maintained a win rate of a hundred percent.

Hex had assumed that the top ten wouldn’t accept a challenge just from anyone at this point. It would be a hassle. A top ten spot after forty battles was respected. A match with any of the ten would attract attention beyond the average number of spectators. Even if a challenger lost, they would enjoy a brief moment of fame. If the top ten humored all the challengers, even if they won each and every challenge, they would end up fatigued even before the real competition began.

"Coralaine? He is going to battle her?" Sterling asked from the side. He didn’t only know her name, he also appeared to know something else. He was too excited otherwise.

"The Seachurn family is the ruler of Sunken Isle. The Whitesand family rules the White Isle. The distance between these two Isles is not even a hundred meters. There are people on both sides that even claim that they are one Isle with some water in between. Anyhow, due to their closeness and equal reliance on the sea around them to survive, plenty of conflicts have broken out between them over the years. Trid and Coraline are both the second childs of their respective families in the current line to the throne. I bet they wish to use this battle to defeat a lifelong enemy and increase their own prestige. After all, both families have a custom that restricts the number of years a ruler can sit as the leader."

Sterling wasn’t the only one who knew about the bad blood between the families. As soon as the announcement was made, all the servants overseeing the betting were called upon for their services. Not only that, people had sent word out about the battle about to happen. Suddenly, people started to flow in.

Hex noticed several people he had seen on the plaza mixed between the spectators. It made sense. None of these spies wished to miss the chance. They wanted to learn as much as possible about them to earn the most out of it.

’Perhaps I can use this to my advantage too,’ Hex mused. The presence of the spies had given him an idea to earn coins. He had none, but needed plenty.

’I am barely done with the first step of the Divine Body of Dragon Phoenix. The first step is the easiest. With some luck I pushed myself across the step. But each step becomes harder and harder to pass. The baron warned in his notes about the stringent requirements of resources to complete each step. I haven’t seen the resources I need anywhere so far but I am convinced I will find them here. But the cost. The cost might...no, it will exceed anything I can afford.’

"You sure are in a hurry to leave, Turd."

A loud but pleasant sound washed over the crowd, silencing most of them. Only the voice remained, mesmerizing the spectators.

Hex shook his head at the sight of the blank stares. The majority had fallen victim to the ability used by the newcomer. He took note of the people who resisted and who remained unaffected. There was a difference between the two but both indicated people who were above the average.

His group, to his surprise, had no one who was affected even in the slightest. Some he had expected to resist, such as Sterling and Gronke, but the twins and others did surprise him.

"She is here." Sterling pointed at the entrance at the other side of the arena.

"Damn. She is hot!" Quid exclaimed when he laid his eyes on the lady entering through the door on that side, earning him a few snorts from the ladies in their group.

Hex remained silent. But he agreed with Quid. She was...hot. And that was saying something as his senses picked up the presence of a dense amount of Water element in her.

Coralaine was tall and slender. Her cyan-colored wavy hair swayed gently as she walked at a leisure speed toward the battle platform. She wore a long skirt with cyan frills that swept the floor behind her. On the front it was open in a ’V’ shape, revealing her tall, slender, fair legs up to her mid thighs. The frills on the wide belt on her hips covered the front. The only other thing she wore was a light brown bralette with long slitted, transparent sleeves.

He heard the ladies around him murmur something about being dressed ’slutty’ and ’why wear something at all’ but his focus, after having noted the different clothes, was on her power. He was shocked to receive a feeling of danger from another Refined Knight.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.