[Alkelios’ point of view]

The Ten Swords Tournament was an event organized by King Andarkuzzi Ammerundiel Kor with the purpose of displaying to the foreign ambassadors, especially the Akutan ones, the power and might of the Ten Swords Kingdom. It was meant to prove that this nation still had a word to say in the upcoming United War Front battles.

The best of the best among all those present in this nation were asked to participate, slaves and even tamed monsters were allowed to join as long as they did so in the name of a human citizen. Human Heroes were all considered to be natural second-class citizens since they could neither go out of the country nor enter without the King’s permission.

The first prize was a pile of 15000 gold coins and a wish that could be fulfilled by the might of Ten Swords Kingdom. The second prize was 10000 gold coins plus a no-tax pass for an entire year. The third prize was 5000 gold coins and the right to be named a Knight. There were no consolation prizes for joining and losing, but there were special prizes if the contestants were able to please his Majesty.

The rules of the competition were simple: No killing, but everything else was allowed, including bribing or threatening the opponent to step down from the stage on his or her own. This was meant that hiring mercenaries to clear up the ranks was also a viable strategy.

I entered as a Human Hero citizen, the same way as Kalderan did, but Coshun entered as my slave. The documents proved to be useful in this regard, and the fake slave collar was nothing more than a fashion accessory at this point. The three of us agreed to have a light spar when we met in the arena, but as for the winner of the spar, it remained to be seen.

The coliseum basically had a hidden level under the tribunes. Sturdy columns and metal bars alongside powerful shielding magic made sure that the people inside were not harmed by any misfired attacks. There were staff members and guards who belonged to the coliseums as well as the relatives and friends of the other contestants. The coliseum didn’t guarantee health insurance, so if we happened to get injured in there, we had to rely on the people we knew and brought along to help us reach a healer in time. If you didn’t have anyone to take you there, the staff members here were more than willing to do so for the right amount of coin.

On the surface, this tournament looked like any other that was organized by this country or others on the Human Continent. There were a lot of people who were comparing it with the ones from the Mercenary Guild or the Adventurer Guild. It had a basic structure and method of choosing the opponents, but this was only on the surface. When you walked closer to the slums, you could hear the locals wondering how the nobles planned to rig this tournament as well.

Everyone was aware of the tournament, but not everyone knew what it was actually about. Whether it was a display of power, finding new knights, or maybe even as a form of intimidation for a specific group, all of this was still rather vague. The fact that the King bothered to make this tournament made it even more suspicious, and people were even wondering if this was some sort of political move between the various factions at the palace.

Personally, I felt more inclined to believe it was the latter, but after I learned that there were also foreign political representatives here, I began to think that it might actually be just a form of power display or even an intimidation tactic. What this meant for me was the fact that I could expect some powerful individuals in the late parts of the tournament, maybe even a Breakthrough-er or two. 

We arrived at the coliseum sometime around 8 AM in the morning. After we confirmed our identity as participants in this tournament to the staff, we were guided to the waiting tribune. From here, we had the perfect view of the arena, and we could already see the audience gathering in the tribunes. There was no sign of the King, however, but there were some spots reserved specifically for the nobles, in a VIP area.

There was no one of importance that I recognized, but then again, I wasn’t familiar at all with the nobles who ruled this country. They could show themselves and proclaim to be the greatest Duke in the land, and I still would not know anything about them, but maybe the others did.

“No, there’s no one specific I could name, but they all seem to be local nobles that work in the palace, erm... maybe?” Risha replied.

“I don’t recognize anyone.” Amadeus shook his head and Drumora did the same.

“Don’t look at me, I barely know our own nobles let alone some foreign ones.” Coshun gave his reply as he shrugged.

“I’m not acquainted with the nobility...” Kalderan said.

“There... are a few nobles who work at the Palace, but there are foreign ones as well. The ones on the right are seats reserved for foreign diplomats, while those on the left for the nobles who could afford the overpriced ticket. For example, Duke Castinou, the old man with a long beard who is harassing that young woman. There’s also Beatrice Ludow, the wife of Viscount Ludow, she’s the one who is kissing over there with Baron Bornhard. They are cousins, by the way. Then there’s Sister Yuranda, who is the matriarch of the biggest church here in the capital. She may look like a pious believer, but rumor has it that she doesn’t wear anything under that robe of hers.” Ildea began to tell us who she recognized and who she didn’t.

I was surprised to hear that those two cousins were kissing like that out in the open as if no one could bother them, but I was also surprised that the matriarch of a church spent quite a bit of coin just to get a seat at this tournament. The fact that she was a pervert going around without underwear wasn’t that much of a surprise. If there was a high level of corruption and deviancy among nobles, something like this was absolutely nothing when compared to the skeletons they might be hiding in their closets.

“So, when is the show going to start?” Kalderan asked.

“In an hour at best, but technically, after the King arrived and gave his speech.

“So, a long time for now.” he furrowed his brow and then sat down on a chair.

Just as I said, about an hour or so later, the King finally made his appearance from the tallest tribune. He was an old man with silver hair and weak arms, who wore the most expensive clothes money could buy in this Kingdom. Fur from wild monsters adorned the cape that was covered in all sorts of priceless jewels. He did not wear armor, but he did have a sword attached to this belt. It was an ornamental one, but still a weapon, nonetheless. Unlike Feryumstark, who could make you kneel with just his presence, this human King barely had any presence at all. He felt weak and as fragile as a twig that was about to snap.

“So that’s the Mad King, huh?” Kalderan said while he looked up at him.

“So it seems...” I said.

“Father...” Ildea looked up at him with pain in her eyes.

Because we did not want to be recognized that easily, we were all wearing the long black hooded cloaks that we used when we entered the city. They turned out to be pretty handy, and the mask scared off most of the ruffians who were thinking about robbing us, not like they could have done so in the first place. 

The Ten Swords Tournament was setup in three rounds. The first one was a general selection match with a single 1v1 battle, in which your luck determined the individual you would end up competing against. The second one organized the winners of the first round and led to the selection of sixteen finalists, again, luck determined against who you fought. In the third and final round, they would fight in a pyramid style elimination battle, which would result in a single winner with a second and a third place to follow. 

As my undeniable and incontestable 100 Luck would have it, I ended up being the first one to fight, and my opponent was a Knight from the 5th Division who looked as though he had gone through Hell and back, wearing big heavy plate armor. That man gave me the impression that he was about to burst out of his tightly packed tin can, but the glare he had was that of a mad killer.

When I stepped on the arena, everyone was already expecting me to lose. This Knight was also famous for killing a lot of bandits, or at least that was what everyone in the audience was saying.

“You will die today, weakling!” the Knight declared as he waited for the referee to give the signal to start our battle.

I did not reply to his words, but when the match started, I didn’t bother to pretend to be on the same level as him. I dashed forward and then slammed my knee into his nose, sending him flying out of the arena and into the wall behind him. The Knight was left unconscious after this one strike.

“I guess, he didn’t realize that there are people stronger than bandits out there?” I remarked as I looked at the shocked referee. “Well, did I win or not?” I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah! Yes! The winner is Alkelios Yatagai!” he declared.

I left out my new family name because there was a chance someone was familiar with the Draketerus name. Brekkar was a rather famous general, after all.

As I returned to the others, Coshun asked me “So, have you decided on how to look?”

“Like a Breakthrough-er.” I replied and then showed him a smirk.

“Wise choice!” he nodded.

Too much thinking could indeed be dangerous. When you didn’t know what to do, rather than drown yourself in worry and let your performance drop, it was better to simply grab the devil by the horns and beat some sense into him! Or as the draconians said... let the Breakthrough-er be a Breakthrough-er!

Three battles later, Kalderan was the one to step on the stage and he won rather easily, without even needing to pull out his guns. His opponent was a weak soldier who thought he was far more powerful than he really was. The man jumped unsheathing his sword and immediately made a jump at him, trying to cut his body diagonally. It was a poor slash that was easy to dodge, parry, block, and counterattack. Kalderan chose to take a step to the left and dodge. As the sword swooped past him, he then tightened his punch and slammed it right into the soldier’s gut. The man gasped for air, dropped his sword and then fell on the floor groaning. Without waiting for the soldier to recover, Kalderan gave him a kick and tossed him off the platform. The referee declared him as the winner and that was it.

Four matches later, Coshun’s turn was up. He took off his cloak and then stepped out into the light. Of course, they announced him as my slave, which I still felt uncomfortable about, so I just gave him the ‘order’ to win. His opponent was a Knight with a strong body build. As soon as he saw Coshun, the man declared that through this match, he will prove to his Majesty the King that he has what it takes to fight on the Dragon Continent as a representative of the Ten Swords Kingdom. Everyone cheered for him, and he was happy with all the praise he was showered with, but this didn’t bother us. We already saw this man training when we came to visit the coliseum. His strength was higher than that of the soldier defeated by Kalderan, but in every single aspect, he was far below the top half of the contestants.

As for Coshun, he was far more powerful than your average draconian Royal Knight, let alone a simple human Knight. The moment the battle started, his opponent tried to attack him with all of his might, but the huge two-handed sword he was wielding was stopped by the dragon with his bare hand. With a furrow of his brow, he then pushed it away and punched the man right in his face. The helmet flew off his head as he was tossed out of the arena. That blow knocked him out on the spot. At the very least, he wasn’t killed.

The matches continued, but we weren’t the only ones who were able to take out a contestant in one hit. A lot of the Knights who participated in this competition as well as adventurers who journeyed from far away were also able to easily take out their opponent. The most impressive of them all was probably the Asian man, Zebran Brutus. Well, he looked of Asian descent, but he might have been a native of this planet. It wasn’t as if while traveling we didn’t see people with different skin color or eye shape. In this world, the idea of hating on your species because of a minor difference like that was ridiculous beyond measure, but humans from Earth... well, that might have been a different case altogether. As for the dragons, they simply had bad affinity with other dragons of an opposite scale color and as for the black scales, rather than hated, they were being feared for summoning unholy monstrosities from the depths of Hell.

Anyway, this man, Zebran, he looked like a real beast, but I could also feel a subtle flow of Magic Energy around him. He was strong, but I couldn’t tell exactly how powerful he was. Chances were that this Zebran was a foreign Awakened hired by the Ten Sword Kingdom or maybe a representative of another nation? What I knew for certain was that Ten Sword Kingdom had no Awakened humans.

With so many contestants present, it was natural that there would be a second day of the tournament for this first part. Actually, Kalderan estimated that it might take up to four days to go through all of them. So, after the day was over, we headed back to our inn, where we celebrated our wins with a healthy meal and a good drink. Coshun went to speak with Ildea after seeing her sigh in worry, and I went out to get some fresh air. The night was pretty, and the city was peaceful, or so it seemed.

Not long after I left the inn, I heard some shouts coming from a nearby alley. It was a woman who was being chased down by some masked man. I did what any sane man would do.

“GUARDS! HELP! THERE’S MASKED PERVERT ON THE LOOSE!” and I pointed at the masked man.

Once the woman ran past me, I kicked him in the face. Then, I tied him up and took of his mask. Two guards arrived shortly after, and I handed the ruffian over to them while the woman who was being chased took a moment to calm down. She was really lucky to have met me, but I couldn’t just leave her like that. I would have felt bad, so I offered to treat her to a cup of tea back at the inn.

So much for my night out... I thought.

Once we were there, while waiting for the tea, Ildea and Drumora joined us as well. Risha was in the bathroom, apparently, she ate something bad on the way to the coliseum. Sometimes, street food was a was a bust. The two girls were wearing the cloaks and half-masks that hid their appearance, so the locals didn’t recognize them. We wore the full masks when we were going out, after all, leaving the mouth free was normal if we wanted to eat in disguise. I had no need to wear one anymore because I was already seen in a public place, but they weren’t.

“So, why were you being chased by that masked freak?” I asked after the waitress served our tea.

“That must have been horrible...” Drumora chipped in.

“...” Ildea remained quiet while looking at the lady.

“I... I was being chased by that man... because...” she stopped and took a sip of her tea.

It was still hot.

“Yip! Hot!” she burned her tongue and made a funny face. “Ha~ Fuuu~! Ha~ Fuuu~!” she blew into it to cool it down and then took another sip. “Because he wanted me dead...” she continued.

“Dead, why?” I asked.

“I... I’m her Majesty Queen Vermida Kor’s personal maid.

“What?” I looked in surprise at her, but when I turned my gaze, I saw that Ildea was looking down, her hands clenched on the cloak that covered her legs.

“Why were you out here and not at the palace?” Drumora asked as if it wasn’t something so unexpected to hear that a maid was being chased by an assassin.

Ah, yes... she was a Princess in Akutan, so maybe stuff like this happened from time to time? I wondered.

“Because... No.” she shook her head and then looking up at me said “If I say something, you might be in danger, and I don’t want that to happen to my benefactor. So, please... forget what I just said and... let it be like this. I will go far away and... hide and...” she said as her eyes got all wet from her tears.

When I tried to say something, Ildea pulled my sleeve, and I looked over at her.

“Upstairs.” she whispered.

I nodded back and then told miss personal maid over here “Finish your tea and calm down, we’re going to finish our talk upstairs...” I then pretended to look around “Too many ears over here...”

For the next fifteen minutes or so, none of us said a word. I paid for the tea and then we all headed upstairs to my room instead of theirs. Risha was still groaning from her stomachache. Out of concern, I left her a detoxifying potion together with a diluted [Rotiqus Potion] to help her recover from her turmoil.

Right on cue, the scream of despair of the poor fool who went after her in the bathroom could be heard “OH BY THE GODS, IT STINKS!”

Inside my room, I closed the window and checked outside for any other mysterious masked individuals. When I saw that the coast was clear, I nodded back to Ildea, who was sitting on the other bed, facing the maid.

“Pardon me for being direct, Lady Roshelle Lombark, but what happened to my mother?” the Princess asked as she pulled back her hood.

The moment she showed her face, the maid looked up at her with big eyes and a loud gasp. She was so surprised by this reveal that she started to tear up and tremble. With a quick movement, she got off the bed and knelt in front of her.

With tears in her eyes, Lady Roshelle took Ildea’s hand in her own and bowed her head.

“Your Highness! Is this really you, Princess Ildeanussi? Or are my eyes deceiving me?”

“Yes, Lady Roshelle.” Ildea gently smiled to her and placed her hand on top of hers.

“B-But... w-we were told t-that... The butler r-returned and... without you. We... and her Majesty thought that you...” she said as she was crying rivers of tears.

I let out a sigh and then scratched the back of my head. I wasn’t expecting this scene, to be honest.

“Royalty has only nobles as servants, be them maids or butlers. Very rarely is it that they are of common background. That’s why it’s not that uncommon to see them hold a great amount of loyalty for them.” Drumora whispered to me as she got close.

“Yes, but... Ah, never mind...” I shook my head and then looked back at them.

About five minutes later, after Lady Roshelle calm down, she was ready to tell us what exactly happened to her.

“Ever since the arrival of Askarius Leden, her Majesty noticed that there were some strange changes happening around the Palace. The first was the fact that his Majesty forbade her from sleeping in the same room as her, then there were the changes in the attitude of some of the Knights and servants in the Palace. They were becoming increasingly disrespectful towards her Majesty. Princess, you may have not noticed any of this because her Majesty took extra precautions to shield you from their influence. Only the most loyal among us were allowed to accompany you.”

“That... I noticed as well. The nobles I knew to be the most loyal to my parents were even forbidden from entering the Palace unless they were called for an important manner. I can’t even remember the last time my mother had a tea party with her friends.” Ildea said.

“Can something like this even happen?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Ildea nodded as she looked up at me with eyes that expressed the regret and disappointment she had towards her parent.

“Your Highness, after you left... the Palace started to change for the worse. A lot of the guards were replaced by honorary guards brought over from Akutan by that man, Askarius Leden. They behaved rudely with everyone there and said it was his Majesty’s wish to grant them such freedoms... Some of the maids were even...” she covered her mouth and looked away.

“Killed?” I asked.

“No... that would have been better. They were humiliated in ways that shouldn’t even be named...” she said as she looked at me.

“Well... damn.” I was taken aback by this, or maybe I should have expected it?

“Initially, the maids around her Majesty were not targeted, but this all changed two weeks ago when we found Lady Isabelle’s body near the fountain. Those animals cut her neck and let her bleed to death... Her Majesty said that someone was trying to send her a message. Afterwards... none of the loyal nobles to her Majesty could even get close to the Palace and even all forms of communication with her family were cut. Then... Lady Celine, who heard that her niece was just born, so she wanted to leave the Palace. She went through all of the procedures, but... two days later, they found her body in the back alleys. It wasn’t an easy death...” Lady Roshelle said as she covered her mouth and tried to suppress her tears.

“So, right now... mother was left without maids or allies?” Ildea asked furrowing her brow.

“Yes... There’s only Lady Issulinne and Lady Mirabelle. I pretended to be a bad maid so her Majesty could fire me... That was the plan, at least.” she told us.

“What do you mean? Please, elaborate.”

“Well, your Highness...” she looked up at her “Her Majesty felt that there was something terribly wrong in the Palace, so she tried to make it seem as though she didn’t trust me anymore. This way, if I wasn’t her ally, I could probably avoid the fate of the other maids, however...” she closed her eyes.

“They were going to kill you even if it seemed as though you were her enemy now.” Ildea finished off her sentence.

“Yes.” the maid nodded “If I was to reach home safely, I was to contact her through another maid. If I was to die, however, that would mean that there was no hope for them in the Palace.” she explained.

“So, in other words, you’re saying that not only her Majesty but also her maids are now in mortal danger inside the Palace?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yes. However, at the very least, it’s certain that her Majesty’s life isn’t in danger. The most they can do is to place her in a dungeon, killing her Majesty would stir up both nobles and commoners alike.” she explained.

“Can we ask for the wish granted for the first place in the tournament to be to have a meeting with her Majesty? Something like a tea party or... I don’t know, a ball?” I asked scratching the back of my head “Or should I just rush there and bust her out?”

“Bust her out? What does that mean?” the maid asked in confusion.

“It means to get her out with force if I have to.” I replied and shrugged.

“Heavens, no! That would need an entire army! Where would you find the manpower capable of taking down all of those guards!” Lady Roshelle said in surprise as she covered her mouth with both of her hands.

“I don’t need any of that, I’m already what you humans call Awakened.” I told her with a shrug.

“What? Your Highness, is this man... sane?” she asked the Princess and ignored me completely.

“Yes, and I can attest for his strength. If he says he can do it, he probably can... probably... Can you?” she asked looking back at me.

Narrowing my eyes at her, I then told her “I managed to sneak inside the Queen’s room in the Seyendraugher Palace. Trust me, breaking into this place isn’t that hard for me.” I told her.

“Well, there you have it, Lady Roshelle. This man is a pervert who can sneak inside a royal’s bedroom.” Ildea showed her a smile.

“Exactly! Wait… what? NO! I went there in order to ask for her help with my marriage with Seryanna! And well, she was unconscious, and the King was there, but we had a nice chat and I still managed to get the deal, but the important thing is that I was able to sneak inside a place that’s a hundred times more guarded than that palace!” I declared in one breath.

The last thing I needed was the title ‘Pervert’ on my list.

“I understand, please calm done, Alkelios, I was merely joking.” Ildea said with a soft giggle.

While I almost got labeled as someone who has the hobby of sneaking up inside a royal’s bedchamber, it seemed that this small joke was able to ease up the tension between us. The maid’s eyes didn’t look at me with worry and distrust.

“So, what will it be?” I asked.

Looking up at me, Ildea said “If we are to break mother out of the Palace now, can we guarantee their safety? There’s only so many you can fight against, and we don’t know yet what that man, Askarius Leden, is planning to do with my Kingdom. We should leave that as the last choice after we learned of his plans, but you can use that wish for a chance to get into the Palace. Then and only then should we attempt something as dangerous as rescuing mother.”

“Hm, you are basing this plan on the premise that they won’t harm her at all... Are you sure about that?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. Mother is a Queen. She is more valuable alive than dead.” she told me with a nod.

I wanted to remind her that the Akutan Empire, right now, like all of the other countries on this continent, was influenced heavily by the Human Heroes, so it wouldn’t be so strange for this ambassador not see it the same way.

It was quite possible, in fact, that for Akutan, the idea of letting either the King or Queen alive was nothing more than a bad joke. However, right now, Ildea didn’t need me step on her last piece of hope of seeing her mother again alive and well. So, I kept my mouth shut and hoped, just like her, that the Queen wasn’t going to become the sacrifice of a politician’s greed.

“So, the plan is to continue our battles in the tournament as if nothing happened?” I asked.

“Yes.” Ildea nodded.

“Alright, but...” I looked her right in the eyes “If, at any moment, you think that going this way doesn’t work anymore, just call out to me, and I’m going to show you what a true Breakthrough-er Human Hero can do!” I showed her a smile and gave her a thumbs up.

“I definitely will!” she replied with a smile.