~ Chapter 127: Rumors, laws, and a target ~
[Alkelios’ point of view]
Today, although we arrived at the coliseum earlier than we did yesterday, the first match began about an hour later. Since the people of this kingdom did not use a device or something to accurately measure time, the best thing anyone could do was to guess and hope that they arrived at the coliseum before the King of Ten Swords Kingdom. It was only with his blessing that the first match could begin.
Everyone already knew their order and against whom they were going to fight. Then, as soon as they were given the go, they charged at each other and fought until only one of them was left standing.
There were no deaths during this part of the tournament, but the fights were far more intense, with some of them even going so far as to take it as a show of some sort. There was an adventurer who promised to get married if he won that fight and then lost miserably. His opponent shouted something about being a 50-years-old man who had yet to taste the sweet fruit of a woman’s embrace.
That was a pitiful sight to behold, but I couldn’t really say that his opponent deserved that extra kick in the stomach at the end. While the adventurer did make a strange claim, it wasn’t ridiculous in the slightest. He was young, full of energy, and eager for the future, while on the other hand, the old man was probably someone who didn’t dare get out of the mold that made him live the life of a single man. There were plenty of women out there, he just had to go out and find them. One of them was sure to love him back and even wed him, but maybe I was overestimating his mental ability.
Until the second part of this competition, I could even completely skip out coming here and wasting my time watching the fights. There was no one who could be considered as a possible threat to me or my companions. However, just like me, there was someone else who came to this place and carefully watched the fights. That man was Zeberan Brutus, who won in an overwhelming way against his opponent in the first round.
The thing was, that right now, after I heard what Lady Roshelle had to say regarding the situation in the Palace, I felt more and more as though there were some individuals in this tournament who were brought over by Akutan specifically to interfere with the state of affairs in the Ten Swords Kingdom or even go so much as cause a coup d’état that would leave the nation defenseless against foreign attacks.
While I was not the best at politics, I was still a Duke and at the very least had a minimum understanding of how fragile the balance of power could be at any time. A single adventurer could rise from a commoner to the ranks of nobility and through effort, perseverance, and a good amount of piled up achievements could, in theory, even end up married with someone from the Royal Family. This was called a power stabilizing move, and it was often employed by the noble families in order to make sure that they didn’t have another front to worry about during a possible hostile relationship with a fellow noble family.
In other words, rather than have the Princess marry a man from an already established noble family, it was better to have her get wed with a neutral party that posed no significant threat to either faction.
In Albeyater’s case, the dragons and dragonesses who were married off actually found lovers across the border, hence why there was no bad blood between them. On the other hand, human noble families were tossing their children left and right like coins at a marketplace. The women were pampered and polished to show off their beauty, while the men were raised to be leaders or knights who could protect the family’s interests.
Thanks to my companions, I was able to learn those tiny details about their society. Akutan, according to Drumora, was no better than a slave market when it came to the second and third daughters of the family. A noble was entitled to several concubines with one main wife. The same went for the other Kingdoms.
Polygamy and polyandry were not something uncommon in this world, it was the opposite, actually. People saw it as weird to remain loyal only to a single wife or husband. If you had the power and authority, then why not use it to leave more children behind? Especially if there was a chance for the wife to die after she gave birth or due to some accident. Bandits and monster attacks were not out of the question either, as there were always traces of a tragedy on the side of the road no matter where you went.
Basically, this world was far too dangerous, and the risk of death lurked at every corner, therefore, having multiple wives or husbands was a given to increase your family’s chances of survival. According to Kalderan, this was no different to how the human society was before Industrial Revolution, but he was more of the belief that such concerns started to vanish much later, after World War I ended, with the chain reaction of abolished monarchies.
When we were not at the coliseum to watch over the fights, we were either back at the inn or exploring the city, observing how the locals were living and if we happened to be in the neighborhood, listen in on the rumors regarding the situation at the palace. Gossip was the favorite past time of both the young and the old, no matter the world or level of technology. It felt as if there was someone talking at almost every corner of the street, and thanks to my Luck, most of them were nobles with loose tongues and a connection of sorts to the Palace.
For example, there was a recent law regarding the taxes that were applied on the Human Heroes, which allowed nobles above Viscount rank to enslave one if they were overdue for more than two weeks. There was also a law that aided this new one, which made it difficult for the Human Heroes to find a good job when they were in border cities because legitimate work required the approval of a territorial official. Similar to how on Earth, your company had to register you with the government as being one of their workers. Depending on the situation, however, the Local Lord could declare who had the right to get what sort of job, and this where bribes and corruption became relevant.
In other words, it was a tough time to live in as a Human Hero. There were tons of laws, which through extension affected the local citizens as well. The Human Heroes were powerhouses that could fight some of the most powerful monsters out there, so if they felt like they couldn’t earn enough money in some locations, they would rather not go there, which made it difficult for native adventurers and soldiers to fight back.
For merchants and entertainers, things were even more troublesome as it was increasingly difficult to make business. Some of the greedy nobles were also thinking about trying to make it so that no one except for those appointed by them could get into these types of businesses. They wanted to control who had the talent to be a merchant and who didn’t. The same was for entertainers, considering that singing and dancing were talents only for the nobility.
Of course, not everyone was like this and there were quite a lot of individuals, nobles of all ranks, who were against these new policies and vehemently fought against them whenever they had the chance to do so. The King, however, did not listen to them but rather the ones who came up with them and tried to use his authority and power to gain some sort of personal benefit. These nobles were few, but they were not alone. There was a vast majority of commoners who were on their side, however, it wasn’t as if the loyalists of the crown weren’t aware of these subtle hints at a possible rebellion. They knew everyone who might end up turning their blade against his Majesty, but as long as they didn’t dare to snarl back, they were nothing more than dogs that got kicked once or twice by accident, angry but not willing to bite the hand that fed them.
Her Majesty the Queen was not left out of the rumors either. She was the one I wanted to know more about, and the opportunity was given to me quite often. The Queen was apparently a woman with a long line of nobility that could be traced back all the way to the Akutan Empire’s Foundation Age. She was a kind woman, and many believed that she was troubled by all those nasty nobles who were vile and corrupt. This was apparently true as I happened to hear some of them cursing the fact that the guards were not letting them anywhere near her despite the Queen not having absolutely no spec of power in the palace. The Queen was also someone who did not approve the recent changes made to the laws. She thought they would end up discouraging progression and only lead to an unhappy population.
One of the nobles I listened in on was cursing about the Queen having the guts to talk back to him during a meeting. She was not even called to that meeting but because she heard that the nobles were thinking about increasing the grain tax, she had to make an appearance. The Queen’s explanations were so convincing that by the end of the meeting, instead of raising the tax to 34% as they initially planned, they had to lower it by 10%. The grain tax was now at 20%, after the initial 50% that was given to the local Lord. It was not such a terrible situation for the nobles who would have profited from this, but at least there was enough room to breathe for those working in the fields. However, even this battle won by the Queen was considered by many to be far too little and far too late.
Foreign politics was a subject of conversation that made conversation awkward, but among two drunk nobles, it was a subject of leisure. I happened to listen in on two of them who were talking about the possible annexation of the Ten Swords Kingdom to the Akutan Empire. With so many troops of that nation present here, it was obvious what the higher ups were planning, however, neither the King nor the Queen gave any sign of this happening. They were suspecting, however, the Akutan Ambassador who was acting more like a Prime Minister around his Majesty. He even had his own personal room and office in the palace, unlike the other ambassadors who were only allowed to have simple room.
Still, all of these nobles, instead of fearing a possible attack from the Akutan Empire, they were pleased with the possibility of letting it just... happen. They weren’t loyal to this Kingdom, and they were thinking about what they would gain if they showed their appreciation of that big nation from an early time. This was why a lot of them were looking at the Ten Swords Kingdom like they would at a dying nation and saw the Akutan Ambassador as a messiah that would help them rise from their miserable situation.
The tournament moved to the second part on the fourth day, and with every battle that took place, we were getting closer and closer to our goal. We watched from the tribunes as the warriors and mages of all sizes were doing their best in an attempt to reach the third part of the tournament.
My first battle was an easy one where I had to fight against a big brute of an adventurer who proclaimed himself to be the best on the Four Plains and the wisest among the Three Mountains. I honestly had no idea what he was talking about, but his skill could have been considered as decent, at least when compared to that of the other contestants here. Normally, if he did not fight me, he could have reached the last part of the tournament, maybe even snatch a spot among the top 10.
Kalderan and Coshun were not too concerned about their opponents either as they seemingly had an easy time dealing with them. Well, that was my opinion, at least, the announcer called it a beautiful long fight that had both fighters on edge. What really happened though was that they both ended up testing their skills and abilities against their opponents. Kalderan fought against a weird lady who used a whip, while Coshun faced off against a thief who could turn himself partially invisible, making it difficult to follow his movement and predict where he was going to strike. Risha was concerned for a moment that the two were going to be defeated, while lady Roshelle did not seem to be that worried about our battles, she was trying her best to take care of the princess.
With the maid acting like this, I was beginning to get worried that someone could end up recognizing one of them and then have it reported to the King. This continued to be an increasing possibility the more we stayed in this city and the more attention we pulled towards us by winning these battles in this tournament.
When my time came to step up on the arena, it was already late in the evening on the fifth day. I was to fight against someone who wielded what I could only describe as black magic. He was summoning skeletons and even speaking in some weird language that I couldn’t pick heads or tails from. He was powerful, but not so much when you understood the basics of fighting against a summoner. I just had to focus my attacks on him instead of his summoned creatures, unless of course he called out something really powerful.
Instead of going against him like a smart man, I went against him like a caveman and simply smashed with my fists each and everything he tossed at me whether it was a monster or a magic spell. Those attacks were more than enough to deal with the likes of him. By the time I reached him, he was shivering in his boots and fumbling his words. With a single slap, I sent him flying off the stage and then I was proclaimed the winner of this battle.
Once all three of us were done with our battles, we returned to the others in the tribunes and waited for the second part of the tournament to end. There were plenty of fighters who made a name for themselves today, but that Zeberan Brutus was something else. He simply rushed through his opponents without showing them even one shred of mercy. This time, he was faced with a woman warrior who dual-wielded two-handed swords. When the battle started, it seemed as though she was gaining ground, since all Zeberan did was to dodge her blows, but then, that man spoke just one words and ended the battle by slicing off both of her arms.
That word was: “Pathetic.”
Upon seeing this sort of brutality, Roshelle looked away, while I furrowed my brow at him. This was supposed to be a friendly competition in which no one saw any need to cripple their opponents like this. It was at this moment when I felt that something was very off about him, and I made myself a promise that if I were to end up going against him in this tournament, I would make sure to let him experience what overwhelming might meant.