4 ch.4 The tournament.

Silica hugged him as he left. She waved as he headed through the door. It was the day of the contest. Dozens of knights would wage one on one fights to see who the strongest were. He was fighting in this contest.

He was not as arogant as to think he would win easily. He would be going against the toughest of the village and the surrounding towns. And with his leg he will have to be carefull.

The prize, money and a chance to serve as a personal guard of the duke. Such a thing would get the three of them out of the slums. Just thinking of the life the three would have, streagthned his resolve.

He headed to the market, that's where the colisium wad. It was the town's most popular place. It staged games, battles, and races. He was able to sneak in once and see a fight. They were given speatial clothes that would determin where someone was hit. That's how they would tell if there had been a fatal hit.

He headed, to the back office, that's were people signed up for the games. As he reached the line he noticed all types of people . A couple people with same build as he. A lot of guys were way bigger than him as well. The ones who stood out the most were the nobles.

The nobles were the sons of powerful people. Their armour was nice, shiny, and new. They held swords with jewels in their guards and hilts. Flashy but utterly useles. But he was sure they have had training.

Elias had trained himself, sneaking into guard camps and watching them train. He evan managed to gain a couple of words from an old knight during one of his inn visits. Though he was self trained, his form was still quiet good. His training came from experience. To gain money he took on bounties. He has taken down multiple bandit leaders. He even sparred one of them because he wasn't all that bad.

His sword was nothing but a market valued weapon. He also carried a knife he would use to surprise defenders. He has trained himself to use both at the same time. This was a skill he picked up from a dream of his.

And as far as armour went he has always used light leather armour. It covers his chest and back. Although It was relitivle weak he has reinforced vital ponts to avoid major injury. The reinforcements added were made of scrapmeatal that the high end blacksmiths threw out. He has only been injured while on the job twice, both were non life threatining. Silica and Scarlet had other thought, they were the reason he reinforced his armour.

As he inched his way in line he heard large lumbering steps behind him. As he turned he saw a big brute of a man standing a head above him and two more men wide. A mountain of metal and mucles. The man who noticed Elias looking at him and smiled a hearty grin.

"The names Agustus, Sir Agustus," the voice of the man was cherful and deep. In fact it was one of the most humble voices Elias heard. It caused him to smile.

"Good morning Sir, the names Elias," He said trying hard to match the cheery disposition of the knight.

Agustus let out a deep laugh, "Well met lad. So you came to show your metal eh. Har Har, we need more younglings like you," he belowed as he slapped Elias's arm.

They both inched forward. As they did they continued to talk.

"Lad, is this your first time? If it is, I need to tell you that This year is a little different," Agustus looked at Elias with carfully going down his gear.

"How so sir?"

"For one there is a new challenge. They will summon demonic beast near the level of the challenger. This will be the first test," he inched forward, a smirk on his face.

"Is that so," although Elias was surprised he has fought enough bemonic beast in the wild to know their kind well.

The knight looked down and slapped his shoulder a second time.

"Don't worry kid, it only matches the level the circle magic detects you at. For instance, I am about the 10th level. So a lion beast of lizard monster will be summond, and for you. Well let's see a wolf, or a flying creature for you."

As he explained the person in front of them had finished their registration.

"It seems I lost track of time. I'll meet you in there, I might evan find you on the battle field." The man extended his hand. Elias shaked it saying, "I look forward to crossing blades."