28 Melvinger Knight Festival (1)
The Melvinger Knight Festival.
This was an event that everyone in Melvinger City looked forward too. Naturally, the poor could only look at envy with those capable of entering the Melvinger Arena, and continued with their mundane life. But the merchants, the artisans, the knights and the soldiers who had access to the inner area or the core area of Melvinger City would either participate, or watch the amazing display of swordsmanship and fighting spirit of warriors who came from different kingdoms.
158 Knights had joined the festival this year. Among them, there were many famous knights who attracted the attention of the public.
John Billing, three times champion and son of the strongest Grand Knight in Melvinger City.
Arthur Jales, two times champion and first heir of the Jales Household, one of the three main noble families residing in the core area.
Last but not least, there was on last famous knight: Grik Al Brak Jakar, a tribal warrior with peak knight cultivation who was known as the 'Lion Slayer'.
George, the young master of the Golden Lion Villa, was relatively unknown to the masses. Although the elite of Melvinger City knew George's magical attainments and alchemical skills, there were very few individuals that knew of George's knight cultivation. Besides a couple of soldiers, Lady Emma and John Billing, the others were oblivious to George's martial attire.
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A day prior to Melvinger Knight Festival
After spending a day in the Billing Household, George had been invited to Lady Emma's antichamber. In the middle of kissing her fervently, act that would cause him the ire of Frederick Billing, a grand knight, George was interrupted by a thought.
"Tomorrow, bet as much gold coins as you can on my victory. Due to the fact that I am relatively unknown, the odds will be in our favour and it should be sufficient to cement your household's position as the most powerful noble family in Melvinger City", he ordered Lady Emma, who nodded fervently.
245 000 Gold Coins. This was the amount that Emma and George had come up with. They agreed to split the benefits with odds 8 to 2, with George receiving 80% of the benefits. Of course, there was a catch. If George lost, then he would have to sign a contract with the Billing Household, requiring him to supply Emma with spiritual potions monthly.
From the Billing Household perspective, it was a golden opportunity to make George theirs, or make a fortune. Since George was unknown, the benefits would be counted in the millions of gold coins, which would be enough to make up for several years' worth of income.
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Knight Melvinger Festival, Arena
The Knight Melvinger Festival was quite simple. In the arena, there were several squares onto the knights would spar against each other. Although killing your opponent was forbidden, injuries were frequent. Some would lose their arms, legs and blood in an attempt to gain glory and monetary rewards.
Most knights fighting in the festival were not here for glory, however, but rather, to be recruited by a noble household. After breaking through and becoming a knight, most knights would reach a plateau where they would not progress further without a superior breathing technique. George was spared this thanks to the fact that he came from knight household, but this was not the case of most knights.
The nobles had a tight leash on knights, because the only way for knights to progress further was to subordinate themselves to noble household. As time went by, nobles accumulated enough knight killing techniques, improved their swordsmanship and breathing techniques to the point that regular, independant knights would stand no chance to a knight affiliated with a noble family.
These knights searching for employers were called Hedge Knights.
After the mayor's speech and several hours of dancers' show, the Melvinger Knight Festival finally began.
*CLANG*
As George's great sword clashed with his opponent's shield, the sound of bones breaking reverbereated throughout the arena. The knight with a shield groaned in pain and retreated several steps from the impact. The sheer force that George had displayed in a casual swing had been enough to damage him, in spite of a perfect parry!
George grinned.
This was the essence of his swordsmanship, of the Optimized Lionheart Swordsmanship.
Great Swords were slower than rapiers and cross swords, but they were many times heavier. The weight, upon impact, would result in far greater destructive power. With his high dexterity, George was by no means slow, and the Great Sword's length allowed him to hit his opponents before they could reach him.
His swordsmanship was simple, but he was a master swordsman. Through feints and footwork, his opponents would lose their head in a single motion if George wanted to kill his opponents. But he had a different goal in this knight festival. This was not a combat. It was a show, a show to assert his dominance in Melvinger City, a show to prove to Melvinger City that the master of the Golden Lion Villa was the strongest knight in the region, a show to acquire reputation.
All of this would serve a single purpose: Creating a business that would allow him to gather enormous amounts of gold coins, magical ingredients and information while residing in Melvinger City.
George had already wasted one and a half month in Melvinger City, and planned to stay in the City of Knights for the next year, since his progress in alchemy, knight cultivation and spiritual force cultivation, had never been so fast. Plus, Frederick Billing, the strongest Grand Knight in Melvinger City, had agreed to train with him for as long as he supplied them with spiritual potions.
With these thoughts in mind, George continued to assert his dominance over his opponents, slowly destroying his defense with blows that did not even contain half of his strength, yet were sufficient in supressing him into a turtle-style swordsmanship with nothing but parries.
*CRACK*
When his iron shield was so dented that George's sword cut through it, embedding itself into the flesh, the public gasped. They had never seen a display of such dominance, from beginning to the end, with such violence.
Soon enough, the public began to cheer on George. However, due to George's violence, many started to bet against him in an attempt to ridicule him.
The odds of his victory were already set 12 to 2.
This meant that George's victory would result in the Billing Household receiving 539 000 gold coins, and he would receive 2 156 000 gold coins. This incredible sum far exceeded anything George had seen in his life. Even with magic crystals, it would be difficult to gather so much mortal wealth.
