30 Duel

They only needed to wait for a few minutes and their feast arrived. Looking at the variety of food on the table in front of them all four of them drooled, even the most mannered prince drooled. (Author: *gulp*)

Saito clapped his hand and said, "Itadakimasu!". The three of them looked at him weirdly. The heck was that? Saito then realized that he did it on instinct. He then said, "It's something I learned when I was under training from my master! Its saying "lets the food"".

"Oh....." The three of them said. Then they all started to eat the food. "Sooooooo gooooood!!!!" Minos said with tears in his eyes and food in his mouth.

Vik closed his mouth with his hands and lay his head on the table. "Oii, Vik? You alright?" Saito asked. "I want to savor this taste in my heart! Please wait!" Vik replied.

Saito looked at Herjar and he was even worse! He wasn't even making a small movement! He's like a frozen statue.

Out of everyone, only Saito was normal. Sure the food is delicious but these guys are over reacting. Saito took cut a piece from the meat and put it in his mouth.

1.....

2...

3....

*BOOM*. His mind was blown by the taste! The meat was very tender and juicy with all that spices added and cook at the right heat, THE TASTE WAS HEAVENLY!

It's as if fireworks being blown inside his head, he didn't make a single movement like Herjar and the meat was still in his mouth.

He swallowed the meat and said, "Herjar..... I feel you now...". Herjar came back to reality when he heard that. All of them returned to normal state and started to devour the food.

"Hey try this! This tastes awesome!" Minos gave a portion of his food to Saito and Saito did the same. All four of them ate while exchanging some of their portions with each other.

Saito never tasted such food in his previous life and the other three were eating meat jerky and anything that's edible in the forest for months.

Now tasting this type of food, they almost teared up. "Oh yea, I heard that there is a training ground behind the Guild, wanna go take a look?" Herjar asked while eating.

Minos said, "Sure! Why not? Let's go together!". Vik replied, "Might as well". "If that's what you all want then it's fine by me" Saito said.

They quickly finished their meal and Dory came to their table, "Are you guys done already!? Wow! That's some appetite! Anything else?". Saito looked the three of them and they all shook their heads. "No thanks, we are full and the food was extraordinary! We are really mind blown!" Saito said.

Dory had a prideful look on her face when she said, "Ahem! Well my mom sure is a great cook, isn't she?". They were all stunned. "Wait! Your mom cooked this!?" Minos asked.

Dory was all smile when she heard him. She said, "Yep! This is our Inn so my mom works as the cook while dad is on guard duty". Herjar asked, "So your father works as a city guard?".

She shook her head and said, "He works as a gate guard under commander Bolgan! That's how I heard about your group, he said he saw you guys fight and it was very awesome! I can't believe that a Goblin can fight like that! And Mister Saito was no less than him! Killing a high ranked demon? That's sooooo awesome!" she kinda got pumped up.

Saito then asked, "Is your mom a bunny too?". She looked at him and replied, "Both my mom and dad are from Bunny tribe, they met when they were adventurers and fell in love and so on".

"If I remember correctly, this city doesn't have an Adventurer guild right? Since I never saw any adventurers around, I assume that's the case?" Minos asked. Dory answered, "Well your not wrong, this city is a free neutral city and also a Merchant stop which is why the city developed drastically! Since there are lot of Mercenaries here in this city, Adventurers guild decided not to set up a branch here as Adventurers and Mercenaries don't get along all well.....".

They smiled awkwardly. Well, Mercenaries and Adventurers are both same profession but different jobs(faction). And so they always have arguments like who is better, which always ends up in a fight which develops into a gang fight and then a faction fight. This is why Mercenaries and Adventurers never cross line.

Saito paid the bill, which turned out to be 1 gold coin for that feast! Well they had a ton so why worry?

After paying for the food, they left the Inn and went straight for the guild. When they arrived, there were fewer people than back then. They walked to Layla, who was surprised at their arrival.

"Are you guys here to pick up a request? There might be some suitable requests for you guys on the board" she said. Saito shook his head and said, "No, we are not here for the request, we came here to see the training ground of the guild".

She was surprised when she heard him but nonetheless, she pointed at the door in the back, "If you go through that door then you will reach the training grounds". "Thank You " Saito said and led his group towards the door and opened it.

When they saw the ground, it looked normal and nothing was eye catching. "Combat field and range field, a standard training ground" Herjar said.

"Well, its normal looking and not that flashy" Saito said. Minos giggled and said, "If that's all what you think then you are dead wrong" he then started to chant in low voice and blew at his wand.

The whole ground then became blur and a huge dome appeared in front of them. "Barrier magic!? And you dissuaded it!? Necromancers sure are scary" Herjar said. "Hehehe~ well you are standing in front of a prodigy after all! I have to show off at some point" Minos said.

The Barrier then started to disappear till it finally gone. The field in front of them now looked three times big with more flashy equips on the side and there were a lot of defensive magic circles drawn in the ground and the walls.

"Saito, would you do the honour of being my opponent and have a Duel with me?" Vik suddenly asked with a bow. "Huh? Me? As your opponent? Are you kidding?" Saito said.

Vik shook his head and said, "I'm not joking, I just want to have a match of pure skills, fair and square!". "Come on Saito, don't chicken out and go have a little spar with him! It will be fun to watch anyway" Herjar said from the side.

"Yea I think this should be fun as well! I'll root for both of you guys! Let's see who wins in a match of pure sword skills!" Minos added more wood to the fire. "You joined them too!?" Saito said.

"Duel? Is there a fight going on?"

"Seems like it"

"Hey let's go watch it! It will be fun!"

The Mercenaries nearby heard them and came towards the training ground. Looking at them go towards the training ground, the rest of the Mercenaries followed out of curiosity. Saito and Vik walked to the field while the others sat on the place for audience.

Minos and Herjar took the last row as it was high and they could clearly see that was happening. More and more Mercenaries came to watch the duel. Some were here for the fun while some were here to see the power level of them while the rookies came here to learn a thing or two.

Saito took out his helmet and wore it. Vik on the other hand was already in his leather knight armor and a sword hanging on his waist.

"Just so you know Saito, no other skills! Just a match of pure sword techniques! Whoever loses their weapon or couldn't fight anymore will be announced as lost!" Vik said. Saito replied, "That's fine with me!".

On the audience side, Minos asked, "Wanna bet?". Herjar said without hesitation, "5 gold on Saito". Minos's mouth was hanging. He also said, "Then I place 5 gold on Vik!".

Same thing was going on among the others, "Hey, I bet 6 bronze on that goblin!" a guy said to his friend. "Then I place 6 bronze on the human!" his friend said. "I also place 6 bronze on the goblin, he looks handsome!" a women mage said. *sigh*. "Then I'll place my part on the human" their leader said. "6 on the goblin" another one of their teammate said. Everyone was doing this among themselves.

Vik stood straight with a hand on the sheath. Saito was also standing like that. Even the guild staffs came to watch the duel. "Layla, wanna bet?" a girl asked. "Then 5 silver on Mister Saito" Layla said. "Oh..... So you are not going for Mister handsome then? I'll place 5 silver on the knight then!" the girl said.

"Come on Becky! It's just institution and nothing else!" Layla said with her face blushing. "Institution eh? I wonder why?" Becky teased her. Layla blushed even more and gave Becky a knock on her head.

Saito and Vik stood there without making a move. Their demeanor changed from friends to opponents. Vik's face turned serious with Saito being his opponent. He tried to find an opening in his pose but he couldn't feel any weak spots, which is why he turned serious.

Surprisingly, Rosalia also came to watch the fight since she came to attend some matter with the guild and heard there is a duel between a goblin and a human, she immediately rushed to the ground and saw Saito and Vik facing off each other.

She walked to the audience seat and saw Herjar and Minos at the back so she decided to join them. "Hey, did they have a fight or something?" she asked.

Minos turned to look at who it was and saw that it's Rosalia, so he said, "Nah, it's just s friendly match to test each other's skills, wanna bet?". "2 gold on Knight Vik!" She said without hesitating for a single bit. Minos giggled at her act, it was truly funny and clear that she's fallen for our Goblin Knight prince charming. (Author: bah, fuk him!🖕)

"Oh yea, how much did you guys bet?" she asked out of curiosity. "5 gold on Saito and 5 gold on Vik" Minos said. "Wha-!? That much!? Then I'm also raising! 6 gold on Knight Vik!" Rosalia said decisively.

Herjar asked, "Are you sure that you wanna place that much money on him? I think its a bad idea". "Hmph! I'm sure he will show you who is stronger in the end! Just you watch! He will win!" Rosalia stated. (Author: Girl your falling too much! Get a hold onto something!😂)

Herjar smiled and didn't say anything and looked at the field, talking with someone who's lovestruck is scientifically proved as annoying!

On the field, Vik was still looking for an opening, a real one. Saito purposely let him see tons of opening to pressurize him. When the opponent's mind is thrown in chaos of whether the openings you let were real or trap? He will exhaust his mind a bit so you have a chance to win. (Caution: Do not try this at home! If you get into a fight, just go crazy on their @$$ and show em who's the boss!)

Vik smiled, "So you purposely showed all that opening huh?" he asked. Saito smirked, "Since I was found out, how about coming at me?". Vik drew his sword out and darted at Saito with an unbelievable speed.

Saito was caught off guard but he drew his blade at the right time and blocked it. Sparks flew when the sword and blade clashed against each other.

Both of them smiled at each other. Testing is done, now its time for the real fight!