39

Everyone present, including Lady Morgan and Frankie, was surprised by Arthur's sudden announcement. Most were baffled that Arthur would take up the challenge but Lady Morgan was mostly worried. She wanted to tell Arthur that he could have just ignored them and she would still award him with the ranking upgrade. However, she was standing too far from him and if she announced that on the stage, it would have created a bigger uproar among the adventurers.

Like water that had been poured out from the bottle, Arthur had already stated his desire to accept the challenge so there was nothing Lady Morgan could do but pray that the young man could rise above the occasion.

Lady Morgan was so invested despite of her lack of confidence in Arthur, was because her job might be on the line depending on the outcome of the match. If Arthur really did falter and got himself kicked out, the responsibility was going to fall on her shoulders when the higher-ups came to question them. She disliked the fact that Arthur had bet her career without her having a say in it, but she had no choice but to be in his camp because it was to her benefit that Arthur appeared victorious.

However, listening to the talks that were rising around her, Lady Morgan couldn't help but feel nervous on Arthur's behalf.

"Did the man really just accept the challenge?"

"He probably thought Frankie will just keel over for due to his special treatment."

"Do you think Frankie will ever do something like that? After all, according to what Lady Morgan said, this is a direct order from the higher-up. Wouldn't Frankie have given them face and surrender the match?"

"I cannot guarantee other people would not do the thing you've mentioned but that will never happen to Frankie. The man will not allow any injustice fly under his eyes much less getting involved in one himself."

"In that case, I am fearful on the new guy's behalf. He sure is unlucky because Frankie is the top scorer in this round of advancement tests."

"Yea, he probably thought Frankie was a common adventurer, not knowing he had selected the toughest opponent in the room. The poor guy..."

Naturally, Arthur heard all these whispering as well thanks to his sensitive hearing. He was shocked that he had challenged the strongest adventurer but at the same time, Arthur was thankful because this would create the dramatic effect that he wanted to cultivate the Echo.

A random nobody that no one had heard about defeating the best of the class? Arthur could imagine the shock on the people's faces and how that would in turn translate into a mature Echo.

Frankie, who was not privy to the whispering of the people around him, just wanted to get this over with. However, his impression of Arthur did improve after the man accepted his challenge. At least Arthur was not like those other young masters who would only hide behind their special privileges.

"Best of luck to you," Frankie said as he took out his weapon of choice, "Let us begin!"

Frankie brandished a pair of daggers. He did not unsheathe them so they were still left in their leather casings. After all, the purpose of the match was not to kill each other but to settle a victor.

Based on Frankie's weapon of choice, Arthur believed his opponent was from the ranger class. In other words, similar to Felicia, he relied on speed but while Felicia was better at long-ranged combat, Frankie seemed like he preferred to get in close and personal.

As if to confirm Arthur's speculation, Frankie launched himself forward at Arthur. The man aimed for Arthur's throat because he wanted the match to end as soon as possible.

Frankie's initial burst of speed did surprise Arthur and he barely survived the attack. He leaned back at the very last minute or else the dagger would have cracked his jaw. That would have knocked him unconscious.

"Not bad," Frankie commented as he prepared to continue his assault.

"Did you see that? The new guy just evaded Frankie's attack!"

"He just got lucky, did you not see how close that was?!"

The crowd was initially in silent agreement of this analysis when one of them said, "...Yes, you might draw it up to luck when it happened once, but how do you explain what is happening before our eyes?"

Like the person had observed, after his first attack, the rest of Frankie's hits were definitely far from landing.

This was because after Arthur had warmed up to the man's speed, he realized Frankie was no faster than the Red Mother. He would have been in big trouble if not for his earlier quest but after facing off with the Red Mother, Arthur managed to weave in and out of Frankie's attacks with ease.

Arthur did not blast Frankie off with his voice instantly because he needed to wet the audience's appetite first. He was building up the scene so that the climax would pay off nicely.

However, Frankie was starting to disappoint Arthur. Other than the initial attack, Frankie showed no sign of even close to harming Arthur and that was starting to bore the audience.

"Do you think Frankie will lose? And why is the man dragging this out? If he is the clear winner, he should have just ended this already. Why is he trying to waste our time?"

"Shush, what do you know! There is a reason why Frankie scored the highest in the tests and that is more than just his speed. Just watch and see."

Arthur heard that and he got his hopes up. At that moment, Frankie slashed his left arm upwards, his dagger cutting a straight line through the air. Arthur leaned backwards, avoiding the attack nicely.

Frankie twirled the dagger in his left arm that was still above Arthur's head. Sensing the movement in his periphery, Arthur moved his gaze upwards. Like a cat going after a red dot, it was human nature to move our eyes to something that suddenly grabbed our attention.

'Why is he twirling the dagger in the middle of the battle?' was the thought that crossed Arthur's mind and his head subconsciously lifted upwards to take a look.

When that happened, Frankie's right hand moved forward to poke at Arthur's ribs. He aimed to crack the man's bone. This was a classic bait-and-switch technique and when Arthur realized he had fallen for a trap, it was already too late for him to evade.

The dagger was too close for comfort. However, it was not too late for Arthur to retaliate. Facing the imminent danger, the young man's lips opened.