Drawing Lots

A month had passed—the preliminary rounds had come to an end, and during this time, Ayla had gone to the ring daily, fought until no one challenged her, and left, sometimes even going to another ring. She could've been in the ring for longer, but all those she had fought were easily defeated by her physical strength.

The sun had just risen an hour ago and Ayla, who wore her black kimono with her katana held within her obi, stood in front of the Genjo Dojo, looking at the large signboard in front of her that showed the ranking list of the top 32 warriors.

This was her first time looking at the rankings.

'Third, huh.' Ayla's expression was indifferent.

The rankings were as follows:

— 1st place: Minamoto no Tokiwa

136 gold, 4 silver

— 2nd place: Toru Wakahisa

102 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze

— 3rd place: Ayla

97 gold, 3 silver, 6 bronze

— 4th place: Tomeo Shizuka

74 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze

…

— 8th place: Minamoto no Mitsusue

44 gold, 7 silver, 13 bronze

…

— 16th place: Teijo Nakano

17 gold, 23 silver

…

— 32nd place: Toyo Yoshida

6 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze

She could've been in first place without much difficulty, but having easily beaten everything she faced with her physical strength bored her, as they were just like punching bags that would be turned into pieces if she had used her full strength. Another reason was that she didn't care about such things as fame—she came to participate in this competition for two reasons only: the first was to kill Minamoto no Yoritomo, and the second was to enjoy the competition.

After checking the ranking list, Ayla walked up to the gate of the Genji Dojo.

"Stop, this is the Genji Dojo! You cannot enter without permission!" Ayla was blocked from going forward by two Genji samurai.

"Peoria Valley, Ayla, has come to draw lots for the tournament."

"What?" The two samurai were a little taken aback when they saw the woman in the black kimono. Why did this woman arrive alone when the other top 32 competitors came in groups and put on such a show?

"Show us your bronze identity token, please."

Naturally, this was referring to the first bronze token she had been given when she had first challenged the ring, and arcane arts had been used to inscribe it with special information.

When the samurai inspected the bronze token that Ayla had taken out, a spiritual transmission reached his consciousness through his hand. He nodded, "Confirmed, Miss Ayla, please come inside."

She took back the bronze token after the man handed it to her, and entered the Genji Dojo, making her way to the main hall in front of the dojo, where the drawling ceremony would take place.

When she arrived at the open square that was next to the main hall, she found a lot of people gathered in groups. To others, these people had decent strength, but in the eyes of Ayla, they were no different than squirmy worms. They were the attendants and followers of the experts participating in the tournament.

She walked to the other side of the open square and arrived at the entrance to the main hall, where the other competitors stood. They were mostly young, with some being middle-aged warriors.

'The samurai maintaining order are much stronger than the majority of the ones who are competing in this tournament.' Ayla sighed in her heart.

The top 32 competitors could only enter the main hall, where the lots would be chosen, and Ayla entered the hall after once more verifying her identity.

As soon as she entered the main hall, Ayla felt many sharp gazes constantly sweeping over her from the shadows. Here, there were dozens of experts from various famous clans across the continent, but neither their glares nor their backgrounds changed Ayla's indifferent expression.

The ones who saw the indifference in her expression of Ayla's assumed she was arrogant and wanted to teach this woman what true strength was, especially for some of the men who had two goals: first to teach this woman not to be arrogant in front of others and second to play with her.

They all knew it was not the time to fight, so they didn't take any action against this arrogant woman as they were anticipating the next round to begin.

Soon, the thirty competitors who made it to the next round had all gathered. At this time, a group of samurai and ministers entered the main hall.

"All competitors, pay attention—the Warrior Tournament's draw for the next round has just begun. The lottery will select the order in which the thirty-two competitors will fight off in the next round, with the victors moving on to the next round until the top four are chosen. The semi-final matches between the top four will then take place on the third day of the competition, with the finals taking place on the fourth day." A blue-robed judge in the front said.

"Lord Minamoto no Yoritomo and Lord Minamoto no Yoshitada have arrived..."