Emilia

The announcer then gave the rundown to the people who had just arrived.

"The rules are simple. These two contestants in the middle will fight until either one surrenders or one is knocked unconscious. Killing is not allowed and will be punished accordingly. Finally don't hold back as the stage is reinforced with a magic barrier to protect the spectators. Who will win? The Ivar the Berserk or the nimble Emilia. One from 'The Chosen' guild. The other from the 'Phantom' guild. Start in 3....2...1..... fight!"

The moment the fight was announced, the contestants started. Ivar took the advantage and charged Emilia with his giant hammer. He aimed straight at Emilia, with a swing powerful enough to shatter a portion of the stage. Emilia with her light footwork merely sidestepped the swing and proceed to launch fast yet effective jabs with her saber. Leon noted as she dodges and countered, it looked almost like she was dancing. Bob, who initially was on the offensive, used his hammer and tough body to block the incoming barrage of attacks.

Ivar confidently arched his back.

"Impressive girl. However, it is not enough! Body of Rock!"

Due to Ivar's magic, his body became as hard as a boulder.

As this was going on, Guild Master Erik stood up and confidently put his hands on his waist.

"HAHAHA! This is your loss, Kyle. Bob's rock body has won him the fight. Even though he is only a low-ranked C Tier, some top-ranked C Tier's have trouble even damaging Bob in this state. You better start coughing up those fifty silver coins!"

The mysterious man next to the Guild Master replied in a calm, but confident voice.

"Hmph, you underestimate my Adventurer. While Ivar may be impressive, you forget my Emilia is considered the best of her generation and a prodigy even in a city as big as Venir. That arrogance of yours will lead to you being robbed of fifty silver."

Ivar took the jabs from Emilia like the sword was only a skinny branch and swung the hammer into where Emilia was standing. Emilia dodged with ease and the strike caused the whole stage to be covered in debris and dust from the strike.

Looking around for his opponent, Ivar was confused about where she went. However Ivar had been an adventure for as long as his opponent had been breathing, he used his countless years as an adventurer to calculate where she was. Full of confidence he swung behind him with full force. To his delight, he indeed hit his opponent. Unfortunately for him, Emilia had deflected the hammer by redirecting the hammer with her rapier. Emilia dashed behind Ivar and dodged the new strike Ivar threw out by jumping into the air.

Kyle was the one to stand up this time. He smugly crossed his arms.

"While his body may be as hard as a boulder, you are forgetting that my Emilia can cut through a rock with ease."

Using her sword skill 'Moon Blade', Emilia slashed five times consecutively so fast that normal people wouldn't be able to see it happen. Full of confidence, Ivar did not block or parry the attack. Unfortunately for him, the strikes dug deep into his chest muscles and made a series of slashes ranging from his chest to his abdominal muscles. Ivar stood still for a second, then proceeded to stagger only to fall flat on his face.

As a bunch of ready healers made their way onto the stage, the announcer jumped with excitement.

"There we go, folks. The winner of the duel and the champion in this year's C Tier and below tournament Emilia from the Phantom Guild."

During the entire match, Leon could only watch Emilia's movements only to be dumbstruck. In fact, the shock of her power and beauty made Leon's jaw go slack. As she

As she walked down the stage, Leon kept staring at her unable to believe what he just saw. At that moment, Emilia just so happened to look in Leon's direction and their eyes met for a brief second. Leon immediately noticed their eyes meeting and looked away in embarrassment as his face started to turn red.

Guild Master Erik laughed and slapped Leon in the back.

"Wasn't that fun! Here Leon I will even introduce you to the champion. Even though she did beat Ivar. Kyle is a good friend so we should at least pay respects to them."

As Leon finally processed what Guild Master Erik said, Leon blushed a little bit at the prospect of meeting her.

Guild Master Erik noticed Leon turning red and gave a sly smile.

"Oooo, someone's plagued with love huh!"

Leon started to protest but just ended up turning even redder.

The Guild Master picked up Leon by the scruff of his worn-out undershirt and proceeded to walk over to Guild Master Kyle and the champion Emilia.

Guild Master Erik yelled. " Kyle. It seems like I really do owe you fifty silvers, but you're just lucky that you had Emilia here as your representative. To be honest, it is a little unfair, I mean she is only officially at the bottom of C Tier, but she already has the combat power to take on a high-ranked C-Tier and maybe even match them in combat."

Grand Master Kyle thought Guild Master Erik was going to use this as an excuse for his loss and smirked.

"Hmph, you are just angry you didn't have the eyes nor the brain to pick up on Emilia and how she ended up in the Phantom guild instead of The Chosen. It really is a shame, maybe your skills are getting worse."

A vein started to bulge on Guild Master Erik's head.

"Really maybe, we should settle this man to man later. One on one. No interruptions and we really see whose skills are getting worse."

Guild Master Kyle simply retorted.

"Hmph, I don't want to destroy part of the city again like last time I agreed to your foolish request, Erik. You should really stop thinking with your muscles, but more with your brain. Anyways, I am afraid I am gonna have to decline. By the way, I have been meaning to ask you this as soon as we started our conversation, but who is that you are carrying with your hand right now?"

Erik put down Leon and saw an opportunity.

"This is Leon. Don't you remember Kyle? He was that tiny kid left behind by Anna and Demetri. I guess you wouldn't recognize him, since your eyesight is getting so bad that you need glasses now."

On Guild Master Kyle's head, a vein started to bulge as well.

"Is that so? It is a shame about Anna and Demetri, to think their son had to go to someone like you. Also, my vision is not the problem here, I have not officially met the kid since he was a toddler. So of course it is natural that I would have no idea what his identity was now. Well since he's here now, I might as well introduce him to Emilia. Emilia here *Kyle moved out of the way to reveal Emilia* is around your age Leon at fifteen. She is officially seen as a bottom-tier C-Tier swordsman, but to be honest her skills should land her towards the top of C-Tier even though she is not seen at the higher echelon of C-Tier."

As Guild Master Kyle's words came to a close, Leon and Emilia both started to start the conversation then stop when they heard the other one talk. Then they did this again countless times, which caused both Guild Masters to laugh. Both Leon and Emilia were both embarrassed and started to turn red. Just as they were both embarrassed, Leon looked up and so did Emilia and in that moment their eyes met for only a split second. However to the both of them, it felt like that second lasted ages.

Guild Master Erik was the first one to break the silence and started to walk away.

"Anyways, Leon here has something urgent he needs to tell me. So if you don't mind, we must take our leave here now."

Both the Guild Masters said their goodbyes and as they left both Leon and Emilia exchanged one last glance at each other before they departed and went their own separate ways.