THE CHALLENGE

Kalen

It was a resounding success, until it wasn't, the ceremony started the way the usual Don coronations start, it took place at the city square where it stood with its tip in the ground, the trident, Samuel Argus's trident, the symbol name and pride of this city and one thing that all the Don's in the near infinite power could not disrespect, the first Don would be the first on the scene to give a a speech about honour responsibility..... I forget the rest, I never really listened during the few that I've been to all I ever needed, all I've ever needed was the name, face and actions of the Don's in order to live my life without concerns but now I'm standing here while someone else watches my existence with the same mentality I once had, ironic.

Although this time it didn't seem to be the case, part of my duties on this day was to give a speech, one which would describe give people an inside view as to what it was like being me and what to expect when I took power, of course it was scripted can't have a power hungry fool botch this up, truthfully the populace can't really pose a threat a single Arcanum user is worth more than a thousand S-class mercenaries but that won't matter because you'd have to fight your way through his own personal army that usually had the right balance of quality and quantity but it was a whole lot easier if the common people were satisfied.

I took the stage in front of me were a majority of the 3.5 million people that made up this city all looking at me with eyes that expressed great emotion but contrary to what I expected not one of them showed displeasure at my presence, typically there were some enlightened ones who could tell that the countenance of a Don was for show but it didn't seem like anyone here believed that, they all looked at me expectedly with hope in their eyes, since most Don's come from outside the city to challenge the ones here theirs always some tension between them and the citizens due to being foreigners as such I had expected to be recieved better than most since I've lived here most of my life but not to this extent, even in the jam packed space I couldn't fail to spot Felix and Shainne, both were splitting their attention between looking at me and searching for something else but when the noticed I was looking at them they turned to smile at me, Loraine's parents were also among the crowd looking at me with the pride of parents so was Riki the apprentice at the poriin making shop(he probably skipped work again to come to this) Gary my old porter, Mr Desmond my old landlord all people I knew, people who supported me in my darkest hour here to support me again, it gave me the confidence to say my next words but before I could HE spoke up,

"wait, wait, wait a fucking minute"

he was short and round, a man in his late forties, he wore a set of robe that would have been considered lavish if they weren't older than him twice as dirty and half drenched in beer, he stank like a sewer and his clothes were so moth eaten you'd think he took them off a corpse with silver hair that was balding and three out of place brown teeth that shown ever time he heaved from the jog he just did to get from the back of the crowd to the front he was truly a wretched sight but one who had a powerful voice nonetheless, he held in his hand an orb the size of a fist, green with a slight glow in the middle to show it was active, a voice amplification orb, a device used for orating to a large audience, my mind went into overdrive thinking about how he got one but before I could come to a conclusion he began to speak again

"seriously, another child takes the post and the one who slaughtered the last guild in power can't you people see this is getting ridiculous, when are going to stop choosing our leaders like the barbarians of the north and start awarding positions based on capability like civilised people"

the faces of crowd began to shift into thoughtful looks, of course they did, they had just heard the words of Oliver Kibek a fallen noble who spent his days drinking to the better times he had while slumming it with the filthest people in the city but even with the stupidity that led to fall of his house and him being abandoned by his wife and children he was still undoubtedly the greatest orator into the city and a staunch believer in that the rule of Don's has to end.

"I mean look at him all decked up like something special using our own tax money, people this is a murderer, a crazy one at that, one who disregards the laws of this great city in order to do what he pleases, well I won't stand for it Kalen 'no last mame' I challenge you to show not just me but ever one present here while we should let you have total dominion over us"

even before he had started talking the battle maids, the other Don's even Shainne had wanted to attack this man(luckily she was held back by Felix) and shut him up but I stopped them all with a mana guided message, honestly I had never cared about the ranting of this man because unless the current 1st,2nd, and 4rt Don's were removed I knew this city would continue to run smoothly and secondly he was simply a propaganda machine who would spout what ever nonsense he was told for a price which meant this situation was organised by someone, who it was could wait, I didn't want to prove anything to him, I didn't have to this man was an idiot who once drove a great house to ruin it's obvious that what he means by appropriate personnel refers simply to nobles with coin but I had to prove to these people going him, the ones with the expectant faces, faces filled with trust and a smidge of doubt, men and women who needed to know that their futures were secured

"Very well Oliver I accept you're challenge"

as I said this I sensed it the smile of the most likely yet unlikely culprit possible.