A Bug In Fate

The screen changed once again, showing the names of the six remaining participants. The two dots moved across the screen again before finally stopping at two names.

A silence descended upon the arena as everyone’s eyes locked onto the screen.

"Marcus vs Amon."

The entire arena trembled as everyone shouted at the same time. This time, the cheers were even louder, and there was a specific reason for it.

Or rather, a specific person.

Everyone’s eyes settled on the two participants.

"Marcus!"

"Amon!"

"REDMONT CITY!"

"Marcus!"

"We are with you!"

"RAVENHOLD!"

"We don’t know you, but you must defeat that Marcus guy!"

Surprisingly, most of the people were cheering for Amon, even though they knew almost nothing about him. Besides the people from Ravenhold, citizens from the other cities were also cheering for him, even though most of them hadn’t placed any bets on him.

Meanwhile, the eight remaining participants, including Liam and Lucas, who had already won their duels, couldn’t help but chuckle when they saw the two becoming opponents not long after shaking hands.

Elara glanced between them before looking at Mina, and a light of amusement flickered in her eyes.

"It seems fate is deciding something," she said.

But unknown to her, the man she was talking about wasn’t even within fate’s range. He was completely outside its influence.

The others beside her chuckled as well, while Marcus looked confused.

Amon could feel that there seemed to be some misunderstanding, but he didn’t address it since it didn’t really matter.

After all, once the tournament was over, he was going to leave Ravenhold anyway.

Amon simply shook his head and began following Marcus, who was already walking toward the centre of the battlefield.

While Amon and Marcus were walking toward the battlefield, inside a luxurious room above the arena, five people were sitting together and chatting among themselves.

The room had a clear view of the battlefield below through the large glass windows, and the atmosphere seemed peaceful and relaxed.

But everyone in the room knew that it was only an act.

They were the rulers of the five cities and the heads of five lower-ranked noble families.

They had been given the title of Baron because of the cities and villages under their control.

The empire was vast, spreading across the entire Northern Continent. There were one hundred and thirty-three cities and countless villages under its rule.

Managing such a massive territory required countless people, which was where these nobles came in.

In simple terms, they were managers given the title of Baron.

Above them were the Marquis and Dukes, who were the true powerhouses of the empire.

And despite sitting together peacefully right now, every person in that room knew exactly what the others represented.

"Hoho, that’s an interesting matchup..." a woman chuckled. "Who do you think will win?"

"What’s there to think about?" a man said, narrowing his eyes. "The real question is, where did he come from, and why is he here?"

He was the ruler of Grayhaven City.

"You’re right... that young man definitely has some kind of special ability, because one can’t use their affinity before breaking through to the Metamorphosis Realm," another man said thoughtfully.

He was the ruler of Redmont City.

"You don’t have to be so indirect when we can simply ask the man sitting here. After all, he said that boy was from Ravenhold, remember?"

Another man joined in with a smile on his face while hiding his hostility.

He was the ruler of Blackwood City and the father of the young master whom Amon had humiliated.

He gestured toward another man in the room, who calmly put down his glass of wine before smiling.

He was the ruler of Ravenhold, the city where the tournament was currently taking place.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," he said with a smile.

"Stop this act. That man is participating under Ravenhold, and you’re saying you don’t know him?" The head of the Blackwood family became irritated.

"Are you perhaps jealous that I have someone with a special power in my city?" the man replied with a smile.

But inside, his thoughts were completely different.

*...Where did this guy come from? And why did he appear at this timing? Haha... even though I don’t know anything about him, I can’t let them know that.*

He was screaming inside, but he had already decided to keep pretending. He could ask the boy himself later. Until then, he just had to maintain this act, and no one would know the truth.

It was the perfect example of fake it till you make it.

The others in the room narrowed their eyes at his answer, but eventually shook their heads.

It seemed the ruler of Ravenhold had no intention of revealing anything about the mysterious blue-haired young man.

"Why are you hiding it? Don’t tell me that boy is actually your illegitimate child with your maid... oh my." The woman who had started the topic chuckled. She was the ruler of Grayhaven City and also Elara’s mother.

"My Elara isn’t engaged, you know?" she added with a smile.

The others in the room weren’t surprised, as this was exactly what they had expected. The woman was clearly hinting at a marriage after seeing that the boy possessed a special ability.

"He isn’t my child, nor do I have any relationship with my servant, unlike this man," the ruler of Ravenhold said while glancing toward the head of the Blackthorn family.

"Nonsense... you’re just trying to distract us from the topic," the man said, barely holding back his irritation.

The head of the Ashcroft family, and in other words, Ravenhold’s ruler, smiled at his reaction as a glint passed through his eyes.

"I can’t tell you because I’m afraid you’ll send an assassin after that boy, just like you did with one of my representatives," he said.

"What?"

"Is that true?"

"Yes... apparently, his son was humiliated inside the city’s library in front of a whole crowd, and the one who did it was one of our representatives, who has now gone missing," the head of the Ashcroft family said, remembering that his son Lucian had mentioned three representatives, not two.

The others in the room didn’t focus on the matter of the missing representative. Instead, their attention was caught by something they considered far more amusing.

"Hahaha!"

"Did it actually happen inside a library? Hahaha!"

What a typical group of nobles. They were always looking for something to laugh about and some way to lower another family, regardless of whether they themselves were merely serving someone above them.

The head of the Blackthorn family wasn’t just feeling humiliated and embarrassed, but also angry.

Angry at his son, whom he had sent to spy on Ravenhold, not to end up disgracing their family’s name.

The man was fuming, but he was a noble regardless of his rank, so he hid his emotions behind a smile.

"Haha... so you found out, huh? So what are you going to do? His fate was decided the moment he tried to disgrace the Blackthorn family’s name."

Yes, the man chose to accept the allegations because his entire family’s reputation was on the line.

*...Even though we haven’t killed him because we can’t find him yet, it doesn’t matter. It’s going to happen anyway.*

What an irony. Truly, nobles and their mind games.

Two noblemen inside the same room were pretending for the sake of their family’s reputation.

And the fact that both of them were lying about the same man was just the cherry on top.

Seeing the scene, one couldn’t help but wonder: if a lower-ranked noble family had this much drama, then what about the higher-ranked ones?

And what about the royal family that governed this entire continent?

Surely the Emperor had multiple wives and countless children... right?

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