Chapter 455: The number five  

The all kingdom tournament was a huge event. Usually there would be thousands of visitors, it would attract people far and wide from various kingdoms. However, this wasn't the case today. Nearly all of the stands were filled from those from the Empire.

The Empire had the largest population of people and had strict entry requirements, only those that were invited were allowed in. Due to this and the rising tensions from each of the kingdoms, the Empire felt like it was best for people to stay in their current kingdoms.

Ray and Harry were the first to leave their room ahead of everyone else as they were escorted towards the arena. Picking them up outside of the arena was a fancy large carriage they had never seen before. It looked as if someone had attached the body of multiple carriages together, and in between they had used some strange bendy material.

Once inside the carriage, they could see all of the other contestants already inside, eyeing them up. However there was one person missing. The black haired contestants from the Empire. Only Roki was seen present.

'When the hell did we get on everyone's bad side? Shouldn't the Alure kingdom at least like us or something?' Harry thought.

Even with the extension of the carriage, it was a tight fit inside. Both Harry and Ray had to sit very close to the other contestants. Ray wasn't phased by this and was about to sit down next to one of them, but Harry quickly sandwiched himself in between.

"Why don't I sit here." Harry said, already sitting down next to Savanna. Opposite him was the old man, Jones, the spear user who had done a number on Ray.

The carriage was off and the tension was high, even between the other contestants it seemed like they were no longer casually chatting or joking about. This was because everyone was getting into fight mode. They would no longer be friends if they weren't, as they had to fight seriously with the intention of hurting each other if they wanted to win in that arena.

Jones was staring intensely at Ray, he was trying to size him up. He expected the warrior Nes just like everyone else had. "A king who fights, how interesting." Jones finally said. "But I see no sword, are you not a swordsman?"

"I can use a sword." Ray replied, defensively. "I just feel like you all deserve to be hit personally by my fists."

It was a confident tone of voice, but the others couldn't take it seriously. Very rarely did they see anyone fight with their fists. However, it did remind Roki of something, there was one time he had seen someone fight with their fists.

"Out of interest, why would a king even bother to fight? Do the Redwings seriously have no one skillful enough with a sword that they had to send their king?" Savanna asked.

Harry wasn't liking this, he knew they had seen Nes and they all thought he had come from the Redwings. It was clear that they weren't weak, what they were trying to do right now was taunt Ray.

Maybe they had seen something at the dinner table, how easily Ray was to be angered. When a fighter was angered, surely they performed worse. Not thinking about their movements, making mistakes their opponents could capitalise on.

"Of course we do." Ray said. "Why do you think I brought him along." Ray pointed at Harry. "He is the best swordsman all of Redwings has to offer."

This interested Roki. In a way, if what Ray was saying was true then the warrior named Nes wasn't the best with the sword, but instead the man beside him.

"Is it true?" Roki asked.

Harry's face started to blush with embarrassment. He had never been so in the centre of attention before.

"Well, I mean, I guess it isn't not true." Harry said.

For some reason though, based on Harry's demeanour and words, they just couldn't believe it.

Ray could see their faces in disbelief and he started to chuckle loudly.

"The way I see it, most of you in this carriage should just go home." Ray said.

"What!" Some of them shouted in anger.

Lifting up one hand, Ray pointed all his fingers out.

"There are fourteen people taking part in the all kingdom tournament, but in reality there are only this many people you need to look out for." Ray explained.

Some of them were trying to figure out who he meant. They were confused, but there were a few individuals in that room that understood what he had said, for they had come to the same conclusion as well.

"Oh.." Jones said, leaning back. "It looks like maybe you are one to watch out for after all."

If Jones was correct, two of the five people would be Roki and the other strange man from the Empire. There must be a reason why they were hiding him and he hadn't taken part in the base tournaments. The third person, himself. Out of everyone here, he could sense that he had the most Ki, however there was one more that had the same amount as him.

That was the blonde haired boy by the king's side. If he was to include him, that would be four. Ray himself wasn't giving up, or showing much of his Ki like the others, so Jones hadn't put him on his list, but the fact that he was aware of this, made Ray the fifth person.

Roki had figured this out as well, while the others still sat there confused.

The carriage had come to a stop, it was time to enter the arena.

Outside of the arena, people had started to gather to watch the event. As contestants, they were given free tickets and VIP access so they didn't need to wait with the rest of the people. Still, they passed through everything else like everyone did, and that's when Sylvia and her group had appeared across the arena large screen.

"A betting screen?" Slyvia said seeing odds next to everyone's names.

Looking down the list carefully, there were only two things you could bet on. The overall winner of the all kingdom tournament, and whether or not an individual would win their fight today.

The odds given were strange as the contestants wouldn't know who their opponent was. You would essentially be betting blindly. Looking at the list, it was typical that the empire had given the best odds to their own to Contestants. However, Roki wasn't the one with the best odds; it was a contestant by the name of Sera.

When looking, the lowest odds were given to Ray.

"This is perfect." Kyle said as he rushed off, but he suddenly felt someone pull on the back of his collar, stopping him in his tracks. "Hey what are you doing? Let go!"

"No, no, no." Martha said. "Do you think I don't know about your bad luck? If you go betting on Ray, you'll curse him to lose."

"What do you mean? This is his first opponent we're talking about. This is an easy way to double our money. Look at the odds." Kyle gestured to the screen once more, Ray's odds were 2:1.

"No means no Kyle."

"Fine." He pouted with his arms crossed like a little kid. "But it's okay if I bet, right? If I can't bet on Ray, I'll bet on the other matches."

Martha thought about it for a while, before turning to Sylvia for guidance.

"Here." Sylvia said, placing something heavy and shiny in his hand. "One gold coin. That's your limit." Slyvia said.

"Thank you, thank you." Kyle replied, bowing down and running off to the betting booth.

"You're going to make him an addict you know." Martha warned.

"Oh don't worry. This is coming out of his salary as the black sash master knight. It's good to remind him that he owes me." Sylvia said with a smile.

Sometimes Sylvia seemed a little scary to Martha, with that eyepatch of hers she looked even more intimidating.

At the betting booth, Kyle had a wide grin painted across his face. He had only said to them that he wouldn't bet on Ray, but there was another person he knew well that he was sure was to win his first match as well.

And that was Harry.

"One gold coin on Harry to win his first fight please." Kyle asked, chuckling to himself as his eyes were filled with gold coins.

Getting off the carriage, all of a sudden out of nowhere Harry felt a shiver run down his spine.

"What the hell was that?" Harry thought, "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Ray asked.

"I guess I was just imagining it."

Harry sighed, looking up at the screen displaying his odds.

"I just hope it isn't a sign of what's to come."

******

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