CHAPTER 56: COMPETITION

"How long has it been?"

"Over a week, maybe? I lost count to be honest."

In the onyx-black library, two guards observed two individuals.

They observed a black-haired boy with a blindfold and a golden-haired girl. They were eating while the boy was reading a book with immense focus.

The problem was that only children read these books. The guards didn’t notice that at the start, but as they saw these two frequently, they started noticing them.

The real one who really wanted to visit the library was the boy, as the golden-haired girl would likely be just sleeping or lazing around him.

That boy, for some reason, read only the books about the basics of the basics. He was like a child who had just learnt how to read.

There were days when he didn’t leave the library at all, reading all the night relentlessly. And when he finally left, he’d return after a few hours.

Sneeze!

All of a sudden, one of the guards sneezed, interrupting the guard behind him. But as they shifted their attention back to the blindfolded boy, they found a hot stew and two loaves of bread in front of him.

"Pffft... he did it again." The guard who sneezed whispered, holding his laugh.

The other guard just smiled silently.

That boy was aware of them. He seemed to have a dimensional power that he used whenever they got interrupted.

"I don’t know if he’s trying to hide something, or he’s just doing that to mock us."

"I think the latter is more believable at this point."

Unable to hear their conversation, Dante ate his bread silently while reading about common beasts.

’Fucking creeps! Just let me read in peace, you damn...’

Sighing in frustration, Dante closed the book and returned it to its place before shaking Elizabeth’s shoulder.

"Hey, stop being lazy and wake up."

"Leave me alone..."

Dante pushed the stew a bit closer to her. Suddenly, she woke up and started eating.

’If she was a demon, Gluttony and Sloth would suit her.’

Dante cleared his throat and said: "I’m done with the books now... I guess. I’ll try to see the guild’s quests for some money. What about you?"

"Gomming wiv yu." Elizabeth responded with bread in her mouth.

Dante’s face twitched as some bread escape fell on him. However, he suppressed his emotions until she finished.

Once she was done, he held her hand and left the library, heading toward the Mercenary Guild.

In the past few days, he had learnt enough to be considered a normal person from this world. No one would suspect anything about him from now onward.

"Cut her head!"

"Criminal!"

All of a sudden, Dante heard people shouting nearby. Following the voices out of curiosity, Dante understood what was happening.

In the middle of the street, a carriage held an onyx-black cage. The cage had a woman clad in chains and exposed to the crowd.

The people were throwing curses and fruits on the woman, looking at her with either hatred or amusement.

"What a waste of such good fruits." Dante sighed as he saw the valuable fruits being thrown at the woman.

"Another prisoner?" Elizabeth asked as she smelled the exploded fruits.

"Yes..." Dante’s expression darkened: "They’re likely sending her to the execution arena... anyway, let’s continue."

"Mhm."

As expected, this world had public execution, which Dante slightly hated.

’If you want to punish someone, why turn it into a show? How are these people enjoying such a thing? And what’s the point of wasting food?!’

He watched the execution once out of curiosity, and was taken aback by how happy the people were while watching a man getting beheaded.

If that wasn’t enough, there were even kids! The innocent children here were watching the execution with eyes filled with curiosity.

While watching that, Dante had the urge to find a way to return to his world, but he later changed his mind.

’Well, the people in my world aren’t kind either. It won’t matter whether the evil was magical or not.’

"Newspaper!"

"Hot news from all around the continent! Only one bronze coin to read!"

As Dante and Elizabeth were walking, they encountered the kid that was selling newspapers.

The kid recognised Dante immediately: "The usual?"

Dante smiled: "Yes, the usual."

After giving the kid a bronze coin, Dante took the newspaper and went into the Mercenary Guild.

He found a table for him and Elizabeth and started reading the news for her. Dante didn’t ask for anything, but Elizabeth asked for a mug of liquor.

’Tsk, alcoholic saintess.’

Dante shook his head helplessly as he opened his mouth: "Well, let’s see. There is something about an upcoming event in the duchy capital."

"A fighting competition will be held in the duchy arena. All citizens will be watching, and the winner of this competition will be rewarded generously."

Elizabeth tilted her head: "Oh, I bet one of the rewards will be the Duchess’s daughter."

As Dante continued reading, his eyes narrowed: "The participants must be between the age of 16 and 25 and can’t be wanted criminals. Everything, including killing the opponent, is allowed in the competition. As for the rewards..."

Just then, Dante’s eyes sparkled: "The Sage potion, a potion that can increase the Mind stat. The Butcher potion, a potion that can increase the Vitality stat. A lot of mana crystals. A grade 3 artifact. Lastly, for the men..." Dante’s expression suddenly turned into confusion: "A chance to marry the Duchess’s daughter...?"

"Got it right!" Elizabeth raised her hands happily.

"Wait, that’s wrong." Dante scratched his head: "I don’t like the fact that someone considered her daughter a reward for a random winner."

Elizabeth nodded: "Well, yeah, it’s not the best thing a mother would—but it’s common among nobles. They care too much about their blood, so they try to find the best partners for their children."

"The men would have to take talented women into their harem, and the women would have to find the best partner. A competition with high rewards is usually how they find those partners."

Dante sighed as he continued reading the rules of the competition out of curiosity.

There would be three winners. The third place could choose only one reward alongside the mana crystals, the second could choose two, and the first would take everything. Then, the Duchess would choose one of them for her daughter.

There would be an announcement months before the competition. So for now, people could just prepare themselves.

Dante frowned as he finished reading this topic, then he asked: "Can the winner just refuse the offer of the marriage? The newspaper doesn’t answer that."

Elizabeth shrugged: "I do—!"

"Buahaha!"

Before Elizabeth could answer the question, a drunk blonde man cut her off.

"Why... Why would anyone refuse the marriage?" The man stood up, holding a mug of beer, and moved toward Dante: "All the other rewards are just meaningless compared to the heavenly and gorgeous Lady Emilia! A blind bastard won’t win anyway as I... I will I... I will participate and win!"

"...."

Dante stared at him blankly, but inwardly, he was suppressing a laugh.

’Yeah, that’s why I don’t like alcohol. And that still didn’t answer my question! Plus, who said I was planning to participate anyway?!’

"Draw your weapon and—"

Before he could complete his sentence, the drunk man fell to the ground and stopped moving. He was sleeping.

"...."

As the people laughed at the blonde man, Dante shifted his gaze to Elizabeth: "Ignore him and answer my damn question. I’m really curious now."

Elizabeth shrugged: "I don’t know. As far as I know, no one ever refused to marry a noble woman."

The next second, she squinted her eyes: "Do you want to participate?"

"No." Dante shook his head: "I’m interested in the rewards, excluding the marriage, but you know why I can’t even if I want to."

Elizabeth sighed as they decided to change the topic and continue reading the newspaper.

All the remaining news were normal—just some boring news and strange stories. But after a few moments, Dante stopped at the last part and didn’t read it aloud.

"That’s all. Let’s see the quests now."

"Mhm."

Holding Dante’s hand, Elizabeth walked with him to the quests wall. Unknown to her, Dante’s mind was busy with thinking about the news he had read internally.

’The war started officially. In the past few days, nothing major happened between the Holy Kingdom and Uldor, only some small fights. But now, there were five casualties on the Holy Kingdom’s side and three on Uldor’s side.’

These were bad news as now it was hard to visit Uldor and expect to live peacefully, but the last part in the newspaper was the real problem.

Uldor announced the real reason behind this war.

’It’s the Crown of Existence!’

Valor gave the Holy Kingdom the option to solve everything peacefully by selling the Crown of Existence that the king of the Holy Kingdom had. He refused and nothing was solved.

In other words...

’I have something that can start a war...’