Before they knew it, a week had gone by.
Today, the battle festival organized by the head of the Franzel family was officially announced, making the city of Wendtini much livelier than usual.
There were citizens pointing and discussing the direction of the practice field, seemingly all talking about the battle festival.
One carriage after another drove in a certain direction, heading, most likely, toward the practice field.
Outside the practice field, people from the Franzel family stood guard, some responsible for maintaining public order and organizing the crowd, others for leading the way and collecting tickets, and some for welcoming guests arriving in luxurious carriages, allowing a steady stream of viewers to enter.
Under these circumstances, Reiger and his group also arrived quietly.
It was still the familiar members on their side: Reiger, Yuri, Marilyn, Ai En, and Ian, with a party of five, accompanied by no one else.
The group opposite them, however, had quite an impressive assembly; besides Eredman, Safaz, and that mysterious swordsman, there were also many knights and attendants who came out with them.
At first glance, Reiger’s group seemed to be at a disadvantage in numbers, but the attention of most of the audience was focused on them.
"Is that Marquis Yuri Franzel?"
"And those three women behind her, they’re all her attendants, aren’t they?"
"I heard they’re all official swordsmen."
"That’s impressive, and each one is so beautiful."
People started discussing fervently, their enthusiasm was palpable, and in contrast, Eredman’s side, despite its strength in numbers, failed to spark much conversation.
There was no helping it, Eredman’s group was mostly men, with none too well-known, except for Safaz himself being an official swordsman, the rest had no significant fame, including Eredman.
Of course, the lack of fame here referred to their strength.
People certainly recognized Eredman, the former head of the Franzel family, the actual lord of the Franzel territory, but Eredman was just a combat-level magician, not even tactical level, let alone strategic, thus in a festival with combat as the theme, his support in terms of combat power was naturally not very high.
In contrast, on Reiger’s side, Yuri herself was one of the continent’s mere eight strategic-level magicians, and Marilyn, Ai En, and Ian were all official swordsmen—few in number but each an elite. As people are visual beings, naturally preferring beautiful women over men, it made Yuri’s side appear more popular.
Even Reiger was generating quite a buzz.
"That’s Reiger Brillhaut, isn’t it?"
In one of the special guest seats, a young man dressed lavishly turned to his attendant for confirmation.
"Yes, young master, that is Reiger Brillhaut," the attendant replied respectfully.
"So young," the young man mused, "to become a tactical-level magician at such an age, not quite up to the Marquis Franzel, but still stronger than most of the kingdom’s tactical-level magicians. No wonder the palace made me drop everything to rush over here, just to take this young man back for the title."
The young man had come all the way from the royal capital.
Apart from him, there were numerous other honored guests in the special seats, each with their own purpose, attending the battle festival.
Reiger was the focus of many of them, with some even coming specifically for him.
"Is that the tactical-level magician mentioned in the reports, the one who hasn’t been knighted yet?"
"Good, we’ll find an opportunity to approach him, see if we can scoop him up for our country before the Ginash Kingdom locks him in."
In some corners of the spectator seats, similar whispers were taking place, like a ubiquitous darkness.
And so, the opening time for the battle festival arrived on schedule.
In the center of the practice field, the parties about to duel finally met.
Eredman looked at his daughter standing opposite him and asked expressionlessly.
Yuri, not wanting to waste any words, dropped that line and then left, leading everyone back.
Reiger was the last to leave, his gaze inadvertently drifting to the swordsman standing behind Eredman.
With that glance, Reiger’s brow suddenly furrowed.
Yuri, noticing Reiger’s change, asked in a hushed voice.
"Haven’t you noticed?" Reiger still frowned, looking at the male swordsman, "There seems to be some kind of change about him."
"Is there?" Yuri seemed not to have noticed.
It wasn’t just Yuri either, the others seemed not to have noticed anything amiss.
Only Reiger felt that the swordsman seemed different.
More dangerous, more sinister.
If before, the impression the swordsman made on Reiger was akin to encountering ultra first-class masters like Finn, Revilia, and Grace, now the man gave Reiger the feeling of a monster brimming with oppressiveness and horror, like a floor master.
Even though the feeling remained as strong as before, if not stronger, such a change in the opponent made Reiger feel hostility and murderous intent rather than excitement and anticipation.
Reiger even felt the urge to kill him on the spot.
This impulse was utterly irrational, causing Reiger some confusion indeed.
"Alright, don’t think too much," Yuri patted Reiger on the shoulder and said, "Whatever it is, let’s talk about it after the War Festival is over."
Reiger nodded and took one last deep look at the opponent, then followed Yuri and the others out of the training field.
Meanwhile, Aredman remained in the center of the field and chanted a spell.
It was a minor spell that could amplify his voice.
Employing such magic, Aredman delivered the opening address.
"Welcome to all who have gathered here today, and thank you for your efforts in attending the War Festival of the Fransel family."
As Aredman’s voice spread, the stands instantly fell silent.
"The War Festival is a family ritual that has been in existence since the establishment of the Fransel family, once very influential and becoming a traditional event within our house."
"Regrettably, we, the subsequent generations, lacked prowess, causing the once mighty clan to gradually decline, and the family tradition ceased to be mentioned across generations, disappearing from mention a few decades ago."
"Now, the Fransel family finally has a chance to regain a fraction of its former glory, and the time has come to revive this family tradition."
"Today, I, Aredman Fransel, accompanied by the current head of our house, will re-enact the War Festival here, hoping our ancestors will bless our Fransel family to regain its former glory."
After delivering such an introduction, Aredman didn’t drag on for too long and directly moved on to the main topic.
"Now, please enjoy the duel between me and my daughter."
"The rules of the duel are as follows..."
Aredman recited the rules of the War Festival to the crowd, namely a best of three matches, with three face-to-face confrontations, restrictions on participants for each match among other things.
Additionally, Aredman especially reminded everyone of one more point.
"The War Festival is a ritual, and since it is a ritual, it strictly forbids the combatants from seriously injuring their opponents or, even more so, killing them."
"Anyone who violates the safety rules will be punished by the Fransel family, regardless of who they are, even if it is me or my daughter, the head of the family."
"As for the method of determining victory or defeat, it will be based on the destruction of the badge on the opponent’s body."
With that said, Aredman produced a badge and wore it on his left shoulder.
"The combatants must both wear this badge on the position of their left shoulder."
"Once one’s badge is destroyed, the outcome will be decided, and the person who destroys the opponent’s badge shall be the victor."
"In addition, no one who has already taken the field may do so for a second time; each person is limited to only one duel."
Those were mostly the rules, and the rest were just some safety reminders, such as the activation of Barrier Magic around the training field to protect the spectators so they need not fear being affected by the battle.
"Now, please have one Swordsman from each side step forward to participate in this first match dedicated to swordsmen."
Leaving such words behind, Aredman left the field.
Not long after, someone from his side entered the field.
"Hey! Good afternoon, everyone!"
As Safaz entered the field, he waved to the surrounding crowd, much like a soccer player taking to the pitch ready to play, which indeed drew quite a bit of cheering from the audience.
Especially the young girls, upon seeing the handsome Safaz taking the field as the first, each and every one of them screamed out loud.
One could not help but mention that the genes of the Fransel family indeed had their merits; the men handsome, the women beautiful, none were ill-favored, and all were much better looking than the stars from my previous life.
"As expected, the first one to step up is brother," said Yuri, watching Safaz wave to the crowd and enter the field, murmuring softly.
"Off I go, Miss," said Marilyn with an indifferent tone and a calm expression.
"Go ahead," Yuri nodded and said, "Don’t force yourself, just do your best."
"Understood." Marilyn lowered her head slightly, then slowly made her way onto the field.
The stunning entrance of the beautiful maid elicited a surge of howls from the male audience this time.
"Ah, my opponent is you?" Safaz looked at Marilyn on the other side and said with a wry smile, "This is really tricky."
"Insincere," Marilyn spoke without mincing words, "You clearly don’t think I’m a match for you, do you?"
"Then you misunderstand me," Safaz shrugged and replied, "If you bring out your family’s specialty and use that sword technique, you’d definitely be one of the opponents I would least want to face."
Marilyn fell silent, simply drawing her weapon.
The calm, cool voice prompted Safaz to reveal a meaningful smile as he drew his own sword from his waist.
The first duel thus began.