After the ambush incident, Princess Renner's journey had to be cut short, and the accompanying team packed up and headed back home. The escort mission for the Last Defender of the Way adventure party also came to an end.
It was around 4 PM, with the sun hanging low on the horizon. At the capital's city gates, the two groups parted ways. The Royal Knights clustered around the princess as they headed toward the main palace hall, while the four adventurers who'd been trailing at the rear of the group took a different fork in the road.
What the adventurers hadn't expected was that, in the moment of farewell, a knight clad in magisteel plate armor and wearing an arched barrel helm rode out from the group and blocked their path. The knight dismounted, removed his helmet, and cradled it in his arms—it was none other than Grand Knight Wade. With a warm smile on his face, he walked straight toward Sean and Stella.
Sean and Stella couldn't help but take a step back.
Wade flexed his right hand, removed his iron gauntlet, and stowed it in his spatial ring. Facing Sean, he extended his broad palm. Sean paused in a daze, then reached out and shook his hand.
Wade looked at the young man and woman before him, and as they shook hands, he said with deep emotion, "It's all thanks to you two, or I'd have perished in that sea of flames. In that critical moment, you didn't just think about saving your own skins—you risked your lives, running back and forth through the blaze to rescue others.
"You've already got the upright qualities of a true knight! Seeing young folks like you so outstanding, I know the Re-Estize's future is bound to be full of hope!"
"Mm-hmm!" Sean and Stella nodded eagerly.
Wade then walked over to Barrett, full of apology as he said, "I used to have some prejudices against adventurers. When the assassins struck, I not only misunderstood you, but I messed up your fight too.
"Only after this whole mess did I realize that plenty of adventurers carry a sense of honor—you can't lump them all together. But honestly, that elbow strike of yours packed a punch! My jaw's still aching." Wade smiled as he rubbed his chin.
Barrett magnanimously brushed it off, saying it was no big deal, and shook hands with him, a smile on his face. The closer knights got to the royal family, the more pigheaded they were, their minds crammed with all that honor, justice, and fairness stuff, one code after another. But they were also the type of tough guys who owned up to their mistakes and stood tall even after taking a hit.
This high-and-mighty royal grand knight coming over in person to apologize was already way beyond what Barrett had expected. Some knights he'd run into before, when they knew they'd screwed up, would just send a squire to pass on the message from a distance, tossing in a small gift to show they were sorry.
Truth be told, Barrett figured that if Wade really felt guilty, it'd be more practical to just hand over a few gold coins.
The grand knight waved goodbye to the four adventurers, then turned to Sean again and said that if he ever wanted to join the Re-Estize army's archer battalion, he could come find him for a recommendation. He planted his foot in the stirrup and swung back onto his horse, hooves kicking up dust as he galloped off, rejoining the cavalry guarding the princess's carriage.
As they watched Princess Renner's royal carriage disappear into the distance, the four adventurers suddenly found themselves with nothing to do. At Barrett's suggestion, the group started wandering aimlessly through the capital's streets.
They made their way to the West District, passing through ancient high walls that carried the weight of years, when a massive circular open-air building loomed into view. It was a three-story brick-and-stone structure with walls painted a yellowish-brown, like a loop of stiff parchment planted on the ground. From the looks of it, it had to be some kind of arena, like a coliseum.
Inside the ring-shaped building, it was a total uproar—shouts, curses, and cheers blasting right through the walls to the ears of folks walking by outside. Groups of people were constantly streaming in and out through several small doors, making it clear the place was buzzing with action.
The four adventurers forked over twenty silver coins for a ticket and went in, full of curiosity. Sure enough, it was a gladiatorial arena, currently hosting the Warrior Captain Martial Selection Tournament.
A few years back, Princess Renner pushed through the martial combat bill, banning bloody duels between humans and demi-humans. This arena, once drenched in blood and sweat, suddenly fell silent for many years.
But a few months ago, after the king personally issued the order to select the Warrior Captain nationwide, the arena—which was on the verge of becoming a campsite for beggars and drifters—buzzed back to life.
Along with it came the nobles eyeing the Warrior Captain position like hawks, opportunistic merchants, proud warriors, and gamblers betting it all. Undercurrents of gold, power, and might were already churning wildly, laced with blood.
EeDechi, Barrett, Sean, and Stella found the seats listed on their tickets. In the jam-packed arena stands, the four of them sat in a row, feeling a bit excited about this nationwide Warrior Captain selection tournament.
During this stretch, three of them had been tied up with the task of protecting Princess Renner, while the other was busy hunting for ways to counter Ainz Ooal Gown. Before they knew it, the Warrior Captain selection tournament had hit its later stages. The Re-Estize's various districts, cities, and counties had all picked their top warriors, who were about to clash in the final showdown right here in the capital.
The arena was standing room only, with four massive magical screens hovering up top, arranged in a square so folks from every angle could catch what was displayed.
Right now, the screens clearly showed the opponents for the next bout: one was the lean-built "Wind Blade"—Yaso Abel, with a long knife scar across the bridge of his nose; the other was the burly, muscle-bound "Iron Blood Hand"—Deus Lefia.
The realistic oil painting style captured the two men's ferocious expressions down to the last detail. Paired with the blood-red background on the magical screens, it made them seem less like competitors vying for the Warrior Captain spot and more like a pair of fated enemies doomed to fight until one dropped dead.
"Who do you think will win between those two?" EeDechi asked. "They're not even in the same weight class."
"It's gotta be 'Wind Blade' Yaso Abel," Barrett said with rock-solid confidence. "Don't judge him by his skinny frame—he's an orichalcum-level adventurer, an old buddy of mine. I teamed up with him for a whole year once, and his 'Gale Breath-Severing Slash' can drop a Terror Armor Construct in just three strikes."
Barrett had roamed the adventurer trade for nearly twenty years, his connections spread wide like a fisherman's net. Yaso Abel, nicknamed 'Wind Blade,' was one of his former adventuring teammates.
By all logic, freewheeling adventurers by nature wouldn't give a damn about the Warrior Captain job, but the capital's Adventurer's guildmaster, Old Tony, had cut a deal with Princess Renner to rally the Re-Estize's adventurers and clear a path for Brain.
The old-school big nobles were all huddled around the second prince, and with their sky-high power, they had a thousand ways to screw Brain over fatally in the Warrior Captain tournament. But with the Adventurer's Guild stepping in to back the outnumbered and outgunned Brain, the end result was bound to be worlds apart.
This orichalcum-level adventurer Yaso might just be Old Tony's handiwork.
Barrett turned to his three teammates beside him. "What do you think? Wanna place a bet and try our luck? Trust me and put your money on Yaso to win—guaranteed to rake in a fortune!"
Barrett was always steady and reliable, never one to talk without good reason. Hearing this, Sean jumped right up from his seat, and Stella looked all fired up and ready to go.
EeDechi put on a stern face and said, "Gambling in groups is strictly forbidden."
Sean and Stella immediately sat back down like good little kids, but Barrett ignored her, bolting straight down from the stands to find the spot in the arena handling the bets. He placed a wager on his old teammate—"Wind Blade" Yaso Abel.
He dashed back to the stands all pumped up, but EeDechi was still stone-faced. "Go write up a self-criticism when we get back."
Soon, the match was about to begin.
A hoarse voice, boosted by magical amplification, bellowed across the arena. "The moment everyone's been dying for is here! Next up, please welcome the top dog who fought tooth and nail out of the Fridrensa administrative district—'Wind Blade' Yaso Abel!"
In the wide-open space at the center of the arena, a tall, wiry young man strode in, his black long hair tied back in a high topknot, a long sword hanging at his waist. He waved to the stands with a mild smile, but that narrow scar across the bridge of his nose made his face look even more vicious.
A chunk of the crowd in the stands erupted right away, cheers crashing in wave after wave, each louder than the last. "YASO! YOU GOT THIS! BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF HIM! YOU'RE THE PRIDE OF FRIDRENSA!"
The shouting mob included not just the local cheering squad from the Fridrensa, but also the gamblers who'd bet heavy on Yaso. Barrett wanted to holler some encouragement for his old buddy, but after a quick glance at EeDechi next to him, he clamped his mouth shut.
"And the other contender's no pushover! He's the strongest warrior from the Welsh—'Iron Blood Hand' Deus Lefia!" The announcer kept rasping away, whipping the crowd into a frenzy.
A hulking warrior gripping a long-hafted double-bladed battle axe ducked through a small door and stepped into the central clearing. Another bunch in the stands started raising hell. "YOU GOT THIS! YOU GOT THIS! FLATTEN THAT SCRAWNY MONKEY! WELSH HAS YOUR BACK FOREVER!"
No matter how you sliced it, the Warrior Captain martial selection tournament was starting to feel more and more like a fight to the death, with gory tempests brewing beneath the surface calm.
In this no-holds-barred clash, some gamblers laid down gold coins as their stakes, while others bet with power and their very lives on the line.