Sudden Tournament

The Sran Empire was an empire occupying the northern part of the continent.

It had an image of being a land filled with coldness, but in reality, agriculture here was yielding reasonably good harvests, and it was land perfectly habitable for people.

However, it was certainly less abundant in food than the south, but instead, this region produced all kinds of magical metals.

Thanks to this, the Sran Empire was exporting to the Britannia Empire and the Arcan Empire, but the Britannia Empire had recently been committing diplomatic abuses such as greatly raising tariffs on imports of these magical metals and even purchasing them at low prices.

This was tyranny in the name of William Artin, known as the Chosen One they possessed.

[We have the Chosen One! It’s our natural right!]

Naturally, the Sran Empire couldn’t be pleased with such behavior from the Britannia Empire.

Rather, it was only natural to feel not just displeasure but outright anger.

But the tragedy was that they inevitably had to maintain a submissive attitude towards the Britannia Empire, which possessed the Chosen One.

But now the story was changing.

“William Artin might not be the real Chosen One?”

The Emperor of the Sran Empire was a woman.

With long platinum blonde hair, she was an astonishingly beautiful woman with fair white skin, large eyes, a delicate slender neck, and a svelte figure.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

A man kneeling on one knee before the female Emperor of the Sran Empire respectfully reported.

“According to the report submitted by Lady Julia of the Viscounty Rosen family, who is currently studying abroad at Minst Academy in the Britannia Empire, the face of the heir to House Skyroad from the Arcan Empire is surprisingly similar to William Artin.”

“That’s not all, is it?”

“No! And the overwhelming abilities he displayed today are beyond imagination. Magic abilities at the level of an archmage, swordsmanship that overwhelmed a professor, and his physical strength is also tremendous… plus he claims to be confident in elementalism and is also excellent in martial arts, showing unbelievable achievements in many fields.”

“…And what about his age?”

“Yes. His age is also… the same as William Artin. I couldn’t find out his exact birthday, but… the time he was adopted into House Skyroad seems to be around 11 years ago, similar to when Theodore Artin disappeared.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

The female Emperor of the Sran Empire, Nermina II, showed a smile with an interested expression.

“Even if he’s not the Chosen One, he would be valuable enough.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“So it is… for now, I need to see how things flow.”

Thus, the northern Sran Empire also began to gradually detect changes.

“And we also need to resolve our internal affairs in the Sran Empire.”

Today, a strange phenomenon had been reported.

Tuesday morning.

‘One day has passed now.’

Theodore was facing the second day of classes.

Theodore, who had spent time with Reina until late yesterday evening teaching her how to cook, eventually had to see her off with Yuria when night fell, making her return to the Artin Mansion.

That was also Reina’s own choice.

Theodore briefly recalled yesterday.

“Thanks to Brother Theodore and Sister Yuria, my mind could be comforted. Still, I have things left to do, so I need to go back.”

Theodore directly spoke to Reina who said this.

“If you want, you can leave House Artin. You can live with us in House Skyroad. Father and Mother have agreed to formally accept you as an adopted daughter.”

At Theodore’s words, Reina’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

It couldn’t be anything but surprising that a foreign ducal house would formally adopt her as their daughter.

But she smiled slightly and said.

“Then can I put that answer on hold?”

“Yes, give me your answer whenever you want.”

“Yes! Thank you, Brother Theodore.”

Reina had smiled, expressed her gratitude, and then left.

‘Soon Reina will also come to know.’

Not just Reina, but everyone would come to know.

And honestly, he no longer had much expectation for how the Duke and Duchess Artin would react.

Rather, what he looked forward to was how they would perish.

Even without him doing anything, they would perish on their own.

He just needed to watch that scene and extract Reina from there.

‘I should prepare breakfast.’

And now it was time to prepare breakfast for Yuria.

With that thought, Theodore took out the ingredients, simply made breakfast, and was heading to school after having breakfast with Yuria when it happened.

“Hey, what is this all of a sudden?”

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

Many students were gathered, buzzing with conversation.

It was because of the notice posted at the main gate of the academy.

‘So they resorted to this method.’

Theodore read the contents of the paper using magic even from a distance.

[To all students of Minst Academy,

By order of His Imperial Majesty, Minst Academy will begin a tournament from next Friday.

His Imperial Majesty has provided the venue for the competition, and here you can freely demonstrate all the abilities you possess, such as swordsmanship, magic, elementalism, etc.

However, the types of tools are strictly limited, and the detailed regulations for tools are as follows.

• In the case of weapons such as swords, beyond enhancing the durability of the sword.
• In the case of magicians’ staffs, if they have functions other than increasing the power and precision of magic.
• If you want to know more details about tools, please inquire with Minst Academy.

  Foreign students can also participate in this tournament, and a special magic that confirms your birth name at the age of 6 will be used for identification.

  The tournament’s prize money for the winner amounts to 10,000 gold coins of the Britannia Empire, and an honorary title will be awarded to honor the winner. In addition, prize money will be given according to the ranking up to 8th place, including the runner-up.]

  “A tournament is suddenly being held next week?”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Who cares? The grand prize is 10,000 gold coins. Even the runner-up gets prize money, and prize money is given according to the ranking up to 8th place!”

  Students could be seen getting excited looking at the amount of the prize money.

  10,000 gold coins of the Britannia Empire would not be a light amount.

  ‘The value is excessively large.’

  10,000 imperial gold coins was a huge amount, about 6 to 8 times the average first prize of a lottery in the Arcan Empire.

  No matter how wealthy or from historic families the students of Minst Academy were, the amount of the first prize was too excessive.

  “Lord Theodore. This…”

  Yuria, after checking the content, also showed a slightly surprised expression. However, she was surprised by another item rather than the money.

  “Because of that part?”

  “Yes. Confirming the birth name at the age of 6… this is…”

  Yuria didn’t continue her words at length, but Theodore also knew what she was concerned about.

  What she was worried about was his situation.

  “It’s certainly blatant.”

  Since there was no justification to investigate him, they were trying to naturally confirm his identity through a tournament like this.

  And by doing it this way, rather than making a grand announcement, it would be possible for the imperial side to secretly monopolize the information.

  After all, since the person checking the birth name with magic would be someone sent by the imperial family, that information would first fall into the hands of the imperial family.

  Even if he said he wouldn’t participate, their plan would likely be to push through a forced regulation that top students had to participate, saying something like “as the top student of Jeiha Academy, you should participate.”

  ‘They’ve thought this through. They want to know my identity by themselves and then make their moves? That won’t happen.’

  Theodore had no intention of playing along with them.

  After all, that wasn’t the only place where he had cast bait.

  ‘The Sran Empire is also curious about my identity.’

  Even without him taking direct action, the Sran Empire would move on its own.

  Given that they already had quite a lot accumulated from the diplomatic tyranny of the Britannia Empire, they wouldn’t sit still in this matter either.

  “Theodore Skyroad and Yuria Arsein!”

  “Are they also planning to participate?”

  “If Theodore Skyroad participates, winning would be tough…”

  Although a sudden tournament was announced, students blinded by the prize money were thinking it was strange but weren’t deeply considering that aspect.

  The intimidating effect of the enormous amount was clouding their eyes.

  “Lady Yuria.”

  Theodore quietly watched the students of Minst Academy being swayed by the intimidation of money and then called Yuria.

  “Yes, Lord Theodore.”

  “You’re planning to participate in this tournament, aren’t you?”

  And this tournament was an irresistible temptation for Yuria, more so than for himself.