On the day of the duel, the audience seats were filled with nobles and commoners alike. This kind of duel was bound to attract attention to the point that there was even an unofficial betting parlor.
High Priest Leppe sat in the referee’s seat as the representative of the church, while the plaintiff and the defendant both sat beside him. Count Gramlich, the plaintiff, looked discouraged while the proxy defendant, Lily, looked nervous and uncomfortable because of the amount of people in the venue.
Most of the commoners and nearly half of the nobility in the audience were giving Lily either a kind gaze or a sympathetic gaze, while the rest nodded toward the Count on their seats but didn’t approach him. After all, they all knew the potential backlash they would face if they approached the Count at this time.
This duel was the kingdom’s way to show that they would use all their power to protect the hero Mazell. Even the nobles who thought that the hero was a dangerous existence had no other choice but to keep their mouth shut, unless they were blind.
Lastly, the main culprit of this incident, the Coltrezis house chose to hide themselves, thus making the nobles who were involved with accusing the hero, including Count Gramlich, to be almost completely isolated in this place.
Welner also had a hand in how the situation had now unfolded. Previously, he had instructed Rafed to spread a rumor among the nobles close to Count Gramlich that the church was displeased by this false accusation raised with a forged document against the hero.
Although it was just a rumor, it was already well-known that the King favored the hero. Adding to that, if the Hero actually had the church’s support, it would be too risky for the nobles to support Count Gramlich. Thus, most nobles decided to just silently watch how the situation would unfold from a distance.
That was why, when Count Gramlich approached several nobles, who had knights with outstanding military prowess, to ask their knights to be his representative in this duel, he was turned down.
There was a rule that the defendant and the plaintiff must not speak to each other on the day of trial by combat, but there was no rule that forbade them to speak to other people. Of course, the commoners had no place to talk to either of them while the nobles didn’t dare to approach.
Yet, a young man who wore noble clothes approached Lily arrogantly. The young man’s intention wasn’t clear. Nevertheless, Annette, who had been asked by Welner to stay by Lily’s side, stood in the young man’s way, causing him to glare ferociously at her.
“I have a business with that commoner. Move!”
“My apologies, but I cannot do so.” (Annette)
“You! Don’t you know who I…”
“No matter who you are, with that kind of attitude, I cannot let you pass.” (Annette)
Just when the young man was about to yell at Annette, a voice interrupted him from behind.
“Sir Cnut, the High Priest will be alarmed if you make any fuss here. I believe it will be better if you stop.”
“Grand Duke Seyfart…” (Cnut)
Just as the young man was about to flaunt his position, another person who had a higher position than him appeared, making the young man flinch. Seyfart ignored him and approached Annette leisurely.
“Sorry, I was a bit late. Is there any seats still open on that side?” (Seyfart)
“Y..Yes.”
“Great. Let’s just sit there.” (Seyfart)
After saying that, Seyfart, Viscount Davrak, Baron Kretschmer, and several other nobles who were all accomplished military commanders passed Cnut nonchalantly and sat together.
“I want to try fighting Viscount Welner.”
“I think the Viscount will run away if his opponent is you, Sir.”
As they walked, they all chatted with each other while ignoring Cnut. However, Cnut could not approach Lily without getting past these men, so he just glared at Lily and turned back while clicking his tongue.
“Y…Your Excellency, Thank you.” (Annette)
“No need to thank me. I was just preventing some noises. Good job protecting Lily.”
Seyfart responded to Annete’s gratitude. Then, while his eyes were still glued to the duel’s venue, he muttered quietly.
“So he’s Marquis Coltrezis’ eldest son. I just hope he won’t cause another incident.”
***
I could sense the excitement of the audience even from here, in the waiting room. With how tense things had been recently with the increasing number of demons and the looming threat of the demon king, I guess everyone was excited about this rare chance to relax in the festive atmosphere. Though I also felt like I was a lion in a circus or something.
In my previous life, duels usually started right at the sunrise but here, duels start at afternoon.
To be honest, many people came to the duel since it was held in the afternoon. It really felt like it was some kind of show. Ah no, this duel was a show.
The fact that there had been no trial by combat in almost 20 years seemed to also contributed to this overwhelming number of audience.
The rule for duel here was that you were allowed to use your personal weapon in the duel as long as that weapon was of the same type as what had been decided beforehand, but you weren’t allowed to kill your opponent. Well, if your opponent died in battle because of some accident, it couldn’t be helped.
However, it was rare for people to die in a duel though, probably because of the existence of healing magic.
Currently, I was here along with the orderlies of the Zeavert house and an observer. Apparently, the observer was here to make sure I didn’t do stuff like lacing my spear with poison.
The church, the organization that the referee of this duel belonged to, didn’t prepare any food for the participants but they did prepare some water. Bringing food from outside was also forbidden. I didn’t have any appetite right now, so I didn’t mind.
Visitors from outside were allowed to bring food, but it was forbidden for those visitors to bring any food for the participants. The visitors who were visiting the participants were also properly documented. People who were close to Marquis Coltrezis house were probably visiting my opponent right now.
I also received many visitors. Many of my classmates from the academy came, so it turned into a small-scale reunion. I was happy, though. Several noble ladies also came, and they encouraged me by saying ‘win for Mazell’s sake!’ That guy was as popular as usual.
There were also noble ladies who seemed to have fallen for me or bullshit like that, but I politely asked them to return. Even though I had been demoted, I still held a pretty high position, so I guess it made sense for these things to happen. If not because of my bad reputation, I think there would have been even more noble ladies that came to visit me for this kind of purpose. I had to be grateful for my reputation here.
In addition, since this duel was for a trial by combat, there wasn’t any unnecessary stuff, so I was rather grateful. I heard that for duels that served as a competition, there was a tradition of receiving a handkerchief made with love from your lover. I had never participated in that kind of duel, so I didn’t have any experience regarding that.
“Viscount Welner, the preparations have finished.”
“Ah, I understand.”
It seemed like the time had come while I was lost in my thoughts. I strapped the sword I would use in close combat, then left the waiting room with the spear in my hand.
The corridor between the waiting room and the venue, which was full of turns (curved), was empty. The corridor was designed like this on purpose, in order to prevent stray spells in a magic duel from hitting the waiting room.
The loud cheers of the audience and the scorching sun greeted me when I finally arrived at the battle ring. I took a deep breath to calm myself. It would be bad if I let myself drown in the atmosphere.
“Let’s do this.”
Let’s put up a good show, so His Highness and the Prime Minister could make their move without being noticed.
