Chapter 286: Pre-Tourney Speech (1/2)

The first round of the Twin City Cup was at hand.

Every participant who registered themselves received a bangle from the checkpoints set up on various corners of Lancaster. Each bangle was embedded with a small, metal film marked with an Arabic number (which is unfamiliar to them) that notes every respective competitor’s serial number.

And thanks to the numbering, Xi Wei, the organizer of the tourney learned that there were 1551 participants!

One might ask: for such a grand competition with no limits to number of participants, why were there so few participants? Weren’t the churches supposed to be sending in their believers as well?

Still, the ‘no limit’ thing was merely in theory. In theory, after learning that the participants were members from the faction of nobles and clerics who commanded supernatural powers, not even imperial military elites such as Sir Monan would dare risk their lives jumping into the muddled waters, let alone the peasants who were perfectly self-aware…

Nonetheless, not jumping into muddled waters notwithstanding, the show still needs its spectators-after all, being a bystander is basic human nature.

Therefore, crowds were everywhere nearby the mayor’s residence on the day of the tourney, with the square in front of the building so packed that it was airtight and rubbing shoulders were inevitable. From the dark masses of people, the crowd could number well up to ten thousand and rising.

The Lancaster city watch who usually liked to throw their weight around were therefore feeling immense pressure as they braced themselves to maintain the order. All the while, they were rejoicing that the spectators were not unruly elements, or they were going to be the first to die if someone starts an uproar…

Meanwhile, many newbie Players who were too low in level to join the tourney had set up stalls, selling various special snacks and beverages exclusive to the Church of Games such as pop-corn, melons, milk tea and sodas. Given the low price, exquisite taste, fine packaging and the fact that the spectators could carry them while watching the show, all were well received and sold well.

Each packaging was printed with the Church of Games’ crest as well, something that would definitely not happen in other churches since it would easily be thrown away as rubbish.

Even so, Xi Wei not concerned even though it was relatively blasphemous.

To him, a god’s name was like product brands back on earth. A new god like him asserting himself while trying to rein in new believers at the same time was no different from a business not promoting the new brand of products they had made, as if advertisement was demeaning to the stature of their brand.

That said, no loyal costumers could be gained this way—he would have to go about this for the long-term.

The problem was what Xi Wei lacked the most: time. As such, he should try less than to assert himself, and whatever else could wait after his crest made enough appearance to look familiar for everyone.

After all, with the tons of things to take notice of, humans were always reliant on familiarity. It was like how it was back on Earth, when people would buy things in the fashion of ‘I don’t know which brand is good, but I heard of this brand so I’ll take this one’.

As such, merely with the incredible sales of various snacks of beverages, the Church of Games’ crest made its impression amongst the people of Lancaster—far more effectively and efficiently than preaching.

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