178 Short Story : A missed competition (1/2)

”Is she here yet?”

”No, my king. Do we make them wait like this again?” The two dwarves were looking with a bit of a worry at the absence of someone they expected to show up. Even if they had already delayed the beginning of the tournament by half of an hour, there was no sign at all that doing it again would be useful. Still feeling that it won't end good for them, the king shook his head.

As for the commandant of the Iron Beards, seeing that, he only stayed silent. They had experienced fully the power of that dark soul called Leilade, and after that they had not been particularly joyful, knowing she had slaughtered all the spiders in the Foundations of Iron. It was truly a funny thing, the entire population should be celebrating this news, but they had no choice but to conceal it. And none of the handfuls of people that knew about were more excited than their king.

Maybe one was, but he was also deeply stressed by the very important task that was on his shoulders. Even if he had two days of rest and was freed of being the guide of the floating undead, Glini was right now sweating. Sweating a lot. Even his uncle and his family that were present could not prevent it, in fact, they were making him even more unstable. For he was strangely the only one that was found capable of beating the criminal Sharpeye.

As he was beginning to get ready, he saw one of the couriers he met previously running at full speed. Glancing left and right and seeing nothing, the quite fearful ranger shook his head and try to forget everything but his training. As for the dwarf that was beginning to pant, he arrived in front of the king, that immediately understood what was happening.

”He is here.” Seeing the other party repeatedly nod, he glanced at the place he was in. It was a small platform and all around him, he could see some dwarves seated on the stands surrounding a huge open cave. In fact, it was the biggest and largest cave in the Iron Kingdom, and maybe even the biggest in the entire planet. There was easily a kilometer of open ground, which was quite rare. As for the reason why it was not used to build the capital, it had a huge defect.

High above them, there was a small opening leaking snow inside. If it was just that, it could be fine, but there was regularly a few drakes and wyverns trying to put their head inside. Therefore, it was used to train most of the rangers and Iron Beards, as it had the environment of the outside while staying relatively safe. With that in mind, there was also a very small wind that could easily give problems to the competitors.

”Let the 102th Sharpeye's tournament … BEGIN!”

Shouting loudly, the crowd began to also cheer in impatience. Even if for the royalty, the fact that a criminal had his hand on the artifact of their Hero was a disgrace. But for the common dwarves, they were far more appreciative of the fact that the outlaw was incredibly talented, and showed it time and time again.The fact that the latter never harmed a single dwarf was also part of why no one truly tried to imprison him.

Soon, everyone, be it the dwarves or the few ratmen that were present, began to search for the now familiar champion. On the other hand, the other rangers participating didn't even dare to do the same, as they had already been crushed because of the difference of skill. Only the youngest of them, Glini, still looked a bit, trying to not do it too obviously. But with his mindset, it was deadly obvious and made the king lose hope.

”Look there!” One ratman finally spotted the dwarf of the day, that was confidently walking past the guards. On his back, the rifle designed by IronSkull, the blacksmith of the Heroes, was perfectly visible. The closest watchers could even see the runes inscribed on it, making the weapon glow in blue light.

Arriving in front of an empty table, he picked up his rifle and put it down, as he had already done it many times. Flanked by two Iron Beards, the two strong warriors could only look at the former ranger, before putting their eyes on the weapon. Almost sneering, Sharpeye walked slowly to his position, where he waited for the true beginning.

Seeing the prize with their own eyes, it immediately provoked the envy of all the rangers. But that thought was dismissed immediately when they saw the champion looking as confident as he ever was. Some remembered how bad they performed the last decade, while others just recall how superior he was compared to them. By luck or fate, Glini was next to him.