"THIS DAMN KID! If it weren't for the accords, he would be mincemeat by now!"
The man who spoke these words was wearing grey robes that covered his entire body, from his head to his toe. Only his eyes were visible, and his body was shaking as he spoke these words with a tone of extreme anger.
"My Lord, they just used a cheap trick to get more points in this stage. We are still leading and victory is definitely ours. With the mages you lent me, I guarantee that I'll be able to win and impress the citizens of the entire continent. Your plans will definitely proceed like you wished."
If the top ministers of the Axelor Kingdom could see this scene, they would have fallen unconscious due to the sheer shock of seeing King Safiros speak in such a humble tone.
His head was angled downwards, almost as if he wasn't even worthy to look at the person standing beside him.
Although they were so high in the air that there were only clouds all around, it seemed as if this man could clearly see what was going on in the stadium.
Right now, he was looking straight at the private booth in the air in which Sister Xuan and Molan were sitting.
Controlling his anger with great difficulty, he brought his tone back to a neutral one and said, "You better do that, or you know what will happen. You went and reversed your training to participate, so you should remember that if you want to regain your previous power, you need me. And without the victory that you promised, you'll be stuck at that level. Forever. Remember that. No matter what you do, ensure your victory. It is NOT acceptable for any other Kingdom to gain the favor of the citizens of the entire continent. I promise you that heads WILL roll if that ends up happening."
Leaving these words, the man disappeared, while the King of Axelor gritted his teeth and stayed there for a few moments before making a resolution to himself and teleporting back to the private booth of his Kingdom.
'Axelor will win.'
He told himself this again and again, deciding to do whatever was necessary to make it happen.
As ruthlessness shown in his eyes, he focused his gase on the scoreboard which had just been updated.
…
"And that concludes the first day of the Olympics! I don't know about you all, but I have to say that this is the most exciting event that I have ever seen in my life! So many surprises, so many shocks! I don't know if my poor heart can sustain many more, so I hope the five kingdoms take pity on me! Go back to your rooms and rest, everyone! I promise you that you'll need all the energy you can get to cheer everyone on tomorrow! And congratulations to all those who didn't follow the analysts to make bets that must've paid of! Excuse me while I go cry with jealousy…"
Ending the day on a funny note, the announcer left the stage in the middle and walked back to the spot where all the officials were standing.
Those in the stadium also slowly made their way to the exits, unable to contain their excitement and joy at being lucky enough to witness such an incredible competition. As for those that were walking with drooping shoulders, they were clearly the ones that had lost big due to their bets.
Soldiers were posted everywhere to maintain the peace, so even though many were nursing frustrations that they wished they could take out an anybody they saw, everyone controlled themselves and made their way back to Olympia or wherever it was that they had chosen as their place of residence.
Olympia had been built with the idea to house even those who hadn't bought tickets, so there were many cheap inns which focused more on quantity than quality.
With rooms that had prices as low as five Silver Lans per day, most had chosen to opt for them instead of freezing out in the open even if they had brought tents to cover themselves.
Meanwhile, all the pubs in Olympia were filled to the brim with those who wanted to let go of their frustration by getting drunk.
Daneel and Faxul were once again standing on the same rooftop from where they had observed Olympia before.
Faxul was simply looking down with a pondering expression on his face, while Daneel was scanning the city to make sure that everything was in place.
As someone from Earth, he knew very well that it was common for bad incidents to take place after a day of a major competition went by, as there were always those who couldn't stomach the fact that whoever they supported had lost.
One thing which was both very joyful and troubling was that his Olympic bets organization had minted money in the millions of Gold Lans already.
This was due to the two major upsets of the day, with a lot of people losing a lot of money because they had trusted the analysts who had based their information on what they knew about the armies of the five kingdoms.
The people needed someone to blame, but they had no target to take out their anger on. Hence, the risk of bar fights breaking out was very high. Hence, Daneel had already sent a request to all five kingdoms to lend soldiers who would take care of the peace.
Even then, Daneel knew that it would be a very eventful night.
Just as he was about to say something, both of them looked down at their pockets to see that the communication trinket that was now held by all five rulers was vibrating with a message.
"Emergency meeting called by King Safiros."
Getting this message in their minds, both of them looked at each other and shook their heads, knowing what this was about.
Teleporting away from their location, they arrived at a room in the Royal section of Olympia where there was a large table surrounded by five chairs.
The room was completely enveloped by a very strong teleportation locking formation, so both of them had teleported outside it before having their identities verified using the trinket.
This countermeasure had been put in place by Daneel who knew that it was possible for someone to infiltrate these very important meetings by disguising themselves as the rulers. This trinket held the blood of all five rulers, and each ruler would have to verify themselves using it before they attended any meeting.
Walking inside, both of them saw that the King of Axelor was already pacing back-and-forth with an enraged expression on his face.
Even before the door closed, he started shouting.
"I KNEW IT! YOU CHEAT! This was supposed to be an individual competition, but you used teamwork! This is cheating, and I demand that the scores be nullified!"
Faxul and Daneel were the last two to arrive, so they saw that the Queens of Eldinor and Arafell were already in the room. Hearing these angry words from the King of Axelor, Eldara stood up and humphed before walking to a window. As for the Queen of Arafell, she merely looked on and didn't say anything.
"I trust that I have sent you a copy of the rules? Did I break any of those?"
In the silence that followed this statement from Daneel, the sound of two sets of teeth gnashing against each other could be heard.
The first was from the King of Axelor, who had stopped his pacing and was now looking at Daneel with an expression of rage on his face, while the second was clearly from the Queen of Eldinor who was looking out the window.
Seeing them unable to say anything, Daneel only smiled and was about to say something else before a loud sound stop him.
BOOOOM.
It had come from inside the city, so Daneel immediately ran out of the room before teleporting into the air and finding out the source.
This was easy, as the plume of smoke still hadn't vanished and there was a clear flame that was buring a section of the city.
Immediately teleporting there, Daneel first checked whether the fire was under control before hearing the angry shouts of more than 100 people.
"You Lanthanorian cheaters! You were supposed to just shoot the arrow by yourselves!"
"Don't think we don't know that those 15 mages aren't from your Kingdom! You have the gall to hire outside help! You guys are the real cheaters!"
"I'll kill you!"
As the other four rulers teleported beside him, Daneel looked towards them, wanting to see what the reaction would be at the insinuation that he had wanted to voice himself in the room before.