The soldier glanced at the imposing black horse and talked to Arima "Hum, are you a traveler or a mercenary?" He asked awkwardly

Arima thought that this soldier was fairly young and answered "Yeah, can I pa.s.s?" He said while handing his card. The young soldier took it and was a bit surprised.

"You're an A cla.s.s? I've never heard of someone like you, even though those who are A rank are pretty famous" The man said. He wasn't sarcastic, he was just admiring "Are you here to help?"

"Well, yeah, something like that… you seem to be fairly inexperienced in this job, I think it's the same for the others around here and there is not a lot of them" Arima looked around and said.

"Yes, is that so obvious?" The guard said with a wry smile "All the seasoned and strong soldiers are already at the frontier of the Empire or at the castle" Saying that he handed back the card to Arima.

"I see" The latter nodded, and walked past the gate.

"Wait, what about your horse?" The young soldier exclaimed

Arima snapped his fingers and the horse separated into a mult.i.tude of black sparks before disappearing "Then, see you"

When he was out of sight, the soldier was still looking at where the horse was standing, dumbfounded "…It was a summoned beast?" He mumbled.

Back in the capital, Arima was casually walking on the streets. There were not many people, but it's not like there was no one around. He looked around and asked a pa.s.sant for the direction to the Wing's Nest, the Inn of Airi's sister. Of course, he didn't find someone who knew directly and asked a few more people until finding the location. In his search, he learned something. He was told about a tournament held in the capital. That gave Arima something to think about while going to the Inn.

("First of all, when a country is in war, there is no sane ruler who would organize a tournament. So, it must have a purpose. From what I heard, the tournament was decided before the King became sick. But if it wasn't canceled, there is one explanation. War potential. The country wants to attract strong warriors") Arima concluded.

In fact, what he said was true. The truth is that in this world, the strongest force is not the army and the soldiers, but the guild. There are strong people among the soldiers, but the strongest fighters are, without a doubt, the mercs, who live freely and dangerously. For example, normal S rank mercs are as strong as level seven upper-cla.s.s beasts. That means they are stronger than at least a thousand normal soldiers with just their physical strength.

This tournament is a way to gather strong people and to sort them. In fact, the winner will meet the royal family, be rewarded, and most likely scouted. Surely, the other partic.i.p.ants will also be proposed a reward to join the war. And the true goal of this tournament is to also find a competent leader who will lead the mercenaries.

Because the mercs are proud and because they're hired they're difficult to control. But with a strong commander to keep them in check, they will be easier to fight along with. As to why a tournament is needed, it's because this continent is small so a way to attract strong proud people would be a tournament to compare people's strength. Although there won't be any S ranks, unfortunately. The only ones strong enough to hold a t.i.tle equal to that are the king, the emperor and most likely the rulers of the alliance and the elves. And maybe some hidden talents.

"Interesting" Arima said and smirked. He decided to partic.i.p.ate, not for the prize; just for meeting the royal family "That's a good opportunity" He said and reached the Inn he was looking for. He entered and looked around. He realized that there were not a lot of people at the tables in the hall. He walked to the reception and ringed a bell that was on it.

"Yes~!" An energetic voice came from behind. And a woman appeared from the back, she seemed to be around twenty-five years old with long black hair. She was not a fatal beauty, but she was extremely pleasant to look at, and her figure was particularly dazing.

"Are you Aria?" Arima asked

"Eh? Yes, do I know you?" She asked back, confused.

"No, your sister, Airi, told me to come to you"

"Oh, I see" She smiled and nodded in comprehension "Then do you want to rent a room?"

"Yes, but before that, can I ask you if you know when the tournament held in this city will take place?" He wanted to know to determine the time he would stay in the capital.

"Oh, you'll partic.i.p.ate? The tournament is in five days if you want to register, it's at the coliseum" After hearing that Arima wanted to partic.i.p.ate, Aria observed him head to toe. Arima caught that.

"Thanks, I'll pay for a five-days-stay then, that's should be enough" Arima said

"Sure, it will be one gold and fifty silvers"

Arima nodded and handed over the money, Aria received it and gave him the key. But after that Arima strangely stayed there, looking at her. It was almost creepy, but n.o.body needs to comment on that.

"What is it?" She tilted her head.

"Nothing… are you a merc?" Arima said staring at her.

She visibly trembled at his words "What makes you say that?" And asked.

"Your posture, although you're trying to hide it, I can see some habits in your footwork. Also, your hands, you can't hide their calluses, and you probably use the spear. Next is your body, I can see that it is forged for the fight when someone is used to combat, his body becomes stronger in particular regions. And finally, your aura and mana, even if you conceal it, you cannot hide it from me" Arima said, and during a moment, a blue ray of light flashed in his eyes.

In a world with magic circuits, there are three different spiritual forces. One is the aura, it's the spiritual manifestation of one's overall strength and mind, someone strong enough can make kneel his opponent just with the pressure of his aura.

The second force is the magic, more precisely, the mana pool. By looking at one's mana pool, they can determinate its size and quality. The people who have the best mana pools are the mages but there are exceptions. When you meet a close combat warrior with a great mana pool, then you can be sure that he is strong. The mana pool can be innate but can also be trained.

The last force, is, of course, killing intent. Killing intent, bloodthirst, is not innate, it's something you nurture during your life. Simply said, the more you kill, the stronger is your killing intent. And the more ruthless you are, then the faster your killing intent's density will rise.

When Arima saw Aria, he immediately realized that she was strong, he felt her spiritual strength and used his magic to pry in it.

Aria opened her mouth wide and after a moment "Wow, it seems that I underestimated you, I'm sorry. In fact, when you told me you'll partic.i.p.ate I tried to judge your strength" She said.

"Yeah I noticed" Arima followed

She bitterly smiled "And the conclusion that I got is that you were only at the strength of a B rank. As you did, I looked at your posture and spirit but couldn't find anything unusual in it" Her smile became even more bitter "Well, it looks like you are a few levels above me"

Arima shrugged "So? Why is someone like you owning an Inn? If I'm not wrong, you have more or less the strength of an A rank" He said

"Well, you could say its family heritage. Airi set up her own inn, me, I received this one from our parents, but I'm still a mercenary at the same time, in fact I don't really work here usually, I just hire people to take care of it" She smiled and said "If you want to know, I'm also partic.i.p.ating in the tournament and for your information, yes, you're right, I'm an A rank"

"I see, maybe we'll go against each other at that time" Arima faintly smiled

Aria laughed "Yeah, I'll try to meet up your expectations, but I'm not sure I can match you"

Arima smiled "Well, once again, I am Arimane Blade, pleased to meet you"

"Yes, me too, I'm Aria Carta" She bowed slightly

"Well, it'll be five days before the compet.i.tion, so I have a lot of free time, for now, I'm going to a register, can you tell me where the coliseum is?" Arima asked

"Yeah, of course" Aria told Arima the directions cheerfully. Arima left the Inn and headed to the coliseum. In the way, he wondered about what he would do during these five days.

"(Now that I think about it, there's 'that'. Also, I think I'm going to do a bit of enchantment and alchemy, I don't think it will be that difficult after all. It seems that I have a talent for magic control and of course I was myself a blacksmith and a craftsman, I have my own deal of experience)" He thought. He reached the coliseum after thirty minutes because he was wandering in the market to find alchemy tools and ingredients.

Arima looked at the circular shaped building in front of him "It's big" He muttered. The coliseum had an outer wall which was at least ten meters high, and from the outside, Arima could say that the building took at least 250 thousand square meters of s.p.a.ce. It's not like Arima had not seen this coliseum when he arrived at the city, but being near it gave him a different impression.

"Did they build this only with manpower, or was magic used?" He wondered "Well, it was used, most likely, why would they only use manpower to build this when there is something like magic. I mean, it's magic"

Arima said to himself while walking toward the entrance, which looked like a big tunnel. Near the entrance, there was a gathering of people who looked like mercenaries for the most of them. Arima didn't understand the reason they were staying in front of the entrance like that, but he still approached the tunnel. When he tried to walk in, he felt a resistance like he had b.u.mped into a wall.

From where he touched the "wall", Arima saw white ripples spreading in mid-air, like when you throw a rock in water. Arima immediately understood that it was a magic array, but he was unsure, so he asked a merc nearby.

"Hey, what's that barrier?"

"Mm? It's one off the qualifications to enter the tournament, if you want to partic.i.p.ate you have to force your way through that barrier, myself I tried, but I couldn't make it" A big man explained helplessly.

"Oh, so it's like that" Arima understood, one more time he approached the tunnel, he placed his hand on the barrier and one more time, white ripples formed from where his hand touched the array. Arima suddenly grasped the barrier, deforming it, now it was fully white, it was like a veil being folded.

Arima clenched his hand and the barrier broke like gla.s.s, leaving a big hole. Arima just walked in without any other comment, ignoring the voices filled with shock behind him. Soon after he entered, the barrier started to reform itself.

What Arima did to break was simple, he just infused mana in his hand and broke the barrier with it. His mana is, after all, purer than most and the quant.i.ty is not something the average guy can even imagine. After a minute in, Arima was welcomed by a slim man in a black suit.

"h.e.l.lo, you're the next candidate it seems" He smiled "Follow me" The man turned back and headed to a huge door which was already open. Arima followed him without a word, behind the door was a big place which looked like the hall of a hotel

"Here" The man pointed at a door on the side and both he and Arima pa.s.sed it. On the other was a little room with two sofas and a table between.

The man sat on one of the sofas an Arima sat on the opposite one.

"Well, it might be a bit sudden, but first…" When the slim man finished talking, a powerful aura filled the room. A weak wind blew and the furniture's trembled. But still, the sharp and cold eyes of Arima didn't waver a bit. The man was a bit surprised even though he was only a rank A himself, he was quite a high cla.s.s, his aura should be enough to make any A ranks to be at least cautious. The slim man was curious, so he tried to mix killing intent, but still, the man in front of him stayed the same, still looking directly at him with the same eyes. It was like being in front of an ice wall from which we could feel the cold. He was so calm that is was almost frightening.

The man in suit closed his eyes and the aura and killing intent disappeared.

"It seems you're more than qualified to partic.i.p.ate in the game" He said smiling "Do you have a guild card? That would be easier for me to register you"

Arima handed the card without a word. The man took it and looked through the content.

"…'A'… I see" He mumbled and took note of the information on it and gave it back "Thank you, the compet.i.tion begins in five days"

Arima nodded, he stood up and approached the door, when he had his hand on the k.n.o.b, he looked behind and asked, "Is killing prohibited?"

Hearing the question, the man in suit felt a s.h.i.+ver down his spine, Arima didn't say a word since the beginning, and the first thing he hears from him is that question "…Yes, it is, with exceptions of course" He answered

"I see, then I will be careful about that, thanks" Arima then left the room and the man sighed in relief.