It was still told in stories how the present King had challenged the previous one to a fight and defeated him before going on to form an extremely strong bond with the strongest Black Raven.

Hence, he had won the adoration of the people and smoothly become King, still wors.h.i.+pped to this day because of the strength of the ancestor's blood which flowed through him that had allowed him to make that bond.

While a.s.sessing everything he knew about the Kingdom in his mind, Daneel tried to come up with a different plan while waiting for the appointed time of the duel to arrive.

An hour later, the inn started to empty as everyone rushed to the large stadium that was on the outskirts of this town.

Seeing this, Daneel also got up from the chair and had the last of the bitter wine before heading towards the stadium himself.

After reaching, he couldn't help but stop in his tracks seeing the striking resemblance between this stadium and the famous colosseums back on Earth.

After all, the purpose was the same, making it so that this simple structure had been adopted by both worlds.

Outside the doors of the stadium, stalls had been set up which were distributing communication trinkets after carefully noting down the details and making sure that the binding of the trinket happened in the presence of those who were put in charge.

Daneel was the one who had insisted on this, as the trinkets weren't so cheap as to just spread them and hope that they wouldn't be discarded due to disinterest.

A catchy slogan which had actually been proposed by Eloise was in front of each stall: "Join the Network of Angaria and watch as the glory of the Black Raven Kingdom becomes known to the entire continent!"

As was crucial with every advertis.e.m.e.nt, this one's goal was to strike a chord in the people who were attending the tournament who were very prideful of their Kingdom.

Thus, many didn't hesitate to head over to at least find out what it was as they had been enthralled by the word 'glory'.

Smiling at the long line in front of the stalls, Daneel headed over to a bookkeeper and bought a ticket before heading to a common seat in the stands.

The fight had yet to begin, with people filling in rapidly as the time slowly crept towards noon, which was when the King would supposedly beat down the challenger into dust.

Seeing that he had some free time, Daneel took out a communication trinket before saying, "Eloise, are the three broadcasters ready? Have you check their credentials thoroughly?"

After a brief pause which made Daneel wonder if there was some problem with the communication trinket, Eloise replied in an uncharacteristically breathy voice as if she had just run up and down the stairs.

"Yes, My Lord. Two of them are veterans of the Lanthanorian Army who fought with the Black Raven Kingdom in a few skirmishes, while the third is a traveler who has gone around the whole continent challenging every type of fighter there is, just like the challenger who is going to fight the King. All three of them are quite fluent, and we have already had multiple trial broadcasts where they a.s.sessed a spar between two Lanthanorian Fighters. The broadcast will surely be a success."

"Good. I would expect nothing less from the most hard-working and sincere person in the entire palace. Keep it up, Eloise."

Having no idea that his simple compliment had again made Eloise lose her breath and smile happily to herself, Daneel put his eyes back on the stadium and noticed that someone had entered the field in the middle even though there were still 20 minutes till the start of the fight.

This man was wearing a mask which covered everything but his eyes, and he stood with his arms folded while lazily looking around at all the people booing him in the stands.

Indeed, this familiar figure had invoked in the people who had been present in the previous tournament a desire to tear him apart due to the overconfident and gloating nature he had shown before.

Their pride had been very heavily stung, and if even the King lost to this nameless challenger, Daneel couldn't even a.s.sess what would happen.

As he looked again and again at the man in the field, Daneel couldn't help but shake the feeling that he was someone familiar.

Yet, no matter how much he thought about it, he just couldn't place a finger on who it was.

Giving up and hoping that the mask would be revealed during the fight, Daneel thought back to the secondary transmission he had received from the Black Raven King.

In it, the Black Raven King had expounded on the bond that had formed between them due to the deal with the Echer seeds, which had apparently been part of the reason for him accepting the Network of Angaria to spread in his kingdom.

At this, Daneel had had to resist the urge to curse.

After all, he knew that the bond was nothing but a hope that by destroying some of the most fertile land in his Kingdom, he would be led to find a way to fix that land which could be copied by the Black Raven Kingdom to rejuvenate their own which was definitely already barren due to the energy-sucking effects of the Echer seeds

Knowing that the Black Raven King would soon get his comeuppance for scheming against his Kingdom and people, Daneel only smiled to himself coldly before putting his focus on the fight which was going to start in a few minutes.