"Well, it could be real. And that's what will make them rush to the stall."

Speechless, Faxul only looked at Daneel, unable to decide whether his friend was fooling people into betting with his organization.

Yet, before he made that decision, Daneel said, "Got to go. I should check on something," before teleporting away, leaving Faxul alone in the room.

With nothing else to do, the Black Raven King continued to look at the crowds, amused at the expressions of those who looked like they didn't want to miss another golden opportunity to make it big by betting.

While he was doing so, he realized that even this had been brought on by those sad, drooping shoulders of the man at the end of the ad which had been due to missing out on the opportunity.

With this realization, Faxul blurted out "It is cheating!" Before looking around and remembering that he was alone.

…..

Meanwhile, the King of Lanthanor had made his way over to one of the waiting rooms in the pa.s.sageways which led to the ground in the middle of the stadium

There were display trinkets set up here too which were currently showing the mad crowds, but they had actually been placed to let compet.i.tors keep an eye on their opponents while they were waiting for their turn.

Teleporting to one corner of the room, Daneel first accepted the bows of all those in the room.

It seemed that the 49 soldiers here had a.s.sembled into a group, and were currently facing Ca.s.sandra who was floating a few centimeters in the air.

She looked ravis.h.i.+ng in skin-tight leather clothes which were great for free movement but not so good at all in covering up her athletic figure honed after years in the military.

Yet, the fact that there were no inappropriate looks from the soldiers was a testament to the absolute respect and reverence with which these men and women treated their commander.

It seemed that Ca.s.sandra had been in the middle of some speech, so Daneel only told her through the oathstone to continue.

"As I was saying, soldiers, this is no less than a war. There might not be bloodshed, and there might not be a risk of death. But if we lose, then it is our honor that dies. And this death is so much worse than us physically leaving our bodies. Tell me, do you want to go back to your families and tell them that you lost even though you were the host? Do you want to be the one who has to say those words?"

All the soldiers vehemently shook their heads at the question, as if even the notion of what Ca.s.sandra was saying horrified them.

"Good. Then do your BEST. Pull out EVERYTHING you have in you. Because believe me, if I see that you aren't doing that, you will wish that this was an actual battlefield so that you can get killed by an enemy. Do you understand?"

'YES, COMMANDER!"

"Then show that to the continent. Dismissed."

Ending the speech and throwing her gorgeous red hair behind her shoulder, Ca.s.sandra floated to the ground looking every bit like those legendary heroines that Daneel had read stories about back on Earth.

After she walked to him, both of them ducked into a smaller room for privacy so that they could talk about the plan that Lanthanor had made to get to the top of the rankings.

…..

A few minutes later.

With renewed cheers from the people who had had an opportunity to regain their energy due to the food and drink, 5 lines of individuals walked up the podium in the middle just like before during the Fighter Archery Tournament.

The second stage of the Fighter Archery Tournament would take place after this one, so that the partic.i.p.ants would have enough time to recuperate and give their best.

The main difference right now was that the soldiers who had just marched onto the ground weren't carrying any bows.

They were all bare-handed, leading the crowd to wonder how this could be called an archery tournament if there were no bows involved.

The targets from before were still in the air tho, and those with the best zoom trinkets noticed that there actually seemed to be more of them than before.

"I hope you all had a good break, because I'm ready to get this show started! How many of you have been to Olympic Bets? I can say with certainty that I have betted my entire life savings on the outcome of this match! So if you see a different announcer later, it might just be because I won a fortune, so I gave up my job! Or I might be in a nameless ditch somewhere for losing everything…"

As the crowd chuckled while settling down into their seats, Sylvesto continued.

"Now, onto the Mage Archery Tournament! Just like before, we will have a demonstration. Who should I- Ah, we have a volunteer! Go ahead, sir!"

When Sylvesto had just been about to ask someone, an elf had stepped out of their line and arrogantly walked forward.

He had a trademark sneer on his face, and his earlobes which were in the shape of a tri-bladed knife were pointing straight down.

Walking up to a pile of arrows which were placed at the front, he picked one up and weighed it in his hand.

His next actions shocked the audience, making them gawk and wish they could go back to the Olympic Bets stall.

The elf had thrown the arrow in the air before turning around, as if he didn't even need to see the outcome.

After it floated for a second, a cylinder of fire and wind came into existence which enveloped the arrow.

BANG

After a few seconds, with a loud sound, the arrow shot into the air at the first target.

After going through it, another BANG was heard before the funnel formed and the arrow accelerated again, taking it straight through the second target.

It was as if the arrow was also realigning itself after each target, as it never seemed to miss its mark.

Finally, after crossing the record set in the Fighter tournament before, it stopped and fell to the ground.

Clearly, it could go even further, but the elf had wanted to make a point.

And that point was that all those who hadn't betted on Eldinor winning in this tournament had been foolish.