Reincarnated as a Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage

501  Arena Matches Begin

"Piercing Barrage."

"Ugh!"

"Nansha cannot move anymore! The winner of this match is Erik the Phantom Fencer!"

Once his opponent collapsed, the referee concluded the match and declared Erik the winner. With his growing popularity, cheers erupted around him as he stepped out of the platform. Days had passed since Erik was approached by the Mighty Wolves party as well as Azrael's visitation to his loved ones on the Southern Continent. Erik had been fighting in the preliminary for the past days and currently just won the match that moved him to the top thirty-two. Meaning he was going to continue his fights in the arena later. Due to Prince Edward occupying a spot in the arena. One of the remaining warriors standing in the preliminary should go. To make things more peaceful and easier, the officials decided to make an offer of ten gold coins to the first one who was willing to give up the spot. It did not take too long before someone took the offer and left the tournament with the money. After days of relentless matches, the final thirty-two fighters had been officially declared. Some of them were familiar faces from the previous years, including last year's champion. The final thirty-two had more than a whole day to prepare themselves for their fights in the arena two days later. As for Erik, he had other things to take care of for the time being. ◆◇◆◇◆◇

The weekend had come, and the harvest festival just began. This morning, I was with my sister, Christine, Iris, and Sophia, whom I fetched from the queendom because I wanted to celebrate the festival with her. We were strolling around the Imperial Capital to celebrate the festival. Currently, we were on the second floor of my company's cafe and having our desserts. "It's been so long since I had my harvest festival in the empire."

"Me too, Raphael." My sister was in the same boat as mine. "But I think this year is special since we are celebrating with our own loved ones."

"I think so too, Sister."

We were at one table by the window with various desserts served on it, such as ice cream, cake, and other confections. I was in the same seat as Iris and Sophia; I was in between them, while my sister and Christine shared one. Since it was harvest festival today, the stores of my company were having price discounts for our customers. As a result, most of our stores were busy and full; this establishment was no exception either. The stores were already busy on a regular basis, but today was even busier. As the owner, I had made a reservation for each of the establishments beforehand in case we went there. So far, this was the first establishment we went to today. "So what are we going to do after this?" My sister asked as she took a bite of her cake. "We did not make any plans, so I thought you already had one or two in mind, Raphael."

"I actually don't have a fixed plan for the day."

"It means that we can go wherever we want." "If you want that, Iris, yeah."

"Can I ask what you want to do, Raphael?" Sophia asked.

"Honestly, I want to see the matches in the arena today. I heard that the participants this year are interesting."

"The arena, huh? Prince Edward will be fighting today, yes?"

"Yes," I replied to my sister's question. "Today's matches are mainly the fights to advance to the top sixteen. Pretty sure everyone will have a fight today."

"I think I am interested in the matches either. Do you mind if we come to the arena today, Christine?"

"Well, I don't mind, Louise. If you want to watch, then it's okay with me."

It seemed like Christine had moved on from the prince, but we could not say if it was 100 percent. It was also possible that she wanted to see the prince lose. "Alright then, if everyone doesn't mind, we will be watching the matches in the arena later. But before that, we would be visiting the places where everyone wants to go."

Once we finished our desserts, we then went to several places before ultimately heading to the arena in the afternoon.

◆◇◆◇◆◇

"Let's sit there."

"Yeah."

After having our lunch, the five of us immediately went to the arena. Since my sister and I were royals, we easily got ourselves to the VIP seats, where the best view of the fights was the best in the arena. Being in the VIP seats, we found ourselves surrounded by multiple influential people like nobles, royals, and rich merchants. We could see Emperor Alfred Dixon on his seat waiting for the next fight, as well as a few academy students. In addition, the foods and drinks served here, which you would buy separately, were luxurious and expensive as well. Of course, a single seat in this room was worth a fortune. We took our seats. In order, we arranged ourselves starting from Iris, then myself, Sophia, Christine, and my sister. "From what I have heard, six fights have concluded earlier, so there would be ten matches this afternoon. Who do you think would be a great contender in the tournament, Raphael?"

"There are many strong contenders today, Sister. Do you think the reigning champion would become champion again?"

"He highly might be. He dominated the tournament last year after all. He even won his fight earlier by landslide. Who would stop him right now?"

"Boris the Terror is undoubtedly strong and powerful, indeed. But we cannot say for sure unless we witness each of the other warriors' capabilities."

"I think the next match is about to start." Iris reminded us, and then we focused our attention on the arena, where we found the announcer standing with a sound-amplifying device in his hand. "Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome back to the continuation of today's matches fighting for this year's Imperial Battle Tournament championship!!!"

The crowd erupted, and the arena shook a little bit. There were thousands of audiences in the arena right now, so it would be going to be loud.

"I know that you are all excited for the next match, so we'll start it right away! For the first match this afternoon, it would be a fight between two new faces! The seventh match of the day is the fight between Alto the Dragon Spear versus Eric the Phantom Fencer!!!"