In one of the rooms floating in the air above the stadium, the Black Raven King was idly sipping on a cup of wine while watching the proceedings below.
Feeling the communication trinket in his pocket vibrate, he asked the Protector Raven using the bond he had with it to dispel the teleportation locking spell for a moment.
There was no one else in the small room, as the Protector Raven was more than enough to keep it floating while also ensuring that there would be no scope for anyone to eavesdrop.
As the King of Lanthanor teleported into the room and took the chair beside him, Faxul said, "Surprises already? That's unexpected."
Without saying anything, Daneel first poured himself a cup of wine before taking two gulps and sitting back.
There was a brief respite right now for an hour during which the spectators could take a break to get some food while the stadium was readied for the next stage.
"Yes, surprises already. But at least it's not something that was completely out of our expectations."
Hearing this, Faxul only nodded.
Indeed, they had expected that Axelor might take the lead in this stage of the competition, but the surprising results were those from Arafell.
Axelor was the Kingdom in Angaria which had the strongest Fighter army, so it only made sense that it would have many talented Fighters who would be able to score a lot of points in the Fighter competitions. Its main drawback was its Mage division, which was both weak in talent and number. Even in the short battle that Daneel had fought against Axelor, this had been quite clear because those Mages hadn't been very experienced or talented when compared to those in the other kingdoms or even Lanthanor itself.
Hence, he had expected Axelor to come begging to take back all the invaluable Mages that he had captured during that time. Yet, no such thing had happened, which had honestly puzzled Daneel.
The only anomaly here was that Axelor was supposed to be backed by one of the big four, and this had even been confirmed by Sister Xuan. Although she hadn't given any details as to the arrangement between these two forces, he had kept this in mind and was keeping a close watch on this rival Kingdom.
So far, nothing has been amiss, although its excellent performance had truly exceeded expectations.
As for Arafell, he had been looking forward to a great show due to the power of a giant. Yet, their downfall had clearly been due to their simple-mindedness.
After the bow had been replaced, there had been no mishaps like those again, as Arafell was, after all, known for making excellent customized weapon trinkets. The problem lay elsewhere.
This contest was supposed to test both strength and skill. Strength was needed to propel the arrow forward as much as possible while one also had to be skilled enough to shoot it in a straight line.
When the distances reached the range of kilometers, even the slightest mistake in angling the arrow could cause it to miss the next target.
This had happened with Arafell, as the giants seemed to have problems with such fine-tuned accuracy. Still, their power had been something to behold and it would definitely have given them the victory if there was more skill involved.
As for Lanthanor, it had performed more or less to his expectations as they had a weaker army when compared to Axelor. Their specialty, after all, lay in the Army formations that had been handed down since centuries.
Axelor's specialty in the skill and power of its Fighters had been successfully showcased to the continent again.
Finally, regarding Eldinor and the Black Raven Kingdom, the former was known to have the weakest Fighter army in the continent while the latter was severely weakened right now. Also, the result of the latter had something to do with some sort of plan that Faxul had which he hadn't even told Daneel about.
Recalling this, Daneel said in a jesting tone, "Come on. You can tell me what you're planning."
Chuckling at hearing his friend ask this question again, Faxul said, "Just wait and see. You have your plans to come first, and I've made mine to make sure that I'm not last. So, what's next? Will there be more surprises?"
Daneel was really liking this change in his friend, who was now watching everything with a casual expression that had almost never been on his face when he had been in the Lanthanor Kingdom.
Just as he was about to answer, Daneel got a message from Eloise which made him smile and say, "Well, the Mage Archery contest will be a sight to behold. But before that, get ready for a show."
-----
"Cheaters! Cheaters everywhere! Give me back my Gold Lans!"
During the intermission, many people had gotten up from their seats to head to the corridor where they could get some food to eat. Hence, hearing this voice resounding across the stadium, the hurriedly came out to the guardrail to see what was going on.
Looking around, they found nothing, but they directed their eyes upwards to realize that the image on the large central display trinket which had been showing the score till now had changed to show a different scene.
A man who seemed to be a well-off merchant was chasing behind a shady looking black robed individual who was trying to run away as fast as possible.
In this scene, the setting around the two seemed to be the hallway of one of the quarters in Olympia.
As the merchant constantly hurled curses, this chase continued for a few seconds before two soldiers just so happened to come in the way of the shady man and catch him by his shoulders.
As that man struggled in their clutches, the merchant reached them huffing and puffing before catching his breath and saying, "Thank you, soldiers! If it weren't for you, I would have lost all my hard earned money!"
Hearing this, one of the soldiers said, "We're just doing our duty. So this man stole the money from you?"
"Yes! I bet a huge amount of money on Axelor leading the competition after the first stage. Instead of giving me what I am owed, this man tried to run away with the amount I bet in the first place. Would you also please be kind enough to make him pay back everything I have won, too?"
This made the soldiers look at each other, before one of them replied, "Do you have any proof or receipt that that bet happened? And is this man a registered bookie?"
This question made the merchant sheepishly looked down, before he answered," N-no."
"Then we can't do anything except give you back the money he stole. It's a pity. If you had used the official 'Olympic Bets' platform, you would have won big! It is run by the organizers, so there is no chance whatsoever of anything going wrong. You can just rest assured and bet. You can even place bets until the second before the contest begins! There is no better way to go about it. I hope you learn your lesson."
Nodding profusely, the merchant said, "I understand now, soldier. 'Olympic Bets' is the only platform I'll use from now."
Leaving these words, the image changed to him walking away with drooping shoulders, as if he was still sad due to the money he hadn't been able to obtain.
"Place your bets now in the 'Olympic Bets' platform! Now open in all corridors! You also have the option to transfer bets placed in other platforms to ours! Accepting all currencies! Varied bets available! New feature: Make your own bet! If you think you can guess which soldier will perform the best, you can make that bet yourself, allowing others to bet money on it too! Many more features coming soon! Always ask for 'Olympic Bets'! Terms and conditions apply."
As these words rang across the stadium in a pleasant female voice, the display trinket changed back to the table which showed the points.
After a brief silence, those who were already in the corridors immediately rushed to a certain large stall which had just opened.
Seeing those who originally had no intention to get up from their seats run towards the corridor as if it depended on their lives, Faxul looked up with a shocked expression to see Daneel grinning widely.