Having a powerful lord as a father figure, what's wrong with just wanting to draw cards?

“Your mother is right. Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. Take it easy and you won’t feel bad.”

Seeing that their parents had spoken, Edward and Argyle, as the eldest brothers, couldn't remain silent, so they also offered their words of comfort.

Domi seemed to think he had already lost.

He said with a wry smile, "What, does everyone think I have no chance of winning? At least have some confidence in me."

At this moment, everyone tacitly glanced away.

Others might think that Domi would have a hard time winning because Alje had developed for three extra years and possessed the strongest kendo talent.

Moreover, both of them are of the same type, favoring close-quarters combat rather than typical mage duels, which puts Domi at a further disadvantage.

When colleagues meet, one of them must die.

This is the true essence of playing chess.

Carlos felt that Domi, as a Soul Eater, not only couldn't use magic, but was also generally considered weak in the early stages. Furthermore, his natural physical attributes couldn't compete head-on with Alger, who possessed extraordinary skills, so losing was inevitable.

That's how this scene came about.

Suddenly, a soft "pfft" was heard from beside her, and Xia covered her mouth, giggling.

"At least, I'll cheer you on!"

……Why.

He sighed deeply. Since no one thought he could win, he would prove them wrong.

The competition was scheduled to begin at noon, but tickets to watch from the Dragon's Nest had already been sold in advance. Hearing that it was a battle between the current prodigy Alger and the son of the Grand Duke Dominic, many people became interested, and the tickets were snapped up instantly, filling the arena, which could hold 80,000 people, to capacity.

Some people even set up scalpers at the entrance...

Actually, the identities of the two sides in the duel are not the most important thing.

Half of the audience were actually women. They had heard from various rumors that this was not just a simple competition, but a fateful battle to determine who would win the heart of the Rose Princess!

This is going to be really interesting! It's got the fun factor maxed out.

As a result, they became the main force behind the ticket sales, and one-third of the remaining men were their male friends or family members who were dragged along to watch the show.

It's obvious they're all well-off; they're all rich young women.

Domi's eyes were already fixed on this group of people.

Inside Morey's Nightwish Tavern.

"Fine, fine, so this is how everyone plays the game, huh? They'll have to pay the price for their recklessness."

With that, Domi picked up his glass and gulped down the wine.

"Young Master, no matter what others say, Mei and I support you!"

"Yes, yes, we absolutely support you! We believe you can win!"

Looking at the two friends beside him who believed in him unconditionally, Domi felt that everything he had done before was worthwhile.

"Get on the road!"

"Since you trust me so much, I can't let you down."

He took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Morey.

Morey, who had already accumulated a lot of cultural knowledge, recognized what it was at a glance—the official gambling rules of the casino set up inside the Dragon's Nest.

“Today, 80,000 people will be present for my match with Alger, and many will bet on this ‘sure-win’ opportunity.”

"Morey, bring all of Nightwish's available funds and bet on me to win. We'll definitely be able to plunder all the money from those blind fools' pockets!"

Morey readily agreed. The money originally belonged to Domi, and he was supported by Domi. Moreover, he believed that Domi could win, so why hesitate?

"Then...then I'll bet on you to win, young master!" Mei took out all the savings she had accumulated over the past few days.

Morey said he wouldn't give May a single penny more because he had already given her his salary in advance, but in reality he would give her an extra sum of money every month.

Ha, a man who says one thing but does another.

Domi certainly wouldn't refuse the opportunity to give Medo some money. The little girl was so poor, so let's take this opportunity to greatly improve her standard of living.

After a good lunch at night, the time for the competition was fast approaching.

Before leaving, Morey called out to Domi, who was about to head to the Dragon's Nest:

“Young Master, Mei and I have always believed in you, from beginning to end.”

"Okay, thank you. Watch me take Alger's head off in a bit!"

"Please don't actually kill him, young master..."

By this time, the audience had already entered the venue, and the interior of the Dragon's Nest was bustling with noise, with a dense crowd of people as far as the eye could see.

Keep in mind that even the Bird's Nest in its previous life could only accommodate 9.1 people, and the Dragon's Nest is almost at that number.

Having the equivalent of an Olympic Games audience watching him make a fool of himself, tsk tsk tsk...

At the very top of the stands, the odds for the two players had reached an absurd 1:12.

In other words, if someone bets on Domi to win with one gold dragon, he will receive a reward of 12 gold dragons, which shows that most people do not believe that Domi can win at all.

He stood in the waiting area and sneered, "It's still uncertain who will emerge victorious."

Alger stood in the waiting passage opposite, the two seemingly able to gaze at each other across the entire arena, sparks flying where their eyes met.

The sounds from the nearby audience seats could even be heard into the waiting area.

"Hey, hey, guess who will win?"

"Is there even a need to guess? Young Master Domi only has rudimentary magical talent and is so young. How could he possibly defeat Alger?"

"He is known as the pride of humanity, the pillar that will help us defeat the demons in the future!"

"Wow, they're both so handsome! How can I not let either of them lose?"

"Can people who are obsessed with romance please not come to watch the game?"

"Shit! Sword Tomb, who are you calling a love-struck fool?!"

"..."

Amidst the cacophony of conversation, the countdown to the competition was drawing to a close.

Bang!! Buzzing~~~

As the gongs and drums sounded, the noise from the audience instantly vanished.

As the two sides in the waiting passage stepped into the flat arena covered with yellow sand, a strong wind blew, stirring up dust between them, making a whooshing sound, like the clash of generals on a battlefield.

"Initiate prayer - mantis shrimp, designated target - hound pace."

A burst of transparent light flashed across Domi's body. Each basic attack reset the cooldown of his movement skill, and Hound Step no longer required a two-second cooldown.

Don a stylish trench coat made of Darkmoon Slime Gel, draw your secondary weapon, the Nightslash dagger, and become invisible while using weapon skills.

A few seconds later, the magic within the emblem was replenished.

Her long, gray hair, tied in a high ponytail, flew in the air, and her trench coat fluttered in the wind.

For the first time, he displayed a completely new and peak form, as his first opponent...

"Alger, be prepared to be veiled!"

[By making threats against the chosen one before the battle in front of thousands of spectators, villain value +5000]

……

The arena naturally had an open-air grandstand reserved for nobles, where eight chairs were arranged in a row.

Seated were Domi's family, Shia, a still-attractive mature woman, and a little girl they had never seen before, who was about the same age as Argyle and the others, sitting next to the young woman.

"Carlos, how can you bear to let little Domi embarrass himself in such a mismatched match?" The young woman spoke to Carlos as if they were old friends, without any of the formalities between nobles.

"How can you say it was my arrangement? Alger wanted to challenge Domi, and Domi didn't refuse, so this is how it turned out."

"You, as his father, aren't you going to stop him? If this continues, it will damage the reputation of your Bu family."

"What's wrong with kids bickering? Don't worry about it, just keep watching. Maybe Domi can pull off some miracles."

"You old rascal, you're making fun of your own son!" The young woman was furious, and continued, "Domi, if you win, Auntie will definitely introduce Aiwei to you!"

“I think it’s good,” Gracea agreed.

This made Shia a little unhappy.

"Mother!"

The others weren't worried, but the little girl next to the young woman immediately became anxious.

"Okay, okay, just kidding. Hey, look, it looks like they're about to fight."

In the arena, Alger and Domi had skipped the pre-battle trash talk. One drew his longsword and the other his dagger, both slashing at each other with murderous intent!

Alger had prior experience fighting on the battlefield, and his killing intent emanated from him, making him appear like a young god of war.

Domi was no pushover either. Altaïr's training, his superb assassination skills, and his previous feat of single-handedly taking on hundreds of guards made him as dangerous as a venomous snake lurking in the shadows.

For a moment, their killing intent was evenly matched.

In the blink of an eye, just as the two were about to clash, Alger made a feint; his real target was Domi's side, where he was holding a dagger.

The match is over once his arm is pierced and his weapon is dropped.

"Take this! I'll make you lose in a pretty way."

"Heh, I haven't even started the water yet, and you've already started? How arrogant."

Hound pace!

Alger's vision blurred, and in a flash of lightning and the surge of dragon energy, Domi vanished from sight!

"Night Slaughter, activate!"

At the moment of attack, he entered a state of invisibility, and like a ghost, he slashed a shallow wound on Alger's back.

Is it because his attacks are painless and cause no harm?

No, he had every opportunity to put the dagger to his neck and slit it, but it would be too boring to end it like that, wouldn't it?

So he decided to play around with it patiently.