Arknights' Lock of Heaven

“Oh, I understand,” Maria nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

Just then, an uninvited guest entered the bar.

"Oh, there are still customers at this hour..."

After hearing the noise, bald Martin looked up at the entrance of the tavern.

"...You are not welcome here, please leave."

It was obvious that old Martin disliked this person.

“Don’t say that, old friend, Iron Knight,” said Charner, a spokesman for the Business Federation, slowly. “Your sacrifice has given us lasting fervor, and I have great respect for your character on the field.”

"Stop with that two-faced attitude. What are you doing here?"

Bald Martin narrowed his eyes.

Arriving at his tavern at this hour, the speaker was clearly not there for a drink.

Maria, her performance was still too glaring.

Yesterday's competition is proof of that; if everyone hadn't been prepared, she would probably be completely eliminated by now.

The spokesperson for the business association came to us at this time for one of two purposes.

To recruit or threaten.

"...I am just an employee, so naturally I am here to convey the Knights Guild's arrangements to Miss Maria Nearl."

At this point, Charne's gaze inadvertently swept past Xia Yu, then lingered on Maria. "Miss Maria?"

"Ah... uh, I'm here..." Maria answered hastily.

From Old Martin's words, she sensed that the person in front of her seemed to have ill intentions.

She turned to look at Xia Yu, only to find that the other was leisurely drinking her wine, completely unconcerned about what was happening.

However, this attitude also reassured her.

Since Mr. Xia Yu is still so carefree, it means that the matter is not a big deal.

"Your next match has been scheduled."

Charne looked at Maria, nodded in acknowledgment, and said calmly.

"...You don't need to do this yourself."

Bald Martin frowned.

"That's right, but I prefer to do things myself so that I can truly understand the various issues in the work process... Of course, there are also some personal reasons."

As he said this, he stared intently at the armor on Maria's body, making no attempt to conceal his intentions.

"I can't help but be curious about Margaret Nearl, the younger sister of the Radiant Knight, who is currently a rising young knight."

"Many of the seeded players who are expected to enter the Major are not as popular as you, Ms. Maria. This is part of your strength as a competitive knight, and it is your advantage."

That's true; Maria is currently the most popular player in this qualifier.

Numerous companies wanted to acquire her.

Unfortunately, the Lin Guang family is like that; they absolutely refuse to sign a commercial contract.

"I hope you will make good use of your strengths. Of course, I also have many... excellent business contracts here."

Charne produced dozens of documents and said calmly, "Compared to those sponsors who approach you privately, I guarantee these are all members of knightly orders and large corporations beyond your imagination..."

"..."

"...When is the next match?"

Maria did not answer him, but her words made no attempt to hide her rejection.

“In just three days, your opponent will be the Left-Handed Knight… “Left-Handed” Titus Poplar.”

"..."

Upon hearing this, bald Martin fell silent.

Although he thought he knew enough about the shamelessness of the business association, these words refreshed his understanding once again.

Left-handed Titus White Poplar... the ace of the Helmet Knights, who has consistently occupied a place in the top sixteen of the Knights' Tournament.

This is an opponent on par with the former Zofia.

Of course, in every respect, he is no match for Zofia before her injury, after all, the two are old rivals and their debut battles clashed.

The result was that his left hand was brutally defeated by Zofia.

Even now, he doesn't mention his debut battle to anyone.

When Zofia made it into the round of 16, he was still struggling in the 30s or 40s.

But Zofia got injured and had to retire...

Titus White, on the other hand, grew stronger with each battle, eventually reaching his current status.

They earned their place through their own hard work and skill.

The problem is... Maria simply can't beat such an opponent.

What level are the top 16 teams in Knights Arena?

It's very simple. With a set of enhanced armor and solid basic combat skills, he'll only get crushed in battle.

Those were the sixteen strongest warriors who stood out from over 100,000 Kazimierz competitive knights...

While they are certainly not among the strongest in Kazimierz, their skill level is undeniable.

With skills honed over many years, one can easily defeat a competitor like Maria.

Why did he lose in the original storyline?

That's for the spinach, of course!

As the saying goes, "Buy with your left hand, and you'll own a villa by the sea."

At his level, he no longer needed to rely on the Commercial Federation for survival, unlike ordinary knights like the Plastic Knight.

Titus Bai Yang also knew that, based on his abilities, he would probably only reach the round of 16 at most in his lifetime.

So he decided to go all in, make a fortune, and then use that money to turn his life around and become a capitalist.

Even if it would ruin the reputation I've built up over so many years, it wouldn't matter.

After all, not everyone belongs to Margaret; most people enter the Knights Arena simply to make money.

Among them, Titus Bai Yang is the most naive. As long as he can make money, what does it matter if he throws a match?

He understood better than anyone else that competitive knights were nothing special; they had no future.

It's better to be a capitalist.

After years of hard work, he had found all the right opportunities, all he needed was some start-up capital.

What a coincidence! Maria just happened to come to our doorstep.

Upon hearing the news, Titus Baiyang couldn't resist and volunteered to go into battle.

When the board members of the business federation saw that a top 16 team like Maria was a sure thing, they didn't care about saving face and approved it immediately.

Of course, these were all just his own little schemes, unknown to the board members of the business association.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent him onto the field.

"Ha, after all these years, you are still as disgusting as ever."

Upon hearing this, Bald Martin made a sarcastic remark without any restraint.

Throwing a top 16 team from the esports arena into the qualifiers to stop a newbie—only you guys would pull something like that…

209 How could anyone possibly refuse?

"How shameless!"

Charlene was unfazed by Martin's sarcasm.

"My old friend, Iron Knight, you should know that we are merchants. Merchants, what kind of merchants would we be if we had any shame?"

"Is face more important than money?"

"As long as you have money, as long as you have enough money, what does face matter?"

"And as you all know, Miss Maria's actions have been hindering our path to making money, so it's only natural that she's shameless."

He said this with a very easygoing expression.

Maria, standing to the side, was so shocked that she was completely stunned.

This... to be able to talk about shamelessness so easily... she'd never seen anyone like it in her entire life...

In fact, if it were a different setting or a different group of people, Charnet would definitely not have said that.

His gaze swept past Xia Yu once again.

But since there are people he cares about here, establishing a persona is crucial for the smooth execution of the plan.