The God of Jesters
Chapter 429 - 7.11.2 The howl

Chapter 429: 7.11.2 The howl

There were two kinds of strengths in this world, one physical and one mental physical strength in this world takes precedence over the mental strength of an individual.

To the world, it’s not the smart that leads it, it’s always the strong. As for the smart people themselves?

They always end up being servants or dead.

They died most of the time because they got too smart for their own good and earned the ire of a strong person.

It was a tale as old as time.

But it was also this weakness of this world that gave Yethel an edge against other countries, specifically Cynark who was a slave to its bloodline.

It was an oppressive nation that never cared for its scholars as much as it should and it made them foster a culture where the strong were respected, while the smart were considered someone skin to snakes who were out to them.

A derogatory way to demean a smart person. And Amir understood all of that.

Which made him dangerous to boot.

"Would you prefer to use weapons?" Lucius asked, with his eyes proudly looking at his opponent, his very own cousin. While he himself showed no intentions of even touching the weapon.

As for Amir, he just shook his head in denial. There was no need for some wooden swords, both he and his cousin were carriers of Bloodcrow Bloodline. Making them summoners of sorts, so using auxiliary weapons would just be a simple icing on the cake.

It just makes it look good, and nothing else.

Besides, not many might be aware, but there was a certain tradition among the Bloodcrows.

Whenever fighting amongst themselves, they never used any tools or weapons, they just competed with the strength of their bloodline to see who was superior.

And if Amir were to pick a weapon against his cousin, his name might be besmirched among the Royals, which he can’t afford.

’Such a simple dirty trick.’ Amir thought on the side, while he got ready for the battle.

*****

"This is the first time I will be watching a battle between two Royals."

"Hey, but isn’t this a bit too much? If something happens, all of us might be punished."

"There is no need to worry, there is an Archmage from the Tower of Arcana who is overseeing the exchange."

Hemant heard it all from the side, but he never moved his head through the whole discussion.

His eyes had remained on his Lord, who had done some absurd things to save him. As for what they were, he couldn’t ascertain, but one thing he was certain about was that the reason he lived today was due to his Lord probably giving up something very important to him.

He owed his Lord for this new life.

Because of this, he has to make sure that the Prince named Lucius doesn’t end up pulling something bad during the battle.

On the other hand, Ludwig spoke with a smile to the associates that were next to him. "I wonder if anyone is interested in a simple gambling match?" Things have already escalated to this level, so it wouldn’t be much of a problem if someone tried to spice things up even more.

Mage Qubair who has shown his direct support for Lucius was the first to respond, wondering what kind of gamble Ludwig was talking about.

Qubair had interacted with Ludwig in the past, or at least his men did during the regular patrols where things got a bit heated up. All in accordance with Lucius’ request, which Qubair gladly handled as this was a job he could do passively through his men. And it worked.

All his men, specifically the mage army needed to do was complain about their entourages whose job was to protect them and that’s it.

He had fulfilled Lucius’ request and earned a bit of hatred from Ludwig, but that sort of hatred mattered the least in his eyes.

As Lucius said, there was no future for Ludwig, the most he could achieve was to be a businessman after he aged over 50 and in another few decades, his blood would be banned, which happens to most of the incompetent descendants in the royal family.

It’s their way of preventing the bloodline from spreading, a practice adopted by countless Noble households.

So why bother with someone like him?

Well, that was the case until Ludwig himself was the first to talk with him.

"I bet a "Sacred Bone" over Cousin Amir’s triumph," Ludwig said while taking out a simple frame that held what seemed to be a finger bone encased in glass. Which caused countless people to eye him as if he were holding an unattainable treasure.

Well, that was the case because the "Sacred Bone" was such a treasure. "You, where did you get this?"

It was not Qubair who asked this, but the mages that came from the tower of Transmutation, whose eyes shined like bright lights.

Obviously, because they were using magic to confirm the validity of Ludwig’s claims.

Which is what one of them said with even more surprise. "It’s real."

"Real as they come." Ludwig smiled, feeling that he had attracted enough eyes, including Amir’s. "I was going to sell it during the exchange to the highest bidder, but I think that won’t be so fun, so how about it? Anyone dares to gamble with me?"

"All you need to win this is predict. If your prediction is correct, then you win Of course to participate, you also have to put up something valuable, otherwise, let’s just forget about it."

*****

Farhad was once part of the Mage Institute, though his campus was way down into the ground, far from the main campus, he still regularly came out to the surface and enjoyed the fresh air of the main campus just because of how draining it was in Lucien’s Abode.

He felt suffocated there, so coming out to the top had somewhat become a kind of therapy for him.

Of course, all that he learned during those days holds no value at the present. All the dark mana that his body contained had been burned by the fire that hid in his body. Making all his struggles of the past a joke.

But enough about him.

At the moment Farhad was out for one purpose alone.

He was checking the area to confirm the things he saw were truly real and not an illusion.

As including the image of his father in Durum, Farhad came across some odder things as time went on.

A snake-like specter that would jump from person to person. While there was a mound of flesh that would squirm on the streets asking for help whenever a person passed by.

There was a similar scene on the campus, but the bizarre being that floated above his head was multiple rotten corpses that walked between the towers, never noticing those around them.

’What is going on?’ Farhad wondered.

Why was he seeing these things?

Why here?

Why now?

Was the thing above the monument really his father’s soul?

There were many questions in his head, but no answers.

So with some disappointed sigh, Farhad chose to turn around and go back to his resting place.

Of course, that was until he came across something odd in the field. ’Such strong vitality.’ It smelled as if something delicious was beckoning him to come and consume it. Something odd that Farhad hadn’t smelled before.

So he walked a bit further ahead until hearing countless people talking. "Is there something going on here?" Farhad asked his guide, who nodded and told Farhad about the event that was taking place there.

Which made his face turn to disgust. "The war is on the horizon and this is what they are doing?" At such words, the two soldiers that accompanied him nodded in agreement. "This is their ignorance, sir don’t have to think too much about it. The foolish ones will suffer for their actions on the battlefield when the time comes anyway." the older among the Guards, a Master level Knight spoke showing his wisdom at this point.

"I understand Sir Thorp, but this is still disappointing... I feel sad knowing that this is why my father died." Farhad keeps up his act, although the care for his father has been slowly dying inside Farhad, he can still say some sensible words to gain some sympathy for the old man who came for his protection.

"Nothing can be done about it, most of those that come to the border were problem children anyway." It was then that the old man explained the state of things in the border, how rife with problems it was, and the reason why no one bothered too much with it.

"But it’s just Yethel, although the last time they showed some edge, but that was just a fluke." The Border with Yethel was never a priority in the eyes of Cynark. The real issue always remained the two nations west of, Sumire, a country backed by the Land of Azad and Langfurt that has holds the continent’s foremost defenses.

They were the only ones that required attention, while Cynark treated the Yethel border as the place to train their Knights and nothing more.

"It’s no wonder..." Farhad made some small talk after hearing such words from the amicable old man named Thorp, but inside, the disappointment for his country had only further increased.

’Treating the lives as plaything.’ Farhad was the kind of person who had tasted the flesh of men. But even he thinks it was laughable how lightly the lives of commoners were treated in this great country of his.

’So many deaths to train a bunch of spoiled brats.’ As his emotions turned stronger, a loud cry was heard outside the barracks helmed by General Vera.