741 Chs

ADD

731 A nosy old man

Lupa was the first to agree with the bit of competition. Mimi acted fine with the idea while Awa looked at the others.

Awa was still new to the city. She didn’t know the approximate distance they needed to travel and the stares they would attract if they ran.

On the other hand, Ester questioned if this was a good idea. She wondered if the attention they would gather while using some of the stamina or mana was a good idea.

They had a little less than two hours remaining. Rushing could do more harm than good, she believed.

Ester had a valid reason, but Lupa looked at her with a sad expression as if she was giving Lupa a punishment, while Mimi and Awa looked at Ester as if there was no need to think so deeply.

“Do you also not like my suggestion?” Ester asked Vincent with a frown on her face and hands on her hips.

Vincent approached Awa and placed his arm over her shoulder. “There is no need to worry about me, Ester. I have my ride right here.”

Ester facepalmed. “Ugh. And here I thought you wanted to lay low until the match starts.” She said in defeat. The four beside her wanted to run while making a scene.

“The time to lay low is over from today onwards. We must win and make the Lionheart name known throughout the continent...”

.....

historical

“Because hiding in plain sight is better than being secretive. ” Ester continued Vincent’s sentence after interrupting him.

“You want to deter any people who want to investigate why we are being secretive. But I still feel we shouldn’t cause a scene.” Ester gently shook her head while feeling strange her voice was the only voice of reason.

[Ester is not wrong in this regard, but people will look at us either way. The quicker we arrive, the more time to plan we will have. And it is not like the people will change their bets if they see us running.]

“I understand, Ester. But how about we warm up and make sure no one tries to stop us from entering?” Vincent proposed with a smirk.

“Hmm...” Mimi rubbed her chin. “Vincent might be right. There is too much riding on this fight. Ambushing us on our way to the arena might not be as farfetched of an idea as we might think. The faster we arrive, the better, I say.”

Ester could now start understanding the sudden suggestion to run was probably the best idea anyone of them could come up with. The more eyes they looked upon them as they ran in public, the fewer chances of being ambushed.

Ester nodded. Her skin shone from the wind sigil tattoos. Wind covered her body, and the sigils appeared faintly under her warm yet not too-thick shirt.

“Hide in plain sight it is. ” Ester said while walking outside.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Lupa exclaimed while removing her shoes.

Shortly, Vincent, Lupa, Mimi, and Awa followed Ester outside. Immediately they saw many people stop to stare at Ester because of her unique dancer outfit.

The crowd soon saw a woman turn into a bat and a wolf girl lower on all fours. Then they saw a headless horse appear from the shadows beside the red-headed woman wearing unique dancer’s clothes.

The crowd commented mainly about the two people climbing atop the back of the headless horse. Some of the crowd went into the church to report the headless horse. They worried an unholy being was in their mists.

“Three. Two. One. Go!” After Vincent counted to zero, the four runners left as quickly as they could.

The origin of rumors started to spread from the entrance of the church to all the streets they ran. Every road they passed and shortcut they took caused all the eyes of the people to land on them.

While Mimi was the least to be seen and noticed, the opposite could not be said for Lupa and Ester in a cat-and-mouse chase situation, and the eye-attracting headless mare Night ridden by Vincent and Awa.

The crowd started to question if Lupa running on all four’s had run from her master, and she was being chased by a wind mage wearing a unique fancy outfit.

None of them could guess Ester was a sigil mage kicking the air to move quickly instead of being a mage.

On the other hand, the view of a headless horse with smoke coming from its neck shocked many people. After blinking multiple times or rubbing their eyes, the headless horse disappeared from their view.

However, after many people realized it was not their minds playing a trick after discovering they were not the only ones who saw the strange headless horse. Many went to report to the soldiers, while others reported to the church what they saw.

A couple of minutes later, a bat shapeshifted into a woman. When her feet touched the ground, Lupa and Ester appeared from behind a corner, hot in her trail.

Three out of the five arrived, but the remaining two sharing the same ride could not be seen.

Ester, Lupa, and Mimi started to wonder what could have happened to them. With Kazumi leading them, there was no chance of getting lost.

The people stopped to look at the three women, and a crowd soon formed. While some people went to make a report, others gossiped about who they could be.

After a minute passed, a headless horse appeared. Night wasn’t running as quickly as before, as if she was conserving her stamina. It gave the three women the impression Vincent and Awa were enjoying themselves instead of hurrying.

Vincent jumped down from Night’s back. “Sorry for taking longer to arrive. I felt bad to take a shortcut because of Night’s body, so I suggested taking the road instead.”

Awa jumped down from Night’s back. She looked ahead and questioned, “Do humans greet nobles with warriors? Or are these humans approaching to fight us?”

As Awa noticed, a group of soldiers with their weapons drawn arrived. After circling the five suspicious people and their headless horse, they pointed their swords at them. The soldiers acted cautious and on high alert.

“Identify yourselves, or we will arrest you all. Additionally, tell us what that undead horse is!” One of the soldiers ordered.

Vincent looked around him casually. He could see many people wearing different attires and different skin colors staring at them. He also noticed a few people with pointy ears and small men with a bulky builds.

“I can see elves, half-elves, dwarves, and humans from different regions have visited our fight. ” Vincent said while taking out a golden card from his pocket.

“Here. This will tell you the reason why we are in a hurry.”

The soldier noticed the color of the card. He immediately felt a chill rush down his spine at the thought of the man in front of him being an important noble. He didn’t want to get on the bad side of a noble holding a card with such a color.

When the soldier respectfully received the golden identification card and read the name and title of the person in front of him, his face quickly turned pale.

“Stop pointing your weapons at Baron Vincent Lionheart and the people beside him this instant!” He urgently ordered.

The soldiers gulped and placed their swords back into their sheaths.

“Baron Vincent Lionheart?” Many people questioned before realizing one of the noble families involved in the dispute and participating in the judgment by combat was the Lionheart family.

“My wives and I are here to participate. ” Vincent announced, causing more people to gather.

The soldiers understood the situation and turned around. “There is nothing to see here. Please move along.” The soldiers told to crowd, hoping they would disperse.

The soldier holding the card returned it to Vincent. He respectfully bowed and respectfully told him, “Please follow me to register the details. Only one person is needed. Your company... I mean, wives can stay here if they want. The process will not take too long.”

“Go to register, Vincent. We are fine here.” Ester suggested.

“Yeah. I need to rest because I...” Lupa glanced at Mimi. “Arrived second because I didn’t stretch properly.”

“Sure. Sure.” Mimi slyly teased.

“Night, and I also do not mind.” Awa added.

Vincent nodded. He faced the soldier and told him to lead the way to the registration area.

Lupa saw Vincent leave with the group of soldiers to register their attendance and provide any further information they would request about the Lionheart team.

Lupa took this opportunity to approach Mimi and insist she lost by a fraction because she didn’t warm up properly. The new excuse caused Mimi to laugh and tease the competitive wolf girl.

While Mimi teased Lupa, Ester approached Awa. She leaned her head and explained, “As you see, Lupa is a competitive wolf girl. She does not like to lose, so let her win if you decide that sparring with her gets annoying, and she would find another target to bother for the say.”

“...” Awa nodded without knowing how to respond. She had never experienced meeting a person with such a personality before.

An old man wearing a lot of layers of thick clothes approached Ester. He curiously glanced at the headless horse and the woman with a back neck that not even the sun could illuminate.

“Good day, young lady. Can this old man know if you are a Glyph Mage or a Sigil Mage proficient in sigil tattoos? Or perhaps. Something else.” He asked with an oddly formal yet informal tone.