Hellbents
Chapter 165: Rival
Now the event session that Ava was waiting for, the gift giving. It's a good time for the sycophants to show their skills. The part that Ava liked the most was of course, 20% of the gift would be hers. The order starts from the person with the highest status there, the king. Queen Isabel and Prince Marvin. All three were offering high-ranking artifacts. Then his (fake) fiancee, gives Ellijah a pink diamond-encrusted ring that she wears directly on her finger in public.
By the way, do Ellijah and Eve not have an engagement ring? No one told her to keep wearing those relationship-binding accessories, not even Ellijah herself.
Furthermore, while throwing excessive flattery, most of the nobles also rewarded him with jewelry, there were also those who carried thick books on alchemy, a rare animal whose benefits were only as decorations due to its beautiful shape, and also other random items.
Hm, it is the gift from the royal family that looks the most expensive. Even if he chooses accessories, he will definitely sell it to produce coins.
But one is different from the other.
A girl whose dress was no less luxurious than the one Ava wore, put on a sour face while handing over her card. A knife. The recipient did not think much about the contents of the box he opened, Ava was more interested in the dark expression of the girl who did not want to be hidden, the article although many people at the party from the opposition, the article, everyone pretended to be happy with their fake smiles. "What does this mean, Princess Romula?" Ellijah stepped forward, her countenance tense with a sharp look.
Is there something wrong with this knife?
Ava himself did not have a problem with the object, because it means he added the stock of his knife that quickly runs out because of the status of his strength. After all the knives he received looked of good quality, despite too many embellishments, Ava thought the knives were not bad either.
But Ellijah thought something else. Giving a gift of a knife is the same as breaking the relationship, praying that the recipient is affected by an accident, or so that he dies soon. In essence, newcomers bad luck.
The girl was bold enough to openly show her aggressiveness in a party celebrated in the floating palace of Edodale, enemy territory.
This was tantamount to challenging the royal family, which was why Queen Isabel also raised her objection, "Princess Romula, can you explain the purpose of the gift that the Princess brought?"
Princess Romula? Hm, Ava diligently read the names of the invitations so that she can strategize in dealing with whoever her opponent will be. Princess Romula was the one she should have memorized.
"In addition to Princess Eve's achievements in solving world problems with her intelligence, I heard that the princess is also adept at fighting monsters when dealing with banderhobbs that appear in the phenomenon of black storms, to the point that Princess Eve received the gold medal for it."
Indeed Edodale and Afrein still maintain a good relationship, but it is not arguably the same as the interaction of the princesses. Well, with Eve's nature all along, it doesn't take a genius to predict how the two chatter.
"Therefore, I would like to ask Princess Eve to give me a chance in a duel with the princess."
Hm. So Princess Romula feels threatened? Given that Eve was only struggling with alchemy or magic artifacts, Romula who held full of emotion when people tried to make the two princesses as rivals, broke her patience when she knew that Eve was also good at fighting, too, expert area.
Duel, huh?
Hm, no problem.
Because with the constant training and harvesting status points from the little monsters who bought them alive, his status window was already on par with the status of someone who was level 70.
"But to maintain the fairness of the duel, I hope Princess Eve will not use excessive tricks, artifacts, or magic skills. That way, we only judge the fighting ability."
... Romula clearly stated the conditions that scooped up most of Ava's fighting tactics during this time.
What Romula does will indeed be considered very disrespectful. But a rejected public challenge would only bring shame to the good name of the Edodale royal family, so avoiding would not be an option.
After all, close combat was Ava's forte. With these restrictions, he also had a reason not to show magic skills when asked, Ava had absolutely no mana.
"All right, Princess Romula. I'll gladly duel with you."