Chapter 234 The Fight 1
Hearing the answer from the bartender, Daneel couldn't help but feel surprised seeing that there was this much demarcation between citizens and noncitizens, to the point that even the house they lived in was enough to tell who they were.
Opting to not respond, Daneel waited for a bit before receiving the local delicacy which was an animal that looked like a small rat poked through with a stick floating in a broth of some kind.
Taking the food and a glass of cheap wine and sitting at one of the tables in the inn, he started to eat while carefully looking around.
People wore mostly loose clothes because of the higher temperature, with some even opting to go shirtless and exposing the scars on their bodies.
Typically, these kinds of people also had ravens with them, showcasing that they had once been part of the military which was something to be adored in this part of Angaria.
As the common saying went, the weakest point of a chain was its weakest link.
From the way people interacted with each other, he could tell which ones were citizens and which weren't.
The citizens usually seemed like they had more swagger, confidently speaking in loud tones without caring that they were in a public setting where they could disturb others.
Although the noncitizens weren't very subdued, it could easily be assessed that they were acting while keeping their lower status in mind.
Although the Black Raven Kingdom always insisted that it allowed outsiders with open arms, the difference in status was something that was very glaring.
This made it so that the number of noncitizens living inside the Kingdom was pitiful, coming to around just 20% of the total population.
Hence, Daneel's initial plan of riling up tensions between citizens and noncitizens to cause riots and bring about a change in leadership was scrapped, both because the noncitizens were too low in number and the fact that the King wasn't someone who could be deposed by any common citizen.
In a way, this entire Kingdom looked to him like a cult. A cult whose leader and founder was the legendary Black Raven who was responsible for this Kingdom existing in the first place.
All the typical signs of a cult were there: all the citizens worshipped their deity with a single-minded fanaticism, with the objects of that deity being the ones which decided the role of someone in the society-if someone could connect with a descendant of the deity, it meant that they were blessed, leading them to possess as much wealth and power as they wanted up to a certain limit.
Also, they had several exclusive things such as the houses, some other perks and the advantage of trying to bond with a Black Raven which no one else could do.
The cult leader was the one who had the strongest connection with the strongest Black Raven in the Kingdom, which was rumored to be at a level comparable to an Exalted Human, as opposed to the other ravens which could only be trained up to the Eminent Human level.
It was still told in stories how the present King had challenged the previous one to a fight and defeated him before going on to form an extremely strong bond with the strongest Black Raven.
Hence, he had won the adoration of the people and smoothly become King, still worshipped to this day because of the strength of the ancestor's blood which flowed through him that had allowed him to make that bond.
While assessing everything he knew about the Kingdom in his mind, Daneel tried to come up with a different plan while waiting for the appointed time of the duel to arrive.
An hour later, the inn started to empty as everyone rushed to the large stadium that was on the outskirts of this town.
Seeing this, Daneel also got up from the chair and had the last of the bitter wine before heading towards the stadium himself.
After reaching, he couldn't help but stop in his tracks seeing the striking resemblance between this stadium and the famous colosseums back on Earth.
After all, the purpose was the same, making it so that this simple structure had been adopted by both worlds.
Outside the doors of the stadium, stalls had been set up which were distributing communication trinkets after carefully noting down the details and making sure that the binding of the trinket happened in the presence of those who were put in charge.
Daneel was the one who had insisted on this, as the trinkets weren't so cheap as to just spread them and hope that they wouldn't be discarded due to disinterest.
A catchy slogan which had actually been proposed by Eloise was in front of each stall: "Join the Network of Angaria and watch as the glory of the Black Raven Kingdom becomes known to the entire continent!"
As was crucial with every advertisement, this one's goal was to strike a chord in the people who were attending the tournament who were very prideful of their Kingdom.
Thus, many didn't hesitate to head over to at least find out what it was as they had been enthralled by the word 'glory'.
Smiling at the long line in front of the stalls, Daneel headed over to a bookkeeper and bought a ticket before heading to a common seat in the stands.
The fight had yet to begin, with people filling in rapidly as the time slowly crept towards noon, which was when the King would supposedly beat down the challenger into dust.
Seeing that he had some free time, Daneel took out a communication trinket before saying, "Eloise, are the three broadcasters ready? Have you check their credentials thoroughly?"
After a brief pause which made Daneel wonder if there was some problem with the communication trinket, Eloise replied in an uncharacteristically breathy voice as if she had just run up and down the stairs.
"Yes, My Lord. Two of them are veterans of the Lanthanorian Army who fought with the Black Raven Kingdom in a few skirmishes, while the third is a traveler who has gone around the whole continent challenging every type of fighter there is, just like the challenger who is going to fight the King. All three of them are quite fluent, and we have already had multiple trial broadcasts where they assessed a spar between two Lanthanorian Fighters. The broadcast will surely be a success."
"Good. I would expect nothing less from the most hard-working and sincere person in the entire palace. Keep it up, Eloise."
Having no idea that his simple compliment had again made Eloise lose her breath and smile happily to herself, Daneel put his eyes back on the stadium and noticed that someone had entered the field in the middle even though there were still 20 minutes till the start of the fight.
This man was wearing a mask which covered everything but his eyes, and he stood with his arms folded while lazily looking around at all the people booing him in the stands.
Indeed, this familiar figure had invoked in the people who had been present in the previous tournament a desire to tear him apart due to the overconfident and gloating nature he had shown before.
Their pride had been very heavily stung, and if even the King lost to this nameless challenger, Daneel couldn't even assess what would happen.
As he looked again and again at the man in the field, Daneel couldn't help but shake the feeling that he was someone familiar.
Yet, no matter how much he thought about it, he just couldn't place a finger on who it was.
Giving up and hoping that the mask would be revealed during the fight, Daneel thought back to the secondary transmission he had received from the Black Raven King.
In it, the Black Raven King had expounded on the bond that had formed between them due to the deal with the Echer seeds, which had apparently been part of the reason for him accepting the Network of Angaria to spread in his kingdom.
At this, Daneel had had to resist the urge to curse.
After all, he knew that the bond was nothing but a hope that by destroying some of the most fertile land in his Kingdom, he would be led to find a way to fix that land which could be copied by the Black Raven Kingdom to rejuvenate their own which was definitely already barren due to the energy-sucking effects of the Echer seeds
Knowing that the Black Raven King would soon get his comeuppance for scheming against his Kingdom and people, Daneel only smiled to himself coldly before putting his focus on the fight which was going to start in a few minutes.