Chapter 170

То bе рrecisе, it wаs оriginаllу just that Khan hаd lаrge eуes, but the оnеs whо wеrе stаrtled werе Byutеk аnd Sharin.

“W-wе… аrе fighting in thе nеxt mаtch?”

“Нahahаhа!! Shаrin, I’ll shоw you hоw scаry this opра is with this opportunitу! I’ll рroperly sort оut thе rankings!”

“Hmm, I don’t want to hurt Вуutek oрpа…”

“I fееl thе same way, Shаrin! But a mаtсh is а match! In а mаn’s mаtch, yоu shouldn’t go еasy or anуthing!”

“I’m nоt a man thоugh…”

Shаrin loоked slightly disрleased, but Вyutеk just lаughed heartily.

It seеmed hе wаs gеnuinelу hapру tо have mеt Sharin in а mаtсh.

Меanwhilе, Кhаn pаid nо attention to the two of them and was only checking his own opponent.

‘Phew, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.’

The reason he was surprised when he saw the tournament bracket.

‘I never thought I’d get the weakest opponent among them.’

Khan’s quarterfinal opponent was, fortunately, truly the weakest among them.

Among the remaining eight, Khan had the lowest Level, but the one with the next lowest Level was that guy.

[LV.112 Wandering Adventurer Edwen]

Perhaps because it was the quarterfinals, everyone except Khan was now over Level 100.

Edwen was a swordsman who used Mana, a Magic Swordsman.

While a Magic Swordsman might seem strong, it wasn’t actually that great of a Class because both their Mana and swordsmanship skills were ambiguous.

‘He’s perfect as my opponent. An ambiguous guy like that will actually be easier to deal with.’

If Khan went all out, he could win easily, but since it was now the quarterfinals, he needed to conserve his Mana as much as possible.

Although his Mana Recovery speed had become much faster than before, the other matches might end quickly, leaving him with insufficient time to recover Mana.

“An interesting tournament bracket has been drawn! Then, we will now begin the first match of the quarterfinals!!”

Soon after, from Rodion’s mouth, Khan, the protagonist of the first match, was called.

“The first match is between contestant Khan and contestant Edwen! Please come up to the arena!”

Amidst the cheers of the spectators, Khan and Edwen headed toward the arena.

* * *

20 minutes earlier.

Rodion, who had an earpiece in his ear, received a call from Viscount Aldrik immediately after the round of 16 ended and hastily granted a break.

“Rodion, I’m thinking of redrawing the tournament bracket from the quarterfinals, so grant a break and come see me.”

“Understood!”

Rodion received Aldrik’s summons and went to the room where he was.

Next to the VIP seats Aldrik used in the arena, there was a room, allowing the two to have a secret conversation.

“You’re finally here. Rodion, if we had proceeded with the matches as they were, it would have been troublesome.”

“Huh? Is there some problem?”

“Yes, there are many problems. Well, I don’t need to tell you about them.”

“Ah… Understood! Then shall we redraw it randomly once?”

“Yes.”

Aldrik, who was looking at the tournament bracket in the room, had hastily summoned Rodion due to an ominous feeling that showed no signs of subsiding.

The reason he felt ominous was that the first match of the upcoming quarterfinals was between Khan and Byutek.

‘Khan and Byutek seem quite close. Moreover, seeing that Byutek keeps calling Khan Hyungnim, their relationship isn’t ordinary. There’s a possibility Khan might forfeit during the match… It’s better to make sure.’

Wasn’t it possible that Khan might forfeit, not wanting to harm his cherished younger brother?

Although he thought such a possibility was around 0.1%, Aldrik didn’t even want to leave that chance.

‘Judging from the matches so far, Khan is an immensely skilled person. Whether Khan backstabs me or not, it’s a hundred, a thousand times better than Dramos winning… I must prevent Dramos from winning no matter what.’

If Dramos won, all sorts of things could happen.

First, the Ancient Magic Book, the prize, would be taken away, and its origin would have to be revealed.

Dramos, being the Kingdom Guard Captain, would have that level of authority.

‘It would be absolutely impossible to have him work under me… and if the Underground Arena Tournament were to become known to the Royal Palace, many troublesome matters could arise.’

Therefore, Aldrik intended to somehow make Khan and Dramos meet in the finals in this tournament.

In his view, Khan was the only strong contender who could stand against Dramos.

“Alright, then I’ll redraw the tournament bracket randomly!”

“Yes, go ahead.”

Rodion had already put papers with the contestants’ names into a container and was drawing them one by one, fairly creating a random tournament bracket.

The result.

“D-do it again! This one isn’t great.”

“Ah, understood!”

A bracket where Khan and Dramos met in the quarterfinals was created, and Aldrik, startled, shouted to do it again.

“How about this time?”

“This one isn’t great either. Do it again!”

“Yes…!”

The next randomly created bracket had Khan and Dramos meeting in the semifinals.

“Again.”

“Yes!”

The next one had Khan and Sharin meeting in the quarterfinals, but what Master would harm their own Disciple?

Since Khan might possibly forfeit, meetings between Khan and Sharin, and Khan and Byutek, absolutely had to be avoided.

“Again! Draw properly this time!”

“S-sorry! I’ll try again!”

Rodion carefully drew the papers while watching Aldrik’s expression.

However, the bracket Aldrik wanted wasn’t created.

“Again! Again! Again!”

“Yes!”

“Do it again!”

“Understood…!”

“Do it again!!”

“Yes…!!!”

After redrawing dozens of times like that, Aldrik was finally able to confirm the bracket he wanted.

“Hmm, perfect.”

“Is it done now…?!”

“Yes, good work. Now go out and proceed with the next match.”

“Yes! Thank you!”

Rodion quickly dashed out of the room.

Aldrik also slowly left the room and gently sat down on the plush sofa in the VIP seats.

“Hehe, with this, Khan and Dramos will definitely meet in the finals. Khan… you absolutely must win…!”

Khan, his only hope.

Since the Underground Arena Tournament itself could be considered illegal, Aldrik could be dragged to the Royal Palace if he was unlucky.

His fate would depend on how Dramos, the Kingdom Guard Captain, conveyed the information to the Royal Palace.

‘Hastily hiring mages from the Yellow Magic Tower was a masterstroke. If they hadn’t been here, there definitely would have been fatalities.’

The reason he spent a fortune to hire two mages from the Yellow Magic Tower as tournament managers this time.

It was to appear as good as possible to Dramos.

Normally, he wouldn’t even have tournament managers.

However, he hired safety managers because if fatalities occurred during the tournament, Dramos might report it to the Royal Palace.

‘It’s really fortunate that a mage from the Yellow Magic Tower happened to visit the city. Otherwise, I might not have been able to get safety managers either.’

Hiring a mage from a Magic Tower requires an enormous amount of money.

The only saving grace was that running the Underground Arena Tournament could generate profit through Betting.

By now, the profit must have been quite substantial.

“Hey, Rodion. Come back for a moment before you go.”

“Ah, yes!”

Rodion, who had already gone far, heard Aldrik’s words and hastily turned back, running to him.

“What is it?”

“How is the tournament profit? From the earlier matches, people must have lost a lot of money, so we should have made a good profit.”

“Ah… actually, I was about to mention that part. The profit is almost non-existent.”

“What?! What nonsense are you talking about! Don’t spout nonsense!”

“Well, the thing is… contestants can also place bets, right? Contestant Khan placed a bet on contestant Byutek… and the profit was almost wiped out.”

“What…?! Phew, this is maddening. I get it for now. Go and proceed with the match quickly!”

“Yes…! Then shall I block contestants from placing bets from now on?”

“You’re stating the obvious! Of course you should!”

“Yes, understood!”

Aldrik unnecessarily yelled at Rodion and waved his hand vigorously.

It was a gesture telling him to go quickly.

‘That bastard Khan, to think he took all my money… How much is the profit anyway.’

Aldrik quickly checked Khan’s profit.

Using the manager device he had, he could check the contestants’ and spectators’ profits in real time.

[Contestant Khan Profit: Gold Coins +1200]

“Crazy… 1,200 Gold Coins?! Damn…!”

He almost let a curse slip out right then, but he had to maintain his dignity as a Noble.

1,200 Gold Coins was far more money than Erindel’s annual budget.

‘It’s fortunate I found out now. I need to block contestant betting.’

Rodion, following Aldrik’s order, diligently went up to the center of the arena and resumed the tournament.

* * *

“Unfortunately, contestant betting will be restricted from now on! Starting from the quarterfinals, only spectators can place bets, so please take note!”

Upon hearing Rodion’s words, Khan put the betting device he was holding into his Spatial Pocket.

‘Too bad, I was about to place a bet on myself. Well, I bet on Byutek and Sharin and made a lot of money, so it doesn’t matter.’

Having bet on Sharin after Byutek, Khan had earned a large sum.

He was already greatly looking forward to what grade of Artifact he could buy at Arcana with this money.

Thump, thump, click.

Khan, who had climbed up to the arena, made eye contact with his opponent standing opposite him, Edwen.

“What are you looking at, you weakling bastard. Want me to gouge your eyes out?”

“……”

Momentarily at a loss for words, Khan stared blankly at Edwen.