Chapter 18 – Savage from The North

Aurora automatically hugged herself, suddenly feeling the cold upon staring at the man inside the arena who looks like a madman, prepared to cut anyone’s throat anytime should they make unnecessary move or remarks towards him.

He’s obviously fought battles already because of his disheveled hair and a few blood stains on his silver armor but the lethargy isn’t still evident from him despite of that. She can’t even bring herself to believe that he has already won eight fights before reaching the final round if it’s not because of the tally board being shown by one of the imperial knights.

The young warrior seems to do not have any care about the attention he’s getting from everyone as he just stood there and polished his sword. There are ladies around practically blowing kisses his direction but he did not even throw them a glance.

She looked at him carefully. She’s a few meters away from him but she can clearly see how he looks like. If her judgement is right, the man is probably at the same age as her or maybe a few years older. He was tall with broad shoulders, that anyone who doesn’t know him could mistake that he’s a knight. Aurora may not see it because of his armor but she could tell just by looking that his body underneath is well toned. His skin color is pale, enunciating his jet-black hair.

But above all, what unnerved her the most is his eyes. They’re a deep color of red jewel which is unusual. It’s her first time seeing a person with that color of the eyes even though she read about it before from books.

Overall, the man is gorgeous beyond words that Aurora began to think that maybe, the audience especially the ladies came to just look at his beauty and not the actual affair. She can’t blame them if that’s the case since the man is really a sight to behold.

“It is my first time seeing you here, my lady! Would you like to place a wager?” the man who was yelling before who is the bookmaker has already stopped in front of her, breaking her trance.

“Who is going up against that man?” she inquired, pointing at the young man with the red, jewel eyes.

“Oh, it’s that man over there,” the bookmaker answered her pointing at the opposite side of arena. “The five-week consecutive champion.”

She narrowed her eyes seeing the other contender. The man is a few inches shorter compared to the first one, but in terms of physical built, it’s like heaven and earth.

Aurora knows that the physical build is just one of many factors to win a sword fight but it’s not what bothered her.

The first one seems to take this seriously, seeing how he tends at his sword and even giving it, a few wields compared to the second one who’s literally just messing around and even looking at the other one mockingly.

Being not cautious of an opponent is ultimately a red flag for her. In her opinion, someone who doesn’t have the tinge of having a common sense to not underestimate an enemy is not worthy of wielding a sword.

“I’ll be wagering on this gentleman,” she told the bookmaker, pointing at the first contender as she fumbled her pocket to pick up ten florin and give it to the man without batting an eye. The bookmaker’s eyes widened.

“My lady, are you sure about this?” he asked her though his eyes are sparkling, looking down at the golden coins on his palm.

He’s been handling the wager for the swordfights for quite some time now but that was the first time that someone wagered with that huge amount and for that matter on a challenger who hasn’t proven anything yet.

“Why not? I trust that gentleman would win,” she replied shrugging her shoulders. After all, for someone like her ten florin is nothing albeit for impoverished households, that amount could last for at least a month or two.

The bookmaker didn’t press the matter further especially seeing how the amount seems to really not bother her. He gave her a smile instead and said, “Of course, after all that man is a savage from the north so victory is sure viable. But if the odds are not on his side, I hope you would not try anything cheeky to take back the money, my lady.”

She didn’t respond to that aside from rolling her eyes. The bookmaker then left her and proceeded to collect the wagers from the other spectators.

Savage from the north, huh? she can’t help but anticipate how things would turn out. If it’s indeed true that the man is from the north, he really has an advantage. The north is where the barbarians and nomads of Forsythia gathered and they’re one of the biggest stumbling blocks of the empire since time immemorial that if it isn’t because of the famous

Duke of Lennox controlling the north, the empire has already rumbled to ruins.

They may be deemed as no better than rodents by the aristocrats, still nobody dare deny, even his late father that the savages of the north are quite skilled when it comes to wars and combats. Even the history books she studied before at the academia describe their dexterity at swordsmanship and archery as admirable since after all, their way of life is mostly hunting let it be their food or enemy.

There was a sound of trumpet that earned yells of excitement from the people around. Aurora decided to squeeze herself amidst them until she has reached the front line. She doesn’t want to miss it not because of her wager but the expectation she set on the north’s savage who’s now on alert especially that the fight is about to start.

Aurora is no expert herself but she can feel that it would be just a short, dull fight she even thought that her champion won’t break a sweat.