The ruins of the Temple of the Goddess of Wealth in the southern suburbs of Stan Town.
The old wizard Merlin stood within, his magic book floating around his body, his fingers occasionally brushing over the pages of the book, activating spells and magic arrays. Sometimes, mysterious magical runes would appear around him. On one side of the ruins, a simple awning had been set up, under which were two chairs and a table. At the moment, the mayor of Stan Town, Cass, was seated in one of the chairs.
On the table was a fruit platter and a bottle of wine from the Western Hills. The deep red wine had already been poured into a glass, which Cass held in his hand, taking occasional sips while looking at the old wizard with anticipation.
It had been seven days since they discovered that this place might hold the coordinates to the ruins of the gods, and today was the day of the duel between Ye Chui and Raiken.
As the mayor of Stan Town, since he found Ye Chui and Debbie to be interesting youngsters, he had naturally had someone thoroughly investigate their backgrounds over the past few days.
He knew that the young summoner seemed to have appeared in Stan Town out of nowhere, her identity somewhat mysterious, though she was very close to Ye Chui and had been living with him these days. Young girls these days, really, no sense of propriety. Cass, in his late thirties, was still single, wasn’t he?
As for Ye Chui, it was much easier to uncover his background. An orphan with a decent talent for magic, he was taken in by an old man. However, on his awakening day, he received only a tattered, thin, white-covered magic book, supposedly the most useless kind. Yet, he didn’t seem to have become the most useless wizard because of it.
Cass was also aware of the duel between Ye Chui and Raiken. Such duels happened a few times a month in Stan Town. To him, these novice wizard duels were little more than games, but because of Ye Chui, he had developed a slight interest.
“Let’s go take a look. Maybe there’ll be a surprise.”
Cass made up his mind, downed the wine in his glass, stood up, and waved his hand. The greatsword stuck nearby flew back to him automatically. He caught it deftly, slung it over his back, and stepped out of the simple wooden shelter.
“Teacher Merlin should be able to open the coordinates soon. While this duel is happening, I can spread the word about the discovery of the gods’ ruins, so everyone can prepare to enter them,” Cass thought to himself.
The news that the most useless wizard in history was about to duel someone had become one of the few events in Stan Town recently that could generate significant attention and interest. The location and time of the duel had spread widely, so when Ye Chui and Debbie arrived at the small square outside the mercenary guild early in the morning, they found it already packed with people.
Some small vendors had even moved their stalls here, making the place feel like a market.
“You should understand how scarce entertainment is in this town,” said Los, wearing light armour and boasting long legs, as he walked up to Ye Chui with a smile. “Everyone’s looking forward to seeing you and Raiken beat each other bloody.”
Ye Chui rolled his eyes. “If I’d known, I would’ve sold tickets. I could’ve made a fortune.”
“You don’t seem too nervous?” Matt asked with a smile, walking up beside Los. Harley and Gayton were behind him. Today, Los’s mercenary team had deliberately taken no missions to come support Ye Chui.
“Thanks to my help, he’s undergone strict training these past few days. Don’t worry, beating Raiken will be no problem,” Debbie said confidently, her small face beaming. The young girl even rested an arm on Ye Chui’s shoulder, a gesture that was undoubtedly intimate. However, neither Los and the others, nor Debbie, nor Ye Chui thought much of it.
Los and his team had long assumed Ye Chui and Debbie were in that kind of relationship, which, of course, wasn’t true. Debbie and Ye Chui were just companions who had known each other for a week. The reason Debbie was so friendly with Ye Chui was simply that, in her mind, she didn’t think much about matters between men and women. She treated her companions, male or female, with the same openness as her famously flat chest.
“But you’d better be careful. These past few days, that Raiken has been training hard. I heard the people from the Bullhead Magic Guild have been giving him some special training,” Los advised seriously. “They clearly want Raiken to join their guild.”
“I know,” Ye Chui nodded.
He knew Ryan had originally wanted Raiken to join the guild, but after Ye Chui beat him up, perhaps to help Raiken save face, or maybe just for fun, Ryan had arranged this duel between Ye Chui and Raiken. The winner would join the Bullhead Magic Guild. It seemed fair, but it wasn’t. The fact that the Bullhead Magic Guild was secretly helping Raiken improve his strength was entirely within Ye Chui’s expectations.
But Ye Chui didn’t care.
He glanced around. Raiken and the people from the magic guild hadn’t arrived yet.
“You must be the famous Mr. Wade, right?” a somewhat slick voice suddenly spoke up beside Ye Chui.
Ye Chui paused, turned, and saw a young man in his twenties wearing a white robe. A blue-covered magic book floated in his hand.
The young man in the white robe continued with a smile, “My name is Green, a member of the Blue Horn Magic Guild. You’ve probably heard of me.”
“Uh, sorry, I haven’t,” Ye Chui said with a hint of regret, his eyes fixed on the pattern on Green’s white robe, a blue horn. The Blue Horn was one of the three most powerful magic guilds in Stan Town.
Green immediately looked deflated but quickly perked up again. “No matter, you’ll remember my name soon enough. I’ve set up a betting pool for your duel with Raiken. How about it, want to place a bet? I’ve been watching you, and you seem pretty confident.”
“A betting pool?” Ye Chui was taken aback.
Los whispered to Ye Chui, “This Green is a bit of a character in Stan Town. He awakened a rare spatial magic, but he’s wasted his talent on gambling. He loves using magic to cheat. Now, every gambling house in Stan Town has banned him, so he runs his own betting pools. Whenever there’s a duel like this, he’s almost always involved.”
“I see,” Ye Chui nodded, looking at Green’s expectant expression. So, this guy’s a bit of an oddball, he thought.
As a model citizen, Ye Chui had always steered clear of gambling. He wasn’t about to waste his gold coins on something like that, so he instinctively shook his head. “I think gambling isn’t really…”
“We’re betting, and we’re putting it all on him to win!” Debbie interrupted excitedly, pulling out her money pouch from her waist. “We’re betting all our gold coins! Oh, by the way, what are the odds?”
Ye Chui was speechless. Debbie, could you at least try to be on the same page?
