Chapter 417: The Competition Begins

“Sidi, are you done messing around? We haven’t decided who will get that youth because we didn’t expect him to arrive so soon. However, we can make a decision now.”

The shadow with large and small gears on its back, the God of Light, Baldur, spoke, suppressing the voices of the many gods.

As he spoke, Baldur’s shadow on the wall squirmed a little, as if it had changed its direction. Even though he could not see his eyes, Watson felt like someone was staring at him, and a sense of oppression subconsciously rose in his heart.

“Baldur, we agree with your suggestion. There won’t be any results if we continue arguing like that. Tell me, what are your rules?”

The one who spoke next was the god with a dragon tail and a harp in his hands—Agares, who controlled the wind and navigation.

“My conditions are very simple. Since there is only one young man, then one of the seven gods will decide the winner here. The winner will get Watson. Is not that enough? ”

As Baldur’s voice fell, the surroundings fell into a short silence.

“Baldur, as the leader of the seven gods, your power is the strongest. Isn’t that unfair to us who are not good at fighting?” After a short silence, the first god to speak was a goddess who had the moon’s silhouette on her shoulder. Floating meteors surrounded the outline of the moon. Even just looking at the shadows of those meteors, one could imagine the actual appearance of those meteors.

That was one of the kingdom’s seven gods, the goddess who represented the moon and love—Diana.

“Diana, if you don’t want to participate, you can choose not to participate. That means that you have voluntarily given up! The world has always respected the strong. It is the same for the gods. Changing the rules because they’re not good? That is just an excuse for the weak. Coincidentally, the kingdom has seven gods too many. I can take that opportunity to kill a few of you so that I can occupy more of the people’s faith.”

After Diana, a man wrapped in bandages and covered in spikes let out a low and hoarse voice. A strong smell of blood rose from his mouth.

It was Ares, the god of war and hunting. He was the most terrifying and warlike existence among the seven gods in the kingdom. His sculptures stood in the side hall of the cathedral. Usually, the people’s primary faith was responsible for annihilating the enemy in the cathedral.

“Ares, your words are so annoying. Be careful that you don’t get killed by us! Even though we might not be as powerful as you, if two or three of us were to join forces, even you would have no choice but to end up in a miserable state.”

Sweet laughter rang out. At that moment, the one who spoke was Gaia, also known as Mother Earth. Gaia was different from the image of the loving mother in the cathedral. The real Gaia was a young girl with a giant curved horn taller than her body and extended from the top of her head.

“It doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t matter if two or three of you are working together or otherwise, it doesn’t make any difference. In any case, I will kill everything that stands in my way.”

Ares snorted coldly at Gaia’s ridicule. His attitude was still one of pride.

“What about you? You have not expressed your opinion, Amon, the time traveler. ”

Baldur’s shadow on the wall turned its gaze to the last cluster of shadows on the wall. When Watson heard the name Amon, he subconsciously turned his head and realized that the shadow that Baldur was staring at was pitch-black. He could only vaguely see a black windbreaker fluttering in the wind, but he could not clearly see who was inside or what the person looked like.

He did not know why, but as he stared at the black shadow, Watson felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity in his heart. ‘I feel a familiar presence. Is it just my imagination? Or is it because that god’s name is the same as the name of my subordinate in the Severed Fingers Gang?’

Amon was not a rare name in that kingdom because the seven gods had only become the kingdom’s faith for less than ten years. Before that, the kingdom believed in the Demoness Cult. Therefore, it was understandable that some people were named Amon. Some people even deliberately name themselves as one of the gods’ name to show off.

Watson did not care about that. It was just that the names were the same. It was not like he had not seen it before. He had also seen two people named Liszt at the border. However, one of them was his subordinate, while the other was the manor owner who had been killed.

As he was thinking, Amon said, “Baldur, God of Light, I have no interest in your discussion and do not wish to participate in your battle.”

“Time traveler, are you saying that you do not intend to get that youth?” Baldur asked.

The time traveler had rarely spoken in their meetings. Even when he spoke, he only maintained a neutral attitude, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. That was the first time that the time traveler had expressed his disapproval. That made Baldur somewhat puzzled. All the gods knew what Watson’s body contained, and that thing was a fatal temptation for them.

It was impossible for the time traveler not to want that thing. Did he have a special plan?

The other gods also fell into deep thought. After a long while, Baldur shook his head. “No matter what you are planning, you said that you would not participate. Then, the six of us will be competing for that youth! From now on, no matter what methods we use, no matter how we form factions, the six of us only need to choose one.”

“Wait, Baldur. I have a suggestion regarding that.”

King Landhar III, who had been watching coldly from the side, suddenly spoke.

“Oh? King Landhar III, what suggestion do you have? ”

“I don’t have any objections if you all want to fight, but if all of you die in battle, wouldn’t my kingdom lose a few gods’ blessings? That will cause my people to fall into panic, and I don’t want to see that happen! Since that’s the case, why don’t you choose a gentler way of fighting? For example, you can send your doppelgangers from outside the world to the kingdom and use their battle to decide on who Watson belongs to.”

The King’s eyes flickered slightly.

“That’s right, King Landhar III. Let’s do it that way. I hope you can give us physical bodies that can unleash our full strength.”

“Don’t worry. I will not disappoint you.”

“Then let’s end this conversation. King Landhar III, let us know when you have prepared the bodies.”

As soon as his voice fell, the gods’ projection on the wall disappeared, and the secret chamber returned to silence. The flames on the ground had turned from green to fiery red.

“Things have been settled. Come on, Watson, let’s go. ”

Picking up the torch on the ground, King Landhar III turned around and walked out of the secret passage. Watson followed behind him, and when he saw the King place the torch on it as he approached the passage, he chuckled softly.

“Your Majesty, what are you laughing at?”

“Nothing, I just remembered something joyous,” King Landhar III replied perfunctorily, leading Watson out of the passage and sealing the door to the secret chamber with a bed. “Watson, when you faced the gods just now and heard that I was going to sacrifice you to them, did you want to attack me?”

“Your Majesty, why would I do that? Are you joking with me?”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t admit it. I felt an obvious killing intent at that moment, but it doesn’t matter. Under that situation, it would be problematic if you pretended to be calm! I have no choice but to apologize to you. I exposed you to danger without explaining it to you. However, all of that is for my plan. I have to bring the seven gods to the kingdom. You should understand that, right?”

“Of course, I understand. However, there is something I don’t quite get. I hope you can give me an answer, Your Majesty. ”

Watson hesitated for a moment, but he still asked, “Just now, you said that you will prepare the bodies for the seven gods. Don’t tell me that they need to occupy other people’s bodies? What will happen to those people?”

“Watson, that has nothing to do with you. You don’t have to ask anymore. ”

“Alright, Your Majesty.”

“We’re done for today. If there’s nothing else, you can go back. Rest well and prepare for the competition in two days. I’m really looking forward to your performance.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I’ll take my leave now.”

Watson pretended to be respectful and turned to leave the King’s bedroom. The moment he walked out of the bedroom, the wind blew on the sweat on his body and immediately evaporated. At the same time, his face turned from childish to serious as he muttered in his heart, ‘Sure enough, I can’t let the King live.’

Previously, he had only heard about the brutality of King Landhar III from others. At the moment, he had seen it with his own eyes. If he had been attacked in the secret chamber, he would have died. As for the killing intent toward King Landhar III, he had released it deliberately. He thought it was abnormal to have no killing intent toward King Landhar III under such circumstances. Fortunately, the King did not see through that and let him leave.

In addition to the deal that King Landhar III and the seven gods had mentioned, they would need to occupy seven bodies if the gods wanted to descend to the mortal realm. Watson remembered Sidi’s projection when it occupied the unicorn—the people who were occupied would definitely be in extreme pain. Watson did not think that it would be a good thing, no matter how the King would do that.

‘Before King Landhar III’s plan succeeds, I must speed up the process of overthrowing him.’

Watson quickly left the palace. Not long after he left, a tall man in armor arrived outside the King’s bedroom. He lowered his voice and called out, “Your Majesty, it’s me, Hoen.”

“Come in.”

Hoen walked into the palace and found King Landhar III sitting behind a desk, tapping his fingers on the table. He seemed to be deep in thought, and his gaze was frightening. Hoen subconsciously lowered his head.

“I asked you to stay outside and observe Watson in secret. Did Watson look strange when he left, or did he see someone and show anything wrong?”

“No, Your Majesty. Watson did not meet anyone when he left. As for what was wrong, perhaps here was anger on his face?”

“Anger? Then it doesn’t matter. Maybe I’m overthinking,” King Landhar III murmured softly.

His action that time was the same as what Watson had thought. He was simply testing Watson to see if he could not break the soul oath he had made. After all, Watson had many skills. In addition, he had something that even the gods were interested in, which made him feel uncertain. However, after that experiment, he felt much more at ease.

Under that kind of environment, Watson could not even make a move. Instead, he unwillingly offered his body. It really looked like he was bound by the oath and could not betray it.

“However, I can’t just give the thing in Watson’s body to those gods for free. That kind of magical thing has to be in my hands. ”

King Landhar III clenched his palm as if he was holding the world in his palm. He already had a vague guess about the thing in Watson’s body. According to his guess, it must be related to the fact that he could produce many platinum-tier weapons and precious sun and moon gemstones.

Whether it was Watson or the gods, they were just pawns to him. Everything was going according to his plan. The day to fulfill his long-cherished wish was approaching.

“Hoen, take some gifts from the palace and give them to Watson. Tell him they are rewards for him,” King Landhar III said.

He was quite satisfied with the results of the test Next, he could put aside his suspicions about Watson and make good use of it to strengthen the kingdom.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Although he answered respectfully, Hoen did not leave immediately. Instead, he showed hesitation on his face.

“What’s the matter? Why are you still standing here?”

“There is one thing. Didn’t one of our platinum-tier thunder-clawed dragon die? When the Dragon King, Fafnir, learned of that, he sent us a letter to ask about it. He wants us to investigate the whole incident and give him an explanation. If we can’t do it, he will cut off all ties with our kingdom.”

“I almost forgot about that. How dare a mere Dragon King, who is only one of the ruling classes of the Dragon Clan, be so proud? Who does he think I am?”

King Landhar III smacked his forehead and sneered. “The Holy Dragon Kingdom didn’t have enough power in the past. I might have been worried about losing the Dragon Clan’s help, but now I’m no longer afraid! When I give Watson a gift later, I’ll also prepare a gift for Fafnir. That gift will include 100 sun fruits and ten platinum-tier longswords. Those things are worth ten dead dragons. I think they’re enough to shut Fafnir’s mouth.”

….

After Watson returned to the Sword Saint’s courtyard, he was interrogated by his two masters, Antonio and Reid. They asked him about the things that King Landeshar III had shown in the hall. They asked if he had given them to him.

It was no wonder that the two masters were puzzled. After all, in their eyes, Watson was against the King. Why did he suddenly give so many good things to the King? Not only did he expose his own strength, but he also looked like he was related to the King’s family. Could it be that Watson had changed his mind?

Watson made up an excuse. He only said that he gave those things to the King to lower the King’s vigilance and prevent him from continuing to attack himself and the people around him. As for tonight’s conversation with the King and even the gods, Watson only mentioned the part about “Kiana” and did not say anything else.

It was not that he did not trust his two masters, but he felt like if the two masters knew that his life had just been threatened, they would definitely be enraged and inevitably do something out of line.

After going through the interrogation of the two masters and spending a few hours explaining himself, Watson dragged his tired body back to his room. There were still two days left before the exhibition match at the Royal Academy. There was one thing that King Landhar III was right about. He could not marry Princess Kiana, but he could not refuse to become the future emperor.

In order to get that qualification, he had to win the competition, so he had to prepare well for those two days.

Two days passed very quickly. During those two days, other than the two masters and Christina who came to look for him, Watson had been staying in his room to cultivate. During that time, the King sent General Hoen to send a gift. Even though it was said to be a reward for Watson, Antonio and Reid both felt like it was because Watson had offered the sun fruit and platinum weapons, so His Majesty would thank Watson. However, most of the gifts were golden-tier ginseng, seven-leaf sunflowers, and other medicinal herbs. They were utterly incomparable to what Watson had given them. Seeing that, the two masters shouted that His Majesty was stingy.

Watson could not be bothered to explain the misunderstanding between the two masters. It was worth mentioning that after General Hoen, Charlotte of the Saint Laurent family had come to him once and talked to him a lot about the genius Nia of the Saint Laurent family, she had repeatedly told him to avoid a direct confrontation with Nia during the battle. If he had to admit defeat, it was fine.

Watson was grateful for Charlot’s actions. Charlot was clearly a member of the Saint Laurent family, yet she had come to remind him. If others knew about that, it would be terrible. However, he did not take her words to heart. That was because he had no way out of that battle.

“Watson, are you ready? The carriage is already waiting outside. It’s seven o’clock in the morning. There’s still an hour before the opening ceremony of the exhibition match at eight o’clock.”

The familiar voice of Christina came from outside the door, causing Watson, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, to open his eyes. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. “It’s Time!”

After two days of recovery, his strength had risen to the peak. Not only was his strength restored in all aspects, but it was also sufficient to deal with the following battles.

“Miss Tina, let’s go!”

Getting out of bed and pushing open the door, Watson was dressed in a white robe. On his back was the holy relic, the Holy Sword of Time, which Marcus had given him a few days ago. He smiled and nodded at Christina, who was also dressed in light armor and ready to go. However, his gaze looked past Christina to the distant sky.

He, Watson, had arrived for the Royal Academy’s exhibition match.