42. Noble Elf Tournament {NET}.
“Good luck in the tournament, Your Highness!!!”
Everyone showed their sincere support for the prince. They wished for him to enjoy his time when participating in the tournament.
Orion acknowledged them before walking into the carriage with Evelyn.
Mia and Elena were already inside, waiting for them to enter too.
Once everyone had stepped into the carriage and taken their seats, the Coachman instantly hurried to his own seat.
“Hiyaah!!”
The four dark Pegasi in front of him unfolded their wings before gliding into the sky with the carriage attached to them.
While they were flying mid-air, Mia turned to Orion to ask.
“Master, where are we going?”
“We’re going to El’lyth, it’s the city of the coliseum,”
The elf kingdom was divided into two cities and two villages.
The capital city and the largest city was called ‘El’goroth’
This was where most of the nobles in the kingdom were living. It was also where the castle resides.
The coliseum city was called ‘El’lyth’ while the two villages were known as
El’vendom (The village of farming and agriculture) and El’rial (The village of fishing)
El’vendom supplies food and fresh fruits around the kingdom while El’rial provided seafoods to other markets within the kingdom, mainly the capital city and the coliseum city.
The coliseum city was a very large city but it wasn’t as large as that of the capital.
Since it was called the coliseum city, this meant that the city had a huge coliseum as its center of attraction.
Hundreds of elves and orc warriors compete yearly in the arena.
The city was also known to hold grand festivals similar to Oktoberfest in Orion’s previous world.
“Does this mean master will be fighting in the arena?”
“Yes, he will,” Evelyn replied. “For centuries, the tournament involved contestants battling against each other in the coliseum but things might be a bit different from how it used to be,”
“What do you mean?” Orion asked.
“Well, the first thing you need to know is that we’re not going to the coliseum right now,” Elena explained.
“Then, where are we going?” Mia asked.
“To a castle in the city,”
“A castle?”
“Yes,”
“Oh, you mean the same castle, contestants are allowed to stay during the period of the tournament,”
“Yes dear, but like I said, things are a bit different from how they used to be,”
Elena nodded her head in agreement before saying. “The same castle previous generations have been using for the tournament won’t be used this time around. Several new castles have been built for this particular tournament,”
“But why would they do this?” Orion asked.
“Well, it seems the tournament officials were a bit lenient than usual in selecting those who could participate and those who couldn’t. And now, for the first time ever, there are more than four hundred registered contestants for the Junior Noble Elf Tournament and over six hundred contestants in the adult tournament,”
Hearing this, Orion’s eyes widened in surprise.
The number of contestants in the previous tournament were always within the range of hundred to two hundred for both the junior and adult tournament, this means that the total number of contestants in both wouldn’t exceed two hundred elves but now it appears that over one thousand elves will be competing for the prestigious tournament.
“Nobles were allowed to have two to three children contesting in this tournament, also the ranking barrier has been set low for commoners eager to participate as well. For young elves between the age of ten to seventeen, their strength had to be between a Rank One to Rank Three Mage or Knight while for the adult tournament, elves within Rank Four to Rank Nine were allowed to be registered,”
This new rule gave room for more elves to try their luck in this year’s tournament.
“So, this is why the number of elves participating this year are plenty,”
“Yes,”
“But how will the elders be able to survey and supervise a thousand elves at the same time. Doesn’t this mean some elves could have more chance of cheating without the elders knowing?” Orion asked.
He recalled his mother informing him of how the elders had always been the ones regarded as the tournament officials but it didn’t make any sense to him how a couple of elders who weren’t even up to fifty in numbers could be able to officiate the tournament with over a thousand elves when it will only make things easier for nobles or even commoners to cheat under their noses.
Evelyn giggled after hearing what her son just said.
She was amazed with the way her baby was able to think about this, so she tried to ease his worries. “Ufufufu--- although, the number of contestants in the tournament may be a lot higher than the number of elders, I believe the elders should be able to handle the tasks required of them,”
After hearing what his mother had to say, Orion didn’t ask anymore questions. He and Mia discussed about a couple of other things while Evelyn and Elena did the same as well.
About an hour later, the carriage finally arrived in the coliseum city.
Orion was able to catch a glimpse of the huge coliseum but since that wasn’t their destination for now, he watched as the carriage flew passed by before finally landing in front of a huge castle.
He also noticed there were several other castles not too far from the coliseum. Some of the castles had varying sizes from the one in front of him right now.
As Evelyn, Elena, Mia and Orion stepped out of the carriage, Hilda welcomed them.
“Greetings, your Majesty, I hope the journey wasn’t too tedious,”
“Thank you Hilda, we appreciate your warm welcome. The journey was long, but we’re here now, and that’s what matters. I’m eager to see how the tournament unfolds and I trust all is prepared for the tournament.”
“Yes, your Majesty, but since the prince will be the one taking part in the tournament, only the prince will be allowed to come into the castle. Please, allow her to guide you to the castle reserved for the royal family,”
Standing beside Hilda, was a maid who belonged to the dark elf race.
The maid bowed her head once again as she prepared herself mentally to guide the royal family to the castle reserved for them.