Chapter 208 - WOLF OF THE WIND (2) (1/2)

When the royal family announced the news of the fighting competition, it caused a stir in the entire royal capital.

Not in a bad way but in a good way.

The nobles who had packed up their bags for their return changed their plans and decided to stay in the capital for a few more days, and even the people who were dejected by the tragedy of the royal capital regained quite a bit of their strength.

“Because this place lacks entertainment.”

At Jude’s words, Cordelia nodded a few times and looked back at the bed in front of her.

Jude and Cordelia were now looking at furniture in a luxury furniture store on the royal capital.

Because the mansion they would receive from the royal family had finally been decided.

“Hmm…”

As Cordelia took a serious look at the king-size bed, Jude sent a <Message> magic.

[Just pick a good one. We won’t be able to use it for a while anyway.]

This world had ready-made goods, but most of the furniture of the nobility were usually ordered and crafted by hand.

The bed was also a sample product, but only when it was actually ordered do the store begin to make a completely new one, so it took as little as 15 days or even a month before they receive what they had ordered.

‘Moreover…’

Because this is a bed that we’ll have to share in one bedroom.

Isn’t the day we’ll use it really far?

But Cordelia just groaned as she thought and pondered about it.

‘The bed is too expensive!’

Each piece of furniture was ridiculously expensive, but the bed felt particularly expensive.

She thought that she could buy a decent four-horse carriage with the money to buy this one bed.

But it was natural for it to be expensive in a way because it was the bed in a bedroom of a count’s mansion.

“It seems like you’ll get a fever at this rate.”

“Ugh.”

Cordelia groaned again before she plopped down on a nearby sofa, and Jude sat down next to her.

“We’re going to rest for a moment. Can we have some tea?”

“Of course, Count. Please wait a moment.”

The clerk of the furniture store smiled and bowed before ordering another employee to serve them tea and refreshments.

Jude and Cordelia were literally VIPs from the furniture store’s perspective because they had to completely renovate the mansion, but despite being counts, the two spoke respectfully and behaved politely, so the clerk was very pleased with their polite attitude.

“Haa.”

In any case, as Cordelia stretched out on the couch as if she was going to melt anytime soon, Jude smiled and took out a piece of paper.

[Take a look at this.]

[What’s that?]

Instead of answering, Jude pushed the paper a little towards Cordelia, and she blinked her eyes and accepted the paper. Her eyes soon widened in surprise.

[Wait, what’s this?]

[Multiplier table?]

[I know what this is, okay? But I clearly said it, right? Gambler-]

[No, I’m not the one who brought it, okay? Scarlet was the one who brought it to me, okay?]

Cordelia narrowed her eyes in suspicion at Jude’s words, but she soon nodded. Because she found Scarlet’s signature on the corner of the paper.

[Anyway, look at it.]

As Jude tapped the paper, Cordelia looked at the multiplier table again.

It was a very simple multiplier table where you could see how much you would get if you bet on a group in the competition, but a puzzled and angry expression spread on Cordelia’s face as she stared at it.

[Wait. Why is this so high?]

The amount you could get if you bet on the north was 2.1 times the amount of the money you bet.

It wasn’t such a huge number, but it was inevitable for Cordelia to feel bad.

Because the number was greater than the numbers for betting on the south or center.

[What the, do they think that the south or center are more likely to win than the north?]

[I guess so?]

[Why?]

Cordelia looked at Jude with an expression showing that she couldn’t understand why.

[My Jude… No, no… Anyway, aren’t you from the north?]

Jude’s the one who won the Banquet of Swords and stopped the Lord Protector, but why do they think that the south or center have a higher chance of winning?

Cordelia was extremely angry at the numbers written that assumed the north couldn’t win, so she was fuming after reading the multiplier table.

[Woah, woah, calm down.]

[Aren’t you angry?]

[No, I’m not angry. The multiplier table makes sense after all.]

[What do you mean?]

[No one has seen me fight.]

Cordelia blinked her eyes at Jude’s words and soon understood it. Because it was true.

[Because no one has seen me fight the Lord Protector. To be frank, if you think about it objectively, would it make sense for two teenagers to beat the Lord Protector even if he had declined from age? You’ll just think that they somehow got lucky in stopping the Lord Protector with the power and help they received from others.]

If one took a step back, his words certainly made sense.

Moreover, Jude was a weak boy who suffered from an illness and couldn’t go out of his house just half a year ago.

[Perhaps they think that you’re stronger than me. Well, that’s what I think so too.]

If it weren’t for Cordelia, he wouldn’t be able to force the sixth door open.

It was also Cordelia who dealt the last hit.

[W-why are you suddenly complimenting me?]

Cordelia hmphed and snorted, but when he looked at her face, he could tell that she was actually happy.

But her happiness didn’t last long. Because she was still upset that Jude had been ignored.

[But there was the Banquet of Swords.]

They definitely saw his fight against First Sword there, right?

[Even if they saw it… First Sword had become a traitor now. So my evaluation ended up decreasing a lot.]

Obviously, First Sword’s betrayal didn’t mean that Jude’s skills had suddenly decreased.

[I still don’t understand.]

[There’s one more reason here.]

[What is it?]

[Because this is a group battle.]

The fighting competition regularly held by the king was not a one-on-one tournament.

It wasn’t a tournament that went up step-by-step from 32 to 16 to 8 people and so on. It was close to a battle royal wherein all the participants were gathered in one place and made to fight for one round only.

[The north, south, and center will each have 30 people, so 90 people will all be fighting at the same time. It’s good to have skilled individuals, but at this competition, the power of the group itself is more important.]

And in that sense, the evaluation of the north was worse than that of the south or the center.

Except for Lucas and Jude, their group had no other exceptional talents, and the overall age group of their group was also much younger than the other groups.

[To add to it, I’m also injured, right? I’ve been unconscious for days, so some of them probably judged that I still haven’t fully recovered.]

Jude had been unconscious for three days. By general standards, it would take at least a month for a person with such injuries to fully recover and be in their usual fighting form again.

[Are you really okay though?]

Cordelia asked with a worried expression, and Jude immediately nodded.

[Because I have a regenerative ability.]

[Haa… Okay, I get it. Show them what you’ve got, okay?]

[Yes, so I went all-in on the north.]

[Good job… wait, what?]

[I said I went all-in on the north.]

When Jude spoke with a big smile, Cordelia forgot her ban on skinship and touched Jude, or rather, she began hitting him.

[Gambler OUT! Let’s break off our engagement! Let’s break it off!]

[Ouch, it’s not gambling. It’s an investment, okay?]