Chapter 351
Chapter 351: Is It a Tradition of Your Empire for Mages to Fight in Melee?
Upon hearing Viktor's self-introduction, the Demi-humans were momentarily stunned.
Although they appeared human-like, having lived deep in the forests for so long, their instincts remained as wild as beasts.
Information was scarce, and on top of that, the vast majority of Demi-humans were nearly illiterate.
Even the live broadcast of Viktor's naval battle had once spread across various nations.
But naturally, this did not include the Demi-humans.
Demi-human slaves would never have seen it, and those dwelling in the jungle would only ever focus their attention on hunting and the daily dangers around them.
Let alone the notion that the Demi-humans of the Kingdom could possibly recognize an Imperial Mage.
Yet among those who could understand Viktor's words—particularly the Demi-humans slaves who had been rescued—their fur bristled all across their bodies. Their pupils widened with rage, and their sharp, jagged fangs were bared to the open air.
Viktor's single word—"master"—made them recall every form of oppression they had once endured.
Even though they had already broken free of their shackles with the help of their kin, those painful memories still pressed upon the Demi-humans with an absolute, crushing weight.
Demi-humans understood suffering too. Having tasted freedom, they could no longer endure captivity.
They spread their mouths full of sharp fangs, stretched their necks, and amidst the torrential downpour, howled furiously at the gloomy sky.
The long, undulating cries of wild beasts mingled with the crashing rain until even the air became overwhelmingly chaotic.
The roars, one after another, made Viktor's brow furrow slightly.
The storm around him seemed to grow even more violent in response to his irritation, enormous raindrops whipping and swirling in the wild gusts.
The endless, frenzied rain nearly blocked everyone's line of sight.
It was as if a waterfall had plunged from the heavens, shattering completely against the golden earth below and bursting into a vast white spray.
Countless Demi-humans felt a sudden chill at their ankles—something was wrong.
They looked down and found that the floodwater in the auction hall had already risen considerably, swallowing their ankles entirely.
As the water level climbed, Viktor's cold, indifferent voice echoed above everyone's heads:
"Make one more sound."
"And I'll drown every last one of you."
The chorus of roars ceased at that very instant.
The visible, undeniable rise of the water level had caused the Demi-humans to obediently shut their mouths.
Yet the eyes hidden within the storm remained as furious as before.
The Tiger Lord watched the scene before it, its tiger face calm.
It knew that the Viktor standing before it possessed the power to threaten all of them—every last Demi-humans.
And he was not merely speaking empty words.
Flooding this place would likely doom the Kingdom's nobility along with everyone else.
But Viktor was not a man of the Kingdom.
Even if Tiger-folk didn't fully grasp the concept of nations, it understood the notion of factions.
Viktor and those Kingdom people were not even on the same side—why would he care whether they lived or died?
But the Tiger Lord could not afford to be so indifferent.
Even if the floodwaters swallowed everything, it alone could escape.
But the remaining Demi-humans kin—they would all perish beneath those rising waters.
It could not gamble against Viktor.
This arrogant human before it was, without question, the most powerful Mage it had ever encountered.
To command the weather. To submerge a city.
Even capable of dissolving itself into flowing water, rendering its strength utterly useless.
In all likelihood, a Mage of the same caliber as the Grand Duke.
And yet, as the Tiger Lord looked upon Viktor, a wave of intense excitement surged from deep within.
It could clearly feel its heart pounding rapidly, blood rushing at full speed to its limbs and brain.
Its breathing grew ragged, the muscles across its body subtly swelling.
Even as powerlessness spread through every part of it, it was unbearably exhilarated—the excitement of wanting to fight.
But the male Tiger-folk also knew that if it truly came to blows, it had no idea when it might defeat Viktor—or whether victory was even possible at all.
The moment they clashed, it would need to defeat its opponent in the shortest time imaginable.
Yet against a Mage this powerful, that was nearly impossible.
If the battle dragged on until the Kingdom's reinforcements arrived, regardless of whether it could overcome the Mage before it, leading the Demi-humans in escaping Royal City would be out of the question.
And so, after weighing it all carefully, the male Tiger-folk suppressed the agitation in its heart.
It even cupped its fists and gave Viktor a slight show of respect:
"You should not be a man of the Kingdom. We have no grievance between us."
"We only wish to take our kin away, and along the way, teach these shameless Kingdom people a lesson."
"Let us each take a step back. If you do not interfere in this matter, we will certainly repay you in the future."
The other noble lords, upon hearing these words, could not help but feel a surge of fury.
But alongside the fury came a deep, suffocating helplessness.
Some of them even slumped back into their seats, bodies going limp.
If Viktor refused to help, then all the lords present, even fighting together, would likely be no match for this single male Tiger-folk.
Among those present, only a handful of Counts could be considered truly powerful.
The majority were Viscounts, along with wealthy merchants who held virtually no combat strength.
Those powerful Counts and even Marquises carried titles distinguished enough that they had no need to attend an auction like this—one meant merely to foster goodwill among the nobility.
And besides, this was within Royal City itself.
No one had anticipated that something like today's events could ever happen here.
Even King Auguste had brought only Hilda, a third-tier warrior, as his personal guard.
With such a gap in strength, they had no way of overcoming the male Tiger-folk.
To say nothing of the other Demi-humans—they were far from weak as well.
If Viktor refused to intervene, the nobility present—even Auguste himself—might perish beneath the male Tiger-folk's claws.
Some had already been seized by deep regret and fury.
Had this happened on their own territory, with sufficient troops at hand, how could they have let these Demi-humans run so rampant?
And how had these Demi-humans managed to pick such a perfectly timed moment to strike Royal City?
Now, all they could do was place their hopes, firmly and entirely, upon Viktor.
At this moment, Viktor listened to the male Tiger-folk's words and did not respond.
He stood with both hands in his pockets, expression unhurried, as though weighing his options.
Behind him, his azure windbreaker continued to billow in the air, snapping and flapping in the downpour.
"Before this, we truly had no grievance."
Hearing Viktor's words, every noble and merchant present felt a wave of despair wash over them.
But the very next second, Viktor's following words brought them a jolt of unexpected relief.
"But just now, you struck one of my people, threatened the princess of our nation, and tried to take my maidservant away."
"Now, we have a grievance."
The male Tiger-folk blinked, momentarily caught off guard, and couldn't help but recall the knight and the cat-girl in the second-floor box from earlier.
But—threatening the princess?
Had it done that?
Even so, it understood clearly that the words this Mage spoke were nothing more than a pretext.
The other party simply wanted an excuse to keep it here.
"And furthermore—"
Viktor spoke again, his voice unhurried.
"I have already paid."
"You, purchased goods that belong to me, simply walked away like that."
"The 100 million I am now short—who exactly is supposed to compensate me for that?"
The nobles present, hearing Viktor frame it this way, were immediately incensed. The relief they had just felt dissolved into indignation.
He had just been telling the auctioneer that the guild should cover the losses—and now he turned right around and pinned it on the male Tiger-folk.
So he intended to collect from both ends.
But their lives were still in Viktor's hands, so they had no choice but to swallow their grievances.
The Tiger Lord looked at Viktor, its cupped fists slowly lowering, a dangerous gleam flickering in its eyes.
Its gaze was razor-sharp, as if it intended to pierce straight through Viktor's body.
Then, a tremendous pressure swept across the entire auction hall, a dense and heavy aura circling around it.
The male Tiger-folk's breathing gradually steadied, each exhale and inhale carrying a deep, measured rhythm.
Its body swelled slightly—compared to before, it seemed even larger.
"It seems, then, that you intend to fight no matter what."
"As it happens, that is exactly what I want as well."
Its expression grew utterly grave, a fierce and cutting presence erupting continuously from between its brows.
The male Tiger-folk lifted its head, face solemn, and issued a command to the harpy women circling above:
"Take our kin and leave this place."
Upon hearing the Tiger Lord's words, the half-woman, half-eagle figures above beat their wings and gave heavy nods.
Then, they circled in the air several times before sweeping out through the dome and letting out a sharp cry toward the open sky.
Screeeee—!!!
The piercing shriek reverberated through the vast night sky, carrying far, far away.
As if answering a command, every Demi-humans inside the hall turned around as one.
The dozen or so minotaurs spun back toward the already fractured and crumbling golden walls and charged.
They moved with heavy, thundering strides at the front of the Demi-humans formation, smashing through the structure and cutting a path open for the rest.
They had to leave at full speed now.
For all their current advantage, it only existed because the Kingdom's defenses were stretched thin—a massive gathering of nobles had been drawn to the auction hall.
The moment the Kingdom had time to react, armies converging on Royal City from all directions—these few thousand Demi-humans would have no hope of withstanding a steel army crashing upon them like a flood.
They had to withdraw before the Kingdom's reinforcements arrived.
The chaotic stampede of footsteps made the very earth tremble. Beneath a surging, overwhelming roar, countless Demi-humans hurried away from the place.
Watching the Demi-humans they had once caged and imprisoned gradually depart, the noble lords' eyes brimmed with heartache.
Whatever else might be said, these Demi-humans slaves had lived in their households for a long time.
Every meal they had eaten—converted to coin—represented heavy, weighty gold pieces, one after another!
They hoped Viktor would stop the Demi-humans, but Viktor simply stood in place, his gaze perfectly calm.
He watched, without lifting a finger, as the Demi-humans gradually dispersed.
Until he looked into the distance and could no longer see even a trace of their retreating figures.
The Tiger Lord turned its terrifyingly sharp gaze back upon Viktor.
Its eyes were filled with a deep, crushing battle intent.
"Now, it is only the two of us left."
Viktor's face was expressionless. He extended one hand and raised it slightly.
Immediately, the female male Tiger-folk who had been pinned deep into the shattered, sunken stage felt her body grow light.
The instant her restraints were released, she shot up from the ground.
With a single roll, she rose to her feet and immediately took her place behind the Tiger Lord.
The orange fur across her body had long been soaked through by the floodwater. She landed in a puddle, drip after drip falling and rippling softly outward.
Only after she had shaken the water from her coat and restored herself did Viktor finally speak:
"It seems your kin place a great deal of trust in you."
"Enough to simply abandon the two of you without hesitation."
Upon hearing this, the Tiger Lord's pupils—which had relaxed slightly—immediately contracted.
More ferocious than before, its voice now carried a cold menace:
"In their eyes, I am their invincible king."
"King against king, champion against champion—is that not the very rule you humans have always upheld?"
Viktor's face remained unmoved, his reply calm:
"But as it stands, the two of you against one of me hardly seems fair to me."
"No matter. It makes no difference."
The moment the words left his mouth, verdant natural elements took the form of vines, gradually wrapping up his arm.
And there in his palm, brown tendrils slowly extended outward, twining and coiling around one another.
At last, they formed a sharp wooden blade.
The noble lords watched as Viktor seemingly drew a sword from thin air, anpppd their jaws dropped, their minds going blank.
Auguste, too, stared wide-eyed at the wooden sword extending from Viktor's hand.
What did Viktor mean by this?
He was a Mage. Was he actually going to fight 2 Demi-humans in close quarters?
He couldn't help but turn his head toward Auréliane.
Only to find that the Princess from the Empire showed not the slightest surprise at Viktor's behavior.
As though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Suddenly, he recalled the breathtaking close-quarters combat Auréliane had displayed last time, and then he thought of Viktor's identity.
This Councilor Viktor, he seemed to be…
Auréliane's teacher?
Equally, upon seeing the wooden sword in Viktor's hand, both tiger-folk displayed surprise.
Beyond the surprise—a touch of fury.
He was clearly a powerful Mage with formidable magic at his disposal, yet rather than using it, he chose to meet them in physical combat with a wooden sword?
In that moment, the fire deep within the male Tiger-folk's chest roared fully to life, filled with the urge to reduce that wooden sword in Viktor's palm to ash.
"Is this you, looking down on us?"
Viktor exhaled slowly and raised the wooden sword before him.
His expression remained unhurried, his gaze like ice, enveloping both tiger-folk in its hold:
"I am simply giving you a chance to challenge me."
"In the fairest way possible."