Chapter 381: The pre-competition Challengers (4)
Trid Seachurn was a tall, lean man whose eyes seemed distant. As far as Hex could tell, his tanned skin seemed to have hardened over time. His sandy brown hair stuck to his scalp like seaweed and appeared dry and messy.
He wore blue pants that ended in leathery flip flops and a buttonless shirt that he held together to the front by tying a thick rope around his middle. On his head he had a similar rope with an emblem of a sea wave in the middle of his forehead.
Trid was flanked by similarly dressed men and women – the open shirt of the women elicited cat calls from few spectators but the women walked without paying them any heed – and walked to the battle platform.
Their appearance had halted all the other battles. People scurried away when Trid walked toward the battle platform toward the center of the arena. A servant, one clad with a jacket above his servant uniform, hurried toward the platform.
"What is happening?"
Quid voiced the thought going in the head of everyone.
Hex saw Trid lean over to say something to the servant that joined him at the center. He focused his energy on his ears. His base level abilities to hear exceeded the auditory faculties of Enlightened Knights. Further enhancements helped him hear things as if they were whispered to him.
"I am waiting for Coralaine Whitesand. She has challenged me to a duel. I am here, she isn’t. Announce it. I don’t intend to waste my time."
"Who is Coralaine?" Hex asked, confused. He hadn’t seen the name on the list. According to the rules, anyone could challenge anyone. The list was ranked according to the number of battles and win percentage. The people in the top all had battled at least forty times and maintained a win rate of a hundred percent.
Hex had assumed that the top ten wouldn’t accept a challenge just from anyone at this point. It would be a hassle. A top ten spot after forty battles was respected. A match with any of the ten would attract attention beyond the average number of spectators. Even if a challenger lost, they would enjoy a brief moment of fame. If the top ten humored all the challengers, even if they won each and every challenge, they would end up fatigued even before the real competition began.
"Coralaine? He is going to battle her?" Sterling asked from the side. He didn’t only know her name, he also appeared to know something else. He was too excited otherwise.
"The Seachurn family is the ruler of Sunken Isle. The Whitesand family rules the White Isle. The distance between these two Isles is not even a hundred meters. There are people on both sides that even claim that they are one Isle with some water in between. Anyhow, due to their closeness and equal reliance on the sea around them to survive, plenty of conflicts have broken out between them over the years. Trid and Coraline are both the second childs of their respective families in the current line to the throne. I bet they wish to use this battle to defeat a lifelong enemy and increase their own prestige. After all, both families have a custom that restricts the number of years a ruler can sit as the leader."