"It sure is an entire thousand arena coins on the card."

After staring at the rectangular object thrown at him by me, the cultivator that was about to duel Eve quickly confirmed my words, only making me realise the one, slight mistake that I made.

"City Mayor, I do not possess the necessary means to explain the situation to the crowd. Could I ask you to amplify my voice? I'm worried that if You will be the one to assure them, they might suspect you of meddling with the fight!"

I could understand the motives behind Jelier actions, I truly could! It was obvious that while he couldn't show it outright, he still held the grudge for the troubles that I caused to him previously with my cultivation going berserk incident. But putting the current situation in this light, I hoped to remind him what should hold more value to him than an act of silly revenge on me.

"I don't think this will be a problem, but I need you to understand that if you dare to utter some nonsense or agitate against the City Hall, the voice amplification will be cut, do you understand?"

Gnashing his teeth slightly, Jelier held the reins of his hidden anger and approved of my request with a fake smile plastered on his face. After making some strange gestures with his hands for a short moment, he looked back at me with anticipation written on his face.

"Hello, hello! Test, test, one, two, three, one, two, three…"

Before I started speaking, I put on an act as if I was testing the microphone. Even if nobody ever experienced such profound tool like electrical voice amplification in this world, my uncertainty whether the sound enhancement worked properly should send the message to the smarter part of the people on the tribunes.

Hearing my voice reverberating through the vast, open area of the arena, I put a wide smile on my face before lowering my head a bit to the people gathered on the tribunes.

"At first, we would like to apologise for the inconvenience. Due to small misunderstandings and miscommunications piling up, the demonic beast that was supposed to fight against my dearest fiancee over there is apparently our friend since even before we set out to this city!"

Even if I tested the limits of the Jelier patience with small indications like using 'we' instead of 'I', I made sure to use big words in a proper and straightforward manner. If I wanted the message to go through, I couldn't cross the Mayor's bottom line!

"Since the previous arrangement turned to be impossible to realise, our great Mayor suggested a way out to not leave you dissatisfied. Before I will explain, I need to ask you one question though. While I know this is about tactics and taking a greater picture into account, don't you think that most of the fights so far… were lacking?"

While I face the crowd, I turn my head ever so slightly to look Jelier right into the eyes. Unable to make any big movements because they would get instantly noticed by the spectators, I can only slightly nod my head to calm him down. I can't expect him to understand that I'm just trying to hype the crowd to make up for the wait, so I need to make sure that he won't find my words improper.

"I can understand why competitors want to hide their real strength and aces for as long as they can, revealing them only in the direst of the situations, but guess what! Eve Katenari, being expanding senses cultivator already, don't need to bother with this tournament at all! Being at such a high level with such a young age, she is sure to be scouted by some nice sect anyway! But as you might've guessed, that means one, a good thing for everyone gathered in hopes for a great show of martial might!"

Taking a quick breath to let the anticipation build up in the crowd, I inhale a mouthful of air before picking up where I left. This time, however, I need to get straight to the point as to not bore the crowd!

"To ensure that both of them will fight to the best of their capabilities, I offered this challenger here an insane amount of thousand arena coins if he manages to win! Eve, please, don't make me go bankrupt!"

Adding a little joke at the end of the sentence was always a good thing to make the masses sympathize with the announcer, or in more modern terms, hypeman!

"While I already asked about it, can Sir confirm the worth of the card that I just passed to you?"

Turning to the challenger who was enjoying my performance as much as everyone else gathered on the tribunes, I looked at the Jelier only to see him turning to face the man as well.

"Most definitely. Not only five hundred that you offered for participation, but an entire hundred of arena coins are stored at this card. I'm only worried that I don't have enough change to give back to you in the unlikely case that I would lose!"

Clearly enjoying my act, this man successfully managed to reply with a joke as well, lifting my mood with this act as well.

"Then, let this pitiful excuse of a cultivator excuse himself, before I will be torn apart by your great anticipation of this epic duel that is about to ensue!"

Feeling the voice amplification being directed back at me, I swiftly took my leave by referring to myself in the third person while throwing yet another joke in the air. Approaching Eve, I leaned over her ear, while covertly pushing my Utopy in her storage ring.

"Make sure to shatter his weapon, but offer him my sword later on. We need to both advertise our auction and make sure this fight won't end in just a moment. If you will have any trouble, just use your cultivation techniques. I will make sure to refill your energy pool during the duel. Can I count on you with that?"

Whispering in her ear, I received a small nod in response. With the fight just around the corner, Eve already switched to a focused mindset of a hunter, eyeing its prey with all her attention.

After grabbing Pengu in my embrace I approached the tribune walls that separated the fighting grounds from the viewers, and with a single jump, I got back to the tribunes. Before I even managed to take a single step towards my seat, I was swiftly intercepted by Venna.

"While I commend you for resolving this issue, I can't approve the way in which you are wasting the money! This is an entire one and half thousand arena coins that we are speaking about! How could you throw it away just like that?"

Leading me to her private lodge, she continued to whisper into my ear with a clear tune of discontent. Unable to understand how did she come to such a wrong motion, I could only look at her with puzzlement written all over my face.

"What do you mean by that? The duel is only about to start now and I don't think there is anyone out there who can best Eve except for me!"

Unable to stand this mighty sect representative taking my fiancee lightly, I abruptly stood on the spot and forced her to face me.

"Didn't you know? The man that took the challenge is one of the most known Natural's sect geniuses!"