Chapter 12

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“...”

Staring at this figure, everyone was silent. For a few seconds, everyone just stared blankly at this new arrival.

Suddenly, a boom of thunderous laughter sounded out from the crowd. Many simultaneously doubled over in boisterous chortles. “Hahahahaha!!!”

“What is this, a joke?”

“Who is this? He’s so tiny! Does he really think he can win?”

“Wow, doesn’t the arena have standards? Even I could probably beat him!”

“Lucky, lucky. This is a free win for Crane Toppler!”

“Hahahahaha!!!” Clutching his chest and throwing his head backward, Crane Toppler joined everyone in heaving himself in laughter.

This was his opponent? He was facing a midget?

Glancing toward the new challenger, he couldn’t but feel giggles continuously arise in his throat.

The new contestant was so short that he nearly looked like a dwarf. Furthermore, his face couldn't be seen underneath his cloak! Was he embarrassed of his face?

However, as he stared at him, he slowly grinned. Oh well. A win’s a win!

“...” Despite the ridicule, the cloaked figure merely stood there silently, still staring directly at his new opponent, as if completely unaffected.

“...” Also staring wide-eyed at the new challenger, the referee was speechless for a long while. This was the first time he had actually seen this “Black Cloak.” As he stared at him, he couldn’t help but wonder: how did this little guy sneak in? Was this a joke?

However, as the ruckus from the crowd began to die down, he suddenly remembered his duty. Turning towards the audience, he waved his hands over his head to get their attention.

“Attention everyone, now that you’ve seen the contestants, we will now start the bidding.” He gestured toward Crane Toppler. “Who would like to bet on Crane Toppler’s victory? Send in your bets with the robed men walking around now.”

Whoosh! There was a sudden flurry of movement, as everyone rushed to send in their bets.

“Me! Me! I bet 50 copper coins!”

“I bet 2 silver coins!”

“Wait, let me get in my bet too! I bet a whole 4 silver coins.”

“Me too me too! 70 copper coins!”

Overwhelmed by the sudden intake of bets, the robed employees in the crowd struggled to take in and write it all down.

Soon, the amount bet on Crane Toppler’s victory reached a noticeably high level, even approaching the value of several gold coins.

“Heh…” Crane Toppler couldn’t help but snicker. It looked like everyone wanted to bet on him this round.

He glanced toward the small black cloaked opponent standing still opposite him and smiled. Against this kind of a new contestant, nobody would doubt their judgement.

“Alright…” The referee looked around and saw that the bets were finally dying down. After waiting a few more moments for people to throw in their money, he then turned and gestured toward the new contestant. “Now, who would like to bet on Black Cloak?”

He looked around at the crowd, which within a moment’s notice, suddenly seemed to die down.

Everyone stared at Black Cloak’s tiny figure and their chatter started to slow. Looking around, they collectively backed away from the robed employees.

It was like a full 180 degree turn. The now completely free referees looked around a bit confusedly as the scene transitioned from everyone rushing to send in bets to getting virtually no one approaching them.

“No way!”

“I’m not throwing away my money!”

“Hahaha, only an idiot would bet on him.”

A few moments later, the crowd began to become lively once more, but only a joking manner, looking at each other and laughing.

“Haha!” Looking on at this scene, Crane Toppler couldn’t help but cover his mouth with his hand and laugh. “There’s no chance.”

“No bets?” The referee looked around the square, looking for anyone who might bet on the new contestant. After a moment, he decided to try to entice someone: “Who knows what Black Cloak is capable of? With such a lopsided ratio, anyone who bets on Black Cloak has the potential of winning a fortune should he win!”

“No way.”

Still, no one came forward with any bets.

“Hahaha!” Looking around at the silent crowd, Crane Toppler couldn’t help but laugh out once more. “Let’s start already, this round is a bust.”

“Yeah! Let’s just get this over with!” The impatient crowd chided as well as they continued to stand back from the bet-accepting employees.

“Haha, ok,” the referee laughed and waved his hand. “Just making sure.” He smiled and turned back toward the two contestants. “Well, with no opposing bets, that means that everyone will just be receiving their bets back. Is everyone ready?” He began to make his way over toward the two contestants to begin the fight.

Just at that moment, the black cloaked contestant on the stage spoke up.

“Can I bet on myself?”

His voice was gruff and unnatural-sounding, almost strained. Standing there rigidly, and with his hand up, he seemed kind of out of place, as if he was a schoolboy asking the teacher a question.

“Hahahaha!” Everyone turned toward him and immediately began to laugh out loud once again.

“You? You want to bet on yourself?”

“You think you can win?”

“Tempted by the money, ah?”

“Um… sure,” The referee glanced toward Black Cloak and scratched the back of his head. “You do win money regardless of bets if you win the fight, just so you know. How much would you like to bet?” He appeared to be surprised by Black Cloak’s actions. He was going to bet on himself?

“Uh, yes.” Black Cloak responded slowly. He paused for a moment. “Well… currently, I only have about 10 copper coins.” Scratching the back of his neck, he seemed a bit embarrassed.

“...” The referee stared at the black cloaked figure silently for a few seconds. After a moment of hesitation and looking around at the crowd, he turned back toward Black Cloak. “Um, alright. That’s fine.”

“HAHAHAHA!!” Crane Toppler suddenly burst out laughing, clutching his stomach and keeling over comically. “10 copper coins!!!”

“HAHAHA!!!” All around him, the crowd burst out laughing as well with him, all covering their mouths as they uncontrollably chortled out. “10 copper coins? What a sum!”

Ten copper coins? Was this a joke? With that meager of an amount bet, they would only gain a tiny amount from winning.

That amount would only be enough to buy some snacks. Even the smallest of bets had been more than twenty copper coins.

From the stage, however, Black Cloak didn’t seem phased, and promptly passed a few measly copper coins to a robed employee to the side of the stage.

“Alright, let’s start!” Crane Toppler impatiently snarled. “Let’s get this outta the way.”

“Crush him, Crane Toppler!” The audience responded in kind, laughing mockingly.

The referee nodded and began to walk to the center of the arena.

Approaching the center, he looked back and forth at both contestants, raising his eyebrows.

No one would deny that this was a lopsided matchup. Usually, Crane Toppler would even dominate opponents much bigger and taller than him. Against someone smaller, how could he lose?

“Crane Toppler vs Black Cloak. Both sides ready?” He raised his arm up to the sky. “3… 2… 1! Fight!”

The referee chopped his arm down between the two contestants and then quickly dashed to the side in order to get out of the way.

“Get em! Get em!” The crowd immediately yelled out.

“Teach him to not take the arena lightly!”

Crane Toppler stared at the cloaked midget in front of him and smirked.

“Just forfeit. I don’t want to senselessly beat you up.” He tossed his hands up mockingly.

“...”

Staring steadily at Crane Toppler, the cloaked figure didn’t respond, appearing to be completely composed.

“...” Crane Toppler rubbed his chin, and then snarled: “All right. Don’t blame me if you get hurt!”

“...ha!!” Crane Toppler yelped out, and the next moment, he was soaring forward. Although not as fast as before, he was still traveling through the arena at a very high speed.

Whoosh!

Seeing Crane Toppler’s attack, the crowd laughed and produced a plethora of jeers.

“Using such a powerful attack… isn’t it overkill, Crane Toppler?”

“Hahaha, why waste so much energy on this freebie?”

“Good, good. Crush him!”

“...” Black Cloak, for the first time, began to move, shifting his hands to the front of his body.

“Heh… finally a reaction, huh,” Crane Toppler snickered, traveling so fast toward Black Cloak that he was almost a blur. “Goodbye!”

He arrived right in front of the cloaked man! Fuoosh!

His fist smashed down onto Black Cloak’s body!

BAM!!!

…

Everything was still.

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