Chapter 190: Go, He's Asking for it!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The uttered words surged the surrounding crowd’s interest; the other twenty and more mages excitedly nodded in agreement. As for the opponent on the other side of the clearing, his eyes too lit up and looked towards Benjamin with eagerness.
Benjamin was left no choice.
... He should have seen this coming.
After battling for so many times today, with the magical beast and the Priests, he felt a little tired. The depletion of spiritual energy was not as simple as recovering mana by having a little rest after usage. Spiritual energy could only recover slowly, and especially after consecutive fights, it would recover even slower.
But, with the way things were, it did not feel right for him to reject.
"So, who is this acquaintance?" After thinking for a bit, he turned and looked at the mage from the Mage Guild on the other side of the clearing.
"My name is Richard. It’s an honor to meet you, Mr Benjamin." He nodded and said, "This request is indeed a little rude, but I am very curious about the standards of magic in the kingdom too. Would this request offend you?"
Benjamin raised his eyebrows with some surprise.
Due to the old man’s earlier introductions about their acts of monopoly, his impression of the Mage Guild was not very good. Unexpectedly, the mage in front of him seemed to have no attitude of arrogance whatsoever and was very polite instead.
However, probably because of his politeness, Benjamin was in less of a position to refuse.
"If that’s the case, let’s duel for a bit," he said, nodding.
While speaking, he scanned his surroundings again. Apart from mages, there were some curious pedestrians in the spectating crowd. But there were not too many people who were spectating. Many people took a glance and left. Probably within the boundaries of Icor, dueling mages were not anything special or rare.
Unfortunately, he could not trace the old man.
Benjamin placed his bag full of bounty down while thinking, and gave it to a mage at the side. He moved his sore shoulder a little, adjusted himself and was prepared for a fight.
"I heard that you, sir, had just returned from the Forest of the Dark Magic Beast. Your spiritual energy must have greatly depleted." This Richard from the Mage Guild seemed to be too sympathetic, "If we fight like this, it feels unfair."
But Benjamin shook his head, and said, "It’s just a casual duel, it’ll be fine."
Although he was not sure of his opponent’s capability, but he was quite confident in his own ability. Besides, it was not some life-or-death battle. He did not have to take it so seriously.
Sadly, Richard shook his head instead and said, "How about this, for the sake of fairness, we don’t use magic above low-level magic, only beginner and low-level magic. These spells don’t require much spiritual energy so even if you, sir, have had experienced a few battles prior, there wouldn’t be much effect."
Hearing that, an odd expression suddenly drifted across Benjamin’s face.
... For real?
The group of mages who escaped the kingdom within the spectating crowd also looked at one another with peculiar gazes. Some even placed their hand over their mouth, as if not wanting other people to see their funny faces while trying to hold in laughter. The other people who saw this reaction were naturally even more confused.
"Go, he’s asking for it!" The System popped up too, and shouted excitedly.
"..."
On the other hand, Benjamin felt there was nothing to be excited over. It was just a small duel, even if he won, it would just make him look slightly better; there was no substantive benefit. Did the System need to get excited to that extent?
But…...
Speaking of benefits.
"Are you sure you want to duel like this?" asked Benjamin courteously, while still in thought.
Richard nodded, and confidently replied, "Mr Benjamin, I would like to ask you to not look down on me. My basics are pretty good and I’m usually called the ‘Encyclopedia of Basic Magic’ within the Guild. Proposing such a requirement wasn’t just consideration for you, but also advantageous to me."
An Encyclopedia of Basic Magic?
If that’s the case...
For some reason, Benjamin suddenly felt like laughing.
"Well, since we want to duel, why don’t we bet on something." He could not help a crafty smile creeping on his face, and continued speaking normally, "It doesn’t matter who wins or loses fighting like this. Seems a little meaningless."
However, hearing that, the opponent looked as if that was just what he wanted instead.
"Coincidentally, we’ve visited you in hopes of inviting you, sir, to Regina, to participate once in our guild activities." His tone of slight glee made it seem like it was Benjamin instead who was rounded into a trap. It was as if he was baiting Benjamin. "If I win, I don’t want much. I just need Sir Benjamin to accept the invitation, and head to the capital in time."
Hearing all this up to this point suddenly gave Benjamin a bad feeling.
Invitation…...
This was the reason the Mage Guild sent people to find him specifically?
For some reason, he felt the whole world was running to the capital of Icor. The three Priests with hidden identities were running there for unknown reasons. And now, the people of the Mage Guild specifically came here and wanted to whisk Benjamin away to the capital. What kind of situation was this?
This type of feeling ... like something was going to happen.
When Benjamin thought about it, he was suddenly a little glad that he made such a bet.
Fortunately he placed this bet.
With this bet, Benjamin believed that he was all set. If there was someone who pushed the level of magic below low-level, he believed that even having the Pope as an opponent would be a piece of cake.
So, he still nodded, and replied, "No problem. But ...If I win, why don’t you give me a bottle of magic potion. As for the type, it’s up to you. I believe in your character, that you’ll definitely place a bet of equivalent value."
Richard did not disagree. He took out a very small glass bottle which held an odd red liquid. Carefully holding it, he showed it to Benjamin.
Benjamin felt a little confused.
So this was a magic potion?
Through water particle detection spell, he did not feel any extraordinary particle oscillation in the bottle. However, he did not know about these things and judging from Richard’s care in handling it, it was probably a pretty good item.
"This is the famous Short-Term Magical Ability Boost Tonic. After drinking it, the mage will exponentially increase his powers within a length of time. It is a highly precious elixir." Richard introduced the bottle carefully. "It took me quite some troubles to obtain it and now to use it as a bet, it qualifies, right?"
Benjamin nodded. No objections.
Thus, the betting was placed accordingly. The spectating crowd took a few steps backward to make them more space. At the same time, they backed up respectively, smiled and nodded meaningfully.
--- Their preparations were done; the duel could begin.
Thus, along with low mutters of chanting, Richard quickly used a chain of fire balls. Then, ten giant fire balls gathered above Richard’s head, looking like ten flaming bright miniature suns under the dark night sky, and brought waves of cheers and gasps from the audience.
"So powerful …... Summoning ten fire balls which form a chain all at once. How did he master this?" exclaimed Frank from among the team of mages.
"That’s nothing. It’s because we haven’t meditated long enough. I’m sure we would be able to use this skill too if we meditate long enough."
Under the varying gazes of the spectators, ten fireballs fell towards Benjamin like meteorites falling from the sky with a wave of Richard’s hands. And this, also indicated that the duel of magic in the Town of Hank had officially begun.