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After the battle commotion was settled, people who had not already purchased housing, including soldiers from the opposing side, began to storm the Adventurer’s Guild of Infinite City in an attempt to purchase land. Prince had immediately been escorted to the castle as to avoid any contact with the stampede. As it turned out, Prince already had very fine quarters in the castle, as did all the other members of Odd Squad. He was relaxing on his new bed. It was so large that he could roll over nine times and still not fall off. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Swan Beauty poked her head in. “Stop fooling around in here and come to the throne room. We all need to talk.” “I just don’t get it, Swan. With all the money we’ve made, there should be little issue repairing the city, right?”“Honestly, Gui. I think you underestimate just how much damage we underwent. Thanks to Ice Phoenix, the north gate was completely demolished. Subsequently, the residential area around the north gate was burned down. Luckily, thanks to Prince, we didn’t have to retreat as far as we had anticipated, but the cost of thousands of traps and several hundred gallons of hot tar must also be taken into account. Right now, buying land in Infinite City is a huge trend, and while the money supplied from that is a great help, we still won’t be able to make repairs very quickly at this rate. Soon the trend will end and people will start to notice how terrible it is to have monsters entering the city through the demolished north gate. Low level players will move out and spread a bad reputation about Infinite City. Furthermore, our income from the current housing boom is stilted by our inability to sell the houses destroyed during the battle. So unless any of you have any bright ideas, Infinite City isn’t going to be as infinite as you think.” The room was silent, Swan Beauty’s words cutting deep. Prince thought that he really had enjoyed entering the Adventurer’s Tournament much more than he had enjoyed taking care of his prize for winning. “We should host another Adventurer’s Tournament,” he said lightheartedly. He would love to just spend his time fighting. The others would never go for it, of course. They seldom indulge him in his random whims. “That’s a great idea!” Lolidragon shouted.The whole room snapped to life.“We could hold a tournament like the one in Star City and charge admission to both participate and watch!”“We could make it amongst individuals rather than teams, like the Roman Gladiator Games. By dividing up the entries, we can make more gold.”“We could have the contestants battle one another until nightfall each day. By the end of the day, the last contestant standing can battle Prince. As an incentive, if the winner beats him, they win all the earnings of that day!”Suddenly the group lurched into gear, designing posters, finding an area to battle in, and dividing the last of the finances. “What do you think?” Wolf asked, leading Prince to the entrance to a large coliseum, grand enough to rival the one in Rome. “We used most of the earnings from the incoming players to build it.” Wolf looked at Prince intently. “We have put a lot of faith into this plan and much of its success rides on you winning against whatever opponent you face today. Please do not let us down.” Prince gulped. He was a level 74, which was enough to rank him among the top 15 players. Five of the other 14 were organizing this event with him, but if any of the 9 others decided to join the fight today, Prince would be royally screwed. They had a special seat reserved just for him. It was a large throne positioned in the midst of the crowd, with the greatest view of the arena. Lolidragon had already warned him to pay close attention to the competitors. He would end up fighting one of them by the end of the day. As the spectators began pouring in, Prince became more nervous. Swan had positioned several of their best guardsmen to stand about his throne. They weren’t so much for protection as posterity. He was the lord of this land and he had a responsibility to look as though he had a right to own it. At first the competition dragged on. Ice Phoenix and Doll had done well with advertising for the event, and so many people of all levels applied. No particular ranking system had been set up and the competitors were first come first serve, so it had just so happened that the first few people were all just well-matched low level idiots. Prince started to get bored at watching their pathetic fighting and got worried that their spectators might, too. If this didn’t get interesting soon, then there would be no one to buy tickets tomorrow. Suddenly, a sword flew past his left ear, chopping off the smallest bit of white hair as it whistled passed. Prince broke from his chance just in time to see a young warrior clad in heavy silver plating plunge his sword into the throat of a warrior so new, he was still wearing his beginner armor. The crowed broke out into loud cheers and shrieks as the novice warrior disappeared in a beam of light. The next few rounds went much the same, the warrior in silver taking down numerous opponents until he, too, was taken down by someone stronger. It went on much the same for the rest of the evening, the crowd wild with bloodlust. Soon, night fell and left standing on the field was a tall man with long, dark hair and a scar connecting his left shoulder to his navel. He turned to Prince and pointed his sword in his direction. “I guess that’s my cue,” mumbled Prince as he rose to his feet. He climbed down from his throne and walked slowly as the sea of patrons parted for him. Jumping the wall dividing himself and the man, Prince drew his sword. “Game Start!” The man immediately lunged forward, giving Prince no time to think. He had no party in here, no healer. It was a true fight to the death and he did not have the option of losing. Prince deflected the man’s sword, leaping backwards and slicing at his feet. He then lunged forward, taking his chance to attack. The man parried. Again, Prince attempted to leap back, hoping that this time the man would follow. He did, but only for a moment before stopping himself in his tracks. As the man had ran towards Prince, attempting to keep his close range and the upper hand, Prince had leaped forward, sword drawn, executing a perfect empty fade and skewering his opponent. In this moment, Prince felt the euphoria he always did while fighting. Something about knowing that his opponents never truly died took away any fear or shame he felt in enjoying the kill. Prince twisted the blade and began to cut diagonally up through his opponent, tracing the outline of his scar until he was engulfed in white light and sent off to the revive station. Prince, now bathed in blood, looked up at the crowd. Everyone stood up and began cheering, chanting “Blood Elf”. He had won. The money earned today belonged to the Odd Squad. He had survived for now.