Chapter 561: Fourth Player
Along with the Resort, the ships also hit the market, the first customer is surprisingly the smuggler. When he came previous time, he saw the semi-finished ships and felt like they are good. So, after he finished his business in Mov Empire, he once again came back to take a look, right before the opening day.
He stayed there for the demonstration of the ships and he bought five ships of different sizes.
One of them is a decent Ocean-Liner and the others are all smaller ones that could fit inside a spatial ring.
After that, there are some orders from the local fishers. They took a liking to the smaller speed boats that could be used for one or two people, and a bit larger fishing boats that could be used for five to ten people.
At the moment, there is no large order, but the smaller orders are accumulating decently. After setting the business on the track, Sam went back to the Imperial Capital, where the final rounds of the competition are happening.
There are barely two weeks left before the Palace of inheritance.
He went to spectate the competition. Arkiv and Arman are also staying in the Capital.
But when Sam came here, he was stunned to see one more person in the competition. It is a woman. The woman disguised herself as a man in the Herb Garden. One of the twelve Players.
She is still disguised as a man, but this time, she changed the disguise and her skin tone changed to the point that no one would suspect that she is not from this country. He recognized her mostly because of the familiar aura of the plants and the attacks he suffered in her hands. She used similar attacks in the tournament.
Sam doesn't know how she managed to maintain her skin tone, she must have escaped a lot of trouble because of that. But at this moment, he was conflicted. He was thinking if he should say that she is also a Player or not to the emperor.
After all, he did make a deal with the emperor and it is not appropriate for him to let the emperor suffer a loss like that.
After contemplating a bit, he decided to go with it but he also decided to give her a heads-up to her.
He didn't disguise himself anymore. It would be nonsensical to hide his identity after the waves he caused in this nation. Even Arkiv was able to get to know his details and come here, it is safe to assume that the rest of the candidates also learned of this.
So, he decided to meet that woman that very evening, and he did.
He asked Yodha about her residence and went there.
Thankfully, the lady is training in the yard.
Sam walked to her calmly and watched as he manipulated the grass in the yard. All of a sudden, he jumped from the spot with golden flames surrounding him, and the spot he was in and the new spot he landed both become devoid of any vegetation burned to crisp.
"It is not polite to attack a guest," Sam said calmly as he looked at her.
"It is not polite to come uninvited either."
"I must apologize, but I had to come."
"Why are you here?"
"Well, I am here to say that you don't need to participate in the tournament anymore."
The lady frowned and looked at him coldly.
"Can we sit and talk?"
Sam moved to a nearby table and sat on the chair. The lady also sat opposite him and said.
"Why should I listen to you and stop participating? Do you want to get all the treasures yourself? Is it your patron's turn next?"
Sam chuckled at that. He didn't expect her to call the Gods her Patrons.
"Nope, actually you don't have to participate to enter the Palace."
"And who will grant the entrance?"
"The Emperor himself. I made a deal with the Emperor regarding the Palace. He wants to gain as much advantage as possible with the Palace and wants to use the three spots for his own people, so he wanted me to inform the other players who came here and he would grant entrance directly."
"How can I believe him? How can I even believe you?"
"Well, at least I don't have anything against you. I didn't reveal who you truly until now. Doesn't that account for something?"
When Sam said this, he looked at her up and down. The girl became angry and wanted to beat the crap out of him, but controlled herself and said.
"Maybe or Maybe not. I think it is more probable that you are luring me out so that you can reduce your competition."
Sam couldn't help but chuckle and said.
"Do you think I have to resort to tricks to clear my competition? All I would have to do is hunt every one of you down and be done with it.
Anyway, I said what I wanted to say. I am going to give the Emperor the news about you being a Player. I cannot go back on my words. If you really doubt me, Arkiv is staying at the factory outside the city. You can go there and meet him. So you can get some assurance. After all, from what I know, you two can at least be considered acquaintances."
Sam didn't continue sitting there and started walking away. All of a sudden, he covered himself with golden flames and flashed back. He disappeared into a golden flash and reappeared right before the woman.
He held her neck in the midst of all the vines that are extended towards him and are slowly burning down because of the golden flames.
"I came to talk, so let me leave peacefully. If I wanted to deal with you, I wouldn't even need to waste so much time and could be done with it."
There is a small searing sound as a layer of skin burned on the neck of that girl. Sam released her and walked away calmly.
That night, she really did find Arkiv in the factory outside.
"Noah, is that you? I really couldn't identify you? So you were also deployed to Mov empire?"
Arkiv greeted her casually. But he doesn't know she is a woman and he just placed his hand around her neck as he spoke in an extremely friendly manner.
She dodged his hand and said about meeting Sam.
Arkiv said casually.
"Yes, it is true. He has some good connections with the Emperor and also the most powerful young master in the Mov Empire. I even talked with the Emperor myself. There is no cheating here. You can relax."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Well, it is simple, that guy Sam is too good to even among us, the players. In the last two palaces, he is the biggest winner. It is almost like the rest of us are competing for the second position. There is no way he would want to trap us. In fact, he is the only one who is treating this test for fun."
"But what if the Emperor dupes us?"
"It is not likely, I have been learning about the Emperor and even Sam made some serious fuss right in front of him. You must have heard that too, right."
Noah nodded and thought for a moment before saying.
"Okay then, tell him that I will withdraw from the competition."
"That's for the better. We have to stay in this place for at least another two years, it is better if we get into the Emperor's good graces."
The news reached Sam and he was already on his way to meet the Emperor regarding Noah.
The Emperor asked for some more details before agreeing.
Now, all they have to do is wait for the competition to be over and enter the Palace of inheritance.
The three finalists who got the chance to enter the Palace of inheritance are of different places. One of them is the prince. Even though the Emperor wanted to take one token for him, the prince didn't agree and participated in the competition. And he got the position with his own capabilities.
As for the remaining two. One of them is a special division member of the Military. He is in fact someone Sam knew. He is one of the leaders of the special division fire element batch.
As for the last person, he is actually a city guard in the Imperial city. He is young and promising and he is trying to become the Imperial guard.
The most distinguished feature of him is that he is human. Barely any human was able to reach a high-level position in the city guard, much less enter the Imperial guard.
The city guard is full of political influence and many nobles try to wrestle for control over some area. That is why it is hard for a human to climb the ranks. But this guy still survived.
And he gained a spot for the imperial guard training. He might as well be considered the toughest of all three candidates, both physically and mentally.