Chapter 41 41: Night Of Plans

"Hey, look here. Is this a treasure box? Should we take it with us?"

Amelia held out the small box in her hand, not even being aware of what kind of treasure she was holding. The intricate golden decorations on the box reminded Keith of seeing the box before.

'Amelia truly is the protagonist. She managed to find the cheat box even without trying. This has to be some kind of protagonist bullshit that enabled her to do so.'

Keith was more than sure that no one else but Amelia could have found this box. It was an ancient treasure that opened up an ancient cave of powers.

"Amelia, can you hand the box over for a second? I just want to quickly have a look inside."

Keith asked for the box. He hoped he was hiding the green he felt as his eyes looked the box up and down.

"Hmm, here you go. I don't know what this is and what this is used for so you can keep it. With this, I will consider my debt repaid and would no longer feel guilty for dragging you along in my mess."

Keith was surprised when Amelia handed him the box she was carrying. But maybe she just did not understand just how important this box was.

'Well, I have no reason to refuse such a generous offer. And I am going to save Amelia so I guess I can accept this as compensation for my efforts.'

In the end, Keith ended up taking the offered box. He was going to put it to good use and gain a lot of advantages.

"Let's go back for now. I don't know about you all, but I am beat. I want to go back home and rest in my bed."

The constant worry and adrenaline rush of the day seemed to have worn Amelia over. She was constantly swaying on her feet in an attempt to keep herself awake. But even that seemed to be getting difficult for her.

Keith decided to take pity on her and go back.

On their way, they picked up a fed-up Shimi and an annoyed En. They both refused to look at each other so Keith decided to let them act like children with each other.

...…..

"Grandmaster, don't tell me that you are going to allow these insults to not go unpunished? We cannot afford to let our reputation hit a rock bottom."

Shimi was agitated and she let out her frustration as soon as she reached her hotel suite. This was the best place money could buy and it was also warded off to prevent sound from escaping outside.

This was the best place to have a secret conversation.

Shimi's agitation did not seem to reach the grandmaster and Clair. They looked like they could care less about their reputation and it was frustrating to Shimi. But they had always been like this.

'Well, I can understand why the grandmaster looks so unbothered. But Clair should care at least. Her survival depends on the grandmaster, right?'

Shimi was feeling conflicted thoughts and that made her upset.

"Hmm, I do care about the grandmaster's reputation but that is something easily salvageable, right? Besides, this town is a small one so we don't need to worry about its impact on the bigger picture."

Clair's point of view agitated Shimi even more.

"That's not the point. The point is, there should be no place in this world that should see our magnificent grandmaster as someone evil."

Shimi stressed it all out, finally hoping that Clair would get it. But Clair did not get it. She still looked calm and passive.

On the other hand, the grandmaster seemed to be observing the box he had gotten from god knows where. He just held the box, not doing anything else to it.

He was not even opening it to look inside.

"Grandmaster, surely you-"

"Clair is right Shimi. There is no need for us to fear the influence of this small town. What we need to do is to win tomorrow and all the lies will be revealed. Are you ready to help me out?"

Grandmaster sounded confident when he spoke and Shimi could not possibly let him down. In the end, all she could do was bow in front of the grandmaster and get ready for tomorrow's fight.

She would expose all the lies this place was brewing with. She would do it for the grandmaster.

...…

Keith breathed a sigh of relief once Shimi finally went to bed. It had been a close call before Shimi would have flipped.

'I am so glad I managed to stop her in time. Who knew what would happen if I did not speak to her right then.'

Shimi was like a ticking time bomb. She could accidentally lash out at Keith anytime and his inability to protect himself would be exposed.

"Keith, I wanted to ask you something the whole day but I had to hold myself back. But now I feel like I finally had the chance to ask you."

Clair looked up at him curiously and Keith gulped in nervousness. He had no idea what kind of question Clair would ask him about.

"So, did you enjoy your night with Amelia? Was she better than any other woman you ever had? Or was she average? How much experience did she have-"

"Clair, do we need to do this now? Butt out of my private life please."

Keith was so glad for his 'grandmaster' face that had any reaction he might have shown otherwise.

Clair had a sullen look on her face when Keith refused to answer her but then she became serious again.

"Then, let's not talk about Amelia. Let's talk about more important things that happened. This gladiator ring you asked me to find, was it for Amelia? Is she one of the 'protagonists' you were talking about before? From the state of this town, I can guess why you did not tell her your identity."

Clair was a smart one and that was why Keith liked her. It had only taken her a day to understand what was going on with this town.

"Amelia is the reason I was here. And as you can see, she is a gladiator slave. I will tell her the truth but I need to gain her trust before that. The best way to ensure she trusts me is to show her that this ring has nothing to do with me."

Amelia's biggest issue was that she thought all her problems were because of the grandmaster. That was why she had come after the grandmaster's life in the original story.

But Keith was not going to sit back and let things happen.

"Hmm, I see what you want to do. Then, I shall help you out as well. I am sure things would come down to a fight in the ring. You will need three fighters at least to compensate, right?"

Clair did have a point when she said that things would come down to a fight. The ultimate rule of the gladiator ring was that winning was everything.

A tragic fight was how Amelia became free in the original works so Keith should be prepared for something like that.

"Keith, don't worry too much about things. You still have the ring I gave you right? If things come to the worse, you can always choose to bluff your way out. Just surge your aura and your opponents will go running away from you."

Keith calmed down a little. This was the starting town of the story and he doubted that there was anyone strong here that could rival the grandmaster.

As such, Keith did not need to be that worried about things but he still could not help but feel as if things would go wrong for some reason.

"You are right. Things will be alright tomorrow. If anything does go wrong. I will reveal my identity and that should take care of things."

Even if this town thought that there was a 'different' grandmaster and they did not believe Keith, he would be able to use his authority. And he also had many signs on him that identified him as the grandmaster.

But Keith doubted things would come down to that.

"That's right, grandmaster. Everything would be alright soon and you will get what you want from here. Once we are done here, we will need to go after Master Olivia as well."

Keith hardened himself and went to sleep.

The next day, everyone woke up before the sun rose in the sky. They were all excited but for different reasons.

The gladiator ring was filled with people to the brim and they all had come to the town to see the rumored grandmaster who had arrived to show the outsiders who was the boss. They all wanted to see his powers in person.

It was difficult to mimic the grandmaster's unique features and those features were also why people often fell victim to scams.

So it was a good thing Keith dyed his hair and used magic to change his eyes. He would not be caught this way.