Chapter 194: Settling In – Part 2

Chapter 194: Settling In – Part 2

White muscle meat versus black man bun hunk, the local darling versus the charming newcomer. An interesting matchup that people will remember for a while simply due to how romantic it looks. Could even go for the steamy gay erotica angle because the two do share "meaningful looks."

Or maybe it's just the way elves try to look intimidating. I dunno... they're too pretty for that.

The battle starts after a polite greeting, and then it quickly becomes obvious that both are at a similar level, which means that they finally have an opportunity to let their fighting styles shine. Their previous opponents were all too weak to really push them to show more than just basic swordsmanship.

Palo's style is elegant and confident, while Luor's is desperate and careful, but both have a sharpened "lethality" to them. One wrong move and you lose, and it's beautiful to see them clash.

This also instantly shows how Luor isn't just anybody. Palo can hold his own against the best warrior of the Misty Low Forest, so he isn't someone to be trifled with. He won't be able to win against the top duelists, but that's just because it's possible to heavily specialize in this kind of fighting, and unless Luor also did that, he's definitely a first-class warrior.

But why would a man of this caliber leave his home only to arrive in the supposed "enemy" territory of his previous ruler? It's obvious why Nero "wants" him.

The two warriors fight with longswords with only the minimum amount of protection to safeguard life: a heart guard to stop stabs, a brace at the back of the neck to prevent decapitation, and a cap for the brain. This means that they aren't allowed to wear more than a shirt and pants, but both forgo the former because of elven vanity.

The clash of swords becomes loud as the crowd quickly quiets down. The attacks are heavy but conservative, so they separate with neither scoring a hit, and then the tension rises as they slowly feint each other in hopes of finding an opening.

When will red finally paint the golden arena with its grimly vibrant color? Who will suffer it first? A lot of money has been bet on the answer to these questions.

Then the silver sheen of the blades suddenly turns red, and Luor retreats, cradling his wounded forearm, while Palo stands still as he smirks. The crowd suddenly releases the tension in a loud cheer, and I feel a small amount of pride in my knight's achievement.

But the wound isn't deep, so the vantaelf is still very much in the game. A single cut severing an important muscle can give victory to one side, but every swordsman knows that, so they train how to avoid such injuries just as much as they train how to inflict them.

In the next exchange, Luor performs an odd move, crouching down to dodge Palo's sword and then lunging like a snake. The tip of his sword grazes Palo's muscular, sweaty, shining, del-...

Stop it!

I exorcise the succubus out of my mind and focus on the battle as now it's time for the muscular golden elf to retreat, though his wound is so shallow that he doesn't even press his hand against it. Still, it's enough as payback, and now the crowd is getting excited.

But so am I, as I'm allowed to more blatantly fuck Nono now that everyone is paying so much attention to the fight. She still has to hold back her moans, but even Mikuri isn't glancing at us anymore, so I enjoy freely wriggling my Cock inside her.

The mood of the battle changes as the two become more reckless. They held back because first blood is a question of pride, but now that it's been drawn, they begin to nick each other, still wary of receiving a debilitating wound, but pushing their skills to the limit.

Similar to the duel between Palo and Montagne, they go through the entire book of swordsmanship against each other, trying to outskill the other, but they clearly are very evenly matched. This also proves that Luor is no common mercenary; he was raised as an honorable swordsman.

But then a difference starts to appear. When your skill level gets high enough, there are diminishing returns preventing you from fully utilizing your skill level as you can only do so much when constrained by physics, but the point here is that Luor's level must be significantly lower as he actually starts getting pushed back.

Suddenly, he jumps backward to get some distance from Palo, but then immediately lunges forward so fast that even I have trouble keeping up. It's clearly a [Muscle Explosion] attack, and Palo struggles to defend against it, but then Luor does it again, and again, and again... and again.

His skill must be stupidly high, which is something that's very hard to achieve, but it's also very "efficient" point-wise. You can get a lot more effective "fighting power" from ten levels in [Muscle Explosion] than in [Sword Use], but the training cost of raising that skill is insane.

"Silvano would love to see this," Hana amusedly remarks.

And I hum with a nod as I continue to wriggle my Cock inside Nono. She's now so close to orgasm that she's leaking pussy juices, so I might need Alissa's help soon to mask the inevitable [Clean].

The interesting thing about this battle, though, is that both of them are quickly burning out. Palo doesn't have a high "Endurance," while [Muscle Explosion] will definitely quickly drain anyone that isn't a crazy dragonkin like Hana, so I predict this duel will be decided in just a minute.

But what a minute it is. Palo's skill is pushed to the limit of the limit, while Luor seems like he's just a hair from scoring a decisive hit. A desperate defense against a desperate attack, but who will fall first?

The sounds of their swords clashing and their grunts of effort are drowned out by the crowd as it becomes increasingly hyped. Even though Palo is being heavily pushed back, everyone can see how Luor's pace is unsustainable.

The Dark Elf's sword flashes again, splashing another vivid red line on the sand as his blade opens another light wound on the Golden Elf's exposed chest. Palo's pale skin is covered in lines of dripping blood, but none are deep enough to disable him.

Then we notice how our knight seems to slow down first, and we immediately accept in our minds who the winner will be.

Palo's sword is bashed away a bit too far for him to pull it back in time, and the whole Coliseum gasps in sync as he's stabbed in the stomach, but then we realize that Luor has also been stabbed. It's a double hit!

"STOP! LAST MAN STANDING!" the referee shouts as the medic team rushes across the sand. In the case of a double hit, the referee can stop the fight and declare that the first one to fall loses, but the medical team can't interfere until then.

The two step back, away from each other, as their swords slide out of their opponent's belly, and they make horrible grunts of pain. Belly wounds disable someone instantly, and unless you have [Pain Resistance] (or, again, you're a crazy dragonkin like Hana), you won't remain standing for too long.

It seems that Luor got too reckless and didn't expect Palo to use [Muscle Explosion] himself at the last moment.

But even then, Palo's Endurance is low, so he falls to his knee first.

"FINISHED! VICTORY TO LUOR!" the referee declares, and the medic team now finally begins treating the two warriors.

"The closest duel I've ever seen," Yunia remarks, very impressed, even though Palo lost again.

"Very impressive, yes," Klasse cordially agrees. He's enjoying these fights a lot, it seems.

"Hmm... Elves are so nimble that I always have trouble during training," Anton grunts thoughtfully.

And Yunia snobbishly declares, "The longsword is the noblest weapon to use without armor, so it's a difficult matchup for your halberd during training."

"Yeah, that makes sense," he hums in reply, already used to just ignoring the elven smug tone and focusing on the words.

"What about spears?" Roxanne adds, just to peeve the elven Queen.

"On foot? A peasant's weapon. Any true swordsman will know how to cut it in half at the first thrust," she replies with a sneer, refusing to even look at the succubus.

"What about your sword and shield?" Klasse asks as he turns to Mikuri.

And Yunia solemnly begins, "As the year comes to an end, we honor our ancestors by sharpening our blades and raising our skills through the Festival of Glories, all so that we don't waste the blood they've spilled to defend our land from destruction."

Now it's my turn. "And what a great Festival it has been!" I cheerfully shout and open my arms wide to rally the crowd into cheering, and they immediately answer just like I wanted.

It's been a flawless Festival of Glories, so they should be very satisfied.

But elven cheering is always short, and it quickly dies down. Then I more solemnly continue, "But now, the Month of Death is about to bloom, so let's take care of ourselves to honor the dead, and there's no better way to do that than to live! So, let's live with pride! May the Festival of Death begin!"

And I leave to the cheers of the crowd as dancers come in for one last performance.

We don't need to participate in this anymore, so after a short while, I excuse myself to recharge my social batteries. It's almost night, so we've basically spent the whole day together with family and friends. I just want to gaze upon the town from my balcony high up in the castle while the sun sets and enjoy some not-earl-gray with cookies.

I did have fun, but it's been a bit too much fun for me, and not even the dragon has unlimited stamina when it isn't about sex. Some things just don't change.

Yunia joins me even before Alissa, but she isn't here to partake in melancholic gazing at the view. She hugs me from behind, nestles my head between her nicely shaped pillows, and then grabs my horns and massages them.

"I'm very happy with how today went," she sweetly breathes into my ear.

"Oh?" I hum absentmindedly, starting to get curious. I could just listen to her thoughts through [Bind], but it feels nicer to let her say it herself.

Then her tone becomes wistful as she continues, "I've always dreamed about hosting the Festival of Glories myself, and it went just like I wanted."

"We didn't do anything special today," I point out.

And she nods. "Yes, it was everything that we did before that was important."

So I gently pat her head with a tentacle, making her snort softly. She's all fuzzy inside, making her act like a horny drunk. I've already creampied her today, but she's asking for another.

But our nice moment is interrupted because the girls still back at the Coliseum get the news that the Carrier has arrived with the exiled Titans.

Announcement

Hall of Fame of Patrons

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

Prince PreownedFIN.

Prince Owldente.

Lord Andrew Meyers.

Lord Bakerdea.

Lord Maurice.

Lord Mattirro Draca.

Lord Tenebris Lupus.

Lord Paul Daval.

Lord Paul Daval.

Lord CopeyDunt.

Lord BlindTactic.

Lord Philip.

Lord d3235.

Lord SubJef.

Lord School work.

Lord patrick__starz.

Lord David England.

Lord Ddraig Wynn.

Lord Unaskedcaboose.

Noble Aclys.

Noble Carl Baxter.

Noble DND.

Noble Anon A Moose.

Noble Esteban Naud-Dubé.