Chapter 121 - Fight With The Challengers
Ellena told Aaron what she did to the headmaster last night. Even though he was a little uninterested in the story, Aaron still listened since it may be a variable for a greater situation in the future.
He can't be complacent about things since he is cautious only for Ellena's sake.
But in the meantime, can he think of anything for his own sake? He hasn't had the luxury to think since he believed that his actions must be for Ellena – everything for Ellena.
'Did I think of everything because I am her system? Or I believe I think everything because I am her system?'
Frustrated by it, he tried to forget the absurd idea that was coming into his mind. It was as if they were urging him to be selfish for once. However, he was fixed on helping Ellena.
If he can only discover how to exploit things being a system. But he doesn't know his soul's identity.
'This is frustrating.' he groaned inwardly as he followed Ellena's story.
Apparently, Ellena infiltrated the church, as she must. And after looking for the headmaster, she initiated her plan of talking to her.
At first, she was just being sweet and kind to her, thanking her that she did her job and listened to her words. Then she mentioned that someone was going to donate to the church and that it should not be embezzled. There, the threatens began.
The money that Ellena gave was almost 150 gold coins, enough for a 3-year budget for the orphanage's food supply. And as much as she wanted, Ellena ended up fixing the documents that showed that no one donated that much.
Why would she do that? Well, in a war of guns, both parties must have guns of their own. And, because Ellena is secretly fighting Hubert for embezzlement, she must also contend with his tactics – document tampering.
Though it is a crime, she doesn't have any choice but to do it. Now that he is fighting the government's underworld, she can't be complacent and do things the right way. There will always be a moment when she will perform them in an unrighteous way.
But her cause was still beneficial for everybody, as that is important to her.
***
A contest was organized by Ellena. Using her special identification, she garnered plenty of challengers that wanted to win her promised prize. With the rule that no one will use an offensive ability, people are bombarded to have a chance of exhibiting their skills. As well as the means of determining that the winner was the fighter who'd taken his or her opponent down.
For specific reasons, not everyone could join it. They must be gold-rankers or above.
Since there were no Platinum Rankers in the town, Ellena decided to accept anyone from her criteria.
Nevertheless, she still wanted individuals to be strong.
From the final list, only 10 can challenge her. Even though it is quite questionable, it was supported by her identity as a child of a noble.
The privilege she hated in the past was being used by her for hypocritical reasons.
Even though it was frustrating, she still wanted to test her capabilities before challenging Verxal.
"Now, 10 powerful adventurers are gathering here to challenge Ellena Lumbert for the 20 gold coins! The winner, of course, can get it, but our young lady is confident in her prowess. Are you guys ready?!"
An announcer exclaimed in pleasure as she heightened the excitement of the audience. And because of it, the audience replied to her with another yell.
Then, without wasting any effort, the duel began.
Aaron suggested she hold a small competition in which the strongest get a chance to fight her, but Ellena just gave him a reason: if she just had to organize for the strongest, no one would believe her credibility as a fighter because they didn't know her.
Thus, she decided that she'll have separated fights so that people will have the excitement and urge to fight her, and in that way, they will want to fight her since they would think that fighters before them can tire her out that will be easy for them to defeat her.
But Ellena's expectation was wrong. Her challengers are now racing to have the first slot to fight her since only the winner can have the prize, and if someone can defeat her in the first round, the rest would go home with nothing.
"What a pushover," Aaron swore as he realized the reason why people are starting to fight the first slot to challenge her.
Because of the commotion, they decided to fix the slots by picking a random number from a jar. And then they had the ordered list of challengers.
***
In front of Ellena was a buffed guy, holding his sword with confidence. And as the fight started, he tried to provoke Ellena by his fingers, flipping.
Ellena just curled her lower lips downwards and dashed towards him. Using the momentum, she gathered her strength and kicked the leg of the buffed guy with her left foot.
A moment of silence erupted, with the buffed guy standing. He didn't make any sound, and neither did the audience. They waited for the buff guy to react, but no reaction appeared. Instead, he slowly collapsed to the ground with his eyes open from shock.
Everyone was dumbfounded by the result. They couldn't believe that the small girl they were underestimating turned out to be strong-legged.
They cheered, making an eruption of loud yells and chants. Even the challengers had a little tingling sensation felt, agitated perhaps.
"Ellena is strong," Selena mumbled, flickering her eyes in excitement, seeing Ellena accomplish a feat that she couldn't imagine.
Even with Ellena's little limbs, she can still overwhelm them with her pure strength. She just has to hit vital points.
Another challenger stepped up, but this time, he wasn't arrogantly confident like the previous one. Instead, he was cautious and tried to analyze Ellena.
But it was futile. Even for him with Gold Rank, she couldn't still follow Ellena's movement. Making it obvious that Ellena is above him, Ellena overwhelmed him with her swordsmanship. And just a few minutes later, the challenger surrendered as he felt overbearing pain surrounding his body.
Again, the audience cheered for Ellena. Watching her fight made them excited since it is rare for them to witness such an exhibition of prowess.
And then, the order of challengers continued, until Ellena fought with the 6th challenger that showed her a true challenge.