"I challenge you, Aurelius Augustus Astrea, heir of the Astrea Duchy to a Rite of Honor. I shall even lower my cultivation to match yours." His voice was low, controlled, and deadly serious.
"You are nothing more than a man who can run his mouth. You do not deserve Evelyn Emberhart. If you decline my duel, everyone here will know that as fact, and you must dissolve the engagement, letting her pick someone of her own volition."
"Hahaha—oh? And what if I accept?"
Quinn deviously smirked at my response, inwardly thinking 'YES! Hahahaha… Hahahaha… All the humiliation you dealt to me, I shall return it ten fold. Not as words, but as a brutal beatdown!'
"If you win, I shall rescind my words and accept your engagement with Lady Evelyn."
The crowd grew tense, awaiting the outcome.
The vast majority knew Aurelius didn't stand a chance in the past, but times are different now. With the change he displayed from his last major public appearance, a surprising result may unfold.
Of course, they also knew that outcome was incredibly miniscule.
Even if Quinn suppressed his cultivation to match Aurelius', the numerous years of training, combat experience, and their Arcanums will still set a massive disparity between them.
As they were lost in thought, a sound snapped them back—laughter.
"AHAHAHHAHAH! I didn't realize the Steelsoul duchy was this poor!" Quinn's expression immediately contorted again at my blatant disrespect, though his anger was mixed with confusion this time.
The other people were also very confused at my seemingly unrelated response.
'What is he doing? Is he trying to avoid the duel by subverting the topic through bringing up Steelsoul family again? This is disappointing… I thought I would be able to see a fabulous show today.'
"I wasn't serious when I made those jokes before, but now? You're wagering your words and acceptance against my engagement with Evelyn, a brilliant talent of the century? This is all your duchy has to offer? What a joke! Hahahaha…"
Quinn's anger rose, but subsided slightly as he understood my words.
"My apologies, that was an oversight. I will discuss the appropriate wager with my parents, this is something I cannot decide on alone," he said, attempting to be calm and understanding, but it was clear to everyone of his bottling rage.
"Sure, go ahead," I responded calmly. "I hope your family isn't as poor as I think," I snarkily added as he walked away. He didn't say anything in response, though I felt a subtle twitch of anger run through his body.
Hehe, everything is going so well! I just need to keep provoking him, piling ever slightly more anger on him.
Reaching for my wine glass, I saw Evelyn refilling my cup.
"You sure are putting on a great show! This is far different compared to how you used to do things," she commented with a cheerful tone.
Smiling, I said "just enjoy the show" as she handed me the now-filled wine glass. At that, her gaze turned slightly concerned.
"Are you sure you can handle the duel against Quinn? Even though I know the gap in your skill and experience is miniscule—unlike everyone else—there's still a disparity in your Arcanum."
She said this as I had never shown her the true potential of my Arcanum.
To her, and the rest of the world, it was just a physical hand I could control, nothing more. And today, they won't be learning more about it.
In this upcoming fight, I just plan on using Quinn's overconfidence and boiling anger against him.
I don't want my victory to be the result of my power and skill, but rather my cunning schemes and underhanded tactics!
"Teehee, don't worry!" I answered to ease her worries, but she still looked a bit anxious.
"Are you sure?" My sister chimed in from across the table, however her gaze was not concerned at all. Rather, it was curious—wondering how I will deal with Quinn while restricting the use of my true powers.
I took out my phone again to check the broadcast. The viewership rose by around 2.5 million, a large leap, likely gathering to witness the duel between me—the biggest failure and disgrace to all nobles—and Quinn Steelsoul, the brilliant genius and brightest hope of the Steelsoul duchy.
'This is crazy, a high stakes fight between the heir of two duchies! Fighting over a woman for love as well!'
'Oh my god, who do you guys think will win?'
'Bruh, it's obviously Quinn, and it's not even close.'
'Don't you think Aurelius has a decent chance?'
'Maybe… He's changed a lot since his last public appearance, he's like a different person…'
'Lmao, he matured a little bit and you guys think everything about him has changed?'
'Even if Quinn is matching his cultivation base, everything about him is far superior in comparison to Aurlius—combat experience, combat art mastery, body, Arcanum strength, etc…'
''Body.' Bruh, what a joke. Do you seriously think his oversized muscles make him more attractive than Aurelius? What awful taste… Those huge traps are so ugly!'
'Obviously I wasn't talking about appearance! I was just comparing the pure strength of their bodies, and Quinn's is obviously the winner.'
This was the general sentiment of the chat; a large majority of the viewers were just excited to witness the fight with the drama that had surrounded it.
The more sensible viewers rationalized that it was obvious I didn't stand a chance, a similar belief to the majority of the nobles in the audience.
And they were right, with the information they had that is.
Soon enough, the murmurs in the banquet hall died down as Quinn returned, walking in large, confident strides towards me.
Standing before me, he announced "the wager has been set. If you win, House Astrea shall seek to reap 10,000 gold coins, three Ascendent relics from our treasury, and the Slime Lake—a small sized, medium tier resource point."
The audience audibly gasped, they were shocked—this wager was absurdly huge.
(Author's note: okay, here is the number of noble houses, their average net worth and income. I don't think I'll be able to properly integrate this into the story naturally so I will just give them to you, I will copy paste this for when economics comes up.)
Barons (20,000): 3,000 gold 150 per year
Viscounts (5,000): 10,000 gold 500 per year
Earls (150): 75,000 gold 3,750 per year
Marquises (60): 250,000 gold 10,000 per year
Dukes (15): 1,000,000 gold 40,000 per year
All relics have a large range in their value depending on their usefulness. Ascendent relics typically ranged from 2,500 gold to 7,500—they were so precious that the overwhelming majority of viscounts don't even have one to their name.
And given the prospect of picking any three ascendent relics from the treasury of a duke was nothing short of extraordinary. I would be able to select the absolute best ones that would be close to the max valve possible, yielding a value of about 20,000 gold.
Then there is the Slime Lake, a small sized, middle grade resource point.
Resource points were one of the primary sources of income for the higher nobility. They were areas where specific species of monsters or plants naturally bred and grew. By controlling them, nobles would periodically harvest the creatures, sell their valuable parts, and then allow the population to recover before repeating the cycle.
Resource points came in three grades—low, middle, and high—and three sizes: small, medium, and large.
Ironically, the low grade ones were most nobles' favorites. They were mainly home to Awakened creatures with some Adept ones sprinkled in occasionally, which meant nobles could get by employing primarily Awakened warriors, whose salaries were far cheaper.
Middle grade resource points consisted mostly of Adept realm creatures, and high grade ones had Ascendant realm creatures. While they both made a significant amount of money, so much had to be paid to the Adept and Ascendent warriors employed, dragging the profit margin down.
For the Slime Lake, it generated around 1,000 gold per year—valued at approximately 35,000 gold to buy out due to its incredibly stable income.
Adding all the wagered items together, it totaled around 65,000! This was worth about the net worth of an earl and two viscounts combined!
The bet was too large, especially for a dukedom in a struggling situation, bewildering the audience. However, the more sensible ones quickly realized that it didn't matter what the Steelsoul's bet—it's not like Quinn was going to lose to *THAT* Aurelius. The massive bet was just an assurance to entice Aurelius to accept the challenge.