Just a heads up, my assistant and I will be going over the first two volumes, doing a third edit on them, fixing plot holes, and addressing concerns made in the comments. If you had something bugging you about those volumes, now will probably be the last time any change might happen. (It naturally would need to fit in overall narrative, but small fixes that make a scene flow better I am happy to do). So, please speak up (in the comments section of that chapter or as a message, probably will miss it in this one).
“Alright, so the format of today’s championship is simple. There will be three themed events, each one testing an aspect of the Master/Slave relationship. Within each event, will be three different challenges. The one who wins 2/3 wins the event, and the one who wins 2 events out of 3 is ultimately the victor. You will pick one slave per challenge, and you cannot use the same slave twice within an event. Do you understand?”
I nodded, and Lord Tibult gave the Prince a respectful bow. This advantaged me slightly, as I had 5 slaves to choose from. Meanwhile, Tibult would have to use all three slaves for every event. Princess Eliana was sitting at the edge of her seat, looking down at the pair of us excitedly. The Prince had an amused expression on his face.
“Since we’re starting, then I’ll let you take it away,” Lord Tibult suddenly turned away from the stage and walked back to sit in a comfy seat he had carried into the arena just for himself.
A much older man with a gnarled face walked forward, shooting the three women a sharp look. Salicia and Carmine both winced under his glare, but the mysterious third girl didn’t react in the slightest.
“Wait…” I frowned, “What is this?”
A smug expression appeared on Lord Tibult’s face as he sat comfortably. “Why… this is my Slave Master! He was difficult and expensive to bring here from Imperial Cloud Meadow. Slave Masters are exceptionally rare in Aberis.”
“Hmph… the only reason I came was because of the promise of the elf. I will get the elf when I win this competition!” The man spoke forcefully, not even seeming to give the Lord any face.
Lord Tibult’s face flushed red, clearly not expecting the man to so casually reveal this detail. “O-of course, once she is transferred to me, you can have her!”
“What is the meaning of this?” My expression started to darken.
“Is it not obvious?” Lord Tibult’s smug expression quickly returned at my distress. “I only have a few levels in Slaver, so naturally I hired a Slave Master. He’s level 52. With him, these slaves have so many buffs and advantages that you won’t even have a chance to win!”
The crowds, even those who were initially favoring Lord Tibult, were quickly turning on him. Many people openly booed.
“You have to be the slave’s owner!” I shot a look at the prince. “This is unacceptable.”
“Hmph!” Lord Tibult’s expression turned even more arrogant, “Accusing me of cheating again? It’s amazing how much a commoner confuses cleverness and intelligence with being unfair. The slaves are mine. Anyone knows that high-level Slavers and Slave Master’s can us the skill Joint Slave. Could a noble of high standing be expected to direct his slaves in the fields all day? Would he provide another man with thousands of gold worth of product just on trust? This isn’t simply known, it’d be expected that someone of my standing would hire a skilled person to manage my slaves. That is, of course, what a good master would do!”
His words were like daggers without any semblance of an argument I could mount. He managed to completely tear apart my rebukes in an instant. The crowds muttered and yelled angrily, but Tibult’s skin was thick. Suddenly, hands slamming on a chair angrily silencing the crowd as Princess Eliana stood up. Her expression was furious and she was glaring at the back of her brother.
“Brother! This can’t be tolerated! This is an absolute mockery of what you’re trying to accomplish here!”
“Tell me what rule I have broken, princess?” Lord Tibult responded sweetly.
The princess shot him a disgusted look, but when she realized she didn’t have a response, she looked down. Her eyes shot to me, the person she had been rooting against, and suddenly her expression turned complicated.
The prince let out a sigh, “I’m sorry sister, but he is right. What he has done is not against the rules. He may use a Slave Master!”
The mutters died down. No one would try to argue against the prince’s decision. As for me, my uneasiness only grew. My biggest advantage, the fact that my Slave Master gave my girls bonus abilities, had been completely demolished. In fact, he was a much higher level than me, and the bonuses he gave his slaves would likely be many times more!
Sigh, more completely idiotic arguments that could never work in a real setting. Why didn't he just send the entire army against them, there's no rule against it. Why didn't he tunnel a thousand foot hole under the stadium and send them all plunging to their deaths, there's no rule... Why didn't he teleport them away so that they lose by default, nothing against it in the rules.
Idiotic.
The competition is between Deek and Tibault, and their respective slaves. By bringing in the slave master, he's violating the terms of the contest, since the slave master is neither Deek, Tibault, nor one of the slaves. How is this allowed? How is Deek completely overwhelmed by the so-called "arguments"?
This is complete nonsense. By giving up his position in the contest, Tibault has effectively forfeited before things even start, in the same way that he might have been able to claim Deek lost if Faeyna had not shown up.
The fact that not only Deek, but also the prince and princess fail to catch this and let it through, is just pathetic.
The entire Capital City arc, aside from the brief dungeon dive, has been a complete disaster as far as the writing goes. There have been plot holes and idiot balls in basically every scene.
And there again we have the bullshit. Elf's contract CANNOT be transferred, so how will the gay noble transfer the elf to another slave master after his victory?
Yeah, this arc in whole is lowering the quality of whole novel. I hope it will become better again at volume 6 after we get past all this shit.
Nah, the elf’s contract cannot be broken(so she’s forever a slave), but it can in fact be transferred
This doesn't make sense anymore. Is this author a kid or something? The heck man and here i thought those chinese cultivation novel authors are the worst to think that there is even more stupid author here! FML!
Giving the noble 20 advantages and then MC just thinks: "That happens" instead of not participating. How much unfairness does MC need to experience before he uses his head and thinks that it's not worth it ?
So would setting a lvl 82 maid as MCs own slave master benificial ?
The one who wins 2/3 wins the event, and the one who wins 2 events out of 3 is ultimately the victor.
-- You repeated the 2/3 twice, just phrased differently
I thought so too, but each event is repeated 3 times with a different slave for each repeat. It's kinda like 9 events.
I guess we have 3 events with 3 points each, 9 points in total, and you need a clever combination of at least 4 out of 9, can even loose with 5 out of 9 (eg 3/1/1)...
@tunitgut Technically, if you won the first 2... they wouldn't make you do the third, since the event already has a victor. so 2, 1, 1 versus a 0, 2, 2 is as bad as it'd get.