"They should all be waiting in the lounge at the bottom of the arena by now. Morgan replied.

"I hope they can all perform well, I heard from my teacher when I was a child, Lord Marshal, about your amazing performance in the martial arts tournament back then, I hope I can see a little bit of your demeanor from these young people this time!" said Prince Byron in the stands with a smile at Morgan.

The teacher in his mouth, the Imperial Great Sword Saint Count Fastia, the knight of the Prince of Byron, was beside him, the middle-aged man had been holding the sword in his arms and closing his eyes to recuperate, and suddenly opened his eyes at this moment and looked towards Morgan: "The strength of the marshal back then is undoubted, how do you evaluate the players of this conference?"

"They're all excellent, there's no doubt about that. Morgan said.

"As a junior, I would like to take the liberty of asking the marshal, I wonder if you came to participate in this year's competition fifty years ago, you ask yourself what are the chances of winning?"

Fastia looked at Morgan with blazing eyes. "If they are not as good as you were back then, I don't think I need to look any further, because I don't want to waste my precious sword training time, so please tell me the truth, Marshal, and don't give me a high-sounding official reply. ”

Fastia had already entered the realm of the Sword Master decades ago, and was also the champion of the previous martial arts conferences, and was now recognized as the top martial artist in the empire, and was deeply trusted by the emperor, so he was made an earl, and became the sword teacher and servant knight of Prince Byron when he was a child.

The Byron prince next to him looked a little embarrassed and wanted to come over to help Morgan out of the siege, but Morgan was not angry, but waved his hand to signal that the prince did not need to say more.

He knew that Fastia was a pure martial artist, and he had never been interested in the military and politics of the empire, and he was only obsessed with swords all his life.

For such people, Morgan admires them very much in his heart.

There is another most important reason why this is the case, because Morgan was the chief judge of the martial arts conference that Fastia participated in that year.

After winning the martial arts championship more than a decade ago, the young Fastia made a request in the arena that shook the audience: challenge Morgan, the legendary legend of the former empire.

Naturally, this request for a challenge caused an uproar.

Just when everyone was angrily accusing Fastia of arrogance and rudeness, and thinking that the aged Morgan would be embarrassed to refuse......

Morgan calmly agreed to his request.

Then, in front of tens of thousands of spectators in the arena, Morgan spent less than five minutes to knock this high-spirited young swordsman who had finally reached the top into the abyss of defeat......

The audience was silent.

It is said that after the assembly was dismissed that day and everyone left, Fastia stood alone in the middle of the arena for a whole day......

At the reward banquet the next day, the proud swordsman finally chose to refuse the emperor's reward, left Olympia City, stepped into the imperial military camp, started from the lowest guard, and after nearly ten years of bloody battles, he was promoted to the earl with his accumulated military merits, and became the world-famous sword master "Sword of Light".

Morgan said: "If I had been in this competition, I am afraid I would not have been in the top three. ”

"Oh...," Fastia's eyes swelled with some interest, "Then this competition may still be worth looking forward to, I also want to see if this group of little guys can afford the future of the empire?"

"Marshal, may I ask which of them you are favoring?" asked Prince Byron.

The old general of Monte Cristo, who was wearing reading glasses on the side, held the file in his hand and looked at it carefully, "Judging from the information we have so far, the most likely person to win the championship is Roland Austin, if there is no accident, the champion of this competition will inevitably be him." ”

"As much as I respect your vision and wisdom, General Monte Cristo, there should never be such a word in the world of warriors. Fastia said lightly. "A true swordsman is born to slash through an inevitable fate. ”

The old man of Monte Cristo, who was gentle in appearance and had a very scholarly temperament, smiled slightly, and did not argue with the Count of Fastia very wisely, he was an excellent tactician, a great military commander, rather than a kendo madman like Fastia, who was more accustomed to judging by results and statistics.

"It's almost time for my father to arrive. Prince Byron looked up at the sky.

Sure enough, as soon as the words fell, a huge griffin appeared in the sky, and at the moment when it was about to open, His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire finally arrived.

Outside the arena, all the Golden Iris Knights knelt on one knee, and inside the arena, all the nobles, commoners, mages, generals, and priests all stood up and greeted the master on the back of the griffin.

"The light shines on my emperor. The cries of tens of thousands of people instantly resounded in the sky, echoing inside and outside the magnificent arena.

The current master of the Holy Empire, the king of the continent's oldest and most powerful nation, looked around at the cheering people in the arena, stroked his gray beard with satisfaction, and then leaped from the griffon's back with a sturdy hand not inferior to that of a young man, and landed steadily on the top of the platform.

The applause in the arena was thunderous, and countless people cheered.

Only Count Fastia turned his head to Prince Byron very uninterestingly and said: "Look at the way Your Majesty walks, it should have flashed to his waist just now, and you had better help him later." ”

Everyone on the stage: "........."

"Look, the emperor is coming. In the corner of an inconspicuous observation deck in the aristocratic quarters, Heine said in a low voice.

"What's so nice about an old man. Euler said impatiently. "You'd better watch out for the patrolling guards, stealth is time-limited. ”

Stealth is a natural spell that many magicians learn at the middle and low levels, and even one of the necessary magic skills for many professions in the continent such as killers and thieves that require high concealment, this spell can allow the receiver to avoid the observation of the naked eye, Heine and Euler just used this magic to blend into the heavily guarded aristocratic area.

However, the effectiveness of this spell is very limited, and it will diminish over time, so you have to chant the spell every once in a while to keep the mana looping.

"It's a shame that that guy from Constantine didn't come to such a good game. Heine rubbed his hands together and looked down the arena, "In a few dozen minutes, the knights will be on the field." ”

"Little ghost, shut up if you want to watch the game. The sudden sound startled the two teenagers, and they saw a middle-aged uncle with a scruffy beard on the observation deck at some point, and he was holding a wine jug in one hand and said drunkenly.

With the support of Prince Byron, the Emperor sat on the throne at the top of the tower, rubbed his waist, and coughed: "Are you ready?"

"Father, Dean Morgan, they are all here, as long as you give the order, we can announce the opening immediately. Byron said respectfully.

The Emperor sighed: "I'm asking, are you ready for my speech? ”

Prince Byron: "........."

Prince Byron hurriedly instructed a clerk named Gettysburg to spend a few minutes drafting the opening speech for the Emperor.

Historically, this speech is known as the "Gettysburg Address."

Ahem, ahem, ahem.........

When the Emperor's majestic voice was transmitted to all corners of the arena by amplification magic, the opening ceremony proceeded in an orderly manner.