Ruler's Trials

Chapter 1

Two pairs of expert hands massaged the painful back of the young fighter. Karel's mind drifted in and out of half-sleep, trying to ignore the soreness of his muscles and relax the nerve endings. One of the masseuses moved his semi-long green hair to give extra attention to his neck. He sighed lightly, alternately feeling pain and pleasure.

The moment of relaxation was interrupted by the sound of soldier boots approaching the room. Karel turned his face towards the door and opened one eye. As he suspected, Savar entered the room, ordering, "Out!"

The masseuses immediately left the room. Karel sighed and sat up. His slim body was covered with tattoos, testifying to what he could offer his future father-in-law. Tattoos were evidence of genetic enhancements woven into the blood. Smaller tattoos showed what the previous generation had improved, and large tattoos showed the genetic achievement of the tattooed person.

Savar looked at him with disgust this time. Karel was a short, thin man, reminding him more of a woman than a mighty warrior who would secure his family's ruling position in the Snajan Empire for eternity. Unfortunately, the results of the previous rounds of tests in the Trials put Karel near the top, instead of at the bottom, where, in Savar's opinion, he deserved to be.

"You!" Savar waved his finger accusingly in front of Karel's nose, "You are not who you claim to be. I have information that you made illegal modifications that automatically disqualify you from the Trials. You are a woman!"

Karel lightly hit Savar's finger, moving it out of his field of vision, "You know, it's not the first time that my opponents have tried to throw me out of the Trials for the Ruler by manipulation. It gets a little boring."

Karel jumped to the floor and entered Savar's personal space, ignoring that he was two heads shorter than his opponent, "If you have evidence, report it to the Commission. I'm not at all interested in the rumors that are going around."

Savar turned purple, electric sparks dancing on the edges of his face, "No woman will be better than one man. And you know what? I will not waste the Commission's time, I will be the one to eliminate you from the Trials. Next time we meet, I'll be the last thing you see. Your insolence will not go unpunished."

Pushing Karel away from him, Savar turned on his heel and left.

Karel cursed under breath, there's no way he'll be able to return to the massage after such an intrusion.

"Results.", on the wall in front of him appeared the current results of the Ruler Trials. The first Trials for the Ruler of Snajan Empire had two phases. The first phase decides which families will receive the status of the ruling family, it was decided that there will be five ruling families. In the second phase, a ruler will be chosen from among these families for 25 years. Each subsequent Ruler Trials will have only a second phase. This was a unique opportunity to be written in history. The families of the top 5 contestants become the elite of elites. Until now, there was an emperor who inherited the throne from his father. However, the competence of the last few emperors forced the nobility to reconsider the previous rules, and as a result the idea of ​​Trials for the Ruler emerged.

On the wall, Karel's name stood high in seventh place. Savar was second. The contestants have so far gone through psychological, mental, physical and knowledge tests. Several thousand contestants were reduced to 150, of which 130 were of noble origin, and only 20 were commoners. Karel was one of the commoners and one of the surprises of the Trials, extremely popular among the people which pushed him to a high seventh place. It was not only important to score points in the tests, but also the heart of the nation. In practice, this meant that he got extra popularity points.

"Messages."

Messages from fans were written on the wall, they were divided into several categories, "marriage offers" category was packed with messages of men trying to become a part of history through their daughters since they were not capable of achieving such a big feat on their own. He looked at the features of some of the women whose fathers had contacted him, but none of them had the fire in their eyes that he was looking for, "Close."