The Refuge of Fate

Chapter 114 - Unleash

The sound of trumpets blared from the palace when the sun started rising on the horizon. The eerie noise that crickets made was overpowered by the sudden echo but the humans weren't even surprised at all.

As a matter of fact, a great portion of the population was already wide awake and were doing their morning routine so they could have an ample amount of time to witness the most awaited event later.

The hunting competition.

It is a three-day event where the participants embark on a hunting competition inside the Belmaid Empire's one and only Nightmare Hollow.

The Nightmare Hollow is a vast forest located in the western territory of Belmaid. It gained its name and popularity because at a certain point every year, magical beasts and monsters are rampant in the place with the abundance of magic and solidarity from the human population. Though humans typically do not live in the first, it is also of great importance to the people of Belmaid as it is an essential place where the hunting and gathering of goods take place.

Many resources are taken almost all year round except for when fall starts when the monsters are more likely to be encountered. This is where the Fire Festival takes place.

Before winter starts, a hunting competition is upheld yearly in order to decimate or, if possible, completely eradicate the existence of monsters and beasts that could harm the citizens who'd turn to the forest as their source of food for the cold seasons.

"Who do you think would win in this year's hunting competition, captain?" Ramsen, a recently knighted commoner asked as he sat on the ground and bit on the edge of a weed while playing with it like a horse.

"I don't know," the captain of the battalion he was assigned to, Knight Perez, responded who instead of crouching on the ground like Ramsen, leaned his body on the wall.

"It's hard to predict who'd win this year because there is an intense competition between the six warriors and the newcomer."

"..."

"Do you know the newcomer, captain?" The latter asked continuously and Perez had to sigh.

"Who doesn't know him? He's the renowned hero of Taron and the infamous music genius acknowledged by the Music Academy," he answered and Ramsen had an amazed expression on his face.

"I heard he's very powerful too, captain! Is that true as well?" Ramsen added wherein Perez nodded his head in confirmation.

"It was confirmed that there were four strong enemies leading the army that were attacking Taron including a beastmaster, a swordmaster, a fairy, and a rumored dragon but they were all killed by him. If that's not powerful then I don't know what is."

"Wow... A dragon..." The knight went back to looking aimlessly in front of him and just thinking about how cool it would be if he were to witness a powerful man like the newcomer destroying his enemies. He knew he wouldn't be able to do that in any moment of his life so he was rooting for someone else to do it.

"If he can defeat a dragon, I think he would likely win this year's competition. The warriors might be powerful but they're on their own when hunting monsters since they're up against one another. Right, captain?" Ramsen looked at his superior and grinned like a kid. The man standing beside him only shrugged his shoulders and sighed for the second time as if he didn't want to talk about it.

"But of course, I won't be cheering for him all the way. You're joining as well, right, captain?" That made Perez open his eyes as he looked back at Ramsen. The latter continued grinning like an idiot which almost made Perez facepalm himself at how silly this knight was.