The Demon King's Paladin

Chapter 179. Prep And Start

                                                                   John Ericsson's Point Of View

/GONG! GONG!/

The ringing of the bell could almost distract from the noise of the crowd all around this stadium-like arena I was currently in.

" All of this for a sparring match?"

" It seems that the guards around the round table had gotten to gossiping. That led to the congregation of Nobles from yesterday asking to be allowed to watch the match."

" And the King agreed since he didn't feel it was his hill to die on?

" Seems likely. It's not much of an issue, you've fought with people watching before after all, My Love."

Sarah turned and smiled at me as she spoke to me.

" If it's really that big of an issue, I'm sure we can ask the King and Queen to allow the sparring match to be done in privacy, Darling."

Anna seemed to think the fighting should be done in private. Usually I'd be more secretive, but I'm only going to be using my basic abilities in this sparring match, so I guess it doesn't truly matter.

" It'll be fine, I just wish they would've let us know ahead of time."

" Well, Lady Sarah, asked to have complete privacy during your training this morning."

" Prince Delcan, I don't think we would've minded a quick message about there being a crowd."

Delcan, who was the one that led us to this place, tried to explain why we weren't informed. I sighed as he seemed to have his heart in the right place, but his head didn't seem to be. Maybe there was too much pressure from the Nobles? My thoughts were interrupted by Delcan before I could ask anything about why this had happened.

" Well, the sparring match will begin in a few minutes, so I'll head off then, good luck, Marquess Matthew!"

" Thank you for the wishes, Prince Delcan."

Delcan left swiftly and it was just my wives and I left together.

" I'd imagine the Dark Elf Nobles just want to see someone lose as entertainment."

Anna spoke her real thoughts now that Delcan had left. She seemed to think of it as an insult that they're here. She's not wrong in my opinion, but I personally don't care if someone watches our sparring match or not.

" It should be fine, it doesn't matter who watches the sparring match, this is more about just testing myself at this point."

" Oh? But what about your opponent? She doesn't seem to be taking this as lightly as you, Darling."

" She didn't really explain what her problem was to us. So, I'll just look at this as a training exercise for my magic abilities as a Paladin. But do you guys really think I shouldn't use any of my Summons?"

" Yes, you shouldn't. I haven't brought this up before, but your Summoning abilities are almost too good. Either from the Spirits you've contracted or the out of the box thinking you have with Spirits like Paula for instance, would make things too easy for you. Let alone, we'd let outsiders know about your other abilities. By the way, you should do everything you should do to win even with these handicaps. Because if you lose this, " training exercise" you'll owe them 2 requests, My Love. Then after that, Anna and I will need to " punish" you. "

" Well, as long as they don't want anything too crazy it shouldn't be an issue. I assume the Queen already thought about all of that when she decided to make that weird bet. I guess I should be able to win with just my Holy Magic skills..."