BXBX NOVEL Chapter 875 875
"That\'s impossible." The man running the clay pillar cutting event said after he finished counting the number of clean cuts Mrazivý had inflicted.
Each one was half a centimeter apart and she had accurately cut through the two-meter-tall pillar four hundred times.
Frankly it was a feat that could be described as above even superhuman. She had even finished a whole second before her time was up.
"So, I won the grand prize, right? I mean I clearly through the pillar more than two hundred times." Mrazivý said, with a boastful smile on her face.
Of course, the staff running the event did not want to simply give away the item that was meant to draw attention to their contest.
"I am sorry, but these cuts are so perfect it is hard to believe that they came from a sword! You must have cheated in some manner!" The man shouted so that everyone around could hear. "I for one did not even see what it was you were doing! I find it highly likely that you used some sort of magic spell or tool to inflict these cuts and try to swindle us! It is strange that a foreigner like you would even be here in the first place!"
After the man yelled out his accusations, many among the crowd began to whisper amongst themselves and were agreeing that something seemed fishy.
To them what Mrazivý had accomplished was impossible. Well beyond the level of skill of even powerful individuals. This was simply how incomprehensible Mrazivý\'s abilities were.
Unfortunately, for the event operates, Mrazivý was not here alone and had someone with a great deal of sway to vouch for her.
"Excuse me, but are you saying that a guest of my clan is a cheater? You must have an awful lot of evidence to back your accusation up. If you don\'t, I will find it to be a personal insult to my clan." Amira said, stepping up and defending Mrazivý.
Glaring down at her, the man running the event scoffed at Amira when he saw how young she was.
"Before you continue, I might inform you that I am Talab Guhbaa and this event has the backing of the head of the Guhbaa Clan, Yazan." The man said haughtily.
The Guhbaa Clan was among the more influential clans and typically considered only under the six major clans. Making those running the event and trying to have Mrazivý disqualified hoping to use their authority to get Amira to back down.
Sadly, they picked a fight with the wrong person, and should have figured that someone as strong as Mrazivý was likely to be associated with one of the six major clans.
"Allow me to return your warning, before you make even bigger of a fool of yourself, Talab Guhbaa. I am Amira Eazim, daughter of Malik Eazim the head of the Eazim Clan, and great granddaughter of Akeem Eazim, our grand elder. The woman you have accused of cheating is a personal guest of my clan and my great grandfather. I can assure you that her skills are more than capable of the feat she just displayed." Amira said, a commanding air about her.
Everyone around hearing that Amira was of the main family of the Eazim Clan lowered their heads and backed away, while Talab stood stunned as he looked down at her.
\'It looks like that killed all of his bravado. I wonder what his next move will be. I kind of hope he tries digging deeper.\' Marcus thought, enjoying watching the man who accused his wife of cheating squirm.
However, Talab was not an idiot and realized that he was outmatched in terms of rank. In a class-based society those lower on the pecking order had to submit to those above them unless they had a good justification not to.
"Please allow me to apologize to you Lady Amira, for my ignorance. I did not know that this woman was a guest of your clan. It must be as you said, her skills are so transcendent that I could not see them properly. I ask for your forgiveness for my hasty accusation." Talab said, getting down onto his knees and bowing down.
Those around him running the event followed suit and could only pray that Amira would not bring down the weight of the Eazim Clan on them.
"Very well. I will overlook this. But you must apologize to Mraz as well. It is she that you insulted the most." Amira said.
Turning his body Talab bowed his head to Mrazivý and apologized. Though it was clear he did not mean a word of what he said.
"I accept your apology." Mrazivý said nonchalantly, not really caring so long as she got what she had won. "Now, I will accept my prize."
Standing up, Talab put on his best business smile, and said, "Of course. Allow us to properly wrap it and we will have it promptly shipped to the Eazim Clan for you."
"Oh, there is no need for that." Mrazivý said, walking up to the phoenix talon and placing it directly into her item box.
Talab went wide eyed when he saw this, and any hope he had of keeping ahold of the talon was dashed.
He had rapidly been coming up with a plan to have the carriage transporting the talon attacked in order to retrieve the item, but that would be impossible now.
"Welp, we got what we came for. Shall we get going." Mrazivý said, rejoining Marcus and Amira.
"Yes, I Think it would be best if we were on our way. It is time for lunch anyway. I made sure that we have a reservation at a high-quality restaurant in the area." Amira said, leading the way.
It took them around half an hour to arrive at the restaurant, and just from the entrance it was clearly a high-class establishment that only served the best food.
Sadly, Marcus knew he had more pressing matter to deal with and promptly excused himself to the restroom.
\'Time to go see what I can dig up.\' He thought, before disappearing.
Now back in his ghost form, Marcus phased out of the building and quickly flew back to where the pillar cutting event was being held.
Immediately he noticed that there were almost no people around and the event had closed down early. Clearly, they were too rattled by losing their top prize that was their headliner to continue.
Floating around, Marcus passed through a few buildings, before he found the one the members of the Guhbaa Clan were congregated in.
With a single looked Marcus could see that they were distressed.
"Damn it!" Talab yelled before slamming his hand against the table he was sitting at.
The marble slab that topped the table cracked when he hit it, showing that he was not particularly low level.
"Yazan is going to have our heads when he finds out we lost the talon. No one was supposed to be able to win it. Not even the strongest fighter we have could do that with those crappy weapons." Talab said, his face warped into a fearful expression.
Apparently, the talon was just meant to attract attention and they never planned on giving it away. Hence why Talab had resorted to calling Mrazivý a cheater in order to keep it.
Marcus also learned that the talon had actually been found by the Guhbaa Clan around twelve years ago near a roc\'s nest, hence why they thought it belong to that type of beast. It was one of their elder\'s favorite show pieces and only after much convincing from Talab did he loan it to them to attract more attention to the clay pillar cutting event in order to bring in more money. In a way, it was the perfect scam. As long as no one extraordinary like Mrazivý showed up.
"It is not too late yet. We can still get it back." One of Talab\'s men said.
"What do you have in mind? We cannot publicly oppose the Eazim Clan. If we push them it, will be more than just our lives on the line."
"Yes, it would be bad if we made an enemy out of the Eazim Clan, but that girl Amira is wandering around the festival with only a small contingent of guards. It happens quite often that ruffians cause a stir during the festival and start brawls in the streets. We simply need to orchestrate one, kill everyone around, and kidnap that foreign woman. It might take a while, but eventually we can \'convince\' her to open up her item box and give us back the roc talon. Then we need only dispose of her." One of Talab\'s men said.
The others quickly jumped onboard this plan since it seemed like their only option. Their clan\'s elder was a ruthless man and had no problem with getting rid of those who failed him. Those assisting Talab could at best hope for being exiled, while Talab was certain he would not be keeping his head.
"Okay, gather up the best fighters you can. Assign some men to follow their group. Hire assassins as well. If we get the talon back, we can use it to make whatever money we spend back. Even if we do not make as much as projected, so long as we get the talon back everything should be fine." Talab said, a look of anticipation on his face. He was desperate to do anything to cover up his mistake.
Yet, unbeknownst to any of them, an ethereal individual had heard their entire conversation and now knew of their plan.
\'Hm, how do I want to play this? Should I just wipe them all out now and avoid the hassle, or try to catch them in the act?\' Marcus thought, floating above Talab who had no idea how screwed he was.