In an instant, hundreds of gold coins were piled up in front of the princess, and almost all of them were bet on Douglas Baker's side.

“How are we supposed to play like this, when all the bets are on…” The drunken princess hadn’t finished her sentence when Unknown placed three hundred gold coins on himself: “I bet three hundred gold coins on myself.”

Everyone was stunned, including Douglas Baker; almost everyone was staring at Unknown. Three hundred gold coins wasn’t a huge sum in their eyes, but they still understood how much it was worth to ordinary people.

This was a provocation, and Douglas Baker quickly decided that Unknown's bet was meant to provoke him. Driven by the belief that he couldn’t lose to the other side in battle or in wealth, Douglas Baker placed a five-hundred-gold-coin note in front of the princess.

“This money should be enough to renovate all the houses in the village, right?” Unknown muttered to himself as he walked toward the center of the arena. Hearing this, Douglas Baker, who was following behind, nearly tripped. At that moment, Douglas Baker even suspected that Unknown had gone mad. Last time, Unknown had only succeeded in a sneak attack because he’d let his guard down, and yet now he was still so confident.

Both sides took their places in the center of the arena. The drunken princess shouted excitedly, “Let the match begin!”

Douglas Baker gracefully drew his lightsaber and held it before his chest, performing the pre-duel etiquette between knights toward Unknown and said, “In the name of my family, I sw—”

Thud!

The arena fell utterly silent; the sound of Douglas Baker collapsing was especially heavy. At this moment, Douglas Baker was already completely unconscious on the ground. People stared in shock at the sudden turn of events—someone had actually launched an attack before the other had finished the knight’s salute. It was simply unbelievable.

No one knew how many seconds passed before someone finally reacted, pointing at Unknown and shouting, “You broke the rules! You actually launched a sneak attack—you’ve insulted the art of knighthood.”

Unknown looked at him calmly, and after the other finished speaking, replied evenly, “The princess already announced the start just now, which means we could begin. If he didn’t make a move, why couldn’t I? I’m not a knight, nor a noble.”

The questioner was left speechless on the spot. That’s right! Unknown was neither a knight nor a noble, so he didn’t have to follow such rules. Besides, in previous matches, both sides would finish their salutes before the referee announced the start.

Today, the drunken princess had reversed the order of the ceremony, so what Douglas Baker did just now was really his own fault.

“But…but…” Douglas Baker’s close friend still wanted to argue for him, but Unknown shot him a cold look and said, “In the forest, beasts won’t wait for you to finish your salute before fighting you. I believe it’s the same on the battlefield.”

Douglas Baker’s friend still wanted to retort, but the drunken Princess Feiyan had already announced Unknown as the winner. At this point, any further argument was pointless. Douglas Baker’s friend spat a few harsh words, then lifted the unconscious Douglas Baker and carried him back to the tent.

Chapter 10: The Desperate Mighty Bow Shocks the Soul (Part 1)

Cherish every one of your companions as you would your own life. — Soldier King: Unknown.

※※※

Pangzi City was the city closest to the southern edge of the Greater Khingan Mountains. To prevent the magical beasts from one day deciding to come into the city for a visit, this city, which connected the east-west main roads, had built a ten-meter-high, five-meter-thick solid wall.

Unknown’s team of over a hundred people, after four days of arduous travel, finally entered this large city.

“I’m exhausted.” Princess Feiyan poked her head out of the carriage and shouted, “Unknown, hurry up and find us a place to stay.”

The other members also looked toward Unknown, who was busy admiring the scenery. It wasn’t that they respected Unknown from the bottom of their hearts, but rather that none of them had a single copper coin left in their pockets. All their money had ended up in Unknown’s pocket after that night of gambling.

Three thousand gold coins wasn’t a small sum even for an ordinary noble, and for this team that had set out to make their mark, it was also a significant amount.

Naturally, the princess didn’t need to carry money herself when traveling. After losing badly as the banker, she could only borrow from the other noble youths to pay her gambling debts.

However, these noble youths had only thought about making a name for themselves when they set out, so the gold coins they brought were quite limited. After scraping together the last coin, the princess still owed Unknown more than three hundred gold coins, so she could only write him an IOU for now.

As a result, all the team’s assets were now concentrated in Unknown’s hands, and from that moment on, everyone else became penniless.

At this point, everyone could only treat Unknown like a lord, or else they’d have to sleep on the streets. This situation even forced Douglas Baker, who had planned to cause trouble for Unknown after waking up, to temporarily put up with him.

After passing by several seemingly nice inns, Unknown would just go in to ask the price and then turn around and leave, leading the team onward.

After spending these days with Gree and the others, Unknown had gradually come to understand a bit about the outside world—for example, the same thing might be priced differently depending on the location, and houses of different standards would have different rental prices, and so on.