Just as I finished the bath, I dressed myself and got out.
The bathhouse started having customers after the matches ended.
Walking out, I saw the bathhouse mistress calling for me.
"More money?" I asked.
"I am wondering how you last this long, boy," she said. "If it was not for Zena, even if I gave you five girls, you shouldn't last that long."
"The glory of being a Dragonborn may be reflected in this feature too," I said.
"Dragonborn? Glory! I heard stories about that, but don't joke around with this word around Nords," she said.
I know that, but, "What stories?" I asked.
"The stories of Tiber Septim. He had his ways with ladies, like the Queen of Mournhold," she said. "But as I told you, don't go around saying jokes about Dragonborns and Talos; Nords don't fancy these kind of jokes."
"Fine, fine! Thank you!" I said my thanks and left.
I returned to the inn while humming 'The Pink Panther' theme; my mood was just that good.
"You're late; we sent people to look for you." Svidi was the one waiting for me right after I went into the inn.
"Did something happen?" I asked.
"Something did happen," she replied. "When we got out of the arena on the way here, some drunk thugs wanted to fight with brother and Jon. We took them as some drunks wanting to brawl, but suddenly they took out daggers and went for blood." Her tone was stiff, and her face was pale.
"Brother and Jon fought them and beat them up. One of the thugs bled too much, and no one saved him; now the guards have them in the castle jail," Svidi said and started to cry.
"Calm down; they'll be alright," I said and hugged her; she was shivering.
She was barely holding herself together, but now she's a mess. If Wulfur saw her like this, he'd go berserk; he is overprotective when it comes to her.
I ran to my room and found the armour, hammer, and helmet I left behind. Svidi said she asked someone to carry my stuff here.
I put on the armour and carried the hammer.
Everything was done; I took the poor girl and ran to the castle.
I was surprised by what I saw. A crowd was standing angrily outside the castle, and Captain Aldis was talking them away.
Once the people saw and recognised me, they made way for me to pass. It was kind of them; most of them are fans who witnessed the incident.
Surprisingly enough, Bjorna was there, as well as Skadi, who was talking directly to Captain Aldis.
"Glad you are here; say something to calm that angry mob quickly," Captain Aldis got close and whispered to me.
Hehe! Witness the power of 'Controlling the Public Opinion'.
"Thank you, everyone, for coming here!" I raised my voice and spoke. "I will go in with good Captain Aldis now and will get my brothers out! You staying here will support us even more; thank you very much!"
I looked at Captain Aldis, whose face turned pale from what I just said. I was resisting my laughter so badly. Did he think I wouldn't take advantage?
The people cheered and did as I said; they waited.
Captain Aldis walked into the castle, and I followed him. I told Svidi to wait outside with Bjorna and asked Skadi to come with me.
Captain Aldis looked at who followed him, then said, "Why is Skadi following?"
"We are relatives," I said, "far relatives, actually."
Captain Aldis' eyes widened and noticed the similarities between us.
Skadi, on the other hand, was taken by surprise, yet she covered her expressions by a fake cough.
"Look, the situation is a bit hard, and you worsened it," Captain Aldis said. "I'm going to say this just in respect for Captain Skadi, but some powerful people are using this incident to hinder your team's progress in the duels. Most of the early bets were against your team, and these people are losing a lot of money."
"Even if powerful people were involved, one cannot just simply put pressure on Solitude guards, unless...." Skadi halted for a second, then said, "What's going on, Aldis?"
"It's shameful to say it, but we are being pressured by many sides. The gambling houses are pulling every string and favour they have. Your swift win against a strong team today probably made them worry."
"This was just self-defence. Even if someone died, witnesses can prove the aggressors' hostility reached the point that weapons were raised with the intent to kill. All rights of self-defence belong to the victim of the aggression, and the death of the aggressor was not direct; it was due to bleeding, which means the defence itself didn't carry the intent to kill. How can anyone accept such a ridiculous reason?" I spoke as my inner lawyer.
"Your words speak truth, but I've got my hands tied. Only the High King can pardon them without the normal regulations, and now it is late night; even I can't be granted an audience," he said. "High King Torygg is just; he will free them right away once he hears of it tomorrow. If you are lucky, he will hear of it and set them free right before the match."
"This attack is a setup itself." Skadi was angry and made a scary face. "If something happened to the boys, my clan won't leave this matter aside."
Captain Aldis backed away and raised his hands to calm her down. "Relax, I didn't put them in a cell; it was just a room me and my most trusted man can go into. Also, Clan Battle-Born sent the same warning."
"Can I see them?" I said.
"Of course, follow me." Captain Aldis walked inside the jail.
As I walked, I took the chance to memorise the layout of the jail. As we reached a room, Captain Aldis walked in, and we followed.
Inside were Jon Battle-Born, sitting looking into space, and Wulfur coming and going.
When they saw me, they halted what they were doing and stared at me.
"I just leave you for a day, and you guys go to prison, tch tch," I said. "I am going to leave for a year after the tourney, you know."
"Yeah, yeah, like you would have let those attackers go," Battle-Born replied.
"I may have broken some bones or taken an eye out, you know, being light-handed," I said.
"You see, Wulfur here followed your teachings and killed a man with a slap," Battle-Born said. "The man took the slap and kissed a wall. He went unconscious, but no one noticed he was bleeding until guards came to carry him."
"Killing a man with a slap; that's a mighty deed, big man. Sovngarde is recruiting!" I said.
Wulfur, who looked gloomy, smiled lightly and said, "Svidi?"
"Outside the castle with Bjorna." I mentioned Bjorna to buff his morale.
"What will happen now?" Battle-Born asked.
"You'll get out, but the situation is like this....." I told him the details of my conversation with Captain Aldis.
"Ba***rds, I bet they sent these people to set us up." Battle-Born was in a bad mood after hearing what happened.
"Who are we supposed to fight tomorrow?" I asked; I don't remember the matches setup.
[A/N: And I deleted the note that had the tournament data by mistake. I made another one based on memory and packed it up.]
"Team 'Wolf Fangs'," Skadi said.
"Thane Erikur's team," I said, then looked at Captain Aldis, "I bet he's behind this."
Captain Aldis made an uneasy face and didn't reply.
Erikur was one of the most annoying NPCs, same grade as Nazeem, in my opinion.
Beating up his team tomorrow will be fun, still, I need these guys out.
"It seems I can't get you out now, but be patient; I'll do what I can."
I said that and went out with Skadi and Captain Aldis.
He asked me to solve the problem I made with the crowd outside; I was having another plan, though.
Outside the castle, a crowd stood, and on top of it were Svidi and Bjorna. I could only assure them about the well-being of Wulfur and Battle-Born.
The crowd looked at me, waiting for me to say something, and so I did, "My brothers are locked inside, and the reason is pretty simple. Someone doesn't want them out; someone doesn't want my team to participate tomorrow; someone wants to hinder our progress. I don't know who that someone is, but he picked the wrong team to mess up with. I will remain here until the sunrise and will be the first to enter the arena. If that time came and I could bring no justice to my brothers, then by Ysmir, I'll face whatever they throw at me alone. Who's with me?"
The people cheered with their blood boiling; they didn't look like a peaceful demonstration, but an angry war band. Well, they'll serve their purpose.
I sat near the gate on the ground, and other people sat. Others went home to bring food, and others slept where they sat; some people came and joined us.
By the time I closed my eyes to take a little rest and woke up, I could feel the sun on my face.
The sight in front of me had changed, and I could see more people.
More than before I slept.
Maybe a bit more than needed.
Okaaaaay!
I underestimated the people in this world.
This is clearly more than what the arena can take.
I could see Captain Aldis standing behind the gate with the urge to cry.
Skadi was standing next to me, "You'll make Hilda proud."
I think this is just something that went too well.
An hour later, the castle gates opened, and we went inside.
The people found their places around the arena, and I jumped onto it.
I looked around, and no teams had arrived yet, so I took a chair to the middle of the arena, sat on it, put the hammer on its head, and crossed my arms. Now, let's wait for Torygg.
A few minutes later, the teams arrived, and some of the jarls too, who didn't know what was going on, asked and understood the situation.
Torygg wasn't here yet. The five members of team 'Wolf Fangs' arrived, but even Erikur wasn't here.
What was going on? Both Torygg and Erikur are late.
Falk Firebeard, the steward of the High King, arrived and said something to Viarmo.
Viarmo stood and announced that the High King would be late due to some court issues, and he will arrive later.
Most of the people understood that the High King was being delayed by someone.
Dirty!
So I will participate alone against five.
"The first match will be team 'White Wolves' against team 'Wolf Fangs'. Due to some complications, only one participant of team 'White Wolves' will be in the arena. The matches will be one on one; team 'White Wolves' participant will have to face the five participants of team 'Wolf Fangs' one after the other," Viarmo announced.
The people went into uproar after they heard him. Jon was still sitting on the chair in the middle of the arena.
No one blamed his behaviour, as he clearly was in a bad mood.
The story of what happened yesterday spread far and wide, except for a certain disappointment of a king.
The judge entered the arena and called for the opponent to come up.
Jon was still sitting.
The opponent was a dual axe user. He looked at Jon with disdain and waved his axes around; Jon still didn't stand.
The boy frowned and wasn't satisfied with Jon's reaction, or rather, no reaction.
He ran towards Jon in order to intimidate him, yet when Jon showed no reaction, the opponent ran faster and jumped with his axes raised high, as he planned to slash them down at Jon.
Right when he was midair, Jon hastily moved up and met the flying opponent with a punch.
It landed directly on the neck.
The boy who was flying crashed to the ground in a bad shape while coughing violently.
Jon was not done yet; he went back to his hammer and dragged it back.
The judge wanted to say something, but he saw Jon carry the hammer with one hand over the opponent's head and let it drop.
The opponent, who was already out of breath, went directly to dreamland.
Jon quietly picked up the hammer, sat back on the chair, and then rested his right foot on his defeated foe.
All of that happened in a few seconds, so the crowd around the arena took some time to recover from the shock.
This was absolute dominance. Some of the VIP shook their heads from how arrogant youth can be, some nodded with satisfaction, and some were having dark expressions. Elisif, who came without Torygg, was covering her mouth with a hand from the brutal encounter.
The other participants, who most of them had faced Jon, had some mixed emotions about this, but mostly they were cheering for Jon.
Jon looked like the harbinger of death, and his hammer, which was blunt on one side and had a spike on the other, was akin to his scythe.
The defeated opponent should be moved from the arena, but everyone forgot about that.
The second opponent jumped into the arena, shouting at Jon, telling him to remove his foot from his brother.
Jon only smiled faintly back.
The boy, who was a sword and shield user, raised his shield ahead of himself and ran towards Jon while roaring.
Jon held the hammer properly this time and rotated around himself 360°.
Just as the opponent arrived, Jon's hammer was already welcoming the shield. A high-pitched ting sounded out, followed by the sound of something getting broken.
The shield appeared to be fine, but the boy, who was already on the ground, started wailing while holding his left shoulder.
Jon refused to show mercy and grabbed the other arm of his opponent, twisted his right leg around it, stomped tightly to the ground, and twisted his whole posture this time. This was an otherworldly shoulder-dislocating technique.
[A/N: From Aikido, I guess. Did I say it right?]
The boy screamed from agony and had no will to resist. Jon sent him to dreamland with a stomp on the face.
The crowd didn't make any sound this time. This was a punishment event hosted by Jon. If you don't want to watch, then just look away.... like that was even an option.
Jon sat back with a faint sadistic smile on his face; it caused people with weak hearts to tremble.
The remaining members of 'Wolf Fangs' were angry; that was too much in their heart, yet it was within the rules, mostly.
The one who came into the arena next was huffing in anger. He was a huge two-metre meat tower covered by plate armour; his weapon was a large battleaxe.
The third opponent was controlled by anger. Even though he was this heavy, he was known as the main participant of team 'Wolf Fangs', Igvor the Feral.
As the feral ran towards Jon with frightening speed not suiting his weight, people were already expecting a match, yet who knew what Jon was thinking.
Jon didn't carry the hammer or anything; he just summoned a spell on each hand and started shooting them.
These spells were not direct attack spells; they only caused runes to appear under Igvor's feet. Once he stepped on the first rune, lightning exploded out of it, and the second runes exploded after it was touched too. One must know that lightning magic and heavy armour are the worst combination ever.
Igvor took one shock damage after another during his charge; suddenly he fell and started rolling towards Jon.
Jon wasn't merciful and spammed one rune after the other. The more Igvor rolls, the more runes explode.
Igvor kept rolling until Jon's feet, and his helmet fell from his head. What appeared was a foaming, ugly face.
Jon rested his right foot on the new footstool.
The crowd that was expecting a fight discovered that Jon didn't even get up from the chair this time; the show of punishment was still on.
The VIP were at a loss for words; where did such a junior emerge from?
"So, Nurina's son can be as lawless as her," Faralda in the VIP seats murmured to herself.
"Who is Nurina?" someone asked.
All heads in the VIP area were looking at Faralda; they all were demanding an answer.
"Nurina Aren, Arch Wizard and head of the Conjuration major in the College of Winterhold; she is his adoptive mother." Faralda was puffing her chest, 'showing off with her niece's hair'.
[A/N: An Egyptian idiom for those who show off with stuff they don't have, it's called 'The Baldy showing off with her niece's hair'.]
The VIP area gasped in fright and saw Jon in a new light; he was an arrogant youngster with a scary background, the son of an Arch Wizard.
Still, three were down, two to go.