The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 442: The Competition And The Demon (1)

“Damn… This doesn’t make any sense!” Margret, who had just got the news about ‘Victor’s’ arrest from Aria, flared. As an all mighty regressor, the thing she hated most was unpredictability.

“An hour ago those bastards posted on a private chat group! They said that Abe was going to reveal the truth about Victor’s corruption. Then, without revealing a thing, they manipulated all kinds of paparazzi to use drones and follow him as he entered the company and then watched him die!” Lin spat as she read a report that was hastily made by Alpha’s newly established analysis team. “ That bastard must have stabbed himself, but the angle was so insecure that it appeared as if it was a murder! Now the imposter is in prison… The police chief was forced to act due to the public outrage!”

“When the chicks said Abe left for the company, I thought it was some more demands, not anything like this… '' Margret pondered, she was the one who told them to stand down… It was her fault! “We underestimated those people…”

“True… We always expected them to kill Abe, but why try to take Victor with him?” Elise who didn’t see this coming frowned. “They probably want to take the entire rights for Abe’s work, with this they will be sure that Victor would not be able to shoot the movie no matter what the contract says!”

“Is it that important?” Lin frowned. Those novels were very stupid and were meant for horny guys. When she was locked in the basement, she couldn’t even stand them for a second when one of the maids tried reading some of them to her.

“You have no idea…” Margaret said. “First of all, those novels exploded in popularity after Victor announced the collaboration with Crimson Pearl…. While they were only famous in certain circles before, they have now entered the public eye!” She sighed. “The movies built on those novels, which were originally drafted by many different authors, are meant to be huge! They will start a men's rights movement that will gain great popularity in the coming years…”

“Men's rights?” Elise raised one eyebrow. She was a little fascinated by the mysterious future Margret and Victor lived.

“Yup… It all started with when an indecent bitch wife who accused her idol husband of abusing and raping her sorry ass… The husband, who was a public sweetheart, was acquitted later when a recording of the wife’s plan to ruin his life and steal his money got revealed… But it was already too late as the man, whose career was ruined, committed suicide a few days earlier. The public outcry was huge… Especially when the wife got to inherit all his money despite everything!” Margret sighed. “They were not divorced yet…”

“Oh…Is that guy famous?” Lin asked.

“He will be, but not yet… He works for us now!” Margret said. Half of the future famous stars now work for her, but not directly, she made sure to contact them under shell companies just in case.

“Oh… So what happened after that?” Elise asked.

“It just happened that one of the movies based on the novels got released at the same time… It was a huge hit as the man in it suffered the same fate as the idol, but instead of committing suicide, he worked hard, gained a noble title, and then used an ancient obscure law to marry 20 other wives!”

“The same law Victor used to convince the public when he married us?” Lin asked.

“That’s the one!” Margaret nodded. Victor learned about it after watching the movie back then. “His new wives included his old wife’s mother, sister, cousin, and the maid who knew of the wife's plan! And this forced that bitch to come clean and beg him to take her back!” Margret sighed.

“A stupid wish fulfilling men's story…” Elise spat.

“Yup…” Margret didn’t refute her.

“Let me guess… He got her back only as a maid?” Elise asked again.

“What else… It is humiliation or death for traitors!“ Margret sighed, all of those stories were very predictable. “If the movie were to be released at any other time, it would have definitely caused huge public outrage, in fact, many feminine movements tried to force the theaters to stop showing it… But men who were outraged kept going to see it again and again, finally forming the men’s rights movement!”

“The right to create a harem?” Elise asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Yup… What else do men want?” Margret shrugged. “Last I know, they got to form a party and manage to get a few people in the government, intending to amend the constitution and make it legal for all men, not only nobles to marry more than one wife…. I have no idea if they ever managed to pull that off though…” Margret shrugged.

“...I see… “ Elise said as her mind turned. “Can you send me any info you have about the said movement?” she asked Margret. She had some crazy hypotheses, but she still needed to check a few other things to make sure.

“Sure…” Margret nodded. She had been in the process of arranging everything she remembered from the other timeline anyway.

“What to do about the current situation then?” Lin asked, getting them back at the subject at hand.

“Call the team who is keeping an eye on Lulu, the rights of Abe’s estate will now belong to her and her mother, so whoever is behind this will probably contact them!” Elise said.

“What about Victor’s reputation?” Lin asked. She didn’t want anyone to badmouth her husband.

“Does he still have any?” Elsie asked.

“...” Lin didn’t know how to answer that.

“First, let's get all those paparazzi arrested for corporate espionage, they were filming a secure meeting space after all… After that, let our lawyers out of their dens to sue their employers for bankruptcy, and start a public online defamation campaign against Abe… Let’s release the recording of him asking Victor for money when he sold me…Let’s make it a case of two men fighting over money and women!” Margret spat. “Then let the public fight it over!”

“I guess that would work…” Elise nodded. Thanks to Victor’s abysmal reputation they had a lot of room for maneuver. “What about the police? ”

“... Let the family handle them, they will probably get the imposter out in a day or two,” Margret sighed. “When will you be able to do the ritual,” she asked Lin… She really didn’t like working in the dark. She needed to know her enemy!

“In a few days,” Lin replied with determination.

…

After leaving the dormitory, Victor and the other nervous nobles were escorted through a winding path around the central castle. It was as if they were paraded around to make an example of as they took a roundabout way until they finally reached their destination 1 hour later…

It was a huge plaza where the other commoner participants had long arrived and had been waiting for them next to a large castle gate where a huge screen with all the participants' names was hung. It was not an electronic screen by any means, but a manually adjustable one with turning boards.

His name was there… VICTOR WHITE with a zero next to it. His score?

Other than that, all around the sides of the plaza a huge crowd of people gathered around, clearly some kind of spectators who stood behind a heavily guarded iron fence as they looked around.
Most of them were commoners, But Victor could spot a few nobles who sat on raised platforms in the back.

“THIS IS SO EXCITING!”
“WAH! LOOK! THE NOBLE PARTICIPANTS ARE HERE AT LAST!”
“THEY SURE TOOK THEIR TIME…”
“HUSH… DON’T MAKE TROUBLE!”
“SO IS IT GOING TO START NOW?”
“YEAH! I WISH THEY WOULD ALLOW US TO WATCH…”
“YEAH… TOO BAD IT IS A SECRET… AT LEAST WE WILL BE ABLE TO WITNESS THE PERSONAL POINTS ON THE BIG SCREEN AND WATCH THE REWARDS CEREMONY AFTERWARDS!”
“POPCORN! WE HUMAN POPCORN, DWARVISH POPCORN, ELVISH POPCORN!,”
“THE ONE WITH CHEESE AND CARROTS?”
“YEAH!”
“GIMME SOME!”
“BETS, ACCEPTING BETS… ALL KIND OF BETS… WHO WILL DIE, WHO WILL LIVE, WHO WILL BE A KNIGHT!”
“LOOK… THERE IS A PRETTY GIRL JUST ENTERED AMONG THE COMMONERS!”
“WAH… SHE IS CUTE! WHAT’S HER NAME?”
“I THINK IT IS PIN PIN… SHE IS A PRETTY FAMOUS NEWCOMER AT THE KNIGHT SCHOOL!”
“I WILL BE ROOTING FOR HER!”
“ME TOO!”

Hearing those people, made Victor, who began to inspect the commoners and naturally focus on the pretty girl who stood there in confidence between the commoners like a crane between chickens. She seemed very popular as the participants were calling her Pin Pin and asking her to take care of them.

As he apprised her, Victor’s jaw almost dropped. When did that bitch get there? The other didn’t notice but he did. This girl was none other than the bitch, Lyra, putting on a disguise.

He looked up… Sure enough, the back of the dragon, which never left the sky above, was now empty.

Victor frowned.

Why the fuck was she here?

“Look at that girl… If I were to meet her in trouble…” Dario smiled lecherously.

Oh.. That’s why…

“What would you do?” Victor asked.

“Ehm… I will save her and make her fall for me of course…” Dario said, clearing his throat to act like a gentleman. In his mind though, he clearly had other thoughts. For the nobles in this country, the commoners didn’t have any rights. This seemed to have started due to all the authority they were given to fend off the demons.

Victor sighed looking back at Lyra. He didn’t care what she planned to do, but if she ever decided to make trouble with him, he wouldn't mind spanking some sense into her.

“HEY! WATCH OUT FOR PICKPOCKETS…”
“MOM, THAT GUY IS HOT!”
“HAY… THAT GUY IS A COMMONER! DON’T PRAISE HIM!”
“SORRY…”
“LOOK… IT IS DUKE RIDGAR’S SON… YOU SHOULD BE ROOTING FROM HIM INSTEAD!”
“BUT HE IS BALD!”
“HSSSSS.... DON’T POINT. DO YOU WANNA BE KILLED BY HIM…”
“SORRY…BUT I DON’T LIKE HIM!”
“HE IS JUST SO MANLEY… I AM SURE HE WILL BE A WINNER!”
“MOM… DAD IS BEHIND YOU…”
“...”
“BITCH IN HEAT!”
“HOW DARE YOU CURSE AT ME IN PUBLIC! ”
“HOW DARE YOU LOOK AT OTHER MEN”
“AT LEAST THEY ARE MEN..”
“YOU…”
“MOM DAD STOP!
“HEY! STOP MAKING TROUBLE… WHERE IS MY PURSE?”
“THIEF!”
“WATCH OUT…”

Victor sighed as he watched a child pickpocketer run away from the back… It seemed like the capital was not as secure…

He didn’t continue as three knights surrounded him, then dragged him away after a brief questioning.

Not bad…

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT PURPLE-HAIRED GUY WHO IS LOOKING AT US… DOES HE WANT TO APPEAR IMPOSING OR SOMETHING?”
“YEAH.. EVERY YEAR THERE WOULD BE AN IDIOT LIKE THAT!”
“I BET HE WILL NOT WALK OUT ALIVE…”
“WANNA BET SIR? THE PURPLE-HAIRED GUY, VICTOR WHITE, DYING PAYOUT IS ONLY 1/100th!”
“WOW, SO LOW… WHY?”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“OH! RIGHT... HERE YOU GO…”
“THANK YOU SIR… I HEARD HE ANGERED LADY LYRA…”
“HSSS…. IS THIS PIECE OF INFO CREDIBLE?”
“I SWEAR WITH MY MOTHER’S GRAVE ON IT!”
“WOW… ARE THERE STILL THOSE KINDS OF IDIOTS?”
“APPARENTLY…”
“THEN I WILL BET A 1000 ON HIM DYING!”
“ME TOO! ALTHOUGH THE PROFIT IS LITTLE, MONEY IS STILL MONEY!”
“ME THREE! I WILL BET A 1000000!”
“WHERE DID YOU GET OF ALL THAT MONEY?”
“....THAT IS A RUDE QUESTION TO ASK A LADY ABOUT HER MONEY!”
“SIRS… DON’T PUSH EACH OTHER… WE HAVE TIME TO REGISTER ALL YOUR BETS!”
“DO YOU ACCEPT A CHECK OR AN IOU?”
“NO.. CASH ONLY!”
“DAMN… WAIT FOR ME… I WILL RUN HOME TO GRAB SOME MONEY!”

Victor who could hear everything sighed and then turned to watch the commoner participants beside Lyra, Most of them had good Authority and Classes. It is just that their levels were a bit low… No, not all of them… Some of them were knights… Holy shit… The contest seemed to have already begun with those guys implanted between the participants!

BAAAAAAAAAAA…..

Suddenly chains began to move and the heavy castle gate slowly opened. From the inside, an old knight in creaky armor slowly walked out and looked around while squinting his eyes, clearly not comfortable with the bright light of the plaza.

He was huge and had unkempt long white hair like someone who had just woken up.

“SO YOU ARE HERE… COME ON IN… COME ON IN…” he said then turned and began to walk back in casually as if he just finished inviting some unwanted guests to his house. “WELCOME TO THE DEMON CASTLE!” he said dismissively as he went inside.

The participants looked at each other, and then one by one they began to walk in, the nobles first followed by the nervous commoners who knew their place.

“Demon castle?” Victor asked as he walked beside the nervous Dario.

“They used to keep captured demons here to run tests on them…” Dario replied nervously. “It should be empty nowadays… Right?”

Victor didn’t respond but observed the people around. They seemed to be thinking the same things as Dario… Demons? Probably, he could feel it with his bloodline… There were many ‘brethren’ nearby!

He shook his head then began to look around and inspect his surroundings as he crossed the heavily fortified entrance tunnel and found himself with the others in a large domed hall built out of black stone. It was more like an entrance to a prison than that of a castle with all kinds of weapons and armor lined up ready to be used in case of emergency.

This place was meant to keep people in and not out!

Giving it a quick glance Victor quickly noticed that beside the entrance it had many doors barred with steel and no windows… On their sides, giant men with axes, wearing cloth bags on their heads stood guard. Executioners?

BAM!

The steel gate behind him was shut closed by two other giant men who quickly stood guard to its sides.

“LISTEN UP KIDS… MY NAME IS RODMAN, I AM THE WARDEN HERE!” the old knight who now stood in the center of the hall behind a large table stacked with papers said. “FIRST OF ALL, I NEED EACH OF YOU TO SIGN THIS DEATH WAIVER AND NDA!”

“NDA?” one nobleman asked.

“NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT… IT IS A CONTRACT INVENTED BY LADY ROSETET HERSELF TO KEEP EVERYTHING THAT WILL TRANSPIRE HERE A SECRET!” the knight yelled. He didn’t have to yell, but he seemed to like doing that.

“Do we have to sign it?” another noble asked.

“IF YOU DON’T, YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY FAIL….”

Everyone swallowed. Failure meant death.

“LET’S GO… ONE BY ONE…”

The participants looked at each other and then started to move forward to look at the contracts and sign them.

Victor did the same. The contact was nothing special…

Victor pressed <NO>, then using his disguise skill he made the contract shine upon signing it like it did for others.

No contract shall bind the Nutcracker!

“OK… THEN…” the warden nodded as he watched everyone finish signing their contracts and handing them over to his assistants. “NOW, HERE WE HAVE A BUNCH OF IDENTITY HIDING MASK… EACH OF YOU WILL WEAR ONE!” he said, pointing to wooden masks that were brought by some evil-looking servants on trays and presented to each of the participants.

“What… Why do we have to use those?” one noble who was busy forming a team earlier asked timidly.

“SPEAK LOUDER…” the warden scolded as he put his hand to his ear.

“DO WE HAVE TO USE THOSE?”

“HOW DARE YOU SHOUT BUGGER?” the warden scolded, sending a sound wave that sent the young noble kneeling to the ground. “DO YOU THINK THIS IS YOUR FATHER’S PLACE OR….”

“Stop bullying the kids Rod, let’s get on with it…” The one who interrupted was that knight Simon from before. He seemed to have been staying behind them all this time, standing near the wall. “We are on a tight schedule! ”

“AH… FINE… YOU ARE NO FUN…” the old warden pouted as his fun was spoiled.

“The masks are to make sure each of you will show their real skills! No cooperating!” Sighing, the knight turned and answered the noble’s previous question.

Hearing him, commoner participants who seemed to have relaxed a little hurried to take a mask and put it on. Immediately, their shape began to distort. They were still there, but for some reason, if you tried to make out any of their features, you would fail.

“Ahh…” the nobles who watched this foreword and looked at each other… They all had the same thoughts.

“BE WARNED, IF ANY OF YOU WERE TO REVEAL YOUR IDENTITY IN ANYWAY OR FORM, THE MASK WILL BREAK, AND YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY LOSE!” the warden said, as if reading the nobles' minds.

“Ah…” The nobles' plans crumbled before it was formulated. They could only take the masks one by one and put them on.

Victor pressed <Yes> and then felt the air around him shimmer a little.

“GOOD!” the warden said watching everyone’s shapes turn into a blur. “NOW, AS YOU SEE, AROUND THIS HALL THERE ARE MANY WEAPONS AND ARMORS… SOME NEW, SOME OLD! I NEED YOU TO ARM YOURSELVES WITH THEM… THIS IS TO TEST YOUR PERCEPTION… IF YOU CHOOSE SOMETHING BAD, YOU WILL END UP DEAD FOR SURE!”

The participants looked at each other and then hurried toward the weapon wracks.

“WHAT ABOUT US WHO CAME WEARING ARMORS?” one guy asked. Clearly a noble.

“TAKE IT OFF... WE WILL KEEP IT SAFE FOR YOU!” the answer was simple. “THE ARMOR AND WEAPONS ARE A PART OF THE COMPETITION...”

Victor sighed and followed with a smirk. Unlike the other brats who didn’t know better. He could easily read through this. The contest had begun right before they entered the castle by giving them a sign.

The creaky armor of the warden.

From the way this guy acted, Victor could tell that Warden Rodman, who was a level 200 Torture Master by the way, was the kind who liked to bully people and to use sound at that. He must be the worst nightmare for those who are imprisoned here…

Thinking of that, Victor could guess that the creaking of his armor would definitely keep many nasty things away.

He was right as Lyra also chose one of the creaky ones.

The warden, who noticed that only Victor and 20 others took notice of the rusty armors and headed to find similar ones from the wrecks, nodded in approval. There were some smart people here… He paused, focusing on Victor who after choosing a rusty armor didn’t begin to wear it immediately but, took out a can of oil and rag that was left in the corner and then began to oil the joints to remove their squeaking.

BUGGER… What was this idiot doing now? Why not choose a new armor if he was going to oil an old one? The warden swore that once the competition was over, he would go to the control room and check his identity then find this idiot’s father to kick his ass for raising an idiot son.

“FINISHED?” he asked as all the participants wore their armor. Except for Victor, who was a perfectionist at his job.

“One moment…” Victor said as he hastily oiled two other joints and then began putting the armor on. Thankfully it was easy to wear as they were built from light materials, not like the medieval ones in Trilaria that required three people’s help to put on.

“OK THEN… FINISH UP AS I EXPLAIN…” the warden sighed… Where did they bring those crazy guys from… NO WAIT…

The warden gasped and focused on Victor. Others might not have noticed, but how could he not… Victor was not oiling all the joints, just the ones he needed to walk and run… He was leaving certain movements to make a squeaking sound… This guy was not a noob but an expert!

“Explain what?” one guy asked, noticing that the warden stopped talking.

“AH… RIGHT… NOW… AROUND ME IN THIS HALL, THERE ARE 9 GATES…. EACH OF YOU LOOK AT YOUR ARMOR THE NUMBER ON IT SPECIFIES THE GATE YOU SHOULD GO THOUGH… “ the warden, who decided to keep an eye on Victor, said making everyone finally notice the marks on the armor that corresponded with the ones atop the gates.

“YOUR GOAL IS TO COLLECT AS MANY FLAGS AS POSSIBLE BEFORE REACHING THE LAST GATE… ” he said raising an example small red flag in his hand. “BE AWARE THOUGH… IN THE PASSAGEWAYS OF THIS OLD PRISON, MANY KINDS OF NASTY THINGS CRAWL! THEY WILL BE AFTER YOUR SOULS, BE FREE TO USE LETHAL FORCE!”

“Demons?”

“WHO KNOWS…” The warder shrugged, not giving any info. “JUST A WORD OF ADVICE… TRUST NO ONE, THESE HALLS WERE MEANT FOR RETRIALS… GOOD LUCK! He added before clapping his hand.

The room grew dark then three seconds later it was bright again.

The warden and his assistants were no longer there, nor was the knight… No… They were there, but everyone except Victor couldn’t see them due to the activation of an array, a similar one to the one Victor was using at his mansion. It must have originated from here. He could tell!

The important thing was that the gates to the side doors were open inviting the participants to their doom!

“Let’s go…” one of the participants said, clearly a noble but due to the mask's disguise no one could tell who before he vanished into one of the gates.

One by one the participants all found their doors and crossed them including Lyra who was smirking behind her mask.

The final one to leave was Victor who just finished preparing by grabbing a seemingly random rusty sword and then hurrying to his designated gate.