True, it will make the nobles hate me even more, but they are going to hate me no matter what when I win. Since they are going to hate me anyway I may as well crush Kriton completely. Then everyone will see just how incompetent he is and maybe they will give the first captain spot to Roland.

"By five!"

As my troop moves forward, exactly the same way they did in the last match, Kriton reacts. He orders his troop to spread out so that they can't be surrounded like Roland's was. This is exactly what I wanted the idiot to do, my plan is going to work perfectly.

"Arrow!"

At my command the front ranks form the point while the rear ranks spread out to form the wings. With Kriton's troop being spread out they have no hope of stopping the momentum of my troop. The arrow formation formed by my troop cuts right through Kriton's troop.

Over half of Kriton's troop are defeated in the first pass and the rest are now split and forced to fight individually. Kriton just stands there with his mouth hanging open as his troop is massacred. He looks like a complete idiot, not even shouting any orders as his troop is quickly wiped out.

The crowd is silent and this time it is from disappointment, after all this is the final match. The people were expecting a good show only to watch the first captain be humiliated. After a minute some of them start calling for Kriton to challenge me so I turn to look at him.

As my eyes find Kriton he suddenly turns pale, stumbles backwards, and shakes his head violently. As he falls on hit butt everyone watching can tell he is a coward and people start booing him. When he hears the crowd Krtion climbs to his feet and runs from the field in shame.

The judge has yet to announce me as the winner and when I look over at the nobles I see a big discussion going on. A large group of nobles is surrounding the king and the royal guard captain and there seems to be an argument going on. They are probably trying to figure out how they can keep me from becoming the first captain.

It doesn't really bother me, I was expecting something like this to happen. The important thing is the people have seen what I can do and word will spread quickly. The other captains, except for Drake, have also seen what my troop is capable of.

King yells "Arrest him! The charge is fomenting rebellion!"

As the royal guards approach me I quietly tell my troop to stand down and to listen to Zimmy. They are not happy with the situation but they respect me enough to do as I say and leave the field. The crowd however is silent, they haven't made a sound since the king spoke.

The nobles on the other hand are all smiling, looking pleased with themselves for coming up with a solution. They are blind to the anger quickly building among the common people of the crowd. I can't believe their stupidity as the royal guards clap me in irons and drag me from the field.

While I could easily break the manacles they are using on me and slaughter the royal guard, for now I play along. Being thrown in prison was one of the possibilities that I had already anticipated. Before throwing me in a cell they strip me of my armor and weapons, once again I am a prisoner.

At least this time there won't be any demons sent to torture me and it is a relief knowing I can escape if I want to. The manacles on me and the cell itself are not enchanted, breaking out would be easy. However, I plan to stay in prison for the time being, until things outside develop.

'Create Soulscape!'

??? says "Soulscape is not accessible from within the testing ground!"

'Well, there goes that idea!'

That just means that my stay in the cell is going to be more boring than I thought it would be. My plan was to use this time to work on my mental skills and maybe level up my soulscape. Now the only thing I can do is exercise, thanks to my time with Lady Xinun I know how to do so in manacles.

Although, I don't expect to get anything from the exercise, not without the suppression of the magical manacles. At this point it is just a way to pass the time, but after about two hours I am interrupted. The door opens and Roland enters with a stool, a guard follows him and sets a tray of food beside me.

Roland says "First off, let me just say thank you, our fight pointed out my weaknesses."

"You are welcome. If you want to improve your training methods I suggest you speak with Shard."

Roland says "I will do that. To be honest I was expecting you to be angry about all this, but you seem calm."

"I am calm because I predicted the nobles would respond like this."

Roland says "If you predicted it, why did you go through with it? As well trained as your troop is you could have easily faked a loss."

"Because going along with what the nobles wanted wouldn't have exposed the corruption."

Roland says "Are the nobles right then? Are you planning a rebellion?"

"No, I wasn't planning any such thing. But if the noble's actions lead to the people rebelling against them, then don't you think they deserve it?"

Roland says "Whether they deserve it or not, a rebellion would cost a lot of people their lives."

"Some things are worth dying for. However, I don't think it will come to that."

Roland says "You haven't seen how angry the entire town is right now!"

"True, but a rebellion takes time, time this kingdom doesn't have."

Roland says "What do you mean we don't have time??"

"If you want to know more go and talk to Zimmy."

Roland says "Zimmy??"

"The head of the adventurer's guild."

Roland says "Why would I need to talk to her?"

"Because she is working to confirm what is going to happen. Without confirmation I doubt anyone would just take my word for it. As acting first captain shouldn't you investigate any possible threat to the kingdom?"

Roland says "I am not acting first captain. Kriton is still the first captain."

"Those idiotic nobles put him back in place even though everyone saw what an incompetent coward he is?"

Roland says "Yes. The king announced that you cheated and all the results of the competition are invalid."

"Did they do anything to my troop?"

Roland says "Not yet. They are under house arrest in their barracks at the moment."

"Hmm, maybe I should just break out of here and slaughter them all."

Roland says "You say that like it would be easy?!"

"That is because it would be. The problem is I am not sure if the kingdom would recover fast enough to face the threat that is coming."

Roland says "I can't answer that until I know what the threat is. So for now I will end things here. I will visit again after I have spoken with Zimmy."

"Alright, see you soon."

As he leaves, I just hope that Zimmy's scouts have been able to confirm the invasion. Although, probably not, at least not yet, it has only been about a day since I spoke with Zimmy. That isn't enough time for the scouts to have found the invasion army and report back.