Every word struck their minds like a nail. Jashua was challenging the man sitting in his place without removing his hood.
"He's not a donkey, he'll enter the battlefield after all this talk, right?"
One of the spectators spoke excitedly, but when he looked around, he saw that his friends didn't think like him at all.
"The guy somehow swallowed the Ten Lilies whole! He counted everything from their formations to their specialties!"
"I don't think he can muster the courage to enter!"
The betting office didn't miss this opportunity either; they immediately rolled the new bet out in front of the gamblers.
"The Bets Are Open! The Leader of the Ten Lilies enters the battlefield 5 to 1, doesn't enter 1.05 to 1!"
"Boo, you might as well have made it 0.99 so we'd have to pay you on top of winning!"
"I think he will enter, my bet is on the Black Lily!"
"He will enter!"
"He won't be able to!"
As the voices multiplied by the second, no answer came from the hooded man, which turned the atmosphere into a complete uproar.
"What happened, I thought you were going to put it all on Jashua until the end?"
"Get out of here you broke fool, let him enter the battlefield and I'll bet on the Young Count again, but first your Ten Lilies Leader needs to have the balls to enter the arena!"
"Since when is he my leader?"
When the voices completely exceeded the limits of tolerance, one of the two people writing the results in the book in front of them intervened in the situation.
"Do you accept the challenge?"
The man who had remained silent until that moment spoke up; while the betting office organized the entertainment, these two people had authority over the Blood Arena.
"No!"
As soon as he gave his answer, he got up from his seat and walked toward the exit with large strides, and the betting office began to distribute the Blood Crystals of the winners, but Jashua was going to stop this process.
"Just a minute!"
The Young Count roared for the first time; everyone except the Leader of the Ten Lilies, who was quietly exiting, was nailed to their spots.
"Divide half of my winnings among those who bet on me. I'm sure you will ensure justice in this matter, as for my share, keep it for today. Maybe there will be some who want to try their luck tomorrow!"
The Blood Arena was coming down; while a voice was coming from every head, those who had bet on Jashua were going crazy. The crystals that came flying through the air and landed in their hands were how many times what they had bet, even they had forgotten, but the jealous glares of the crowds gathering around them were upon them.
"Why is your crystal bigger than mine, this is unfair!"
"Of course it'll be bigger, I've been on Count Jashua's side since the first bet. How is it unfair that the first followers get a larger share?"
The betting office had records of all the bets, and they had acted truly fairly while fulfilling Jashua's request.
The most important event of the day was the taking down of the Ten Lilies Group, and the person responsible for this was advancing toward the edge of the arena with small steps. Meanwhile, Jashua felt perceptions and energies directed at him, but the Young Count had already taken his precautions.
He constantly circulated his blood energy around him to protect his perception and his body; although invisible to the eye, this acted as a shield protecting his consciousness.
Jashua was sure no one could bypass his energy protection until a tiny sliver of energy passed through his body and pierced his heart.
Jashua instantly turned his gaze to the source from which the energy came; he found a girl across from him whose hair covered almost her entire face. The young girl also seemed to have seen him; she gathered the papers resting on her lap in a panic and started running toward the exit.
Jashua wanted to go after her, but first, he had to repel the energy that entered his heart. When he concentrated his own energy on his heart, he felt the foreign energy dissipate like cotton candy; it had separated from his body softly and easily.
Jashua had neither suffered pain nor been harmed; it was as if this energy had no evil intent from the very beginning. The Young Count reached the row where the girl had been sitting like lightning; he was going to continue at the same speed, but a piece of paper on the ground caught his eye.
Actually, Jashua could have taken a glance at the paper and walked away, but that wasn't what happened; the moment he saw the drawings on it, he stood stuck in place without moving a single step.
This situation lasted for ten breaths, and then the Young Count suddenly bent down and tossed the paper into his interspatial ring; because he made this move a few breaths before he was surrounded, he was the only person who saw the paper.
"Congratulations, Young Count!"
"Thank you for the Blood Stones!"
"I will be here for you again tomorrow!"
Congratulations, shows of affection, and looks full of admiration intertwined, raining down on Jashua's head, but he didn't care about any of them.
"Young Count, is something bothering you?"
Someone who saw this situation stepped forward from the crowd and asked him the reason; the opportunity Jashua was looking for had come to his feet.
"Do you know the girl who was sitting right here and covering her face with her hair?"
"Are you asking about Tin Can?"
The hulking young boy, who couldn't make sense of the answer he received, frowned, while the person in front of him panicked and continued speaking.
"Tin Can is that girl's nickname, nobody knows her real name. A few people asked, but she didn't tell, she doesn't talk much anyway. She comes here every day, draws pictures of the fights, and then returns to the Shrine!"
"The Shrine?"
Seeing that the Young Count was surprised, the person continued to explain without slowing down.
"Yes, according to what is said, she was brought by Sheikh Atractivo ten years ago and placed in the Shrine, where only the best disciples can stay. I was very surprised when I first heard it too, then I saw with my own eyes that it was true, but I must warn the Young Count, that girl is dangerous.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that she has some power, but whoever messed with her was bizarrely found dead the next day. Everyone suspects there's a curse on her, so you'd better stay away too!"
What he heard must have been enough, for Jashua parted the crowd eager to talk and left the Blood Arena; it was starting to get dark, and his destination was the Garbage House.
The path was unaffected by the rain that had started to drizzle, thanks to the quiet and calm trees covering it; Young Count Jashua, advancing by stepping on the dry soil, was drowning in thoughts.
"How could I not go after her, I have to find out how she drew this!"
The piece of paper he found on the ground was in his hand again; he was looking at the picture drawn on this paper, which was larger than the size of a hand.
A cave was depicted; there was a dark and gloomy atmosphere. Jashua opened his eyes wide and continued to examine it, and he saw two orcs standing side by side. The male was large and muscular, while the female beside him was of normal human size, but her red hair stood out.
Opposite them was a miserable-looking crowd of humans, and a child in front of them had opened both arms, making himself a shield for the old man behind him.
A teardrop trickled from Jashua's right eye; the picture had immortalized a memory in Gulag's dungeon, and the little boy with open arms was him.