Chapter 648 - 649: Believe In Me

He woke up feeling heavy-headed, his body taking a little too much rest due to his injuries.

A damaged soul had a bunch of side effects. Apparently, sleeping like a rock was one of them.

Waking up, he went about his affairs.

"I just realized something... I should never be left unsupervised."

"Why’d you say that?"

"Hmmm. Is it just me or do I do the dumbest, most suicidal things when I’m all by myself with my thoughts..."

"I mean the last time, I got into a fight with Ashcroft because I chose to follow some knights. Now I spanked Sera’s blade..."

Damon chuckled to himself, rubbing his face.

"I’m also sort of talking to my own reflection in the mirror... when I have a perfectly good shadow to talk to..."

He glanced down at his shadow, which was shaking its head as if it were just tired of him.

"Hmmm. What do you think?"

Damon nodded at the shadow.

"Yeah, that’s right, that’s right... ahh, I missed this. We haven’t talked in a while, buddy."

He smirked faintly.

"I almost missed the good old days... when I was broke, had no friends... hmm, yeah no, no way..."

He walked out into the streets of Valerion, feeling refreshed.

"Renata said the war games start in four days, but this is the third day..."

However, the war games did begin today, except today was not when the games actually started. Today was more like a declaration. Journalists interviewed participants, the empire showed off a military parade, and everyone went to the arena.

Among many things. So Renata wasn’t wrong, she had actually been talking about the more intense fights.

"Wait a minute... wait a goddess damn minute... how am I supposed to impress Sera’s blade if there won’t be any serious fights today?"

"Heheheheh..." he chuckled to himself.

That woman just wanted to kill him.

"Did no one think about this... or was the fact that I told those two about Ashcroft so distracting?"

He closed his eyes as the sun beat down on his hood.

"Hhahah... I’m definitely gonna die today..."

He stopped, holding his chin.

"Wait but wait... what if I actually get the games to start today... I mean, I’m sure all preparations are ready, and all that ceremony and fanfare can be skipped if most participants want to go and someone in power with enough influence agrees."

Damon picked up his pager.

"Looks like I need to call in some favors... or... wait no... I’ll let future Damon figure it out..."

He glanced at his shadow, who shook its head, telling him that was a bad idea.

He sneered. "Fine... I’ll call, I’ll call."

Damon had an idea of what he wanted to do. If the Grand Duke agreed for the game to start today, it would work. So he pulled out his pager and sent his grandfather a call. No answer. Then he tried calling his friends. Same.

"Hmm. Suppose I’ll leave a message."

He smiled.

"I love nepotism... especially when it benefits me..."

After that, he sent a message to Lilith, Xander, Sylvia, and Leona.

The idea was for them to use their families’ influence to help get things moving.

"Knowing people in high places really helps."

"Hahahhah hahahhah... ahhh, I love abusing power... I’ll die but not today... hahah haha."

Before he could say anything more, he noticed people shooting him occasional glances.

"Mommy, why is that person talking to himself?" a child cried out as his mother ushered him away.

"Don’t stare, honey. We get weirdos like this every time there’s a major event."

A merchant shook his head.

"Poor lad, the stress of the games is already getting to him..."

Another woman shook her head with pity.

"He won’t make it far with such a scrawny build... he needs more muscle."

"Maybe he’s a mage type..."

"Probably wearing that hood to act mysterious. The posers die the quickest..."

An old man cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Don’t worry, kid, you can forfeit... give up... you can’t make it..."

"Yeah, don’t get yourself killed. The nobles have better weapons and gear... you’ll never make it..."

Damon was speechless.

"Tsk."

"Shut up, you bastards. I was raised on these streets, the least you can do is believe in me. Totally ruined my mood, now I have to ruin other people’s moods..."

"Did you hear that? He’s a street kid, he’s definitely dying first..."

"Don’t try to be a hero, kid..."

Damon walked away feeling aggrieved. He was in such a bad mood he didn’t even look at his pager, which was constantly buzzing.

These people had good intentions, since they were obviously trying to warn him.

He looked down at what he was wearing. He was not in simple clothes.

Clicking his tongue, he equipped his armor.

As soon as he did, a child walked toward him, stopping in front of him.

The child sighed.

"Sir... you’re late." It was a man’s voice, one he recognized.

"Erhm... Jarvis... what’s up..."

The child closed his eyes.

"The parade has begun. And you are late. Did you not check your pager?"

Damon did check his pager.

"Hmm. No wonder it was buzzing... how did you get my contact info..."

The child kept his face impassive.

"His Grace did inform you of the parade yesterday, didn’t he?"

Damon nodded. "Yeah... he said it was at noon..."

Jarvis pointed at the sun.

"It’s past noon. You overslept... you kept the whole nation waiting... Shall we..."

Damon coughed, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Right, right, my apologies..."

Well, this was embarrassing. He had slept in. He just didn’t expect the Grand Duke to halt a whole parade for him.

He was certain this parade was to show off the empire’s power, so all nobles, even the imperial family, would be joining this march.

"Well, that explains why no one was answering their pagers."

Jarvis grew into a man then he held his shoulders, and suddenly the world seemed to shift.

When Damon reappeared, he found himself standing above a massive cavalry of magical beasts mounted by armored knights, all carrying weapons and flags.

There were a couple of large structures floating in the air, with open-air views and glowing magic circles beneath them. Damon was standing on one of them.

It bore the massive crest and banners of House Brightwater flying proudly.

At the center were seats arranged for the members of the house, designed to be opulent and comfortable.

There was a soft sigh from one of the people there, a voice Damon instantly recognized as belonging to Duke Cassian.

"You’re late."