Extraordinary Rise: Starting Contract with the Silver Dragon Countess

Chapter 365 Windsordler's Snitch

"Since you all think Sancho can't beat Sylvia, let's make a bet."

"If Sancho wins in the end, the three of you must grant me one request!"

Although Cohen clearly stated what his request was, seeing the wicked expression on his face, one could roughly guess what kind of request he was going to make.

Adele gave a soft hum:
"Boring, all I think about is this kind of thing all day long."

Cohen blinked and said:
"Sister, you are the youngest legend in mainland China."

Why are you so insecure about your own judgment?

Ada moved her red lips, but ultimately did not say anything in rebuttal.

Windsor and Asuna had no objections whatsoever.

With the bet settled, everyone's attention returned to the arena.

While everyone was talking, Sancho and Sylvia exchanged several more blows.

Sylvia raised her shield again, deflecting the wind blades from the sword. A set of runes lit up on the shield and on her mount, creating a strange magical resonance.

Immediately afterwards, the speed increased suddenly, and a sudden attack brought Sancho to his feet.

Raising his knight's sword high, a thick bolt of lightning cleaved down like a giant axe.

Thunder Slash!
The most powerful attack of the Arcane Knight.

Sancho's expression darkened slightly, and he leaned back, the tip of his sword touching the ground.

Then, using the momentum to spin, the longsword pierced out seven afterimages, and with each strike, the light of the lightning weakened by one point.

In the end, it was completely blocked by Sancho's exquisite swordsmanship.

By now, the battle has continued for some time, and Sylvia has roughly figured out her opponent's fighting style.

It must be admitted that the Sword Singer possesses a remarkable level of skill in both offense and defense.

In addition, Sancho's exquisite swordsmanship and skills allowed him to quickly deflect his attacks each time.

But that's all.

As a superhuman carefully cultivated by the entire Aion family, Sylvia has considerable knowledge and experience.

Although he had never fought against a Sword Singer before, he had some understanding of this extraordinary profession.

Sword chanters primarily rely on sword dance in combat.

Before reaching the legendary level, each advancement requires not only sufficient magic power reserves but also mastery of a sword technique.

When they reach the ninth rank, the sword chanter will master these nine sword techniques, forming a complete sword dance and a unique fighting style.

After fighting for so long, Sylvia has completely mastered her opponent's nine sword techniques and has a corresponding countermeasure for each one.

There will no longer be a dangerous situation where you are caught off guard by the first move in the first exchange.

In this way, as long as we keep at it, the opponent will not be a match for us.

After all, he still had a peak eighth-tier mount.

Having realized this, Sylvia was no longer in a hurry and began a war of attrition.

No matter how skilled Sancho was with his swordsmanship or how exquisite his movements, he could not outrun Shelvey, who had a mount.

Just as the two were about to continue their exhaustion, Sancho suddenly stopped and sheathed his sword.

Seeing the other party's unusual behavior, Sylvia instantly became alert, her runes flashing as she assumed a defensive stance.

Sancho was slightly out of breath. As expected of an arcane knight who had received the highest level of inheritance, his opponent had not been able to break through his defenses with a single move, despite the sword skills he had painstakingly developed over thirty years.

He had figured out the other side's plan: if the war continued, he would definitely not be a match for them.

We must find a way to break this deadlock.

In a daze, he thought of the note that Viser had handed him, and the sword manual on it began to echo in his mind.

Sylvia waited for a while and found that the other party still did not make any obvious attack.

He pondered to himself that perhaps the opponent was preparing some powerful move, or perhaps they were deliberately stalling to recover their magic power.

With that thought in mind, Sylvia no longer hesitated and plunged her knight's sword into the ground. Lightning erupted from her body and traveled through the sword to the ground.

Then, suddenly, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky, enveloping the area where Sancho was located.

A thunderous trial!

Faced with a strike powerful enough to severely injure his golden body, Sancho did not employ his previous agility or sword techniques to diminish the lightning's power.
Instead, he closed his eyes at that moment, murmured softly, then raised his longsword, the tip of which lightly touched his brow. Instantly, a dazzling starlight shone from between his brows.

Immediately afterwards, he transformed into a streak of light, piercing through the lightning pillar, his sword pointing straight at Sylvia's heart.

Sylvia's pupils dilated in shock; the opponent's speed was simply astonishing.

Moreover, he had never used this move before, so how could he suddenly unleash such speed?

Without a moment to think, he hastily raised his shield, trying to block the attack.

But Sancho's sword suddenly changed direction, the tip of his sword flicking out to pierce his mount.

Sylvia was startled. Was the other party's real target his mount?

He immediately lowered his shield and swung his knight's sword to parry.

However, Sancho then transformed into a streak of light, this time appearing directly behind him, while simultaneously conjuring a wind blade in his left hand and slashing towards the back of his neck.

There was a bang.

A golden holy light enveloped the two of them, forcibly halting the battle.

Sylvia stood there, dejected, and the referee's intervention meant she had already suffered a fatal blow.

The duel... ended in defeat!

Prince Hauge's cold, stern voice rang out:
"Sancho Copperfield wins the first duel!"

……

Cohen let out a hearty laugh, looked at his queen, princess, and lover, and said:
"Haha, looks like I'm lucky."

"The three of you, it's a bet you have to accept."

Adele raised an eyebrow, pondered for a moment, and said:

"His last two consecutive movement techniques were a bit strange."

It looks rather unfamiliar, like it's the first time using it.

Could it be something he just grasped during the battle?

Windsordler nodded in agreement:

"It is indeed quite strange. With such a powerful identity, if he uses his first move unexpectedly, even if that arcane knight has a mount, he definitely won't be able to stop him."

Cohen coughed lightly to conceal his emotions and said:
"Perhaps he learned some new sword techniques during the battle, which is quite normal."

Sister, you can't allow yourself to be the only genius in the world.

Adele glanced at Cohen sideways, based on her understanding of him.

Sancho's easy victory over the highly anticipated Sylvia must have been largely due to Cohen's help.

As a high-ranking member of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and given her special relationship with His Majesty the King, Nefertis was seated relatively close to the front.

Listening to their hushed conversation, he suddenly thought of something and asked:

"By the way, sir, what did you write on the note you gave to Viser before you came?"

Upon hearing this, Adele's gaze instantly swept across the stands.

She discovered Viser's trail in Sancho's waiting area, and combined this with the analysis of the previous situation, she quickly figured everything out.

The same goes for Windsordler and Asuna.

Cohen immediately felt three unfriendly gazes directed at him.

Asuna glared at Cohen and said, "His Majesty must have planned this all along; it's obviously cheating!"

Windsordler, however, was quite curious and asked:
"Could a single note have turned Sancho's defeat into victory?"

What did you write on it?

Were his last two teleportations related to the note you gave him?

Adele also cast a questioning glance her way.

Cohen coughed lightly and said:

"There are too many people around here, so I'll tell you quietly in bed tonight!"

Adele sneered:
"us?"

Cohen grasped Adele's delicate hand:

"Your Highness, are you going to renege on the King's bet as well?"

Adele struggled a few times, then groaned softly:

"You secretly reneged on the bet, so the bet is null and void."

Cohen: "???"

Several people were flirting and teasing each other in front of them.

The noble stands behind them were in an uproar.

None of them expected that Sylvia would actually lose!
Sylvia was not only the grandson of the Minister of War, Marshall, but also the face and symbol of the entire Effie aristocratic circle.

Almost everyone has already considered Shelvey to be the fifth contestant in the Gold Group.

But to their utter surprise, Sylvia, on whom they had placed such high hopes, was so easily defeated by a bastard from the East.

Secretary of War Marshall's face turned extremely ugly, and the armrests of his chair were marked with obvious indentations from his strong, powerful hands.

The officials who had been fawning over Marshall just moments before now dared not utter a sound and silently returned to their seats.

At the same time, he was secretly recalling the details of the fight he had just witnessed.

While the influence of his ancestors and family background undoubtedly played a part in his ability to rise to the core leadership level in Effie, his personal capabilities also contributed significantly.

Most of them were high-level superhumans, and they had been watching the battle between Sylvia and Sancho the whole time.

Logically, the scales of victory were tipping in Sylvia's favor, but who could have imagined that Sancho would suddenly unleash such a bizarre skill at the last moment?

They shared Windsor's opinion that if Sancho had mastered this skill from the beginning, it wouldn't have taken so long.

But if it was learned in battle, that would be incredible.

Regardless of what each party thought, this match, which had attracted great attention from all sides, ended with Sancho's victory.

The king and queen, being such busy figures, certainly wouldn't be here watching a bunch of gold-tier warriors fight all day.

Showing up and symbolically watching one or two games is enough to achieve the goal.

After watching two more games, Cohen said a few words and then left the stands with Ada and the others.

The remaining finishing touches were left to Prime Minister Angus.

……

Cohen stopped Windsordler and said:

"Are you free today? Come with me later and do me a favor."

Windsordler stopped, glanced subtly at Adele beside her, and deliberately raised her voice as she asked:

"What?
I don't have that much time.

Her Majesty the Queen has assigned me so much work that I haven't finished yet!
If this delays important state affairs, your queen will punish me!

Windsorler's words were clearly directed at Adele, and at the same time, they were a silent protest against Adele's recent neglect of political affairs, which had placed all the burdens on her and Asuna.

Tell Cohen on this!

What's wrong with you? So what if your cultivation is a little higher than ours, you knew Cohen a little earlier than us, and you're... barely a little better looking than us? Why do you dump all your responsibilities on us as soon as you come back, while you and Cohen spend your days having fun in the palace?

How could this be possible?
Adele remained calm and ignored Windsordler's complaint.

Cohen inwardly groaned; he truly had no idea how to handle this chaotic situation.

Adele raised an eyebrow and asked:

"What is it?"
Is it important?

Cohen glanced around; no one dared to eavesdrop on the royal family's private conversation.

The guards and ladies-in-waiting who were following behind had long since hung far behind.

He coughed lightly and said:

"It's related to Sancho. You guessed right. The skill he unleashed at the end was indeed related to the note I gave him."

However, I want to clarify beforehand that the note was just a reflection left by a Saint-level sword chanter.

I wasn't very sure beforehand how much Sancho would be able to glean from this insight.

So I didn't cheat, the bet still stands!

Adele frowned and said:
"I asked you to get down to business, why are you rambling on about so much nonsense?"
We'll discuss the bet tonight.

Windsordler is currently conducting several important experiments at the institute, which require human intervention.

Cohen understood. The research institute that Yalder mentioned was an institution specifically established by Effie to study the Arcane Empire civilization and the ancient Elven civilization brought out from the Sleeping Cave.

The research and development of long-distance space teleportation arrays were also completed at the research institute.

Windsordler immediately became indignant:

"I am in charge of the research and experiments, but why should I be in charge of the financial audit of Da'ang Province?"

Adaline's red lips curved slightly, and she spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world:

"To add some fun to your tedious research experiments."

Windsordler raised his voice:
Who wants this kind of fun!

"I don't care, don't put this work on me. I've been so busy these past two days that I haven't even had a good night's sleep in Cohen's bed."

Adele straightened her expression and said:

"The financial and tax reports of Da'ang province for the past two years have been very problematic."

I've wanted to investigate for a long time, but I haven't been able to find the right person.

I was originally planning to have Cohen investigate after he returned, but he's going to the Golden Wing family soon.

"You are Princess Alfie, and it is your duty to shoulder this responsibility."

Windsordler curled his lip and said:
"I refuse to believe that with so many officials in the Ministry of Finance and the Audit Department, we can't find a single one who is trustworthy?"
Are all the officials in Effie corrupt?

Cohen coughed lightly and explained on behalf of Adele:
“Windsor, you have never managed a country, so you may not know much about these noble officials.”

It is not to say that all officials protect each other.

Rather... investigating the finances and taxation of a major tax-paying province would involve too many people and have too great an impact.

If you let Effie's officials investigate, the resistance they face will be beyond your imagination.

It's quite possible that before the accounts are even fully investigated, the officials conducting the investigation will already be removed from their posts for other reasons.

Admiration appeared in Adele's eyes, and she continued:

"You are a princess. Do you have any vested interests in Effie?"

Even if others wanted to smear you, they wouldn't dare to do so.

You are the perfect candidate!

(End of this chapter)