Things about the female knight in black stockings

"What a pity... I probably would have liked it more if it were still the way it was."

Erquin Roggins sighed with some regret, then smiled at Valensa:

"But you are a paladin after all, so you definitely can't tolerate that kind of thing... If I'm not mistaken, this thing was originally made by some evil necromancer, and after the necromancer was defeated, it ended up in your Sun Church's warehouse, right?"

If you don't mind, could you tell me its story? You know, I'm a collector, and for me, collectibles with a story are much more interesting.

“No problem, Mr. Rogins.”

Valensa naturally didn't refuse and smiled as she recounted the origins of the "Box Band".

The fat collector's guess was pretty accurate: about two hundred years ago, there was a necromancer in Fran who loved music, and this necromancer also had a favorite band.

In order to have his favorite band play his music for him whenever he wanted, the necromancer used extremely vicious magic to kill all the band members and imprison their souls, trapping them in a music box to play for him every day.

Later, this necromancer was defeated by the paladins for his many evil deeds, and the music box was confiscated by the Church of the Sun as a forbidden item. The souls of the band trapped inside the music box were also freed.

However, the essence of a music box lies in the soul of the band. Without the band's soul, a music box can no longer play music, and a music box that cannot play music, no matter how gorgeous its appearance or how exquisite its workmanship, is just an ordinary decoration, and its value is greatly reduced.

While Valencia was choosing a gift for the large collector, she discovered this dusty music box in a corner of the Sun Church warehouse.

Since the band's spirit within the music box had been freed, the music box was no longer considered an evil magical artifact. Valensa didn't even need to submit a borrowing report before taking the music box from the church's storeroom and storing it in her own storage space.

Valensa then went to Friggia and asked her to use alchemy to modify the music box, referencing the portable music players of technological civilizations, which resulted in the current "Band in a Box".

"interesting."

This seemed to be the fat collector's catchphrase when he expressed satisfaction. He muttered something else, then put the music box away and looked at Valensa and Tia with a smile:

"I can feel your sincerity, ladies. Tell me, which of my collectibles has caught your eye?"

"Extremely Colorful Giant Chicken".

Valensa said directly:

"It's that piece from your collection called 'Eternal Artist'."

"It was that thing..."

The large collector frowned, neither agreeing nor refusing outright, but instead glanced at Valensa and Tia a few more times with some curiosity:

"What use do you have for that thing? Although the Rainbow Giant Chicken is an extinct Moonlit Monster, it doesn't have any particularly useful materials on it. It's just that it tastes great as food."

Besides, my giant rainbow chicken is in a time-locked state, so even if you wanted to eat its meat, you couldn't, right?

"This……"

Valensa hesitated for a moment, thinking that trying to outsmart this centuries-old old fox might backfire and lose his favor, so it would be better to tell the truth and show her sincerity.

"We desperately need a special alchemical product, one of the ingredients of which must be the wing root of the Rainbow Giant Chicken. And we are indeed very fond of the taste of the Rainbow Giant Chicken as a top-quality ingredient, and we plan to use it as the grand finale dish at our wedding banquet."

At this point, Valensa deliberately intertwined her fingers with Tia's and gazed deeply into each other's eyes, giving the chubby collector a dose of "dog food" (a Chinese slang term for public displays of affection), before continuing:

"As for the legendary magic [Time Lock]... we really don't know how to do it ourselves, but we know a very powerful witch who can help us. If she can't do it either, I can shamelessly ask Her Majesty the Goddess for her favor."

"The blessings of a very powerful witch and Her Majesty the Sun Goddess... Hmm."

The fat collector fell into thought.

However, aside from his silence, his expression and eyes remained almost unchanged as he pondered, making it impossible to discern what he was thinking.

Just as Valensa and Tia were getting nervous and their palms were sweating, the large collector Erquin Rogins finally spoke again:

"Alright, I can give you a chance."

Valensa and Tia were overjoyed and almost stood up to hug and high-five each other, just like when they had previously played a difficult game together in bed and won. Fortunately, they managed to hold back.

"So... how can we get our hands on the Rainbow Giant Chicken?"

Valensa asked cautiously again.

She wasn't naive enough to think that a music box could be exchanged for the Giant Rainbow Chicken; Erquin Rogins must have other conditions.

Sure enough, the fat collector held up two fingers:

"If you agree to and fulfill both conditions, you can come and take the chicken away anytime."

"Appreciate further details."

Valensa tried to make her expression look more sincere.

"The first condition is very simple, almost non-existent."

The fat collector smiled slightly and licked his lips.

"Although I am several hundred years older than you, I was still born a bit late. By then, the Rainbow Giant Chicken had already become extinct, and I had not yet tasted one of the most delicious ingredients in the legend."

So my first condition is that I want to attend your weddings, and you have to give me a generous share of the Giant Rainbow Chicken meat.

"no problem!"

Valensa readily agreed.

This condition is indeed very simple... The Brilliant Giant Chicken is as tall as a fifteen or sixteen-story building, and its meat is enough to feed many people. Frigia only needs a little bit of wing root to refine the special pheromone solvent.

"But the second condition... is a bit difficult for you, but not impossible."

The fat collector smiled and said:

"There was once a very arrogant little girl who got two good results in a boring competition that was all about flattering the audience. She became incredibly arrogant and even dared to talk nonsense and give me attitude."

I disdain bullying someone of my age and personally teaching her a lesson, but that doesn't mean I don't hold grudges.

"A boring competition that panders to the audience..."

Valensa gave a wry smile:

"Mr. Roggins, are you referring to dueling competitions?"

“That’s right, it’s a dueling competition. I remember you also participated in this competition. A couple of days ago, you tore off a little girl’s clothes on the spot in Hudan City, right? I was there watching that competition.”

Erquin Rogins nodded, his two lewd little eyes narrowing into slits:

"So my second condition is that you help me get revenge in the dueling arena, humiliate and teach a certain arrogant little girl a lesson, and make her look bad."

"This……"

Valensa's bitter smile deepened:

"That person who became arrogant after achieving two good results in dueling competitions, could it be Maisie? She was the annual champion of dueling competitions two years ago."

"Yes, that's her!"

Erkun Roggins's fat face jiggled as he shouted:

"It's that arrogant little girl! I get angry just thinking about her! So if you can beat her in the competition and humiliate her badly, the Giant Rainbow Chicken is yours. I mean what I say!"

"...I understand, I will try my best."

Valensa took a deep breath and agreed.

Defeating and thoroughly humiliating someone who is likely to win three consecutive championships in a dueling match is extremely difficult for a novice duelist like Valensa.

But Valencia was determined to get the Giant Chicken. Since Erquin Rogins had already set the conditions, Valencia had to give it a try.

Defeating Maisie in a duel and thoroughly humiliating her is indeed difficult, but it's definitely much easier than snatching the Rainbow Giant Chicken from a Moon-level powerhouse.

"Okay, then it's settled."

After the terms were agreed upon, the fat collector's smile vanished, reverting to his initial expressionless and unreadable demeanor, and he waved his hand:

"You can leave now. Remember to call the next person in after you leave."

"Well then, we'll take our leave, Mr. Roggins."

Valensa and Tia then performed another ladylike bow before leaving Erquin Rogins's room and the exhibition hall.

The two women did not immediately return to the hotel or visit the local Sun Church, but instead strolled hand in hand down the street as if they were just taking a leisurely walk.

"How sure are you?"

After a long pause, Tia finally spoke first:

"Defeat Maisie, who has already won two championships, is known as the strongest duelist, and has only lost less than 10 out of nearly 200 matches?"

"I don't know... but it's definitely more likely than snatching the Rainbow Giant Chicken directly from Mr. Rogins."

Valensa shrugged:

"Originally, I just used this dueling competition as an excuse to come to America, and I was indifferent to the competition... Now it seems that I may have to take it a little more seriously."

"Let's go check out the area around the arena in this city first. There are quite a few shops there selling merchandise related to the matches, including crystal recordings of Maisie's matches. I plan to buy a few to study at the hotel tonight."

"it is good."

Tia certainly wouldn't refuse.

The two women soon arrived near the arena in Mosantina. It was during the season, and there were matches every day, making it very lively.

You can buy support flags from various famous players, the same clothes they wear, and products endorsed by their respective chambers of commerce here. Posters and brochures are also readily available.

Valensa and Tia browsed around briefly and even discovered that many of her own and Thousand Leaf Grass posters and catalogs were already on sale, sold by the Nora Chamber of Commerce.

Valensa quickly flipped through a few art books. Fortunately, they were different from the ones in her previous life; they were all very proper portraits. She hadn't become a workaholic yet.

Of course, crystals recording the match are also for sale, especially for popular players like Maisie who are likely to win a three-peat; there are plenty of crystals with various recordings in stock.

However, these video crystals must be recorded on-site, unlike the videotapes or discs from Valensa's previous life, which can be mass-produced in post-production, so they are quite expensive.

But now was not the time to worry about the money. Valensa gritted her teeth and bought more than thirty crystal recordings of Maisie's match, planning to watch them carefully when she got home that night.

Interestingly, when Valensa, the active rookie duelist, was paying the bill, the shop owner recognized her and generously gave her two art books filled with pictures of the beautiful girls who participated in the competition this year, including Valensa herself.

This art book is somewhat like the game character database from Valencia's previous life. In addition to the exquisite full-color portraits of each beautiful female duelist, there are also evaluations of each beautiful female duelist by some so-called dueling enthusiasts associations.

However, those reviewers seemed to have a good eye. In their review of Valencia, they pointed out that while Valencia's practical skills might be strong, she wasn't suited for this type of competition. Those fake god-like tricks were somewhat troublesome, but experienced competitors could handle them.

In summary, unless Valensa is willing to change her fighting style for the competition, she has little hope of making it into the top 32. Out of the 117 participants this year, she will probably get around 70th or 80th place.

Not making it to the final means that Valensa will likely not be able to play against Maisie, because the qualifying schedule is not fixed and depends entirely on luck, with the final 32 teams selected based on points.

Valensa wasn't too worried about not running into Maisie in the qualifiers. After all, while the competition was supposed to be very fair, some contestants could be even fairer... For example, Valensa had previously asked the Church of the Sun to put pressure on the organizers, and her opponents changed from all sorts of strange men to all sorts of beautiful girls.

Using this method, it wouldn't be difficult for Valensa to fight Maisie in the qualifiers, but she could only fight her once. So far, no two fighters have ever met twice or more in the dueling qualifiers.

In other words, Valensa would be better off defeating Maisie in one go and humiliating her severely, otherwise she would have to make it to the finals to have a chance to face Maisie again.

Reaching the final would undoubtedly be a very troublesome task for Valencia, so she must seize this opportunity in the qualifiers to fulfill Erquin Roggins' conditions.

Therefore, after purchasing the video crystal that recorded Maisie's match, Valensa and Tia did not continue to wander around the arena. Instead, they returned to their hotel room, took a shower, made tea, and snuggled together in bed to activate the video crystal and watch Maisie's match recordings.

This watch lasted almost all night.

Valensa didn't fall asleep until the sun had risen above the horizon the next day, and she cuddled with Tia for a while, her dreams filled with images of Messi's various matches.

This girl, who is likely to achieve a three-peat in dueling, is stronger than Valensa imagined.

Maisie is essentially a pure PvP style and a spellcaster version of Yashiro.

She is very strong, definitely at the peak of the Lighthouse realm, and it wouldn't be surprising if she suddenly said one day that she had broken through to the Star Glory realm.

Secondly, Maisie is very rich, or rather, her sponsors are very rich.

Like Yashiro, Maisie is also fully equipped with top-tier gear, armed from headdress to shoe soles with all sorts of magical items. Every item she wears is likely worth at least ten thousand gold coins and possesses various abilities.

Finally, there's Maisie's fighting style.

Judging from the records of more than 30 matches, including the two finals, Maisie is a spellcaster and most likely wants to follow the path of a sage, just like Tia, with each spell being precise and efficient.

Unlike Tia, Maisie is also proficient in close combat, and Maisie's close combat skills are obviously very targeted. They are combat skills that completely target humans as hypothetical enemies, unlike most cultivators whose combat skills are used to fight monsters and natural disasters.

Maisie's fighting style is quite unique, a rare close-range, rapid spellcasting suppression style.

Her weapons are two short magic wands, only slightly longer than chopsticks, capable of firing various types of magical missiles and energy rays. While not particularly powerful and practically useless in actual combat, they are considered valid attacks under the rules of the competition. Her opponents must dodge and defend, and those who rely on their physical strength to withstand the attacks will be judged as losers by the automatic refereeing function of the duel barrier.

Maisie gambled almost all of her damage output on those two short wands, while her own spellcasting abilities and all her magical items provided various support effects.

Various short-distance teleportation abilities such as Shadow Step, Shadow Step, Anywhere Door, and Blink; various buff abilities such as acceleration and immunity to negative status effects; various abilities to create illusions for interference; various abilities to teleport after being hit, leaving only elemental clones or scarecrows in place; all of these are the kind of abilities that would be powerful PVP skills in Valensa's previous life game.

Maisie used these abilities with great skill, making almost no mistakes or unnecessary movements in battle, and she was like an elegant yet ruthless dueling machine.

Even more impressively, Maisie can use two short wands to perform a gunfight style in close combat, dominating various warrior-type classes at close range as a spellcaster, leaving her opponents frustrated and forced to admit that they are outmatched.

As for the matches that Messi lost, Valensa also bought recordings of two of them and watched them repeatedly last night.

Well, to be honest, you can't really blame Maisie for losing those two matches. It's because her two opponents were too strange. Under the duel rules, their first-match kill ability was extremely strong, and almost no one could win against them.

However, the stronger a person's initial ability is, the weaker it becomes when the opponent is prepared. Therefore, neither of the two contestants ever won against Maisie again.