Chapter 237 Challenging Ace
After reaching Nightshire City, Ace did not absorb the beast cores immediately; instead, he went straight to his restaurant to check his business.
'Hmm?'
He was startled when he saw Renea and the others promoting his restaurant.
'What are they doing?'
He believed he had told them to stop promoting his restaurant because it was already famous.
"What are you guys doing?" Ace asked as he walked closer to them.
"Leader…"
"Leader…"
"Leader…"
They greeted him when they saw him.
"Why are you doing this again?" he inquired.
"Because we want more people to visit your restaurant." Renea gave an honest answer.
"That's right, leader. We want more people to know your restaurant." Aniya added.
"But my restaurant is already fa-" Ace stopped his words halfway when one of his underlings quarrelled with a young man.
"Stop disturbing me, or I will kill you!" Neia, the cute elf, retorted.
"Cute elf, I only want to ask about the menu in this restaurant. Why are you acting like this? Aren't you supposed to treat potential customers well?" a young man named Ethan answered.
Ethan tried to harass Neia because Leo gave him ten silver coins. He knew nothing about Nightshire City because he was a traveler stopping for rest.
"People like you are not welcome in my leader's restaurant." Neia dared to say something like this because she believed her leader would agree with her.
"Leader? Who is your leader?" Ethan was not afraid because he saw himself as a powerful awakener at Elite rank.
"I'm her leader." Ace said as he walked closer to Neia.
Renea and the others followed him from behind.
Even though they wanted to kill Ethan so badly, they only stood behind Ace because their leader did not give them the order to kill Ethan.
"Oh? You are her leader?" Ethan was not afraid of Ace, especially when he knew how young Ace was.
'He is still young. I'm sure I can defeat him.'
He saw himself as an invincible awakener at the same rank.
'Yes. There is no need to be afraid of him.'
He believed Ace was only at Novice or Elite rank because he was still young.
"Leader, he tried to harass me earlier." Neia snitched to Ace.
Ethan immediately defended himself. "Cute elf, why are you slandering me? I only want to ask abo-"
Bang!
Ace attacked Ethan before he had finished his words because he was not in the mood to listen to his nonsense.
"Nice punch, leader!" Aniya stated.
"Hmf! Serve you right!" Neia was happy when she saw Ethan unconscious on the ground.
"What should we do to him, leader?" Renea inquired.
Instead of answering Renea's question, Ace turned around and uttered, "Leo, why don't you show yourself now?"
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
Leo clapped as he walked closer to Ace.
He was not surprised by what was going on because he knew Ethan would not be able to defeat Ace.
"Why don't you just fight me if you have a problem with me?" Ace knew Leo was the mastermind because he ordered his system to monitor him earlier.
His system told him about Leo's behavior when Ethan was harassing Neia.
"Oh, so you know I paid him to harass her, huh?" Leo admitted everything immediately.
"You are the mastermind?!" Neia's face darkened.
She was furious.
She was enraged because Leo paid someone to harass her.
"Die!" Neia retrieved her bow and attacked Leo.
Even though Neia made a surprise attack, Leo could still avoid it.
When she was about to attack Leo again, Ace stopped her. Neia was only at Elite rank, so she was not Leo's opponent.
"It seems like the Howard family is full of cowardly people." Ace said calmly.
"Coward people?" even though Leo was furious, he could still control himself.
"Yes, coward people." Ace said, "First, your dead brother paid someone to poison me. Second, your father paid two assassins to kill me. And now you paid a traveler to harass my underling. Isn't this all proof that the Howard family is full of cowardly people?"
Leo pointed his right index finger at Ethan and spoke, "Oh! I paid that weakling only to greet you."
"Greet me?" Ace still thought Leo's actions were cowardly.
"Yes. Because I came here to challenge you." Leo told Ace the reason why he came to his restaurant.
"Oh, what a coincidence! My hands are itching to beat someone now." even though Ace knew Leo's stats were high, he was not afraid of Leo.
"As I said, I only want to greet you today." Leo responded, "How about we fight in the arena two days later?"
"Two days later? Why don't we just solve our problem now?" Ace inquired.
"Because I want everyone in this city to know who is the best awakener in the younger generation." Leo responded, "How is it? Do you dare to accept my challenge?"
"Sure. We will fight in the arena two days later." Ace accepted the challenge because this was a good opportunity to let everyone know how powerful he was.
"I hope you won't run away later." After saying that, Leo returned home.
"Leader, why don't we just assassin him?" Neia was still angry at Leo's previous actions.
"No." Ace refused instantly. "Neia, don't you think it's better to humiliate him in front of everyone?"
"But…" Neia still wanted to teach Leo a lesson.
"After I defeat him in front of everyone, you can do whatever you want later." Ace understood her feelings, so he would let her do whatever she wanted later.
"Really?" Neia asked happily.
"Yes." He nodded. "You can even ask Renea or Silvia to help you later."
"You are the best, leader." After saying that, she embraced his right arm.
After checking his restaurant, Ace went home.
----
Ace's Mansion, His Room.
Ace was currently sitting in a lotus position on the bed. After dinner, he headed to his room because he wanted to absorb beast cores immediately.
He wanted to break through to the Grandmaster rank quickly, so he lessened his time with his women for now.
[Ding! You have leveled up.]
[Agility: lvl 69 -> lvl 70.]
He slowly opened his eyes after hearing the notification sound.
'All the beast cores are only enough to raise my level by one.'
Actually, he had guessed this because these beast cores were from 2-star magical beasts.
'I will go to Framingburns forest again tomorrow.'
There were two reasons why he would go to the forest again.
First, he wanted to hunt magical beasts, and last, he wanted to test Divine Arrow skill.
He did not have time to test the Divine Arrow skill earlier because he tested the Nether Lightning skill.
'I also need to prepare myself to fight Leo.'
As he was thinking about his duel with Leo, Ace realized something.
'Wait!'
He suddenly felt that his quest was related to Leo.
First, Leo suddenly challenged him. Second, Leo wanted them to fight in the arena and in front of everyone. And last, Leo was at the same rank as him.
The requirements for completing the quest given by the God of Wind are three things.
First, he must accept all challenges. Second, he must defeat the challenger. Third, he must fight the challenger in the arena and in front of everyone.
Everything was the same.
It was as if the quest was made to have him fight Leo.
"Is it just a coincidence?"
He touched his chin and began thinking deeply about it.
'No. This is not a coincidence.'
After remembering God of Wind's behavior, Ace believed this was not a coincidence.
God of Wind set them up!
'No wonder God of Wind told me not to lose the fight.'
God of Wind told him not to lose the fight after giving him a quest.
'Wait! God of Wind told me not to lose the fight, and the quest is related to Leo. Don't tell me…'
He suddenly suspected that the God of Wind had promised Leo something.
God of Wind even agreed to give him two cards for free in order to make him promise not to lose the fight.
'I see. I see. No wonder I felt something was off yesterday.'
Everything made sense now.
God of Wind was the one who ordered Leo to challenge him!
He was the mastermind!
"God of Wind, answer me. You set us up, right? And the quest is related to Leo, right?" Ace inquired.
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