Chapter 404: Chapter 399: Worry Not About Scarcity, But Inequality Chapter 404: Chapter 399: Worry Not About Scarcity, But Inequality At the same time, Muria commanded the five major secret agencies loyal to the Royal Family and the clandestine organizations formed by various “conscientious” evil creatures subjugated by Mels, to assist and clean up from the shadows.

Besides this, Muria also opened the kingdom’s top priority intelligence channel, which allowed every noble official who had discovered the traces of a demon yet was powerless to stop them, to rapidly report back, allowing him to immediately dispatch giants through the teleportation array in the royal palace to quickly support and suppress all over the country.

In short, Muria could only use every means in his power to passively cope with these recurring demons because he could not find the root of the problem.

Of course, this situation wasn’t only happening within the Lockman Kingdom – as far as he knew, the Dragonman Red Wing Duchy surrounding the kingdom and the Dwarven Sherman Duchy had similar incidents of frequent demon appearances.

As for the Medis Kingdom in the Dark Region, since they were in a hostile relationship, Muria was entirely unaware of their situation. However, he reasoned that it must have been similar – it was unreasonable for everyone to suffer from calamities, while only the Zor Elf Kingdom could be spared. The Zor Elves were also in opposition to the demons.

To determine whether it was just his own region that was unfortunate or if all countries on the entire Nocchio Subcontinent were unfortunate, Muria got in touch with rulers from the central countries of the subcontinent, asking about their situation.

Then, much to his relief, Muria confirmed the unfortunate fact that almost all nations on the current Nocchio Subcontinent are suffering from these erratic demon attacks that happen without regard to time or place.

After realizing everyone was in the same boat, Muria then turned his attention to the upcoming Martial Arts Competition. After all, given the overall power of the current Lockman Kingdom, it was certainly at the top tier within the whole Nocchio Subcontinent.

Not to mention that the Lockman Kingdom had fourteen legendary figures of its own, Muria alone could invite the Ten Ancient Dragons and defeat most countries on the Nocchio Subcontinent.

Furthermore, the Wind King Hawk, which had returned to its hibernation state and was now lying on the Cloud Island next to the Royal Capital Scarlett, was an example of a Legendary Beast. Even if ten Ancient Dragons joined hands, they might not be able to defeat it.

Just imagine how high the overall power of the current Lockman Kingdom is. Being the owner of this power, Muria naturally fears nothing. Unless there is an intervention by epic beings, he does not believe anything could hurt him in his current state.

If an epic being really makes a move, Muria would no doubt, without a second thought, take Princess Loli Remilia and flee. As for matters with hope, Muria did not mind taking a chance, but for hopeless battles he certainly would not partake in.

“Stay green and you’ll have firewood to burn.” Muria had always believed in this.

…

“Your Grace Muria, the preliminary competition has begun.”

“Hmm, make a registry of all those who passed the preliminaries, they are all pillars of the kingdom,” Muria laughed. The conditions for the preliminaries were simple – it was a knockout system, lose once and you’re out.

In the end, seven eighths of the people would be eliminated in the preliminaries. Over ten thousand people were chosen nationwide to participate in the rematch in forty-eight provincial capital cities. Then, seven eighths of the people were further eliminated, with over a thousand people going to the Royal Capital Scarlett for the final matches, with winners of five separate age groups selected as top talents.

“By the way, did you inform those talented participants of the preliminaries? For anyone who qualifed for the final matches, their battles will be broadcasted nationally using magical images, letting the public see their heroic fighting.”

“Everyone has been informed. Your Grace Muria, those talents are very spirited now. Almost every one of them wants to make it to the final match, to the Royal Capital,” one of the middle-aged ministers reported to Muria with a smile.

By simply organizing this Martial Arts Competition, the Lockman Kingdom had gathered nearly all the information on the intelligence of the wild talents. Although there was a lot of fake and diluted information among it, it was much better than before.

“These are all young people, yearning for fame and fortune. This is a temptation they cannot resist,” Muria said confidently. In a world that revered strength, who could resist becoming famous through battle?

“Your Grace Muria, if I could be fifty years younger, I would definitely participate in your Martial Arts Tournament. The rewards you offer are so tempting that I can’t help but want to disguise myself as a young man to compete in the tournament,” one minister said half-complimenting, half-sincerely. The rewards that Muria offered were indeed very generous, which made some of the aristocrats envious.

However, these were the rewards Muria used to award the talents. They dared not stretch out their claws, they could only inquire which talents had received the potions they dreamed of and then try to trade with them.

The aristocratic group had too many cards in their hands: money, beauty, there would always be something that could move these ambitious young talents.

“Haha!” Muria let out a hearty laugh. “Bazer, if you disguise yourself as a young man to participate, you’ll definitely be exposed. When the scandal of Lockman Kingdom’s dignified senator competing with the kingdom’s younger generation for fame and profit gets out, it might bring disgrace to all of you.”

“Your Grace Muria, you’re joking,” Senator Bazer said, a little embarassed by Muria’s ridicule.

Another nobleman stepped forward after hearing the conversation between Muria and the senator, and suggested to Muria, “Your Excellency, although there is an age-detection magic array, there are still many secretive methods and potions that can hide one’s age, along with some other bizarre magics. There are quite a number of these shameless older strong people who might have mixed into the tournament. Isn’t this unfair?”

“During the signing up and initial competition, there might have been some older strong people mixing in. By the preliminaries there might still be some lingering doubts, but by the time of the semifinals, there won’t be any shameless people like that,” said Muria, a mocking smile on his face.

“Your Grace, do you have any methods to detect these older strong people who are hiding their ages?” a nobleman asked. His son had also signed up for the Martial Arts Tournament. As a father, he naturally wanted to secure a fair competition environment for his son.

Muria sitting on his throne replied, “I have sent five legendary figures to patrol the capital cities of the provinces. They will examine all the participants who qualify for the rematches. Under such circumstances, I don’t think anyone could get through unnoticed.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read