The day of the first round of the Twin City Cup preliminaries — in other words, the day had finally arrived.
Every contestant who registered for the tournament had received a bracelet from the registration points scattered across Lancaster. Each bracelet was embedded with a small metal plate marked with a number, which was in fact a very unfamiliar Arabic numerals indicating the contestant's serial number.
And from the serial number, Xi Wei, who was the organizer, learned that there were 1551 contestants participating in the tournament!
Some might ask why there were so few contestants in such a grand tournament with no threshold. Weren't many churches sending their believers to participate?
Still, the lack of threshold was just a facade. In truth, after learning that the contestants were clerics or nobles who had mastered supernatural powers, not even the elite Knight Monan would risk his life to wade into the muddy waters, let alone the peasants who knew their place …
Of course, staying out of the muddy waters was one thing, but they still had to eat what they had to eat. After all, spectating was a skill carved into human genes.
Therefore, on the day of the competition, the City Lord's Mansion, which was the venue of the competition, was surrounded by a sea of people. The square in front of the City Lord's Mansion was even more packed. Judging from the dense crowd, it was estimated that the number of people had already exceeded 10,000 and was rapidly approaching 15,000.
That left the Lancaster city watch, who had always been bossy and bossy, feeling pressured. All they could do was brace themselves to maintain order, while inwardly rejoicing that these people were just bystanders and not thugs. Otherwise, they would be blown up on the spot if someone were to shout …
At the moment, many newbie Players whose levels were too low to join the tournament were mingling among the spectators, hawking various specialty snacks and drinks of the Church of Games such as popcorn, melon seeds, sweet milk, and salt soda. Since they were cheap, tasty, and beautifully packaged so that they could be eaten while watching the show, they were very popular and had sold quite a lot even before the tournament began.
Every food and drink had the emblem of the Church of Games printed on it. Engraving the symbol of holiness onto a package that could easily be discarded as trash was something that would never happen in other churches.
Even so, Xi Wei didn't mind such blasphemy at all.
To him, the name of a god was a bit like a product brand on Earth. A new god like him wanted to recruit believers while putting on airs. It was like a company launching a brand new brand but did not advertise or promote it at all. He felt that advertising would only lower the prestige of his brand.
Although it wasn't impossible to get loyal users, it would take a long time.
The problem was that what he lacked the most right now was time. Therefore, to him, it was better to let go of his pride and let his emblem be familiar to everyone first.
In a pile of things, humans would subconsciously develop a sense of trust towards familiar things. Just like how many people on Earth would have similar feelings when buying unfamiliar things. Although they didn't know which of these products was better, but they had heard of this brand before, so they decided to buy it. On the computer:
Hence, as various snacks and drinks sold like hotcakes, the emblem of the Church of Games left an impression on the citizens of Lancaster in a faster and more effective manner than ever before.
The cacophony of voices suddenly dropped by a few notches. Although it was still far from the standard of silence, it was much better than the previous noise.
The reason for that was simple: Mayor Corinth was slowly walking out from the high balcony of the mayor's residence, dressed in fine attire.
Gwendolyn, the future mayor, was wearing a formal dress as well, her face nervous as she followed behind her grandfather.
"My loyal subjects and foreign guests, though you have already known about it, I have the honor to formally announce that the Twin City Cup, jointly held by Lancaster and Tunaya, the home of Duke Horan, the Silver Eagle Duke, is about to begin once again! This is the first time in history that two cities are jointly holding a major event that isn't a war! Everything is for the sake of peace and friendship! "
The old mayor appeared to have used some magical or sacred item to amplify his voice, which was why everyone below could hear him clearly even though he wasn't deliberately speaking loudly.
"Here, in the name of Mayor Corinth of Lancaster, I shall carry out my supervision as one of the organizers to ensure a fair and open environment for all competitors! Brave warriors, display your talents, display your strength, display your wisdom, present an exciting competition for everyone, and win the golden cup of victory! Let this tournament be remembered by all, and leave a deep mark in history! To peace! "
The mayor's guards who were tasked to protect the mayor below the balcony appeared to have rehearsed, and promptly rose to their feet and bellowed at the old man's words. "To peace!"
The onlookers' blood was boiling at the mayor's guard's performance, and all of them began to yell as well. Still, they had not rehearsed it, and since this world didn't have such a fighting style before, it sounded rather messy.
Be that as it may, the vigor rose.
The natives of Lancaster puffed out their chests as if they were proud of it.
Basil, the envoy of the new emperor, who had been watching everything coldly from a corner, scowled.
"As expected of the mayor of Lancaster. With just a few words, he stirred up the citizens' love for the city, even putting himself in the position of a lover of peace. Such terror, he must not be allowed to live …"
In this world with supernatural powers, the will of the people was basically useless before it reached a certain level.
Tierra was a powerful nation with a rich population that promoted entertainment and never worried about 996. Surely, they had the will of the people, didn't they?
Even so, Tierra had been destroyed by the combined might of several nations, let alone a small city like Lancaster.
The problem, however, was that Tierra had other churches to take the blame, and before they attacked, they had already blamed the cults on them. That way, the other nations would stand on the side of righteousness in their crusade against the cults. Not only were there no mistakes in their actions, they could even claim that they were acting in the name of justice.
But now that Corinth had stood on the righteous cause of peace, everything else aside, the new emperor would definitely be branded a tyrant if he attacked first.
And in this world with gods, tyrant was not a good title …
I am the God of Games!
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Chapter 286:
Pre-Match Speech
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