God of Systems: Maker of Heroes and Villains-Chapter 215: Don’t Force My Hand, Princess

"I was worried that a lot of people heard rumors about me." Keith said as he looked at the almost transparent flames.

He could sense the flame dragon but most of the people in the crowd couldn’t. Max frowned slightly, but he quickly went back to grinning as he shook his head, "No matter what you say now, don’t expect mercy."

"I originally didn’t want to hurt you too much but the way you talk gets on my nerves." Keith said as he flicked his fingers.

A small spark appeared before it grew humongous. Max and everyone nearby stared at the orange dragon with wide eyes as it continued to grow.

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"Hmm... I was right. Creating a huge flame really does feel exhausting." he muttered as he stopped getting his flame dragon to grow and immediately made it fly towards Max.

The guy didn’t even flinch, clearly knowing that his own flame dragon would help him out on it’s own as he ran towards Keith with his sword pointed forward.

Unlike Max, Keith had to keep his attention focused on his flames if he wanted to control them. If he didn’t, then the flames would just dissipate.

’I think I fucked up...’ he thought as he too rushed forward and gave up on controlling his flame dragon, ’but it’s fine.’

As soon as he gave up control, he focused his attention on Max’s dragon and with a simple thought, got it to instantly collapse. The extremely hot flames died out and Max felt this happen but he knew that he couldn’t stop as Keith was still running towards him.

"Aaaaahh!" He roared as he slashed horizontally and Keith met his blade with his own sword before kicking Max right in his face, making him spin as he fell backwards.

"Do you really want to humiliate yourself further?"

Hearing Keith’s words, Max got back up on his feet and looked at the crowd. The smirks on the contestant’s faces and the sneers immediately told him his situation.

With a begrudging grunt, he stabbed the sword into the ground and bowed to the emperor before leaving. Keith saw this and put his sword back in the weapons rack. Once he was done, he joined his group and went back to spectating.

"That was a little too soft don’t you think?" Mathew said once Keith joined him.

"Probably.... but I just saw someone familiar so my mind was occupied. I didn’t expect to see baronets here." he said as he nudged both Clara and Amelia before pointing at a familiar face.

"Oh that donkey father and son pair are here but well, it’s not too surprising since they have some really strong connections with a few counts." Amelia said and the prince looked at the two of them.

Clara silently held Keith’s hand and scooted closer to him as she saw the two of them looking at her. She then hugged his arm before grinning at them.

Keith saw this and chuckled slightly while Mathew looked at the three of them, "Well, they don’t look like they have any intention of getting the attention of my sister or the emperor so I wonder why they’re here."

"Probably money." Amelia said, but Keith shook his head as he quickly skimmed over the contents on his system screen.

"No, they’re here to take sides. The Sanders’ family is pretty rich thanks to their businesses and I’d say that their wealth is on par with some of the Dukes who aren’t great at managing their territories. By joining a side, they’ll be able to get a proper nobility title and this alone will allow them to expand their business further.

Lower taxes, higher number of invites to multiple events, marriage proposals from established noble households... all of these are very valuable for those two."

Amelia gave him a deep look while Mathew nodded, "Yes, you’re right but business expansion would actually become hard once they tie themselves up to the empire. Not that I’m complaining, but what business do they operate?"

"Jewellery and weapons on the surface." Keith said before whispering, "Slave trading, drug dealing, child extortion and forced labor in secret. I had plans on slowly shutting down their illegal businesses, but since they’ve given themselves to me on a silver platter by coming here, I won’t say no."

Mathew stared at Keith who had a deep, predatory look as he kept his eye on the two baronets. He didn’t know why, but this made him feel chills.

Timmy looked away from Clara with an annoyed expression on his face as he turned to look at his father, "Father, let’s humiliate that bitch in front of everyone here."

"But that guy called Keith... he’s been mentioned in the letter she sent and he’s pretty strong. I don’t think it’s a wise choice to antagonize her anymore. Leave her be." Timothy said as he gave Keith and Clara a thoughtful look.

"But father! He is strong, yes. I won’t deny that, but he’s just an inquisitor from the church. We have stronger connections than him so wont it be easy to suppress the two of them right now?"

Timothy frowned as he looked at his son, "Do you think that the third prince right there is a mere statue? Can’t you see how the both of them are talking so casually?"

Timothy was a dumb man in Keith’s eyes because that was how the novel had portrayed him. And as he read the conversation between the father and son duo, he felt like something was missing.

’Wait... I thought he was dumb because he trusted his son a lot and at the end, he got stabbed in the back by him. But he’s a father, so it’s natural to trust someone he watched grow up...’ he thought as his eyes were focused on the two system screens in front of him.

"Father, listen to me." Timmy said, "The third prince has an extremely low chance of winning and that’s probably why he tried to get a small inquisitor team on his side. Once we join the first or the second prince, we’ll have a greater support. There’s no need to fear someone who is going to lose his status as a prince."

Timothy shook his head, "A prince is still a prince. She already paid all the money with interest so it’s better to stay away from her. We know that she couldn’t have made so much money by herself, which means that she has the backing of someone powerful.

To easily throw away nine hundred chrons is not a simple matter. If possible, I’d rather have good relationship with the guy instead of antagonizing him. He’s an inquisitor and has the church on his side.

On top of that, he also won the cursed artifact and we don’t know anything about it."

Timmy finally stopped being stubborn and nodded, "Yeah... you’re not wrong father. I’m sorry, I got a little too angry earlier."

’Hmm... it’s a pity he didn’t get aggressive.’ Keith thought before shifting his attention towards the two guys who had now begun a duel.

"Welp, I don’t think there’s anything to watch here anymore so I want to go somewhere and sit quietly." he said, only to get a deep stare from Amelia.

"I already told you about these events right?"

"Yeah, and its rude to leave. I get it. I just said I wanted to... it’s not like I’m actually doing it." he said as he put his elbow on her shoulder, "Be my support now, please. My legs feel tired from all the standing."

Amelia stared at him but didn’t say anything for a few seconds before turning her attention back to the fight in front of her.

Time slowly passed and by the time the sky turned dark, everyone was done with showing off their "specialties".

The group followed the crowd into the large hall and saw that the tables and chairs had been moved to the sides. The center was empty, which was clearly done to give space for the dances.

A knight silently watched everyone walk in and looked at the princess, who gave him a nod. Once he got the signal, he stood straight in attention and announced.

"May the princess come forward to pick her first man for the dance!" he said and everyone clapped and cheered for her as she took a few steps forward with a wide smile on her face.

Keith saw the system screen in front of him and sighed, ’Why in the hell does she want to dance with me?’

And just as he thought that, he saw her look at his direction before smiling, "The one that captured my heart the most... was Keith Zenister, one of the head Inquisitors from the church of protection. I would love to have a strong swordsman share the stage with me on this prosperous night."

Amelia glared at her while Clara simply gave Keith’s hand a slight squeeze.

"It’s fine, I don’t mind a dance." she said while Amelia grit her teeth, "Sometimes, I absolutely hate the rules that we nobles have."

Keith knew that he couldn’t just say no, so he sighed and nodded before walking towards her.

’I know that I’ll have to kneel and kiss your hand but don’t blame me since you’re basically forcing my hand now.’ he thought as he stood directly in front of her.

"I’m sorry, my dear princess. I was born a commoner and I don’t have much knowledge about the etiquette so I hope you can forgive me if I did something wrong." he said as he gave her a slight bow.