Immediately after, he hooked Adric's ankle with his gauntlet beneath the sword blade, and then gave a pull.
In full plate armor, once balance is lost, it becomes difficult to get back up.
At that moment, Adric fell heavily backward like a felled oak, finally crashing to the ground with a thunderous boom, raising a cloud of dust.
Adric tried to move within his plate armor, but the concussion and the armor, weighing more than he did, made it difficult for him to move for a while.
Finally, he managed to support himself with his hands and lifted himself slightly off the ground.
The opponent's figure quickly stepped forward, the tip of his sword descending, precisely passing through the slit in his visor and stopping just before his eyeball.
Under the sunlight, that small, cold glint was extremely clear within the dim interior of the faceplate.
The proximity of the sword tip made him shudder, and goosebumps ran all over his body.
The sound of him secretly swallowing saliva echoed slowly within the helmet.
After a brief pause, Karl sheathed his sword with a clear, precise metallic scrape.
He nodded slightly at Adric, who was temporarily immobilized on the ground, and then extended his hand in a gesture of help.
But at that moment, in the eyes of the extremely enraged Adric, Karl was undoubtedly the victor, looking down on him with contempt.
Adric struggled to get up from the ground, ungratefully pushing away Karl's extended hand with the back of his palm.
"Hmph, I don't need your mercy!" Adric said with a dark, indignant face.
Seeing this, Karl muttered contemptuously, lowered his hands, and gradually stepped back.
The other party's actions and words were clearly unreasonable, and in this situation, he didn't need to pretend to be a chivalrous knight.
"The winner of this knight's duel is Sir Karl of Baron's Meadow! Let's give him a round of applause!"
And the herald's voice announcing Karl's victory also sounded at the right moment.
"Great, what a wonderful duel!"
"Karl of Baron's Meadow!"
"Karl of Baron's Meadow!"
...
The crowd cheered Karl's name enthusiastically, and the more violently they applauded Karl, the uglier Adric's expression became at that moment.
He had originally wanted to step on his opponent's position to spread his own name, but he never imagined he would kick an iron plate.
Adric struggled to get up from the ground, looked around at the crowd with a dark face, and stood in silence for a while.
When he remembered the gambling agreement he had made earlier, the words "I am a coward" stuck in his throat like a blockage, unable to be uttered.
When he made the bet earlier, he never thought he would lose the duel.
Because he felt he had a chance to win, it didn't matter what kind of bet he made, and now it could be described as shooting himself in the foot.
The herald stroked his beard and glanced indifferently at Adric.
Observing the opponent's actions, he understood that the young man before him was 80% unwilling to collect on the bet.
But both parties were nobles, with no deep hatred between them, and he didn't want to make the scene so awkward.
So, should he discuss it with Sir Karl? Give Adric a way to back down.
The bet made by the two earlier was only heard by the three of them.
At best, the onlookers could only see the money pouch on the table, and the three of them had talked at a distance, so the crowd naturally hadn't heard clearly.
However, the question of whether Sir Karl was willing to accept this agreement was quite important.
The one who agreed to the knight's duel was the other party, and the winner was also the other party; it had nothing to do with him as the herald.
Of course, even if Karl didn't agree, he wouldn't object.
Compared to the arrogant and haughty old aristocrat, he was closer to Karl, the humble and brave new aristocrat.
Therefore, the herald pressed his lips together and was about to speak when he was interrupted by a clear voice.
"Adric, what are you doing here? I thought you had already registered."
"It seems there is some conflict between you, isn't there?"
Triss and Keira emerged from the crowd by different paths. Keira frowned slightly and looked indifferently at the three.
Triss didn't say a word but blinked her beautiful eyes a few times at Karl, a faint smile on her lips—a greeting.
"Advisor Keira, Advisor Triss." The herald nodded slightly at Keira and the others and called out politely.
"Ah?! Advisor Keira, I... I was just having a friendly knightly duel with this knight."
"Weren't we? Sir Karl."
Seeing Keira's sudden appearance, Adric couldn't stop sweating on his forehead and avoided her eyes.
He hastily winked at Karl and stammered in reply.
"If insulting others as ill-mannered and calling them a coward is considered friendly, then Sir Adric is indeed friendly."
Karl raised his visor, emotionlessly stated the facts, and addressed Adric sarcastically.
Adric frowned and signaled him to help explain—he naturally noticed this, but he didn't want to help.
Earlier, the other party had wanted to step on him and attack him personally.
If he hadn't won the knight's duel, he would have been the one disgraced and trampled underfoot.
So why should he help someone like Adric?
Even looking at Adric's behavior and the conversation between him and Keira, there must be some kind of cooperation between them.
And Adric seemed to be the weaker party in this partnership, clearly being pushed around by Keira.
Seeing Karl refuse to explain and even being sarcastic, Adric's face reddened and purpled, he gritted his teeth and glared viciously at Karl.
The moment Keira clearly saw Karl, her eyes lit up, and she asked kindly: "Who is this?"
"Sir Adric, if you want to explain, you can slowly go back and explain to this lady. And you should probably cash in your bet right now."
"A knight who values honor cannot break his oath and lie."
Karl raised an eyebrow, didn't look at Keira at all, let alone respond to the other's words, and continued to provoke.
"Advisor Keira, this is Sir Karl, a new noble."
The herald thought Karl hadn't heard well, so he turned to Keira and whispered.
Hearing this, Keira's eyes rolled, showing an interested look.
A new noble? That meant the other party hadn't yet established a family and didn't have a solid power base, so she could invest in or win him over.
Although, in essence, she was an advisor to the royal family, and her status seemed not low.
In reality, all the power in her hands was given by the king; if the king changed his mind one day, he could take it away with a single word.
In some extremely important state affairs, only nobles were allowed to participate, and their advisors were excluded.
At present, it was extremely important to have reliable contacts for obtaining information.
Therefore, Keira took a few steps closer to the two of them and looked coldly at Adric.
Then she turned and smiled at Karl, slightly leaning her upper body forward so he could get a better view of her chest.