Retired Hero: A Slice of Life LitRPG Harem Adventure

Blizzardkeep Castle thrummed with movement despite the late hour as hundreds of spectators gathered in the castle’s outdoor arena. There were nobles and knights and patricians standing shoulder-to-shoulder with commoners, their faces muffled by alternating swaths of shadow and torchlight as the light snow falling from the sky gradually turned into freezing rain. King Lorgan Mellandore sat on his fancy chair in his glorified VIP section elevated over the rest. His rotund face was bright red from booze and anger, his swollen purple nose like an ugly mushroom. He took yet another pull from his wineskin and scowled at me, standing down in the center of the arena awaiting my opponent. I sighed. Sir Kenneth “The Bear” Barrows rumbled out of the gates across the arena’s floor. The king’s new champion was a towering sight. The freezing rain rattled off his bright platinum armor. With his visor pulled over his face, the Bear had the look of a living machine: His every step was slow and precise, his heavy armor shifting grindingly with each movement, punctuated by a ghostly plume of frost every time he took a breath. In contrast, I was only wearing my boiled leather armor and a hooded cloak to keep myself warm.