Chapter 50.6- And so the Dragons Danced

“Wouldn’t want that to happen, would we?” I asked as I stepped forward. A few of them broke into applause s I began to walk past the line and inside the venue. I made sure to smile, nod, and wave where possible. One man even offered a bow that I made sure to acknowledge with a nod. This was only the first day, and I could see the building of a legend here. Grandfather could say whatever he wanted but this was how to get the people’s hearts. Panem et circenses.

The Panem part was easy since the Fire nation enjoyed wealth beyond all the others and food aplenty. It was a simple measure to declare that prices would be reduced by half to celebrate the first week of my coronation. A subsidy on food that the crown had the gold to bear. In a different society, I would have feared the merchants would just cheat the people and cheat me while it, but here honour mattered more than anything else. Sure, there would be the outliers, but we could afford it. Early reports made it clear that Ozai had been many thong but a fool was not one of them. The coffers were near overflowing even after supporting a century of war. Of course, that was probably because the war was almost entirely financed using gold from all sorts of taxes.

Another thing for the list of things to review— what taxes to remove, reduce, and what to keep as was. Grandfather had already mentioned the tea tax as one for removal but I was certain there would be more.

“The next challenger for our fire lord- Bang Hui from the Yu Dao Province” The announcer, a tall reed of a man said, riling the crowd up. I gave a bow that the man returned and I waited for his first attack.

He blasted himself right at me. At least this one, was competent. The first two hadn’t been. I hadn’t killed them though. I dodged around the kick and dropped a jab in his ribs before taking a step back. Unlike the others, he was no stranger to pain and managed to remain standing. Instead he brought his flames to bear again and slapped his hands together sending a blast right at me. I ran forwards, straight at him and his blast, before leaping into a front flip at the very last moment.

I landed right behind him and kicked the back of his knee in, forcing him down and then chopped him at the back of his neck, sending him to the floor unconscious.

“And another one bites the dust. Is there any who can even make our Fire Lord call upon his hallowed green flames?” The announcer did his job well.

“Next we have Baki of the plains of Ilah” He said, and then a familiar man stepped into the sandy field, metal limbs slamming against the ground. Sparky sparky boom man?