“Wake up!”(Sandra)

Sandra shouted at me. My body felt heavy and I was still tired. I didn’t want to wake up at all.

“Wake up already!”(Sandra)

In the end, I had to otherwise; this would have went on the whole day. Unwillingly, I opened my eyes and sat up.

“What is it?”(Me)

“Sigh. You finally woke up. The main tournament is starting soon and Arthur asked me where you have been.”(Sandra)

“I was meditating.”(Me)

“While sleeping? Nice try, but for real, the first match is starting in half an hour.”(Sandra)

“I’m not interested in nobles and elites fighting against each other. Tell Arthur, I’ll watch the tournament after the 2nd round.”(Me)

“You sure? The crowd will think of you as arrogant and might even hate you.”(Sandra)

“I don’t care.”(Me)

“Sigh. Fine, but make sure you attend after the 2nd round or I’ll look like an idiot all alone.”(Sandra)

I was quite stupefied. I was waiting for an answer like “do it yourself” or something like that, but nothing came. She was surprisingly empathetic this morning.

“Promise.”(Me)

Sandra was satisfied and left me alone with just that. I was wondering for a few minutes if she was still the same person, or if she was switched out overnight. I managed to gather my thoughts and leave the villa. I placed the hood in my space inventory. I had no need to hide myself, if no one saw me. The sun was shining and it was a hot day. The weather changed excessively fast.

It was quite empty with everyone attending the tournament. I was walking through the streets, but didn’t come across anyone. The fast built hotels, the preliminary buildings; everything was empty. Everyone was watching the main tournament.

“It looks like I will have to watch anyways.”(Me)

I headed towards the colosseum. I could hear the crowd going crazy, even from far away. Some still stood in line, weren’t able to entre, and take their seats. I knew it would be hard to entre, if so many people stood in queue, even more so without a ticket.

I avoided the main entrance and searched for another way in. Last time, we went through a heavy guarded entrance in the back, which was reserved for special people and guests. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find another entrance. There were only two of them.

Even if it seemed like there was no other way in as myself, I still had one last idea, or more precise, one last bet I wanted to make. I went to the guards to try it out. Even if I’d fail, I could still run away.

“Ahm sorry.”(Me)

“What’s the matter?”(Guard)

“I’ve somehow lost my school group and don’t have a way to entre and meet up with them. I was wondering if you could let me in.”(Me)

“Strange, they came a few hours ago. Well, what school are you even from?”(Guard)

“Sonya academy.”(Me)

“Hmm. I remember them coming in as one of the last. Wait a second, I’ll go and take a look.”(Guard)

So far so good. He went to another guard and came back with some sort of list.

“What’s your name?”(Guard)

“It’s Hikaru.”(Me)

“Hmm.”(Guard)

The guard was skimming through the list with his index finger.

“There you are. Currently out for a mission. There is a possibility of meeting up at the tournament. Your school looks like it gives out many missions. 4 people are currently out.”(Guard)

I heard of it the first time too. Nevertheless, I was lucky that I was about to be granted free entry.

“Well, I can’t deny that.”(Me)

“To be honest, even though Sonya academy only had 19 participants, it is really famous.”(Guard)

I also didn’t know that we had 19 participants. Moreover, because of the enthusiasm of that guard, I concluded that we were quite the hot-shot school.

“Is it?”(Me)

“Yes it is. It produced many famous magicians, but you should know better. I’ll guide you to your group, just follow me.”(Guard)

“Thank you.”(Me)

“Haha. Don’t mind it.”(Guard)

The second we started walking, he started talking again.

“Normally you wouldn’t be allowed to go in from here, but this is an exception.”(Guard)

“Why?”(Me)

“Well, only the kings, as well as high ranking people are allowed to enter through the back entrance. If you came half an hour earlier, you would have had the luck of encountering the retainer of the nightmare.”(Guard)

“Who?”(Me)

I played the ignorant fool, so he wouldn’t get suspicious.

“Ah right, now that I think of it, you just arrived; you probably have no idea what’s going on.”(Guard)

“I’m embarrassed.”(Me)

“No, no. You don’t have to. It’s natural. I’ll summarize it for you.”(Guard)

“Again, thank you very much.”(Me)

“Haha. Don’t mind, don’t mind. Have you heard of that nightmare, which climbed in power in the past few years?”(Guard)

“Yes.”(Me)

“Well he is the special guest of this event. Moreover, our king was able to get his alliance.”(Guard)

“Really?”(Me)

It was hard to be surprised about myself, but I did my best at acting like it.

“Yes, but I haven’t heard or seen much of him, he and his retainer always wear a hood to hide their appearance.”(Guard)

We have a good reason for it though.

“That’s really surprising.”(Me)

“Yes I was also surprised when I first heard about it. Who would think that our king managed to get someone like that on his side?”(Guard)

“By the way, you said that my school had 19 participants.”(Me)

He said something interesting earlier and I wanted to know more, so I asked.

“Yes.”(Guard)

“Do you know how many made it to the first round?”(Me)

“Hmm.”(Guard)

“It’s ok if you don’t know. I was just curious.”(Me)

“No, no, no, no. I was just thinking. If I’m not wrong, four won their preliminaries.”(Guard)

“Really. That’s good to hear.”(Me)

“It is a pretty solid result.”(Guard)

He leaned towards me and started whispering.

“Unfortunately 20 children which made it to the first round are beastmen. Even worse, three of the four favourites are beastmen as well.”(Guard)

“I believe in the ability of my schoolmates. They will win this.”(Me)

“Let’s hope so.”(Guard)

I had an antisocial personality so I didn’t even know one quarter of my school. I haven’t seen the first round participants as nightmare either. I didn’t even have the slightest idea, which idiots were stupid enough to participate in this tournament. I only said, I believed in them, because it would seem more natural.

We were about to reach the others of my school and I would know who made it to the first round soon enough.