The group gazed around, their elevated position giving them quite the point of view. Countless commoners were already sitting in the seats below, quietly chatting with one another, excited about the chance to whiteness a grand spectacle. Unlike most adventurers, who might arrive at one point or another, the common folk had been waiting for the event for quite some time, pooling money to get the chance to come and see at least some of the fights that were bound to happen. Who knew, they might even get a glimpse of some legendary warrior's early fights.
Next to them, on the same height were other balconies, slowly filling up with other people of renown or noble blood. Right next to their balcony on each side were Eve's siblings and their mothers, the king having a fair few concubines. Eve though was one of the children on the queen herself, giving her quite a bit more status, multiplied many fold because of the presence of Rex and Danica, as well as Wari and Sidsal, who were circling high in the sky, out of the eyes and ears of most people present, though there were a few who had noticed them, causing them to worry.
If they wished so, Rex and his friends could start a conversation with Eve's siblings, though there was nothing to talk about, as such, Rex's gaze slid over the remaining balconies, evaluating the power of those present. And unlike what he would use in the wilderness or dungeons, he employed his aura, a rather foreign concept for the people of this word, avoiding any chance his mana pulse could be detected. As far as he could tell, there were no truly dangerous opponents here, for him at least, though at the same time he could say with certainty that there was indeed quite a bit of things moving in the background. There was no way such large number of A rankers would gather for such a small, outer regions' tournament. And with each new arrival, he grew more and more sure, the number of A ranks only increasing.
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Among the crowd of commoners, a few cloaked individuals sat together, not a rare sight in the slightest, though if one were to remove their cloaks, blood red eyes and ashen gray, long hair would come in their sights. And unlike most other people around them, there was little to no talking among their little group, their gazes all turned towards a certain balcony- a single, average looking man, surrounded by a group of beauties, earning the entirety of their attention. Unbeknownst to everyone around them, a conversation was taking place right this instant.
"Indeed Barnabus, I can sense the power of blood radiating from him, in no small amounts no less." spoke the eldest and most powerful of them. "It was indeed a good idea to visit the nearby villages and inquire about powerful individuals visiting around that time." he continued "Though what surprises me the most is that he is no vampire at all. What is it then that gives off such strong scent of blood? A relic perhaps?" The vampire elder mused, his thought transmitted towards his compatriots, offspring and servants to be precise.
"Should I 'invite' him for a talk once there is an opening?" deploying the same method, a slightly sweet, yet undeniably male voice asked, as if smacking his lips in anticipation.
"There is no rush." The elder rejected the idea "It seems he might be taking part in this tournament of theirs. Let us wait and watch. I have a suspicion that he is more than meets the eye. Don't forget the two falcons in the sky. Even I dont have the slightest idea what species are they and what can they do. And no doubt those are his."
"I could always use my charms. He seems to be particularly fond of the female form after all." a giggling and sultry voice joined the conversation.
"Your sister is right Fergus. While I appreciate your enthusiasm, I doubt that aggression in the right path here." The elder spoke again.
"Understood father. I shall wait and let Rose act, should you deem that necessary."
"Still what a peculiar human I must confess. In the centuries I have lived, never before have I encountered such a situation." The elder mused, quite intrigued by the discovery. What little indignation he had held over the death of his failure of a son initially, replaced by fear of a primordial, driving him to come here and secure the safety of his family, had now entirely changed into pure, unconcealed curiosity. It was then that he sensed someone approaching him discreetly, stopping before his group, extending their hand that held a piece of paper in hand.
"For you sir. A message." the plainly dressed teenager spoke quietly, though clearly heard by the group. The elder took the paper, unfolded it and read the message. There was little written on it, but the words there caused him to quickly glance towards the man he had just looked at and as he did so, he saw the man now looking straight at him, a slight smirk on his face as he mouthed 'you know where to find me. Let's have a nice and friendly chat sometime soon.'
"How many people do you think is in the stadium children? Thousand? Five? No matter the number, it seems that we are just as easily seen apart by him than he is to us.Tonight we will visit the man and have a chat."
"It must be a trap!" Fergus cautioned.
"Unlikely. Why try to trap us when he could just as well expose us here and now, guaranteeing a worse outcome?" Rose spoke her mind, more and more intrigued by the man.
"Does not matter. Only he can answer the questions we have no doubt accrued."
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'Hmm. It seems I will have some interesting company tonight.' Rex mused as he saw the group of vampires remain in their seats instead of leaving. 'I wonder, what interesting things they will be able to tell me.' Rex mused, his mind getting lost in the probabilities of said meeting and the general understanding he had come to regarding the rather special creatures that vampires were, until he felt a light pinch in his side- Danica calling him back to the land of the mortals. With a hand gesture, she pointed towards a certain direction of the stage in the middle where a few men had gathered, no doubt there to announce the start of the event.
Noticing the absence of the king, he quickly lost any interest he might have had, returning to his inspection of the surroundings and the people in attendance. With his ever recovering soul fragment, he could do more and more, starting from simple observation of everything that was happening all around him in a certain, ever expanding range, to more easily commanding the concepts he had comprehended, disregarding the limits of this world.
As he did so, he caught quite a few interesting and sometimes annoying conversation going on, none of the speakers becoming alerted to what he was doing or capable of. Numerous nobles were right before him, both from this nation and abroad, talking in hushed voices, evaluating their opposition in the tournament, including the dignitaries from inner continent, who were seated higher still, surpassing even the kings platform. Humiliating? Perhaps, but an action that was needed, lest the dignitaries in question take offence that some lesser people, peasants even, have deemed themselves equal to their noble selves. He did zero in on two conversations in particular, marking the speakers as some who's champions he would crush most vehemently, should he encounter them in any of his fights.
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"Look at that slut Evelysandra." spat a rather young looking, most likely in his early to mid twenties, man as he addressed the elderly man sitting to his right, their gazes locked on both Rex and Eve who was standing next to him while Danica was on his other side, one hand around her waist as he seemed rather apathetic about the whole event happening, the few men down below delivering their speech. "The way she flaunts her supposed superiority, Ha. All she did was spread her legs for an A ranker. She was supposed to be mine!" he seethed, clearly angered beyond belief. "Fuck that. I don't care anymore, though, that beast girl is right up my alley. I want her. It will be all the sweeter to cuck that damn bastard." the young man grinned as he imagined all kinds of things he would do to soothe his hurt pride, earning a couple of sighs and head shakes. The older man, and the third person along with them, a man of a similar size as Rex, close to two meter height, yet with bulging muscles that gave him the air of a barbarian berserker, looked at the younger man with questioning eyes, as if asking 'Who are you to talk? Reach B rank at least before you brag!', though none of it was said out loud.
"Careful young master. Not only are we not in our home right now and no one can ever truly know if anyone is listening, but even if just a tamer, his skills are indeed formidable. We know he has two A ranked, unrecognized falcons under his control. How many others can boast such power at their fingertips."
"Tsk." the young man clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed at the cautious words of the elder, though with the orders from his own father, there was little else he could do, lest he mess up their plan. And that was not something he could afford to do since even he would face dire consequences in such a scenario. That was something he was not at all inclined to feel on his own skin. However, a moment later, the older man spoke words that brought a smile to his face. "Though, depending on whether or not their group joins the event for the nobility afterwards, there is a way we can try and get what young master desires."
"Hmm. I'll leave it in your capable hands then." the young master smirked as he brought a glass of wine to his lips, a content grin on his face as he once again delved in his own imagination, planning what and how he would enjoy his prize.
The other group consisted of a slightly larger amount of people, though it was apparent that aside from two, clothed in quite exquisite monster silk and carapace armor and garbs, the rest were there to protect and escort said duo. Similar to the previous group, the younger person of the duo, another man in his early twenties seemed to be the more important one. As he leisurely sipped on his own drink, lazily gazing around, he offhandedly addressed the other person next to him, a woman in her early forties. Despite her middle age, she was still quite the looker, with lithe body that seemed to not be exerted much, clearly some sort of a mage or priest.
"So, what do you see?"
"The wolfkin woman next to the.." the woman started, looking at some notes in her hand "princess of this nation radiates strength. I would bet she is at least middle A rank, possibly closer to the high class. The man next to her is somewhat of an enigma though, I would have to unleash the full extent of my abilities to pry deeper, but with those two abyss falcons circling high in the sky I dare not risk it. Then there are a few quite powerful individuals in the stands, a group of cloaked individuals, clearly here for some other reason."
"Anything else?" he asked, his gaze moving towards Danica and Rex.
"Nothing worth our attention. Though I suppose Dawning Sun sects members should be aware of the same. It is quite disappointing, really. Whatever A ranker's there are, are either to old or weak. Then again, what else should we expect from the outer regions."
"While you are correct that there are rare few individuals worth our time, nearly every generational monster comes from an outer region. And when they appear, no matter the wealth and resources that we, inner region people, can funnel in our own geniuses, they all get overshadowed by these monsters from these regions, no matter how rare they are. Funny that, don't you think?"
A pleasant silence took over the duo for a while, the woman contemplating his words, and the younger man simply waiting, not actually expecting her to respond. A moment later though, he asked another question. "The tamer of those abyss falcons, is the man next to the wolfkin, right?"
"Indeed. There is no other explanation for his insanely high magical resistance, blocking out my mind magic. That would also explain why I cannot even get a read on anyone's surface thoughts within that same platform."
"Think we could recruit him alongside the wolfkin? It would seem the duo would come as a package. Hell, I would not mind taking in his entire harem if that gets our sect the monster tamer. When was the last time an A ranked one walked the continent?"
"That would be Remelion the wyvern lord if I recall correctly, though he was supposed to be peak A rank, bordering S. As for the recruitment part? It is difficult to say, though I suppose it might earn us some goodwill if we expose the plot of that group over there" she subtly pointed towards the platform the duo conspiring to get their claws in Danica were "to steal the wolfkin woman from him. I believe they will try and goad him into a bet of some sorts."
"Hmm. Contact him as soon as possible. Would not hurt to try. And make sure the Dawning Sun's goons don't get to him first. They have sent that slut Pyra after all."
"Understood. Any orders regarding our fighters, should they encounter the tamer in their mathes?"
"Don't try and cripple him. An honourable battle to test his skills."
"It will be done." the woman replied, already getting to the fulfillment of her tasks.
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'Interesting.' Rex mused as his focus returned to his own surroundings, another pinch in his side calling him back. Oh sure, he could have kept attention, but all that was happening was just so damn boring. Who wants to listen to an hour long monologue of two old fogies, regaling the tale of how the event came to be? It was so much more interesting to listen in on people who believed their wards were foolproof. And while this Dawning Sun sect had similar thoughts, they could not pinpoint Rex as one of the interests for their search, lacking a mind mage of their own for the task. They were incredibly rare after all. And unlike their competitor, they seemed to have deemed this event not worthy enough of theirs time. 'Jokes on you. The presence of my abyss falcons no doubt has caused you to curse more than once in your thoughts. I bet their goons will be doing overtime to pinpoint their masters identity. Lucky for you that is information easily available around these parts. Reaching me though? That's a whole another thing altogether.'
"Yes?" he looked towards the pincher, his attention entirely on her. With an eye roll, Danica glanced towards Eve as if saying 'go on scaredy cat, ask away. It is only a pinch.' Understanding the situation, Rex shifted his gaze towards Eve, even as his hand around Danica's waist went on the offensive, exacting a proper, naughty revenge on his adventurous lady.
"Would you please attend the gathering after this? You don't have to socialize or whatever. Just please be there. It would help us a lot."
The expression on his face was quite the giveaway of how unwilling he was even contemplating the idea. Luckily, Danica was on Eve's side, adding her own two cents.
"Yea, lets go. I felt so many hungry gazes landing one me that there must be at least a couple or retards who think they can just roll over and demand me, earning a proper beatdown from you as a result." A sultry expression took over her face as she was reminiscing, biting her lip gently with one of her kanines. "It still gives me quite the goosebumps when you destroyed those fools of the Weeping Legion for me. Pretty please? You know I will make it up to you?"
"Haaah." Rex sighed. his naughty hand moving away from Danica's firm cheeks. "The things I do for my women." and with another sigh he added "No socializing. Fuck that. And I will whip out Snek if they annoy me too much. A fair warning."
"Understood. I will make sure you are not swarmed by those damn nobles of ours at the very least."
"Keep the old farts and those hungry harpies away. Let them young fools come. I want some face slapping." Danica grinned as added.
"You are having the time of your life, aren't you?"
"That's a small price to pay for me not taking part in this, is it not?"
"Indeed it is." Rex agreed immediately.
"Great. What about you gals?" Danica then looked towards Light's Oak.
"We will pass, thank you very much. There is plenty for us to master that Rex taught us and meditation does not happen by itself." Meditation was the codename they had decided on when speaking about powering the runes engraved on their bodies, allowing for constant and limit surpassing growth, keeping it a secret from others who might be listening in. As far as the world would be concerned, Rex had got the girls on a meditation craze, calming their minds and balancing themselves in the world and whatever other bullshit the wider world believed the practice to be used for.