Chapter 12

I firmly sat on the very comfortable couch. As I got comfy, Wren moved over to the cooler to grab some drinks. We had just got back from Arena 8. At the moment, I was sitting in one of Wren's Family's Arena boxes. They had several, one was here at Arena 4 where the third year matches would be held. His family had others across the minor Arenas but, most importantly Wren's family had one in the Grand Arena.

My comparatively poor mind couldn't even grasp the astronomical costs of the boxes. Then again Wren's mother was a Viscountess so she could afford it. Wren sat next to me and handed me a glass of water.

“ Thanks.”

“Don't mention it.”

As both of us sat in comfortable silence, enjoying our drinks I thought about the matches we had seen that morning. The premiere match was impressive but I was truly captivated by The match between Miriam and Owen. We had seen several excellent matches after but none were even close to living up to the legacy of the first. Thinking about the other competitors' matches made me think about my own. I wouldn't be able to start my proper matches until tomorrow morning.

I heard the door open accompanied by several footsteps. I turned to see who had entered the. There were five figures. The first was an older man who looked to be in his mid 50s, he had salt and pepper hair and was dressed in a jet black suit. Judging by how he stood I assumed he was a butler or a servant of some sort.

Behind him was a man very similar to the boy sitting next to me. He was tall around six foot one, he had crimson red hair. He was dressed in a dark blue suit, and his tie looked like burnished bronze. The tie's strange color contrasted nicely with his partner's dark green dress. The woman was shorter and around five foot ten. She had long Black hair pulled up into an ornate bun. I assumed that she was Vicountess Whitecastle.

Behind the noble couple was a pair of recognizable figures. My dad stood almost on par with Wren’s and was dressed in a more traditional black suit. His tie was almost a perfect match for his gleaming orange eyes. The woman tucked around his arm was unmistakably my mother. It had been several weeks since I had last seen her and in that time she had cut her silver hair to a utilitarian length. Her brilliant light blue dress matched her cold and calculating eyes.

As the adults walked into the room I stood up and walked over to greet them. As I moved I felt mothers' gays piercing into me, and I corrected my miner slouch.

Wren's mother turned and beamed at me.

“So you must be Alex, Wren has told us so much about you. It's a pleasure to meet you”

“Mom stop embarrassing me” Wren protested.

I smiled and shook her hand. “The pleasure is all mine.”

Ren's mom gestured over to the couch that I had just vacated.

“Shall we take a seat”

I nodded and both the Whitecastles and my parents followed. Once we were all situated, Wren's father piped up. “So Alex we've heard so much about you, Wren Has been talking about you non-stop since you two first met. As he hasn't stopped we figured it was about time that we met you.

I blushed and rubbed my hand against the back of my head. “ Well I'm sorry to disappoint, I'm probably not quite what you imagine”

Wren's father chuckled. “ Well not quite, when Wren described you had an almost physical weight. So when I first laid my eyes upon you I wasn't sure that he hadn't found some ragga bond and brought him in. But the moment I saw those eyes, well I knew you were the boy my son talked so much about.”

I noticed as Wren's father was talking my mother both looked relieved and simultaneously horrified.

Not seeming to notice, Wren's father barreled forward.”Alex, I know Wren, talked a big game about your abilities but I wanted to get it from you. Do you think you have a shot at winning?”

Internally I evaluated my options. I felt that I had a strong chance of winning. The problem would therefore be if I said my opinion. If not to their liking it would likely insult the Whitecastles. Additionally, judging by the look my mother was giving me, I should play it safe. But on the other hand, my impression of Wren and his parents was odd. In contrast to the other Nobles I had met, they were far more laid back. They were more normal than I expected. In the end, this strange behavior solidified my decision.

“Well, sir if I'm telling the truth I feel I have a good shot, well maybe more than good even.” Wren's father's eyes brightened with amusement, and a sly smile crept onto his face.

“So you think you can beat our son is what you're telling me.”

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I froze, I realized I might have just made a serious mistake. But before I could try to cover up my blunder, the red-haired man once again burst into laughter this time joined by his wife.

“hoho look on your face boy, sorry to scare you but I had to make sure Wren kept good company”

I tilted my head In confusion.

In contrast to her husband's jovial tone Vicountess Whitecastle was far calmer. “ You see Alex, Ryan and I understand the importance of friendship. In my opinion, most of the nobles seem to have forgotten about it in sue of political maneuvering. I feel that a true, honest, and reliable friend is more valuable than some groupies. Thus I have encouraged my son to find such friends, and it seems he has done well in finding you.

“Mom” Wren whined in embarrassment.

“Oh hush dear you are fine, anyways Alex I'm happy my son is close with you and I hope that we will get to know you as well.

With the Vicountes's final statement, my mother's Attempts to become a wall panel relaxed. Into a more comfortable posture. Her cold and blank expression seemed to lighten as well.

“So Victor I know much about your son but I'm afraid I have never truly heard anything about you?” Ryan queried

My father smiled, in contrast with his wife he was far more relaxed and comfortable. “ Well that's not surprising I don't do much these days. When I was younger I did some adventuring but now I just look after the house”

“ Really!” Ryan semi shouted.”

“Dear keep your voice down!”

In a much quieter tone, he continued.“You wouldn't strike me as a man to sit Idle by, not with those eyes of yours.

My father slowly reached towards his face before stopping himself. “ My eyes and my birthplace have nothing to do with my lifestyle now. Looking after Alex, and the estate is plenty fine for me”

After her husband seemed distracted in conversation, the Viscountess turned to my mother. “So Samantha I'm aware you are a city guard captain, that's quite the feat.”

“No no, not really it's nothing much.”

“Ohh don't be humble.”

As the adults got invested in their conversations, I felt a nudge.

Wren whispered in my ear “Pssst, you want to sneak out”

I turned to Wren, making sure my voice was still low.” Sneak out, why?”

“ Why, I don't want to sit around and be bored to death by my parents”

I looked over at Mother and saw her in conversation with the Viscountess. She seemed distracted enough and I would probably be fine as long as I was with Wren.

“Where would we go anyways?”

“Un, I don't know, maybe just to any of the amazing matches that are happening right now!”

“I thought you said we already saw the best match today?”

“We did but there's probably still something good at least better than this.” As Wren rambled on about his “dumb parents”, I noticed a looming figure behind him. When I stopped responding to him, he looked at me. “what's going on man something's wrong…..”

“Young master, you wouldn't be planning to leave, would you?” The butler who had escorted the adults stood patiently behind Wren.

“I nudged Wren “Your butler is very pushy”

“I know right, Quentin can get in his moods”

Quinton coughed. “Young master Grindelwald I'm sorry to inform you but I am not a butler, I am a Chamberlain”

I once again leaned over to Wren. “What's the difference between a butler and a Chamberlain”

“A butler's like, someone who feeds you and cleans your stuff. A Chamberlain is like a confidant who protects you and acts as your advisor. They're basically the evolved version of a butler”

I nodded. looking up at Quinton, he didn't seem to have any problems with us discussing him.

“Ahemm, Young masters if you are bored.” Quinton leaned down so only we could hear him. “My hap, I would recommend going to investigate your preliminary placements?”

Wren seemed to like the idea. He liked it so much that it seemed that he just flat-out left. Before he could leave, however, his mother called. “Wren, where do you think you're going?” He slowly turned around as if he had just been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

“I'm going to go check out my preliminary placements.” His mother seemed to ponder his decision before nodding and turning back to her conversation with my mother. As Wren turned he signaled me to follow. I looked over at Quentin and he seemed to give a slight nod.

Wren let me down a long hallway filled with doors. They seemed too close to each other to truly fit anything, but I suspected each one contained an Arena box. With spatial expansion arrays the small physical area dedicated to the boxes, would be able to accommodate a much larger space.

I thanked my lucky stars that not one of the multitude of doors opened. This spree of luck allowed us to quickly make it to the ground floor of the Arena. There Wren quickly pulled me through the crowd of other cadets, and tournament viewers to look at the massive board depicting who we would be paired with for the preliminary match.

The cadets would be grouped in sets of 10, in a battle royale winner take all situation. Whichever cadet was left standing would advance to the second round, And during its duration, smaller contests would be held to thin the existing numbers of cadets. Until only sixty-four Cadets remained.

When only the sixty-four were left it would advance to the standard tournament. Unlike most tournaments held within the Empire, the tournaments for the Life Festival were single elimination. If there was somehow a draw, the cultivator with the lower cultivation would win by default as they were at an inherent disadvantage.

Although this style of tournament was quite punishing when one was faced with a bad matchup. It was the only viable option for the Life Festival, as the tournament having a loser's bracket would take too much time. This setup meant that if Wren and I faced each other, only one of us could advance. I certainly didn't want to knock my friend out of the tournament, I was half planning to somehow come up with a way to lose to him.

After scanning through the list, Wren began to jump up and down. It seemed that we had been placed in opposite brackets of the tournament. That meant the only way we would face each other would be in the finals. I smiled, the placement meant I wouldn't have to lose to Wren. If both of us made it to the finals I promised myself that I would give it everything I had. Even if that meant beating my friend.

As the two boys rejoiced about their placements within the preliminaries. Other Cadets wailed at their unfortunate matchups. Others seem to Bear it with solemn stoicism. One in particular, a girl with long blonde hair, and sapphire blue eyes clenched her fists in rage.