Book 2. The Grand Gathering. Chapter 15. Mysterious Green-Haired Youth. (Part I)
“Do you need anything else?” Laien asked, looking around all the nearby stalls and shops at the bazaar, which despite the early hour was bursting with activity.
“I already have more than I could need, doofus,” Kishara said with a helpless laugh. The amount of items and money she had received from Laien in the past two hours vastly outstripped everything she had ever seen or dreamed about in her life. How could she be shameless enough to ask for more?
With these one hundred crystal coins she got from him it was going to be much easier for her to help her friends and family; she could probably buy most of them off the slavery if she was careful not to be robbed along the way or during the transaction.
Truly, she had felt greatly indebted to Laien before, but now she was beginning to doubt whether she would ever be able to repay him for what he did for her. Even if he was saying it was only a whim of his, it didn’t change how much he helped her.
“I can’t think of anything else either, so that should be about it,” Laien mused aloud, then glanced at Kishara. He needed to admit that the overseer from that brothel did a good job choosing this set of travel clothes for her. She looked so good she would really need to wear a cape or a robe not to attract too much attention on the road.
“Right, that’s it!” Laien said with a chuckle and ran towards one of the stalls. He bought a few simple long capes and returned to Kishara who appeared to be looking at him in a rather helpless way. “What? You think you can not cover yourself?” he asked with a little smirk, his gaze wandering around her body for a second or two.
“Pervert,” Kishara commented with a laugh and stroked Laien’s hair in an affectionate way. This overprotectiveness reminded her of how her little brother used to treat her, but given what she did with Laien last night she probably shouldn’t think of him as a little brother figure, huh…?
Laien smiled wryly seeing how Kishara put a brown cloak on and stored the other ones in her new high-grade interspatial ring despite her previous comment.
“You sure you don’t need to hurry?” Kishara asked, changing the subject.
“I’m pretty sure the tournament starts at nine, so I still have time,” Laien responded, as carefree as always.
“You sure?” Kishara raised her eyebrows. “I’ve heard quite a few people saying they need to hurry because the fights will be starting soon,” she pointed out, worrying that Laien could end up being late because of her.
“Really?” Laien felt his heart skip a beat. He quickly looked at the sun and from what he could tell, it was nearly eight. He still should have had more than an hour, but if he somehow remembered incorrectly… then he was in a great deal of trouble.
“Believe me, I’m not saying so because I want you to go and leave me alone already,” Kishara mentioned with a chuckle. If circumstances were different, she would have loved to have Laien go with her to the Jarncare Grand Duchy… but she knew he had his own life. She couldn’t possibly ask him to go with her on a long, dangerous journey and even if she did ask, she was pretty sure he would refuse.
“Uh, would you mind if we said our farewells now?” Laien asked in a troubled manner, appearing to have gotten quite fidgety and restless.
“Don’t worry, I will find the way to the stables on my own,” Kishara said with a laugh. Although she had been rescued by Laien, she wasn’t exactly the type of a helpless girl in distress. She knew how to take care of herself well enough and she wasn’t all that weak either. She wouldn’t be overwhelmed by just anyone, especially now that she was well-rested.
“Okay… then, uh…” Laien scratched the back of his head, not quite sure what he should say. ‘Good luck and be on your way’? It somehow seemed shallow and inappropriate.
“You sure know how to act cute,” Kishara pointed out with a broad smile and before Laien could retort in any way, stepped closer and hugged him tightly. “Be sure to think about me from time to time, okay?” she said quietly, then chuckled a little when she realized what the times when an adolescent boy like Laien would think of her could, and very possibly would be. Honestly, was she becoming the perverted one here?
“Mm,” Laien nodded a little, his face pressed tightly against Kishara’s bosom. He returned the hug, engulfing himself in the warmth of her body for a short while, then let go reluctantly when he remembered he should be in a hurry.
“Go,” Kishara said in a gentle voice. “I won’t forgive you if you are late because of me,” she added with a smile,
Laien groaned inwardly, but nodded and gave Kishara one last smile before running off towards the Royal Arena where the Grand Tournament would be taking place.
“I hope we can meet again,” Kishara whispered, following Laien’s back with her gaze until he finally disappeared behind one of the streets’ corners.
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As he was running through the Two Weeks City, Laien began to regret that his martial talent was only above average. He had been training so hard and he came to rather enjoy it, especially due to how much he liked the spear arts, but he wished he could be a little higher than at the middle stages of the fifth mortal realm.
When he would finally get to the peak of the fifth realm, he would be able to try and attempt to create his own martial art thanks to Master Shire or simply settle for the top-level Red Dragon art. Either of the two choices would cause his strength to soar significantly and more importantly, he would be able to properly control his Qi and run much faster than this!
“I’m really going to be late at this rate…!” Laien yelled out inwardly. Judging from the few conversations he had managed to overhear along the way, the tournament really was starting at the eight, not at the nine! He definitely couldn’t afford to be late, though!
“How did I even end up remembering incorrectly? I’m sure Sin said it was going to start at nine!” Laien felt like shouting but knew it wouldn’t help him to get to the Royal Arena faster. Luckily, the streets weren’t too crowded yet, so he could dash through them at full speed without relying on the not quite legal way of traveling through the roofs.
“Make it in time, make it in time…!” Laien prayed silently when all of the sudden, he spotted a dangerously close figure that was just about the same height as him.
“Wah!” the figure only managed to yelp before crashing directly into him, having just run out of one of the smaller side-alleys.
The two of them fell down and rolled over the ground for a good five or six meters, carried by the force of impact. The passerby people let out a few cries of surprise seeing two youths in a seemingly very harmful accident, but there were also some of those who thought the two had it coming by running so recklessly in the streets.
“Wow.” Laien coughed twice or thrice, the air having been forced out of his lungs when he crashed with that other person. Thankfully, he had never neglected his training; his physical body was about as strong as a practitioner’s one full level ahead of him, so an accident of this kind didn’t even bruise him much, not to speak of any serious wounds or broken bones.
“My bad, are you okay?” the green-haired youth asked after sitting down and glancing at the person he crashed into. Judging from the tone of his words, he really was sorry for what happened.
“I’m fine, and you?” Laien replied with a smile, but when he took a better look at the youth sitting on the ground in front of him, he opened his eyes wider in surprise.
At first, Laien wasn’t sure if the youth he was looking at was a boy or a boyish-looking girl, but after a few seconds, he finally assumed that despite his incredibly smooth and clear facial features, he probably was a boy after all. However, with his light green, slightly longer than his own hair and especially these amazing green eyes… this youth was definitely the most beautiful boy Laien had ever seen.
“All good,” the green-haired youth said and smiled happily. “Only got some dust on my clothes,” he added as he swept off the sand from his pants and shirt.
“Ho?” Laien mused soundlessly as he was getting up to his feet. If this boy who appeared to be just around his age didn’t get hurt at all, then he needed to be quite a talented martial practitioner. “I’m Laien by the way,” he introduced himself straightforwardly, reaching out with his hand to the green-haired youth.
“I’m Yin,” the green-haired boy answered and grabbed Laien’s hand, helping himself back up to his feet. Yet, instead of letting go soon after, he kept holding onto it and looking at Laien with interest and curiosity.
“What is it?” Laien asked, taking this opportunity to take a better look at the youth’s beautiful face.
“You are strong, right?” Yin asked out of the blue.
“I guess so?” Laien replied uncertainly. “I should be fairly strong. So far I only met only one guy my age who could fight with me on equal terms,” he said in a fashion that was neither arrogant nor humble.
“I have a feeling you are strong too,” Yin said merrily, confusing Laien even further. “I would love to fight you to be sure, though…” he mused aloud, wondering if everything would work out just like his grandfather said. He just needed to find someone who he would like and who was strong, then everything would work out by itself, right?
“Wait, I have no time to be chatting here like this!” Laien spoke nervously, only now realizing that he had forgotten he was in a hurry. “Sorry, I need to get to the Grand Tournaments before it’s too late!” he apologized and slipped his hand away from Yin’s, then began sprinting as fast as possible.
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“You are also going to compete in it?” To Laien’s surprise, Yin immediately caught up with him and asked excitedly. “So we crashed into each other because we were both in a hurry, so amusing,” Yin pointed out with a chuckle, then glanced at Laien and extended his hand to him.
“You want to get there as fast as possible, right? Come on, grab my hand,” he encouraged while smiling brightly.
Suspecting what Yin’s intentions were but refusing to quite believe it, Laien grabbed a hold of Yin’s hand, intending to see what was going to happen… and when Yin nodded happily, then looked ahead and kicked the ground with a powerful force, he almost cried out in shock.
Laien expected Yin to be somewhat stronger than him as a martial practitioner, just like Anatis was, but when Yin pulled him along he was literally lifted off of the ground. He only needed to make a swift jump every four or five steps Yin was taking, what in itself showed the ridiculous difference in their physical capabilities.
The increase in speed compared to his fastest sprint was almost three times over, the realization of which came to Laien as a total and utter shock. Even Anatis whose body was comparable to that of a martial practitioner of the eighth rank was only about two times as fast as him. For Yin to reach this kind of speed while pulling him along… his body needed to be at least at the level of the ninth mortal realm, if not close to reaching the level of martial masters…!
But… but something like this was… simply too frightening! The Grand Tournament was only for those twelve and below! So, Yin couldn’t even be older than he was!
“If he also knows how to use the Aspects…” Laien swallowed nervously. This green-haired boy, what kind of monster was this?
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Luckily enough, the two of them managed to travel straight through one of the larger streets of the Two Weeks City and after about two minutes, arrived at the Royal Arena.
They were also lucky enough to immediately spot what seemed to an entrance for the competitors and without any regard for the guard standing at it, they rushed inside the small corridor; leaving the man startled and speechless. He himself wasn’t at the Realm of Heroes, so as he was dozing off slightly the two blurry shadows which rushed past him gave him quite a fright.
“Ugh, commander is going to cut from my pay for allowing these two to enter,” the guard groaned and shook his head. Since he saw no point in chasing after those two, he leaned back against the wall and went back to napping.
“Here we are!” Yin exclaimed excitedly as he and Laien entered into the light, or in other words emerged from the dark tunnel right into the huge battleground of the Royal Arena.
The sight of the countless people sitting in the audience, which could very well amount up to five hundred thousand amazed and intimidated Yin a little. Laien, on the other hand, was already used to large crowds, so he quickly shifted his attention to something else.
“Nearly a thousand kids standing in rows before a platform with some man on it… are we a bit late?” Laien wondered, but in reality, couldn’t be bothered too much. Since the actual fighting didn’t start yet, there would surely be no problem if he and Yin arrived a minute or two too late.
“The two of you are late, get out!” the judge on the platform, however, seemed not to share a similar opinion to Laien’s. Seeing two random children disrupting his speech he immediately got on a high horse and decided to show-off his authority before the half a million people in the audience and the hundreds of important guests in the private sector.
“We weren’t that late, can’t you just let it go?” Yin asked without a second thought, enhancing his voice with Qi and sending it throughout the whole very audible Royal Arena.
The judge’s expression changed in response to Yin’s impudent words and even a vein popped out on his temple. “Rules are rules, there are no exceptions!” he yelled back, enraged that a kid would dare to bargain with him and question his authority. “Guards, help those two ill-behaved brats find their way out!” he ordered decisively, not intending to stand for any disruptions in the official schedule of the tournament.
“Eeeh?” Yin pouted, more disappointed than angered. He had really been looking forward to fighting with all the strong kids his age in this competition, but he just needed to oversleep…! So unlucky!
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Meanwhile, behind the windows of the private sector.
“What is this idiot doing?” Vatras asked helplessly, looking at Laien and the green-haired boy who came with him with disbelief and scorn.
“Didn’t you tell him the main event starts at nine?” Injar directed the question to Sinra, but judging from his tone he wasn’t taking the whole thing too seriously.
“I told him…” Sinra said with a groan. Was Laien not listening to him attentively enough? He said quite clearly that he needs to be with them by nine, as the main tournaments would be beginning around this time. He told him that before the main event a huge melee to decide the unseeded spots would take place… but did Laien already stop paying attention by this point?
“Oh well,” Injar shrugged his shoulders. “At least we get to see this judge digging his own grave. Never liked that overly serious bastard anyway,” he said with a laugh, to which quite a few people in the private sector responded with chuckles and smirks.
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“Oh, but we will get to participate,” Laien said with a smile and poured some spiritual energy into his interspatial ring, swapping his casual clothes for one of the white-crimson sets he had gotten from Rudford. He didn’t even need to say anything; the few approaching guards halted immediately and at the same time, a whole bunch of surprised voices was raised in the audience.
“Look at his clothes! The black dragon sigil!”
“That’s the Great Master Rudford’s Disciple!”
“But why did he come through the regular entrance?”
“That judge just called him an ill-behaved brat.”
“Poor guy. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now.”
The clamor lasted for quite a while since the judge’s face fell and he became unable to force out anything sensible from his throat. He had only wanted to teach those kids a lesson! How could he have expected that one of them would prove to be an official contestant, one of the favorites to win and a disciple of a Great Master?
While the judge was trying to find some words to express how sorry he was, Yin glanced at Laien with surprise. He had a feeling Laien was strong, but he didn’t think he was someone so important in this country that just him revealing his identity would cause all those people to change their attitudes so dramatically.
“Told you we will get to participate,” Laien said with a laugh. “Let’s go talk it out with that guy on the platform. He’s probably a judge or something, so everything will be fine,” he suggested carefreely, by now having remembered that he indeed needed to come here at nine, not at eight. Well, he got to know Yin thanks to his mistake, so all good that ends well.
“Yeah,” Yin nodded. “Thanks,” he said with a very honest smile, happy to find out that Laien was a good person and not someone who would try to avoid fighting him by any means possible.
“Don’t mention it,” Laien said lightheartedly and started walking right afterward as to hide his face from Yin for a few seconds. He just caught himself thinking something strange and ended up blushing a little, but he couldn’t deny that Yin’s looks were exactly in his type.
A moment later the two of them jumped onto the podium and approached the judge, who almost instantly bowed his head.
“Hey, can I have a request?” Laien asked, cutting in right before the man opened his mouth and started apologizing.
“Yes, of course!” the judge said hurriedly, enticed by the simple way out of the awkward situation he had gotten himself in. Usually, when people of higher status were asking for a favor after being offended, they wanted to settle the matter amicably. Thus, as long as it was within his authority he would definitely content to any request this youth would make.
Even if the boy were to demand something as unreasonable as having his friend advance directly into the main bracket of the competition, he would still agree! After all, what was the scorn of citizens compared to the unfavorable opinion held by a personal disciple of one of the greatest experts of the Kingdom? The importance of these two things couldn’t be compared at all!
“Mm, do you think you could let Yin participate in the preliminaries? He got here late because of me and I wouldn’t want him to lose the opportunity to fight just because of it,” Laien requested, perfectly aware that Yin was more than capable of easily sweeping through something as silly as a huge melee. With how strong his body was, Yin could probably stand there motionless and take the attacks head-on and still come out as one of the victors.
“That won’t be a problem at all, young master!” the judge said very happily. Not only was he getting off scot-free, he didn’t even need to antagonize the audience! He couldn’t have asked for a better outcome of this unpleasant situation.
“Great,” Laien said contentedly and exchanged a glance with Yin. He was about to suggest leaving when the judge spoke up again.
“Ekhm,” the judge coughed carefully, trying to get the boys’ attention. “I’ve already explained it to everyone, but out of the thousand youths you can see here, a little over two hundred will be allowed into the main tournament. The rules are simple; the last ones standing win and unnecessary killing is prohibited. Apart from that, everything goes,” he summed up briefly, this time omitting the flowery language he had used in the official speech to the participants and the audience a moment ago.
“Got it,” Yin confirmed, glad to have the rules clarified. He looked at Laien and was just about to ask where he could find him later, when one of the windows of the private sector opened and a voice rang out.
“If you are done talking, get your ass over here,” Injar shouted jokingly, the tone of his voice showing clearly in how good of a mood he was in.
“Seems like they are calling me,” Laien chortled, looking at the faraway Injar who he could swear was smirking at him. “After the melee is over, come up over there too okay?” he told Yin, hoping to get to know him better and to become friends if possible.
“Sure, I will,” Yin replied merrily. Laien had sparked his interest from the very first second he saw him, so he, of course, welcomed the opportunity to get to know him better with open arms.
Listening to the brief exchange between the two boys, the judge sighed silently. If this friend of Rudford’s disciple’s intended to participate alone, he had a high chance of getting crowded upon by one of the pre-created groups of allies. Even if this green-haired boy was quite strong, he would more likely than not have high chances of getting knocked out of the competition early.
Although it was technically prohibited for the participants to work with each other and the disciples of the same martial schools would be placed in different sections of the battleground, it was still impossible to prevent any and all cooperation between contestants. In other words, any lone wolves risked a high chance of getting bitten to death by wild dogs; there wasn’t anything that could be done about it.
“Well, I’m going,” Laien said and jumped up into the air, then skillfully converged a small platform of water from which he leaped again. Paying little to no attention to the impressed cries from the spectators’ seats, he repeated the process about ten times before jumping through the large window which Injar opened the moment before.
“Air walking,” Yin murmured, his smile turning even happier. “Grandfather said that the stronger the better, but he insisted I should put whether I like the person or not first and foremost. I have a feeling I can get along with him just well, though…” he thought quietly, wondering if it would be fine for him to decide on Laien without overthinking it too much.
“Grandfather also said that I would know when I meet the right person…” he recalled and smiled happily. In the end, there was no point in thinking about the matter too deeply; he would just go with whatever his instincts were telling him.
“Please hurry up and join the row in the back,” the judge requested courteously. “The guards will soon come to write down your names and other basic information and divide you into ten groups, just so that the fighting won’t become too much of a meat grinder in the early stages,” he explained politely, making sure not to anger someone who was a friend of Rudford’s disciple.
“We are free to attack whoever we want, right?” Yin asked thoughtfully, wondering if the fighting wasn’t restricted to the groups they would be separated into or something alike.
“Yes, the groups are only to split you all up at the start. After the melee begins, you are free to fight whoever you like,” the judge clarified amiably.
“Thanks, I think I understand everything,” Yin said casually and headed to the back row. As he walked, some of the contestants glared at him viciously, jealous of his relationship with Laien and the special treatment he had received because of it, while others minded their own business and were rather cautious not to antagonize a person they shouldn’t.
Yin himself, however, paid it all no mind; he couldn’t care less about what other people thought about him.