“Did you pack your invitation letter?”

“It’s in the bag.”

“What about your armor? Is it ready?”

“I am wearing it beneath my clothes.”

“And your staff? Where is it?”

“Mom, it’s literally in my hands!”

I chuckled as mom looked at my staff like a titanoboa under a magelight.

“Don’t worry, Aunt Azoth, we’ve double and triple checked everything as is. We’ve prepared as well as we reasonably could.” Durreg said, wearing a backpack of his own.

“…Right.”

We were standing in front of the door to the exit, having finished our last breakfast on the isles for quite some time.

“Take care of each other and remember that your safety is more important than anything else. If you have to leave halfway through the tournament, don’t hesitate to do so. We’ll have any number of chances to build relations later, but you’ve only got one life each.”

I rolled my eyes.

“We’ll be alright, mom. Stop worrying so much!” I complained.

I thought about asking what a nation of humans without a god can even do, but mentioning any hint of danger might’ve set her off again. Mom was tapping her foot in anxiousness as she was thinking over if we’d missed anything.

“Durreg, did you say goodbye to your mother?”

“Not to worry, Aunt Azoth. We’ve already said our goodbyes before I arrived here.”

Finally giving in, mom sighed and pulled me into a tight hug.

“Come back to me safe and sound no matter what, alright?” she said with a heavy voice.

Moments later, she released me then went to hug Durreg.

“The same goes for you too, young man.”

When mom released him, he gave her a solemn nod.

“Don cway… mama.” Madeil said, nuzzling their tiny maw against mom’s leg.

With tiny stubs for horns, small baby teeth, and tiny limbs, Madeil had now grown to the size of a puppy, and mom said he was now the equivalent of a toddler to humans. It would be a few months until Madeil reaches childhood, where Durreg and I are.

Mom picked Madeil up off the floor.

“Mama’s alright, dear. Say goodbye to your sister and your cousin.” She said, holding them up towards us.

“Byebye.”

I chuckled and raised a hand to pet Madeil’s head.

“Bye-bye! Make sure to grow up big and strong like me when I am back!”

***

After saying our goodbyes, mom and Madeil waved us off, and the two of us were now flying off on our way to Tamery. Durreg flew closer to me to talk easier over the voice of the wind.

“So, what’s going to happen when we get to Thebos? I wasn’t quite filled in on the details.” He asked.

After Nico’s ritual succeeded, the Sept family stayed in our manor for a few days. The Duke, Duchess, and Heir talked with mom about the details of the political maneuvering they’d be undertaking while Nico and I had spent the time figuring out the ins and outs of our abilities. We traded tips and tricks and even lightly sparred a little, though our attempt at practicing team fighting against my war golems ended quickly with our overwhelming victory.

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When I asked why she wasn’t talking with the others about the politics at the table, she said that while she retained her status as a noble, she effectively had to stop serving as a member of House Sept when she chose to become a Champion of Mett.

When it was time to leave, the Sept family had left us a communication device for contact as necessary, and nearly two weeks later, the results of their work arrived.

“Well, from what I know, we’ve been assigned as guest members of the primary Tameryian team. Something about showing the budding ties between us and a hint to the advantages of working with us. It all went over my head, but mom said not to worry about it.”

Durreg gave me the side-eye as we flew, to which I responded with a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

Durreg shook his head as we flew.

“Nothing; don’t worry about it. Do you know what the tournament is going to be like? What kind of contests they have and where we’ll be competing?”

“I just know that they’ll fill us in on the details when we get there, and that the tournament is going to center around combat.”

“Hmm…”

That seemed to satisfy his curiosity, and we continued the rest of our flight in silence.

Eventually, we reached Thebos. With the pendant that Duke Sept gave me, the guards at each of the gates quickly let me through, and it wasn’t long before we finally made it to the Sept manor. Nico was already waiting for us at the door, wearing a new set of armor and gear.

Nico had her hair tied up as she wore a leather armor set fashioned from the phoenix’s remains that I’d given to her as a get-well-soon gift. At her hip laid a new sickle-sword, with a big mana core attached at its hilt. Gone was the golden aesthetic she fancied, replaced instead with yellow and orange, with flashy ornaments and decorations all over.

It practically screamed ‘I am a fire mage.’

“Do you have to make even your battle gear look fancy? That stuff you’re wearing looks ludicrously expensive and even slightly impractical.”

Nico grinned.

“Of course; people look to me as a representative of the upper class and Lady Mett herself. I can’t afford to look anything less than inspiring. Furthermore, I assure you my gear is lethally practical.”

“As an aside, what are we to do now?” Durreg asked.

“Now we go to meet with our team. We still have some time left, but I like to arrive early to my commitments whenever possible.”

With no objections to that, Durreg and I followed Nico to the meeting location.

“By the way, Lady Sept, may I ask about the tournament we’re attending? As in, what competitions we’ll participate in, the rules and duration of the event, and so on.” Durreg asked as we walked down the main street to the gate of the noble district.

“Please, call me Nicotris, or Nico like Kiara does. Anyway, I don’t know all the details, but I know that the tournament is actually two events held at the same time. One event is an individual combatant tournament, while the other is a team event. Each country is allowed two teams to participate in the tournament to account for unfortunate matchups and flukes, to allow each country to display its talents, and to compensate for the Latium Republic holding a team for each of its provinces. The reason they were allowed to have those teams is that unlike the other four nations, each of its provinces is a nation of its own right that was subjugated by the republic. It’s also probably because if each country was given a single team, the Republic’s team would most likely be much stronger than anyone else.”

Huh?

“And why would that be?” I asked skeptically.

“Remember that the Republic is a country with many nations under its rule. When you include these provinces, the Republic has more people than the other four nations put together. It’s not surprising that they would have a much bigger pool of talent to choose from.”

As we passed through the noble district’s gate, Nico began leading us deeper into the administrative district.

“I see. Then could you tell me more about the team we’re a part of?” Durreg asked.

“Tamery divided participants into two teams – a team for nobility and a team for commoners. I don’t know how many teammates we have, but I know who the team coach will be. I also know one of our teammates; he’s the champion Amon-Re, and the leader of our team.”

“What about the rest of the gods? Are their champions not participating?” I asked.

“The champions of Lady Amn, Lady Aanat, and Lord Hurun are all non-combatants, as they specialize in their respective god’s field. The same would be true for Lady Renet, though no one knows if she even has a champion. Lord Huros’s champion is on the commoners’ team, so we’ll only see her when both teams get together.”

As we made one more turn, we began approaching a building at the end of the road.

“Now here’s the more important question; how strong are our teammates? I am especially interested in this team leader of ours.” I mused.

Nico chuckled.

“He’s strong. Really strong. He’s a peak rank A falconman, and he is thought to be the strongest fighter below rank S in the entire country.”

Hmm…

“Sounds fun! If he and I fought, who do you think would win?”

“You would lose, and it wouldn’t even be close.”

Even Durreg raised his eyebrows at that.

“He’s that strong? I don’t mean to doubt you, Lady Se-, ehm, Nicotris, but as much as it pains me to admit it, Kiara is incredibly powerful for her age and rank. Surely the answer isn’t as clear cut as you think?”

Nico just shook her head.

“No matter how strong Kiara is, she is a newly minted rank B creature with a year’s worth of combat experience. She cannot match a young beastman who is half a step away from rank S and was raised from birth to fight.”

My ‘fights’ with mom came to mind as I recalled how oppressive the power granted by rank and level advantages could be, not to mention the chasm between us in experience. Still, one thought dominated everything else I’d felt.

“Ooh, I can’t wait to fight this guy!” I yelled excitedly, as Nico opened the door to the room where the rest of the team was waiting.