Chapter 307

Before he knew it, the day of his first match had arrived. However, instead of being nervous like some would expect, his mind was distracted by other things. 

While he had been training last night, he had come across something interesting. It was late, so it was hard to tell if it was a dream or if it was real, but he could have sworn he felt his soul connect to something. 

It felt very similar to what he had experienced in his prior dealings with acquiring a Concept. 

This weird experience had affected him so much, that he ended up not sleeping at all for the rest of the night, trying and failing to recreate that sensation.

Which was how he found himself lying down on one of the benches in the garden that he and Edgar used with Drasil on his chest, playing with the collar of his shirt.

On a completely different note, he had observed that Drasil had changed ever so slightly. If he wasn’t paying attention, he would have never noticed.

The biggest difference was how much more dense Drasil’s mana felt. It was as if it was maturing as time went on. Not only that, but the thorns on his crown were growing as well. 

It looked like the vast amounts of mana that Drasil consumed was finally paying off. Although it was about time, with how much of his mana he had given to Drasil, Julius suspected that it would have been enough to fuel an entire house worth of enchantments for almost a year.

As Drasil was in the middle of folding his collar over itself, he sensed someone approaching him from behind.

“You’re up awfully early,” Reinera called out to him.

He sat up and Drasil, who was still firmly attached to his collar, let out a chime of surprise as he was lifted into the air without anything to support his legs. However, he quickly gathered himself and managed to scramble himself into the nook on his neck, angrily slapping Julius for his carelessness.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said to her before looking over at where he saw Amelia right behind her. 

Julius had not had many run-ins with Amelia since his return. The few they had, the woman hadn’t stopped glaring at Julius, and today was still the same. The bodyguard was staring at him like he had personally offended her.

“Why is she still looking at me that way?” He asked in a whisper to Reinera.

Reinera had already walked on over next to him and started scratching Drasil on the head, much to the little spirit’s delight.

“I tried to talk to her,” she said with a shrug.

“It’s because you are a bad influence on her,” Amelia exclaimed suddenly.

“How am I a bad influence?” He asked with shock coloring his voice.

“Ever since she met you, she has become much more defiant and free-spirited.”

“Free-spirited doesn’t sound like it is the worst thing to be,” he stated.

“It is when you’re a princess representing the Royal Family.”

That was kind of a good point, he had to admit, but she also wasn’t the crown princess or something. It wasn’t like she was going to inherit the throne anytime soon, she still had a brother who was supposed to take up that responsibility. 

He sighed at Amelia. “You make it sound like I had everything to do with that. Are you really trying to say that Reinera hasn’t been like that the entire time and simply was hiding it? You can’t blame me for everything you know,” he argued.

“She also didn’t used to argue with her family as often as she has done since she came back,” Amelia said with a frown.

“She wanted to stay at Goldencrest,” he pointed out.

“I am fully aware of that, but it’s dangerous for her here. There are some obvious compromises in this school and I don’t feel safe with her staying here. Plus, the main reason she wants to stay is because you are here,” Amelia said to him begrudgingly.

“It’s dangerous for her anywhere she goes. Isn’t that why she is even all the way out here in the first place?” 

Reinera who had been ignoring their bickering and showering Drasil with affection, finally interrupted them.

“Amelia, I have told you to stop blaming Julius for how things are going. It’s not entirely his fault.”

“Entirely?” He muttered with a betrayed look at her.

She ignored him.

“I chose to stay here because I wanted to, not because he asked me to. I would also like to remind you that I have experienced less assassinations during this time then I have ever before. So even though Goldencrest isn’t the most safe place for me, I am still safer here than I would be in the Capital.”

Amelia opened her mouth to argue, but Reinera slashed her hand. 

“Enough! I have had enough with you trying to pick a fight with Julius. I let you vent your frustrations, but at the end of the day, he’s my friend and I won’t stand here silently as you berate him. That’s final. If you keep on continuing this behavior, I will be forced to ask my family to send someone else to come protect, someone who isn’t as hostile to one of my only friends I have ever made,” she said with calm but furious eyes.

Amelia seemed to understand that she had gone too far and simply looked down at the ground. 

Reinera sighed. “Just go ahead and get breakfast without me, I will see you later, okay?”

Amelia looked up and was about to argue but thought better of it at the last moment and walked away.

When she had rounded the corner, Julius looked over at Reinera with a proud nod. “Well done,” he complimented her.

“It was about time. She still hasn’t completely gotten over her dislike of you. The recent events only made it worse,” she said with a frown.

“What about your family, did they express their opinion about me?” He asked while moving over to make some room for her to sit down.

She smiled gratefully at him as she squeezed onto the bench with him.

“They actually don’t have much of a problem with you at all. I would say that most of them are extremely grateful to you. I didn't tell them everything, but I told them about you saving me twice and that seemed to raise their opinions of you. I think she is a bit bitter because of that too.”

“What? So she’s mad that your family likes me and while she thinks I am bad for you?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Kind of. There are a lot of other things too, but for now my family is fine with my friendship with you. I suspect a lot of that is because they think you are another layer of protection, but that’s fine with me. Although some of them are reluctant when they heard you were a commoner, stating that I should be making friends with people of more prestigious lineage, but that number is few.”

“Am I?” He asked curiously.

She looked confused. “Are you what?”

“Another layer of protection?”

“Of course you are,” she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“Well at least you’re honest about it,” he grumbled which made her laugh loudly.

“Oh yeah, what was that about earlier?” He asked before he could forget.

“What do you mean?”

“You said, it is not entirely my fault. What did you mean by ‘entirely’?” He asked with a pinched forehead.

She looked away from him and started to pay attention to the flowers all around them.

“Hey, I’m asking you something,” he said while prodding her with his hand.

She kept on ignoring him.

***

If he thought the prelims were a fiasco, then this was just chaos. 

Everything was packed to the ceiling. You could barely walk two feet without bumping into someone.

It wasn’t just the number of people either. It was the entire change of the campus that surprised him. 

The arena were always a bit tucked away from the rest of the school and he now realized why that was. The staff had basically sectioned off the whole area for the tournament, allowing spectators to roam the area like one would see at a festival. 

There was still boundaries so that students weren’t harassed on campus, but for the next week or so, the campus would be like this.

Furthermore, there was a breathtaking and wonderful display of magic all around. Stunning works of mana constructions bloomed across the campus like a rainbow of sparkling art. Life-like animals made up entirely of mana pranced around the air as spectators looked on, fascinated at the spectacle.

Children of parents who were here to watch the matches jumped up in the air trying to grab these constructs and the cheerful laughter of the crowd was infectious. He couldn’t help but smile as he witnessed such beauty. 

He spotted a row of tents and carts where he could smell the food wafting in the air. He wanted nothing more than to run over and try everything in sight, but he was grabbed by the arm.

“Come on, we can check it out the stalls afterward,” Lily said while dragging him along. He depressingly followed along without putting up a fight, but that was mostly because he could sense that she wanted nothing more than to do the same and respected her self restraint.

The others were already in the stadium getting ready for their own matches. 

Speaking of the stadium, the matches weren’t just being held in the smaller arenas they used for the prelims. A good portion of matches were being held in the main stadium, the one he had noticed during his first week, but had not seen used.

The other arenas were still being used as well, but they were reserved for the underclassmen tournament and some other ‘less important' matches of the Tier 3 Tournament. 

When they arrived at the section where students needed to sign in for their match, he noticed that not everyone around was taking this as calmly as he was. 

A lot of the students were visibly nervous, he even saw a couple of them throwing up in a nearby bin. 

He didn’t blame them. This was much different than the prelims and the amount of people who would be watching would be enormous, no matter where you were fighting. He suspected most of these people fought in front of a couple dozen of other students and spectators in the last round. As such, seeing thousands of spectators clamoring in the stadium must have been nerve-racking.

After he got all set up, he was taken to a separate room where he was supposed to prepare and wait for his name to be called. Apparently, since he had gotten himself a decent record, he would be fighting in the main stadium today.

It wouldn’t be just him though, there would be a small number of other fights going on at the same time as well. But with the large field, it could easily hold dozens of matches at the same time if they wanted to.

While he waited, he took the time to practice his aura control with Lily who had stayed with him. 

It helped keep his mind off of the upcoming fight and he was proud to say that with his newfound control, he actually posed a challenge to Lily. She wasn’t just able to steamroll him with her aura and had to actually try in order to beat him.

With that being said, she still had better delicate control than him, whereas he had the brute strength which helped him keep up.

It was only when he was given the ten-minute warning, that she got up and left to go get a seat to watch. The students had their own private section so she didn’t have to worry about not finding a seat, but if she wanted to watch, she needed to leave soon.

So with a quick goodbye and wishing good luck to him, she headed off, leaving him alone.

When the time finally came, an official came into the room and checked him over much like the other round had gone. The woman made sure that he didn’t have anything he wasn’t supposed to have and ensured that his device was working properly before explaining the rules again.

Once she believed he was ready, she sent him off to the field for his very first real elimination match of the tournament and he couldn't help but smile like a little kid in excitement.