NOVEL NEXT Chapter 211: Location of the meet.
The ground shook as a shockwave spread out from the point of impact, kicking up a giant cloud of dust and sending me tumbling to the earth. Gingerly, I tried to get up and get a lay of the land, but my balance was off. It took a moment to heal, but soon enough I was back on my feet. With my vision impaired, I couldn’t make out what had happened to Cerion. My stomach twisted as, for a moment, I feared that I had wounded him significantly, or worse…
Even now, the lake was still rippling with the aftereffects of the explosion. Our surroundings had fallen silent, as all the wildlife had escape or died by now. The absence of crickets and frogs, especially, made the dull glow of the moon seem unnatural.
It was then that my uncle and Duke Rass appeared, the latter carrying a bubble of water in tow. It floated next to him, before popping and unceremoniously dropping Cerion to the floor. His soaked clothes and lack of strength almost made me fear that I was looking at his corpse, but my fears were dispelled when Cerion lurched and started coughing up water.
Thankfully, there was no wound to be seen on his chest, as even his clothes were intact. From nearby, his father grunted.
“An unfortunate loss, but an adequate display nonetheless. Realistically, you should have capitalised on your advantage with a more powerful skill. Holding back will do you no favours.” Duke Rass chastised, his son still coughing and hardly paying attention.
“Now now, Rass. Arthur is a tough cookie, as you know. Better luck next time, eh?” he said, laughing and clapping me on the back, his etiquette slipping. “You looked worried there for a second, Arthur. You didn’t think we were going to leave your friend to die, did you?”
“I -I was too caught up in the fight, I guess.” I replied, shaking my head.
By this point, Cerion had recovered enough to get back to his feet, as his lungs were mostly empty of lake water.
“Good fight, Art. Looks like I still have a ways to go, huh?”
“That was too close for comfort, Cerion. I nearly lost several times.”
As we conversed and described the fight’s best moments to each other as if we hadn’t both experienced it, Duke Rass watched us regale each other with ‘could haves’ and ‘would haves’, his eyes giving nothing away. Eventually, he interrupted us with a raised hand.
“An impressive battle, for your ages. However, it has become clear to me that among tier 4’s, you only barely surpass your peers. At this rate, you two will have to hope the continental meet’s brackets will be age-based.”
Instead of deterring him, this comment only served to excite Cerion even more.
“Does that mean you’ll let us participate?!” he asked his father with stars in his eyes. Awkwardly and obviously caught off guard, Duke Rass nodded. Before he could react, his son had wrapped him up in a tight hug. One he, evidently, didn’t know how to return. Instead, he patted Cerion’s back awkwardly.
I held back a snort, seeing that even such a man could find reasons to panic.
After a moment of comfortable silence, Uncle Robard decided to save the Duke by clearing his throat and drawing our attention. “With that settled, I believe it high time to inform you of the next steps. After some heated discussion with Duke Cerithal, we’ve gotten him to agree to joint training between all of the tournament’s strongest participants. The goal of this training will be to tier up as many skills as possible before the continental meet, which will take place in the country of Mulio, the sea kingdom.”
“Hold on. Hold. On.” Cerion intervened. “You mean we have to work together with Arcellus?!”
“…Indeed.”
“But he’s a madman! Why in Helios’ name-”
Duke Rass silenced Cerion with a glare, cutting his remark short.
I stifled a laugh, but was somewhat able to see why Cerion disliked Arcellus so much. Our fights against him had been hard-won and Arcellus’ personality was a bit… striking. Nonetheless, I came to his defence. “Come on, Cer. Peter is strong and will make for a great sparring partner. Besides, how would we train our skills to their limits without pushing ourselves there as well?”
Cerion groaned, but eventually nodded, ceding the point. This allowed my Uncle to continue his explanation.
“So as I was saying, the meet will take place in Mulio, the country closest to the Eastern continent. Supposedly, there is a continent to our south as well, but it is so far away that we can’t get there by ship. Another reason why Mulio was chosen was because of its ruler, the pseudo-tier 7 sea king. He’s reaching old age and isn’t powerful enough to pose a threat to the rest of the continent’s tier 7s, so his kingdom makes for the perfect neutral ground.”
I pursed my lips, trying to recall everything I knew about Mulio. A man I had met in the tournament, John, had talked about the endless proxy war Mulio perpetuated along with Carvi and Binko. The fight had caused the deaths of many people close to him, and even more besides… It was hard to imagine a tier 7 ruled participating in such mindless bloodshed, but who was I to judge?
I only hoped to see John at the meet. Considering its location, that wasn’t very likely, unfortunately.
Other than that, Mulio was famed for its navy and tourism, drawing nobility from all over the continent to its warm beaches.
“How will we get there? Mulio is pretty far, no?”
“Indeed. Normally, travelling there could take up to two weeks. And that is only if you travel by ship. This time, however, we will be using one of the Royal relics to get there a few days before the meet starts. Travel time should thus be reduced to a few days.”
“A few days? What relic can travel so quickly?” Cerion asked in wonder. It didn’t sound as impressive to me, as I had been teleported before, but I had to remind myself that teleportation was an incredibly rare feat. While most nations definitely had access to it, they weren’t usually willing to reveal that fact. Hells, Alterian hadn’t even used them to counter Dalius’ incursion!
“I suppose you’ll have to see, young Cerion. Until then, you two will be stuck practising like your very lives depend on it.” He glowered. “Full disclosure; They do.”