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[ 1 !!! ]

The sports festival that was halted due to the terrorist attack ensued. Some school officials were against it, but because Taglagas wanted to showcase their stability after the recent turn of events, the school was forced to abide.

Still, it showed that most were still cautious of going since the number of visitors was far less than usual. Mostly the foreign commoners and lesser nobles were the ones who were adamant to partake.

"Thank you everyone for coming once again, for now, please do watch the finals of the tournament~!" Said Earlteria Gem who [ poof ] herself out of the stadium grounds and returned to her seat.

Shortly, that managed to bring forth shouts and cheers. Just having the headmistress, Odino Thorton, and the former Marquis of Star, (dubbed as the "Celestial Wizard") Roetem's presence, made it at least eye-catching to merchants and high-ranking nobles alike.

"Ho— To think the King would use me like this, not bad, not bad." Said Roetem, the old man with a towering intimidating presence.

He had orange eyes and black hair that appeared lighter than Lesjon's. His cane was adorned with expensive stones yet it still exuded simplicity alongside his dignified look. Even with his hunched posture, (probably because of his age) his presence still quaked the likes of Odino.

Roetem, the esteemed Wizard had lore stretching across the lands. It told the tale of how even great Dragons of old respected the wizard. Further, many believe that only upon hearing of Roetem's absence from the Autumn Kingdom, did Jack Cross choose to invade their land.

'Aigoo... I should resign soon.' Odino Thornton thought while side-eyeing the older legend. The glum look on his face was apparent as he truly didn't want to participate in the festivity. Yet as the [ Guildmaster of all Guilds ], this was one of his many responsibilities.

"Now let us be merry and thank our esteemed guest for coming~"

Still, if there was one who was as carefree as ever from the start, it was the loving headmaster, Earlteria Gem.

"It is truly my pleasure, Gem." Responded Roetem whose keen eyes gazed at the Principal. It was like he was inspecting a precious stone right in front of him.

Earlteria gazed back yet only smiled carefreely. She then without missing a beat, introduced the roster of students itching to compete.

As casual as their interaction intended to be, all eyes that saw the two beings of experience and arcana felt the weight of their years of history. Especially the poor Guildmaster who squirmed and stood among those powerful figures.

'Nope, goodbye, time to find Naell!' Odino thought with a grin that managed to scare several people. Yet when he imagined how gravely Tahina would scold him, his face began to contort once again.

'Aaaaaaahhh, I really should resign soon!'

The roars of the viewers grew ever louder as the contestants began to enter. A final-five-way battle was to occur between Andrew Sunheart, and his seniors in EDSD.

One was a woman whose build was that of a Spritan, a known mercenary group from the Republic of Summer. Beside her was a fellow contestant with a similar appearance, although unlike her, he instead possessed mana.

The remaining two were a mage and martial artist correspondingly from the Adventurer's guild, and a noble from a different continent.

All five of them stood equidistantly. Upon hearing the umpire's whistle the battle commenced with the Spritan woman dragging her greatsword across the center.

She started by first testing the waters and forcing her greatsword into the ground, suddenly twisting it and causing a thin fissure to spread across the battlefield that reached both ends.

Without warning she dug her sword even deeper, allowing it to plunge beneath a heavy mass of ground, before forcing the blade out like a shovel.

A wave of debris rushed through the fissure causing vibrations across the entire battlefield.

"Tsk!"

The now unsteady terrain forced the two mages to levitate, all the while the other arts user (excluding Andrew) took the initiative to use the loose debris as their own throwables.

Rocks and aura began to fly from opposite ends. That was when Andrew swiftly began deflecting with his sword, all the while using his aura to jump and dodge the mages' magic.

Within a small window of time, he dashed closer to the center and gathered enough mana to quickly bring forth [ Ring of Light ], a powerful spell known to be rather difficult to counter, or more appropriately, escape from.

Not only was it fast, but it could also cover an entire area several feet away from its caster. In addition, the spell itself was the height of a tall wall.

Mana emanated from Andrew as the circlet instantly spread out, pushing back and momentarily dazing all the participants with the unsparing light magic. After gazing at one another they all silently nodded and decided to focus on Andrew.

[ Nothing personal, Magic Swordsman! ]

All four of them leaped and charged at their junior, and so the battle then went on with the repetitive clashes of mana and aura.

Crowds were overjoyed nonetheless as a battle royale of five was an especially unusual sight, yet it was unavoidable as the composition changed immensely from many dropping out; those who resigned included Namiku Asuna, Naell Beryldot, Rumi Cabalyer, and many more who were still recuperating from their internal injuries.

For Namiku, she didn't participate due to a persistent letter given to her from the Easterside Empire, thus thoroughly bumming her out. Yet as she seemed to really value the advice of her father, Emperor Kaido, all who knew of her reason simply found her cute as she sulked.

Much like her was Rumi Cabalyer, who grew upset as she truly wanted to fight with the others. Yet upon receiving praise and the official name [ Twelveling ] she was disqualified, no questions asked.

"Damn it all! Why would you promote me!"

Septh and the rest of Utua's entourage could only laugh at their friend. Most of the time she was certainly gentle and collected, but instances like that brought out the childishness of Rumi.

In short, almost all were saddened by their inability to continue- all but one. That of course was Naell Beryldot who happily conceded ahead of time.

Owly sighed from Naell's unnatural humming for the past few days. Nevertheless, the school was quite pleased as they also were hoping to shorten the festival in some way or another.

Going back, when the sounds of battle could no longer be heard, all that remained were their joyous cheers and applause for the victor Andrew, who had won his first five-way bout.

The events that followed could not even match the rowdiness in Andrew's battle royale. Yet it was still filled with vigor as Naell watched the sports he was more or less familiar with.

At first, he intended to go to the library yet was dragged by the collar to spectate upon seeing Casper. It was Owly's fault because as soon as they saw the young master of Genoja, Owly HOOTED and foiled Naell's attempt to sneakily escape from the scene.

In Owly's defense, the young master of Berydot had cooped himself up in the library for far too long. He truly needed a change of pace or he would go back to being the cranky— low to no-energy Baron's son.

"You're not even a hermit, HOOT."

The sound of a bell then rang throughout the air, thus the first game they were there to witness finally began.

Netball was a game consisting of 5 players in a team with its main objective being to shoot the ball into the net.

Yet no matter how much it resembled the sport basketball Naell knew on Earth, this mere sport was far more dangerous on Mundo.

Using both their aura and magic, the ball and pacing of the game were insane. Not to mention, foul was a non-existent call for any of the players.

'I'm glad I didn't participate in this one.' Naell thought sighing in relief.

Another game was soon in their sights, this time it was familiarly called chess. Yet instead of black and white pieces, the board was composed of the students of Taglagas.

"No wonder."

Recalling every reference of chess he had seen on Mundo thus far, Naell was reminded how it was of no surprise to anyone when the lackeys of Lucile called themselves chess pieces.

"What was that Naell?" Casper asked.

"N-Nothing bro..."

Yet the thought escaped him as he began to sigh once more.

'...I just hope Andrew and the others can win soon.'

A tinge of guilt admittedly lingered from when he declined their offer to join in. Yet his safety was by far his main priority- not to mention what they were doing was really a hassle.

It was then when the hollers of the crowd grew louder as a "knight" was flung outside of the board.

Naell flinched and gazed in abject horror. Instead of the standard earthly peaceful game of chess, what beheld his sights that day was a disastrous battle of aura and magic.

Pawns that were incredibly fit, knights that could shoot flames, bishops whose quarterstaffs were coated with aura that upon impact would destroy one block, and lastly, Queens and Kings that dueled immediately from the start.

"...This is no chess."

"Haha, I admit it's a bit messy, but it still is chess Naell." Replied Septh who was watching with enthusiasm unlike him.

Time flew by until a team's King was finally defeated. Naell and the rest then went on to relax by the surrounding stalls set in the open field of the school.

Somehow, Naell mistakenly expected the crowds would be minute. Afterall, there were fewer visitors than before, and quite a lot of students were busy with activities. Yet who would have thought that even high nobility would come and eat there?

To make matters worse, the rest of their friends were in no way tired. Quickly they proved this by abducting both Naell and Lesjon.

Soon as the sun reached its peak and caused their shadows to stretch, they were all within the radius of stalls, mindlessly eating some skewered food throughout the hot afternoon.