"Hmm…?"
Seeing Erika smile all of a sudden, Ataraxia ignored it at first, thinking that the cause of her smiling was sothing or soone else.
However, after looking at her for a bit more, he eventually realized that the reason why she was smiling…
…Was him.
Whoosh!
Inwardly shuddering from this realization, the young man decided to look away from her after that, finding it slightly odd that she was still staring at him with a smile on her face.
After all, the two of them had no prior eting before this. Even if there was a chance for them to et before then, he would've probably avoided it thanks to the information Mystia shared with him.
Because of that, he began to think that the reason why she was paying so much attention to him was out of pure interest.
Though, such thoughts imdiately changed after what ca next.
Wooonnggg…!
Considering that the exchange of gazes between them was more or less harmless, Ataraxia continued to stare back at Erika, only for his periphery to soon shift as her face began to appear on the people that surrounded him.
Then, a few seconds later, he began to feel so sort of attraction towards her, causing his heartbeat to hasten as a thought began to surface in his mind.
'I… should devote my life to her.'
Bang!
Thankfully, just before this thought could take hold of this entire mind, the young man hastily activated his mana circuit to its utmost limit, circulating his strengthened mana throughout every nook and cranny in the process.
With that, the various changes that were happening to him gradually began to disappear, eventually causing his initially curious gaze towards Erika to turn into that of fear.
'…I now see why Mystia suspects her to be a spy.'
With this thought continuing to linger in his mind, the young man continued to circulate the mana within his body as he now looked back at her with a hint of wariness.
In response, Erika briefly licked her lips in anticipation before faintly shaking her head, letting out a silent chuckle as she shifted her attention away from him after that.
'…Man.'
Feeling as if he'd been pardoned of the death penalty the mont she took her eyes away from him, Ataraxia could not help but inwardly let out a wide sigh of relief as his body faintly shuddered at the thought of what happened.
'I should inform Mystia about this.' Taking a bit of ti to regain his composure, the young man soon returned his attention to the announcer's words whilst opening up a screen to talk to Mystia on the side.
As for Valyr, just as his expression soured due to the events that his other identity had to go through, his train of thought was brought to a halt thanks to a series of sudden notifications.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Though he already knew the cause behind these notifications, Valyr still went ahead and brought them up before him, inwardly letting out a sigh as he read the ssages sent to him.
"Hey, Valyr! Why didn't you tell you were planning to participate in this tournant beforehand? I would've offered to ask you to beco an affiliate of the guild in exchange for a lot of benefits!"
"Why aren't you responding… oh, right. The announcents. I'll try sending a ssage after that."
"…Hello? Are you there?"
"…Did you already affiliate yourself with an organization before the tournant? You still haven't, right?"
Feeling a slight headache co up as he read through Julian's ssages, Valyr let out a long exhale as he replied to the ssages one by one.
Naturally, he made sure to emphasize the fact that he was already affiliated with an organization by the end of it, giving the man a brief explanation on what kind of organization it was and why he decided to affiliate himself with it.
Fortunately for him, Julian's reaction to it wasn't negative.
"Azure Coalition… the alliance made by Astella City's dark horse, huh?" wrote Julian in his reply. "I'm not too surprised by that… but I am quite surprised by the fact that the dark horse in question is your student."
"What can I say?" replied Valyr in his ssage, a faint smile tracing his lips.
"I've got a keen eye for finding diamonds in the rough."
After exchanging a few more ssages between them, the two decided to end their conversation for the anti, noticing that the announcer was about to officially start the tournant.
"Participants, please head to the underground town for the anti."
As these words left Schubert's mouth, almost everyone on the center area went ahead and complied, turning the previously full stage into the barren land that it was before in a matter of minutes.
Guiding the main arbiters towards a certain spot of the amphitheater after that, the man soon snapped his fingers, causing a large group of seemingly prepared mages to appear in front of the audience.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Then, after giving the audience a slight bow, the mages imdiately got to work, transforming the mostly flat land of the expanded amphitheater into a rugged land filled to the brim with obstacles.
"With the area now ready, let us begin with the first round of the tournant, shall we?"
Amidst the cacophonous cheers of the crowd, Schubert's voice echoed throughout the tournant, a confident smile adorning his face.
"As I've ntioned earlier, the first round is a further screening test."
"In total, there are 10 possible areas one could be tested on," said the man. "However, the participants can only choose three out of these 10."
"Naturally, in order to move onto the next round, you must pass the three areas that you've chosen. After all, why would you choose those areas if you weren't confident in passing them in the first place?"
Schubert let out a slight chuckle after that. "Of course, even if you fail, there's still a chance for you to be recruited by the main arbiters. So, make sure to give it all you got!"
"And with all that said, let the first round… start!"
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