Reactions to Emily's Feat

Paraj was wrapped in a feverous air, but among the VIPs, reactions varied. The one with the most mixed feelings about Emily's performance was the current Array Association leader who was a tier 5 array grandmaster, the junior brother of the mayor and someone on the Alterna Kingdom Major Ranking. Unlike the mayor, he preferred to take care of things behind the scenes, so he rarely appeared in public, but for an event as important as this, he had an obligation to attend. He had been here on the previous day as well, and he was of the group that was sure that Emily's ability was no fluke. After all, he personally checked the puzzles, so he knew the level of skill required for her to solve them in the speed that she did.

Naturally, he wished to see her full potential, however, he was also aware of the dangers associated with revealing her talent early-on. That was why, in order to check her true ability without exposing her to envious glares, he had altered the puzzles so that her puzzle would automatically become much harder than the ones set for round 2. If she barely passed then she might face some backlash from the public, but he saw this as a way to temper her to make sure she didn't grow arrogant. Furthermore, he would then be able to bring her under his tutelage with minimal opposition.

If she failed then he would have revealed that the cage was tampered with and arranged a retest, but he would have lost interest in her like everyone else. However, she completely surpassed his expectations by still managing to break records despite him raising the difficulty. He was of course elated by her achievement, but he was also afraid that she would be targeted. Under normal circumstances, he could openly show his support to dissuade others from attempting to harm her, but there was at least one person who he knew he couldn't warn this way. As the Array Association Head looked in the direction of the room with the young duke and his guardian, he sensed an incoming headache.

And he wasn't the only one with this fear. The young duke's guardian was also afraid that this unlikely event would occur. Although it wouldn't be a problem if the young master wanted to kill some random girl, her current popularity made her far too dangerous to mess with. Despite the fact that they held information that could pressure the city's administration, if evidence was found that they harmed Emily, it would spell poorly for them. They could probably triumph in military power, but their loss was guaranteed if Paraj was serious about fighting them. After all, the strongest power of a merchant was his funds and connections, fields in which Paraj was overwhelmingly superior.

However, when he looked at the young master, he knew that it was too late. He knew that the young man was arrogant and tried to always put on an aloof atmosphere, but at this time his eyes were as cold as a terrible winter. The guardian knew it would be useless, but he felt obligated to give it a try.

"Young Lord, I hope I'm wrong but, please do not attempt to harm that girl. It would bring much trouble to your father and his men if your actions were discovered."

"Don't worry, Uncle. I have no intention of leaving my name behind."

The young duke didn't bother using a façade when he expressed himself, much to the dismay of his guardian. The guardian knew that unless he locked him up and kept a keen eye on him, there would be no way to prevent the tragedy being planned, so he merely sighed.

'My apologies, young lady. Your talent was too bright to be shown in public.'

Fortunately, just as her enemies strengthened their resolve, it was the same for her allies. In the VIP area with Alex, Alicia and their master, the two men wore bright expressions.

"As expected, she's the real deal," their master declared.

Alex nodded in agreement.

"Indeed. With that level of skill, I'm surprised she's still at tier 3."

There wasn't a blatant difference between tier 2 and tier 3 array masters, but the change from 'master' to 'grandmaster' was special. After overcoming the barrier between tier 3 and tier 4, the soul would experience a qualitative change that would be obvious to other array grandmasters. Shui was a separate case, but because they could tell that Emily stayed on the verge of making that transformation, they knew that she hadn't advanced yet despite possessing the capability to.

"She's likely suppressing the advancement by deepening her comprehension of the basics, but this should be close to the limit of what a tier 3 array master can do so she should break through after the competition."

"I hope that's the case. I can't wait to compare notes with her."

While her brother and master praised Emily in a jubilant tone, Alicia had her brows furrowed. She felt ambivalent about the fact that Shui sent her a 'good morning' message before leaving with Emily, but that wasn't why she was worried. Although Shui was as unreadable as ever, Alicia had a thought to divine Emily as she guessed that her heaven-defying talent would cause trouble, and arrived at an extremely bothersome image.

She found out that once Emily proved that her previous skill wasn't a fluke, assassins from several sources would come after her. However, she didn't worry about Emily because she was certain that Shui could protect her from the assassins, but she judged that things would get dangerous for him if he faced the ones behind those assassins.

She was also aware that the Array Association Head tampered with the puzzles thanks to a secondary divination, but unfortunately both of them failed to analyze the full extent of Emily's ability. Alicia wondered how she could protect Emily, and by extension, Shui, and her brother read this worry from her pensive expression. He didn't think about it at first, but once he saw that dark look on her as she watched Emily, Alex remembered what a monster envy could be.

"By the way, master. How should we go about protecting this talent?" Alex asked his master.

The master wasn't surprised by this question and so he quickly responded.

"Well, I won't be able to stop all of them, but I'll go around and have a chat with a couple people who I think might make a move. For now, could you allow a portion of your secret guards to protect her?"

"That's fine."

"Of course."

Then, simultaneously, the siblings gave an affirmative answer, albeit for different reasons. Alex didn't want to see the loss of a potential rival(for him and his sister), while Alicia didn't want Shui to get into trouble for trying to protect her. Alicia would probably slap her brother on the head if she found out about his ulterior motive, but for now, an alliance was formed.

Meanwhile, another VIP with connections to Emily, had a sour look on his face as if he was close to failing at holding back his rage. He was ranked tenth on the current Minor Ranking, Adler of the Truss clan.

"... Didn't you place the powder on her?" Adler asked the young man behind him.

With great fear and hesitance, Adrian answered his father, "Yes, I believe I did."

"Then what is this farce!"

As he replied, his attempts to restrain his rage proved futile. His face matched that of an asura's, but luckily for Adrian, his back was turned to him. However, Adrian couldn't think of himself as lucky as his chest felt crushed under the pressure of his father's anger. He was upset as well, after all, he was certain that he had left the emotion-boosting powder on Emily's shoulder, and she should have been under so much stress that it should have been impossible for her to achieve this result. But reality proved him wrong. He could only assume that this was Shui's work, but he knew his father wouldn't even lend an ear to his excuses.