Chapter 24: Rumors

"Interesting...seems like he's planning to join the tournament" Anthony said "Hah, I look forward to it, his siblings, didn't make it to the finals during their time, but they sure shocked the world, a talent that reached the color black, heh, I hope to see his true power some day"

"I want to see his familiar fight" someone replied

It was a tall handsome man, 182cm tall, blue hair and light blue eyes in his uniform.

"I doubt it'll be entertaining, professor Woods" Anthony chuckled "Unmeasurable huh, one of them is enough to kill several of us, if people pay enough attention to rumors, they won't ask to bring their familiars out."

"Yeah, it'll be just plain stupidity at that point"

*****

"Let's see the kid's performance first, if he make it far in, I want to recruit him to our guild" A guy suggested "Your discipline shtick and the adventurer guild's head master can go away and relax since he'll be in our care"

He was a tall guy, 179cm tall, green hair, light green eyes, dressed in a white robe and has his familiar, a black raven, on his shoulder

"Isn't he already in a guild?" A familiar pink haired man asked "The guild master is also really interested in him you know"

"Well there's nothing wrong with me just recruiting all of them" he shrugged "They're all talented anyway, I have nothing to lose, Albert"

"Lucas, any more news on the jade fragment?"

"No" Lucas shook his head "It's really strange, even for me, and I've been in this industry for years"

"Well let's not think too deep about it, if anything happens, we can just get all of the tier 10 legal guilds to fight it"

"That includes us, right?"

"Your guild too, the headmaster would also have to step in"

*****

Perseus and Emma were back in the Silver's home library, in the room was the 2 spirit beasts, Williams and Craig.

"That's a lot of people to look out for" Emma sighs

"Well it is what it is, this tournament have people coming from all over" Craig replied "If you're weakling, I doubt you even get pass the register"

"No wonder the clerk was checking us up" Perseus responded "But I don't think it really matters since I am already facing one of the guys you want me to avoid in the first match, and now I have to wait for the full tournament draft too"

"Iron fist Bronx, big size for a 15 year old" Craig nodded "He specializes in melee combat, coming all the way from Gloria"

"Iron fist? Why does that sound familiar?" Siege asked

"It was Craig's nickname on the battlefield" Williams chuckled "Ah the good old days, apparently that child admires him and so he took the nickname in order to grow up like his hero"

"I didn't know you had a nickname like that" Emma exclaimed "I knew those medals and awards at home meant something"

"Oh where did you fight?" Ace asked "Were your opponents strong?"

"Not something I was proud of kids, even after peace is declared, conflicts between each side still remains" he sighs "Killing thugs to get yourself out of danger is something, but being ordered to kill someone is an entirely new thing, some of the things I did still haunts me"

"Let's not reminiscence of the past too much" Williams twirled his mustache "Just focus on the present"

"Heh, you weren't that bad yourself you know," Craig smiled "I can't believe you're an instructor for etiquette now, I heard the stories"

"Wait woah, how strong is Williams then?" Perseus asked curiously

"You'd be surprised, but let's focus on the tournament first" Craig reminded him "Stories can come later"

*****

They then finally got the full tournament draft that listed hundreds of participants.

"This is strange, almost all of the kid's from the buries are up against too strong of an opponent" Craig commented as they all got the tournament draft "I bet it was set up by that stupid rich faction"

"Yes, there are hundreds of competitors signing up, the chances that all those kids from the buries are facing these opponents are slim" Williams nodded "It can not be a coincidence"

"Well good news is that we won't have to face most of them since they're on the opposing side" Perseus responded "So I just need to control my arcana enough that none of my shots will kill my opponent, but can deal enough damage to knock them out"

"They'll have a referee to stop that from happening, or easy yet, you can get the Irons to put limiters on your guns" Craig suggested "Looking at this, you 2 will meet in the semi finals if you can make it that far"

"How far did Nova, Dabria and Elliot make?" Perseus asked

"Dabria made it to the quarter finals, which is the furthest amongst the 3, but the other 2 did make it far, which was impressive for their age then" Craig answered "Luck is also a determining factor of how far you can make it"

"Wealth and experiences too" Williams added "With wealth you would be able to access better equipments and with experience, you can fight stronger and harder"

"Seems like we got a lot of more training to do" Perseus sighs "Gotta make old man Jake proud"