Chapter 29: Tournament (5)

Author's note: Please do not forget to read the new year special, the narrator and I are in it

"Headmaster, the enforcers of Artia have requested for our help" Albert said through his telephone "I received a call through my contact amulet, contestants of the tournament have started to mysteriously vanish without a trace, not just that, the red sword, they've become active"

"I see" Aenon replied "Offer them our help, Albert, I want you to be personally in charge of our task force this time, ask help from guilds under us or freelance adventurers that can help, if they're moving, they definitely have a hand in the missing contestants"

"Yes sir"

*****

"I can't believe I lost" Emma complained

"And I can't believe that I've made it to the semi finals at 10 years old, I am so amazing" Perseus boast sarcastically

"I hope you lose, hmph" she pouted and turned away

"You did great for a 10 year old" Nova tried to calm her down "I mean Elliot couldn't make to the semi finals either, look at him now, he's probably one of the most talented person in Artia"

"You guys heard the news?" John chimed in

"Yes, our guild got asked to join as a patrolling squad to help monitor activities on the streets, I denied of course" Nova answered "It's probably kidnapping since it is rumored that the red sword is on the move, so I'm currently prioritizing our safety first"

"Don't go anywhere alone, no matter how talented you are, they got numbers and you can't beat that" John advised "Us adults can handle ourselves, but even so, we should start taking precaution from now on"

"Who are the red swords?" Perseus asked

"Oh, they're this horrible criminal organization that would do anything to achieve their goal, kidnapping, killing, you name it" Nova answered

"Son, who's your opponent for your next match?" Axel asked

"Apparently a student from the academy, I should have no problem dealing with him, I got all the data I need, his familiar, his fighting technique and everything, he's currently stronger than me but brains over brawns" Perseus answered "Elliot also helped

"I had to research on who his teachers was, lucky that he's from the same academy as us, because we know all the teacher's different teaching methods" Elliot nodded

"The more I hang out with you, the more mysterious it gets" Eliza joined in their conversation "Who passed on the smart and talented genes onto Perseus? I mean you never knew your birth parents, right?"

"No, Old man Jake apparently found me in a cradle left in front of the run down church, no note, nothing, I got no clue on who or what they are" Perseus shook his head sadly "But it would be nice if I get the chance to meet them once, I wanna ask why they left me there. Then again I met you guys because they left me there, so it just all boils down to fate I guess"

*****

"Leona, how's our operation?" A man with the red sword tattoo asked

"Not as smooth as we hoped, but it's moving quickly enough, we should be able to start as soon as the winners of each arena is declared" A woman replied

Leona got pink hair, blue eyes, and has somewhat of a muscular built and is around 175cm tall, on her forearm is a tattoo of a red sword.

"I heard that that headmaster of the adventurer guild is also in town with his successor" another man commented "We should avoid him and his successor, they're both very powerful, even if we clash with one of them and win, our side would suffer a tremendous loss"

"That's why our operation isn't moving as slowly as we hoped, they've noticed our movements, we should start getting rid of their scouts and possible spies within our midst" Leona suggested

"And destroy ourselves from the inside? Forget it" The first man denied

"But the adventurer's guild does have the jade fragments we're looking for" a third man said "We might not know what they're for yet, but it seems that they have the most and with them assembled and kept it highly guarded"

"Let's not focus on that" Leona argued "We already have too much on our hands, and all we know is that it can create chaos, what if it destroys us instead, the risk is too high. One objective at a time"

"Agreed" the first man said

"Leona is right" the second man nodded "Let's just focus on the task at hand, if we got time for it, we'll take those jade fragments on the side"