Chapter 67: Chapter 67 – Annual Tournament Arc

"All the participants are to be expected and wear this you'll be my representative Iris," The crown prince extends me a white set of clothes who then turns around as I change.

"Alright, I'm ready prince," upon hearing those words he turns around and notices something.

"Your hair is short that could be a problem... or not, it seems like Aurora has cut hers?"

"We're twins after all," my sister says while she hugs me from behind.

"Well that leaves the eye color but since it'll be so far away it shouldn't be easily noticed aside of your opponents, just so you know every representative under the age of 16 from the rose families will participate along with any noble, peasant, and my brother and sister representatives, so do your best, but no need to get heavily injured for it, that would in a way ruin our image, if you must forfeit due to injuries you can do so."

"I understand but I believe I'll be fine, at least against the ones of my age as I'm most likely a tad stronger."

"I've heard good things about you from my advisors, so I feel like you'll do fine, and don't worry if you lose against those older than you, the difference in ages really does make a gap and you're like 8 right?"

"Actually today is our birthday day 1 of the flowering season, so we could say we're both 9 years old now," I smile kindly at him while Aurora smiles awkwardly as she didn't remember that.

"Oh apologies, happy birthday Iris and Aurora, after today's share of fights we shall celebrate it with a banquet!"

"Sure, looking forward to it!" I smile from cheek to cheek happily, imagining what kind of food I'd be able to try.

"Good luck lady Iris," Aurora makes a teasing expression as she says that patting my right shoulder with her left hand.

"Meanie," I laugh as I accompany the crown prince to the coliseum, throwing my tongue at her just before I go past the room.

A while later I and him arrive there and through the main hall I notice some statues stopping at the first one," who is this?" I ask curiously as she looks interesting, and in a way powerful along with intimidating.

"If you ever read a certain book called tales of Artana that would be the hero of the first tale."

"I actually have," I look below her feet and read her name, "Rizia the peasant hero?"

"Yes, she was the first peasant to ever reach a class that is usually gifted by our goddess, and she was also stronger than most summoned by Aria to help the kingdom back then, some people say that she was the reincarnation of the goddess Aria herself, the blue sword in this grey statue is still passed down to this day, to the strongest swordsman in the kingdom."

"I don't remember my teacher having it."

'Her teacher having it? I'm pretty sure she turned down Alfred's guidance. Is there someone else close to his strength or did she ended up accepting it?'

"The one who owns the sword currently is lord Alfred, the swordmaster of the white rose family, he's the strongest swordsman in this kingdom," upon hearing those words and having faced both I just smile at the statement.

'I guess she doesn't believe it? Even though I've heard they met each other as she has the white ring in her hand...'

"Where do we go next, Prince?" I ask disinterested in the conversation we were having, in order to find something new to fill my mind with.

"This way towards that receptionist over there," he points towards the spot and then we move there arriving shortly.

Upon noticing our arrival a man speaks," greetings your highness, this is the tag number of your representative, the lady has been seeded as number one upon the traditions."

"Seeded as one?" I ask confused as no one told me about it beforehand.

"Basically since I'm currently the most influential person in the Lumen kingdom, you get to be the one fighting in the first round as a way to open the tournament."

"That's very interesting, meaning I'll have all eyes on me," I reply slightly nervous thinking on it,' that would also mean Aurora will be the center of attention, so the first match has to be a victory even if someone older and stronger than me, I'll have to do my best for her.'

"Also your highness her teacher sent this pair of swords for her to use, he said if you chip either of them that you will be murdered blondie, those were his words, the man looked really old and arrived a few moments ago, I believe that you may find him watching the tournament, and then pick you up when you lose," upon hearing those words I gulp as I know just how much Ray is obsessed with those swords.

'Seems like she does have one, I wonder who it is, and for it to be an old man...' The crown prince thought curiously thinking about a lot of strong people he knew.

I grab the two sheathed swords and follow the crown prince towards a big entrance where light illuminates our path as we cross to the other side, after a while, we start hearing an intense mix of cheers from the 500 thousand seated spectators in the coliseum, which is its max capacity.

"Don't stop walking, come, Iris," upon barely hearing his words I keep moving as my body stopped unconsciously momentarily due to the surprise from all these voices.

"Oh look husband there's a cute blonde girl following Prince Julius!"

"Whoa! You're right, hey blonde girl go back home before you get hurt!" I look at the person from the audience who shouted and notice he has a baby sitting on his shoulders while he shouts at me.

"Hey stop it, love, you're a little far for her to hear you, plus she wouldn't be here if she was weak."

"But dear she's so small..."

"Fine, I bet a cute dress that she will reach the top 10 which is usually disputed by the oldest heads of the noble families, if I lose you can have your way with me tonight however you see fit."

"Eh? Even the backdoor?" The man makes a very perverted expression imagining it.

"Yes, but do prepare your wallet I'll make sure to pick an expensive one."

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Upon reaching close to the center after barely hearing the initial shout, I notice a black stone-paved area in a square format, surrounded by a cleaned and well-paved ground made of dirt.

"Wait here, you'll be told what to do, I have to go sit up there," he points to a place where I end up noticing another male and a female sitting.

An unknown man starts speaking, "welcome gentlemen," his voice resounded strongly through the coliseum as it is amplified with wind magic by a few mages behind him.

The crowd cheers loudly in agreement and ecstasy, as there aren't many exciting events like this one throughout the year.

'That's a pretty interesting way to use magic, if I had it, I'd use it to shout at my enemies to scare them away,' I smile at my own silly ideas relieving myself of some pressure.

The wind blows my hair backward as I close my eyes while hearing the man's voice close to me.

"Today the annual tournament will be in honor to next ruler candidates, starting with our prince Julius, our prince Marty and our lovely princess Liliana!"

The crowd cheered loudly for the royal family.

"As you all know the tradition dictates that we have an opening match with the representative of the most influential person currently in our great Lumen kingdom, as such, we have this young girl with beautiful blonde hair, called Aurora the general of the crown prince Julius army, a peasant who ascended to nobility recently, a lady with only 8 years, a genius of the art of war!"

Upon hearing the name of who it was, the peasants screamed even louder than before as a lot of them heard Aurora's speech.

'He's really trying to make sister look good, though it is normal as this happens so they can gather more men to their army.'

"Lady Aurora you may step on the ring, as you are the seeded number one for this tournament, as such you'll be fighting the one with the last registration entry, named Yoan a young adventurer from the north of the capital."

A boy that looks about my age appears on the ring on the opposite side of mine.

"The two rules that will go through the entire tournament consist in, the first to be incapacitated or to fall off the arena will lose. Surrendering is also an extra option to avoid deaths."

"Without further wait, on our black paved floor, of exactly 30 by 30 meters, our two contestants will now begin fighting."

I walk slowly towards him,' now then rule number one don't get hurt, the second rule would be, don't get the swords damaged, and third... win without showing any significant skills you may have, yes that's about the assessment Ray would've made me do for this tournament after training with him for two seasons.'

'Either that or if he was drunk, he'd just say go all out and stop wasting time hiding your true strength.'

'Ugh it's hard dealing with him sometimes,' the boy runs at me from afar while I walk slowly lost in my thoughts.

'He's coming it seems, to think I used to run slowly like that, no wonder Ray would get angry at me, living in his dimension sure must feel different, it must be hard to be in the pinnacle of something, but I want to be the strongest to see what he sees, so I'll have to keep chasing after him if I want to surpass teacher one day.'

'For completing the training and in the case of me surpassing him, Ray said he'd gift me something, I hope it's not another ring like that pink lady who thought that'd be a good gift, speaking of which teacher told me Isabella was an interesting one, so she must be strong, my teacher rarely says anything good about anyone, and even that, I have my doubts about it being a genuine compliment...'

'Five steps, four, three, two, one,' I dodge to the side avoiding the blow from his club, and hit his stomach with the pommel of my sheathed short sword and then keep walking slowly in the direction he just came,' three, two, one and...' a sound behind me of a body falling on the floor along with another loud one, the weapon,' I tried to hold back, but after having teacher Ray as a sparring partner for that long, I don't even know how much strength I can currently exercise accurately, I didn't get experience so I didn't kill him, I think I was able to restrain myself enough, controlling my breathing, my body, walking, running, jumping, dodging, have been most of the things I've done, along with a skill or two he made me learn just in case.'

The crowd goes silent as most of them couldn't notice the strike at close range, since it was either vision blocked by the boy body or on the opposite side of my own.

I look at the royal family who looks confused at me, and then slightly on the row above them, I notice familiar faces, such as lord Alfred, Sylvia, a few others I don't know, the lady Isabella who is the one who gave me a pink ring, she's also the head and lord of her own pink rose noble house, a weird looking one with white and red hair, and a few others,' I guess those are the rose family heads meaning that the pope and Saintess should be close by too, not like it matters too much as they think I'm Aurora, so I should be fine under the crown prince guard... hopefully.'

"Seems like the sister turned out to be very strong love."

"To think a sickly girl would become not only a genius at war but also in swordsmanship, that's truly amazing, your friend Rosaline was certainly blessed with two amazing daughters."

"Well in that note so were we, I can't wait to see her clash against our little prodigy," Sylvia smiles coldly and expectantly at their duel.

"It'll certainly be a very interesting fight, but if that was the extent of her power then she has no chance against Alicia."

"Of course, after all, she learned from both of us, and was also blessed by our elements, I can't wait to see how Aurora will react to her."

The judge in the black paved arena asks, "Can you continue boy?" He checks his face and realizes his unconscious, "what a shame to have ended already, and the victory of the first round is lady Aurora," the crowd cheered with a low tone as many were still confused and didn't find the duel that exciting.

"You may return to the waiting room in that direction," the judge points at a passage which I head towards to.

Once I arrive on the other side, I sit on an empty bench and notice a lot of other challengers, 'having Aurora ability here would be interesting to perceive how strong they're at least with mana density.'

'Speaking of which will the summoned appear in the tournament too? I'd love to see how strong Goro has become, I'm sure he'd be fighting with some big hammer,' I smile happily thinking back in how kind he was.

A certain girl passes by me, which I instantly grab the hand tightly, causing her to turn to me and slap my cheek with her other one, whereas I'm fast enough to grab her hand surprising her, as we look in the eyes of one another while I smile.

"Iri-" I interrupt her by saying, "Aurora here, you're not wrong but it's a complicated matter," she nods and says," wait here lady Aurora I have a match to win," she squeezes my hand tight and then leaves it by letting go of her softly.

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