Chapter 17: Team Southern Monsoon (1/2)
Chapter 17: Team Southern Monsoon
“Something’s wrong.”
The closer they neared the Holy Dawn Arena, the more suspicious Ayrin’s expression became. He couldn’t help but mutter to himself, a little apprehensive.
“What’s wrong?” Belo turned his head around and looked at Ayrin. “Ayrin, can’t you eat your sausage first before talking. Don’t you feel very ridiculous talking with a roasted sausage hanging on your mouth?”
“Fine.”
In two or three bites, Ayrin finished the sausage he’d already gnawed halfway. Then he looked at the Holy Dawn Arena’s vast and lofty dome that was already emerging in front of them. He said, “Belo, did you remember the date of the match wrong? A confrontation like this between the strongest students of the two academies involves the honor between the two academies, it should be much more spectacular than the Beast Battling Exam, so there should be many spectators coming. Why are there so few people on the way?”
“The reason is very simple.”
Belo looked at the sparse flow of people on the street ahead and said, “It’s because the battle record of our Holy Dawn Academy is really too lame. Every time, what you want to see is your own academy giving a painful beating to the guys from the other academy, and then get qualified, but what you see every time is people from your academy get painfully beaten up by other people. When something’s too disappointing and feels too much of like a loss of face, of course there will be much fewer people coming to watch. For the vast majority of students, this competition happening only once a year is the greatest affair in Eiche. Countless students and even those who’ve already graduated will come in great flocks to watch their academies’ matches, but our Holy Dawn Academy is instead almost going to completely forget about this popular competition that’s all the rage in the entire kingdom.”
“The worse the battle record and the worse the strength, the more you should go to the arena and cheer for them.” Ayrin said, “This way the atmosphere is more imposing, and maybe their display will be a bit better too.”
“That’s your way of thinking. There aren’t many people like you who don’t know what shame is.”
“But the more shamed you feel, the more you ignore this competition, the less passionately you throw yourself into this contest, then the less likely your team will defeat the other academies, isn’t it?”
“What you say is smart, you’re talking about the important point.” Belo squinted his eyes. “Right now there are many guys inside Holy Dawn Academy that have a little talent like Hawthorne and managed to compact primordial arcane particles very early, becoming arcane masters. They’re all garbage who only know how to hide inside the school, acting cool and strong. What I think is, these wastes have now long forgotten the meaning of courage. I wouldn’t have come to this shameful academy if it wasn’t for Holy Dawn Academy having many formidable arcane skills you can’t find elsewhere, and its many fierce elite teachers.”
“Hey, isn’t that Moss? He came to watch the match too.”
Ayrin suddenly pointed his finger in front of them. Inside the sparsely populated crowd, the red-haired Moss was coming close to an entrance of the arena.
“Newer students will be more curious about the novelty of this competition, and they’re prone to be more hopeful about it. That’s why there are more first years and second years coming to watch. Isn’t it very normal for this guy to come have a look?”
“Let’s go and sit together with him?”
“Alright, we’ll sit together and beat him up!”
“…That won’t be necessary.”
…
“Courage is the gateway to every dream.”
At the entrance, Ayrin saw these words on every direction board in the blue Holy Dawn Arena, an arena that dwarfed him.
Looking pensive, his head lowered, he followed inside after Belo.
The sight suddenly widened in front of their eyes when they went through the tunnel. Ayrin shivered the moment daylight sprinkled down from the sky and shrouded him in it; his eyes suddenly spread wide open.
The blue stands that could accommodate several dozen thousand people seemed like a circle of waves revolving around the field below.
The circular form of this field wasn’t as smooth as the one inside the Beast Training Field though.
Scattered weeds looked lonely in it, shuddering in the slight breeze. The vast majority of the field was however covered in cracks and pits big and small!
Vestiges from the burn of flames, the crush of heavy objects, or the sharpness of cutting weapons were left everywhere behind.
Even if it was his first time coming here, Ayrin was certain these were all scars left behind by previous battles.
Perhaps the names of those who fought here were long forgotten, but the vestiges of their fights still lived on.
At this very moment, Ayrin really couldn’t understand why the Holy Dawn students could ignore his competition after witnessing the scars of these battles.
Indeed, there weren’t many Holy Dawn Academy students who came to watch.
Students of the other academies each also had their own temperaments and their own various hobbies, but the competition venues in the vast majority of academies would be bursting full when the matches were underway. However, merely half the seats were occupied in this arena.
The venue seemed a little cold and empty, but a clamor suddenly rose inside.
Ayrin looked toward the source of the noise. A big crowd of people clad in yellow came their way, and very quickly occupied a portion of the stands.
These people wore identical yellow uniforms and even carried small drums, pounding them in dong dong dong dongs. The venue previously seemed very quiet, now it instantly became exceptionally raucous.