54 The Preliminary Rounds Started? (1/2)
Immediately after settling Lars' registration for him, Head Administrator Natiro apologised profusely to Lars before heading off to oversee other preparations for the coming big day.
”Do not worry about the situation with Administrator Fei, I'll make sure to settle things internally with him. It's not the first time he's been harassing potential talents or anyone that has dared to speak up against the Trenel family. As you can tell, they're sort of like the local overlords since they are second only to the Duke's family itself... Oh! You'd better hurry on, you'll want to submit your scores and names for the preliminary rounds, right...? Hurry on! I'll see you later!”
The young-looking elf spoke like an old man, befitting his actual advanced age of 136 years old. He finished his one-sided monologue like a bullet train, completely unlike his usual cool and collected way of speech, as he needed to rush off to handle other matters in the stadium.
He left quickly with a nod and wave to Lars, Charley and Wesley, urging the boys to get on with their preliminary scorings.
Lars quickly joined his two unlikely companions and they headed onwards into the depths of the stadium.
”Charley, do you know what the rules and arrangements are like for this tournament?”
”Yup!” He nodded, cheerful as always. ”I can tell you all about it!”
”...” They continued walking in silence for a few seconds until Lars couldn't stand it anymore.
”Well...? Aren't you going to explain it to us?” He spoke with his usual raspy hiss, aggravated that the boy started the story but didn't continue.
The boy turned around - his eyes reflected silver coins.
Lars groaned on the inside, before taking out a coin and passing it to Charley. The chipper boy then laughed merrily and explained things to them.
”The selection actually is split into 2 sections, one for those under 17 years and 9 months old and another section for those older. Don't ask me the reason! It's not been disclosed! Okay, so after registration, there's actually a preliminary round starting today at 11:15 AM - which is why that Administrator Fei had been so hurried to close off the registrations!” He shook his head in appreciation as he looked at Lars, ”You, sir, are a truly lucky man! To garner favour from Head Administrator Natiro... Tut tut tut... Amazing!” He clicked his tongue in admiration as he spoke.
Their footsteps fell rapidly as they kept a quick pace through the passageway towards the end where intense noise could be heard, a growling rumble of thousands of voices, while the bright light of day could be seen. The lightning storm clouds had since dispersed with the elf guild staff's intervention. It was a good thing he had chosen that time to settle things too, he literally saved the parade from rain, as well as thunder and lightning!
Along the passageway, they saw many people leaving dejectedly along with guards interspersed here and there every few metres. Before they reached their destination, Lars quickly asked how the preliminaries would be run.
”Oh... As I understand, they first conduct a general fitness exam. I believe they test strength, running speed, agility, reaction speed and combat skill. The first two should be tested on the track-and-field area, while the last three are done by illusion arrays to simulate assessment situations. At least, that's what the last big tournament did 2 years ago.”
”One last thing... Before we exit... Do you know how many people in total registered?”
”Hmm...” He rubbed his head with his right hand as he thought about it, before he answered, ”For the senior section, not that many. Perhaps two to three hundred participants? While for the junior section...”