280 Chapter 280: Drinking Session (1/2)
After a long day of practice matches, the students decided to take a break and spend the evening in a restaurant. Barbequed meat, chicken skewers and the like – the students from the many academies gathered to have a feast.
Fortunately, the food were all paid for by Vermillion Academy – which meant it was free. That was the main reason why I tagged along.
”This is good!” Dong Fang Yue Chu mumbled as he placed a piece of honey-glazed barbeque meat into his mouth.
”Don't talk while your mouth is full!” Lily chided him, and he shut his mouth, chewed and swallowed.
”Sorry. But yeah, this is really good.”
I swallowed my own meat before nodding in agreement. Reaching out for a chicken skewer, I slowly slid the glistening chunks of before placing them in my mouth. Savoring the sweet, tangy sauce on the skin, I smiled contentedly.
”Yeah, this is delicious.”
”Are you really that desperate for free food?” Harrison asked me, trying to conceal his annoyance. I shrugged.
”Aren't you?” then I paused. ”No, never mind. A rich kid like you will never understand the suffering of us poor people.”
”You're not even that poor!” Harrison pointed out with a sigh. Fortunately, he didn't bother to argue and instead chewed on a piece of pork that he had been grilling the entire time. He nodded in approval and turned into some semblance of Michael Fassbender. ”Perfection.”
Everyone stared at him, and he shrugged.
”What? Just saying the truth.”
”Just make sure you don't turn into an evil android that suddenly has a god complex and decides to engineer a lethal parasitic alien species.”
”Now why would I do that?”
”Don't ask me.” This time, it was my turn to shrug. ”Ask Ridley Scott.”
”Vice-Captain Richard!”
Surprisingly enough, Lilith Porter wandered over to join us, with Riley and Brutus by her side. She gestured toward the few open seats around our table. Each table could seat up to fifteen people, and only ten spots were taken by our Jing Tian Academy team.
”Mind if we join you?”
”Sure,” Harrison consented before anyone could say anything. While the three from Vermillion Academy sat down, I couldn't help but blurt out.
”Did you just call me vice-captain?!”
”Yeah. You're the vice-captain of Jing Tian Academy's team, aren't you?”
”No.”
”Yes,” Harrison and Dong Fang Yue Chu said at the same time. I gaped at them.
”Since when was I ever the vice-captain?”
”What, nobody told you?” Dong Fang Yue Chu looked puzzled. Dude, I'm more confused than you are. ”Ever since we decided who would represent Jing Tian Academy. The decision was pretty much unanimous.”
”We all agreed that you would be best for the role,” Harrison agreed. Then he paused for a moment. ”Oh, right. You weren't there at the time. You were off on a mission with your father shortly after the monster invasion of our city. We made the decisions then”
”And you guys didn't tell me.” I was doing my best not to fume. Craig chuckled at my indignant expression.
”Of course we didn't. We knew that you would protest and refuse if you knew. So we just put your name down and submitted it. Besides, it's not as if you need to do anything concrete even if you're the vice-captain.”
”I can handle most of the admin stuff anyway,” Harrison added. ”You're the guy with the strategic-scale spell and our ace.”
Troy should be our ace and the team captain, but he was never around. Come to think of it, I wondered how his chase after his brother, Tyrant King, was faring. I needed to contact him soon.
”So, Captain Lilith,” Pearl began, and also politely nodded at Brutus and Riley to ensure they weren't left out. ”What business do you have with our vice-captain?”
”Actually, it's not just Richard. It's with all of you.” Lilith was beaming brilliantly, which almost took the guys by surprise. Fortunately, Lily was on hand to pinch Dong Fang Yue Chu before he could be mesmerized by Lilith's beauty, while Sheila instinctively clung to Craig's arm. ”Your duel with Sexton Academy today was pretty impressive. I was hoping to have my team spar against you in another practice match soon, so that we can exchange several pointers.”
”Oh! Challenge accepted!” Craig's eyes flashed excitedly. Then he glanced at everyone when he realized he had gotten ahead of himself. ”Provided everyone else in the team is all right with it, of course.”
”I have no problems with it. In fact, I think this will be a splendid opportunity.” Harrison nodded thoughtfully. ”I look forward to having a practice match with you. When will we hold it? I'm guessing sometime tomorrow?”
”Tomorrow sounds good.” Lilith smiled in satisfaction. ”Bring your best lineup. I'm not like Captain Paul. I won't be holding anything back!”
Harrison returned the grin. ”Certainly. We plan on going all out against the best team in the northern province of the Federation!”