Chapter 603 (2/2)
“Let them come!” A voice interrupted. One of the guards, a young man with bright eyes, stepped forward and grinned at Helen. His eyes traced the finer details of her armor. “In Niergem, we breed our warriors strong enough to wipe out a dozen hosts-”
“Really, cadet?” Leyalta snapped, and Randidly felt a blast of mental force emanating from the heavy man. He leaned forward and glared at the guard. “Then how many lives will you be personally taking? How bloody will your spear be when the fighting ends?”
The air trembled as the force of whatever Skill Leyalta was using was enough to manifest visually for people other than the target. Randidly grinned. Ah, it was good to be back on Shal’s World. Here, people took their images seriously, and it showed.
Although the guard tried to rally his spirit and resist the Skill, his resources proved insufficient. He visibly deflated and the trio passed through the gates without any fanfare. Once inside, Randidly looked around with curious eyes. This city certainly had a different feel than any of those he had seen in the Northern Domain. Not everyone was carrying a spear, which was an extremely strange thing to see.
Suddenly, Randidly felt rather dumb that he had kept Acri in full spear mode the entire run. He had just felt like it was part of the authentic Tellus experience. Not that it made much difference, because Acri could bend and wrap itself around Randidly’s waist to stay out of sight. But it was the principle of the thing.
But still, the people were fascinating. Although some had dyed skin, they looked oh so very human. People yelled about wares, there were street vendors selling meat on a stick, and even dirty looking children play fighting with sticks down alleys. The buildings were built tall and thin. Randidly looked upwards and wondered whether there were similar gyms in Niergem that were present on the roofs of these buildings.
Grabbing Randidly’s hand, Helen dragged Randidly forward through the crowd, ignoring his instinct to take in the new surroundings. As she did so, she shot a glance back at him. “Hurry up, or someone will step on your toes.”
Randidly flexed his toes in mute rebellion but followed after Helen. With a dramatic sigh, Leyalta formed the end of their merry train. As they cut through the city, Randidly saw dozens of Tassles hanging proudly over shops. Idly, he wondered if he still had his somewhere. He probably hadn’t been able to gather it before he had fled the tournament the first time, but maybe-
Interrupting his thoughts was, in fact, his Tassle hanging over a tall building that Helen led him towards. The bright emerald of the background was a sharp splash of color in the sea of orange, red, and yellows that Randidly had seen thus far. Beside it was a pale red and white Tassle that Randidly recognized as Azriel’s.
As Helen stomped into the building, Randidly followed and found Azriel herself there, curled up at a table lit only by candlelight in the far corner of a rather classy looking inn. However, some of that ambiance of class was broken as Randidly saw a waiter serve what was clearly a gourmet cheeseburger to a rich couple at a nearby table.
Azriel stood as they approached her table. At her side, Randidly noticed, was the thin needle that she wielded as a spear. “Ah… Randidly Ghosthound. You look well?”
She wanted to ask him to spar, Randidly sensed immediately. Her body language was tense, and of all of Randidly, her gaze focused upon Acri more than any part of his physical body. Not that the thought that she was attracted to him or anything, but why would she hesitate to ask him to spar-
“Ahem,” Helen said with crossed arms. She glared at Helen, then turned and gave Randidly an even more acidic glare. “We three are all now officially grouped together to join the Spearman School group in the Inter-School competition. Therefore, it would be downright foolish to spar with each other when we will soon compete. No sparring.”
Helen glared once more at Azriel, who didn’t seem intimidated but simply resigned. She shrugged at Helen. “Perhaps it is so. But will not the format of the tournament be different, considering the circumstances? We will hardly be wasting our strength fighting each other when the entire world is in such dire straits. We have lost our ability to Level, Sergeant. Surely a little sparring won’t hurt.”
“No. Sparring.” Helen said through gritted teeth.
“We will see each other fighting during the tournament anyways,” Randidly said with a sigh. “What does it matter if we spar now?”
There was an audible crack from Helen’s jaw. She spun to glare at him. “Do you think the trip to the Central Domain will be quick? The fighting won’t be for at least-”
Which was, of course, just the moment that Helen was interrupted by the noise similar to an air raid siren cutting across the entire city.