Chapter 101 - Protective
Ray had finally reached the arena. He was no longer disguised as Nes. He put the Armadillo chest piece away in his Endless Void. Even if no one had seen him wear it, there would be many people wondering how a student such as Ray was able to afford and get one in the first place.
When he had the time to head back to the dorm, he would also put the spear in there too.
The students going through to the next round were told to go to two separate waiting rooms before the event started. One contained all the second-year students and the other all the third-year students.
When Ray entered the room, he was surprised to see that not only where all his roommates here but also many parents and relatives.
Gary, Ian and Kyle sat down in the corner of the room alone, while the rest of the group were with their relatives. Ian and Kyle were orphans who had been abandoned as kids so they had no parents. While Gary came from a small poor village.
Although Gary would be able to pay for his parents' travel cost, he didn't see the need for them to bother with something so small.
Nevertheless, Gary's heart was hurting. Seeing the others talking to parents and siblings made him miss Amy even more. If Amy hadn't passed away then the only person Gary would have bothered to invite would have been her.
Gary was overcome with a new determination. He needed to win now more than ever.
Slyvia was currently talking with her four brothers. She hadn't seen them in two years after all. She had a good relationship with each of them. They all cared for her as she was their only little sister they had.
In total, Slyvia had four brothers. Mathew was the oldest and was currently a general in the Alure kingdom army. John and Jake were a little bit younger than Mathew, but they too worked for the army and their ranks weren't fair behind Mathew, also being captains of their own squads.
The youngest of the four was Max. He was currently in his third year at Roland academy. Mages needed to learn a lot more than knights, so while knights had to stay at the academy for three years then do two years' service in the army, mages had to study for five years. But once they finished, they were free to do what they wanted.
Slyvia was currently talking about everything she had done at the academy. Her brothers noticed straight away that Slyvia would bring up a certain person's name up more than once. And when she talked about this boy, her tone would slightly change.
Just then, Slyvia noticed Ray entering the room. Their eyes met and Slyvia gleefully waved at Ray. Ray smiled and waved back.
"Is that this Ray boy you've been talking about this whole time?"
"What are you giving me that look for? He's just a good friend."
Then when Slyvia went back to look at her brothers, she could only count three of them.
"Huh, where did Max go?"
When she turned around, she could see that Max had his arm around Ray's neck.
"Slyvia said a lot of things about you. Come over let's have a chat," Max said as he dragged Ray by the neck to the rest of the group.
Max had brought Ray over and Slyvia was starting to get butterflies in her stomach. She knew Ray wasn't good at speaking with people, but her family was the opposite. They loved to talk; she was hoping the two of them wouldn't clash somehow.
Mathew was giving Ray a cold stare as Max brought him over.
"Ah yes, now I recognise you. You were the boy who went on a rampage in the opening round."
Slyvia quickly interrupted them before either of them could continue.
"That's because Ray had a lot on his mind at the moment."
Mathew then put out his hand to shake Ray's. Ray looked at it for a while and then accepted the handshake.
"I will trust you to look after my sister."
Slyvia's face started to turn bright red.
"What does that mean? I can look after myself," Slyvia replied.
"Slyvia is a good leader," Ray said.
The four brothers were stunned by the first words that had come out of Ray's mouth and started to laugh.
Ray could tell when shaking hands with Mathew that he was strong. Ray was actually very tempted to use mana steal. It was the first time he had been this close to a mage and a powerful one at that. He couldn't begin to imagine how much mana the person in front of him had.
"Well Ray, you better win your fight today," Max said. "Then we can see each other again in the all kingdom tournament, I'll be part of the Roland Academy team."
Ray's ears perked up slightly. One of Slyvia's brothers went to Roland academy?
"Sorry did you say you went to Roland? did you happen to know a female student that passed away recently by the name of Amy?
"I'm sorry, Roland is a big school, I'm not sure I have," Max replied.
Although Max was trying his best to act normal and put on a brave face, Ray could tell that his attitude and feelings had changed once he had asked the question. Max was clearly hiding something.
"Why don't you two start getting ready for the tournament," Mathew recommended. "It will be starting any moment now."
With introductions over, Slyvia and Ray walked off to sit next to Gary and the others who were on their own.
Mathew turned and looked over at Max.
"What are you hiding Max? You need to tell me everything about this Amy girl he asked for."
"Yes, brother," Max replied.
Then Jake approached by Mathew's side and whispered.
"What do you think of him?"
"The boy's eyes were fierce; he wasn't scared of us at all. In fact, he was almost looking at us like we were some sort of food. The boy is strong but dangerous as well."
"Should we get rid of him?"
"No, leave him for now and let's just see what happens."