Rivers of the Night-Chapter 294: Participants [Bonus]
Chapter 294: Participants [Bonus]
[Bonus courtesy of vokayroK <3]
Theron walked into the arena along with the other participants, his eyes calm, unbothered, and unhurried. The stakes of this seemed so much less meaningful when he had just played around with Gold Assassins the night prior, and it also didn’t help that he had grown bored of the proceedings after the first day alone.
But all things considered, this was still going to be the time for the military stream to shine. At the very least, today, he would be able to stretch out his legs a bit.
He didn’t know what First Years the others would produce, and he doubted any one of them would be much of a challenge either way, but it would have to be enough for the time being.
What Theron maybe should have expected, though, was that he would hardly take a step into the arena before he was stopped. Across from him, a young man that looked quite a bit like Faustin stood.
The two were about the same age and had similar enough facial structures that they could have been brothers. But unless they were fraternal twins, Theron doubted it.
“Yes?” Theron asked, looking at the young man with his usual gentle smile.
As far as he knew, this young man was known as Jualim Sangun. He wasn’t sure of the relationship between him and Faustin—maybe they were cousins, maybe they were half-brothers, or maybe they really were twins—but Theron hadn’t really looked into it.
He liked to do research, but not only was there not enough time, he was also occupied with other things, and these opponents, quite honestly… weren’t worth the effort.
“You did well to humiliate my Sangun Clan yesterday. I hope that you are as talented in combat as you are in scholarly endeavors.”
“By your word choice, it sounds like maybe you’d be a better scholar than a fighter.” Theron chuckled a bit.
Jualim sounded exactly like the sort of person who had learned a few big words and thought it could make him sound quite smart in using them. Ironically enough, he sounded so awkward while using them that people naturally thought him to be a bit dull.
Why he would choose to come and talk to Theron as though he could win a war of words was ridiculous.
But as expected, while those listening in picked up on it—looking away to avoid laughing—it seemed to go right over Jualim’s head.
“I chose the military stream because I wanted to, not because it was my only option,” he said proudly.
“Is that so?” Theron smiled. “Well, I didn’t have to choose.”
This time, as dull as Jualim was, it was impossible that his words would miss the target. There was no escaping the jab, and it pressed right into the sore spot of the Sangun.
Right now they were behind—and heavily so at that. There was no escaping the fact that they had been humiliated in their own home territory, and Jualim’s attempts to make up for that were very clearly falling well short.
Luckily for him, someone else was paying attention and deemed it fit to come and save him.
“I guess we’ll see today whether you should have chosen, no?”
A young man leaning on a pillar by Lyn Auran said with his own smile.
The Aurans, all things considered, had performed quite well given the circumstances yesterday. Lyn’s attempt to torpedo their side had failed, but the Aurans showed themselves to be quite competent—at least enough that they didn’t humiliate themselves the rest of the way.
What was curious to Theron, though… was why?
After Lyn tried to tank his chances, there were no further attempts to do the same. It made Theron wonder if they weren’t here to target the Nightingales, but just him alone.
Was this all part of the same game to them? And why was that?
This should have been a competition between nations to decide the fates of their people for the coming decade, but instead it had become a circus surrounding Theron and seemingly Theron alone.
However, Theron truly didn’t feel that it was that simple. There had to be something that he was missing.
The Sangun he could understand, but the Auran… their motives felt a bit different.
Their actions felt more… strategic, in a way. They were trying to torpedo Theron’s chances, sure. But it was almost as though it was because they saw him as a threat to their chances of winning, rather than because they were targeting him specifically.
But even that was weird too.
Had Theron lost the debate, he wouldn’t be able to participate in the military stream. But as far as everyone else was concerned…
“Why are you all asking so many questions about someone with a Blue Pufferfish for an Echo?”
A young man with a fiery head of red hair seemingly couldn’t bite back his tongue any longer and spoke out. Funny enough, it was the representative of the Firewings, a supposed ally, Inanm Firewing.
It was rare in these sorts of things that Theron came across someone shorter than him, but Inanm was. He was definitely eighteen or so years old, but he stood at 5’4″ at most. There was a short, stockiness to him that was brimming with fire and explosion, and the Fire Mana around him was certainly dense.
Theron’s reaction to these words was much the same as always—a gentle smile. He gave Inanm a glance, but not much else.
This was exactly why the Aurans’ actions were so odd. He had exposed his Blue Pufferfish Echo, so why would they be worried about his performance in the military stream? They should feel much the same way Inanm did.
Something really was odd about this.
“Would the participants of the First Year military stream please step onto the stage. The time has come!”
Theron brushed past Jualim, the curiosity still at the back of his mind. He wondered… if this would be something to take advantage of or not.
However, he found himself speechless again soon, because the military stream began much the same way his experience in the academic stream had.
