Chapter 243 - Sea Volleyball
It was a peaceful morning when a Royal Guard came to the inn the Azure Scorch guild were staying. He delivered a letter to them from the king himself.
"What's the content of this letter?" Aquarius asked. Ever since the competition started, he had assumed the leader position. Among all of them, he had the longest time as an Adventurer.
"I'm afraid I do not know what the letter holds," the Royal Guard said. "I will take my leave now."
Aquarius closed the door after the guard left the inn. There was another guard right by the door, ans the two of them walked into the streets and vanished into the crowd.
"I think this will be the seat plan," Lance said. "The Battle of Champions would include a large arena that can house more or less the population of Solaguer. There will be eleven balconies, the highest one is reserved for the judges, and the ten others are reserved for the guild members of the participating team."
"Where will we sit then?" Elliot asked.
Lance pouted, "Below the balcony of another guild where a smaller balcony is placed. This was made to ensure that the guild members would not interfere with the match such as boosting their participants before the match or something."
Aquarius shrugged and ripped the envelope open. He took out the letter that had golden borders and opened it, reading it beforehand.
"Oh," Aquarius paused and looked at them. "It seems like we're going to have three days worth of rest."
"That's it?" Ed pouted. "Wait, three days rest?"
Aquarius nodded, "Yeah. It says here that the participants shall enjoy the next three days free of stress and worry. The fake beach also wasn't taken away for us to relax. They also gotten rid of the spawns."
"That's amazing," Elliot cheered. "Let's go to the beach. I wanna enjoy the beach. When we go to the beach, how come we don't get to enjoy it?"
"We deserve this, I guess," Aquarius stretched his neck and placed the letter on the table.
Out of curious, Elliot walked over to him and borrowed the letter, seeing as it wasn't written in their language. "Aquarius, how did you understand this?"
The blue-haired man knit his eyebrows and glanced at the letter that Elliot pointed out, "Oh, this is Lealic. This language is used by the ancient royals, taught to the descendants."
"Right, because you are a royal," Ed wiggled his brow.
The man rolled his eyes, "Anyway, they must've sent this since everyone in the Top 10 has a royalty with them."
There was a knock on the inn's door that made them snap their heads to the direction. Lance was the one who opened it and there, they saw a grinning Daniel.
"Hello, sir, we can't read the letter," Daniel said with a rather jolly expression.
Ed leaned in to Connor and whispered, "You know, is it just me or he's acting suspicious."
"I feel that too," Hope whispered on the othet side of Ed that made him jolt in surprise. "My dragon gut says we're missing something."
"Your dragon gut is never wrong," Ed and Connor whispered and narrowed their eyes at the boy on the front door.
"Let's investigate," Lance said, raising his brow at them and nodding.
–
"The beach!" Daniel cheered as his small pale feet strided on the warm white sand. The beach had heat diffusers that would allow it to not heat so much. "I love the beach!"
"Tell me, how did we get here?" Connor scrunched his face and looked at his friends.
"It was Elliot who invited them," Ed sighed. "His heart is so pure, I just want to crush it sometimes."
After Aquarius read them the letter from the judges of the Championship of the Greats, Elliot invited their team to the fake beach. He also invited his students since it was allowed to take other people inside.
While his friends were keeping a close eye on his new friends, Elliot was busy taking care of them. He kept on pulling Daniel's wrist whenever the boy would run at a faster speed.
"Just calm down," Elliot chuckled while Daniel kept on dragging him. The Vulture Torch Guild's other participants were running behind them, also enjoying themselves under the sun.
"Yeah, I don't feel the vibe from them," Florencia spat like poison. She had joined Elliot's friends by watching his mentor having fun with the other team.
"You guys should relax," Midnight said. He had a large cover hovering above him while he laid down on the sand. Everyone was unsure if he should be wearing a dress on the beach, but Midnight told them that it was fine.
"I can assure you that there's nothing wrong going on," Midnight said. "Why don't you all just try to calm down and relax for once?"
"No," the group chorused. Slowly, they walked closer to Elliot and the other team. They were pretending to play with each other, but they were actually listening in to the conversation.
"Mister Elliot," Daniel called out. "Could you please teach me how you did that thing where red mist covered your body? I wonder if it was a boost because you were so strong."
"That was actually a limiter," Elliot said. "Circumstances made it harder for me to bring out my full speed, so I had to conjure a limiter."
"What circumstances?" Daniel tilted his head and pursed his lips. His eyes held genuine curiousity that Elliot found amusing. It seemed like the boy is willing to listen to him, just like his students.
"I can't really say," Elliot chuckled awkwardly. He rubbed the back of his head and tried to look elsewhere. "Well, can we swim now? I bet you all want to enjoy the water."
"We do!" the whole group cheered that made Elliot grin.
"I feel like I'm too old," he chuckled and removed his top wear. He placed it beside Midnight who was now sleeping under his floating shade. "Midnight could you please watch this for me?"
The older boy only hummed, which Elliot took as a sign of agreement. "Thanks."
"How about a competition?" Florencia walked over to the Vulture Torch team. She flicked her hair and rolled her eyes. "Let's play sea volleyball."
"Sea volleyball?" Daniel scrunched his face in confusion. "What is that?"
Florencia scoffed and gestured her hand beside her. A Stealth Knight appeared and gave her a metal ball.
"It's like volleyball, but we play in the sea," the girl smirked. "The one who wins gets Elliot for the rest of the day.. The other one can go home and cry."