"Then we're settled," said Cristina upon learning the payment for the orders would be immediate. "When your cores are available, we'll handle the delivery… Just wait a moment while I go to the store to organize your other orders and write a document for this one."
After Cristina returned to the store to prepare the document, Alexander used the time to deepen his knowledge about the Vermillion Empire region with some Guild books.
When Cristina returned, they signed a contract and she handed him a copy of the contract along with his second order.
They said goodbye, satisfied with the agreement.
With nothing else to do, Alexander returned to the room to stay in his goblin form as much as possible.
The next morning, when the whole team had organized and gathered, the group mounted their rides and headed for Iron Hammer City.
They were going to get Stella's horse and finish their affairs before returning.
With so many situations, setbacks, and mitigating factors, Alexander's group only reached Twin City on the day the academy event ended.
Having been away for a long time, each of them went to their residence first and only then gathered at the academy gate.
When his team arrived at the gate, Alexander, who lived at the academy, was already there with a covered wagon being pulled by Ocean.
Seeing the shape under the tarp, the team realized it was the scorpion and didn’t ask any more questions.
The group just entered to await the event's conclusion.
As it was the closing day, they obviously weren't the only ones, nor the first, to arrive.
For Mark, already boasting victory over everyone he could, they had already won.
At one point, a young man, the same one who tried to cut the academy line, with whom Mark was boasting, didn't accept the provocation and tried to intimidate him. Mark merely mocked him and summoned his {Iron Will}.
The young man seemed to recognize Mark's talent and backed off.
This only left him physically unscathed, his image wasn't so lucky—many people watching the scene he himself tried to create.
Mark, who seemed to have some previous issues with the young man, didn't let this chance pass.
He challenged him to a bet on who’d perform better in the event, but Alexander intervened: "Is it really worth risking losing to someone else when you're clearly better than them?"
Mark, understanding Alexander wanted to give him a chance to come out on top without losing his dignity, took a step back to avoid unnecessary risks: "You're right. It's not worth competing with him when I'm clearly better."
The young man could tell Alexander wasn’t afraid of him—or of losing the bet—but he couldn’t just let the insult slide.
Looking for someone to retaliate against, the young man quickly dismissed Stella and Mark, neither of whom he could afford to offend in any sphere.
Alexander, even without knowing who he was, didn't think it was a good idea either. It was obvious that Mark wasn't going to listen to just anyone.
This left him with Diana, who seemed the perfect target for him to vent his frustration.
As soon as the young man advanced, Alexander stepped forward—spear in hand—pressing it against his chest and said: "I don't know what differences you have with Mark, during this event, this group is under my protection."
Seeing Alexander had the audacity to put a spear against his chest, the young man felt even more he wasn't an ordinary person.
Yet since the young man didn't want to back down a second time, he snorted and batted the spear aside.
Ocean, who was beside Diana, couldn't hold back any longer and lunged.
Alexander, who could only rely on his agility and dexterity on one side of his body due to his injury, let his spear slip a bit through his hand and then swung it hard—making the counterweight go towards the young man's hand.
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The young man was completely stunned finding himself trapped between two violent blows coming from both directions.
Before Alexander could hit his hand, or Ocean bite his arm, Lucas appeared behind the young man and pulled him back, saving him.
"You…" said Lucas to Alexander with a serious face.
"He invaded my group's personal space with hostility and Ocean attacked him by instinct," explained Alexander. "I was just trying to save his arm from her bite… You must have noticed I didn't put any energy into that movement."
Lucas stared at Alexander for a while, but he ended up deciding not to pursue the matter.
"Everyone return to your respective teams," commanded Lucas loud and clear for all to hear. "Let's see who won the event and get this over with."
Since Alexander spent a good time avoiding Mark and Stella during team formation, his team would be one of the last to be inspected.
While waiting for his group's turn, Alexander noticed the young man from before watching him maliciously, but he didn’t care much.
This young man was too weak to cause him problems at the academy, and he could change his form if necessary outside the academy.
Not wanting to waste his time on someone like him, Alexander focused on the creatures the other teams were presenting.
Most were at intermediate levels of the 1st evolution, some teams presented creatures at final levels of the 1st evolution.
Jason's team boasted a 2nd evolution troll that wasn't much weaker than the {Hobgoblin Rider} on its mount.
"Didn't I say your brother's team would have the power to bring a 2nd evolution creature?" Alexander pointed out to Stella. "It's hard to know who would win the event in a contest between that troll and the {Hobgoblin Rider}."
Stella nodded in response to Alexander, she said nothing and kept her thoughts to herself.
When it was the turn of the team of the young man's team who wanted to fight Mark, they showed a very strong variant at the end of its 1st evolution—below many expectations.
The moment it was his team's turn, Alexander asked Ocean to move the wagon transporting the creature to the designated spot—its presence caused a stir when most people finally realized Ocean was a 2nd evolution familiar.
As soon as Alexander revealed his creature, the crowd grew even more surprised and silence took over the place.
Even Alexander’s team was surprised: the creature under the wooden, scorpion-shaped structure wasn’t one they had fought before.
"Do you really think it's that easy to fool me to try something so brazen?" asked Lucas, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"I'm not trying to fool anyone, much less cheat," declared Alexander without any shame. "I'm following the rules."
"Are you really going to insist?" asked Lucas, impatient. "This creature is clearly a {Steel Fangs}. You wouldn't have enough power to defeat a 3rd evolution creature, much less kill it."
"What does one thing have to do with the other?" retorted Alexander. "YOUR rules only said: the team had to go to the Star Forest, which mine did; and bring back the hardest creature to hunt—in one week—on their own merit, which mine also did."
"At no point did you say we had to hunt it ourselves for it to be valid. You just said we had to obtain it through our own merit," replied Alexander. "My team obtained the {Steel Fangs} on our own merit. Here's the documentation."
Lucas narrowed his eyes at Alexander and took the papers from his hand.
What surprised him was they were indeed official and stamped with the Black Moon's official crest.
Lucas read the sales records of all materials obtained during the event, which Cristina had inflated to maximum market values at Alexander’s request.
He also checked the purchase record of the {Steel Fangs}, which she had priced "preferentially".
Realizing he had fallen into Alexander's trap—bound by his own words—Lucas's face darkened.
Before he could do anything, a somewhat aged voice cleared its throat.
"Although everyone—including him—knows this wasn't the method that should have been used, he has a point," said the voice, which seemed to have conflicting traits of displeasure and interest. "So I declare this team valid."
Lucas, still looking grim, turned to the crowd and said: "What are you waiting for? You heard: they won."
Ding!
[Mission Completed]
The confirmation of Alexander's team's victory left many indignant and some—who had to unite for not being chosen—happy they didn't have to show their results.
Even so, no one dared challenge Lucas’s patience by disputing the victory.
"Follow me," said Lucas, in a bad mood, to Alexander's team.
Most of the team felt embarrassed by how they won. Alexander, however, didn’t care much and followed him to receive their reward.
After following Lucas for some time, the group arrived in front of a large double door, closed.
A sign above the door indicated its purpose: "Academy Archive Library."
"Come with me," said Lucas pointing to Mark. "I want to hear your stories before distributing the prizes… One at a time."
"The others must wait their turn here," Lucas finished before taking Mark inside the archive/library and closing the door.
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