High in the stands of the arena, in the largest and most luxurious private box at the tournament venue, sat the current king and queen of the kingdom.
Naturally they were not alone and standing in the room with them was Knight Commander Darius and sitting to their side was Grand Archmage Aria.
These two were here to act not only as protectors, but also to give the king and queen insights into the powers that the competitors possessed.
"So, Grand Archmage Aria were you able to gather up any information on the woman yesterday that used momentum magic."
A frown appearing on her face Aria responded, "Aaren did I not already ask you to talk less stiffly when we are in private. I am your grandmother first and this kingdom's Grand Archmage second. What happened to the cute little boy that would come up to me and ask grandma to lift him up?"
Aaren put a hand on his head and groaned a slightly.
There were very few people in his kingdom that could get away with talking to him like that, but his grandmother was certainly one of them.
"Fine grandmother, did you find anything about that woman named Natalia."
Shaking her head Aria said, "No she is a mystery to me. I called out to everyone I could think of, but no one claims her as an apprentice or even knew of her. Of course, some of them may have just kept quiet, but no I found nothing."
However, after Aria had finished giving her report that she found nothing, a shimmer appeared in the room, and a person walked out of it.
Yet even though someone had just appeared unannounced in the room where the king and queen were, neither of their two powerful protectors made a move.
That was because they knew who had appeared and were already used to them popping in from time to time.
Standing in the room now, was a beautiful woman with royal blue hair that was the same as the royal family, and she actually had a striking resemblance to Mrazivy.
"I could not help but overhear what you said little Aria and I happen to know where she came from." The newcomer said as a seat of ice formed under her.
No one in the room looked stunned to see this, and in fact they all lowered their heads a bit as a sign of respect.
"Oh, all of you raise your heads already. Now, that girl Natalia teleported here a few weeks ago from the continent to the east. She is an advance agent from the empire that has nearly taken over their entire continent, and now they are setting their sights over here."
Hearing their everyone's eyes went sharp, and they scanned the arena for her.
"Oh, now no need to be so worried, she is just here to gage our strength and see if her empire would have an easy time conquering our kingdom. They have apparently done this to multiple nations on every continent within their range. After she witnesses how strong our fighters are she is likely to report that we are too strong to conqueror. Anyway, if they do come in force the adventurers guild will offer their support, and if worse comes to worst I will step in."
Everyone's tension quickly released after that, trusting the judgment of the woman who had just told them about the possible future invasion.
"I am guessing that is not all you came here for Overseer Gwyneira." Knight Commander Darius asked.
Turning around Gwyneira put on a smile and said, "This time I have decided to watch the tournament since it is a special one. Anyway, I also need to cheer for cute little Mrazivy."
Everyone in the room now understood, Gwyneira had always taken a special liking towards Mrazivy since she looked like herself and reminded her of her husband.
The five of them continued to talk until the second day of the tournament started its matches, but the first two held little interest for them as the fights were among those that were already apart of the kingdom's hierarchy.
However, as Marcus and Miguel stepped up onto the stage the woman named Gwyneira looked intently at the two of them before saying, "Oh those two are very interesting. In fact, that girl has multiple layers of protection on her status."
Gwyneira's eyes quickly changed for a brief instant as her pupils became slits and her irises became golden.
"Oh, it has been a long time since we had a monster participate in our tournament."
Surprise quickly came over everyone else as they heard this.
A monster participating in their tournament was a rare occurrence and it so far had only been observed two other times.
However, in both of those situations the kingdom had already identified the monsters before they had gotten to the main tournament and dealt with them accordingly.
"Which one is it, which one of them is the monster." Aria frantically asked.
She was hoping that it was not going to be Marcus. She had given him a title and while he had not truly joined the kingdom, he had already provided a great boon to them.
He had single handedly given them the evidence they needed to uproot the criminal organization known as Permafrost and had protected one of their towns.
"Oh, it is the girl, well I am not sure if I should call them that. They seemed to be a mixture of multiple souls, two of which are dominant, though the most prominent one is actually a male." Gwyneira said nonchalantly.
"How did she fool me. I appraised her myself and she came up as human." Aria said in disbelief.
"Oh, you know that monster pretty well then. I am afraid to say that the normal appraisal skill will not work on them. They have a unique skill that can block it and even show false information, but it also appears that someone also put another layer of information over their actual status as well to make them appear as human."
Clenching her fists Aria, felt a wave of anger come over her. She had been tricked; how could she have not seen that Marcus was a monster.
"Very well, I will deal with them personally. I am the one who gave them a title and have supported them. I thought they would make a good asset for the kingdom, but there is no way we can trust a monster." Aria said as she practically glared down at Marcus.
However, as her rage towards Marcus was building, Gwyneira said, "Oh there is no reason to destroy them."
Aira looked dumbfounded at Gwyneira as she said this. Monsters were notorious for their wickedness and gaining intelligence rarely cured them of that. In fact, it normally made them much better at turning human nations into ruble and spreading destruction throughout the land.
"What do you mean, you said they were a monster. Do they not most likely have some malicious plot brewing." Knight Commander Darius chimed in.
"I highly doubt it. They may be a monster, but they also are not. They are a unique ghost that was once human, but it appears that they have somehow gained the power of a great spirit.. A true hybrid of many races."
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