Chapter 425

While Ray had gone off to do his own thing, Slyvia and the others were busy looking for a place to stay. The empire offers free accommodation to all the guests, but due to them coming a little earlier, there was no such thing for them at the moment. The group had been walking around for a while after putting their carriage away, knowing full well it would bring them too much attention. When they had pulled up in it, people were already starting to ask questions. Now walking on foot, the city felt far larger than it did before, and they were in the main area. There was still the outer part of the cities as well. "Come on!" Kyle complained. "That's like the fifth inn we have walked past already are we ever going to stop." Usually, the others would tell Kyle off for his remarks, but honestly, both Martha and Harry felt the same way. Although they didn't do much, travelling in general was exhausting and they didn't understand why they needed to stop at a specific inn. "Alright, this one!" Slyvia said. She had been staring at the inn markings for a while and finally found what she was looking for, a wolf with a scar above its right eye. After entering the inn, the others were just happy that they would finally get some rest. They would want to have a good sleep before doing more exploring. They already felt like they had been walking for two hours. The others decided to sit at a table, and ordered some food, grabbing a quick bite to eat. While Slyvia went to the counter to grab everyone's keys. The others started to wonder why she had selected this inn in particular. It looked no different to the others. But there was a reason, for their group wasn't the only one to arrive early to the event. For later on in the day, she was to meet her brother. He had made it clear to select this inn in particular, giving her instructions beforehand. 'I hope everything is okay?' Slyvia thought. 'Judging by the contents of the letter he sent, it sounded like something quite urgent was going on.' After paying for the rooms and grabbing the keys, she went to sit down and join the others at the table. In truth, she felt a little sad. She thought maybe on this trip she would have been able to spend some time with Ray, and the first thing he had done was rush off like that. If it was going to be like this, then it would just be the same as when she was in the city. With Ray dropping by for a few moments before he wondered out again. "I wish things were like they were back at the academy." Sylvia mumbled, and Martha had managed to catch what had been said. "Don't worry about him too much." Martha replied. "I think once this is all over, you two will have all the time to spend in the world together." Delivering a wink at the end. For some reason, Sylvia always felt awkward when talking about her love life, or at least feelings concerning Ray. Here she was complaining that she didn't get to spend time with him, when Martha couldn't even see her apparent boyfriend. 'You are a strong girl.' Slyvia thought. The food and a few drinks had arrived on the table however Kyle's attention was more focused on something else. The empire seemed to have some things inside the inns that he had never seen before. Up on the ceiling were quite large black rectangles. There wasn't just one however, there were several that were placed all across the ceiling in odd locations, allowing a person to see one from any angle. "Excuse me?" Kyle said as he called over one of the pretty ladies that was serving them. "Do you mind telling me what those are?" "I guess you guys aren't from around here, are you?" The server replied. "We call them picture shows. All the taverns and inns have them, and even some of the richer nobles. Whenever there is a big event going on all of the Picture shows will display them." It sounded quite interesting, but the technology just seemed to advance for Kyle to get his head around and the server could see this. "Dom, turn on the picture show!" She shouted. From behind the counter, Dom lifted up a smaller square rectangle that fitted into the palm of his hand, and when pressing a button, the black square device came on showing various colours. Now the others understood why it was called a picture show.

At first they were impressed by all the movements, but after a few seconds of looking their mouths were left hanging wide open at what they could see. "Is that Ray!" Sylvia shouted, and her head had already gone red with anger. Right now, being displayed was Ray in the fighting areas, and it looked like he was facing off against some giant beast. The others watched carefully and they couldn't believe it. When he said he was going to do something, they never thought he would be doing something like this. After watching him for a while, it looked as if he had defeated the beast, and now they were busy asking him if he would move onto the next round to take on the emperor tier beast. Standing in the arena, Ray was debating a little bit of what to do. The king tier beast proved more of a challenge to him than he had thought. It wasn't that he didn't think he could face off against an emperor tier. The problem was he knew he wouldn't be able to defeat one just using his gauntlets and sword. He would have to go all out using his magic abilities. Still, he could always see what the emperor tier beast looked like and try to fight it for experience dropping it out halfway. Just as Ray was in the middle of debating what to do, a screen appeared in front of him and it was a message from Sylvia. "Ray, what on earth do you think you are doing? Your match is being broadcasted to the whole city. Stop right now and get back here this instant. If people know who you are before the match, or if the empire knows you are here. This is meant to be a discreet operation. Discreet, I know you may have trouble understanding that, but this is serious…." "Look, I know you are free to do what you want to do, you always have been that way and will carry on to be. That's what I li… li… That's what is great about you, but please consider my advice. Leave the area now and come to this location. Look for the Blue wolf Inn. It should have the marking of a wolf with a blue scarf around its neck, and a cut going through its right eye. Please listen to me." It was quite a large message and seemed to be an emotional one as well. Ray wasn't that content on fighting the next beast anyway, and the message had managed to convince him. He gave a quick wave showing that he would not be taking on the next tier beast and the crowd sighed in disappointment. However, it was expected after seeing how difficult it was for him to take on the king tier beast. Not many expect him to go to the next stage. "I guess you aren't a complete fool." Rookie thought, perhaps we shall see each other again. With the event over, it was time for the arena to call it a day. There were no more scheduled participants and anyone who did want to take part would have to register for tomorrow. As Ray made his way down to the reception area, he was stopped by one of the workers just outside the arena exit. "Were sorry sir, but we can't seem to find the beast crystal inside the beast that you killed. This is the first time something like this has happened." The staff seemed to be very polite and apologetic about this matter. Of course, Ray knew where the crystal was, it had already been consumed by him, so there wouldn't be a beast crystal inside. "Usually, the participants would take the crystals from the beast they have killed, but because we were unable to find one form the king tier beast, and you have put on quite a show for us, we have decided to give you one as a gift. It will be waiting for you at the reception area." This was a surprise Ray wasn't quite expecting. Entering the reception area, there were many people leaving. What Ray didn't notice was that there was a certain individual watching him closer than others. "Is it really you." Roy thought. "I have to find out." Carefully tracking Ray's every move, Roy wasn't going to let him out of his sight. ***** For updates and artwork, follow on Instagram and Facebook: jksmanga