I Just Want to Farm, But My Beasts Keep Evolving!!-Chapter 56: The Wider Stage
A fearful Raiden found himself seated in a conference room, with his face full of bruises and black eyes.
Seated alongside him was Morgana, who was trying not to laugh at him and appear dignified but failing miserably.
In front of them stood the same old man in a Hawaiian shirt he saw on the stage, with Yuna and a secretary-like woman standing behind him.
Ignoring the look from Raiden, Yuna cleared her throat and stepped forward.
"Raiden, let me introduce you to the strongest old man in the city, the head of Alliance for Verdant Hollow, Old Man Sol."
"Hahaha, I am not that old, little Yuna!! Nice to meet you, boy!! You beat my great-granddaughter in the finals and made her cry. I hope you are ready for the consequences." He spoke, acting menacingly.
Raiden found a great pressure fall on his shoulders as he finished speaking, making it difficult for him to speak or say anything.
"Grandpa~ stop!! I will avenge my loss by myself!! You don’t need to fight for me!!" Morgana intervened, and Raiden felt the pressure on him disappear.
"Hahaha, you are right, princess. Forgive me, little Raiden, I was just joking." He spoke with a smile on his face.
But Raiden didn’t think that old man was joking. Having felt the burn of Ruby’s bloodlust before, he was absolutely sure this old man was serious, and he would have done something bad to him if not for the presence of his granddaughter.
"Alright, that is enough old man, stop scaring the children. Let’s get back to the topic." Yuna spoke as she turned on the projector in the room, showing the words INTER-SCHOOL COMPETITION IN BOLD LETTERS.
"Let me take over from here, Miss Yuna" The secretary stepped forward with her pencil heels as she took out a pointer stick.
"You do know that what we conducted here was just the prelims. Next, you will be competing against the best people from 64 different cities, including big Tier 1 capital cities. That is the final competition, and whatever you faced so far is nothing in comparison to what you are going to face off against in that competition. You will find people who are as strong as you, if not stronger, as common as rocks on the side of the road in the tournament." She opened a map, showing a massive map with 64 marked cities, with the biggest one in the centre marked in red.
"Due to the distance between the cities, the competition will take place 10 days later. And luckily for us." She pointed to Verdant Hollow on the map. "We live pretty near the capital city. It only takes 5 hours to go there. That’s why, for the next nine days, you will undergo super-intense closed-door training under a specialised instructor, and the most advanced facilities and resources will be made available to you by the Alliance. Any questions?" The woman looked at Morgana and Raiden, who were listening intently.
Raiden raised his head.
"Raiden, you don’t need to raise your hand to ask a question; you are not in a school anymore. Now speak." Yuna commented from the side.
Raiden once again was stunned by Yuna’s impoliteness. He was just being polite.
"What exactly does the closed-door training mean?? And why is Alliance investing so much in us for such a small school competition??" Raiden asked. He knew there was no such thing as a free lunch in the world. If they invested something, they would want something back.
"Thank you for your questions, Raiden. I will now answer them one by one." The woman pushed up her glasses before speaking.
"Closed-door training is exactly what it sounds like, training behind the closed doors. To stop you from getting distracted, you will have to cut off all contact with the outside world and undergo intense training for the next time period. As for why we are doing this..." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
"Let me take it from here, Gina." Old Man Sol stepped forward, caressing his beard.
"You see, it’s not just a fight among the younger generation. It’s also a fight among all the cities, too." He took a big pause to see that both children were paying attention to his words.
"The world is only so big, and the resources in the hands of the Global Alliance are limited. So this is one of the ways the head office decides which cities get what kind of resources for development. The higher your rankings are in the tournament, the better. So it’s not just a fight between school kids but for the benefits of the whole city."
Morgana was surprised. This was new information, even to her. She only knew it was between different cities, not that it was a fight for benefits.
"So next, we are going to count on you, the children, for this. I hope both of you can sit at the very top. Every single rank difference between equals is life and death for thousands of soldiers here. Please!!" After speaking so much, the old man bowed towards both children.
"President!! What are you doing!!"
"Grandpa, no!!"
Both Morgana and the secretary rushed to pull him back up. What a joke. He was the President of the Verdant Hollow, the strongest man in the city, and he represented their dignity. Yet, here he was, bowing down towards two kids.
Old Man Sol straightened up and ignored both the girls, staring directly into Raiden’s eyes, speaking earnestly.
"Tell me, boy. No, tell me, Raiden Ashford. Can you promise me you will try your best and win this competition?"
Raiden felt his mood was complicated. He knew what the position of this old man represented. He can decide the life and death of anyone in the city with just a word, yet here he was bowing down to him.
"Alright, old man, I promise you. I will do my best to win this competition. Besides, Woolie doesn’t know what it means to be defeated, right buddy?"
"Woolie!!~" ( •̀ ω •́ )y
I am Emperor Woolie, Blade of Miquella, and I have never known defeat!!
A smile came onto his face after he heard the boy’s words. Being the president, he knew much more stuff than others, including the real background of this boy and his parents, which is why he wasn’t surprised when this unknown boy defeated his great-granddaughter.
He also felt the dormant potential hidden inside Woolie. He was sure they would create miracles in the future.
"Alright, thank you to both of you. Now with that out of the way, let me introduce you to your future instructor for the next 9 days~" Old Man Sol spoke cheerfully.
Tack. Tack. Tack.
Raiden heard the familiar sound of high heels he had heard once before coming from behind his back.
He turned around to see only to find himself face to face with an incredibly familiar woman, the one he had seen before, and the one he couldn’t forget.
The same red hair, the same devilish smile, the same drop-dead gorgeous body and the same incredibly tall height.
Seeing her, both Raiden and Morgana screamed at the same time
"That Dommy Mommy!!"
"Mother!!"
Hearing each other’s words, both of them froze.
