56 Take a breath, but do not rest

"IIIISSSHHHH, HAAAAAAAHHH"

Tok.

"... Thank you very much for the opportunity..."

After taking a deep breath, the candidate dropped his bracelet on the table with some words of gratitude.

The crowd waited impatiently for the samurai´s reaction.

...

With an undescriptive aura, the samurai crossed his arms and returned a gaze to the candidate.

"... Go back to your place and wait for instructions..."

"...Yes..."

A defeated voice and slow steps.

...

There was calm.

The storm had passed.

The pressure in the chest of many faded away when the candidate returned in silence.

Tok. Tak. Tok.

"Thank you"

"Thanks a lot"

"I guess that´s it..."

Almost immediately, all the red numbers started to give back their bracelets. Even the brashest gulped down their rage to not worsen the situation.

Only a few minutes were needed for the table to be filled with bracelets.

"Someone else? Do not make us look for you"

Before the silence, the samurai headed to his partner. Throughout the ninjas, they made sure that no red number remained.

With everything in order, the samurai proceeded to give the subsequent instructions.

"All the disqualified, follow the clan member at your back, the others deploy in the remaining space"

The orders were followed without resistance.

Many of the candidates said goodbye to their comrades as they walked away from the blue numbers.

The boy that Lea had helped gave her a present.

"It is not a lot, but it will give you good luck"

The hand of Lea held a wooden figure carved with the shape of what seemed to be an angel.

"Maybe the goddess was the one who reunited us, now I must give her over so she can reunite you with someone you can help"

The tiny object had a slight warm glow.

Lea didn´t understand what it was, but she knew that the gift would not hurt her.

She accepted the gesture with a deep bow and saw him off with a wide smile.

Molly was watching her with a complex grin at the distance.

"Young lady, Is there something troubling you?"

"Hm? Ah, no, it´s nothing. I just feel relieved that nothing bad happened. I don´t like to spill unnecessary blood"

"Of course, I feel the same way"

Molly was curious about the gift of Lea. She hadn´t had the chance to see it clearly due to the crowd, but she managed to glimpse something shiny.

As a supervisor, it was her duty to assure that no one had cursed or demonic objects.

She could use her authority to stop Lea and find what she wanted.

However, this would put Lea in a hustle.

Being marked by a clan member under the suspicion of having a cursed object was never a good thing to have.

Much less with the task about to start.

If I go to her now, it´ll be less probable for us to meet at the final test... The promise will not happen...

Molly was conflicted. Her responsibilities as a clan member and her wishes superimpose each other in a constant battle to take control over her body.

... We´re talking about her... It should be fine if I check it later... I´ll just wait until there are fewer people around to get close...

She told herself that she was doing the right thing, but deep inside she knew that any of her colleagues would have said otherwise.

For that reason, she kept her thoughts for her own and walked somewhere else with a samurai following her.

"It is not very common to see you so excited, young lady. Tough I can comprehend you, the next test is one of the most entertainings"

Not stopping her erratic tail or feet. Molly answered the samurai.

"I-It´s not like that, I´m just... Curious... I want to know who will I face in the finals"

"Hahaha! That is certainly something you would say!"

Molly´s lying skills were improving as much as her fighting skills.

Soon she would be an expert.

The approving reaction of the samurai was proof enough.

Forgive me, mother... I won´t lie again... At least I won´t do it so frequently...

She was getting good.

*

The samurai stayed in silence until all the red numbers were nowhere to be seen.

With the remaining candidates on the land, he let his eyes wander around the area for a moment.

"All right, it is time to move to the next stage"

The samurai spoke softly through his transmitter.

"Remove the barrier"

After those words reality twisted, the walls and concrete floors faded along with the edifications and all that could be considered proper of the royal capital.

"It can´t be!"

"Is this real?!"

"My god... This is just too much..."

The candidates were stunned.

The whole capital had turned into a forest.

"No, the capital didn´t move... It was us..."

When the candidates heard what the elf said they turned their heads to where they came from.

The damages stayed, but instead of buildings, there were trees and mossy rocks. The floor of dirt replaced the streets, and the glasses turned into tiny pebbles and tree bark.

"Impossible. I never sensed the smell of the plants or the wet dirt. How did I never notice?" Asked a beast man touching the ground under his feet.

"Look there, What is that?"

"Huh?"

The triplets found a tiny machine glued to the treetop. The cylindrical object was deploying a kind of vapor through its slim nozzle.

There were several of those in the surroundings.

"Those are magic tools, their function is to neutralize the smell of a small area. Enough of those can make the smell of this forest disappear"

It was a simple object with a simpler function. It wasn´t even possible to consider it as military weaponry.

Nevertheless, the clan used it for their purposes magnifically.

"As you can see, we were all transported with magic, you have nothing to worry about for both you and the disqualified people. Right now they are being escorted back to the kingdom, we´ll do the same with you once were are done here"

The candidates had many questions stuck in their throats and minds, it was the blood-stained armor of the samurai that delayed their exposure.

He was making clear that no answer would be given unless it is completely necessary.

"Make 5 teams of 10 people. You have 15 minutes"

In a mixture of hurriedness and order, the teams began to create.

There were some small quarrels since the candidates compare each other in the search for the most powerful individuals.

15 minutes was enough time to make a team, but it was little if you wanted to be selective.

The candidates had to be careful anyways. A member unable to cooperate in a team is always a burden.

"Hey, miss elf, Do you want to join us? We could use someone with your skills"

"..."

The human man had adopted the position of leader inside a team. There were some surprised faces but no one was against his attempt to obtain the lacking team member.

Before answering the elf looked around.

All those who locked their eyes with her moved away and turned awkwardly to somewhere else.

Accepting that it was her best and only option, the elf approached the man in silence. When they were in front of each other she nodded.

"Good, let me introduce you to who you will be, and just if you were wondering. I´m Einar"

'I wasn´t' Thought the elf ignoring his alcohol-smelling grin.

They both went to where their team was.

The members seemed to be busy exchanging banal information to not get bored.

3 young women were the first ones to meet the new member, the brown of their hair and the yellow of their eyes along with their dark skin were physical characteristics that made them as similar as their tails and animal ears.

Their trained bodies and cute faces were practically the same, there were small details that permitted making a distinction between one and the other.

"The cheetah triplets, starting from the left, they are Lina, Mina and Nina"

By hearing their names the triplets began their greetings.

Lina, the one that you could identify by the short hair and leather bracelet on her right wrist reached the hand of the unprepared elf.

"Hey, it is good you came, a pleasure to have you onboard"

She gave her a smile that contained kindness and challenge. The elf understood that, though nice, she still was seeing her as a competitor.

The elf felt a wave of motivation and returned the greeting.

Lina could not see it, but the elf was smiling at her.

"You´re being insolent sis... Please, don´t mind her, modals have never been her fort"

"He-Hey, don´t make me look like a cheeky brat..."

"I don´t need to do something that you do on your own"

The triplet in the middle called Mina moved aside her sister with poisonous words.

Her hair was slightly longer, reaching her shoulders. She had a leather collar around her neck. The same color as Lina´s.

"My name is Mina, a pleasure, um..."

Noticing that it was time for her to mention a name, the elf showed her face.

Her hair was brushed backward and it was of a pale blonde, her eyes were of a brilliant orange similar to the sunlight. She was wearing a grey military elf suit, and there was a red scarf around her neck.

"I´m Eufelia, an elf... Nice to meet you..."

Everyone around the elf knew in a second that they should not ask more than necessary. The uniform she was wearing already gave enough idea of her circumstances, so they continued with the introductions without getting too detailed about identities.

"I see. I hope we can work together nicely, Eufelia"

"... Right back at you"

Eufelia felt blessed and grateful for the treatment. She was very lucky to be picked by a thoughtful team.

At the same time, she felt guilty for bad-mouthing them previously.

She apologized in her head many times since she was unable to do it outside.

"Nina, come, introduce yourself"

Receiving the ball, the last sister positioned herself in front of Eufelia.

"Greetings, my name is Nina, I hope my sisters haven´t made you feel uncomfortable. They tend to be a bit bold, but that´s just their excitement, they don´t have bad intentions"

Her hair was the longest out of the three. It reached her back and it hid her eyes with a fang. Her left arm was embraced by a black leather stripe.

She offered her hand with a soft smile, almost maternal.

Eufelia took the hand and shake it with an awkward smile. In some curious way, the person before her gave her the most intimidating sensation among the presents.

"I doubt they can be like that with you around..."

"Jijiji, maybe~"

To overcome that feeling she decided to bring up the recent event.

"Ah, yes. You were the one flirting with that bear, Right?"

"!! N-No! That was just... Well... Umm..."

Recalling the moment, the face of Nina was painted in red. Her sisters messed around with her from the sides as she shot excuse after excuse.

"Talking about bears, these big boys are Ishwar and Jalil" Said Einar pointing at the mountains with the ears and tail of bears.

They both nodded with sounds of "Hum! and Ham!" coming out of their mouths.

Ishwar was who gave the flowers to Nina.

It was barely visual due to the beard covering most of his face, but he was also embarrassed by the mention of the event.

He was rubbing his nose while looking at another side.

On the other hand, Jalil placed his palm on the shoulder of his friend.

Because of the facial hair lacking, he seemed to be the youngest of the two, though no one could be sure of that.

Both men were near the 2 meters high, Ishwar being the tallest.

Their complexions were corpulent. Their arms were like old trees.

They didn´t seem to be very talkative or expressive people, however, there was a comforting aura around them that inspired a feeling of safeness.

Eufelia nodded to both men to demonstrate that she had received their welcome.

"And finally, but not least, Lea"

"Hi! I hope we can count on you for the next test, Eufelia!"

The girl with lion ears offered a friendly fist followed by a huge and sharp smile.

'Bright and noisy' were the words that arrived at Eufelia´s mind.

To avoid any embarrassing catastrophe to happen, she hurried herself to attend the fist.

"Please... Don´t make a ruckus like this during the test..."

"Oh! Uhh, Sure! I-I mean! Cohum* Understood"

In the whole process that Lea traversed to arrive at that answer, Eufelia was already holding her head for the imminent pain that she would soon feel.

"All right, that concludes introductions"

"Wait, what about those three?"

A bit afar from the group, 3 individuals were looking at the scene with angry faces.

"Ah, they said they would do their part during the test. They also said that we should not expect them to establish any kind of friendship with us. You can try to talk to them, I wouldn´t recommend it though"

"I see. Makes sense. We are still rivals after all"

"We certainly are, but I highly doubt it matters in this test"

"Why do you say that?"

"If they wanted us to maintain our individualism, they would have given us the opportunity to make teams only if we wanted to, but they gave us orders to make them. That means they expect cooperation and team-working capabilities, not individual glory"

Eufelia was amazed. She didn´t expect Einar to talk with such logic.

It was evident for her that he had tidied up himself more than what he was used to for this battle.

It doesn´t matter how much you fix your hair or clean off the rust of your sword.

Your eyes will always express the fatigue and pain your body is holding.

Since she was doing the same, she naturally sympathized with the man before her.

"So this is why you were chosen as the leader of the team. You are a skilled person Einar, at least I´ll recognize you that"

Einar made a grin with distant eyes. His finger was scratching his cheek.

"... Heh, it´s nothing, if thinking and talking could make me more useful than I am then-"

"Time is over! All the teams, make five lines"

With the assistance of the samurai, Einar misled the conversation.

"Let´s go. They could disqualify us for the smallest delay, so we better hurry"

"... You´re right... Let us move"

Eufelia accepted this outcome and followed Einar where the rest of their team was.

She considered suggesting to continue this conversation later, a second after she remembered where she was and discarded the idea.

The past or the problems of her teammates weren´t the most important thing now.

It was the necessary victory to keep moving forward in these tests.