Chapter 11 - Aivery Phase Tournament

On his way to his room, the general parted ways with Aither, and as he passed two servants, he overheard them conversing.

"Did you hear? The Aivery Phase Tournament is coming up in three days, and it appears that some of the young lords will be there."

"You mean the princes and princesses?" "I heard from people I know that the young lords are taking part to gain more reputation and show off their strength."

"That's to be expected, after all, in order to ascend to the throne, they should at least prove their strength."

"I agree, oh, by the way, who are you betting on?"

(Aivery Phase Tournament? I heard about it from the general a long ago, and he suggested I should participate to earn more battle experience.)

(And I don't have to worry about getting my face seen and tracing my relationship with my brother; after all, the emperor has taken care of it since my appearance.)

(However, I believe that this artifact mask can truly hide even the emperor from seeing my face, as one would expect of an imperial treasure.)

He resumed his walk towards his room, thinking sog. Before the event, he still needed to develop as much as possible.

He must establish a core to compete with the young lords, but the minimal level of participation is 2nd Phase - Mid Stage, which is the middle stage of the Infusion realm.

The maximum is 3rd Phase - Late Stage which is Core formation realm.

As a result, in order to defend himself, he needed to be in the second phase at the very least, or he would be eliminated in the qualifying match.

So he'll be working on materialization and infusion for three days straight to improve his skills with them.

And then three days flew by in the blink of an eye.

Aither was looking at himself in the mirror in his room at the time.

"Good, everything's ready, and with this mask on, everything will be perfect."

(Let's give it one more shot before I leave.)

With the idea in mind, he took the sword from his sheat and brandished it around in his room.

Aeven then moved from his body to his arms and finally to his right hand. The Aeven then moved his right hand to his weapon, which radiated a golden black aura.

That glow quickly faded and concentrated to the sword's blade.

You can tell the result of his three days of training just by glancing at how compacted the aura was.

Although it is still a long way from reaching the level of the general. It still improved significantly.

AIther went out of the lab with a delighted smile on his face, seeing the fruits of his training pay off.

He noticed a familiar face as he walked out of his room.

It was Amelia in her golden red royal dress, and she looked stunning.

"Good morning, princess Amelia."

"...Oh, good morning."

When he heard her reply, Aither noticed that her tone was discontented but he decided not to mention it.

He was amazed when she finally managed to keep a straight face in front of him after three days of being flustered everytime she met him.

Aither was concerned that he was overstepping his boundaries, and the princess was uncomfortable speaking with him, but that wasn't the case.

And he was relieved to hear her respond the day before when he inquired. Her response was,

"N... No, that's not it....." It's just.... "It's just that I'm not used to talking with people," She explained.

Except for the last half of her speech, which was both true and false, everything else she stated was correct.

She had no trouble conversing with others. What she meant by "not used to" was just to him, for whom she had mixed feelings.

"Well, then, princess, I'll be leaving first."

Aither started walking away, but he was stopped by the princess's words.

"Wait….. Are you planning to participate in the tournament?"

"Yes."

She stopped for a bit after hearing his response before answering with a smile.

"I'll be cheering for you then."

"Huh?"

"Huh?!"

They both said the same thing, yes. What she said confused them both, and Amelia's eyes widened in surprise.

She, on the other hand, had no intention of denying it and acted coolly and calmly.

"Do your very best."

She left Aither's side with those words, which contained the tone in which she speaks with others.

"Thanks."

…

Moving forward, Aither and the general stood side by side outside the Imperial Arena in the capital of Aivery Empire.

They were in the midst of many people entering the arena, and there were many people in the area they were in, so Aither inquired, concerned.

"Will they not notice you, general?""

"Ah, yes. Don't worry about the kid; I did a spell on myself in order to reduce my presence and prevent recognition so they wouldn't notice me."

"Can I learn that?""

"You don't have to do it right now. Nobody will be able to see your true face as long as you wear that mask, so don't worry too much, kid."

(This mask is quite handy.)

As he caressed the disguised on his face, he thought once more.

They soon made their way into the arena.