NOVEL NEXT Chapter 391: Suspicious Men
'More than a hundred thousand points in one match! Nice!' Shye inwardly celebrated.
He yearned to perform his grand reveal two matches ago, however, for the sake of more points, he firmly resisted the urge to do so.
Fortunately, everything paid off. Unlike when he performed his grand dual wield reveal at the Adventurer Academy Competition.
That was…a huge failure.
'Analyzing what would impress the crowd surely helps a lot…' Shye mused as he descended the stage.
There would be a closing ceremony a few minutes later so he decided to return to the preparation room first, however, who would've thought that the rowdy old men would throw their dignity out the window?
Exiting from the dark halls of the arena's interior, the old men jumped at Shye with crying faces, tackling him down to the ground in utter delight.
"H-Hey! Let go! R-Respected seniors! This won't do! Y-Your reputation! G-Guild Master!
Help me!"
…
'Sigh…luckily, they're scared of facing the guild master's wrath…' Shye mused, shivering upon recalling the horrifying moment when more than ten old men hugged him.
As fond as he was of the old personnel of the guild's Balkrow branch, being tightly hugged by more than ten of them was quite a nightmare.
Thankfully, with the guild master's intervention, he escaped with just a few words of congratulations and gratitude instead.
On the other hand, the guild master's words were a bit too formal.
Still, superficial as the words were to him, they brought joy to Shye, enabling him to truly appreciate his accomplishment, regardless of how effortlessly it came to him.
'I guess being the rookie representative of an entire city, low-ranked or not, is worthy of a celebration…' Shye inwardly thought, realizing that he was the one who expected the most out of himself.
'Well…not that pressuring myself is bad.'
Indeed, comfort is the worst addiction, after all.
Furthermore, he still had more important things to accomplish, and he needed to keep a mindset of constant improvement and high expectations, otherwise, he would fail.
His life was bound to be full of hardships the moment he accepted the deal from Old Man Sanada.
Nevertheless, he harbors no regrets.
If this was the cost of safeguarding the lives of both his sister and his parents, along with securing a promising future for his future family, he would willingly retread this path, regardless of how many opportunities fate presented him to change his decision.
…Following the arena staff's lead, Shye walked through the dark hallways of the arena's interior, arriving at the stage area again after a few minutes of walking.
[Congratulations! You've earned 60,000 points!]
'WHAT?! W-Well, not like I'm complaining!'
He didn't know what Corey said to make the crowd feel this way towards him nor did he know what was going on in their minds, however, earning another 60,000 points while simply arriving at the stage area?
He'll take it all day!
Receiving the bonus points lifted Shye's already jubilant spirits even higher, causing him to smile as he climbed onto the stage and waved to the enthusiastic crowd.
After such a dominant performance, even those who initially hated him couldn't help but cheer for him now.
After all, they all want to see him dominate the Valenzia Rookie Adventurer Competition while representing their beloved city.
They all knew that he would surely have an impressive run, bringing both glory and prosperity to Balkrow.
Naturally, Seira was all too happy to welcome all of them to the Shye Crowley camp!
…Arriving at the center of the stage, Shye stood at his designated spot.
Without doing anything in particular, he somehow appeared much cooler to the crowd than he had before his victory. Probably because he was more pleasant to the eye now that he had proved himself by destroying every other rookie in the city.
Soon after, Balkrow City's City Lord, Felix Boaster, walked closer to him and spoke a few congratulatory words followed by words of appreciation.
To Shye though, everything was just cheesy bullsh*t. Still, he pretended to listen and give City Lord Felix the respect he deserved.
Finally, after around five minutes, the city lord finished his long speech.
"...ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR BALKROW CITY'S ROOKIE REPRESENTATIVE, SHYE CROWLEY!!"
Corey's vibrant voice once again elicited thunderous cheers from the crowd.
Meanwhile, in the stands, two suspicious men rose and departed.
Upon reaching what they deemed a secluded spot, they each destroyed their long-distance communication talismans.
However, they didn't belong to the same organization, as they contacted different superiors.
"Reporting to the Regional Leader: Specimen Fifteen, Fifteenth Hawkling's target, emerged victorious in the entire Balkrow Rookie Adventurer Competition. None of his peers posed a threat to him, particularly after he revealed that he had a subclass at such a young age."
"While his remarkable growth rate may not align with the Supreme One's objectives, it could be valuable to monitor Specimen Fifteen's progression. I believe there's a reasonable chance that he may be the one the Supreme One seeks." The first suspicious man reported, suppressing the excitement in his heart.
Although he harbored no fondness for the prospect of sharing the rewards with the individual known as Fifteenth Hawkling, should his speculations prove correct, he couldn't truly lament it, considering this mission was initially Fifteenth Hawkling's.
However, due to unfortunate circumstances, Fifteenth Hawkling had to temporarily part ways with Shye, who was also known as Specimen Fifteen within their organization, giving him the chance to swoop in for a share of the rewards.
"I understand, continue observing Specimen Fifteen. I shall send a few reinforcements and additional resources for you to use through the usual means."
"Roger, Regional Leader."
*BLEEP!*
Meanwhile, the second suspicious man's report was much simpler, making it obvious that his organization was lesser than that of the first man.
"Boss, this Shye Crowley is a fat sheep! I'm sure this guy has a lot of talents we can extract! If we can capture this guy, the Big Boss will surely reward us handsomely!"
"Good, then capture him. You have six months to accomplish this mission."
"I understand, boss! Wait for my good news!"
*BLEEP!*