Along the way, Daimon observed the city through the double-sided windows of the carriage, just like Warhammer city is full of decorations that allude to the race to which the Trident Marshal belongs, in the form of hammerhead sharks, Arc city has decorations related to turtles.
'So the minister of development's race is like that annoying ice manipulating turtle from the trial of the lineage temple', thought Daimon.
It made sense though, in the eyes of the public, the only one on par in terms of strength with Vincent in the Clear Water kingdom, was the Minister of Development, and the Arcarius family, just like the Malleus family, are founding clans of the kingdom.
But they take care of two completely different things, the Trident Marshal specializes in offensive and the Minister in defense, that's why Vincent said that in a battle between them, it will take too much time to decide a victor, though he is confident in not losing, stalling is also a way to win depending on the situation.
Just like back then at Warhammer city when the beast hunt was about to begin, the streets of Arc city were crowned, everyone was celebrating, some in bars or restaurants where the fights were going to be show through mirror plates, because unlike the beast hunt, the three-art tournament happened in the territory of the kingdom, so it was easier to cover.
Luckily, everyone recognized the emblem of the Trident Marshal, and while the people of Arc city, supported the Minister, they still didn't dare to show any disrespect to a legend like Vincent, and instead parted way to let his carriage pass through.
"Being famous surely has its advantages, right old man", said Daimon, to which Vincent laughed.
"Of course, this old man hasn't been working his whole life for nothing you know".
Leaving aside the casual chat, they soon arrived at their destination, the center of the city, where the mansion of the city lord stood tall and imposing.
"Tsk, that bastard added another layer, I'll make mine larger once we retu mumbled the Trident Marshal, making the queen sigh.
Many of the nobles left earlier so by the time Daimon's group arrived, a lot of people were already there and just like with Vincent, there were seats prepared for the representatives, depending on their statuses of course.
The carriage stopped and then the door opened, before everyone got down of it, Daimon looked at a sign a few meters away from the podium prepared for the Minister to greet everyone, the rules always differed from year to year, and no one knew what the changed would be until the event was about to start.
The queen and the other adults went to take their seats, since the old generation and the young generation had their own things to do, so Daimon was left alone with the girls, actually Thea wanted to wander around with them, but she was dragged away by Lina and Karmandi, since getting the permission for them to attend wasn't easy and they didn't want her to cause troubles.
Daimon guided the girls to where the people of the young generation was gathered, in other words that sign with the rules, along the way of course many recognized him as the champion of the beast hunt, he was also accompanied by the two princesses of the kingdom and the princess of the Light Palace, not to mention his original group which only consisted in pretty girls, so naturally he stood out a lot.
Ignoring the gossiping and the plethora of different gazes from the other participants, Daimon approached the sign to read the rules.
"Mm, nothing seems to have changed and here I thought, things were going to get messy since I was the winner", said Daimon, making the nearby nobles frown.
Among them, one guy left the crowd and approached Daimon.
"The friend there, I can't ignore your previous words, Lord Minister has nothing but admiration for those who show the talent to improve the kingdom, no matter the origins", proudly said the guy, as he glared at Mellie.
Since Vincent and the Minister are openly against each other, and Mellie is considered as the niece of Vincent, she is obviously looked as an enemy by the noble families subordinated to the Minister, to which this guy apparently belonged.
Daimon inwardly shook his head, though the Minister didn't change the rules to mess with him, he also didn't add any extras like in previous years, the queen of course informed Daimon of the bonuses he as the champion of the first event should have gotten in the past tournaments.
For example, his team would have been in standby until the end, only having to face the team that defeated all the others, but this time, that wasn't the case, his team was instead put in the penultimate round of eliminatory matches, where there were space for other three teams.
In other words, he was going to have to fight one of the three favorites before getting to the last round, it might not be such a big deal in the eyes of others, but Daimon isn't easy to fool, the Minister wanted to see his abilities, since everyone doubted of his abnormally high result back at the beast hunt, there was also the possibility of the Minister supporting the crowned prince, and wanting to give him the chance to study the only opponent of which he didn't know anything.
Not like Daimon cared since the result was going to be the same.
'Well, at least I don't need to go through the hassle of playing around with the other nobles, we'll only have to participate after those three had wiped the extras', he thought, besides that the other rules were pretty much the standard, no killing, no weapons past the Half Stellar rank, in fact until the penultimate round where the favorites would clash, the participants will be given standard weapons to make the competition fairer, no people past the middle stage of the Lord realm, no external help meaning scrolls and other aiding treasures were forbidden, that was all, other instructions will be given once the events start.
Seeing that Daimon was ignoring him, the guy that stood out to defend the Minister, snorted and left.
Daimon gathered mana in his eyes and then smiled before saying.
"Let's go meet our last two teammates".
The girls nodded and then they followed him towards one of the corners were a small commotion seemed to be ongoing.
…
In the direction to which Daimon was heading, a lot of people were surrounding a couple of girls, all of them were shouting their proposals, trying to get them to join their respective teams.
"You two still don't have a team right, how about you join my Gaze family's team, we were in the top 20 back at the first event, depending on the result you'll get a reward from my father, he is the clan head and a Peak Half Stellar rank!", said a tall guy with a full green armor.
"Screw you, my Rega family was in the top fifteen of the beast hunt, we offer you the same conditions, plus five million low quality sea crystals, also my father is an Early Stage Stellar rank!".
And similar comments to that were being thrown around all over the place, surprisingly no one in the top ten was here, but that is probably because of the three newcomers that just arrived right now.
"Excuse me young ladies, I happen to have two people who couldn't arrive on time, it would be my pleasure to have you in my team, I'm sure the rewards will be up to your liking, fifty million sea crystals and a Half Stellar rank weapon of your choice for the penultimate round, if we win I'll add the treasure to your reward, and also concede you an audience with mu royal father".
The first one to spoke was a tall handsome youth with blue hair, and a mix of a robe and light green armor, in his hands he held a flute with an exquisite design, it was the crowned prince who is actually related by blood to not only the king but also the Trident Marshal, Terry Malleus.
"As expected of a royal your conditions are quite incredible Terry, but my Spear of the sea unit isn't lacking in any aspect, we offer fifty million sea crystals of low quality and ten of middle quality, as well as materials from Half Stellar magic beasts of your election from our storage, if we win, a middle stage Stellar rank, in other words general Dominic will personally revise your fighting styles and give you pointers and training for a year".
The second to speak, just because he was a bit faster and way less "refined", than the second son of the Blackfin Duke, was the young spear, who was wearing a blue armor and holding a yellow spear the only one who started as a commoner in the three favorites, Lance Varsi.
"Humph, why would these esteemed misses want to listen to the opinions of a madman, my Blackfin family offers one hundred million low quality sea crystals, a set of potions on the Half Stellar rank grade, and one ingredient on the same level free to choose from our stock, as well as a business opportunity with my father, also a middle stage Stellar ranked and the Minister of Defense".
The third one was of course the second son of the Blackfin Duke, Ezequiel Blackfin, who was wearing a heavy black armor and a holding a battle axe over his shoulder.
"Sigh, as expected of the top three… there no way others can offer such good conditions", said the other people who wanted to recruit the two girls in the center of the group.
It's not like they can offer a large sum of money or the Half Stellar resources, though it will put a small strain on the economy of their families, they have Half Stellar and even early stage Stellar ranks in their families, the big wall that they can't surpass is the fact that the number of middle stage Stellar ranked powerhouses in the kingdom can be counted with the fingers of two hands, and they are tied to the neo nobles, the founding families or the old noble faction as well as the royals.
No matter how much money one has, you can't buy the time of such people, who are only second to the Trident Marshal or the Minister of Development in the whole kingdom, not to mention only middle stage Stellar ranks can safely hunt Stellar ranked magic beasts alone, meaning they have materials of Stellar rank to spare, with enough saving a Stellar ranked treasure is a possibility for them, it's simply another level.
Tessa and Femi were thinking about the offers, when the encirclement was suddenly broken, more accurately a breach opened because those who stood in the way of a tall silver haired youth were pushed aside against their will.
"I'll guarantee you the first place, if you join my team".
"…"
A sepulchral silence fell on the area as they heard the words of the silver haired youth, before the crowd went crazy over such a bold affirmation.
Tessa and Femi stared at each other and saw the confusion in the eyes of the other, they never expected that overbearing guy to come out of his way to invite them join him.
Daimon has left such a strong impression on them, that they were sure he had the bigger chance to win this event, just like he did on the first one, so they were sure he didn't need them, which means there must be another reason, he is someone who forced the envoys of the Light and Calamity churches to follow his orders, after all, his strategy capacities were on a league of their own.
And pretty much akin to what they were thinking, they received a voice transmission directly to their ears, like the whispers of the devil tempting the Alfear and Dwarf princesses.
'Something interesting is about to happen in this planet, when it becomes public everyone will know we aren't from Neptune, if you join my flag, I'll grant you my protection as well as resources from this place depending on your contribution to the team, of course we'll sign a contract'.
Tessa and Femi looked at each other, before they both answered.
"We are in, it's a pleasure to work with you"
Needless to say, but the almost immediate answer, send the crowd into a turmoil, also the offers of the three favorites which made all of them drool, were rejected just like that, it was outrageous.
Daimon smiled and pointed the way for them to leave this crowned area with his group, Tessa and Femi stood up from their seats and walked towards Daimon, they were received by Aisha and the other girls.
At the same time, Daimon's gaze met the ones of the crowned prince as well as the second son of the Blackfin Duke, the young spear on the other hand laughed and greeted Daimon before he left, free spirited as when he arrived, though disappointed as he couldn't recruit strong people for his team.
"Humph!", Ezequiel snorted at Daimon and left the scene, while the crowned prince didn't say anything and also left followed by most of the crowd which wanted to incur in his favor.
