From the skybox of the judges, Vincent, Annete and Aurora noticed that the Minister was specially confident in this round.
Vincent saw a chance to make his exit in the most smooth way possible, which is of course looking for a fight with the Minister as always.
"You old sly turtle, do you think you can fool us with your "equalness", it's obvious that this round was bound to be easier for that grandson of yours, I bet he has refined the three-colored water at least once in his life, it's easy to outstand with a better starting point", said Vincent with a sarcastic voice.
The Minister listened to Vincent's words and he snorted.
"Don't slander others so carelessly old shark, certainly Walford has absorbed the three-colored water before, but he couldn't even take advantage of 20% of its effectiveness, besides it's not like the other participants haven't used any potions of resources before, it just happens that my grandson used the best ones for this situation, if you had a team representing your family, maybe you could have used that in your favor in that event of yours".
Naturally the Minister answered in kind, but honestly Vincent wasn't taunted by his words.
"Well, whatever tricks you pull, ultimately you are going to lose anyway, I'll take my leave since it's getting boring for me", said Vincent with a mocking expression, which made the Minister grit his teeth.
But then the Minister smirked.
"Both you and that brat which won the beast hunt seem to be quite confident in me failing, then why don't we make a small bet, what do you say a few millions of sea crystals aren't anything for you right?".
Vincent laughed, he then took out three objects from his storage ring, they were all incomplete emblems which the Trident Marshal has collected through the years.
"At our level, what do a few millions of sea crystals amount for, if you want to pick my interest then offer something which isn't easy to obtain, these incomplete emblems are part of my personal collections, do you dare bring out something as rare, or are you going to hide in your shell".
The Minister snorted and then he also took out a couple of objects from his storage ring, a couple of incomplete emblems, Vincent saw that Raymond only had two of them and he shook his head.
"Have you gone senile Raymond, you want to bet 2 against 3 and leave the shortest end of the stick to me, forget it if you don't have the guts".
The Minister frowned, right now, besides those incomplete emblems he didn't have anything else as rare in his ring.
Vincent then gave the last attack by saying.
"Since you are so confident in your grandson's ability after he absorbed the three-colored water it has gotten my interest, add the amount of three-colored water that is produced this year to the bet and we have a deal, when my champion wins, I'll give it to my niece".
The minister doubted for a moment, the amount of three-colored water produced each year is different, sometimes it's only a few drops, other times it can be a whole bottle, if he ends up losing and this year's harvest is outstanding he will have to cry.
But again it was all a bet, even in the case the four favorites lose to the black horse of the event, the chances are of only getting a few drops of the three-colored water.
"Fine I accept your bet, don't come crying later old shark", said the Minister, to which Vincent smiled before saying.
"Very well, lady Aurora will be our witness, in case you want to be a sore loser later on".
After saying that, Vincent left the place, of course the Minister opened a portal for him to leave, since he didn't want to see Vincent more than usual.
'You'll be receiving a surprise this year you old bastard, this year the second lake is the weakest I have seen ever, so the amount of three-colored water that will appear should be really low', thought Raymond, during the previous, no one noticed that one of the people present in the room was fighting the urge to laugh.
Naturally all this was planned by Annete, originally the idea was for Daimon to ask for the emblems the Minister owns as the prize for him winning the tournament, but since such a good opportunity to rip off the Minister presented, how could she not take advantage of it.
The Minister was too confident in the advantage his grandson had, and the things at stake were the "useless" incomplete emblems, so even if the Minister lost, he would not feel too bad, besides his pride of course.
Even then, Annete took into account the fact that using the emblems for the bet might raise suspicions for the Minister, so she told some instructions to Vincent, to ask for something which the Minister deemed valuable, as she knew the Minister only had two emblems, while Vincent had three.
If Daimon asked for the emblems, there is a possibility that the Minister invented some excuses to not give them away, since he had some grudges against Daimon, but like this she made the Minister believe, Vincent aimed at the three-colored water from the vey beginning and only used the emblems as an excuse.
'She basically played with one of the pillars of the kingdom and a much stronger mage than her, just using the knowledge she had, truly the most terrifying strategist of the Mermen Sea', thought Aurora who took a sip of a cup of tea.
Back at the platforms the second round continued and was about to reach half of it, at this point most of the teams had lost members, in fact some captains and by consequence their teams were disqualified after not being able to endure the exposition to the lake.
The first surprise the Minister had hit the teams hard, each time the scholar solved a problem, the captain had to forcefully endure 45 seconds of penalty or fail a question, naturally this benefited Walford's team, since he was the captain with the highest endurance in the forty teams so far.
…
'Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, why am I surrounded by useless trash!', Ezequiel saw his strategist having trouble solving the fifth problem, and he inwardly cursed, even if he and the vice-captain endured the penalty, he didn't want to put the burden in his strategist, which is his woman too.
Not only because of personal reasons, but the third round requires the strategist to be in its best condition, and this lake screwed over the mind, while recovery was possible, with just a night of rest, one could not possibly return to its prime.
That's also why the strategist was only allowed to endure one minute of penalty at most, Ezequiel wasn't the only one who used this strategy, the crown prince was the same, he kept Corey in the best condition possible, and instead had his vice-captain, which is actually someone from the Valas family, a tall dude with a bulky figure.
For Walford's team, he was the one taking the most of the penalty, but his regular team members were doing it amazingly good too, probably because they were given some three-colored water as well, the vice-captain was the mage girl that used ice to make a road for them in the mazes.
And as always, the team of the neo nobles represented by Lance, was doing something barbaric, both the vice-captain and the strategist in name were the sturdiest members, who were there just to endure the penalty for the longest time, as for their scholar, it was a slim guy wearing a full body armor and glasses, it clearly didn't fit with the barbarian-like body shape of the other members of the team.
Ezequiel's mood suddenly improved, seeing that his scholar was the first one to complete the fifth envelope, but just as a smile was about to form on his face, he saw an envelope different than the previous ones appearing on the table of his team.
And then as if to confirm the bad premonition he was having, the voice of the Minister could be heard echoing through the whole area.
"Oh, as expected of the heroes from the Blackfin family, they were the first ones to reach the half mark, then let me explain you the second surprise I prepared for this round".
Ezequiel nearly vomited blood, both because he was suddenly assaulted by the penalty and because it seemed as if the world was playing with him now, unfortunately for him, besides his father and his team, everyone else ignored his state, as they were more interested in what the Minister had to say.
"Information is a weapon and a good scholar must know to wield it, my second surprise is a small challenge based on the encrypted letters, that used to be seen in the battlefields back then, when mirror plates didn't exist".
"Only those who are knowledgeable in the history of their respective seas, would know about such a thing, and that is why this challenge is optional, you can skip if you want to… but be aware that deciphering the envelope and the problem inside of it, will count as two correct answers".
"Those who are not secure of a previous problem, have the chance to redeem themselves, and those who are confident in their previous answers, will get a wildcard, as an exception I'll give you scholars a chance to talk in private with your captains, during twenty seconds, good luck".
As soon as the Minister finished speaking, the captain and the scholars of each team were covered by a black dome, which isolated them from the others, so that they could have privacy to discuss whether they would accept the challenge or decline it.
Daimon who was evaluating the participants until a moment ago, shook his head, he already knew who was going to win this round, the girls also made their guesses, and Mellie approached Daimon to validate hers.
"The Minister did something to give his grandson an advantage, right?", mumbled Mellie.
"Mm, yes but that's not going to be enough, he is forgetting that while his grandson has ice affinity which is indeed related to water, it isn't water, it's the same principle that screwed over the son of the Blackfin Duke in the first round, therefore the ones who are feeling less pressured by the lake are those with water affinity".
Mellie smiled, Daimon's answer went along with her supposition, the domes that were isolating the captains and scholars, disappeared, and then as if something triggered a chain reaction, the scholars who finished the fifth problem, tossed the encrypted envelopes aside, meaning they gave up on the chance of getting two points.
The reasoning behind it it's pretty simple, deciphering the envelope would add more time to the penalties they had to endure, and the number of surviving members of a team also counted for the final score.
But even then there were a few people who didn't reject the chance to get the extra point, the crowned prince and Walford to be more accurate, and that's not all, the red circle was around them, meaning they had decided to use their right to endure all the penalty as captains.
Lance looked at his scholar and nodded, he opted to reject the extra point, because he has already won a round, and he needs his subordinates to be in their prime for tomorrow, if he wants to have a chance win against the crowned prince's team, which is his main target in the third round.
As for Ezequiel, he ended fourth in the first round because he lost too much team members, so this time he by himself took the opposite decision and didn't chose swiftness, but practicality.
"Ohhhh!", seeing a literal showdown of "spirit" between the popular crowned prince and the grandson of the Minister, who seemed to be the hidden card of his family, the spectators cheered up.
The first one to retire from enduring the penalty will lose points in the "spirit" aspect of the second round, and also will probably lose a team member if the scholar takes too long to decipher the encrypted envelope.
