Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

Sometime at noon, all participants were teleported to Timog Town in the southern parts of the Celestine Territory. The overseer, Archduchess Celestine, would be personally overseeing the Hunting Event.

The spectators in Anatoli Stadium could watch the event via magic screens provided by the magic engineers. Familiars would be following each team with their senses of sight and hearing connected to those magic screens.

We gathered at Timog Town’s entrance where Aunt Zaira would be delivering the mechanics and rules.

“Okay so listen very well participants! The Hunting Event will last three hours, and in those three hours you will gather points via two ways; hunting monsters and searching for jade slips.”

Questions erupted among the participants and the adults that accompanied each team, but they were shushed by the archduchess with a spell I know very well; Muting Spell. It’s a spell that takes away the sound of one’s vocal cords, therefore taking away their voice, unable to talk or make the slightest sound.

Or at least that’s what she said when she used it on me the first time.

-Aunt Zaira, you didn’t have to include me. I wasn’t even talking.

I couldn’t help but grimace as my voice was taken away as well.

“I’m not done yet.” Aunt Zaira said in a warning tone. “Don’t worry, I will undo the spell after all this.”

-That’s a vague way of saying it.

“Anyway, as I was saying; you can gain points via hunting monsters and searching for jade slips. Of course, the two are separate matters so that means for the Hunting Event you have two goals and two sets of points. A barrier has been casted around the chosen hunting grounds. Within the barrier are monsters which you will hunt.”

Five bandanas in different colors appeared on her hands.

“For the monsters you will be hunting, they are tagged with a bandana in these colors. Each color has a corresponding point; black for fifty points, red for forty points, green for thirty points, white for twenty points and gold for seventy points. You can already guess the class of the monster with the color of their bandana. The highest monster inside the barrier is an S-Class, so please be careful. Do take note that only two monsters have gold tags and both are S-Class. Those brave and powerful enough can go hunt them but I advise caution. The bandanas are proof that you have hunted and killed that monster. Now a reminder; no attacks will be launched to the other teams to get their bandanas. Familiars will be monitoring your every move and will be transmitted to the magic screens accessible to me, your mentors, the jurors and the audience.”

She gave us a stern look.

“I don’t like PK-ing so please avoid that. Erm, I mean, I do not want you to hunt down the other teams, that’s cheating.”

-PK-ing? Participant Killing?

“Now for the jade slips... There are more or less three thousand jade slips all over the hunting grounds.” she materialized four different colored jade slips the size of two fingers. “Each color has different points, just like the tags for the monsters. The two categories have the same point system by the way so I don’t have to discuss that again. Again, these jade slips are scattered all over the hunting ground, but as a challenge, the black and a few red jade slips are placed in areas that are hard to find, so you will have to be extra vigilant, observant and industrious in finding them. Same with the tags, you cannot steal or exchange the jade slips. Those who will be caught will automatically be disqualified with only fifty points for this event. Okay, questions?”

I noticed that our voices still wouldn’t work so it meant she did not lift the spell. A few hands shot up though when they realized that.

“What if two teams end up fighting for a jade slip or a tag? How will it be settled?”

-Ah, she’s only returning the voice of those who she chooses to ask a question.

“Hmm., good question. For that, you can choose two ways; give the other team the chance or see who can get the jade or tag first. The tags and jade slips have magic imbued in them which will help the scorers identify which student and from which institution he or she came from. You noticed that you were asked to register before you got teleported here, correct?”

We nodded our heads.

“The registration helped us get a lock of your energy signature so now we can identify who’s who by using that. Whoever touches the tags or slips first will be redeemed as its final collector and the points will be given to that team. How you will settle it will be up to you. Any other question? No? Then you have one hour to discuss your strategy and collect your supplies. The supplies can be found in the town. The stores are already informed how many items will be given to each team, so please don’t try to haggle and threaten my people to give you more. Each store has a subordinate of mine who will not think twice of stopping you if he or she sensed something is wrong. Don’t worry, it’s all free.”

-Oh wow. Aunt Zaira is being generous! Did the total income of the Celestine Territory shot up or something?

My team and I isolated ourselves to an area to discuss our strategy in depth.

“Sticking together seems to be a little disadvantageous considering the circumstances.” said Senior George who sounded serious for the first time since I met him.

“You’re right.”

“I agree.”

“Seconded.

“True.”

“Let’s revise our positions then. Let’s split the team into two, three and two; three people to hunt monsters and two people to search for the jade slips.” said our team leader.

“I’ll volunteer to search for the jade slips.” replied Senior Daniel. “Apart from earth magic, I can use a skill that can search for mana imbued objects which makes me the perfect person to search for them.”

-Like Divine Sense?

“Exactly Luna. How did you know that?”

I stared at Senior Daniel, a little surprised. “I said that out loud didn’t I? Uhm… I’ve read about it… in one of my aunt’s books.”

-Smooth Nyx, but I never read it on some book, I used to have it when I was still a fox.

“I see. You’re one of the few people who know it that I know of by the way, which is amazing in itself. No wonder you were chosen to participate in this despite your age.”

“I should say the same thing to you Senior.”

-You have Divine Sense. No wonder you were chosen to be a participant as well.

“Then Senior Anastasia can go with you. She’s good at offense while you can work on defense using your earth magic.” Senior Trent decided.

“”Yes Team Leader.””

“That leaves me, Luna and George to hunt the monsters. I suppose there’s no problem with that?”

“”Yes Team Leader!””

“Excellent! Luna, you are the one familiar with these parts as well as the one with extensive experience in hunting in these grounds. Lead the way to get our supplies.”

“Roger. Follow me!”

*****

A/N:

Err... I put up a discord link last time to those who want to join my discord channel but I think it's a little confusing, so here is a much more specific link: https://discord.gg/K8yeRfxb. Just follow what's there for a smooth process. Once there's a lot of us, we can discuss about the novel or just about anything.

Xoxo,

Niche_Bezarius