Chapter 100. Banquet Hall
Purple Dawn Academy was as much a maze on the inside as Rhys remembered, if not more so. He ran over the cobbles as fast as he could, but it felt like slow going anyways. The Academy’s ancient roads twisted and turned, doubling back on themselves and winding around to come out at a strange new location. Whenever he turned the wrong way, Az would start smacking his tail against Rhys’s chest in annoyance, and once he figured that out, Rhys had a much easier time getting to the banquet hall. That, and whenever he turned toward a big, broad street full of fancy buildings, Az settled down. Between those two hints, Rhys was able to smoothly navigate toward the banquet hall.
On the way to dinner, Rhys quickly absorbed the filth on his body, forcibly cleaning himself. He didn’t smell like trash or body odor anymore to his nose, and whose nose could he trust, if not his?
Probably anyone else’s. He glanced down at Az, but the cat had nothing to say. Nodding to himself, he ran on. That would have to be good enough. Never mind that Az had approached him while he was still covered in filth. He’d just conveniently forget that part.
Rhys slowed to a walk as he approached, pretending he’d been moving casually all along. He wasn’t the only contestant who’d thought to arrive early, he realized, as he reached the exterior of a truly grand and sprawling hall. Ev stood by the edge of the vast courtyard that surrounded it, showing a fellow martial artist how to punch. The fellow martial artist nodded, swaying her body closer to Ev and leaning in real close to get the details of the technique, and Rhys raised his brows. Oh hoh? Interesting. From the girl’s body language, she was less interested in Ev’s technique than Ev herself. For a moment, Rhys wondered whether she’d realized Ev was a girl or not, then caught Ev looking at him. Their eyes met, and Ev winked and shot him a sly grin.
He snorted under his breath and nodded back. Right, got it. Who’d just been running around crossdressing to sell potato chips? He wasn’t going to be a hypocrite and ruin Ev’s grand plans by walking over there and ending the illusion… assuming there was even an illusion in the first place. For all he knew, this was just a shared bit of innocent puppy love and he had no place in it whatsoever, and he was just over here making weird assumptions.
Bast, as Solaire, stood off in one corner beside the Sword Saint, who was speaking with some other high-ranking mage. Rhys wandered by, curious about their conversation, regardless of whether it was what Az had wanted him to hear.
The sword saint nodded. “…heading out soon.”
“Oh?”
“It’s the northern border. I know I’m playing her game, but there’s nothing I can do about it. They need reinforcement, and I’m the only one who can make a difference.”
The other mange folded her arms. “It’s shameful that no one else at your Tier dares to stand up against the Empress.”