204 Chapter 204: Newcomer

She stomped her feet as she walked towards her horse, ignoring the voices calling out to her.

"Hazel !!!!"

Stopping in her tracks, Hazel turned around and shouted angrily, "What?!" 

Her retort scared Jinha and the rest, making them halt on their tracks, a few distances away from Hazel.

Jinha exchanged gazes with the rest and pursed his lips when he realized no one was taking the bait.

'These rascals...'

Coughing, he took a step in front and looked at Hazel. He asked, "Are you angry?"

Hazel turned towards him with her hands folded. She asked with a smile plastered on her face, that didn't reach her eyes.

"What do you think?"

Jinha quickly smiled and shrugged as if understanding her words. 

'Yes... hell mad. I got it!'

And, took a step back. He threw a look to the rest which said, 'Up to you guys now'

Everyone carried a grimace on their faces as they looked at each other, urging the other to take the step front.

Liz looked at Hazel and said slowly, "Let's return to the academy. We have lots of work left to do"

Hak joined in and laughed.

"Yes, we need to prepare for the Grand tournament since we can't use the Forbidden forest anymore."

Hazel instantly fired back, "Are you that eager to fight? Then, fight me!"

Hak was speechless as he stared at the demoness in front of him. He blinked before he slowly took a step back and nudged Zeno forward.

'What did he do? I was just trying to shift the topic'

Zeno shook his hand away before he rubbed his forehead restlessly.

Hazel pressed her lips when she realized that she was taking her anger out on her friends. Sighing, she rubbed her forehead as she mumbled, "Sorry guys, let's just leave quickly"

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement as they jumped onto their horses. Of course, Jinha didn't allow Reyna to ride her horse and made her sit with him making Hazel's lips twitch.

Shaking her head, she kicked her horse and galloped towards the gate. 

Jinha brought his horse beside her and mumbled, "Do you have to be angry because he didn't inform you?"

He stopped when Hazel threw an icy glare at him.

'So scary!'

He hugged Reyna tightly making the latter blush. She hit his hand which was ignored by him.

Hazel's lips twitched hard at the couple. She retracted her gaze and nudged her horse to run faster, to lose them. Unfortunately, Jinha caught up with her making her grit her teeth.

Jinha sighed, "Why are you so angry? Look at Loki, do you see him throwing a temper?"

Everyone who heard him, turned around to look at Loki who was riding silently behind them. On sensing their gazes and hearing Jinha talk about him, he looked up questioningly at him.

Jinha looked at him and winked, "Did you know about Stella's disappearance beforehand?"

On seeing his frown, Jinha thought that Loki also had no idea about them leaving. He thought now he could make things better. But unfortunately, he was proven wrong.

"Didn't they hurry towards their kingdom? What do you mean by disappearance?"

Jinha looked appalled by his response. He asked in a horrified manner.

"You knew about it before?"

Loki knitted his brows and nodded.

"Stella informed me right before she was departing," he said seriously before noticing their ugly expressions. He blinked and asked doubtfully, "Why? Shouldn't she have told me?"

Jinha pursed his lips at this blockhead. It was okay if he didn't know but here, wasn't he gloating over the fact that Stella who wasn't his girlfriend yet already informed him? While Usui, who was someone's boyfriend didn't bother to inform her?

'Couldn't he read the atmosphere?'

He really didn't want to look at Hazel as he could already feel her piercing gaze. He yelped in pain when he felt a hand pinch his waist hard.

He turned towards Reyna who had an annoyed expression on her face. Before he slowly turned towards the rest, who were all looking at him with a look that screamed.

'It's your fault!!!!'

Reluctantly, he looked at Hazel who was glaring at him. She said crisply, "See"

One word and he knew he made things difficult.

He shivered under her glare until she turned around and increased the speed. This time, he didn't bother to catch up with her as he wanted to calm his heart rate down.

'Women can be so scary!'

....

Royal City,

Hazel and the rest stepped through the portal and was surprised by the crowd in front of them. It looked like the recent attack made no difference as the city was brimming with stalls and students.

As she stepped down from the podium, she was surprised to see all the vendors and students pause. They turned towards her with gratitude written all over their face.

"Thank you, Azure Princess"

Hazel raised her eyebrow when she heard the familiar term her people called her. Right, she almost forgot that she had displayed her prowess in front of everyone.

She smiled at everyone and proceeded towards the academy with her troop.

Liz asked while they were walking, "I wonder if the Grand tournament would take place this time."

Hazel knitted her brows and mused, "Well, they won't cancel it now when we need strong fighters. I'm sure the tournament would take place to keep an eye on the strong competitors."

Zeno nodded.

"I wonder where it would take place this time" 

Every time, the tournament happened in different academies through a lot taken by the principals. Last time, it was in an academy deep within the icy mountains. They hoped this time, they could get a more favorable place.

Loki furrowed his brows and said, "I heard they would be attending this time."

Reyna asked confusedly, "Who?"

Loki spat with disgust, "Silver Mages"

Liz had a surprised look as she said, "I'm surprised they are participating this time. Don't they normally stay out of these competitions?"

Instantly everyone frowned. Hazel curled her lips and said, "Anyway, whatever the reason might be. We should be polite towards them."

Everyone cast a doubtful glance at Hazel. She shrugged, "Shouldn't we ask them whether they loved our parting gift? "

"That's the least we could go for not having a chat last time"

The group chuckled while shaking their heads. Well, they will surely have some fun in the tournament.

Soon, they reached the academy. They entered the gates while greeting the guards. As soon as they entered, their eyebrows furrowed when they saw a huge crowd gathered in a circle in front of them.

They moved forward, curious about the situation. 

Hak called out, "What is happening here?" 

Hearing his loud shout, the students surrounding them quickly paved a way for the Heroes to walk through. Hazel furrowed her brows when she saw hearts flying from all the females present and anger emitted from all the males.

When they reached the center, they saw a figure standing in the middle with a violet cloak over his shoulders facing a bulky male. From the point of view, they could clearly see that the bulky male was picking a fight with the violet figure.

Hazel quickly turned towards the student near her and asked, "What happened here?"

She didn't know why but she looked at the figure right after that and was petrified instantly.

"Y-You "