Chapter 155 – Format

“Oh, Erica and Akira are here,” Yuna said, her eyes drifting past Yuki.

“Mhm. They’ll be joining us in our little discussion,” Yuki replied. 

“I see.”

Yuki waited for Erica and Akira to take a seat at the table with them. He tapped the table, bringing up the menu and began to peruse it. 

“Getting something to eat?” Erica asked.

“No. Just something to drink. I’m a bit thirsty,” he said without looking up. “Do you three want anything?”

“I already ordered something, thank you,” Yuna replied.

“I wouldn’t mind a shot,” Erica smiled.

“Water’s fine for me,” Akira said.

“Alright,” Yuki nodded. He closed the menu and snapped his fingers at one of the waiters. “George, come here.”

“What would you like ma’am?” the waiter asked with a practiced smile, bowing a bit. 

“Erica, what kind of shot do you want?” Yuki asked, glancing at her.

“Whiskey would do.”

“Whiskey for her, water for her,” Yuki said to the waiter, pointing at Erica and then Akira. “For me, I want something light so I’ll get what I usually get.”

“A cider ma’am?”

“Mhm.”

“I’ll be right back with your drinks,” the waiter said, bowing before walking to the bar.

“Alright. Now let’s begin our planning,” Yuki said, turning to the three that were seated at the table. Then he tilted his head as he remembered something and looked at Yuna. “Wait, you said earlier that you wanted to ask me some things, right?”

“I did. If that’s alright with you,” she replied.

“I said it was already. So what did you want to know?” 

“Um, well. No one has come to arrest me in the last week,” she said. “Which is odd, to say the least. After what I did. And where I come from.”

“Oh, so you were worried about why nothing’s happened to you,” Yuki said.

“Yes. I didn’t make it very obscure that I was trying to help you after things went crazy. I even helped Akira fight some of them.”

“I see. When you were fighting with Akira, did you notice what she was doing with the people she fought?”

“She made them unconscious. To capture them?”

“More like to detain them for a bit. I had Erica go around wiping their memories of what happened that day.”

“Which is the most I’ve done so far,” Erica commented. “I really haven’t contributed much.”

“Even if that’s all you’ve been able to do, it’s still important,” Yuki replied. “Besides, you should be able to do much more now right?”

“I should. I can fight now.”

“Then I’ll make that an option.”

“Wait, Erica you look different,” Yuna said, frowning. “Did you get, um, bigger?”

“Of all the things that you could have noticed, you went to my chest?” Erica smiled. “So that’s what you like, hmm?”

“No, no,” Yuna rushed. “It’s just that that was what I noticed first. You also grew taller, right? Your skin looks brighter too.”

“Yes,” Erica laughed. “I changed a bit. Or really, I’m back to how I was. I’m not the weakest here anymore. Well, at least not the weakest by a large margin.”

Yuna frowned, her questions apparent on her face. 

“Don’t worry about that,” Yuki waved. “We’re getting off topic.”

He stopped as George came to their table with their drinks. He served it to them with a wide smile and wished them a good afternoon before heading to a different table that was calling for him.

“Erica wiped their memories. The people that ran out of the LIA headquarters during my little fight,” Yuki continued. “I made sure to have a perimeter around the place. Everyone that was inside was caught and I removed some specific information from their minds.”

“About?” Yuna asked.

“You and your relationship with me,” he said. “I also removed some things that I didn’t want lying around like how I’m an elf that has a human look.”

“That doesn’t really explain why no one’s come after me. The LIA should know about everything even if everyone involved had been removed.”

“Well, yes. There’s probably a few people that know or at least have some memory about you and your relationship with me. But they can’t do anything without evidence to support them.”

“Shouldn’t the evidence be in the system? A report should have been made.”

“It was in the system,” Yuki corrected.

“Was?”

“I removed everything. My casefile. Your information that was related to me. I left the investigation into our guild but I removed anything sensitive or anything I didn’t want them to have.”

“You can do that?”

“Mhm.”

“That should be impossible. Their system is supposed to be one of the strongest in terms of security,” Yuna said. “And that’s illegal to do, isn’t it?”

“Legality isn’t really my biggest concern. And yes, their system is one of the strongest to hack into.”

“I forget that we’re a dark guild at times,” Yuna shook her head. “But how did you hack into the database?”

“That’s the thing, Yuna. I didn’t hack it. I used their computers to get in.”

“When did you...oh. So that’s why you needed to stay behind for a bit.”

“Mhm.”

“So no one is going to come after me?” she asked.

“No one from the LIA should be going after you,” Yuki said. He thought back to her file. “I can’t say for certain about other people.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“You’re a part of us. We look out for family. You know, you can quit the LIA right now. I can go in and delete anything about you. It’ll be as if you were never there.”

“Can I do that?” Yuna said. Then she sighed. “I don’t know, Yuki.”

“Look at it this way. What can they give you that we can’t? A home? Comfort?”

“I know, I know. Do it,” she said with a sharp nod of her head. “Do it. Now that the captain isn’t there anymore, there’s no reason for me to stay.”

“Alright,” Yuki said. He took out an earpiece from his pocket and slipped it into his ear. “Uriel, remove Yuna from the LIA records.”

“On it. Was that why you told me that you might have some things for me to do?” she asked.

“No, there’s something else.” He dropped his hand from the earpiece and looked at everyone at the table. “Now, let’s get onto some important things.”

After saying that, he grabbed the bottle of cider that was placed in front of him and opened it. Then he placed the cap carefully on the table and took a sip from the bottle. The three sitting at the table watched him as he slowly downed his drink, Yuna looking confused. When he finished, the bottle was about halfway full based on its weight.

“Okay,” he nodded. “So, the tournament.”

“Is that alcoholic?” Yuna asked. “Sorry for interrupting, but I wanted to know.”

“Yes. It is.”

“You aren’t of age yet right?”

“Yes.”

“So how can you hold alcohol so well?”

“I don’t know. I’ve found out I can awhile back on accident. I was bored,” he said. “Anyway, onto the tournament. Like I said during the school day, we don’t know the format of the tournament so we can’t prepare ourselves the best we can. I’m going to change that.”

“Going to do some illegal stuff?” Erica asked before sipping her glass. 

“Basically. Uriel, give me all the information you can about the tournament,” he said.

“Oh, so that’s what you really wanted me to do,” Uriel replied. “Alrighty then. Sending it right to you.”

Yuki’s watch buzzed and he opened the notification. A file appeared which he opened.

“Hmm, this is interesting,” he commented, reading the documents inside.

“Wait, isn’t this cheating?” Yuna said. Yuki glanced at her and noticed her worried expression.

“Don’t worry about it. We won’t get caught,” he said. “Everyone will be getting this information anyways. We’re just getting it a bit earlier than them.”

“But that gives us an unfair advantage.”

“Well, yes. But we want to win. So we do what we have to.”

“Don’t you feel bad? I don’t think victory from cheating is very enjoyable.”

“Winning is winning to me. As long as I win, I find it enjoyable. Besides, I have a reason for why we need to win. If I didn’t, then I would have just let it be a surprise since it would be more entertaining that way.”

“What’s the reason?”

“The reward is a spot in the training camp for the L-taf. If someone passed the training, they will receive a position on one of the most respected groups in Libra. That is a very good prize for us,” he said.

“I see,” Yuna said.

“And I want you to be that someone that passes.”

“What?”

“Are you willing?” Yuki asked.

“I, um, yes, but I wasn’t joining the tournament for that, actually. I just wanted to practice,” she replied. “Do you think I can even pass the camp?”

“Of course you can. That isn’t something that you should be worried about,” Yuki said. “So you’re onboard with the idea right?”

“Yes. But we need to cheat to do it?”

“Well, it’s not necessary, but if we want to guarantee that we win, then it’s highly recommended.”

“I guess,” she sighed.

“Don’t worry about it. Those who lose aren’t losing much. They made it to the Academy. They’ll be fine one way or another.”

“I understand.”

“So the tournament’s format. It’s three stages from the looks of it,” Yuki said, looking back at the open file. “The first two are objective based challenges. Both will be in completely different settings. That has to cost quite a lot of money to organize.”

“Are they building two arenas this time?” Akira asked.

“From the looks of it, they are making one arena. I think that arena will have some sort of magic in it to change its battlefield.”

“That’s something I want to see,” she said.

“I do too. I want to look at the magic behind that,” he nodded. “The third round is equally as interesting. I’ve never really seen this format before.”

“What is it?” Yuna asked.

“A deathmatch. A battle royale involving everyone who passed the first two stages.

“Where?” 

“In the border between the Dwarven country and Libra. They’re going to drop us in the middle of it. Then have us hunt each other down.”