Chapter 96 96: The First Hurdle [Pt1]

Keith dismissed the other three soon after that. In his hasty to be alone, Keith forgot to ask an important question - the name of the person who would be his competition.

By the time Keith was reminded that he had to ask this question, it was already the next day. And it would be out of character for someone like Grandmaster to ask this question to anyone.

'I guess I will be finding out who my competition is directly when I compete. Not that it would change anything in the end.'

The next day was bright and full of sunshine. There was no sight of cloud in Keith's sight which made his mood worse. Why did today have to be such a shining and bright day? Just looking at the sun was bringing Keith down.

Before leaving the guild, Keith made sure he paid a visit to Clair. He needed to get her input in case she was not able to tell Keith something important beforehand.

Clair was busy with her work, her back straight and her nose buried in papers. She did not even look up or acknowledge Keith when he came near her.

"Before you ask me, I have no idea who Shinzou is sending to be your competition so do not ask. Second, can you sign this copy before you go? I don't want to bother putting up a spell right now."

Clair threw a copy of her document toward Keith which he caught easily. It was a funding request but it was worse rather vaguely.

"What's this?"

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom Keith asked as he looked at the report in his hand. He did not believe he knew what this report was about.

"What? Ah, the report I gave you? It is just something about my research funds. Can you just sign it for now and free me?"

Keith did not think much more on this topic once Clair titled it as 'her work'. She was his trusted companion and she could ask him for anything.

So that was why Keith signed and he was out of the room before Clair could ask him for anything more.

Knowing Clair, she could make Keith do all his work and he would not even notice.

After that, Keith was out to find the 'Cross Arena' where the first part of Olivia's tournament would be held at. He knew where it was from the game he had played.

When Keith had first been brought into this MMO world, he had felt like he knew nothing. But he remembered far more than he had initially expected to remember.

To think that it had only been a month and a half since he had arrived in this world and a lot of things had already happened.

But as always, Keith knew where he had to start his journey - from the town plaza. He knew vaguely where he had to go from the plaza since he had been lucky to play in this event in the game.

"As far as I remember, there is one place that sells the entry map for 'Cross Arena' and that is Merlin's magic. Luckily, I have a rather fortunate relationship with Merlin."

So, Keith went to Merlin's shop the first chance he got. He opened the door and the old man was right at the front desk.

"Welcome to Merlin's magic, how may I help you today? Ah, it's only you."

Merlin looked less than thrilled to see Keith enter his shop. Since Keith was a trusted customer, Merlin did not care much for Keith so he was neutral to see Keith enter the shop.

"I would like to buy a grade G map from your shop. I will look around for the one I want to buy from you."

Merlin waved his hand in the gesture that said 'I cannot be bothered' and Keith hurried to look around. He quickly found the map he had been looking for and made his way toward the front of the shop.

Merlin checked him out soon after that and Keith was on his way to the 'Cross Arena'. But in his happiness and haste, Keith forgot a few important things he should have.

And the first one was the reason why 'Cross Arena' had been chosen as the gathering place for the first test - it was difficult to reach.

...….

'Stupid quests and stupid game. How did I forget that the way to 'Cross Arena' was by crossing a fast-flowing river? I would not have gotten stuck in my current situation if not for this single road.'

Most people would be wondering what happened to Keith for him to curse out like this. Well, let Keith tell his story.

First, when Keith had opened the map, he had expected to instantly be reminded of the way. But that did not happen.

The more Keith looked at the map, the more he was confused about where he should head next.

And when he had finally arrived at the fast-flowing river, he remembered that his body was not meant for swimming. So, Keith had been forced to stop and wait with the small bunch of people in front of the river.

Keith had expected to run into Master Shinzou's recommendation sooner or later but as luck would have it, he managed to run into the said person during his waiting time.

And what were the odds of this person being the 'one person' who had met him in his new identity before? Keith was sure the fates were playing tricks on him at this point.

"Ah, so we meet again stranger. Last time you left rather abruptly so I had no time to stop you but it will be different this time. I will know your name at the very least."

It was Amelia.

'Why is it, Amelia? Is it because she is the protagonist? Why could it not have been Shimi? But no! Maybe I am lucky that it is Amelia who came here and not Shimi. Shimi might have recognized me in this getup.'

Keith untensed his body as he faced Amelia's cheerful expression. She was a little too bright for his taste.

"Oi, are you pretending like you cannot hear me? I will have you know that it will not work for me. I am one heck of a noisy person and I will continue to yell at you until you turn back and acknowledge me."

Oh, Keith knew that about Amelia. She was the most determined of the protagonist and she was also the one who would go to lengths for her loved ones.

That was one of the qualities Keith had liked about her and that was why he had recruited her as well.

'But man, does it get annoying really quick.'

"Ah yes, we did meet before, right? My name is Noah. And you are-"

Keith had a plan for dealing with Amelia. And that was to allow her to sate her curiosity and then dip out once she found someone new.

He doubted that Amelia's attention span would allow him to pay attention to Keith if he decided to be uninteresting in front of her.

"My name is Amelia. I was surprised to see you here. Are you here to participate in Master Olivia's tournament as well? I am so glad that I got the chance to participate in this since it means I am trusted. What about you?"

In just a few words, Amelia had managed to talk so much about herself and her intentions. She was lucky that Keith did not care about her background.

But most people around them were not half as nice and they wanted to drag Amelia down. Especially if they knew that Amelia was from the guild. She was a strong threat just because she carried the name of the guild on her back.

Many people would either single her out to target right now or decide to stay clear of her for the unseen future.

'I guess it is lucky that the one Shinzou sent was Amelia. She would have the protagonist's aura around her so she should be alive by the end. But her presence creates many problems for my plan.'

Now that Amelia was here, the chances of Keith winning were near zero. So, the logical thing to do would be to ensure Amelia won this competition. And to do that, Keith would need to play dirty.

"Look, the boat is here. We should hurry up and get on if we want to get on the central island on time."

Someone pointed out and suddenly, everyone was active. There was only a small single boat that was rowing toward them and everyone was excited to see it.

But Keith could see the problem that was about to arise already. There was only one small boat in front of a large group of people. And only so many would be able to get on it.

'Ugh, it is going to turn into a bloodbath soon. I want nothing to do with this but I will have to participate as well.'