Chi Myst'wing

Chapter 7 - The Tournament Begins

A month passed so fast that they couldn't have even noticed it. Now it was the middle of the fourth month. This was the day for them to confirm their participation in the tournament. And today was the day Chi and Vincere need not sell the produce. They woke up, had their breakfast and headed to the city hall. There were several Cyaians already waiting in the queue to register. They must have come even earlier than Chi and Vincere. Mass of crowd was gathering near the city square, and more were coming. Most of the Cyaians had come so far to the city to participate in the tournament with great hope to serve under Lord Benevence.

"Looks like there's real hope for the Eastern Land," said Vincere. "It's not vain that we come here."

"What you said was right," said Chi. "Lord Benevence's virtue did spread to the whole land."

"There! We need to confirm our attendance there." Vincere showed Chi the long queue before the registration counter. And there were five counters to make the registration faster.

Chi glanced at several familiar Cyaians with a bared body passing by. They were the one which Zhanshi, Vincere and Chi had trashed them up. Goldmane and his friends were walking with pleasure and boasted that they will win the tournament. Chi turned her quizzical look at Vincere. Aren't they served under Lord Phopo? Why they wanted to join the tournament? But when they had a look at Chi, their happy face withered so fast. "All the best in the competition," said Chi. Goldmane and his friend were terrified, passing right in front of her. Their walking paces increased after that and not long they were out of her sight.

Not even half an hour, it was Chi and Vincere's turn to confirm their participation. A rabbit-girl with large eyes smiled upon seeing them. "Hello, what's your name?"

"Dear miss, we're Chi Myst'wing and Vindicta Patriarca." Chi and Vincere expressed in a polite tone. "We come to confirm our participation."

"Miss Chi Myst'wing... Sir Vindicta Patriarca... Let's see..." The rabbit-girl turned down to her set of scrolls, skimming through a long list of names. "Ah, yes. Two of you..."

"Yes, we're."

"Welcome, Miss Chi Myst'wing and Sir Vindicta Patriarca. Since Lord Benevence has sponsored you two, both of you are exempted from the fee. This includes the meal and the accommodation in the Anle Inn." The rabbit-girl then pointed them a large hotel which was not far away.

Chi and Vincere were so pleased when they saw the hotel. It looked like a white palace. Their expressions now were like they had never lived in comfortable places. In fact, they both have: Chi had lived in a paradise-like sanctuary whereas Vincere had lived in a luxurious palace. It was just that they have been sleeping outside, near the wild. It was their behaviour that gave the rabbit-girl an impression that they had never lived in such a luxurious place.

Then a male walking-fox guided them to another counter behind. "Now we need to know which first-round group you'll be in. Take a ball from the wooden box, it has an alphabet that will determine your group."

"Chi entered her hand, her hand moved around several balls, and she took out a ball... Everyone was curious at the ball she took out... and they saw a 'D'.

"Miss Myst'wing, group D!" The foxman spoke out loud, and another registrar wrote Chi's name on a large blackboard. Now, her name was inside a white-bordered table labelled 'Group D'. There were eight groups: A to H; all in the cells of a table. And then the same foxman wrote 'Vindicta Patriarca' inside Group E.

"Thank you," said Chi and Vincere as they turned around and noticed that the queue was even longer than when they queued and they were glad that they had come to register earlier.