The group of friends of High ranking Heroes and Adventurers sat in a lavishly decorated VIP box overlooking the crowded arena below.
The atmosphere was relaxed, with glasses of wine and plates of food scattered around the room.
As they watched the interviews live on the holographic screen from the VIP box of the Arena, Joseph, a tall man with grey hair and a beard, comnted on Ares' challenge to all the academies.
"How arrogant of him," he said, folding his arms.
Elaine, the blonde-haired woman seated next to him, chuckled and took a sip of her wine.
Before she could respond, a thin man with black hair and dark circles under his eyes leaned forward on the sofa and spoke, "It was a calculated move on his part. He knew that his academy, which has been the reigning champion for decades, would eventually be targeted by every other academy."
"...What does that even an? If he knew that all the academies were already targeting his academy, he should have been more careful with his arrogant mouth, right? Why would he provoke them even further?" A muscular beastman asked, looking confused.
"He is playing mind gas with his opponents," a soft and alluring voice interjected from behind Joseph and Elaine, catching their attention.
The trio turned around to see a tall and striking red-haired woman, dressed in a black dress and sporting a pair of sleek glasses that hid her eyes.
"What do you an, Sarah?" Joseph asked, intrigued.
"Allow to clarify," Sarah said, her voice calm and asured. "Our cunning friend here is using a classic tactic to sow seeds of doubt and confusion among his opponents. By boasting about his academy and proclaiming that he fears no one, he's forcing the other academies to take notice and prepare for a potential challenge.
However, by ntioning a specific academy to watch out for, he's subtly directing attention away from his own academy and towards a potential rival that may not even pose a threat.
The beastman man still seed confused, prompting the lazy-eyed man to speak up.
"Why are all beastn muscleheads? Sigh." The lazy-eyed man sighed before speaking, "It's a classic misdirection technique. He's making everyone think that the real threat is sowhere else.
Just think about it this way: Suppose there is a person whom everyone believes is the strongest, and they all want to defeat him to prove themselves. But suddenly, that sa person acknowledges soone else as their strongest competitor. What do you think everyone's reaction to that would be?" he asked, pausing for a mont.
"They would be curious about that soone whom the strongest person thinks is their competitor. They would want to find out if that person really is strong—" The beastman said, halting in his sentence as the realization began to dawn on him.
"D-Don't tell he just ntioned so underdog academy's na to divert attention away from his academy," he exclaid.
"That's exactly what he did," Sarah confird with a smile, her spectacles sparkling.
The beastman scratched his head in confusion. "But wouldn't the other academies eventually realize that he's just diverting their attention?"
Sarah smirked. "Yeah, so smart students can easily see through his ga. And those are the people he's most worried about. The rest prideful teenagers who are eager to prove themselves will be too busy chasing their own tails to notice what's really going on."
She raised a glass of wine in admiration. "I must say, he's more cunning than I thought. I'm excited to see how this plays out."
"What a cunning brat!" Joseph muttered.
"Hehehe, he really is my type. Maybe I should get in touch with him after the tournant," Elaine laughed while twirling her wine glass.
"...Don't you already have a boyfriend, Elaine?" the beastman asked.
"...She already broke up with him. She can't stick with a single man for more than a week," Sarah comnted.
"Tch, it's not my fault that they just run away from for no reason," Elaine spoke, clicking her tongue.
"No reason? Your crazy fetish about getting defeated by a man but instead you beat them to half death, don't you think that's enough reason for them to run away?" Sarah remarked.
"Well, isn't it natural for a woman to want to find a man stronger than her?" Elaine shrugged.
"...You ranked in the top 10 on the recent ranking list, didn't you? How do you expect to find soone stronger than you? The ones above you are old geezers who are already committed or married," Sarah added.
"There's just a shortage of strong n in this world, so I am thinking of making a man strong myself," Elaine said before starting to chug her wine.
"...Then we will have another Duel, Elaine Vs Mika!" The lazy-eyed man said in a low voice.
"Yeah, Mika will definitely co after you if you try to steal her disciple," Sarah added, nodding.
"Nah, Wouldn't she be happy for her disciple to have a beautiful and strong woman like myself by his side?" Elaine smirked.
"This reminds of my 'date' with Jessica," Joseph abruptly spoke, grabbing everyone's attention.
"...."
"Pfft, hahaha," Elaine, Sarah, and the rest suddenly began laughing when they heard Joseph.
As the group laughed, Joseph couldn't help but feel embarrassed. "What's so funny?" he asked, trying to join in on the fun.
"Your obliviousness is what's funny," Elaine said in between laughs. "You still think Jessica was interested in you after all these years?"
Joseph's face turned red with embarrassnt as he realized why they were laughing.
"Oh...I see," he muttered, feeling foolish.
"Wait, you an the A-Rank gate incident?" the beastman asked with a curious expression.
Joseph nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed.
"Oh, I rember that," the beastman said with a chuckle. "You really thought it was a date, huh?"
"I an, I did agree to go with her, and we had a good ti," Joseph defended himself.
"Sure, but that doesn't an it was a date; it was just a gate you both cleared," Elaine said with a chuckle.
"Now that we are on the topic of Jessica, do you think she'll be able to attend the tournant?" Sarah asked, taking a sip of her wine.
"No, unfortunately. She is preparing for the upcoming conference, and things will get troubleso after that. So till then, we are given a vacation," Joseph, who is also part of the Hero Association, replied, leaning back in his chair.
"And the main host, Ivica, is absent as well," the lazy-eyed man whose na is David added.
"Rumor has it that she's on the verge of breaking through to surpass a transcendent being," Sarah explained, prompting gasps from the group.
"...."
'Is there really a power beyond that of transcendent beings?' they wondered inwardly.
The group fell into stunned silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
"...Why is Marshal quiet today?" The beastman asked, breaking the silence and pointing at the blue-haired man sitting alone in the corner of the room lost in thought.
"Don't mind him. His sister seems to have offended the guy who supposedly killed the demon lord," Sarah stated, a hint of amusent in her voice.
"You an to say his sister offended that Marz boy?" Joseph inquired, intrigued.
"Yes," Sarah nodded, taking another sip of wine.
"...Do you guys really think that fragile-looking guy really killed a demon lord? I think it's just a made-up story from Jessica," Elaine stated skeptically.
"No, it is not made up. Jessica would never do sothing like that," Joseph retorted. "Then how do you explain the red sky and the sudden deaths of the demon lords followers?" he added, raising a challenging eyebrow.
Elaine was trying to co up with an answer before David spoke up. "There was only one person who really managed to kill a demon lord in the past, but he ended up dead due to the backlash. That's the reason why the demon lords were sealed instead of killed back then. At least that's what we read in the history books," he explained.
"So you an to say that even if that Marz guy sohow managed to kill the demon lord, he might already be dead?" Sarah questioned.
"...No, he is not dead," Marshal, who had been quiet all this while, suddenly spoke up.
Everyone turned to him, their attention caught.
"That boy really killed a demon lord. Not only that, he also managed to kill around 1,00,000 monsters all by himself," he declared.
"Pftt— Cough—Cough!"
Elaine's wine sprayed out of her mouth in shock as she struggled to catch her breath.
"A-Are you serious?" she managed to gasp out.
Marshal nodded solemnly. "I was present when the data from his wristwatch was retrieved. His watch was fine and working, but he removed the trackers after a day, and we don't even know how many more monsters he killed after that."
Silence descended upon the group as they all tried to process this new information. The idea that this boy had accomplished such a feat was incredible, but the fact that he was still alive made it even more unbelievable.
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