The following day, after camping next to the cherry blossom fields, we kept moving to the capital, which was only a few hours away from our location.
It was called the "City of Kyotora," and it was built around a hill that made the king’s castle at the top look even taller than it truly was.
The streets were bustling with people and rchants who wore kimonos of different colors, making feel like I had landed in feudal Japan even more than in Yumiko Port.
Before we could enjoy ourselves in the city, we had to go to the "Ryuken Arena," which was the na for the squared colosseum where the tournant would take place.
It was a massive building with four different entrances, living quarters for the participants and chaperones, and could supposedly hold fifty-thousand spectators.
A bald old man with a long beard wearing a mage’s robe, similar to the one Devon used, greeted us when we entered the arena.
It turned out that he was the headmaster of the academy at Kyotora and introduced himself as "Sage Lang" to everyone present before giving us a tour of the installations.
There was a separate area for training that so of the participants were already using, and when we got to the living quarters where we would be staying, Sage Lang called and lina to talk with him.
"I received a letter from Sage Devon. It’s a pleasure to et the couple of sages that he was talking about..." he said.
Sage Lang, being the one in charge of the academy at Kyotora, was also one of the main organizers for the tournant since it would take place in their country and kept explaining the details of the event as we walked inside the tunnels of the Ryuken Arena.
At one point, we reached the main platform where the fights would take place, and he told everything I needed to rember when working as a referee.
Apparently, people had died in the tournant before, but that was one of the primary things I needed to avoid.
"So battles can get heated, and when the fighters lose themselves in the mont, they end up risking their lives..." Lang explained.
Killing your opponent with clear intent was against the rules, but if the fighter cast a spell and his rival died, then it was "fine."
’That’s a pretty big loophole in the rules...’ I thought.
I an, if soone cast a spell with the intention of murdering soone, I would be able to detect their bloodlust and try to stop them imdiately.
’What if soone is able to hide those murderous feelings?’ I pondered.
Of course, I wasn’t the only referee for the whole event, but it was my first ti there while the others were veterans at it, so Lang thought it would be good for to have a quick orientation lesson.
After a bit more walking, he took us back to the living quarters for chaperones and said that he was going to be busy until the start of the tournant, but we could look for him at any ti in the main office of the arena.
"Hopefully, we get so ti to discuss our magic after..." he said, politely bowing and leaving us in the room.
lina chuckled slightly after the headmaster left, comnting how all sages were true "fanatics" of magic, and I agreed with her.
I an, we could tell that the reason those guys got to their positions was that they had a clear drive and passion for learning new magic.
That’s why they couldn’t help themselves from speaking with other sages and learning about their spells.
Sage Lang, while he looked a bit more serious than Devon, seed to have a soft spot for the things he cared about the most.
As lina and I kept discussing the sages’ personalities, Topen, my assistant, walked into the room.
We were sharing our room with the other chaperones, so it wasn’t strange for him to walk in without knocking, but he still looked a bit shy when entering.
"Topen, everything okay?" I asked.
"Yes. I was guiding the students to the practice arena, but they kept asking for you two to join them..." he replied.
"They are practicing already? But we just got here!" I exclaid.
I wanted my students to win, but I also wanted them to have a good ti, and seeing them practice on the very first day that we arrived gave mixed feelings.
lina, noticing my slight discomfort, held my arm tightly and smiled, saying that we shouldn’t downplay their determination.
She had been talking with Yuki all this ti since she was worried for her friend, and she knew better than anyone that Yuki wouldn’t rest until the tournant was over.
I sighed in defeat. "Then, the best thing we can do is keep training them until the tournant starts..." I replied.
The three of us went to the practice area, which was a large open courtyard that had different types of targets and tools that people could use to train.
So people were on the side fighting with wooden swords and spears, while others were casting magic projectiles at targets in the back.
In one of the corners, we spotted the ten students from our group and started approaching them, but we were halted when lina suddenly turned to the other side.
"Darius!" she exclaid.
’Darius? Wasn’t that...?’ I started pondering while turning my head.
It was lina’s older brother, Darius Sephyr, who had been studying at the Kyotora Academy all this ti, so I never got to et him while in our country.
Just like all the other Sephyr mbers, he possessed the sa silver hair and blue eyes as their siblings.
When he approached us with a smile on his face, I noticed he was slightly taller than , but that probably had to do with the fact that I was 17 and he was almost 21.
"I heard you beca a sage. Congrats, sis!" he exclaid, patting lina’s head like any older brother would.
"Ah, you must be Ichiro. My father told a lot about you in his letters..." he continued, shaking my hand fervently with a smile.
"H-he did?" I asked, a bit confused.
Darius laughed loudly, catching everyone’s attention, expressing how he always kept up with the status of his country.
’I an, he is going to be the king at so point, so I guess it makes sense that he stays up to date with the events happening there...’ I thought.
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