In the back, Sarah sat in an intricate medical chair in a daze as she saw Varian step out of the space crack.
“The winner is me.”
“….” She opened her mouth in shock and then forgot to close it. Her injuries were still there, but quickly recovering or she’d have stood up as well.
At first, she thought it was the prank of a powerful psychic. But with Anna around, who would dare to that?
That means this was definitely not an illusion.
‘Have I gone mad?’ She thought.
‘It just makes no sense.’ Her brain concluded.
“It just makes no sense.”
A high awakener spoke up, breaking the silence. With that, everyone also voiced their opinions.
“He’s still a level 5, right?”
“Or is he hiding even more strength?”
“He can’t win. There’s absolutely something shady.”
“Yes! To think the General Evander, the host will use such despicable methods. I’m truly disappointed.”
“Indeed. Do you think we are kids to fall for your publicity stunt?”
In an instant, the public opinion went from shock to disbelief and disbelief to denial and denial to accusation.
Richard felt his head spin as he looked at the expression of dissatisfaction on some big shots.
Forget those level 9 bosses, even Sovereigns were frowning as they started at Evander for an explanation.
Evander…Evander maintained the same stoic expression.
But Richard could tell that he was panicking right now. However, as an experienced general, Evander stood up and appeared beside Varian.
The audience suddenly fell silent.
“It’s normal to have doubts.” He calmly said, looking at everyone with cold eyes. ‘Yes! I have the most doubts!’
“But we didn’t get to hear what happened from others. Once Varian gets his healing potion, we’ll have everyone individually confess what happened inside. Everyone here can be a live witness.” His words were unhurried and the crowd too calmed down.
This was an acceptable solution.
They’d know what happened independently from every trial taker and more importantly, even Varian would have to reveal what he’d done.
‘There’s no way he can explain things…’ The majority thought.
“Hm.” Evander nodded at Richard who took Varian and instantly disappeared to a healing room.
Evander returned to the round table and sat in silence.
The Sovereigns didn’t speak out.
But he knew that if something shady did happen, then it’d all be pushed onto him.
‘I knew this would happen. I was stupid to send him an invitation.’ Evander wanted to slap his past self.
As Varian disappeared, the crowd burst into fierce discussions. Most of them wanted to approach the trial takers and ask what happened, but the security stopped them.
‘Before the confession, don’t make trouble.’
Since it was only a few minutes away, men and women, boys and girls all suppressed their curiosity and waited.
While they all thought Varian’s victory was fake, the ex-teammates sat like statues.
In the back of their mind, a puzzle seemed to have been solved. Suddenly, everything made perfect sense.
Xavier realized the unease they had.
Ashtarh recalled the time when his messengers called for request reporting a level 6 entering Thunder Shrine.
Then there was the beast tide.
The teams of Ashtarh, Xavier, Sarah and Helia immediately understood the mastermind.
As more and more connections were made, they felt a chill down their spine.
How in fucking hell?
They received the biggest shock of their lives.
Sarah felt like the sky was falling. She gaped into the distance with utter silence before finally nodding.
“…I see.”
William stared at the sky through the open ceiling with a complicated expression.
He slowly said. “The beast tide was triggered by explosives and there are lightning explosives in the Thunder Region. It’s normally very hard to find them, but—”
“I gave him the books with all the information.” Sarah sighed deeply.
She didn’t know what to feel at this moment. What was this dull feeling in her chest?
She was happy and not at the same time.
A part of her felt cheated, but a part of her felt proud.
Suddenly she thought of something and froze. ‘Did he use ghost ship or what? That’s unfair and cheating…but wait, if anyone else knows, it’d put him in danger!’
The more she thought about it, the more Sarah felt like Varian used ghost ship.
She fidgeted and took deep breaths to calm herself down. She was pissed off at his actions, yes.
After all, he never told her that he wanted to participate in the trial.
But…
Even if he did say, would that have changed anything?
‘No. No one would think he’d win. And given his level, no team will accept him.’
Sarah would’ve still given him the information of the treasures anyway.
But still…
‘I feel like a fool.’ Sarah thought and bit her lip.
“Don’t be angry, Sarah.” William said slowly.
“Hm. I don’t think he cheated, but if he didn’t, I have no idea how he won.” Philia said.
Sarah nodded.
In the end, Charles defeated Ashtarh and her. Even though he was very injured then, he still had the strength of a mid level 6 or something.
How can Varian possibly defeat him?
There’s no chance!
Even if he tried to use lightning explosives, with his speed, Charles could easily dodge.
That’s why…
‘Argh!’ Sarah rubbed her brows and sighed.
During the same time, in a healing room.
“..are you fine?” Varian asked from the healing pod. The healing liquid was doing its wonders already.
Richard clutched his heart. It was beating too fast and threatened to burst out any moment.
“Me? I’m perfectly fine.” Richard smiled elegantly.
“….then why are you sweating, trembling and were you always this paler?” Varian asked in confusion.
‘Because I almost got a heart stroke.’ Richard wanted to say but he just laughed outwardly. “Must be my old age, hahaha.”
Then the healing room fell silent.
Varian stretched his arms and stepped out of the healing pod.
Richard sighed inwardly and his voice turned serious. “Young Master, did you cheat?”
“Hahahaha!”