Only fifty remained and the competition was in full swing. During the two hours, the remaining participants, along with their partners, were escorted to a dining hall where they could eat or use any facilities like bathrooms, games, and massages.
As they walked toward the hall, Yurirl and Arthur chatted idly. When the genius divine swordsman meets with the genius rune apprentice, their conversation must be one that would enter history.
"You mean… raisins are just dried grapes?" Yurirl asked with confusion as if the secrets of the universe were unveiled to him, but they weren't to his liking.
"Yup," Arthur nodded and continued to explain. "The amount of time differs by the grapes type, but most are dried in almost a day."
"But they're much sweeter?"
"Well, yeah." Arthur frowned. "I think it's just because the sugar is concentrated because it's smaller than the grape?"
"Hm." Yurirl went into deep thoughts.
The staff member that listened to their conversation wondered if he was hearing right. Were raisins that mystical that these geniuses talked about them so feverishly? He decided to feed his children raisins every morning.
When they entered the hall, Arthur spotted Emma immediately. She was surrounded by the members of high-society, Nera included.
"Tag along, I'll introduce you to my friend." Arthur pulled on Yurirl's arm and the young man obediently followed. The crowd parted around them as they walked by. There were murmurs regarding the duo of geniuses, but there was little disapproval.
The reason for this is that even if Yurirl was strong, he was limited by the association to the rei-rank and he simply was as a substitute mana source to generate the cards. Of course, some people thought it was unfair that Yurirl paired with a champion candidate, but they were helpless.
Since they were here to socialize, many of them tried to chat with the two geniuses as they passed by. However, both Yurirl and Arthur showed little interest in maintaining a chat.
"Greetings, summoner." Arthur joked as soon as he stood in front of Emma. Some nobles frowned at his casual tone but Emma's response dismissed them.
"Greetings, young hero." She said with a smile. Her eyes turned toward Yurirl who was grabbed by the arm. "And greetings to the divine swordsman, too."
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Emma." Yurirl nodded at her. The noble's attention shifted toward Yurirl, who looked unbothered even with Arthur pulling him by the arm.
"Well, I guess you two already know each other." Arthur shrugged and let go of Yurirl. "Did you have lunch already?" He asked Emma who shook her head. "Fine, let's go eat something. I want to hear about your rune." Arthur said with a smile.
The nobles slightly shifted, seeming to have planned the lunch to be theirs. However, when Arthur invited Yurirl as well, they found it hard to step in.
Yurirl was known for his distant character and coldness. He didn't care about connections and only had training in his mind. He turned down the son of the Sun Emperor once, greatly affecting the empire's relationship with God's Blade.
"Sure, I'm hungry as well." Yurirl's response stirred the crowd further, making them see Arthur in a different light. However, it wasn't all favorable as some held caution.
"Alright, let's go then." Arthur grinned and Emma excused herself from the crowd. She walked beside Arthur as she whispered.
"I need to invite Princess Nera. I can't leave her alone, you know that." Emma said in a low voice that only Arthur could hear.
"Whatever you say, boss." Arthur laughed lightly and the trio found a table to the side.
Emma then went ahead and invited Princess Nera, who beamed at the gesture. Together with Tin Rasan and Nera's partner, the group suddenly doubled in number.
Nera's partner was a young noble from the Yalveran Union. He introduced himself as soon as he sat down.
"My name is Roland Hivway, a captain from the guild Everlasting Stream."
Arthur's eyes sharpened at the name of the guild. It was the same guild his father worked for and also the one that chased after his family for their possessions. This guild has called his father a thief and tarnished his reputation, so he couldn't help it when his composure was almost broken.
His manablood went wild for a moment, creating a slight ripple in the air. This was one of the side-effects of assimilating the mana into one's body, as it would be affected by his mood from now on. That's why many awakeners practiced meditation.
However, Arthur wasn't that impulsive anymore. He reigned in his mana and flashed a courteous smile at Roland.
"Nice to meet you, Roland." The atmosphere eased when Arthur said. "My dad used to work for the same guild, I hope you'll find a better fate than his." His words made the group awkward but Yurirl casually continued.
"Hm, I've heard about Everlasting Stream." It was Yurirl's social skills or how dense he was regarding the situation. "To be a captain is quite noteworthy."
"Thank you, Sir Yurirl," Roland said with a grateful expression.
Arthur didn't want to judge Roland solely based on his background, so he didn't treat him any differently. After all, a person's character wasn't decided by the organization he belonged to. His father was a fine example of that.
Lunch arrived and Nera tried to strike up a conversation with Yurirl, only to fail. Yurirl was courteous but he wasn't the talkative type. As for Tin Rasan, she was quite the elegant lady but she didn't say a word. She only smiled as she listened to whoever spoke.
Their table turned to be the spotlight given the statuses of the people involved. Six young men and women from every corner of the world sitting around one table and eating together.
Their time was two hours, so they had a lot of free time left. Since that was the case, Arthur had a mischievous idea as he looked at Yurirl.
"Hey, everyone. How about we play some cards?" The rest looked at him with confusion. Arthur signaled to a staff member and politely asked for a deck that was delivered to him instantaneously.
After he got the deck, Arthur took out the fifty-two cards. Four suits of a rose, a sword, a shield, and a book with thirteen cards in each suit. The cards were the ace, two to the ten, the knight, the hero, and the guardian.
As he looked at the highest-ranking card, the guardian, Arthur wondered slightly how much of their world was based on those nine people. He dismissed the thought and turned to the group.
"Let's play Shinva," Arthur turned to Yurirl specifically. "Do you know how to play it?" Yurirl shook his head. "As the legend says, Shinva is the trickster that led kingdoms to their fall since ancient times. He tricked kings and queens to steal their possession and replace them with fake ones."
Arthur explained the game. They would go in turn and each person would have to place a certain card. The first person would have to throw an ace, the one after has to burn a two, and so on in sequence. The cards would be thrown upside down and the person can lie about what card they've thrown. This way, whenever you see that someone was lying, you call out "Shinva!"
"I don't lie." Yurirl frowned.
"Then you'll have to get a full suit of cards to win." Arthur shrugged and dealt the cards between them. "Aces!" He threw in two cards and the others looked at each other.
"Shinva!" Emma called out playfully and turned the cards upward. They were two aces and she had to pick them up to her deck as a punishment. "Two."
Then came Tin's turn and the group got to hear her voice for the first time. A cold and aloft voice that was quite the contrast to her elegant appearance. Then came Nera and Roland.
In the end, Yurirl's turn came and he had to play six. His face frowned heavily and he threw a card without saying anything.
"You need to say what card you've thrown, Yurirl." Arthur smiled at him. "Otherwise, we'll know that you're lying." Arthur picked the card and flipped it upward. "Shinva." It was a card of seven and the group laughed.
At the end of the game, Yurirl was holding almost the whole deck and Emma won easily. Yurirl's face, despite how handsome he was, looked tired.
"I hate this game." Yurirl threw the cards from his hand and looked at Arthur with an upset face. "You've tricked me."
"Well," Arthur smiled as he saw how much fun they've had. "I guess I'm Shinva then."
The announcement came and the next round would begin in ten minutes. The screen showed the names of everyone and their opponents. As Arthur read the name of his opponent, he found it to be familiar.
Carlos Beva, the man from the Sourna and the other champion candidate for the cup. They could already hear the crowd cheering for the anticipated match that has been brought early on by luck.
"Say Yurirl," Arthur spoke to the young man as they walked back to their room. "Is it a coincidence that we were paired?" Since Yurirl looked to be incapable of lying, even in a game, Arthur hoped to learn the truth directly from him.
Yurirl didn't answer but Arthur waited. They reached their room and the staff left, leaving them alone inside. Arthur didn't sit on his hair but turned to face Yurirl who looked at him back, seeming to mull over his answer.
"No," Yurirl answered before the one-hour time frame began. "It's not a coincidence." Arthur saw that Yurirl's eyes were clear and unwavering. "It was fate."