Azrim, the principal of the Ladro Institute, was looking at the newspaper with a gloomy expression. After a while, he placed down the newspaper and looked at the people in front of him.
"Who would release such sensitive information to the public!?" His tone contains a little bit of rage.
The people in front of him were the strongest of the teachers of the Ladro Institute. Any person here could overwhelm the group of six-circle officers that Bargan fought in the Ibish village.
"The lead stop to the Freis family." Jess an ocean elf and the friend of Bargan replied to Azrim.
"I don't care about those noble families. Let them be. But if they got carried away then I'll be the first one to crash their respectable families." Bargan said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. He looked at the people in this room before he added, "It's easy to crash those noble families. But if I do so it will decrease the good reputation of the Ladro Institute. Well, I just hope that they don't force me to make a move or else some of the city will be erased in our map."
Although he said those words casually, the people in this room could feel the seriousness in his tone. They didn't doubt Bargan at all. Bargan was capable of erasing a whole city in a few seconds.
Azrim looked at Bargan and nodded his head. He then forcefully cough to gather everyone's attention.
Cough!
"Then, onto the next topic. What should we do with the bloodstones that we found?" He asked as he swept his eyes.
They didn't found one bloodstone on the site instead they found five bloodstones. It was a huge loss for the Deadly Sins as they lost five bloodstones.
Jess opened his mouth and said, "The royal family wanted to take custody of the bloodstones. No, they are requesting us to transfer the bloodstones to them."
"I agree with that. Those bloodstones could bring us unwanted problems but I suggest transferring three bloodstones first." Sabrina, a woman with long green hair and green pupils, said. She was wearing a dark blue robe with gold linings. Her clothes couldn't completely hide her seductive body.
Before anyone could ask, Sabrina opened her mouth and said, "The bloodstones are rare materials that even the royal family couldn't get ahold of it. So I want to take this once in a lifetime opportunity to study the bloodstones."
"Sabrina is right, we should let some expert in our institute study these bloodstones. There are many mysteries surrounding these stones and I personally wanted to know it too. Besides the temporary increase in power, I wanted to know its other uses." Bargan agreed with Sabrina's words. This was a rare opportunity.
"The problem is that no matter as long as the bloodstones are in this kingdom the Deadly Sins will surely come back to retrieve it," Jess said as a matter of fact. In fact, everyone expected that the Deadly Sins will come to take the bloodstones.
If they one have one bloodstone, there's a chance that the Deadly Sins will ignore it. They were sure that the Deadly Sins will not let five bloodstones go out of their hands.
"It's better for us don't you think. If three bloodstones are in the royal capital and the other two are here, then they will divide their forces if they come to take the bloodstones." Azrim said as he swept his eyes in the people in the room.
Their meeting lasted for thirty minutes. They had various topics but the most important thing was the bloodstones and the Grand Tournament.
The Grand Tournament. In this tournament various institute, school, and academy will send their representative to fight. It was one of the largest festivals in the whole kingdom that will be held in the royal capital.
The winner of this tournament will receive glory, honor, money, skills, resources, etc. If a person wanted to rise in ranks then they have to win this tournament. The royal family will do a favor to fulfill the winner's wish to the extent of their powers. Of course, the winner couldn't make excessive wishes such as killing some people or becoming the next king of the kingdom.
In the last Grand Tournament, the Ladro Institute won due to the outstanding performance of Yanagi Shina. Without her, the Ladro Institute wouldn't be able to take the first place.
They will start choosing the representative in the next few weeks. This will become a fierce battle among the students of the Ladro Institute. All of the students have the right to join this tournament.
Many students dreamed of representing their institute in this huge tournament. It's time for them to showcase their powers in the whole kingdom.
If some nobles got interested in one of the students sometimes they betrothed their child to the students that they choose.
Azrim and the rest of the people in the room didn't doubt that Yanagi Shina will once again represent the Ladro Institute. She was the strongest student that could even defeat some of the teachers so they didn't need to doubt her prowess.
Azrim sighed and tapped his finger on the table in front of him. After a few moments, he opened his mouth, "The higher-ups of various institutes, schools, and academies will talk about the Grand Tournament in the Royal Capital so we needed to go there. When we got there, we will also present the three bloodstones to the royal family. Bargan and Jess, you two will stay here to protect the bloodstones and the students if something bad happened."
"I got it. I don't have a plan to travel so I'll just stay here." Bargan said with a bored expression as he leaned his back on his chair.
"They aren't going to leave immediately, Bargan. They still have to prepare the things that they needed. Also, the date of the meeting isn't decided so they will stay here for a while." Jess said to Bargan.
"I don't care," Bargan said as he closed his eyes. Something came to his mind, so he opened one of his eyes and looked at Azrim. "Oh, right! Yanagi wanted to follow Souta in his quest so I stop her and locked her up in the basement."
"That girl..." Azrim sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Yanagi didn't change at all. Her target this time was the most prominent first-year student Souta Ieshi. He was afraid that Yanagi would break Souta. That's why he was keeping her away from Souta.
He lifted up his head and asked Bargan, "Does she know Souta's destination?"
"I don't think so," Bargan said as he shrugged his shoulder.
In the basement of this building, Yanagi was locked up in a sealed room. She couldn't escape from this place no matter what she does. Bargan casted a powerful barrier and sealed this room so that even if she used her powers she wouldn't be able to escape.
Yanagi was sitting at the corner of the room with a grim expression. She couldn't find any fault in this barrier around the room. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and closed her eyes.
"That old man is dead... He's stopping me from seeing S-Souta... What's wrong with that!? I should beat him to death!"
...
Souta and the Lanny corp members arrived at the Septiz country. It took them three days before they arrived in this huge country that could rival Hebrei Kingdom.
Their travel wasn't as smooth as they imagined. They faced countless monsters and bandits on their way towards this country. The six people from Lanny corp showed their combat prowess to Souta by annihilating a group of monsters. Souta wasn't the type of person that will leave everything to his subordinates so he cleaned up some of the bandit's nest on their way. He also let Yuko fought those bandits so that she grows stronger.
Not only Souta fought monsters and bandits but he also took some of the rare herbs that he found on his way. If sold it, then he would earn a fair amount of coins. Maybe, there's a herb gathering quest that needed this type of herb.
He also consumed a large number of mana potions in these past three days. He already emptied the box that he brought. It's a hassle to bring things like this on their travel. It made him recall the time when he still had inventory in the game where he could store hundreds of potions.
The Dark Oculus group arrived in the Septiz country first. Just like Souta, they also faced monsters and bandits but the number they faced was higher. It's not going to be a problem to them considering their combat prowess. Only those B-rank and third evolution monster could handle them.
Souta's physical power was considerably good. He was really glad that he took strength when he evolved into High End Goblin. When he fought the bandits, Souta found that he could defeat an ordinary C-rank with just his physical power.