February 4, 2023
"Sizhu! Finally, I found you!"
Sizhu shivered slightly upon hearing someone calling his name loudly.
With a displeased look, Mei Mei stood with her hands on her hips, walking with an annoyed step toward Sizhu and Elizabeth.
She then crossed her arms over her chest and puffed out her round cheeks.
"Hmph! You're so outrageous, Sizhu. Didn't Master Jianying tell you to stay close to me? But you lied and went off to meet another woman!" She glared sharply at Elizabeth, who wore an elegant smile.
Elizabeth tried to read the situation and waved her hand softly, saying hi.
"H-hello? Are you Sir Sizhu's friend?"
With a confident smile, Mei Mei rubbed her nose once and said, "Yes! I'm his teammate! Hmph!" in a proud tone. That made Elizabeth frown slightly.
"O-oh, I see.. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Elizabeth Cassandra Mary Winsor. Sizhu is a friend who helped me a while ago. Nice to meet you.. um... Rabbit girl?"
"I'm not a rabbit girl! Hmph! My name is Mei Mei. From now on, I'm Sizhu's close friend."
Mei Mei's superior smile as she suddenly hugged Sizhu's arm somehow annoyed Elizabeth. Why is she acting so close to my new friend? she thought.
"Mei Mei... you're being too close.."
Sizhu felt a bit uncomfortable with Mei Mei's arm hugging his. Throughout his life, Sizhu had only been hugged by Yaoyao and Qing, who were children, so he didn't think much of it.
But Mei Mei was clearly an adult girl, and since she was of the opposite sex and a recent acquaintance, Sizhu felt uneasy with the embrace.
"If I let go of you for even a second, you'll disappear like a ghost."
"Alright, alright, I won't go anywhere. Let go of my hand."
After Mei Mei nodded to confirm Sizhu's words, she released her hold on his right hand.
"Who's that?" Mei Mei asked, suddenly noticing Elizabeth's presence, pointing at the blonde girl, who seemed to frown more deeply.
"Didn't you just meet her?"
Mei Mei recalled the memory a few seconds ago. "Oh yes, Lisa or whatever, do you want to join our team? Of course, before joining, you have to show your skills first, then I can decide if you're useful or not."
"Elizabeth!" Elizabeth said firmly and angrily—this was the first time she'd found someone bold enough to tease her. "Remember that, and besides, I don't need you at all. Moreover, I can win this tournament by myself if I want. If someone wants to join as my teammate, it should be you, Mei Mei. Sir Sizhu and I were just about to form a temporary team."
Elizabeth smiled widely, satisfied seeing Mei Mei's upset expression, feeling mocked.
"Hah! No, no, no. This kid belongs to me! He will join my team!" Mei Mei pulled Sizhu's hand and hugged him tightly, as if afraid her favorite doll would be stolen by a stranger—literally.
Elizabeth didn't want to lose either; apparently losing her calm dignity, she grabbed Sizhu's left arm and hugged him the same way as Mei Mei.
"I'm more useful and much stronger than you, little girl."
"Who are you calling a little girl? Arrogant brat!"
They locked eyes immediately like tiger and lion. But they looked more like rabbit and peacock.
"Both of you, stop it."
Ignoring Sizhu's words, they still pulled on his hands.
"Hahaha, it must feel great to be fought over like this by two beautiful girls."
The three immediately turned toward the voice.
"Can I join too? You're forming a team for the first elimination round of the Zhan Dou tournament, right?"
A handsome young man with neatly cut straight gray hair, bangs covering his entire forehead, and side bangs reaching his ears, with narrow eyes and a pointed chin and nose, smiled warmly at Sizhu and the two girls who were frozen while pulling Sizhu's arms.
Seeing someone watching them, the two girls released their grip on Sizhu's arms and crossed their own arms.
Sizhu felt a bad vibe from the smiling young man before him.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Wuxing Gui. You can call me Gui or Wu. Nice to meet you, Sizhu, Miss Elizabeth, and Mei Mei." He bowed slightly while clapping his hands—a Buddhist greeting. It matched the orange robe Gui wore.
"How do you know my name?" Sizhu asked skeptically.
"I overheard your conversation from over there." Gui pointed to a spot near the wall of the arena. That was a very far distance to clearly hear their talk. On the opposite side of where the three were standing.
"Impossible. How could an ordinary person hear our conversation clearly from there?" Mei Mei squinted suspiciously, eyeing the young man who suddenly appeared before her.
"I'm sure he can." Gui looked at Sizhu with an unpleasant gaze.
How does he know I have sharp hearing?
Sizhu stared back at him with a scrutinizing gaze.
"How do you know that?"
"Because you kept watching me listening to your conversation secretly. Your eyes kept glancing at me until I approached you. Isn't that right, Sizhu?"
Sizhu fell silent, unable to reply. Indeed, since entering the wide arena where the Zhan Dou tournament contestants gathered, he had sensed an uneasy aura that stood out to him.
When he protected Elizabeth from those who tried to embarrass her, he realized that someone had been spying on him and Elizabeth from afar—even though he was on the other side of the wall. That meant Gui was watching from very far away, and yet he could still hear their conversation crystal clearly.
Therefore, Sizhu stayed alert and kept glancing at the man.
Until now, they stood facing each other.
"No need to be so tense. Namo Buddhaya. I'm just a monk interested in magic."
"I have some bad memories about monks interested in magic."
"Oh really? Then perhaps I'm not one of those."
Gui smiled warmly at the three suspicious faces staring at him.
"So, may I join your team?"
Mei Mei pulled Sizhu's arm down to whisper in his ear.
"He's very suspicious, Sizhu. We should reject him to avoid unexpected trouble."
Elizabeth said nothing because she wasn't seriously forming a team anyway, as she came to improve her magic skills. Whether she joined the tournament or not, she would still enter the magic academy. She joined the Zhan Dou tournament tonight to try something new. In her 18 years of life, she had never experienced such things, as she grew up and was taught strictly and specially inside the royal castle.
Sizhu whispered back to Mei Mei. "He seems like a good person."
"What good person? Look at those suspicious narrow eyes! He looks like a sneaky one."
Sizhu glanced briefly at Gui's appearance.
"It's not good to judge someone by their looks, Mei Mei. My master once said, don't judge a book by its cover."
"But he's human! Ugh, fine, it's up to you."
Mei Mei crossed her arms and looked away, annoyed.
Sizhu nodded. "You can join us."
Gui nodded slightly. "Namo Buddhaya."
***
"Haha, a weakling joining the Zhan Dou tournament? Don't you know this tournament can claim lives? Go back to your homeland before you die miserably here. Weakling."
A group of five people seemed to be beating a young man with round glasses. It was common before the tournament started that some people would begin eliminating those they deemed weak.
The young man with round glasses didn't fight back, just silently endured their blows. He was battered, sitting on the white stone floor.
His lips were bleeding, even a nosebleed. Part of his right cheek was bruised blue, with several bruises on his body. His round glasses fell to the ground.
The five who attacked him laughed, happy to have eliminated one contestant from abroad like them.
Their group leader stepped away after seeing the young man with brown mushroom-cut hair just groaning and unable to get up.
"Let's find the next weakling, kids." The arrogant group leader went to find another victim around the arena, which held nearly 600 people. The arena itself could hold around 2,000 people, rectangular and stretching toward the mountains.
"This arena is vast... one kilometer by eight hundred meters... those kids shouldn't meet anyone as weak as me..."
The young man with brown mushroom-cut hair crawled, trying to find his fallen round glasses. He had slightly poor eyesight.
"Here."
A young man with sharp gray hair and dark brown skin bent down to hand over the round glasses to the mushroom-haired youth.
Seeing the offered glasses, the mushroom-haired young man stood up.
"Ah, thank you very much."
"Why didn't you fight them? I'm sure you're more than capable."
The sharp gray-haired youth looked at the brown mushroom-haired youth with a puzzled gaze.
Although his appearance seemed rough and arrogant, as he dressed like an Egyptian prince, under his eyelids was black makeup and his eyebrows were curved—people called it Egyptian eyeliner.
His pupils were gray like his hair, with a pointed chin and nose neither too prominent nor flat. His gaze appeared rough at a glance.
He was shirtless, showing off his muscular but not bulky abs, wearing a gold necklace engraved with a sun and an orange gem in the middle. His long white pants were tied with a broad belt with fabric hanging down in front and back to just below the knees.
"Weird guy." That was the reply from the mushroom-haired youth upon seeing the young man who helped him pick up his glasses.
The gray-haired youth's forehead twitched.
"Want to fight, huh?"
Then the brown mushroom-haired youth laughed.
"Haha... I'm not used to seeing cultures from foreign lands. Thanks for helping me. You'd better stay away from weaklings like me. It's no benefit, right? The first round of this tournament is group elimination. You better go find a strong team than waste time helping weaklings like me."
The brown mushroom-haired youth wiped blood from his nose and mouth, then tidied his white shirt and slightly messy hair. His just use ordinary white button-down shirt and black pants.
"Huh? What kind of answer is that? You're asking to be beaten, huh?"
The mushroom-haired youth put on his round glasses again, not replying or looking at the gray-haired youth.
"Weird guy." The gray-haired youth grinned. "My name's Amon Ramses. I want you to be my teammate." Amon extended his hand for a handshake.
The brown mushroom-haired youth raised his face, looking puzzled at the youth before him.
"I told you, there's no use making me your teammate."
"Shut up! If I decide you're my teammate, then you're my teammate. My word is absolute. Shut up and just follow me."
The brown mushroom-haired youth laughed at Amon's childish words.
Amon was a bit annoyed and embarrassed seeing his new friend laugh loudly.
"Hurry and shake my hand, kid."
Tears welled up in the brown mushroom-haired youth's eyes.
He then nodded and accepted Amon's handshake firmly.
"My name is Tjokorda—" He shook his head. "No, my name is Reza. Just call me Reza." He smiled.
Amon shook Reza's hand firmly, grinning.
"Hah, a weakling like you just has to follow my orders. From now on, you're both my servant and teammate. Don't worry, I'll lead us to win this tournament and defeat those bastards who bullied you earlier." Amon said confidently.
That made Reza both amazed and amused, so he laughed again.
"Hahahaha..."
"What? What's so funny, huh?" Amon became embarrassed being laughed at by his new friend.
"Nothing. Nothing funny. Yeah, then I'm counting on you, boss."
"S-shut up. Don't call me that!"
"Ah, then Master Amon?"
"Just call me Amon! You're embarrassing me."
Reza laughed again hearing that.
"Then Master Young Boss Amon."
"I told you! Stop that lame joke! I don't like hearing it at all."
But Amon's chin lifted proudly like a child pleased by praise, and Reza laughed.
***