Scarlet

Time passes by with the other two chatting and me playing a game on my terminal until the officials hosting the tournament finally corral us and give us instructions as to what we’re supposed to do. Which basically comes down to line up in a massive grid throughout the room where we will then march onto the field, with the students all situated based either at random or on whether or not they are participating in the primaries.

And after that hassle is done with, we march straight out onto a massive field made of pitch black stone where my ears are immediately assaulted by the roaring noise of the crowd beginning to cheer. A crowd made out of millions of people, making my eyes widen in shock. But I continue marching without stopping like some of the people I saw in other entrances to the field.

A loud and intense song starts to play throughout the stadium as we march. One that I instantly recognize as both the Terran Republic’s national anthem, and our march song against the demons.

We all slowly line up in a massive grid with an additional, smaller grid in front of the massive one for the Class I through III Primaries’ teams, and a large three layer pedestal in front of everyone, with me standing on the bottom layer of the pedestal at the very center, marking me as the Class I Solo Primary candidate for the current number one Guardians University and making me very uncomfortable with the attention it brings. Meanwhile the two layers behind us are for the Class II and III Solo Primary candidates respectively, with each layer having the feet of the students above us being around our shoulders as we all face the rest of the students in a large arc.

The music plays out for a bit longer until the song comes to a close, leading to a moment of silence as the majority of the people in the room give a salute in response to the ending like is taught at school. But I notice a large portion of the Guardians not doing it.

Not that the civilians seem to care, since it’s generally meant as a sign of support for the Guardians in the first place.

After the moment of silence ends, I can hear the voice of the current Chairman of the Republic, leader of the Council Seats and an old man long in his hundreds lacking any sort of magic beyond the suppletive he obviously takes to stay alive, echoing throughout the stadium as his appearance shows itself on a massive screen above all our heads.

“Welcome to the ninety-eighth annual Interschool Tournaments!”

Despite how short his statement was, the crowd goes wild, the majority of the people here in person and not watching on the livestream being Tier 1 civilians and some Guardians not participating in the tournaments from all across the world’s few dozen Tier 1 cities.

The man wearing the ceremonial magi-tech armor of the Chairman – an armor that looks half like a business suit and half like ceremonial armor from medieval times with an all-black coloring across it – on the screen raises one arm, quickly silencing the audience before he continues, “Ever since the founding of our great Republic, the Interschool Tournaments have been a symbol of both peace between the nations and of our protectors’ strength against the demons, and it also marks an occasion of great celebration for the people as it means another successful year of standing strong against the demons! And it is my most beloved honor to introduce you all to this year’s Knight Steward watching over the games!” A man I recognize as Black steps into the camera next to the Chairman with a wide grin on his face and a long black cloak that appears to be made out of shadows. “Welcome the Black Knight of Humanity!”

A loud roar sweeps through the stadium from the audience, with many of the Guardians joining them in both applause in cheers. Because while Black certainly can’t be considered a ‘good character,’ he is probably around the middle of the Knights in terms of character.

Mostly because, while he isn’t a ‘bad guy,’ per se – if that term really exists – he is absolutely a prankster. But a lot of people also find that side of him amusing, as long as they aren’t the one being pranked.

And as expected, right when the Chairman is about to speak again, Black ‘politely’ boots him out of the way and takes his place as he waves at the audience and says, “Hey, everyone! How about we skip all this fancy talk and go straight for the tournaments, yeah?” A massive number of ‘yeahs’ respond to him from the audience. “Great!” He glances at the Chairman who quickly hides his frown and asks, “What say you gramps?”

I try very hard not to crack a smile. Very hard indeed.

This is kind of what they get for having a Knight oversee every Interschool Tournament as a ‘Knight Steward.’ Because out of the two Knights who are actually willing to attend, Black always somehow messes with the order of things by skipping long and boring speeches like this, whereas Purple just stays mute the entire time without saying a word.

People like it more when Black is the Steward though, since it adds more than a little amusement to the ceremony. Which I suspect is the only reason they continue having him be the Steward half the time when they could choose to go solely with Purple instead.

“Very well,” the Chairman’s grandfatherly voice echoes throughout the stadium before he focuses on the audience once again, “we shall dispense with the usual formalities and get straight to the point this year!”

The Guardians go wild at that, briefly startling the Chairman for a second to my amusement.

I’m very glad that the people setting up the magical reality can fix it so that loud noises like the roar of an audience don’t actually hurt someone’s ears. Otherwise I’d probably be on the ground right now in pain.

“Right after we go over the usual rules and regulations of the tournament!” the Chairman adds as if as an afterthought, cutting off a large portion of the cheers, but not all of them. Which makes sense since there are probably some people who don’t know the rules.

I personally would like to be reminded of them, so I’m fine with this myself.