Chapter 339: Doesn’t Sit Well With Him

He did his best not to gloat to Aubrey. While she had a habit of bragging about her victories, he didn’t want to be the same as her. He would win with a bit more class.

That said, he still made sure she knew who had won. It was only a smile here and there, but he could tell that she was annoyed by it.

When they were eating dinner, he would slip in a smug grin and snicker when she stabbed her potatoes a little bit harder after that. He didn’t take it too far, though. But with all of her teasing, he believed that this amount was fair game.

After they ate dinner, Derek pulled him to the side away from the others.

“What’s up?” Julius asked curiously. The other boy rarely ever pulled him to the side. He would just say what he had to say in front of the others. So this was new.

“I wanted to talk to you about something I have been thinking about and something my family has brought up to me recently,” Derek said hesitantly.

“About what?”

“About me forfeiting the match,” Derek said with a frown.

Julius blinked slowly at what Derek was suggesting. “You want to forfeit?”

“Yes.”

“Weren’t you the ones who insisted that I join the tournament in the first place?”

“Yeah, but if we are being honest, the top sixteen is all you really need. The slot to the Luminous Empire Inter-School Tournament is the most important reward you can get from this tournament, especially for people like me and even you to some extent. I am sure that my parents or Lily’s could get you anything the school could without too much effort,” Derek said with a look where Lily and the others had walked off to.

“So what are you saying? That it doesn’t matter who gets first place?” Julius asked with a tilt of his head.

“Not that it doesn’t matter, but that the reward might not fit the cost,” Derek said solemnly.

“What does that mean? What is the cost?” He was confused.

“The cost of revealing our skills to the public and other organizations. That is what my family is most worried about. They don’t think that getting first place is worth risking people becoming aware of my skills. The whole tournament is kind of a trap in a way. Students often forget that the tournament is merely the preliminary of the main tournament,” Derek explained.

“So you are saying that you are going to forfeit because you don’t want to show your skills to everyone watching?” Julius clarified.

“Yes.”

“Is this your wish or your family’s?” Julius suddenly asked.

Derek faltered for a moment. “Honestly, it’s a bit of both. I want to fight, but I also agree with my family. I’ve got to look at the bigger picture. If I want to have the best chance at placing well at the Intra-School Tournament, hiding my skills is a smart move. As the son of a Ducal House, a lot of eyes are on me, which means my opponents will try to learn about my skills beforehand.”

Julius didn’t like it but he agreed with Derek. The young scion attracted a lot of attention. Much more than Julius did even with his impressive run. Not only did most of the spectators want Derek to win and he was sure that other Houses were looking very closely at the guy’s abilities.

Derek continued. “I don’t think I will be able to do that and win when facing you. I don’t even think I can win in the first place, despite the handicap you have when fighting with the bracelet. I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but you are ridiculously strong.”

“You don’t want to fight just for the thrill of it?” Julius asked with a pout.

Derek shook his head and smirked at Julius. “I am not a battle junkie like you, Aubrey, or Edgar. I fight as a means to an end. You guys genuinely really love it, something I can’t help but admire.”

“What is it about the Inter-School Tournament that makes everyone want to win it rather than the school one? From what I can tell, the main differences are the rewards,” he pointed out to Derek.

Derek shook his head firmly. “That is just one of them. I would argue that the experience matters more than some shiny prize, especially to people like me. The Sacred Realm that they use to test the participants is quite a unique place, and it isn’t uncommon for people to gain far more in there than they would from the tournament rewards.”

Julius frowned when he heard Derek’s words. “Sacred Realm? What do you mean?”

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“You mean nobody has explained it to you?” Derek asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“Explain what?”

“You do know how the main tournament works, right?” Derek asked.

Julius shook his head. “I have no clue. I just know that a lot of strong students and Tier 3s are going to be there.”

“Well, there are three main stages of the Inter-School Tournament. The first round is a general power test. It changes from year to year, but it is there to weed out some of the weaker participants. However, the second stage is the Sacred Realm stage. This is a special rift that the participants have to go into and finish a certain task or mission. The people who accomplish this task will then move on to the final stage, which is when participants will actually fight other participants.”