BXBX NOVEL Chapter 404 Next Round Of The Tournament (1)
Days passed by and the time for the next round is up in the corner.
Fortunately, the eight students from the Music and Fine Arts department were all going to the next round.
What\'s more, even with the Magic institute, all student delegates from the Farauld Magic Institute were going to the next round. Not one student was eliminated!
As such, it has become more prominent that even with the Farauld Magic Institute and the Seirende Empire having gone through a tough time with the civil war, they were still one of the strongest contenders in the tournament!
Now, whenever the Farauld Institute students walk around the tournament venue, they will now be welcomed with serious and wary glances as compared to the atmosphere before the tournament where everybody looked at them as if they were just normal candidates they could trample at an early stage.
"Look now, they are now looking at us as if they are finally looking at us as worthy rivals." Max scoffed coldly as they all went to the venue of the competition.
This time, their schedules weren\'t colliding with each other and so, they had time to watch each other\'s matches.
"Then all the more that we have to be serious and down to earth at the same time. We do not like to encounter any troubles with them while we still need to get more members for Lainie\'s orchestra." Marie looked at Max to gently remind him that they must not act carelessly.
"Oh…" Max scratched his head, Marie\'s words reminded them of the fact that Lainie still has not gone with her competition.
"No worries, I am really glad that I have you here to help me spot suitable members," Lainie replied with a grateful tone.
"It\'s also good that Mentor Eli is here with us! Finally, we can spend time with my idol~" Raphael beamed happily, although he and Ana are from the painting competition, it did not stop them from admiring Eli\'s achievement.
Everyone in the group was also happy, they had Eli as their chaperone because their respective mentors were not around at the moment.
And so when they were about to sit on the bench, they made it so that Eli was at the center and they surrounded her attentively.
Today is the next round for the brass players. As the Farauld team does not have any participants for the brass, wind, and percussion section, watching the match is an important task for Lainie.
Of course, she still had to add more members to the string section if she could.
"Some of the divisions may have to end soon because they have less number of contestants as compared to the others…" Lainie commented.
"Yea, just like Marie\'s and my division, the viola and cello section does not have as many participants as compared with the violin and piano," Hailey commented.
"Then we must make this our chance to finalize the list of students we have to approach to join your team. You might not have any more chances after this." Eli softly reminded Lainie.
And so the bunch watched the tournament entirely, making sure that Lainie would receive some of their inputs and thoughts about the contestant.
"Mentor, please take this! I thought you might be hungry!"
"Mentor, are you feeling the heat of the weather? I have a little talent for wind magic! Let me create a gentle breeze for you!"
"Mentor, is your back stiff? I am good at massaging! You should give it a try!!"
While they were at the tournament, Raphael, Anna, and Max who were from the fine arts section fawned around Eli and tried to attend to her every need much to her dismay.
"Hey! Why are you trying to monopolize OUR mentor? We are still here!" Lainie teasingly slapped Max\'s shoulders as she looked at Eli\'s helpless expression over their fawning.
"Yeah! Are you trying to snatch my mentor? Ha! Are you not afraid that your respective mentors will be angry at you or be like this?" Desmond also chimed in.
"Hey… it\'s not like that! You\'re so lucky you get to spend time with our Lady! Why must you be so calculative against us?" Anna, who was actually a quiet member of the bunch, answered them with an aggrieved tone.
"Well well, enough with the bickering. It\'s nice to stay and spend time with you but of course, you should focus on the matter at hand." Eli decided to step up and smooth things out. Although her words were quite distant and formal, her tone was gentle and kind.
At the end of the day, Eli\'s role among the bunch was a teacher and so it was not appropriate for her to take for granted what the young students do.
"Yes, mentor!" Hearing the soft reprimand from Eli, the students did not take offense but obediently responded to her.
With occasional bickering, Lanie was able to finalize her list of possible recruits in her notebook.
Staring at it closely, she closed her notebook with an expression full of hope and anticipation, "I hope I could convince them to join our team!"
"We hope so too!" The others answered.
"We also see to it that we had participants who belong to the allied nations, so I think you should be fine Lanie!" Her teammates patted her shoulders and tried to assure her.
Watching the group encourage each other, Eli could not help but smile. Although she was also equally anxious about Lainie\'s orchestra. It is one thing to convince the other participants, but it is another story to let them cooperate with Lainie\'s arrangement.
In the modern world, there has to be a sense of camaraderie between each of the orchestra members in order to create the music beautifully. If they all work individually, no matter how good Lainie\'s arrangement would be in the sheets, it might not turn out as beautiful in the ears.
The next day, the bunch went together to watch Desmond\'s round. This time, he was quite comfortable with the mechanics.
Unlike the last audition, the piece that had to be played was a popular study piece that everyone knew. This time, the competition all boiled down to how accurately and beautifully they played the piece.
Hearing his name get called for the third and final round, the entire bunch could not help but be in tears.
"At this point, I am really happy that you reached this stage, big brother!" Raya sniffled while hugging his brother tightly.
All of the eight students had their eyes reddened in tears. Desmond, who was usually serious and stoic, answered with a crack in his voice, "You surely look down on your brother a lot? I believe in my mentor… who trained me to get to this point."
Then everyone looked at Eli, grateful that she was the one who stood up and convinced them to join the competition.
Eli smiled and did not spoil the mood for them, instead, she uttered, "Give yourself a shot in the last round. No matter what happens, you already are a great musician!"
She looked at the others,
"There\'s a reason why we opted to convince you, Desmond just happened to be the first one to show it to everyone. But all of you have the ability to obtain the championship.
You all have done your best during the training and the people who trained you are also the best in the Empire. So have confidence and do not get intimidated by others."
"Mentor, you sure have praised yourself with your words too! It is so rare for you to be like that!" Lainie teased coquettishly.
"Well, I like indulging myself sometimes," Eli chuckled to which the rest laughed too.
"In the next few days, it will be your fight too! But before that, let\'s celebrate our first spot in the finals with a nice dinner! And of course, it\'s my treat!" Eli rubbed Desmond\'s hair and announced it to everyone.
"Yay!" They all cheered up.
But the next moment, their jaws could not help but drop upon seeing the restaurant Eli took them to, it was one of the most prominent restaurants under the Forgeworn group - Ristorante de Rion!
"M-mentor… isn\'t it expensive here? Why don\'t we just go to the academy cafeteria?" They all stepped back scared witless. They were worried that Eli would have to pay a large amount of money to treat eight of them.
"C\'mon, don\'t think about the price, and are you forgetting something? My adoptive family is the Forgeworn and Farauld clan, so even if I paid for the meal, I will still be ultimately helping my family on their business!" Eli winked and teased them.
"Now, let\'s not delay, food is already waiting!" Eli dragged Lainie and Marie, who were closest to her and they walked towards the restaurant.
To their surprise, the servers bowed to them respectfully and led them to a private room. As they sat at the table, the server once again knocked on the door and announced that the food was ready!
The students looked at Eli clearly puzzled. How and when did she have time to inform the restaurant of their arrival?
"I told them this morning before the start of the tournament." Eli figured out the question in the youngster\'s minds and answered straightforwardly.