Ethan knew that only the future could tell what awaited them in the northern frontier. So, he thought it was better to secure the Earth Guild's position before the expedition. "We should end this as soon as possible,"
"We don't have much time. Besides, competing right now will only make us weaker," Carl gave a faint look to Ethan before standing up and facing all the other leaders. "The dangers we face are unknown, so it's best if we save our strength and cooperate, so we can all return safely."
"Carl is right. It's likely that what we will face isn't something we can handle easily," Leo scratched his head. He was very anxious to finally rid the Fire Guild of the humiliation of the previous tournament. However, with something so pressing happening, he couldn't do anything other than agree to postpone the tournament.
Ava smiled as she saw how frustrated Ethan was and immediately spoke up. "Delaying the tournament is the best option."
"Why should we care about what you say, Ava?" Ethan looked at the girl with a furious gaze.
"This isn't a matter of my words, Ethan." Ava's face turned serious as she darted her eyes around the room, noticing the pensive faces the other leaders had. "The orders came directly from the king, so we have no other choice but to comply."
The Royal Envoy gave Ava a satisfied nod and then faced the rest of the leaders who hadn't made a decision yet. It didn't take too long for the other leaders to agree to postpone the tournament. However, they reached a consensus that only the leader's competition would be delayed while the tournament for ordinary members would be cut short.
They came to this decision as they all knew how important the tournament was, and canceling it was a sure way to cause unrest in the city.
After some more discussions, they finally decided to end the tournament in the next round. Cutting a day of the tournament wasn't a big deal, but they would still need to make some preparations and change the format for the last day.
As all the leaders finished the details of their meeting, the third round finally came to an end. In all three groups, only four people were able to stay undefeated, winning all their four battles.
One of them was Lucien, who easily crushed each of his opponents with ease. Naru, the young man from the Nature Guild who impressed everyone in the first two rounds, was the second person to achieve four wins, and he still used the same fighting style, facing the monsters with his bare body and fists.
The third person was the hammer-wielding man from the Earth Guild called Giovani, who also caused quite a stir in the first two rounds. Yet, he didn't have such an easy time as Lucien or the man from the Nature Guild, as he ended up struggling against his last two opponents.
The last person was a man in Ophelia's group. He was part of the Air Guild, and he was the only one of the four who didn't have an impressive showing. Not only did he have one free win thanks to Ophelia incapacitating the man from the Water Guild, but he also was the last one of his group to face Ophelia, and easily won as she was already out of energy.
Edward was very surprised that Ophelia was still able to qualify for the next round, having three wins and securing second place. Yet, the person who impressed him the most was Lucien, as his strength was very similar to the other top competitors, but his combat acuity gave him an edge over everyone.
With all battles finished, all the participants who were able to qualify for the next round went up to the main stage for the closing ceremony. But to their surprise, a man dressed in golden yellow robes flew out of the leader's stands and landed directly on the arena.
The few people who knew the significance of the man's robes were instantly thrown into a stupor by his appearance.
"Some unfortunate events are currently taking place." Even as the man spoke softly, his voice still rang out throughout the city, causing every inhabitant outside of the arena to be confused by where the voice was coming from. "The King has announced an urgent draft and the Guilds shall send their leader and half of their members to join the Kingdom's army."
All the participants looked at the man with troubled faces, as they already could tell what would happen.
The man watched as the crowd began to murmur, and he finally continued. "I shall delay the Leaders tournament until this matter is resolved, and as for the member's competition, it will continue, but the finals will be held in the next round, as the Amberhold's forces need to depart this week."
His words caused another wave of gasps, yet even if someone was unhappy with the news, no one dared to speak up to the man. The closing ceremony ended with those words, and all the spectators and participants left feeling bitter.
Edward roamed the city's streets as he thought about the draft. Something like this was sure to be very costly, so it was clear that something big was about to happen.
After walking aimlessly for some time, he eventually came to Steffon's store as he still needed to collect the rest of the money from the deal with Saurus, and to his surprise, Steffon quickly came to meet him.
"Right on time!" Steffon held Edward's hands and gave him a serious look. "Someone wants to meet you..."
"Meet me?" Edward was taken aback as he could count on one hand the people he knew in the city. "Who?"
"You know the Sun Bathing Weeds you sold to me?" Steffon looked nervous as he spoke. "I sold them to the Leader of the Fire Guild, Leo Reinheart."
"The leader of the Fire Guild?" Edward was quite surprised when he heard the news. Yet, he only grew more curious as to why the man wanted to meet him. "Did something go wrong with the herbs?"
"No, they were fine. It's just that he needs a few more of them." Steffon had a complex look on his face. A guild leader had much power in the city, so he could only try to convince Edward to meet him. "I explained to him that you didn't have any left, but he still insisted on meeting you."
When Edward decided to sell the herbs, the thing he most feared was that people would target him due to the rare plants. So this situation caused him quite a headache. "If it is just meeting him, it's fine…"
Steffon noticed Edward's suspicions and quickly tried to reassure him. "You don't have to worry. There is no way that a Guild leader would stoop so low as to do something to you."
Edward looked at Steffon skeptically but still followed him to the Monster Association, the location where Leo arranged the meeting. Before long, the two of them arrived.
The building was heavily guarded and packed with people going in and out. Many of them still had their guild robes on, causing Edward to look at them with curiosity.
"They are preparing for the draft." Steffon quickly entered the building together with Edward and began to search around the crowded place. "This is a secret, so don't spread it around, but it just isn't the guilds that are sending men. Even the branches of the Monster Association are going to send some people."
"Do you know what is happening?" Edward gulped in anxiety as he could only think about one matter that would require such a heavy mobilization.
"Nobody knows yet, but there are some rumors going around that some monsters in the northern frontier are getting rowdy." Steffon's eyes shone as he finally found the man he was looking for and quickly dragged Edward to meet him. "Almost all the leaders are going, with only three remaining in the city."
Cyril, the man they were looking for, quickly took them to one of the private training rooms where two men were carefully tending to a big horse with a flowing mane made of pure fire, while another watched with anxiety in his eyes.
"Is this him, Steffon?" The man watching the other's work jolted up as Steffon and Edward entered the room. "Pleased to meet you, young man. I'm Leo."
Edward took a deep breath as he accepted the handshake from the man. This was the second guild leader he had met, and just like Saurus, Leo also gave him a powerful impression. "I'm Edward… I heard that you were looking for me?"