**Loki POV**
Once Loki and his entourage arrived at the Colliseum they were quickly ushered into the highest quality VIP box room. Maids were constantly shuffling in and out leaving behind delicacies though some of them had less pure intentions trying to catch the eye of the young Prince which only left him disgusted. He might not have minded it if he was older, but his current body is only six years old and his little brother wouldn't be able to function in that regard.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!!! With the Qualifiers having come to an end we are proud to announce the start of this Year's Youth Division Tournament!!! For those first time spectators all these contestants are at the minimum thirteen years old and at the maximum seventeen years old!!" The host was certainly doing a good job of having his voice reach the audience without any real microphone for that matter.
The audience was also wildly cheering showing that the Zoval Empire's creed for strength isn't simply just something relevant to the highest level of society. The age range caught Loki by surprise though.
(Considering that on average a person will be recognized as an adult at fourteen years of age in this world. That was also the case for the Zoval Empire. Are they aware of these age ranges being more conductive for the body's development?)
His thoughts were interrupted when the host began to speak once more and this time he barely kept himself back from cursing the host aloud. Eurys who had joined Loki in the box seating looked like he could start a slaughter at any second and Loki had to frantically talk him down.
"There is an additional surprise for our splendid contestants!!! The prince who has made waves after staying silent, The one rumored to have awakened the high elf blood!!! His Highness, Loki Drai Zoval is watching the performance of all you youths!!! He even has some new guards!! Who knows he might get some more!!!"
That was the reason he had been so frantic in calming down Eurys especially since he managed to perceive wind blades getting closer to the head of the poor host. Collapsing into his chair he took one deep breath after another.
The matches had started out to be frankly boring in Loki's eyes. Practically all of them in this first round had been weaker than those being trained internally for the Imperial Guard regardless of the division. That is until a dark horse had seemingly appeared as one of the last matches in the first round.
The match-up was a spear wielding human that was fourteen years old and had gotten 8th place last year in his first tournament. His opponent was a girl with black hair, slightly tanned skin, cat ears and a cat tail. She was after all a Neko or sometimes referred to as a Cat-folk a type of Demi-Human. Her eyes were rather feline and yellow with a black feline like pupil. She held a dagger in each hand and the odds were overwhelmingly stacked against this thirteen year old for the bets.
Eurys had narrowed his eyes when thus Neko took the stage and nodded in appreciation causing Loki to do a double take since on the other contestants he would usually just shrug his shoulders and not say a word. Loki had to wonder if he was about to see a dark horse rise or if the intuition of Eurys was wrong.
"Catfolk woman, you should just surrender. I don't want to have His Highness looking down on me for beating a woman black and blue after all." Most of the audience had laughed eager to see a good showing though Eurys was looking at the spearman with pity in his eyes.
"Nyaaahh? Give up? Nyow why would I do that? You aren't strong enough for that." A chill fell over the audience as the Spearman's face showed some veins coming to the surface from the anger.
"Isn't that catfolk in a lot of danger? Just look at how angry Gayle is. I know right? Well at least this first round will be somewhat interesting." One audience member after the other would chime in with some of them looking at the real gamblers in pity who had placed bets on the Neko woman.
Before the audience could become distracted even more Gayle had lunged forward with his face the image of rage. He had moved fast enough to leave a slight afterimage behind for those without a level. The man was clearly aiming to bore through her stomach and before people could close their eyes expecting to see her body in a gory mess she deflected the spear with a single dagger and the other was pressing against his throat drawing some blood.
"Nyaahhh? Surrender?" The audience all knew that if Gayle refused this chance the Neko would face no repercussions for killing him with having already offered mercy. "Damnit!!! I surrender!!" The match was ended then and there with the Neko walking off the stage a smile on her face and Gayle was gritting his teeth and clenching his fist as he walked off the stage.
Loki's mouth was wide open and even the Elven Elders couldn't find it in themselves to admonish him for it as they were in a similar position. Eurys had a smile on his face as if it was expected. After that match while the tournament seemingly was heading toward a normal conclusion it was now the semi-finals and the Neko woman had scored one clean win after another, all against youths who held good records in previous years.
The announcer had asked the four remaining contestants about how they were feeling or what they are aspring for and one answer was markedly different from the others. The first three were essentially saying how they were doing this to get their name out there and find a liege worthy of their service as a retainer. The Neko was of course the odd one out of the other Semi-Finalists.
"Nyah? Strength is valued, so I came here to show myself off for my future mate." Even the Announcer couldn't come up with a response to that one and the Neko even went to the point of winking and blowing a kiss to the VIP box Loki was in.
After a rather awkward segue and Eurys staring at the Neko with murder in his eyes she was even more brutal dispatching her opponents a mere second after the start of each fight showing she had been holding back before.
While Loki was rather wary regarding the Neko he couldn't deny he was interested in her for her feats. If she could become a loyal retainer as well he figured it might be worth the inevitable headaches. As a result he had one of his new guards send a message to the Announcer.
"Oh? Oh oh oh!? Would you listen to this folks!? His Highness, Loki Drai Zoval has granted the winner of this year's youth division a meeting!! And he will apparently be spectating the Adult Division as well!!!" While this had lit a fire in those competing within the Adult Division the Neko was escorted to the VIP box and Eurys never took his eyes off of her.
Headless of the chaos she would cause the Neko had swooped Loki into her arms and sat down with him on her lap. In this position he got to feel that even at her age this Neko was rather stacked causing him to blush. Before the Neko could continue her arms jerked upwards being held up by strings of wind.
"Try anything and you die cretin. I'm watching you." After that warning the wind was dispelled and the Neko began patting Loki's head and rubbing her cheek against his.
"Nyawww, such a cutie~" Loki looked over to Eurys for help, but he simply shook his head as he was smiling leaving Loki wondering what his thought process was.
"Wait! I don't even know who you are?" That seemed to get her to stop for a short while. "My name is Ria your Higness, Daughter of the Sunthia's tribe leader." At first he had been about to take that in stride before he began to think more about what she said
"Tribe? Sunthia tribe? Are you from the Yuantian Desert?" That was one of the places that still had several tribes fighting rather than nations and from what Loki could recall it is a hotpot of various demi-humans.
"Nya! That is right! I'm exchange for being your mate and possibly guard or servant, I'm going to need your help. Some pesky kobolds are constantly trying to invade and the Chief said he was willing to submit if his people can be saved. I think he said something about a King? It didn't sound like he liked that one, so I came to this Empire where you, the prince with a scary potential lives!" Loki put together the pieces and realized this wasn't something he could get out of at all. One whole reason for his reputation being restored was the Goblin King being subjugated on his order and no doubt some of his siblings might work together to give him this additional opportunity.
The fanfare for the Adult Division was beginning though even if he wasn't currently being cuddled and nuzzled by Ria he likely wouldn't be able to focus on it and Eurys had also grown solemn much less the Elders from the Verdant Council who looked like they might faint at any second as they assumed with this new guard regiment he could stay safe until adulthood only to likely have a new danger thrown at him.