Chapter 6 : John Smith, secret agent

----- 1 week before the Artand Red Desert Inter-Kingdom Tournament -----
We meet Ao again, walking slowly through the great red desert that surrounds the kingdom of Artand
He's still dressed in his usual attire.. but wears sunglasses, and doesn't let any emotion show on his face, like.. a secret agent

I've been to this desert before.. a few years ago, but for completely different reasons
Today, it's just to scout the area for the next tournament I have to win
I think.. it's in a few days? I don't know, I've always had trouble keeping track of what day it is.. although it doesn't really matter anymore
Well, let's see if these earpieces work
Ao takes a pair of wireless earpieces out of his pocket, and wears them over his ears while trying to communicate through them

Ao: “One, two.. One, two, do you copy?”
A woman answers through the earpieces
???: sigh “What is it, Ao?”
Ao: “I'm testing my equipment.. and I'd like to know, what day is it?”
???: “As usual, a real knobhead!” sigh of exasperation
“It's Friday, November 1, 5382, the tournament is exactly one week away!”
Ao: “Oh, right.. Thanks Akemi!”
Akemi: Shouts “SHOUT MY NAME EVERYWHERE WHILE YOU'RE AT IT!!!”
Ao: Snide smile “Call me by my fake name then!”
Akemi: Angrily murmuring “Hmm.. John”
Ao: “John what?”
Akemi: Continues to mutter angrily “Hmm.. John Smith”
Ao: Sneering so hard that he falls onto the red sand and holds his stomach
“AHAHAHAH You didn't go far with the name!!! AHAHAHAH”
Akemi: “Go and register instead of fooling around!”
Ao: Sheds his tears of laughter and stands up “Yeah, I was just about to!”
Ao prepares his momentum, and with a great impulse, runs at high speed across the desert to a registration desk near Artand's kingdom

----- At a registration desk near Ao -----
Several men are bored at the registration desk, half lying on the counter
Man #1: Fatigued sigh “What a boring job!!!”
Man #2: Fatigued sigh “You don't s.. HUH?!!” Rises quickly from the counter and looks far in the distance
A man at the counter sees a.. blue thing.. running at full speed towards their counter in the distance
Man #1: “Wow wow wow WOW WOOOOW!!! THIS BLUE THING IS GOING TO CRUSH US!!!”
The blue thing stops short in front of the counter, and throws a large quantity of red sand into the registration counter
Suddenly, the blue thing reveals itself

Ao: “Hello gentlemen, I'd like to register for the tour..”
Counter receptionist (Man #1): “DAMN IT BUT LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!! WE'VE GOT SAND ALL OVER THE COUNTER!!!”
Ao: “Oh..” Scratches the back of his head “I wonder who did that..” Looks away
Counter receptionist (Man #2): “IT WAS YOU WHO WAS RUNNING SUPER FAST!!!”

Ao ignores them while whistling, as if he's trying to escape his responsibilities
Counter receptionist (Man #1): Sigh “OK! Give me your papers if you want to register!!!”

Hum.. Gives the papers to the receptionist

Receptionist: “Your full name”
Ao: “John Smith”
Receptionist: “Profession”
Ao: “Secret agen.. hum adventurer class SS”
Receptionist: “Allegiance?”
Ao: “On the Kingdom of Sweets (does this kingdom really exist?)”
Receptionist: “Signature here, here, and here” shows with his finger

Disclaimer contract, signed, tournament rules contract, signed, stalking contract.. authorized stalking? What the fuck? I'm never signing this thing..
Ao remembers Thomas: “Even though I know you're not going to screw up this operation, I'm telling you just this once, really. don't. screw up.”
Ao: “Is it that important?”
Thomas: “So important that if you screw up, we're all dead”
Ao: “Ah! Charming!”
Thomas: “I'm not kidding.. but you won't be alone in this operation.. try to find your allies during the tournament”
Ao: “Yeah.. We'll see”
Ao finishes remembering

Shit.. I'm forced to sign such a stupid thing..
Anyway, if they follow me after the tournament, I'll lose them..

Receptionist: “Well, have you signed everything?” Looks at the sheets
“Perfect, you can go to the same place in 1 week to take part in the tournament”
Ao: “Alright.. thank you gentlemen” Starts to leave
Receptionist: “Don't forget your papers” Empty eyes stare
Ao: Take his papers “Hihi, what an airhead I am”
Receptionist: “You don't say..” Looks at the red sand in his wicket

Well.. I'll see if I can land in a forest not too far away
----- On Gin's side -----
----- Hall of the Shakespeare guild, the tavern -----

Dozens of people are shouting and cheering, jumping up and down, laughing and raising their beer mugs around a kid..
That kid is Gin, who's shirtless, doing push-ups.. and his big brother Kin is sitting on his back
Gin's thoughts
EUUUUAAAAAARRRRRGH!!! HE'S SO HEAVY!!
People in the tavern: Jumps up and shouts “GO GIN, GO GIN, AGAIN!!!”
Kin: “Come on, are you struggling, warrior third class?!!!” Sadistic smile
Gin: Gallows a lot to do push-ups “AAARGH!!! I can't take it anymore, big brother!!!”

Suddenly, the sound of a whip can be heard in the tavern..
Yumi: Sadistic smile, carries a whip and enjoys whipping her little brother Gin
“Again, little Gin, AGAIN!!!” Whip Gin again

Poor Gin is being trained by his big brother Kin and big sister Yumi, and is getting ready.. for Artand's Red Desert Inter-Kingdom Tournament

----- 2 days before the Artand Red Desert Inter-Kingdom Tournament -----
----- On Ao's side, a forest surrounding Artand's red desert -----

Ao's belly rumbling

The mushrooms in this forest are definitely not edible.. berk
I've found almost nothing in terms of fauna in this forest, so it's a good thing I've got emergency supplies in my dimensional pocket.. but still..
Takes a chocolate bar out of his pocket and crunches it
The forest surrounding the Kingdom of Artand is really dry!

Well.. this machine has been following me around for 5 days.. it's probably the tracker from that damn contract, but still..
Ao: “LEAVE ME ALONE, THE CANNING BOX!!!”

This is at least the 10th time I've told him, and he pretends not to hear, hiding behind the trees.. sigh
I'm pretty sure it's a robot from the golden order.. or their client, or both

By the way, who is this client?
For Thomas to tell me that if this operation fails, we're all dead, it's got to be a high-ranking representative.. at least

Lirin made it clear that it wasn't a Pendragon
...
They'd better not have lied to me Crunching the rest of his chocolate bar

Behind the robot camera following Ao is a spy in the lair of a very influential person
???: Female voice “I'm afraid we're following the worst mercenary of the century, master”
???: Very deep voice “Appearances can be deceiving, Anne. Also, the Golden Order reported to us that he is their best element”

Anne: “In that case, why spy on him, Master ?”
???: "Because the best are unpredictable.. As you get older, you get suspicious. So will you one day, my dear disciple”

Anne: “What interests me most right now... is ending this war as quickly as possible”
???: "And we're working on it, despite the many defeats the neighboring kingdoms have suffered, we're getting closer and closer to our goal”

Ao: through robot recording “And what is your goal?”
Anne: shocked look “WHAT?!.. Master, how is this possible? Can he hear us?”
Ao: through robot recording, sigh “Damn mosquitoes, your goal is to STING ME UNTIL I DIE!”

Anne: “... Truly the worst mercenary of the century” Exasperated look
??? : Growl in a very deep voice

----- On Gin's side -----
----- Kamelott's elite training area -----
Kin and Yumi train brutally, fighting mercilessly in Kamelott's elite training area
A gigantic room covered in ultra-strong white metals, as well as numerous weapons, armors and artifacts to test in order to train the kingdom's finest warriors

Kin, Yumi: “Enhance: Full body”
The two engage in a brutal, technical martial arts close combat

While Gin rests, sitting against a wall, drinking water from a plastic bottle
Gin's thoughts
I'm really struggling to keep up..
Clenches fists in frustration
The tournament.. is in two days, I've got to stay focused!
For Akane..!
Gin waves his finger in front of him, and an orange holographic computer window appears, displaying his various fighting statistics
Gin Shakespeare, Third Class
Vigor: 20
Stamina: 13
Speed: 14
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 22

Pendragon Alliance Consideration: Great mastery of the Earth element
We advise you to take the path of the Earth mage, or you can retrain in renewable building construction studies with our Pendragon alliance-approved and validated training courses!

Tss.. I don't care about that
Honestly, i've never really thought about what I'd do.. once I'd saved my sister..
But for sure.. I wouldn't stay in the war branch..
I'm not made for fighting..
I.. hate fighting Sad look.. and think of Zack Silver's death
...
...

Kin : Appears and shouts in front of Gin “RISE UP, WARRIOR 3RD CLASS!!!”
Gin: Rises quickly “YES BROTHER!!!”

----- 2 hours before Artand's Red Desert Inter-Royal Tournament -----
Ao redirects himself to the Artand kingdom registration desk, passing numerous warriors on the way

Wow.. Muscles everywhere!
I really feel like I'm standing out among all those muscles..

Ao's earpieces: “Ao unit, have you prepared your portable star techniques?”
Ao: “No need, I don't intend to use any star techniques in this tournament”

Ao's earpieces: “Ao Unit, I..”
Ao: “And it's John Smith here, not Ao”
Ao's earpieces: “... Alright, John Smith Unit, I advise you not to underestimate the participants of this tournament”

John Smith (Ao): Takes on a secret agent voice “And I'm not underestimating anyone, operator, should the situation change, I won't hesitate to use every gadget in my secret agent arsenal”

Ao's earpieces: Very angry female voice “IF YOU FAIL AND WE GET KILLED, I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!!”

John Smith (Ao): Takes on a secret agent voice and makes a static noise with his mouth
“Communication will be cut, operator” static noise
“Don't worry, the mission will be a great success” static noise

Ao's earpieces: “AAAOOOOOO.. ”Communication cut off abruptly

Sigh I don't want anyone shouting in my ear during the tournament
Ao continues to walk while stretching

Tournament organizer: “Gentlemen, ladies,
Welcome to the Artand Red Desert Inter-Kingdom Tournament!

I hope you've all read the rules carefully - if you don't, you'll be automatically disqualified and teleported out of the combat zone!

Now, walk to the magical veil of Artand's Red Desert
Once there, position yourself in your assigned teleport circle!

As a reminder, you'll all be teleported to different parts of the desert, with food and structures to shelter you from the dangers of the desert!
This tournament is a free-for-all, but teams within the tournament are allowed, even if in the end only one person will remain!
If we consider that you are no longer fit to fight, you will be automatically teleported to our care center and eliminated from the tournament!
We remind you that killing a participant is forbidden, and will automatically disqualify you!

There are 2 ways to win this tournament: either be the last fighter in the desert, or find Artand's red desert relic and deposit it at the teleportation system located A10 on your map provided beforehand!

We're expecting a great battle! Many people will be watching you from the broadcasters, audiences from every kingdom, and even people in very high ranking places!”

It's much more organized than I thought, it's very cool!

Ao arrives at the desert veil, in front of him is a global image of Artand's red desert in plan view, and sees the silhouettes of all the fighters all around
He places himself on his teleportation circle, which bears the name “John Smith”

John Smith (Ao): Pulls back those sunglasses “Let's see... what the elite of the Pendragon kingdoms are worth” Smile

----- On Gin's side -----
Gin, Yumi, Kin and a large orc walk side by side, heading for their respective teleportation circles

Gin, Third Class and ready for the tournament!

Yumi waves her finger in front of her, and a computerized holographic window appears, displaying her combat stats

Yumi Shakespeare, SS-class Adventurer
Vigor: 35
Stamina: 30
Speed: 31
Strength: 47
Dexterity: 14
Intelligence: 17

Yumi looks confidently at these statistics, and feels ready to do anything to win the tournament

Kin waves his finger in front of him, and a computer and holographic window appears in front of him, displaying his combat stats

Kin Shakespeare, SS-class Adventurer
Vigor: 48
Endurance: 50
Speed: 35
Strength: 40
Dexterity: 52
Intelligence: 28

Kin stays focused on his goal and doesn't let anything throw him off balance

Tournament organizer: “Get ready, participants! The tournament starts in 3... 2... 1... Teleportation”
All participants placed on their teleportation circles are teleported to random locations in the Artand desert

Further into the desert, one person is determined to win, no matter what the cost

Gin: “We're going to win this tournament.. Losing is out of the question!”
Gin's earpieces (Kin): “That's what I want to hear, little brother!”
Kin and Gin earpieces (Yumi): “WE'RE GOING TO SHOOT RED SAND IN THEIR NOSES!!!”
Kin: Sneers
Kin, Gin, and Yumi earpieces (???): Cries of great sadness
“Uuuuuh uuuh uh uh uh.. AKANE!!!” Voice very low
Gin: “Don't worry, Mu! We'll win!”

As our group of characters warm to the idea of winning the tournament, their disillusionment will soon turns.. to distress