Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

Chapter 659 Departing for the competition

[El's POV: ]

"Take care everyone. And you…"

I looked at my vice captain Eula with a confident smile, and put my hand on her strong shoulder.

"Take care of them. I am counting on you."

"Do worry, captain. I will take care of them and the competition. You do not have to concern yourself with us. Enjoy the break, watch us, and cheer for us. 

After all that you have gone through, you deserve this break."

She was confident, she was respectful, and was cute, but more than that, she was confident after all the training we had gone through, the harsh things we did to prepare the bunch that was going with her, and the things that I taught them.

"I can rest assured only because you will be there, Eula. Haaa…"

I hugged this cute friend of mine, and though surprised for a moment, she hugged me back with a sigh, and a smile on her face.

"Ok…"

I looked at my house members that were going to the Principality for the competition with a serious look and they all flinched visibly.

"Remember, you idiots."

They all feared me, certainly. That was the kind of retaliation ship required to tame these bunch of children with a hidden darkness in their hearts.

"I have faith in you, in the things that I gave you, in the abilities we have nurtured together. Don't betray my trust, and do your best regardless of the circumstances or conditions.

I dare you to do even one percent less of what you could have done in the moment of truth. You are dead if you even think of doing something even close to it."

My words were harsh, no doubt they were. 

No other house captain out here talked to their house members like I did.

But, it was how I was. And…

"Yes captain! We will do our best! And more if the situation asked for it!"

After being with me for almost a month, they understood the reason I acted the way I did, the reason behind my harshness, and, the reason they all have to do what I tell them to.

'They grew up in such a short time… indeed. The Dark society is filled with geniuses.'

My house had many capable ones, but, almost none of them had reached even the halfway of their current full potential.

They were only comparable to darling's Ball guy, inexperienced, unprepared, and dumb.

It took a lot of work for me to pick them out from the large bunch and prepare them enough to have them be on this team.

"I have poured my sweat, sleep, and time in you bastards… so you better at least better not disappoint me."

I smiled at them, warmly, and patted their heads individually.

"Good luck out there. It will be wild. You will feel suffocated. But, just remember what I do with the Higgs guys and you will be fine."

"Ptfff."

"Yes captain."

"Hehe…"

Some chuckled after hearing my last words of prise while other tried to hold back their laughter. 

They knew exactly what I was referring to, they could imagin it happening right before their eyes, and, truthfully, it was really funny. So much so that even laughing out loud wouldn't be weird.

"Alright then. Talk among yourselves. You will only have a few hours to prepare as soon as you cross the portal."

"YES!!!"

We were in the academy garden, in the opposite side from where the sir Quesnel was situated. 

This was a special area where a mass teliportation area was present and it was a special space that was only used in special occasions such as this one to transport the students under the direct permissions of the headmaster.

The students this time were going for their first ever off academy competition and it was one of the most important ones.

All eight houses were sending twelve to twenty one students as the participants and aside from three teachers that were in charge of all the off academy activity that involved students, three more of our teachers were going to join them in this competition.

'They all were going to be fine and since these were the last moments before there departure, this much encouragement was enough.'

I left the team of fifteen from my house to Eula and walked towards Quin's house where she was preparing to depart herself.

She was going there as a participant and it would be her first time participating in any kind of competition with a loooooooot of people.

"Quin~! How're you holding up~?"

"Uriel!!!"

She was with her own house and they all certainly had prepared quite a lot in the hours time they all had.

"I am scared!"

"I knew you would be, hehe…"

She handled everything very well, even surpassing Carla's expectations.

She was so good with the management work and was so capable with so many things that she possessed a position similiar to me or Eon in her house.

She revealed her Grimore to paper her house members in a little better way and, since her house alredy had a pretty lot of good alchemists with good talents, after they experanced the countless experances of the masters and grandmaster alchemists, they were as close of a competition to us as darling's house.

But, after doing all that, after earning an eternal respect of her house members, she was scared like a little child in this moment.

"Shuuuuuu. Let's first calm down, ok? Deep breathing. Inhale…"

She was hugging me tightly, and I was stroking her little head.

She was only a young that had never experances any of this, especially the cowed of many people, competitors, and people of higher authority.

She knew many important people will be there, but, even after having prepared all day and night since past week, she was still acting like this. 

"Quin… look at me."

She was strong, she was smart, she was capable, and even though she had these bunch of expert alchemy in her team, with a commanding voice like her, they were nothing more than a mess of individual children.

"You are their captain, the thread that will bind them together when you are out there. 

They need you, so, just remember the story of my first comepation that I told you that night and smile. 

Go to them, I know you will do well."

She was nervous, they knew that. That's why they had given them all the time she needed to sort out her thoughts.

However, now that it was time to depart, they needed her presence and encouragement.

"Ptfff… hehehe. You were a mess."

"Yes. But you are not. 

You are far better than what the young me could have ever been so, just believe in yourself. And the faith that I have in you. 

You can do it better than many of us, so, go there and do it."

She was smart, dumb when it came to simple things like these but, certainly, a smart one.

"Alright! Thanks Uriel~! You are the best~!"

She was filled with a new light after those small words encouragement and was just about to run towards her housemates, but, she stopped and came back to me.

"Take care. Both of you."

"Of course."

She was hugging me with a smile, perhaps the last hug before the departure and after a minute of staying like that, she ran off towards her house mates.

'They are going to do something amazing. It will be fun seeing them from that special VIP seat.'

She was cute, hehe.

"Carla."

"Uriel."

"Take care of yourself."

"You as well."

Carla was going to stay here so we wouldn't be seeing her for a while. 

"If you need-"

"Just go. You have work, I on the other hand am going to die of boredom by myself." She just hugged me after saying that. Typical big sister.

She wasn't exactly suited for this alchemy competition so she wasn't participating this time, and since she wasn't going there as an audience either, she was going to be here all by herself.

'She says being alone for a while will give her time to work on some of the problems she had found within herself over the past few weeks, and even though we urged her to just go there as an audience, she said wanted to be by herself for a while so we couldn't do anything against her stubborn attitude.

"Go, now. You have others to say goodbye to."

"Yes… but don't overdo yourself! We will have to have a girls only intervention if you go overboard with your self reflection!"

"Yes, yes, mother Uriel. Go now. Go."

I had to say goodbyes to the others, certainly, but she wasn't getting off of my radar that easily. 

I had my eyes and ears here so if she does something stupid, which she most certainly might, she is gonna get a good scolding from all of us.

"Lizzy~."

"Hmmm? Oh! Uriel!"

I met Lizzy, Alf, Titania, Luna, that bastard Hide, and others and, most of them were participating in the competition. Even my cute little Med was going from Chry's house as well.

'Chry was going as not the participant but a special assistant of one of the teachers for some reason i still didn't understand even though Eon told me a while back, but, ultimately, he will be there for Quin. My cute lovebirds.'

They all will be there so it will be fun seeing them all in action and, we both were looking forward to that.

"So everyone, just remember what we all learned together, trust each other and yourself, don't crumble down if you make some kind of mistake, remember, it's not over until its really over, and, whatever happens, don't give a hundred percent if you feel you can go for even a hundred and two percent.

Have faith in your discipline."

"YES, VICE CAPTAIN!"

He was giving his last words of encouragement to his 'disciples', not house members but the weapons of mass astonishment that he had created with his blood, knowledge, and soul.

They were practically hard wired to do unique things now, things that were out of the norm.

He had liberated them from the worldly constraints in this short time with his mystical methods and they were now individuals that were practically on par with the current twelve prodigies in their unique way.

He had done what he always does, and, since we will be up against the unique aliens that were aiming to win against those monstrous masters and grandmasters, I could only pray that Eula and the others gets a spark of epiphany in the moment of truth.

"Take care. You too, captain." He said his goodbye to the Zoe and the others and came back to me after nodding at Miss Mia, his greatest accomplishment in this academy until now.

Zoe was also going as a assistant for one of the professors, her 'Creation' class teacher if I am not wrong, so she will be there as well… but I still don't understand why her arrogant teacher is taking her there! He doesn't even say a word to me! Hump!

"WE ARE DEPARTING IN THREE MINUTES! EVERYONE THAT IS GOING, PLEASE GATHER FORWARD!"

The announcement was made soon so, everyone finished their talk and the students gathered in the front.

"This is exhilarating."

"Seeing others leave?"

"No… seeing others leave for something so grand we had feared it just until a year ago."

"Haha, true. This feels amazing~."

We were there just the last year and thought even getting past the first three rounds of the competition would be a near impossible task, but, now, people we had trained were going there… not us, but the ones that we had trained, with the hopes and dreams of all of our houses, so, as their captains, and the ones that taught them, it certainly felt amazing.

"PREPARE FOR SPATIAL JUMP!"

A large magic circle of six folds covering half of the area we were in appeared in the sky and smaller magic circles appeared under the feet of the the students that were about to depart for a certain part on the western continent from a place tens of thousands of metres up in the sky.

-Ooooooooooooong!

And, seeing them all vanish in just a blink of an eye, their smiling, nervous, afraid faces, was something I don't think I am going to forget anytime soon now.

"They are gone now."

"Yes…"

Soon, the garden became pretty empty and students that were here to say goodbye to their friends started to go back to their dormitories to change and prepare to watch the global broadcasts that will be showed all over the world by different magical means.

"Then, shall we prepare to depart as well?"

"Yup. Let's go see what our little friends do~."

I was excited for many reasons right now, most of which were connected to this whole of the event and our fellow students, but, the most exciting thing for me right now…

Was the fact that this was going to be our official debut in the world as a couple!

A real, official couple!

"Hehehe, this is going to be fun~."

Very fun!