Chapter 751: Aubert
Not even a minute had passed since the start of the tests. Many competitors fought tooth and nail to increase the number of straw dummies they cut down.
Some found the targets to be too fast and too random, only being able to cut down a few of them.
The Werewolves designed the straw dummies to not move like a human. This would challenge a swordsman’s ability to think on the spot and not rely on rigid stances.
Eventually, the test finally ended and the competitors were led back into the group.
Lupan looked at all of them and nodded. "Many of you have shown great skill," he said.
Many Werewolves were standing behind Lupin, all of whom had observed a swordsman on their test.
One of them was the female Werewolf assigned to Jaku.
And even now, she couldn’t help but sneak glances at him past the crowd. He was still acting as aloof as before, not even paying attention to their Tribe Chief’s announcements. He was just laying down on the grass, already half-asleep.
"These humans may be weak, but they are great at using weapons," said one of the Werewolves beside her.
"There’s a lot of promising talent," another one said. "But I think that my swordsman will prevail. He was able to kill 50 dummies in the whole span of the test."
Many Werewolves were gladly surprised to hear that. They were intrigued to know who it was.
"Do you see that human there, with a green head of hair and a sword as big as he is?"
They all turned to look at the man standing proudly in the crowd. He was quite young, but full of hardened muscles that the Werewolves appreciated.
He was leaning on his giant greatsword, standing proudly and bragging to the people beside him.
Just then, Lupan was given a scroll from one of the Werewolves, and his attention turned to the same exact human with spiky green hair.
"This test does not decide the winner of the tournament, but it has shown who among here has great potential. He has bested fifty targets, cleaving them cleanly in half. Mauricio Aubert!"
The group started clapping for Mauricio, congratulating him for his amazing performance. They were all competitors in this tournament, but it wouldn’t hurt to establish friendly relations with someone who could eventually become allies with the Brownblood Werewolf Tribe.
"As expected. He’s going to win this tournament," said Brock. "He’s the proud prodigy of the Aubert Company after all."
Brock knew then and there that there was no chance for him to win this tournament. He could only hope that the Werewolves would appreciate his skills and deem him worth enough to be allied with.
He quickly turned back to Jaku, who didn’t seem all that interested in the outcome of the test.
"How did you do?"
Jaku shrugged. "I did fine," he answered, not even opening his eyes.
"Why are you not worried about the tournament? Don’t you see how strong Mauricio is? He cut down 50 of those dummies!"
"Hm? I don’t know who that is."
Brock couldn’t believe Jaku hadn’t heard of Mauricio or the Aubert company.
He was about to explain, when Jaku raised his hand.
"I don’t need to know," Jaku said. "It doesn’t matter who he is."
Then, Jaku went back to sleeping on the grass without a care in the world.
Brock was speechless. He couldn’t understand how Jaku was so confident that he didn’t even care about any of his competitors.
Did he not care about losing, or did he know that he wouldn’t lose?
...
Meanwhile, as the Werewolves and the humans were praising Mauricio for his achievements in the test, the female Werewolf stayed silent.
One of her friends noticed her unusual quietness.
"What’s wrong? The Tribe Chief instructs us to keep a close eye on this Mauricio. He may be the one that we are looking for," he said.
But the female Werewolf shook her head. "I don’t think so."
"Why not?"
"Because I think it’s going to be him who’s going to win," the female Werewolf said, pointing at Jaku.
Her friend was obviously confused. "Him? He is not a Beastfolk nor a Maugnetic."
"Yes," she nodded. "But his skill in the sword is undeniable."
"How did he perform in the test? Was he close to cutting 50 targets as well?"
The female Werewolf shook her head. "No, he got forty targets."
"Then why would you think—"
"Forty Werewolf targets," she added.
As soon as she said that, her friend couldn’t help but gasp out loud. "No, you didn’t!"
"Keep your voice down," she warned him. "And yes, I did. I was getting annoyed at him, so I activated the transformation of the straw dummies."
Those targets were no simple creations. They were meant to simulate two sides of a Werewolf.
The human side, the one that all the competitors were fighting, and the Werewolf side.
Since the dummies were supposed to mimic a real Werewolf, the human side was incomparably weak and slow compared to the Werewolf side of the target.
The difference between the two was massive. So much so, that their Tribe Chief instructed them to only use the human side of the straw dummies because the Werewolf side would be too hard for the competitors to defeat.
If the average dummy kill in the competition was around 25 targets, then it would go down to a staggering 2 or 3 kills if they faced against a Werewolf dummy instead.
This meant that those ’40’ targets that Jaku had were not equal to the 50 targets the Mauricio killed. It was so much greater.
"He defeated 40 of those?!"
The female Werewolf nodded. "I saw it with my own eyes. His skill in the sword is the real deal."
...
...
...
Meanwhile, back to Michael, One Eye and the professor were still continuing on with their discussion.
"Professor, even if you say that the genius in Metropolis is only a rumor, I do not want to take that chance. I will not antagonize those guys from Metropolis. I will let them have 1st place in the All Tournament a year from now.
But this means that 2nd place is still up for grabs. And this will be between Zenthaven City, and us from Bonacore Town."
"Zenthaven City?" Professor Lichtenstein pondered. "They used to be a Capital City, one that used to house a conglomerate on par with the five we have now."
One Eye nodded. "Yes. the Aubert Company. They used to be a conglomerate but had fallen down in recent times. But I think they’re about to have a comeback.
They have numerous talents in the old and young generation. They will surely try to attack us first, weaken us to secure their position in the 2nd place, just like what I would do to them.
That is why I needed this Mithril Relic, professor. With a new and better flute, I will be able to triumph against the Auberts and secure the future of Bonacore Town with the tourists."
Professor Lichtenstein completely understood his worries. "Hmm, yes. I seem to have seen a young man with green hair back in the competition set up by the Brownbloods."
"That must be Mauricio," One Eye muttered. "It seems that they are now trying to secure their relations with the Werewolves by using their prodigy."