Harem Tournament of Champions

Loid pulled on Gad's arm, pushing him forward. "He's the one who spoke ill of you."

"Hey?!" Gad hissed in response, looking over at his cowardly friend.

Kritz narrowed his eyes at them, trying his best to deduce where he had seen them apart from the usual guarding their post.

Then it clicked, that distinctive short white hair, it couldn't be mistaken anywhere. "You are that little kid that tried challenging me several years ago."

He gave out a laugh at the fond memory.

Gad had his cheeks puffed up in embarrassment, muttering incoherent words at the memory flash.

"I don't look so little anymore and neither do you, red eyes." Gad bickered, speaking through pursed lips.

He had tried to hide the fact that he was part of that dueling, he had wanted to test out his ability at the time of its bloom and was humiliated by Kritz.

"Ahh! It is you, sheep brain." Kritz slapped the back of Gad playfully.

Loid's mouth gaped open in shock at what was going on, this was the same cold-hearted person that could kill without as much as a flinch, yet he had replied to Gad's mocking words with an equal dose of energy.

He could see why Gad had been envious of him.

"You ranked a bit higher than your servant years..." Kritz said as he tries to start up a conversation.

Every ounce of giddy feeling was thrown out the window as he furrowed his brows to the implied words.

He had felt triggered by the fact that he looked more pitiful in the rain, "Please do step out of the rain, you would–"

"I would what? Catch a cold?" Kritz chuckled, shaking his head at how silly that sounded.

Loid tugged on Gad's sleeves. "I think you need to shut up."

"It would be wise not to speak about me behind my back," Kritz warned with a disturbing smile.

"You aren't so scary as you look." Gad scoffed, raising his chin in pride.

'Why the hell would you spew rubbish from your lips?!' Loid gasped, hopeful that Kritz would forgive his stupidity.

Kritz narrowed his eyes, blaming it on the fact that he had tried to be approachable for once.

"Carry on with your duties, I apologize for scaring you earlier." He said with a forced smile.

Loid nodded his head at Kritz's words, quickly covering Gad's mouth from saying anything that could trigger Kritz.

Kritz's head whipped to the balcony of his lord, he wondered how he was faring with Alta. She was quite different from the rest and hoped she would have better success at gaining and helping their lord to the best of her ability.

Looking up at the sky, he wondered how long the cloud would cry. "It must be a depressing day."

Loid and a heavily suppressed Gad watched as Kritz walked towards the large doors leading to the main hall.

Finally confirming that Kritz was nowhere in sight, Loid let go of Gad.

"That was disgusting! What the heck did you touch?" Gad spat, spiting continuously until he was sure he had all the weird taste off his tongue.

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to know," Loid replied with a smirk, whistling and looking away.

***

In the shadows,

The rain drops suspended above three figures hidden in the dark bushes overlooking the citadel.

"Who would have thought the little Vandrik is here, living the life of a servant? After all these years, we finally found him." A deep voice whispered to the other two hidden with him.

"He had stooped so low as to serve a mere gifted immortal?" The second voice snickered and clicked the tongue.

"Little Vandrik needs to be reminded of his roots! We had lost him once, never again would we miss this opportunity to get him back!" A smoky voice conversed with the other two.

The leader in question had the blue eyes faintly glowing, the tall dark bushes serving as a cover as they watched Kritz leave, "the harem is the only way we could use to keep the overlord alone, far away from little Vandrik, and when he's vulnerable..."

"... we strike at their heart, crumble their foundation and get back what is ours!" The smokey voice completed with a snicker as they all laughed in unison.

Whoosh!

They all disappeared with a cloud of black smoke in their wake.

"Did you hear something?" Gad whispered to Loid, looking out and over the bush where he had noticed a rustle.

"Only your stupidity I hear, and it's too loud right now." Loid snapped and rolled his eyes.

Gad narrowed his eyes but said nothing, he narrowed down how he felt to a hunch.

If they had a threat, their lord would be able to fend them off easily.

Noticing the serious look on Gad's face, Loid immediately felt guilty about what he had said, "I was just joking, I didn't mean–"

"No, it's alright." Gad cut in, "I do act foolishly sometimes, so it's difficult to know when I am serious."

Loid looked down and nodded his head.

"Be on guard, I feel something terrible is coming our way," Gad said in an ominous tone.