Free Web NovelChapter 106: Ms. Hayth
"Mom!"
The woman, into whom Mika previously bumped while searching for Xander, turned around.
"Lily!" she said joyfully as she spread her arms.
Lily jumped into her arms and hugged her tightly.
"You really came!"
"Of course I did. How could I miss my daughter’s glorious performance?"
She stroked Lily’s head gently.
"Hehe..." Lily giggled.
"But where’s Dad?" she wondered.
"Sadly, he couldn’t find the time to come. His job’s still keeping him busy."
"Oh..."
Lily seemed a little dejected.
"Either way, how about you introduce me to your friend over there?"
The woman looked over to Sylvia, who was wondering where to look.
"Oh, right! I forgot!"
Lily let go of her and went over to Sylvia.
"This is Sylvia Pyril. She’s my friend!"
"Good day."
Sylvia politely bowed her head slightly.
"And this is my mother, Lena Hayth."
"Nice to meet you, Sylvia."
Sylvia widened her eyes for a second.
"I should have known..." she muttered with a faint smile.
"Hm?"
Lily did not catch her words.
"I can see that you’re mother and daughter." she elaborated.
"Really? Hehe..."
"Oh my..."
The two reacted bashfully.
"Everyone, please take your seats again! The fifth round is about to start!"
The voice belonged to the announcer and came from the arena. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Lily shifted her gaze between her mother and the direction of the resting hall.
"It’s your turn, right? Better hurry up or else you will be late." Lena stated with a smile.
"We can talk as much as we want after today’s matches." she added.
The expression on Lily’s face brightened up immediately.
"Yes!"
She was about to go to the resting hall to make her last preparations.
"I will guide your mother to a spot where she can watch." Sylvia suggested.
"Thanks, Sylia! I owe you one!"
And thus, she hastily headed back.
"Don’t you have to go as well?"
"I’m fighting in the next round so I still have some time left."
Sylvia was leading Lena to a place for her to watch.
She did not lead her to the stands, where the public would go.
Instead, the two followed Lily at a slower pace.
"Ehm... May I ask you something...?" Lena said nervously.
"?"
Sylvia turned her head to her as she stopped in her tracks.
"Is Lily having fun here? Or rather... Does she like being here?" she asked concernedly.
"..."
It was the typical worry of a mother.
Her daughter just moved out from their home, taking her first step towards independence.
It was a great shift from living with the family to living far away from them.
Her gaze was cast to the ground.
Only after she heard, how Sylvia was moving forward, she lifted her head.
"She has never told me that she had fun nor has she ever said that she liked being here."
Lena bit her lips.
"However."
Sylvia’s mouth formed a crescent shape.
"Most of the time, she wore a genuine smile on her face."
"..."
Lena’s worried expression turned into a relieved one as she also smiled widely.
"I see... That’s good to hear."
Knowing that her daughter never lost her smile was enough for her.
"I’m glad that she has a friend like you."
Sylvia blushed slightly.
"Does she have a lot of friends here?"
"Hmm... I guess so. She has friends in her own class but she also often hangs out with those outside her class, like my classmates or Mika."
"Mika?"
Sylvia proceeded to explain the team and monthly quest system to her.
"...and thus, the three of us formed a team."
"Oh, I see."
Lena nodded her head.
"And I thought for a second that he was her boyfriend, haha!" Lena joked.
"Boyfriend..."
Sylvia got hung up at that word.
"Huh? Does she have one?!"
"..."
She was thinking.
"I don’t know but when the two of us went on a couple of missions, we got to talk a lot. We once talked about our goals and dreams, and she told me that she was searching for a boy... Or was it even a boy?" Sylvia elaborated, being also unsure.
With a melancholic smile, Lena looked to the side.
"I see. So she’s still chasing him, huh?" she muttered.
"We’re here just in time." Sylvia stated.
The two walked down a tunnel-like entrance with cheers coming from the other side.
Without her realizing it, they walked to the back entrance, where usually only participants went through.
"As long as either Lily or I are on your side, it won’t be a problem for you to watch from here."
The two watched the fights from the back entrance.
However, Lena was immediately glued to the sight of her daughter.
Agape, she watched her match, which had started just recently.
And yet, Sylvia had a suspecting look on her face.
"..."
Lily did not notice it yet, but her breathing began to get ragged.
Just like in the previous match, she felt weird.
However, it was not just her.
Her opponent, someone from her class and an official A-rank, faced the same trouble.
From the viewpoint of the general public, nothing seemed strange, however, the participants and those with the appropriate knowledge may have noticed it.
Lily glanced to the jury, where Erwin Linster was currently talking with a staff member.
Thinking that he may have tried to handle this situation, she faced her opponent again.
He was already rushing to her with a right arm, which was engulfed in lightning.
"!"
Lily dodged when he tried to land a straight punch.
However, he predicted it and launched a lightning beam with his other hand.
In order to dodge that, Lily had to use her fire magic to move midair.
As she pushed herself away with her fire, she eventually landed on the ground again.
But her opponent waited for her there already as he appeared behind her.
"Kuh...!" she groaned silently after blocking a lightning-infused kick.
She slid back, creating a trail on the soil.
"This is no time for unnecessary thoughts...!" she scolded herself.
Then, she took a deep breath.
"?"
Her opponent tilted his head in confusion.
Following that, she leaped to him with lit hands.
Reflexively, he jumped to the back, however, Lily slapped the air between them, causing a wide-ranged and firebreath-like attack.
"Uwah!"
The student could not escape completely from the attack.
Burn marks were covering his body.
"Tch..."
He covered himself entirely in lightning.
"..."
Lily squinted her eyes as she concentrated on every single movement.
He began to circle around her at lightning speed, making it impossible for the mere eye to identify him.
Then, he switched over to moving in a wild and zigzag-like manner around her.
Lily seemed like she was balling herself up with her arms on her chest.
But this way, she could not block his attacks.
As he continued to move around wildly, scratches appeared on her body.
At first, they were mere scratches, however, the longer he continued, the deeper those scratches got.
He retracted his arm, aiming for a finishing punch.
Trying to confuse her, he appeared behind her, only to vanish again and appear in front of her.
He did all this, thinking that he got the upper hand, however, he was ignorant of Lily’s movements.
The moment, he was about to launch the punch, Lily lifted her face, looking at him with a confident smile.
She loosened her stance up as she tried to stop his punch with one hand, whereas the other stayed balled up.
"!"
When she stopped his fist, she obviously got electrified by his magic, however, she had to bear the pain while she emitted heat herself.
"Hrngh...!" the student groaned in pain.
His eyes were focused on his fist, which was clenched by her.
Thus, he did not realize what she was doing with the other hand.
She raised that hand and led it slowly to him.
She opened the fist, revealing a small fireball.
However, he knew that this was by no means a normal fireball, which he saw from time to time during the sparring lessons.
"Don’t tell me...!"
It was too late.
He was in her grasp, unable to escape.
"Sorry." Lily said with a clumsy smile.
The fireball brightened up, blending everyone including the crowd.
And the next thing they heard was an explosion-like sound as the fireball expanded in the student’s direction.
Because Ralph Arma installed a transparent sphere on the fighting grounds beforehand, the guests would not be harmed.
"T-the first winner is Lily Hayth!" the announcer stuttered in amazement.
The cheers went wild for her.
"Did you see that? She won!" Lena shouted.
As if she was their age, she jumped around in joy.
"Y-yes, I saw that." Sylvia replied taken aback while forcing a smile.
She looked at Lily, who was showing a V-sign with her fingers.
"I guess, it’s my turn now, huh?"
Sylvia thought back to the current bracket.
Her opponent was about to be her toughest challenge until now as well.
According to what she heard about that person, that person was the closest to becoming a white-class student.
