"As long as they can achieve a good ranking in the tournament, not only will the guild they represent gain fame.
Individuals who perform exceptionally well during the competition will also receive considerable support and rewards from the royal family."
"Got it. We won't dream about first place, but if we can take second place back, that will still help the guild!"
With Jura's encouragement, Leon regained his fighting spirit.
Even if they were just the green leaves used to highlight Kabe's brilliant flower, they would become the most dazzling leaves on the field!
The group continued discussing the tournament for a while.
Soon, the half-hour rest time passed, and Sherry slowly woke up.
Seeing this, Jura stood up and prepared to continue the remaining journey.
With a new goal in mind, everyone also regained their energy and loudly agreed.
Only Sherry had a look of despair on her face.
She had just opened her eyes, yet she never expected that she would immediately have to start suffering again.
...
Time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, the final deadline for the competition was approaching.
Kabe's group had also been woken up early by the staff and brought to the royal palace, where they waited for the final confirmation of the results.
This was Kabe's second time entering the royal palace.
Compared to Erza and the others, who were curiously looking around everywhere, Kabe at least appeared quite familiar with the place on the surface.
After being led all the way into the banquet hall, Kabe discovered that many completed teams had already gathered there.
Most of them had finished the race one or two hours earlier.
After resting briefly at the inn, they had been called here.
Looking around, Kabe noticed quite a few familiar faces.
Kabe's arrival also attracted the attention of many people.
Several immediately stood up and walked toward him.
The fastest one was his good friend from the same guild, Natsu.
He rushed over angrily and pointed at Kabe.
"You bastard Kabe, you actually tricked me!
Because of you, I ate way too much and couldn't run at all.
Otherwise, first place would definitely have been ours this time!"
Facing Natsu's accusation, Kabe blinked and put on an innocent expression.
"Little guy, who are you?
If you have any complaints, you can send a letter to my guild.
If not, please move aside. You're blocking my conversation with my friends."
"You bastard! You're pretending not to know me?!"
"Fine then, your fist should definitely be something I'm familiar with!
Take this, Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Blinded by anger, Natsu completely ignored the situation and raised his flaming fist, preparing to attack.
Luckily, before he could make a move, a huge fist flew in from the side and sent him flying away.
Wearing a pure white cloak and a silver cross Saint Ten badge on his chest, Makarov looked at Natsu lying face down on the ground and angrily scolded him.
"You troublesome brat! At least look at the situation before causing trouble!
In such a serious place, in front of all these seniors, how can you behave so recklessly?!"
Right after he finished speaking, a sweet and overly delicate voice followed.
"My, my, Makarov dear, don't be so serious.
Young people being lively is normal. Don't be too harsh on your own children."
The chubby man wearing heavy makeup, whose waist was so wide that both hands could barely wrap around it, walked over while swaying.
After persuading Makarov, he immediately turned his attention toward Kabe.
"Yohoho, little Kabe, long time no see.
How come you haven't come to visit our guild recently?
Jenny and Karen have really been missing you."
The moment Bob said this, Kabe suddenly felt several cold gazes lock onto him.
However, things were not over yet.
Bob waved toward the people behind him with a cheerful smile.
"Speaking of which, what a coincidence.
These two girls also participated in this tournament and successfully passed the preliminary round."
Under Bob's gesture, two beautiful girls, one tall and one small, quickly ran over.
They were none other than his old acquaintances and little admirers, Jenny and Karen.
This time, the killing intent hidden within those cold gazes became impossible to ignore.
It was so intense that Kabe's back even felt a chill.
Still, he could only force himself to act normal and wave at the three.
"Long time no see, President Bob. And Jenny, Karen."
The moment he finished speaking, Jenny shot forward like a cannonball and crashed directly into Kabe's arms.
She buried her face against him and happily acted spoiled.
"Kabe-nii, I missed you so much!!"
'Someone save me... If this continues, I'm going to die!'
Kabe cried out internally.
With a stiff expression, he awkwardly patted Jenny's back.
"I... I missed you too. It's good to see that you're still as beautiful as ever, Jenny."
Creak...
Kabe vaguely heard the sound of something being crushed behind him.
Noticing something was wrong, Karen immediately stopped herself.
Unlike Jenny, she did not jump forward and throw herself into Kabe's arms.