Reincarnated With The Van Helsing System
Chapter 374 Selection & Calm Tri-Lake Forest (Part 2)

Since the crowd was still quite noisy in this area, Daimon guided the girls to the seats for the members of the young generation, along the way he observed that there were participants he has never seen before, probably from the families subordinated to the Minister of Development.

And of course it didn't escape his eyes, that some of the teammates of both the first prince and Ezequiel were new.

'What free spots, you bastards already got reinforcements from that old Minister', he thought.

Normally Daimon wouldn't have gone to the seats, since they were next to each other, and judging by Tessa's gaze, it was obvious she had some questions to ask, but since he was the champion, the distribution was made so a whole row of seats was separated from the rest, and reserved just for his team, pretty much a way to recognize the winner, though Daimon knew this wasn't prepared for him.

"We have some time, if you want to ask something now is the moment, also don't worry about our "secret", everyone is this group is aware of it".

Tessa softy laughed before saying.

"Well, in that case I would like to start by asking why are you using a disguise, Daimon?", she asked.

Daimon chuckled, this was also why he chose to bring these two to his team, back then at the first layer of Neptune he met them with his real appearance, so it should have been impossible for them to know Gabriel is Daimon.

Especially considering the fact that he previously only showed himself as a mage, he didn't even use Demon Light when he clashed with Adam and Marcus, just darkness element and Gram, though he induced light mana into Gram, if asked it could easily be attributed to Gram, since it has the ability to convert any energy into light anyway.

Aisha and the sisters were also disguised when Tessa and Femi saw them back at the beginning of the beast hunt, and as Gabriel he has only used battle aura in public, his firm of energy, realm, cultivation and overall aura is completely different as Gabriel and yet back then he noticed these two somehow recognized him.

"I should be the one asking regarding that, you two wouldn't have joined my team if you didn't know it was me from the very beginning, so how did you recognize me, I have some confidence in my disguising abilities you know".

This time it was the dwarf princess the one who answered.

"Don't underestimate us… is what I would like to say, but honestly we only did it, because of that characteristic smirk of yours, well more accurately it was Tess the one who recognized it", she said as she shrugged.

Daimon bitterly smiled, he got caught due to this bad habit of his.

'I guess, I'll wear a mask that covers my whole face later', he thought before saying.

"So, how do you suggest we deal with this, as you can imagine this is a secret I want to keep, so it will be troublesome for me if you were to talk".

Tessa and Femi didn't notice it earlier, but they were surrounded, they unconsciously sat next to Daimon and didn't pay attention to who was sitting at the other side, which is Aisha, but for them it's the one among the group of which they can feel the most threat, besides Daimon, they were now trapped between the sword and the wall so to speak.

Tessa slightly shook her head in response.

"Yeah, I don't want to die yet, so we can include silence regarding this matter in the contract, will that be enough?", she asked.

She has once dealt with Daimon, and though overbearing he isn't unreasonable, back then he could have killed them all if he wanted to, the girl from the Penddra family attacked first, so it would have been justified, but he didn't.

Out of all the horrible outcomes she imagined for them after that woman screwing up things on her own, she was only asked to become a guide, they weren't even mistreated and instead their integrity was respected, something rare to replace, in other words, for her Daimon can be considered a decent guy.

Daimon nodded, that's why he chose these two to join them, they were pretty easy going, though it's not like they had a choice, since if they refused he could just silence them, he had the support to do so.

Tessa let out a sigh of relief, one can never be too cautious, she and Femi accepted because Daimon mentioned he will grant them protection, meaning that he wasn't going to kill them, as to why they believed him, they just knew it, alfear are pretty sensible in which understanding others regards after all.

"We can leave the other subjects for later, this thing is about to start, but we won't be participating right away, so we'll have a more private place to talk", said Daimon, he saw that the last seats were finally occupied and it was the king the one who arrived last, so things were about to start.

"Mm", Tessa and Femi nodded and then everyone's attention was drawn at the podium where a portal suddenly appeared, an old man that seemed to be in the same range of age of Vincent, came out of it.

But the newcomer was completely the opposite of the Trident Marshals, who though retired hasn't softened in training so his battle skills don't rust, the Minister was a tall but slim man, who exuded the aura of an experienced erudite.

The old man approached the podium and then amplified his voice.

"Esteemed guests from the Elemental Sea, his majesty and highnesses as well as the heroes from the young generation, let me first welcome you to this Arc city and to the Three-Art Tournament, held by my Arcarius family!", said the old man with an enthusiastic voice.

The crowd clapped, the especially those who were subordinated to the Minister, who then looked at the king, following the tradition, Triten raised his hand and the sounds stopped.

"Thanks for such welcoming words, Minister Raymond".

With those words, the Minister had the greenlight to continue, with his speech.

"Since this time we have guests from another sea for the first time, I'll personally explain the rules of my tournament, but first let's change the location and don't worry, my most trusted guards have been inspecting the area daily, to assure the participants safety, not to mention we will be personally supervising the event".

Having said that, the Minister snapped his fingers and a large portal opened next to him.

"Now please follow the order in which your seats were prepared and enter this portal, which will lead us to the Calm Tri-Lake Forest".

Starting from the royals which included Annete, and the higher ranked people like Vincent, Aurora, the general of the neo nobles, the Blackfin Duke, the patriarchs of the Elemental Sea as well as some people Daimon didn't recognize, everyone went through the portal.

It didn't escape Daimon's eyes that Thea, Karmandi and Lina weren't included, and left for later.

'Petty tricks', he thought.

Anyway once the members of the old generations were gone, it was time for the participants, and Daimon's group was the first one on the list, so they stood up and walked towards the portal, along the way Daimon noticed the hatred filled expression of Ezequiel, since Tessa and Femi were walking next to him, as well as the neutral but still sharp gaze of the crowned prince.

Then to everyone's surprise, Daimon didn't enter the portal and instead walked towards the where the Black Empress was sitting, before saying.

"Miss Thea, since the promptness of your visit, seems to have taken the Minister by surprise, to the point that your seat was placed so far from those with a similar status, I can assume you weren't assigned a good spot to enjoy the coming matches, I happened to have been assigned the champion's skybox which is quite spacious, as it is normally used by the royal family, it would be an honor if you accompany us, it's fine right Senior Raymond, after all I have heard that others can stay with the champion as an exception?", said Daimon as he gazed at the Minister, who had a dead serious expression.

'This brat…', thought the Minister, but he had no choice but to smile and answer.

"Yes, little friend is right, my subordinates had a rough time since the previous incident, so they seem to have had mixed the seats, you can dispose of the skybox as you see fit".

Daimon inwardly snorted at the upright expression of the Minister, since he is a supporter of the royal family, it's normal for him to despise Thea, but he can only play these underhanded tricks, and not openly mess with her, or his image will be stained.

That being said, never in a million years, he imagined a member of the young generation would directly go against him like this, on the other hand he heard that this time's champion, seems to have been taken under the wing of the Black Empress, so he attributed this feat to her.

Thea smiled and then got from her seat.

"Sure, this Empress will accompany general Gabriel, and cheer up for his victory", she said as she glared at the Minister.

The other participants were in awe at Thea calling Daimon "general", normally they wouldn't know about Thea, but since it's the first time a magic beast from the Maelstrom Sea, has been accepted as a guest of the kingdom, she was a hot topic, so at this point it's known by the nobles that she is Daimon's backer.

Without saying anything else or even looking at the Minister again, Daimon and the others entered through the portal, and a few seconds later appeared in a different place, the change in scenery was quite remarkable.

From the modern Arc city, to a natural landscape, Daimon fell the gazes of the nobles that are subordinated to the Minister falling on him, probably because Thea was accompanying him, and they knew it shouldn't be the case, but they could only swallow it and remain silent, since the Minister didn't stop them.

"That's our skybox", said Daimon as he pointed at the place that was assigned to him, the Calm Tri-Lake Forest, as its name states is a forestall zone, in which's center there are three lakes of different colors and characteristics.

Since it's a protected land, the only buildings allowed are those prepared by the Minister for the tournament, which consist in some stadium bleachers surrounding the center of the forest, so that the spectators can enjoy the matches, platforms floating in the middle of the three lakes and the skyboxes for the VIP's.

Daimon's gaze met with Annete's and he nodded at her, before his group went into the skybox, back when he was declared the winner of the beast hunt, Vincent gave him a medal, which worked as the key, he just showed it and the door opened for them.

"As expected of something prepared for the royals, it's quite luxurious" mumbled Daimon.

Besides the large space inside the skybox, there were individual seats, a couch, a table with pretty good-looking food, a private bathroom and even a bar, not to mention the view from up here was incredible.

There were also three mirror plates that would allow them to see the matches in a more detailed way, it was quite something.

Once the rest of the participants went through the portal, the Minister followed them and then flew to the center of the three lakes.

"Now that we are all here, I will explain the rules for the sake of our guests, everyone please enjoy the commodities offered by my Arcarius family in the meanwhile, also for safety reasons only certain people is allowed to use any communication devices, so bear that in mind".