Black Online-Chapter 183: The Sun Festival

"Whoo..."

Fang Raon sat on the front steps of the massive mansion and breathed out cold air, which created a cloud of mist in front of him.

It was freezing.

However.

Luckily, he didn’t have to deal with this freezing cold weather much longer, as today was finally the day.

He was going to head over to the 6th floor for the General’s Game tournament.

"Are you ready to go?"

In that moment, Rock walked out from the inside of the mansion, and he was carrying two Tower Pearls in hand.

He gave one of them to Fang Raon.

"Yep."

Fang Raon said.

"Della and others have already gone to the 6th floor. They have other business to attend to there. We will go straight away to register ourselves for the tournament."

Rock said.

"Okay."

In that moment, they activated the Tower Pearls, and they disappeared from the cold 15th floor of the tower.

...

Swoosh!

Rock and Fang Raon appeared at the spawn point of the 6th floor, and they quickly changed clothes.

Changed out of the winter clothes and put on their breezy beach clothes, which everyone else was also wearing.

’I didn’t think I would be back so soon.’

Fang Raon thought with a deep sigh.

He had good memories about the 6th floor, and it was definitely one of his favorite floors in the entire tower—maybe the most favorite.

"We’re going to head over to St. Bella Village. It’s basically a little gated community in here, but that’s where the tournament is going to be held.

"All participants will be staying in that ’village,’ so we will do the same."

Rock said.

Fang Raon nodded.

With their sandals clicking against the pavement, they started making their way towards the village together.

It looked like the locals of the city were preparing for something, as they were putting up banners and decorations.

There were also a lot of beer barrels being delivered over to taverns, pubs, and bars, which indicated that a big event was approaching.

"What’s going on over here?"

Fang Raon asked curiously.

"The Sun Festival is approaching. It’ll be happening during the General’s Game tournament, and it’s expected to draw people from all around the tower."

Rock said.

"That sounds interesting. Will we be taking part in that?"

Fang Raon asked curiously.

"Sure, as long as you don’t drink till you pass out."

Rock said.

With his interest piqued, Fang Raon looked around the streets and saw that there were a lot of deliveries going to stores and such.

It was as if the locals were expecting a huge rush of customers, and they had good reason to expect that.

This wasn’t the first Sun Festival, and it definitely wasn’t going to be the last either. It happened once a year, after all.

"...Hey, that’s dangerous!"

A local shouted to his friend.

His friend was balancing on the roof, trying to hang the decorations from the top, but the roof was very tilted.

It was also quite slippery since it rained just yesterday.

"I’ll be fine!"

His friend shouted drunkenly.

It was early in the morning, but his friend still found some time to start drinking and, thus, was already quite intoxicated.

As his friend reached out to hang the decoration, he suddenly lost his balance and started falling forward.

"Ahhhh!"

Everyone turned their heads towards the falling man.

"Bouncy Ground!"

At that moment, the local summoned his grimoire and made the hard-looking ground into a soft, bouncy surface.

His friend landed on it and harmlessly bounced back to his feet.

"Hah... Hah... Hah..."

"What did I tell you, you fucking moron?"

The local pulled his friend’s ear, and he screamed in pain and begged for forgiveness.

Watching the whole scene, Fang Raon looked really surprised, and he looked at Rock.

"That local was using magic."

"Yeah, so?"

Rock picked his nose and acted like it was nothing surprising, and nobody else in the street also seemed that shocked.

"...I suppose that isn’t as uncommon as I thought."

Fang Raon said with a wry smile.

"You thought that locals were a bunch of weak, defenseless babies? They receive their power in a different way from us.

"Not all locals can use magic. Only those who were born with mana. There are also some local non-magic users that are as strong as Divine Rankers.

"Never underestimate locals. You’ll never know when you come across a hidden powerhouse that’ll kill you in a blink of an eye."

Rock said with a serious look.

He has had his fair share of bad experiences with locals, and he learned pretty quickly to not underestimate them.

They kept walking, and soon enough, they were nearing their destination as Rock seemed to recognize the place.

While walking down a sidewalk, they noticed that it wasn’t any longer buildings that were beside the sidewalk.

Instead, it was a rock wall. Five meters tall. And trees and buildings peeked out from behind the walls.

These rock walls were surrounding something.

"These walls..."

Rock said as he traced his hand across a rock wall.

They kept walking and soon arrived at the gate that marked the entrance to St. Bella Village—these rock walls were the only thing separating the village from the outside world.

Players were entering a little shack beside the gate, and when they stepped out, they entered the village.

"Come on."

Rock said.

Fang Raon followed behind him into the shack and saw some brown-haired lady behind a desk, and she was noting something down in a large book.

"We’d like to register for the Amateur League."

Rock said.

"Names."

The lady said.

"Rock Rose and Fang Raon."

Rock said.

Finally, the lady raised her head from the large book and looked at the slightly older man and at the young man.

"It’s been a while since the last time you visited, Rock. Lady Diana has been missing you. I think she will be pleased to see you."

The lady said.

"Mm."

Rock nodded without engaging in any meaningful conversation, and the lady wrote down their names in the book.

She then took out two keys and handed them to them.

"These are your keys for your rooms for the duration of the tournament. We expect you to deliver them back once the tournament is over.

"We will know if you don’t."

The lady said.

After bidding their farewells, Rock and Fang Raon left the shack and entered the village through the gates.

The village was nice. It had many summer cottages, where the competitors would stay. It had a lot of greenery, as if it had been untouched by modern development.

Alongside all that, to scare away the warm weather that was scorching down, there were some swimming pools to cool off in.

When they walked deeper into the village, they saw shirtless players lounging around swimming pools and bikini-wearing women sunbathing on lounge chairs.

It was like they were here for a holiday and not for the tournament.

"Who is Lady Diana?"

Fang Raon asked.

"The lady of this village. She owns all of this. She is one of the richest players in the game, and also, she is the host of the tournament." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Rock said.

"...How do you know her?"

Fang Raon asked curiously.

"I happened to meet her during the early days of Black Online. Surrounded by younglings, we stood out as one of the oldest ones.

"So, we got along well."

Rock said.

"Hmm~"

Fang Raon hummed knowingly.

"...What?"

Rock frowned as he felt like Fang Raon was misunderstanding something, as he was smiling annoyingly.

"Nothing... Nothing at all."

Fang Raon whistled innocently.

"What? You piece of shit, what is it?"

Rock gritted his teeth.

"It’s nothing, really. She misses you a lot, huh? Interesting, that’s all."

Fang Raon said.

In that moment, Rock pulled Fang Raon’s hair and almost ripped the hair straight off his scalp.

"Alright, I am sorry!"

Fang Raon laughed and surrendered, and Rock finally let go of him, puffing in anger—almost red-faced.

’Was just joking, but sheesh.’

Fang Raon scratched the back of his head.

In that moment, a bikini-wearing girl walked past them—shaking her hips—and she smiled at Fang Raon and softly said, "Hi," before continuing walking off.

"..."

Fang Raon followed after her with his eyes, let out a deep sigh, and turned back to the front.

’This place is indeed quite crazy. I’ve been blind since forever, and I never thought the so-called swimsuits were so revealing. That’s crazy.’

He thought.

In that moment, they arrived at their very own cottage—they happened to be staying at the same cottage for their stay.

The cottages had a porch. Very nice-sized interior with a proper kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms.

"Will Della and the rest join us here?"

Fang Raon asked as he sat down on the porch, put his feet on the tabletop, and enjoyed the fresh wind.

"No. They will be on a recruiting mission. We will probably see them during the Sun Festival."

Rock said, and he then slipped the key into the lock of the door and entered the cottage.

"When will our first tournament match be?"

He shouted so that Rock, who was already reserving his own bedroom, could hear him even from over there.

"Tomorrow!"

Rock shouted back.