"Greetings, honourable guests, visitors from lands afar, ladies and gentlemen of the audience, my name is 'Rosie Elysiar', this mighty woman beside me is the 'soul records', and today, we shall be your hosts for this glorious event."
Rosie chirped with excessive dramatic flair, waving her arms around with theatrical intent.
"I hereby announce the beginning of the battle of Sun and Moon."
She decreed, leaving the audience in the arena starstruck. They didn't really know what this 'private event' was about, and even now, they still don't. What they were truly shocked about was the appearance of the soul records – well, everyone, other than Quinlan, his wives, and close family.
The Soul Records was an entity known to be completely disassociated from the order of the universe, always speaking to the universe's denizens through a system, never making any public appearances, yet today…
She was out here as one of the hosts of this enigmatic event.
Now they knew, this wasn't a small-scale 'school play' or 'street performance'. What will occur today will change all of their lives for better or for worse.
The holographic woman, the soul records, finally spoke. Her voice carried across the audience like a whisper in the wind; it was sublime.
"I'm sure that Qui-ahem, Lord Primordiality, invited all of you here without an explanation, so you're probably dying to know what this event is about, right?"
Whispers rose among the audience, confusion and excitement evident in their hushed tones.
The soul records continued, "I assume I'm right, so allow me to explain!"
"On this day, you will witness history in the making, the night-shift and day-shift maids who serve Lord Primordiality will battle it out in a series of 'activities' to decide once and for all…"
She paused for a second, then, together with Rosie,
"Who the best maid group is!"
Their voices spread throughout the audience, conjoined, harmonic, excited.
…
Somewhere in the stands, a man with a powerful presence sat idly,
Alexios Valorian, King of nothing
Beside him was his ever loyal subordinate, Stormbringer
"My King," Stormbringer spoke up to Alexios, his voice was quiet and unsure, as though he didn't quite understand what was going on.
"Yes?"
"What… exactly is happening?"
"Stormbringer, are you a fool?"
Alexios' tone was sharp, annoyed. It was evident that Stormbringer was souring his mood, just like always.
With a downcast expression, Stormbringer managed to squeeze out some words of self-motivation "No, my king, but… please, could you tell me what is happening?"
He pleaded. They say ignorance is bliss, but it appears that right now, ignorance is foolish. That is what Alexios thought, at least. "Stormbringer, my trusted confidant, do you know that the Elysiar family has been planning something big recently?"
"...no"
"Do you know that when the Elysiar family does something, it will always be magnificent?"
"...y-yes"
"Do you know not to ask questions when it comes to the Elysiar family?"
Stormbringer's silence explained it all; he was starstruck. Not only was he ignorant, but so was his king,
"Stormbringer…"
Alexios started once more, his tone now warmer and carrying a hint of reminiscence.
"For a long time now, I have stopped questioning, I have stopped trying to figure out the puzzle which is the enigmatic complexity known as 'The Elysiar family'."
"I have stopped trying to understand…."
"And my lack of understanding, Stormbringer, has made me…"
"A better, stronger person."
"A word of advice, my loyal attendant, when things involve the Elysiar family…"
"Stay dumb."
...
Back on the main stage, The Soul Records' beautiful voice resounded throughout the arena,
"Now then, all competitions have competitors, so allow us to introduce our competitors!"
Rosie picked up where she left off,
"Let's start with the day-shift maids, come on out!"
One by one, eight figures appeared on an elevated platform in the center of the arena; these were the day shift maids.
There were Anna and Beatrice, the women Quinlan picked up from the dungeon and saved from imminent prostitution. Following them was Emily and Dorothy, they, too, were saved by Quinlan from the house of corrupt nobles, Emily being saved twice, the first time being from the goblin den. After them came Cecile and Ilde, these women were the first people Quinlan had met in Thalorind, a mother and daughter pair who he saved initially from the goblin den, then -similarly to Emily and Dorothy, from the corrupt nobles. Finally, Eira and Clarisse, women who Quinlan met at an auction, Eira being a young girl who was bought by the Greenvale twins and then saved by Quinlan, and Clarisse, a maid trainer who wouldn't corrupt young girls into being sex slaves.
All of these women were dressed in impeccable black and white maid dresses, their hair tied back in ponytails, their statures firm. They were ready.
"Team day-shift maids, consisting of Anna, Beatrice, Emily, Dorothy, Cecile, Ilde, Eira, and lastly, Clarisse. Can we give them a round of applause!"
Rosie's voice boomed throughout the arena, as she called the maids' names out, the corresponding maid came out and bowed lightly.
As Rosie finished off her sentence, the members of the audience sat in the arena, stood and clapped, albeit awkwardly, but nevertheless, their clapping echoed across the arena like drums in a march.
Then, the soul records took over, introducing the next group with bubbling excitement. "Now, let us introduce, Team night-shift maids!"
A short moment later, a new group of maids appeared, all of them looked…
not human, almost dead?
That's because they are dead, the souls of Quinlan Elysiar. Once foes turned servants, the translucent blue figures emerged one by one, starting with Eve, former protector of the Greenvale twins, who was slain by Quinlan and turned into his first ever elite soul, a massive stepping stone in his journey. Second came Scar, a former adventurer of the Scarlet Lillies adamantine adventurer party, slain in close-quarters aerial combat. Next was Nozomi, a former mage of the Fujimori clan who was turned into a soul from Quinlans expansive culling, in truth, she wasn't anyone formerly worth mentioning, yet over the years, she has grown and become one of Quinlans 'Most Valued Subordinates'. The same can be said for another victim of Quinlan's culling, who also happens to be the fourth and final night-shift maid, Yumiko, an archer of the Fujimori clan, once an irrelevant figure in Quinlan's expansive army of subordinates, now a worthy soul, comparable to the likes of the rest of her peers.[1]
Even though they were souls, they still wore clothes, so as they appeared, you would see each one of them dressed in flexible combat suits which kept the resemblance of a traditional maid uniform.
Furthermore, there were only half as many night-shift maids as day-shift maids, but does it matter? A maid's job is to be efficient, reliable, and attentive. As long as they could do that, then do numbers really matter?
A wise man once said, Quality over Quantity.
"Introducing the night-shift maids, consisting of Eve, Scar, Nozomi, and Yumiko. WOOO! Give it up for the night-shift maid!" The soul Records shouted out with excitement, which also seemed to slowly roll onto the audience members of the arena who once again stood and clapped for the maids.
…
An Eternity Later
…
A short while later, the center of the arena has changed. You could see two long tables, each table was filled with the two teams of maids separately, all of which were sat on one side. The side that directly faced Quinlan Elysiar and his family. Behind them were some press walls, filled with several unknown logos. The most prominent logo being a red infinity sign.
Facing towards the two maid teams were Rosie and the Soul Records. They each sat on a small table next to each other. All of the women had a built-in microphone installed in front of them, on their tables.
The scene was awfully similar to a…
press conference?
As the ladies got settled in, Rosie spoke into her microphone,
"Ahem. Testing, testing, alright. Now then, I'm sure your all excited to know what's really going on here right? The brief explanation earlier didn't give you the best understanding of 'the battle of Sun and Moon', right?"
Whispers of agreement rose in the audience. The Soul Records picked up after Rosie. "Well, this battle is a series of three rounds of activities, all of which activities being something a maid would do in their day-to-day life. Between each round, there will be a short intermission period for our esteemed maids to go and rest in preparation for the next round."
"mhm, mhm..."
Rosie nodded, then carried off, "Also, a competition should always have a prize, right? And this one is no different! The prize for the winning team of this competition will be…"
Then, in unison, both the Soul Records and Rosie spoke,
"An essence of
As they finished, they both turned to look at Quinlan, who was smiling jovially, clearly happy with how his event was going so far.
But the audience, the audience went mad at the hosts' declaration,
"True law??"
"He's giving away true law?!"
"That's… t-thats insane!"
Nobody could believe that Quinlan was giving something as valuable as that away as a prize for this competition, but they weren't given time to believe, as Rosie continued like nothing happened,
"I'm sure you're wondering, what's up with this getup? Well, that is because we will be having a pre-tournament press conference. This is a chance for the members of the audience to send in questions to ask maids!"
The soul records chimed in, "You may decide to ask a question to a specific maid, or you may ask a question to any and one of the maids and one will volunteer to answer. When asking a question, you must specify which team you are asking as well. You have five minutes to write one question each. Begin!"
Just as she finished off her words, a rotating holographic timer appeared in the air in the center of the arena, counting down from five minutes, simultaneously, a tablet appeared in the hands of each audience member. There was an input box on each tablet, ready for a question.
The audience is slowly getting hyped, and the day is just beginning; it seems the event is finally getting started!
+~~~+
End of chapter 2
[1] In chapter 1148, it is mentioned that Quinlan absorbed the elite soul of a fujimori archer. because not all the elite souls have names, i decided to name this elite soul and make her a part of this story, if anyone is still confused - this character is created by me and is NOT in the original story. no named Fujimori archer - given name "Yumiko" - an archer with serene grip - chapter 1148