(The scene begins with a wide overview of the festival and the capital before it focuses on the duo as a large shout is heard)
"HUH!!!, how da heck did I get teamed up with such a weakling like you?" Ra'ell shouts with a disappointed expression.
"What do you mean 'weakling'?, I'm pretty sure I'm stronger than you." The long-eared man says while he unravels the info scroll handed to them.
"Alright then, let's see your tier." Ra'ell says as he takes a look at the scroll to see,
Ra'ell the Bladed Beast : Tier - 7, Class - Body, Branch - Awakening.
Itally Roma the Acoustic Master : Tier - 5, Class - Arcane (Materialistic), Branch - Unorthodox.
"Haa!, you're two tiers below me. I told ya you were weak." Ra'ell said with a chuckle.
"I know I'm pretty inept at sensing the energy readings of others, but to think that, he's two tiers above me, uhhh." Itally sighs as he thought to himself.
"Anyways we're teammates now so we've got to work together if we plan on winning, I say we start moving from tomorrow while the rest wait for the 3 day long festival to end, and go to Valmorra as they have a history of giving low tier and easy missions, so it's a good starting point." Itally said as he held out a map.
"Why not now? If we move now, we'll be far ahead of others, allowing us to pick missions that are favorable for us." Ra'ell said.
"You're right, I didn't think about it like that. That way, we have free choice over what missions we take instead of working with what is left, as those tend to be harder missions." Itally replied.
"Yeah, especially since there are teams far stronger than us, we need any advantage we can take." Ra'ell said with a disappointed look while staring at Itally.
"Okay, it's settled then, we move in an hour's time." Itally said while storing the documents in a bag on his shoulder, a lute can be seen inside his bag.
Suddenly a whistle is heard from behind Ra'ell, as he turns back to see the alluring man from yesterday, "Tons of coincidences today, the name's Midorima the people's man, nice to see you two getting along." He says with an outstretched hand, Ra'ell reluctantly shakes his hand.
"I would like to apologize on behalf of my teammate, Noelle, for what happened yesterday." He continues as he points the elfae behind him.
"Whatever, I don't care anymore." Ra'ell replies.
"I heard you're planning on starting your journey today to get a headstart, that is a pretty good idea, although we will be staying to enjoy the festival for a little longer as we are not as weak as you." Midorima said as if to make jest of them.
"Huh, what do you mean by that?" Ra'ell asks with a harsh tone.
"Oh my, it's so easy to get you all rattled up. Noelle, here is a Tier 4 water elemental." He says as he gestures to her, who is nervously holding onto her wand,
He continues by saying with a chuckle in his voice, "And me, oh that's a secret, but I'll leave you with this, I'm Tier 11."
"Tier 11! That means you have passed the first threshold." Itally remarked.
"You seem very knowledgeable on this matter. How about you explain for those who aren't?" Midorima says as he looks at Ra'ell, who is visibly confused.
"Soon after coming into power, the King of Unity brought about a way for people to recognize the strength of friends and foes alike, the Tier grading system, all are ranked by strength from 1 up to 20, with 1 being used to classify average unawakened civilians and 20 for colossal beasts of mass destruction as well as highly powerful and legendary figures, for example Lady Edalyn the strongest of the High Guard is Tier 20 and Lord Thrain, the weakest is Tier 17."
Ra'ell then interrupts, saying, "So that means she would win any fight between them."
Itally continues, "Not really, as Tiers are not the be-all-end-all in a fight, it's just meant to give an idea of how strong oneself and their opponent is relative to each other, things like strategy, experience, circumstances, and effectiveness can affect the outcome of a battle."
Midorima begins to clap as he speaks, "Well said, Itally, you must have attended a very exquisite institution."
Itally responds weirdly, "No, not really, just a lot of books, haha."
Midorima speaks with a surprised face, "Oh, could have fooled me, but you didn't seem to mention anything about Tier 21."
Itally, with a puzzled expression, asks, "A tier above 20, I have never heard of such, please enlighten me."
Midorima responds as he adjusts his garment, "The King being ever so wise, decided to involve the Gods in his ranking, and assigned them all to Tier 21, as well as any theoretical person who can ascend to such heights, but it doesn't follow the 4 to 1 rule like the other tiers, it basically a tier separated from the others, thus it's secrecy."
Ra'ell excuses himself to ask a question, "What is this 4 to 1 rule?"
Itally decides to answer his question, "I'll explain it in a way even a kid would understand, the 4 to 1 rule is basically a rule of thumb that states, it takes 4 warriors of the same tier to beat an opponent of the immediate next tier, 4 tier 1 combatants are necessary to beat a tier 2 in a closed environment free from any external factors, and so on, 4 to 1, you get it?."
Ra'ell nods in response Midorima then speaks up, "Seems team 18 has a good head on its shoulders, anyways, we'll be going now, good luck on your quest, team 4 will be seeing you later, Noelle say goodbye to our friends here."
She musters up the courage to greet them, " Uh... uh..., good luck, and goodbye."
They all wave goodbye to each other as they all go their separate ways, as Midorima walks away he thinks, "Oh Itally, never did explain the thresholds, o well, I'm sure Ra'ell will find out eventually." He then puts his arm around Noelle shoulders as they walk into the crowd.
"Now that that's over, let's get going to the gate and get a carriage to Valmorra, as the Roc transporters were only for our coming, not our going." Itally said as he points towards the gate in the distance.
A few minutes later
Upon reaching the gate, the duo sees an elderly couple standing in front of a carriage just outside the gate of the capital, "Young contestants, may you please help us?" Said the elderly man when his wife interrupts him, saying, "Wailmert, how could you just assume they're contestants, just because they are two young'uns walking together, doesn't mean their contestants, maybe they're like that".
"Hell no, we are not and will never be like that, WE ARE CONTESTANTS, what could we do for you?" Ra'ell declares with him and Itally both wearing an embarrassed look on their faces.
"Ah, you see, we buy goods from the festival sellers and resell them back in Valmorra for profit to those who can't afford to come here themselves, normally it wouldn't be much of a hustle if not for our age, and our grandchild who is in our care." The old man said as he pointed inside the carriage, and a young child is seen playing with some toys next to a bunch of boxes.
"Could you please escort us to Dawnsreach in We don't have much on us right now, but we can assure you the mayor's vote." said the old woman.
"Truly so many coincidences today, we to are headed to Valmorra, so we would definitely escort you all, right Ra'ell?" Itally replied with a polite tone as he faced his teammate.
"What ya looking at me for? Of course, we're escorting them. It's the most logical approach. Stop acting like ya need my permission to do stuff." Ra'ell responds, still flustered from earlier.
"Thank you two so much, and sorry for earlier, we will be departing a few minutes' time. How about you get comfortable inside and get to meet our grandkid." The old couple said in unison.
The young girl of a complexion similar to Ra'ell, black short locks of hair and a cat-like demeanor, looks at the two men who are about to enter the carriage greets them, "Hey there, the name's Fyllu, I'm gonna become the Queen of pirates, believe it, and welcome aboard my ship." She says with a bright wide smile and an outstretched hand.
A burst of laughter is heard from the four as they get in the carriage and head off on their journey. The scene then shifts to show the carriage moving along a long road as it leaves the capital and heads towards the horizon.