Beastmen Love-Chapter 194: The Guards’ Tournament - Part 1

In the morning, Astri woke up right before sunrise to breastfeed Aurora, but fell asleep again after. Claud takes Aurora when he notices Astri falling back asleep and then goes put her in her nest with Albus, who was steel asleep. All of them make breakfast wanting to make it more special for Astri, but they even put flowers on the table and make the table beautiful for her.

Astri wakes up with Kangki passing his fingers on her cheek.

"Sleeping beauty? Time to wake up." He whispers.

"Just a little more. Aurora woke me up too much this night." She complains. frёewebηovel.cѳm

"I know, but the time for the tournament is almost coming. We need to prepare. Or we can cancel it, if you want. I care more about you than this tournament."

"No.. It would be horrible of me to do that. The tribes are waiting for this for so long." She yawns, then sits down, stretching. "I hope I don’t sleep watching the duels. It would be equally bad."

"What is bad is how badly I want you this morning. But I will have to hold myself and not tire you anymore." He says, watching her stretch and curving her body.

She chuckles, passing her hands on her face to wake her up.

"Thank you. I don’t think I would handle even a quickie right now."

She prepares herself, choosing her clothes and styling her hair a bit. When she gets outside, her husbands greet her, saying how beautiful she looks that morning and giving her kisses and hugs. Their children are relieved to see their parents happy again.

Astri thinks that what they’re doing is so cute. She’s happy they’re finding their way to happiness. She can’t deny that she’s worried about getting more spouses? Can she handle things? Will they handle things? What she could see was that Xzan and Dante helped them notice something they would take way longer to notice. Probably, they would take years to notice.

She decides to let things flow naturally. It’s useless getting worried about that. Besides, even though she came to that world with an idea of something, it doesn’t mean it won’t change, even more after feeling on her skin that she loves all her spouses like they were one. It’s not a pervert feeling, even less a feeling of survival or lust. She knows that everything she feels is genuine.

They walk out of the castle and meet with Galion, the other guards, Xzan, and Dante. Xzan and Dante lost their breath a little when they saw Astri. She looks stunning in those long white and yellow silk clothes. A true Goddess in their eyes.

Yuki is wearing similar clothing and is walking, holding Astri’s hand. All of them are wearing better clothes since they will be seen together by all tribes. Elias, Kai, and Hopin walk near their fathers.

"Are we ready, Galion, my brother? Good morning!" Astri asks.

"I am not." He answers.

"Aw.. Are you nervous? We’re here with you."

"No. I’m not nervous. I just didn’t want to do this."

"You will enjoy in the end. Believe me. All of you will end up learning a thing or two watching those duels."

As they walk through the tribes, they see that there’s no one on the streets anymore. They discover that all tribes are in the stadium, showing how much everyone was waiting for this tournament.

When they arrive, people had to open space for them to pass through. Shung and Yank were waiting at the throne area, meant for the Leaders and Astri’s family too.

Astri sits on her throne, then puts Yuki and Atlas on her lap, showing how beautiful its carvings are.

The females are on the front line to watch the duels. Astri spots Ana and Fraz, then waves at them with Yuki and Atlas. They wave back in response. The participants of the tournament are waiting next to the duel platform.

The platform is a work of art itself, because it’s huge and Cyprian can stand on that platform in his beast form easily. Galion goes up the platform to make the pronunciation of the tournament’s beginning.

"United Tribes, good morning. Today we will have the Guards’ Tournament. The tournament will be divided into two categories. The first category is of beastmen from 2 to 5 marks, and the second category is from 5 to 8 marks. There so two new guards will be winning the tournament today." Galion says loud and clear, making the participants smile happily and more hopeful to win. "Contestants from each category won’t be facing each other. The tournament will have four stages. First duels, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final. The ones who win all duels from each stage will win the tournament. It’s up to the contestants to think about their strategies to win. Excuses such as ’It’s not fair because when I faced the next duel, I was tired from the first one’ won’t be accepted, and I’ll remove the participant from the tournament for the reason that they’re showing they’re not fit to be a guard of Lady Astri. I must remind you that this role is not for those who are in search of fame or have more than others in the tribes. Neither is an easier path to become Lady Astri’s spouse. The guards accepted this role knowing they might never find a female, because of this role’s importance. Lady Astri is the last of her kind and is also the Nature in form. We’re simply protecting the most important being in this whole world. And also two kinds that are also the rarest ever known: Unicorn and Quimera. If you’re joining this competition for the wrong reasons, I ask you to leave now." No one moved away after his last announcement. "Now let’s go to the rules. Pay attention to it because if you do not follow them, you will be disqualified, in other words, you will lose."

Galion pulls a parchment and reads:

"The duels will be held on the platform. Who can knock out, make the opponent step outside the platform, even if it’s on a tree nearby, or give up, will win the duel. Killing is forbidden; those who don’t follow this rule will not only be disqualified, but will also face the Leaders’ of the tribes judgment for killing a member for a trivial reason. If someone else interrupts a duel physically, the fight will be paused, and if a contestant is helped by outsiders somehow, they will be disqualified. Females are forbidden to offer themselves or talk to the participants during the tournament. Disqualification will consequently give the victory to the other opponent. Shifting is allowed, but if your shifted form is too big and by accident you touch outside the platform, you will be disqualified. And, as you all know, winning every duel is decisive in selecting the champions. Champions are the winners of the tournament."

Everyone heard carefully what Galion announced. He closes the parchment when he’s done.

"The duels are already organized and selected randomly. It was organized without the objective of favoring anyone. The names I will call will come up to the platform and will start the duel on my call. Understood?" Galion says.

The participants nod.

"Galion?" Galion hears Astri.

He looks back at her, and she stands up, putting Yuki and Atlas in her seat.

"May I give a word?" She asks.

".. Of course, milady." Galion answers.

Astri goes to the platform and stands next to Galion.

"Good morning, everyone. I wanted to say some things to you before this tournament begins. Yesterday I had the pleasure of walking around the city and seeing with my own eyes how much you’ve grown. How peaceful our tribe is. I couldn’t be happier. Some might think: Who does this female think she is to have a tournament just to become her guard?" She says, and chuckles. "I might have helped my spouses to grow these tribes, but you’re the one who accepted to grow like this. If you didn’t accept it, there wouldn’t be anything anyone could do to change the outcome. Everything is peaceful because of you. It’s your everyday deeds that make everything grow better and stronger. I’m just a symbol; if it weren’t for you, none of this would be possible to achieve. So I want to say thank you for trusting my spouses, your leaders, and Nature." She says, then bows her head to everyone in a sign of respect and appreciation, impressing everyone.

Now she looks to the contestants and smiles.

"And I must say thank you to you, too. You’re here because you decided to protect not only me, but this peace we’re living." She says, and they smile proudly. "I wish you all the best of luck. And remember that there are no losers. If you don’t win, you’re not weak or less valuable. You’re still great and mighty. Don’t let a loss say that you’re not worthy, it’s just a deviation on the road that you will soon find the best path." She says, and they nod appreciating her words.

Astri bows to them, too, and then she starts to walk back to her seat, but she is surprised by applause and cheering. She smiles and thanks them again before going to sit back.

Astri knows exactly what people need to hear and what people need to understand, and that made her spouses proud to be on her side. Astri’s the soft, reassuring wing people need when facing a challenging situation.