"Let's go meet up with the other judges first. I wonder if the meeting has started yet?" Falina muttered softly.
Angel caught one word. "A meeting? What meeting?"
"There seemed to be a meeting to quantify the standards for determining victory and defeat—a standardized discussion on how to weigh the outcomes of all sorts of situations that might arise in the arena." Falina paused, then added, "But for us, it hardly matters whether we attend or not."
"After all, unless something unusual happens, special-appointed judges rarely intervene in deciding the winner." With that, Falina winked at Angel. "We only need to sit off to the side, drink tea, ponder alchemy, and the match will be over."
Angel: "..." So he was not the only one planning to coast for points.
As soon as Falina finished speaking, she contacted someone through her communicator. From the light-and-shadow projection emerging from it, the other party appeared to be a middle-aged woman with harsh, sharp features.
Falina spoke with her for a while, then shut off the communicator and explained to Angel, "She's Witch Batina, a close friend of mine and also a judge for this New Star Tournament. But she isn't a special-appointed judge—she's a resident judge."
"I was originally still wondering whether I should attend that meeting about judging standards. Now there's no need to think about it, because Batina told me the meeting ended nearly half an hour ago."
Angel looked apologetic. "I arrived late."
"It doesn't matter. I was leaning toward not attending anyway, but out of consideration for appearances, I was still hesitating." Falina shrugged. "By being late for a while, you actually made the ideal choice for me."
They continued forward. Since the audience had already gone to the Boundless Arena, there were not many people outside.
They