Chapter 97 - I Understand You, Because I Was Also Your Age Once Upon a Time
Chapter 97: I Understand You, Because I Was Also Your Age Once Upon a Time
Looks like Giles and Annie aren’t ordinary friends…
As she looked at Annie’s shy expression, which seemed to suggest that she was a girl in love, realisation dawned on Hash.
Annie clearly liked Giles, and perhaps Giles had chosen to turn down this ability evaluation because he had some feelings for Annie.
If that was the case, then the violation that Giles had made previously and his calm and indifferent attitude when he heard about the punishment issued by the Beast Tamer Association’s Headquarters made sense!
As Giles had only accepted challenges from Beast Tamers a few times previously, after watching the recording of the matches that Giles had participated in for the Beast-taming Gym Tournament, Hash conveniently finished watching the recording of Giles’ matches with the challengers.
As the only Beast Tamer among the challengers who had obtained the Starlux Gym’s badge, Hash was the most concerned about the recording of Annie’s challenge against Giles.
After watching all the battle videos, Hash realized that Annie had challenged Giles twice.
In the first challenge, her silver-rank Green-tailed Cat was quickly defeated by the Gold-rank spirit beast that Giles had at that time.
However, in the battle recording, Hash could tell that Annie’s Green-tailed Cat had come to challenge him while injured, which was why it did not manage to dodge the attack in time.
Giles had clearly noticed this at that time, so after the battle ended, he pointed out Annie’s negligence as a Beast Tamer and reminded Annie that “spirit beasts are not tools that Beast Tamers use to obtain their badges.”
It was also because of Giles’ performance in this battle recording that Hash was completely convinced in her heart that not only was Giles a qualified Beast Tamer, but he also possessed the qualities to become the Gym Leader.
When Annie came to challenge Giles for the second time, her Green-tailed Cat had already broken through to the Gold rank from Silver rank, but she still lost to Giles’ Gold-rank spirit beast.
Furthermore, Hash realized that compared to Annie’s first challenge, Giles seemed to have deliberately gotten his Gold-rank spirit beast to go easy on Annie during the second challenge.
However, even so, Annie’s Green-tailed Cat, which had just broken through to the Gold rank, did not win.
However, after the battle ended, Giles still awarded Annie with the Starlux Gym’s badge.
He also completed the evaluation to certify Annie as a Gold-rank Beast Tamer and the Green-tailed Cat’s Gold-rank strength.
At first, Hash did not understand why Giles would go all out against the wounded Green-tailed Cat in the first challenge yet show mercy to the Gold-rank Green-tailed Cat in the second challenge.
However, when she saw Giles officially giving Annie the Starlux Gym’s badge, she finally understood what Giles’ intention was.
At the end of the day, the Beast-taming Gym was just an evaluation agency. Therefore, it was not only possible by defeating the Gym Leader that one could obtain the badge of the gym.
As a challenger, as long as the Beast Tamer’s character and the strength of the spirit beast were recognized by the Beast-taming Gym’s Gym Leader, the Gym Leader could award the Beast Tamer and the spirit beast the Gym’s badge after the battle ended.
Therefore, even if Annie’s injured Green-tailed Cat could really defeat Giles’ Gold-rank spirit beast in the first challenge, Giles would also refuse to give Annie the badge of Starlux Gym because he did not acknowledge her, who was a negligent Beast Tamer.
In the second challenge, not only had Annie and the Green-tailed Cat gotten closer, but the Green-tailed Cat had also broken through to the Gold rank under Annie’s training.
Faced with the efforts and obvious improvements in Annie and the Green-tailed Cat, Giles still won against Annie even though he was lenient.
Out of his acknowledgement of Annie and the Green-tailed Cat, he could also certify Annie’s Gold-rank Beast Tamer status as well as the Green-tailed Cat’s Gold-rank strength and give Annie the badge of Starlux Gym.
Of course, the premise was that he had to be the Gym Leader of Starlux Gym. Only then would he have the right to do so.
Therefore, whether it was accepting the challenge from a Beast Tamer or granting the Gym’s badge, Giles, who had grown up in Starlux Gym, had no problems with these procedures.
The only reason the Beast Tamer Association’s Headquarters would determine that Giles had violated the rules was because he had yet to go to the Beast Tamer Association to register and submit his application.
Only after Giles passed the Beast Tamer Association’s Headquarters’ evaluation could he become the Acting Gym Leader of Starlux Gym and have the right to give the challenger the badge.
Furthermore, after Gym Leader Alice went to the Hengduan Mountain Range to investigate Mythic-rank spirit beasts, Giles didn’t have to worry about the services of the Starlux Gym’s evaluation section.
However, what the Beast Tamer Association’s Headquarters did not expect was that Giles would actually accept the challenge from Beast Tamers and even win against all the challengers.
It was also because of these reasons that when the Beast Tamer Association’s Headquarters received Hash’s proposal for the evaluation of Giles’ abilities, they had no choice but to agree to it.
This was because Giles was indeed the most suitable candidate to be the Acting Gym Leader of Starlux Gym.
However, even though Hash had made thorough preparations for Giles and even paved the way for him such that it would be enough as long as he walked this path, Giles still surprised Hash when he said, “can’t accept this ability evaluation”.
That’s right! Giles said ‘I can’t accept this now’, not ‘I won’t accept it now’!
In that case, there must be a reason why he can’t accept this ability evaluation!
The reason should be because of this Miss Annie!
From the recording of the two matches when Giles had accepted Annie’s challenges, even if he didn’t like Annie, he still approved and admired her.
Therefore, even though Giles knew that he had violated the rules by accepting Annie’s challenge and giving her the badge, he still decided to do so.
Furthermore, even though the Beast Tamer Association’s Headquarters had already issued the punishment, Giles, who already knew the consequences, had chosen to reject the ability evaluation for Annie’s sake.
Wait! If that’s truly the case, doesn’t that mean that Giles is confident that he can use his Silver-rank Metal-feathered Eagle to defeat Annie’s Gold-rank Green-tailed Cat?
After realizing this, Hash suddenly realized that she had discovered another side of Giles yet again.
Alice, apart from his strong abilities, I also didn’t expect your younger brother, Giles, to have such a gentle side to him.
No wonder this Second Young Lady of the Spirit Beast Chamber of Commerce likes him. It’s just that…
Thinking of this, Hash put away her serious business-like expression.
She then smiled as she joked with Giles, “Giles, I can understand your feelings for Annie. After all, I was also your age once upon a time.”
“However, work is work. You can’t let your personal feelings affect your choice.”