"Okay… First of all…" Master Susanto had a solemn look on his face as he started speaking, with all the members of the Indonesian team and Bagas and Sarah listening intently. However, the expression was gone instantly, replaced with a huge grin that showed his happiness here. "Let's cheers for the good result that we got today!"

"CHEERS!"

It was nighttime already, and just like usual, they all went for dinner in the same restaurant. There were 12 people here, and all of them toasted their drinks in the air. Just like the usual, though, no alcohol was involved in this event. No, all of them had juices on their hand, celebrating the good day with full enthusiasm.

Unlike during the time in Reykjavik and Biel, though, this time, Sheva and the others dared to taste the local food. After all, the Indian's taste was quite similar to the Indonesian's one, full of spices and flavors. This time, the main menu was Biryani, with the mutton and chicken becoming the highlight of the dish. The side dishes around were quite colorful, from the spicy rice, sambar, rasam, dosa, and a lot of things that were pretty hard to remember. However, everyone enjoyed this menu, devouring all of them like a bunch of hungry beasts.

"Man… This is such a great way to end a good day, right?" Bagas said with a mouth full of food and a big chunk of mutton in his hand, as if he were a main character of an old school cartoon. "We are all winning the matchup, and the statistics of the live streaming are soaring to the sky!"

"Indeed!" Arfan, who was on the other side of the table, nodded like a chicken. "Shoutout to the heroes who won us the game today! Come on, Brother Taher! Sheva! Laysa!"

"Come on!"

The three of them could only rub the back of their head in embarrassment, especially when everyone gave a round of applause here. Well, at least Taher and Sheva, who were not used to this kind of praise, had that reaction. As for Laysa, the girl just grinned goofily, enjoying the praises she received here.

Well, at least, she had a reason to be this happy. After all, the girl was the only one who won the game for the women's team while the others either took a quick draw or couldn't make a breakthrough against their opponents. In the end, after fighting for almost five hours, Laysa managed to convert the difficult endgame with two pawns and a bishop against three pawns for a win, defeating Mary Ann Gomes and also giving a full point for the Indonesian team.

Now, both men's and women's teams were still on a perfect record, occupying the top ten in the standings. Of course, it would be hard to maintain the result until the end of the tournament, but at least, they could enjoy this moment while it lasted.

"So, Master Susanto…" Novendra grinned as he approached the leader. "You are just like me, huh? It sucks to be the only one who didn't play well, right?" He said teasingly.

Indeed, out of the five members of the men's team, it was the two best players here, Master Susanto and Novendra, who played the worst. The former was the only one who got defeated in the matchup against Romania, while the latter got two draw results in a row against players whose rating was 300 below his.

"Puh—lease, we are not the same here." Master Susanto rolled his eyes sarcastically. "I got beaten by Bogdan-Daniel Deac, a perennial super grandmaster, while you are forced to a draw by two players who you should easily beat. We are not on the same level, okay?"

All of the people who heard that choked at the instant comeback, not expecting the man to have it inside him. Of course, Novendra growled, not happy with the mock he received here. "Okay, let me play tomorrow, and I will show you that I can get a better result!"

The conversation suddenly shifted into who was going to play tomorrow, and all of them suddenly got invested in it. The two who waited the most here were, of course, Sheva and Claudia. After all, those two were the reserve members, and they could be replaced at any time so that the team could go with the strongest members.

Even though Sheva could argue that he was stronger than some of his teammates—hell, he even thought he was the strongest here—the boy would still follow the instruction, not wanting to sow some discord when the team was currently in their best state here.

"Well, should we wait until the next pairing comes out first?" Sarah interrupted the heated debate. "I mean, it wouldn't be wise to decide who is going to play before we know about our opponent, right?"

"Good suggestion, Sarah." Irene nodded, giving the girl her flower here. "Coincidentally enough, the pairing has already been out on the website, so we can check it out together right now." The woman said while holding her phone in her hand.

"What?!"

Without even being told twice, all twelve people there took out their phones immediately. The festive atmosphere earlier disappeared instantly, replaced with the heavy air as everyone was wondering who would be their opponent next. The first one who broke the silence was Bagas, who couldn't hold back the gasp from escaping his mouth.

"Poland…" He muttered heavily. "The fifth best country in this tournament…"

"France…" Laysa also murmured; a frown could be seen on her face. "The same here, the fifth-best country in this section."

Well, they had already expected that the next round would be a difficult one. After all, winning three games in a row was a guarantee of playing against the top-seeded country. Yet, it still caught them off guard when the pairing was finally out, not believing that the day had finally come here. There was a big chance that they were going to lose for the first time in this tournament, and the mere thought of it was enough to shake their will here.

"So, a tough opponent is finally coming, huh?" Master Susanto smiled weakly, knowing that everyone was hit hard by this pairing. "So, how should we arrange the players here?"

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