Novel The Selection

Chapter 60 – Inteiru Expota – Edge


There’s only one explanation left how these weapons are flying toward us; Lightning magic. We learned that Lightning magic could stay dormant inside metal weapons and paralyze you with contact, but not much else past that.


Sitos did some weird stuff with his weapons like making his sword attract or repulse his other one. I should’ve asked him about it works. Then again, I wasn’t in a learning mood back then. I thought I knew everything I needed to know. How wrong I was. He must’ve learned more at the Lightning magic bonding class or on his own. The Academy focused on improving our own abilities but not so much understanding other magic.


The incoming barrage lowers in height. It will be problematic if they sink too low. I’d have a troublesome time hitting them away. Clangs resound as my weapons hit the star-shaped blades away. I use as much force as possible on those small ones without sacrificing the ability to follow up on the next ones. Preferably, I launch them into a tree, hoping that it’s enough to keep them immobile.


I’m trying to be as efficient as possible, attempting to hit two small blades at once with one swing if possible. I can’t connect with all of them. It’s simply impossible because there are too many at once. Unless my eyes are deceiving me, they’re speeding up too.


The two short swords should not be allowed to pass no matter what. I’m sure letting a few of the small blades pass on my right won’t be a big deal. Ada has greaves and a chest plate protecting her vital organs. It’s more problematic if I let any pass on my left because it could hit her neck or head instead.


Luckily, the few that I’ve managed to lodge into trees haven’t come loose. It’ll be easier with time. I try to do the same to the two short swords, though it doesn’t go as planned. They didn’t fly back nearly as much compared to the smaller ones.


“Damn it, Kai!” Ada yells. “Are you trying to get me killed?”


“Doing just the opposite, actually,” I answer while constantly swinging my swords, deflecting the projectiles.


“You let three pass! I caught them with my arm. Now the rest is going to pack a stronger punch.”


Her arm? That means they’re attracted toward the Lightning charged blade in her shoulder. Wait a minute. She blocked with her arm, which means she can move. That’s a bit confusing since I thought the Lightning would keep her paralyzed.


The weapons I hit back fly back less distance now. Their incoming speed increases as Ada mentioned. So the few that I let pass that hit her increased the attraction force between them. It’s only a matter of time before I slip up again and it’ll only cascade from there. I need a new plan. And fast.


The ones that were stuck inside the trunk of a tree come loose. I don’t have time to think. If my gut instinct is right, I won’t be paralyzed if I let some of those Lightning covered weapons hit my arm, but it’ll hurt.


I stretch out my left arm with the top side facing forward while continuing to swing my sword on my right. I grit my teeth as a sharp pain penetrates the skin on my left arm. One, two, three, four, five. My left arm has full mobility despite the Lightning magic having direct contact with my body.


Resuming my previous stance, I have a much easier time deflecting the remaining two swords and five star-shaped blades in circulation. I’ll easily be able to buy enough time for Ada to recover and help me out.


After several seconds, the weapons in the air stop dropping in height. Instead, they lean more to the left. Is it the blades stuck in my left arm? If that’s the case, I might be able to try something else, but I’m not sure how it will turn out. None of this makes sense to me.


I take several steps back to align myself with Ada while deflecting the last projectile back. If I stand beside her a few feet apart, the blades will go in between us, or so I predict. I’ll stand a few feet away from her feet so that the in-between area includes the protected regions of her body. For some reason, she starts pulling out the weapons lodged in her arm.


“Whoa, what’re you doing? Keep it in there! You’re ruining my plan!” I exclaim quickly, but it’s too late. The Lightning covered blades are here — the moment of truth. I gulp as the weapons fly between us, hitting neither of us.


“Shut up. I know what you’re trying to do. But it looks like you don’t. I’d take those out of your arm as soon as possible if I were you,” she answers as the barrage curves around toward me. It sounds like she knows more about Lightning magic than I do. The blades in my left arm dig deeper into my skin with every passing moment, but I can’t risk ruining the plan. If they’re headed for me, that’s easy. I’ll stand behind a tree, and it’s a done deal. The only problem is the enemy.


“Fork lightning!” he exclaims from behind me. A straight line of Lightning magic forms between the weapons in the air, Ada, and the four small blades lodged in my left arm. A shocking pain permeates quickly throughout my entire body from my left arm. I try to yell, but nothing comes out. I fall forward, losing grip on both of my weapons. The Lightning disappears a moment later. “You put on a good show, but I’m bored.”


What the hell? I’m still trying to process what just happened. Nothing comes out of my mouth. I can’t move my arms or legs, let alone breathe. My vision darkens while the sound around me goes mute. Am I dying…?


My vision continues to darken, and a blanket of warmth gradually covers me.


…


I gasp for air as Ada screams, “Please, stop! Stop it!”


How long have I been out? I can’t move my head to see what’s going on. But this is an all too familiar scene to be ignorant. If I don’t do something, he’s probably going to kill us both.


The man laughs and then says, “There’s nothing I love more than hearing your screams. It gets it up, you know? For when you’re dead.”


“You sick fuck,” Ada says and then squeals.


I gulp. I don’t know if they both think I’m dead. Ada’s screams might’ve camouflaged my initial gasp of air. This is my chance. I think about killing him at this point to save both of our skins. I could take him out with my strongest fireball, but if he somehow survives it, we’re both screwed. It’s not a stretch since Ragnar was able to beat it, though I warned him it was coming.


Something tells me he hasn’t shown his real strength yet all things considered. He could very well be stronger than Ragnar. There’s a smell of danger coming off of him that I practically feel the bloodthirst. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before.


My right arm has the most body function right now. I can grip with full strength. I search nearby for my weapon, trying not to make too much noise. Hopefully, my weapon fell near me. It helps that Ada’s screaming drowns out the small amounts of unavoidable rustling sounds. I find the blade part of it. I carefully move and rotate the sword so that the grip is in my hand.


What I do next is tricky. I think the best option is to buy time somehow. A gut feeling tells me that he’s one of them. It doesn’t add up if that’s true, though. Exposing his identity like that defeats the purpose of the masks. It’s more likely that he’s just some crazy guy from the Xantho army.


But I can’t shake off the feeling that he might be one of the white masked men. If that’s true, he revealed his face to both of us. What’s the point? I guess it doesn’t matter if he kills both of us in the end. What does he hope to gain from toying with us? He could kill us at any time.


If he really is one of them, I highly doubt that I can convince him of anything, but I don’t have any other choice. It’s a gamble. I could use my one-sided portal to stab him through his back somewhere. Maybe kill him by stabbing through his head or neck, but I wouldn’t have any answers. We might also get into trouble. I’ll have to do it fast so that he doesn’t see my Void magic. Best be the back of his leg to limit his movement. It won’t be fatal, but I’ll let his curiosity get the better of him.


My head can move a bit now. I angle it upward. The man is lying on top of Ada doing something with her upper body. Both of their clothes are on, so not the same thing from before. So, he’s inflicting physical pain on her. I don’t know what’s worse.


I’m confident I can estimate where the back of his leg is from this angle. There might be a chance that I stab Ada instead, but hopefully, that doesn’t happen. She deserves it, but not worth throwing away my one chance to get us out alive. I’m tempted to wait a bit longer before intervening, but then again, there’s an impending monster attack. I can’t risk everyone’s safety to get a little revenge.


I bond my Mana with Void Affinity and write instructions for two one-sided portals. One side next to my head facing away from the two ahead. The other side faces the ground on top of the man’s legs. I don’t want the portal to be too big. It’s important that I properly align it so that when I stab it through the portal, it’ll go exactly where I want it to go on the other side. I’ll set the instructions so that the portal deactivates half a second after it activates. Any more time risks him discovering my magic. Timing is crucial.


I release my Mana, setting to activate it in five seconds. I keep an internal clock and a tight grip on my weapon. One…two…three…four…five!



I lunge my blade through the portal with as much force without sacrificing accuracy.


“Ouch!” the man exclaims. My sword impales the back of his right calf. It hit the bone. I let go of my sword before it’s too late. The portal disappears. The man slowly pushes him off the ground and turns his head. He grabs the sword and pulls it out. If I had not let go of the sword, it would be in my hand. That would mystify him more than lodging it in his leg, but I don’t want to stretch his imagination too much. “You’re still alive?”


He stands up and walks toward me. “How the hell did you manage to impale me from over there? Without making a single sound.”


I tighten my muscles as he raises his foot over my left arm. He stomps it down, pushing the small blades deeper into my arm. I squeeze my eyes shut and grit my teeth. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of hearing me suffer. “Your heart should’ve stopped. Why aren’t you dead?”


“I guess your magic was too weak,” I answer. He slowly raises my sword above my face. “Wait. If you kill me, you’ll never find out how I poked your leg with my weapon.”


He stops. The man nods his head and smiles. “You make a good point. What do you propose?”


“A rematch between you and us. You’ll let us recover and fight again, two on one. If you win, I’ll tell you how I did it.”


“That’s pretty cocky…but sure. Hope you don’t bore me this time. It would be too easy to demolish both of you…but I’ll use the same strength as before. Nothing more. We’ll see if you can overcome the gap. My magic should be wearing off soon. Let me know when you’re ready.”


“We’re gonna need some privacy to strategize.”


“Fine, fine…just don’t even think about running,” he says. He drops my sword and walks away. Far enough away, so we’re within his line of sight but not close enough to hear our voices.


I crawl over to Ada. A small pool of blood is around her left shoulder where the dagger pierced her skin. She’s also missing all the skin from the top of her shoulder to halfway down to the elbow. It looks raw but not dripping with blood.


She pants with fluids dripping out of her eyes and nose. Not high and mighty anymore. No one would be after enduring torture. She sits up and wipes her face with her good arm. She mutters, “So, you’re not dead.”


“Nice to see that you’re alive too,” I answer. You’d think she’d be a little more grateful for stopping the guy skinning her alive. “How long was I out?”


“I don’t know. A few minutes or longer. What did you do to him?”


I curl my lips inward. My secret’s going to be out of the bag. There’s no avoiding it. I never would’ve thought that she would be the next one to discover my secret, willingly. I say, “First, promise me that you’re not gonna tell anyone. You owe me that for saving your life.”


She shakes her head and rolls her eyes before replying, “Fine. I don’t want to owe you anything.”


I take a deep breath. “Okay, look. I have something called… Void magic. I made a portal that basically connected point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ and I stabbed him with the sword without being next to him. It’s complicated...but know that we can use this to launch a surprise attack on him.”


She knits her eyebrows and looks at me as if she’s seen a ghost. I continue, “I know you’re confused, but I can’t show you right now without risking him seeing it. I’ll show you before we start the rematch. First, we need a strategy. Before that, you need to tell me about Lightning magic. You know about it, right?”


She lets out a chuckle. “Yeah, Melody filled us in from what she learned. It’s not surprising that that traitor from your team didn’t considering—“


“Look, let’s skip the part where you say my Academy group’s teamwork was poor and that you hate me because I’m one of them. We’re gonna have to work together if we’re gonna make it out alive.”


She sighs and looks away. Quietly, she responds, “I know.”


“Well?”


She turns her head to me. “At the Academy, they went as far to educate us that Lightning magic’s special property is to paralyze you and that it can be dormant inside some objects where it can avoid interaction with other magical objects.”


“Yeah, that’s what I know. Metal objects, right?”


“Usually metal, but there are others, I heard. Users of Lightning magic were instructed a little more past general education because they could reinforce their learning through practice.”


“Right,” I say and nod my head. I’m starting to understand the differences in curriculum between the Adventurer path and the Soldier path. “Because monsters don’t have metal weapons. They only use Lightning magic to paralyze us. So, there was no need for us to know.”


“No, that’s not it. Well, I don’t know. It’s because it’s complicated. It’s not that easy to understand. It’s not as simple as a ball of fire. Kids like that dumb—” she stops abruptly and sighs. “It would take a lot of time to teach. So, only users of Lightning magic were taught in the specialty classes.”


That’s surprising. If anything, I thought it would be something like the Academy deemed it too dangerous to teach in-depth. Or they wanted us to discover it and learn on our own as Hina suggested. “So, what’s this complicated feature of Lightning magic?”


“Lightning magic can apply another effect without paralyzing you. It can apply a charge.”


“A charge? What does that even mean?”


“It would take a long time to explain everything, which I figure we don’t have a lot of. I’ll give you a really short version. He can shoot Lightning magic at us to give us a negative charge or surround his swords with it giving it a negative charge. If those swords connect with our weapons, it can leech the charge on our weapons, and they become positive as a result.”


“Wait, hold on. Our weapons have charge on their own?”


“Apparently, everything does. But not negative or positive. I don’t know that in-depth. Charge can be localized too. Like when he stabbed me with the dagger, it didn’t paralyze me. It leeched my charge around my shoulder, making the knife more negative. But in the process, made that part of my body more positive. Negative and positive charge attract and similar charges repel. The higher the differential between charges, the stronger the effect.”


“Uh-huh…” I mutter. Not sure if I follow everything. It is a bit complicated as she mentioned. Or she sucks at explaining. Or both. But I think I get the big points.


“He can discharge the positive or negative charges at any time with additional Lightning magic. The discharge causes a paralyzing effect depending on how much charge is expelled. The attack he used on you essentially connected the charges he had on his weapons and us discharged it on the most negative charge, you.”


“So, that’s why you told me to remove these,” I say while stretching out my left arm. “And my plan still worked because the charge didn’t disappear from your arm after you took out the dagger.”


“Yup.”


That explains why they were digging deeper into my skin too. My arm became more positive, and the attraction effect applied. “Okay, so how do we stop all of that from happening?”


“Well, if you have charge already, there’s nothing you can do.”


“What the hell? That’s cheap.”


“Not really. Lightning magic doesn’t have a lot of Durability compared to Evocation, like Fire and Earth magic. It requires trickery and brain to use well.”


“Durability?”


“Right, I forgot you haven’t been to many of the informational seminars. It’s the energy emitted by Mana and magic. It’s how much of a beating it can take before it fades away.”


Hearing about it makes a lot of sense. I knew intuitively that the same amount of Fire magic was able to beat the same volume of Water magic head-on assuming that they’re the same Mana quality too. It’s that concept, right? That must mean Fire magic has more Durability than Water magic. But, it can’t be that simple. I think back to what Ragnar said about Earth magic. He said it was the most stubborn. That definitely means Earth magic has the highest Durability out of any magic.


She continues, “There is one thing we can do. Don’t get hit by Lightning magic and surround your swords with Mana like an impenetrable fortress. But, he only has to break through a small piece of that barrier before he’s able to apply a negative or positive charge on it.”


“That’s really confusing. I thought you said leeches the charge from our weapons making them positive. He can make them negative too?”


Ada sighs. “The only way for him to make us or the weapons positive is through Lightning magic surrounding his weapon. If he shoots us with Lightning magic, only negative is possible.”


That makes a little more sense. But she’s wrong about one thing. Common magic knowledge tells us that it’s impossible to make cold fire or soft dirt because it’s changing the Special property of Fire and Earth magic, but I know both of those are possible. I assume under the same concept, giving something a positive charge directly with Lightning magic should be doable too. I wouldn’t know if this man is capable of that.


“It’s probably best we don’t assume that either one of us has charge. Let’s try to come up with a plan that ends it during the initial attack. Considering your injuries, I doubt you’d be able to fight at 100% either. He might decide to reveal his full power at a whim. We only have one shot.”


“And that’s possible with your…Void magic? He’ll see you before you have a chance.”


“No, he won’t. We’ll hide from his sight. There’s no way to run over there without making any sounds. As long as I don’t make a sound, he won’t know I’m over there. It’s possible to turn invisible using Void magic too. That’s what I’ll utilize. What’s more important right now’s we come up with how we ambush him and how to follow-up.”


The man’s Lightning magic has mostly worn off. I stretch out my left arm. These star-shaped blades have to come out eventually. I grip one tightly with my right hand and pull it out in one swift motion. I grimace as a sharp pain erupts. I do the same for the other two. I close and open my left palm repeatedly. Feels the same. Good. Nothing major was damaged.


I walk over to where I was and pick up the two swords left there. Ada follows.


“Finally, are you ready to fight?” the man asks.


“No, not yet. Just picking up my weapons.”


“If you take too long, I’ll come to you instead.”


He’s getting impatient. We need to hurry. I hide behind a tree nearby from his vision. “I’ll hide here. You stay in his sight. We don’t have a lot of time. How many daggers do you have left?”


“Just four. The two connected by a chain and two with nothing attached. We need to blind him with my magic.”


“That should be pretty easy to do with a surprise attack, right?”


“He knows I have Light magic, so it shouldn’t be that easy.”


“True. But, he doesn’t know about Void magic. You could prepare some instructions to shoot out a straight beam of Light from the tip of one of your daggers. I’ll take it with me, and you’ll activate it at the right time. I’ll have it pointed at his eyes. Light travels fast so he won’t have time to react if we're good with the timing.”


“That could work…if he’s not expecting it. Look,” Ada says and nudges her head in his direction.


I peek my head out, finding that he has Unrefined Mana surrounding his entire body except for his eyes. There’s no way that he doesn’t know that it’s not enough to protect himself from Light magic. “So, you think he has a barrier of Wind magic around him too?”


“Of course he does. And Light magic has the lowest Durability. I’ve done a lot of testing and found that Light magic can’t lower the Durability of any other magic. No matter how much of it I used to hit a stationary wall of Wind, the second lowest Durability magic. Light never was able to destroy it regardless if I used Unrefined Mana or Rich Mana to do it against Scrap Mana. So, even the weakest Wind barrier would be able to counter it.”


“So we need a way to deal with the barrier of Wind that he has. Then somehow hit him with Light magic all while using the element of surprise. The only way’s to utilize Fire magic somehow. But, I can’t think of a scenario where he doesn’t notice its presence before it’s close enough to him.”


“I don’t know about your Void magic, but can’t you use it to hide Fire magic? You said something about invisibility, right?”


“Make my fireball invisible…? Interesting, but I’ve never tested it, though I could try it right now. We’re almost outta time. Act natural,” I warn. I write instructions binding my Mana to the Void magic to form two small one-sided portals behind the tree facing us while leaving some space between the tree. I activate my magic. The two portals appear. “I made these small for experimenting purposes. Basically, these connect.”


I stick a finger in one, and it comes out the other one. I continue, “You’ll have to take my word on the invisibility as it would take too much time to explain everything. I need you to look behind the portal after my Fire magic appears without looking too suspicious.”


I program instructions for a basic minuscule ball of fire to move into the front of one of the small portals. I activate the Mana, and my magic moves halfway inside one. I nudge my head forward. Ada takes a step past the two portals and turns around with her head next to the trunk. She informs, “Don’t see anything.”


I smile. We can use this. I deactivate the Fire and Void magic with Scrap Mana. “Okay…give me some time to think of a plan.”


“Hurry up. We don’t have any time.”


The first step is to take a Void portal across from him to have a better view of the area. It would be much easier to ambush him from there. Since I can make my fireball invisible, I could activate the one-sided portal faced upward so that he can’t see it or feel it. And I’ll keep doing to get as close as possible to him to know where his Wind barrier is. But that’s a waste of Mana and would take too long. That’s only a slight improvement from sending a ball of fire down from above. I can do better.


What if I put a shell of Fire magic around Ada’s dagger and drop it from above? The Fire would break past the Wind barrier; then I’ll deactivate my magic and Ada activates hers. But if his Mana barrier is strong enough, the Fire won’t be able to break past and Ada’s inactive Mana around the dagger won’t either.


I’m thinking too simply. I need to be more creative. There’s no perfect ambush because his capabilities are high. I bite my lip.


If I can force him to move exactly where I want him to...I could have my Rich Mana fireball waiting for him between two one-sided portals. He’d move right into it when he’d see nothing before it’s too late. But if that isn’t enough. He’d be on high alert and would be near impossible to do anything else from there. We need more.


Ada’s right. We need to blind him somehow with Light magic to limit his movements and gain a short-term advantage. There’s nothing he can do after the fact. The only way for him to be affected by Light magic is if he drops his Wind barrier. I’d imagine Wind magic is worse than plain old Mana to defend against Fire magic. Otherwise, there’s no reason for him to wear that armor of Mana. So, Mana has a higher Durability than Wind magic in general.


That means the only option for us is to trick him into focusing his defenses on the Mana barrier. The only way to do that is to hit him with a bunch of Fire magic. So, forcing him to back into the shrouded fireball is a step in the right direction. At that moment, he’d be very confused. But he’d focus more on his Mana defenses and try to move out of the way and reposition himself. I won’t let him reposition himself. The only way to do that is to have another one-sided portal waiting for him. At the same time, I don’t want to risk him seeing it. I’ll have to use a trigger for it at the right moment. Ada’s Light magic could be good camouflage too.


I’ll have more Fire magic waiting for him on the other side. He could use Basic Wind magic to escape. But, he won’t know that his perception of up and down will be swapped to left or right when the portal that he goes into drops him from a portal that faces down. He’d launch himself right into the ground. That’s why it’s important that I don’t drop him from a tall height because he’d have time to react.


Once he hits the ground, there will be another moment of confusion. That’s when we’ll blind him with Light magic. It’s a perfect plan…if he falls for it. I need a way to coerce him into moving into the invisible ball of fire and the portal.


The only thing I can think of is to surround him with a wall of Fire with the space behind him open. But that’s too obvious. At the same time, he won’t see the invisible ball of fire waiting for him. He doesn’t know about Void magic, so at best he’d be suspicious and wary. Ada could use all of her Wind magic capabilities to push him into the portal. However, his Mana armor would stop the push. Since she didn’t use much Wind magic in our duel, I doubt she’s very comfortable with Wind magic.


I gulp. Now’s not the time to hold back. If that wall of Fire looks threatening enough, he’d more opted to jump back than take it head-on. I could utilize my Mana to do that to make my strongest Fire. If he’s as good as I think he is, he will sense the danger.


“Okay, so here’s what I need you to do. First, give me one of your daggers with one of your trigger words ready to activate Light magic around it. The Light should stay stationary after activation. It’s to camouflage my Void magic,” I say. She takes one of the daggers without the chain on it.


“Activate it when you see me throw it behind him. It’ll be around the time the wall of Fire appears at the start. I’m going to force him to jump back into an invisible ball of fire and into another portal that drops him into the ground in front of you with additional Fire magic waiting for him. That’ll clear him of the Wind barrier, and that’s when we’ll blind him. I’ll be behind him, and you’ll be in front. If it all goes according to plan, we’ll have a vast advantage from there.”


“Done,” she says and hands me the weapon. I take it.


“I’m going to set up the first set of portals now to reach him. Pretend that I’m still talking to you here,” I say and prepare instructions for my magic. I sheathe my weapons, release my Mana, and then activate it. One portal appears right of the trunk of the tree next to us. I carefully turn my back against it and bend backward into a squat. I don’t want to set my feet across to the other side because if I make the slightest sound, he’ll know something’s up.


The only thing in front of me is the other portal, but based on the surrounding, I know where I am. The man is right in front of me if there was no portal. I write the instructions for the next step before releasing the Mana into their proper positions. I’ll save the wall of Fire as the last step because I don’t know how long the other steps will take, so I can’t set a timer. I don’t want to use a trigger word for it because it’ll give him additional reaction time.


“I’m tired of waiting! Let’s go, now!” the man exclaims.


I stand up and reposition myself with Ada before answering, “One minute! That’s when we’ll start.”


“One minute, then.”


My palms are sweaty. I’ve got to keep focus. I prepare one last portal that the Fire magic would rest in at an open space around us above grass level so that it doesn’t catch anything on fire. I create a spherical cluster of Fire magic set halfway into the portal using Rich Mana. I’m not trying to kill him. That should be the invisible Fire magic. It would be a waste not to utilize all the Fire I form, so I set a trigger word to move it into the portal when the time comes. Now, there’s only the Rich mana ball of fire waiting for him after going into the portal and the initial wall of fire. I’ll have the ball of fire shoot upward since I don’t want to block Ada’s light magic when he hits the ground.


Done. It’ll appear when I activate the trigger word for the portal. The only thing left to do now is to create the wall of Fire that closes in on him from every direction, only leaving the length of the invisible Void portal behind him open.


“Get ready,” I say, turning my back toward the first portal I made. “I’m going to create the wall of fire now.”


I squat backward, preparing one final touch to the attack. I release my Mana bonded to Fire Affinity, instructing them to activate in five seconds. I move Scrap Mana throughout my body in preparation to use Enhancement magic.


“Ten seconds, hope you’re ready,” he says.


Now! I jump back and throw the dagger between the man and the invisible fireball. The wall of fire already appeared and closes in on him.


“Activate!” Ada exclaims the moment the knife flies past the wall of fire from her perspective. Not perfect, but close enough. A sphere of light appears that covers the length of the invisible portal. Part of it might overlap with my Fire magic, but it’s not like it’ll destroy it.


The man dashes through the sphere of light. I smile, feeling like we’ve won this. I exclaim, “Open! Haste! Strength!”



I unsheathe both of my weapons the moment strength surges throughout my body and then dash toward the point that he’ll drop. Ada’s already waiting with her Unrefined Mana armor on while swirling her chain daggers with one hand. I cover myself with Unrefined Mana too in order to not be knocked back by Wind magic when he’s out of options.


He appears head first at the exit point covered in Rich Mana now instead of Unrefined Mana. The ball of fire that’s flying upward is only inches away from him. Ada’s daggers are spinning in the air, flying toward the man. At that rate, they’d wrap around him. I exclaim, “Forward!”



The stationary cluster of Fire magic I set should now be flying maximum speed forward, sandwiching him in my magic. My Fire swallows him completely for a moment. His body rotates around and crashes into the ground at an angle. It wasn’t straight down as planned, so hopefully, it doesn’t ruin whatever Ada has set up.


“Close!” I exclaim. All the Void magic should be deactivated now, so he doesn’t see what happened to him. The remnants of my magic hit the ground, bursting into fiery hot gasses around it. The grass nearby catches fire and burns away instantly.


Ada shoots a ray of Light toward the man’s head with one hand and grabs the last dagger with her other hand. Ada’s chain daggers have his left arm tied down around his body. The man jumps up on his feet while moving his weapon in front of his face. Ada moves her hands according to his movements. As soon as she moved her dagger and angled it toward me, I understood. I’ve learned my lesson from last time.


The light reflects off her dagger toward me. I know I should reflect it back, but where? She doesn’t have another dagger to use. That’s when I remembered she has two more blades on her body. I angle my sword to point it back to Ada‘s lower body, and she lifts her left foot and redirects the light onto the man’s face using the blade on her greaves. Everything happened in fast succession, so he had no time to react with Wind magic.


“Shit!” the man exclaims and takes several steps back. Ada stops her Light magic and dashes toward the man. We’ve been waiting for this opening, so I charge in too. I squint my eyes as a burst of Wind magic explodes from him. “You brats, don’t push your luck!”


“Rule number one of fighting. Never let down your guard,” I say and then pull my arms back, preparing to slash him in the next moment.


“Fire burst!” he exclaims. Suddenly, a rush of fire erupts all around him outward.


What?! It stops my advance forward. I cover my face with one arm as his the fire destroys my Unrefined Mana armor. Before I can send out Rich Mana to protect myself, a burst of hot air knocks me back. It burns the uncovered parts of my upper body for a second. Ada screams.


Rich Mana appears in front of me, but it’s only a delayed reaction to his magic. I’m already out of his attack range. I can’t believe he was hiding Fire magic all this time. We lost our only chance to beat this guy. We’re screwed.


I stand up, the fire surrounding the man clearing up. He untied the chain around him and has full use of both arms. He laughs and turns his head toward me. “Very interesting… But we’re out of time, so I’ll let you have the win this time. See ya, sucker.”


I widen my eyes as he jumps away. I chase after him immediately, but he’s too fast. I’m starting to regret holding back my attack power.


“Kai, where’re you going?!” Ada yells behind me.


He moves at speeds much faster than before. I bite my lip. It’s hopeless. I can’t catch him. I stop running. I wouldn’t forget those words. That man was one of the masked men from that day. But why?


So many things don’t make sense. Those masked men kill without a second thought. Why didn’t he kill us without holding back from the start? Instead, he toyed with us. Then I remember what Viessa told us. Is his ploy to turn us against each other? To turn Xantho into an enemy? It’s possible. He’s playing for the long game with the Inteiru Expota coming up. Killing the two of us here wouldn’t accomplish anything long-term.


The same could be said of killing him here and now if I didn’t hold back. It wouldn’t accomplish anything. We wouldn’t learn anything about their organization or future plans. I sigh. I’ve made the correct choice. He’s far too strong for us to fight, anyway. But wait…if he’s one of the masked men…does that mean there were others here too?!


We need to regroup with the others as soon as possible. I hope Ruby and Marin’s okay. A roar resounds. It’s close!


“Kai! We need to get back to the others! Forget that crazy guy,” Ada says.


If only she’d know who that guy truly was, she’d act completely different. But she’s right. We need to regroup with the others. I don’t want to disclose the information to her now, or she might want to do something stupid like chase after him. She took back her chain daggers so we wouldn’t need to take a detour.


“Right…you lead the way,” I say. I have no idea where we are right now.


“This way,” she says. I follow her.

 

Chapter 61 – Inteiru Expota – Escape


We reach the base of the mound, but it’s too quiet. It should be quite noisy if everyone’s fighting off a monster attack considering that a roar came from this direction two minutes ago. But the only thing we hear are the sounds of our feet hitting the ground. It gives me a bad feeling as we climb the hill.


At the top, we freeze, as my fears become a reality. No one standing to be seen. Only a large group of tigers numbering at least a dozen feasting on bodies lying on the ground. One tiger stands out from the rest; it’s the only one with red fur with yellow and orange stripes. The remaining tigers have orange fur and black stripes. It only takes a moment for the monsters to realize that we’re here. They stop eating and turn their head our way. They stare at us with blood dripping from their muzzle.


“Run, run!” I exclaim and quickly do a 180-degree turn back to where we came. Anyone they’re gorging on right now is definitely dead. Nothing we can do for whoever was unfortunate enough to be caught. Not even if it was Marin or Ruby, but there’s no way they’re dead. Captain Albius must’ve evacuated everyone.


“They’re catching up!” Ada yells from right behind me. “Turn right!”


I do as she says. We need to get out of this overgrown forest as soon as possible. At this rate, those tigers are going to catch up to us in no time. It’s too hard to run at full speed on this terrain. And both of us are injured. I could use Enhancement to run faster, but I would end up leaving Ada behind.


Suddenly, the ground in front of us rises. It blocks our way forward. The fuck?


I stop running right before crashing into it. No time to process what just happened. We’ll have to go around it. That’s what I thought, but the ground around it rose up too. I widen my eyes. It’s the monsters. They can cast Intermediate Evocation magic. We need to turn around before we’re trapped. “Go back!”


I turn around, but it’s too late. The ground rises with no other way out other than above. But that’ll be a dead end too because they could always make it higher. It would take a while to climb too and wouldn’t work since they’re nearby. This is bad.


There’s only one way out of this. I need to focus.


“Wha-what do we do?” Ada asks, shivering. She widens her eyes and jerks her head toward a monster roar. “What do we do?!”


“You’re seriously asking me?” I ask, surprised how she’s depending on me to get us out of this. I’m working on something to get us both out, but she doesn’t know that.


“O-of course! Who else would I be asking, you idiot?”


“Well considering what you did to me in the past, I think I’ll just leave you here. No one’s watching anyway.”


“Wha-what?! No! Please, I’m sorry. Don’t leave me.”


I smile and turn my back on her. This is too good. I stay silent.


“Look, I know I treated you like shit, and it’s all my fault. I was skeptical whether you were a part of them or not but I convinced myself that you were. That it had to be the truth. I couldn’t just take it back when I pushed it that far.” Loud rustling noises nearby. The monsters are here. “Please!”


Wow. I didn’t expect a full-on confession from her. Here I thought that she wholeheartedly believed that I was one of the masked men. When really, she was only half sure and never verified it. That’s really scummy. A part of me wants to leave her here, but I won’t. It’s not like I get anything out of it. I could use this to climb up the ladder quicker.


“Shut up and grab hold of my back, tightly,” I instruct. She says nothing and wraps her arms around my chest plate. The monsters growl. We’re lucky the tigers gathered around us haven’t pounced on us yet, but it would be stupid to risk waiting any longer.


My magic activates, finally reaching their destinations. A portal appears in front of me wide and tall enough so that neither of us would be in any danger of breaking the boundary rule.


I run through, appearing in the air far above us, beyond the smaller trees that covered the area around us, though nowhere near reaching the top of the gigantic trees. Luckily, the monsters can’t see us from up here because the crown of the trees blocks the view. We quickly fall into an upright position. Ada screams.


I point to the direction we ran in before the ground rose and yell, “Hurry, use Wind magic to get us out of this place!”


Our bodies jerk toward the complete opposite direction than I indicated along with our body orientation. We’re now gliding through the air head first and face down in our point of heading. I warn, “You’re going the wrong way!”


“I can’t change directions now!”


I wasted too much time teasing her that I didn’t leave any time to fill her in on my plan to escape. It would be too hard to change directions now taking account into the monsters catching up too. At this point, she’d better do a good job of committing to this heading. Land first and take care of everything else later. I don’t like the idea that my life is in Ada’s hands, so I’ll prepare something just in case. I tilt my head up, looking ahead.


“Front, in front! Watch where you’re going!” I exclaim, too late to prepare any counter-measure. We’re headed right into the edge of the trunk of an overgrown tree. Edge or not, that’s going to be enough to stop our full momentum. She turns our course slightly, narrowingly avoiding crashing.


I don’t think I’ll be able to do much with my magic. I can’t see what’s under the crown of the trees below us to know where a portal would put us. It could be deadly if a tree or rock were directly in front of the portal. The best I could do is activate the exit portal above ground somewhere before activating one in front of our heading. It would put us closer to where we started. If the monsters are following us, they could catch us. That’s dangerous because I don’t know how much Mana Ada has left, and it’s not like I have an infinite supply either. If we’re both left with no Mana, we wouldn’t be able to survive this place after landing.


Our distance from the ground shortens rapidly. It would be nice to land in an area clear of these annoying smaller trees. I’m assuming that the wood in this forest isn’t brittle, so it’s not going to be pretty if we brush along the crown at this speed.


“How’re you planning to land?!” Ada asks.


“That’s your job! Hopefully by redirecting some of the force below us to fall slower!”


Our bodies thrust upward, now going a bit diagonal, but slowing down to only vertical movement. I hope she understands that we’re trying to go down, not up. The climb upward halts, and we drop down. Every few moments, a burst of air launches us up slightly, probably to stop us from falling too fast down. Her control sucks.



I can’t complain too much, though. She’s keeping both of us alive. Should I burn the top of the trees below us? No, because that might attract monsters. I hope we land safely.


I didn’t see this before, but there’s a place nearby without any trees. I point and ask, “Hey, can you land over there?”


“I’ll try.”


She flies us over in spurts diagonally upward toward the open area. She could be more efficient, but it’s working. She switches back to the vertical descent when we pass the trees. Finally, we reach the ground, with the grass reaching as high as my chest.


Ada lets go of me and drops to the ground. she mutters, “We’re alive…”


I sigh and sit down too. “Yeah…”


This open area is much nicer. Though, it’s like we’re ants in a regular forest considering the presence of these extremely thick and tall trees. There’s a large amount of space between each of them with hills everywhere. If those tigers track us here, they will able to track us in the air. So in that sense, it was nicer where we were.


“Your plan... You were planning all along to use me in your escape but didn’t say anything...”


Oops. She figured it out. This is the part she’ll take back everything she said and blame me.


“I deserve it...thanks for not abandoning me. I’ll do anything to make it right.”


It’s too bad I can’t see what kind of expressions she’s making with this grass in the way. I smile and ask, “Oh, anything?”


“No-not anything.”


“But an eye for an eye. It’s the only way it’s fair. You saw and assaulted my bare body, soo...you know.”


“You sick—I mean...” she mutters and then sighs.


Speaking of ants…if the trees in this place are so much bigger, does that mean the monsters here are huge too? Those tigers were menacing, but only because there were so many. They didn’t scale up to the size of these trees.


I thought a part of an overgrown tree moved in the distance before, but now I’m sure it did. Currently, it’s moving in a different spot on the same tree. Several spots, actually, like a thick line wrapped the tree. Oh, no…



I stand up immediately, realizing the impending danger. The grass blocked my view before, but now I notice that the monster is close to the base of the tree. I don’t see the head or tail.


I’d rather be in the mini forest compared to out here. I say, “Get up, now.”


“Wha-what? You want that now?”


“I’m not screwing around. Get back into the forest, now,” I warn while walking backward, inching closer to the forest.


“I didn’t agree to it yet,” Ada says, still not standing up and having her misunderstandings as usual. To begin with, I wasn’t serious about that.


“Get up, unless you wanna end up eaten whole by a snake.”


She jumps up to her feet and runs over to me. We hurry into the edge of the forest and then hide behind a tree.


“Where’s the snake?” she asks.


I inch my head out. I point to the tree that I saw it on. “It’s that one. It’s hard to see since it’s camouflaged, but it’s moving.”


“I don’t see anything.”


“What?” I check for myself once more. She’s right. There’s nothing there unless it’s not moving and blended in really well. I don’t think things are going to work out that conveniently for us. The other outcome is more likely. “Shit. It’s already moved off the tree. Let’s move.”


“Aren’t you being too paranoid? It didn’t see us.”


“Maybe, but I don’t wanna take any chances.”


“It’s not headed our way. The grass is completely still.”


She’s right. It’s easy to see the grass around the base of the tree because we’re at a lower elevation compared to it. There’s no movement around the tree whatsoever, although, it might have some way of moving through the grass without disturbing it. Or it could be going around the grass entirely.


“Either way, I don’t wanna stay in an area where monsters are a hundred times their normal size. If that snake was that big, we’re screwed if something with better eyesight sees us. I definitely don’t wanna wait around for monsters to come around and eat us. We’re both bleeding, so…”


Ada gulps and answers, “Ye-yeah…you’re right.”


We head in the direction we flew from at a slow pace, paying close attention to our surroundings, when my stomach growls.


“Hungry?” Ada asks.


“Yeah but I’ll deal with it,” I say. She should be hungry too. We ate at the same time over six hours ago. “We don’t have time to look for food.”


“It’s everywhere. We don’t need to look,” Ada says with open stretched out arms.


Is she referring to the mushrooms and berries around here? “We don’t know which ones are poisonous. It’s too risky.”


“I know all about them. My parents ran a restaurant, and they taught me all about the edible goodies,” Ada says as she crouches next to a tree. She cuts some hairy thing from the bark. Now she’s on the ground on all four, plucking some oddly-shaped mushrooms. She hands me everything and says, “Look for these. They’re all edible non-poisonous mushrooms. Make sure the color matches exactly for the ones I got from the ground.”


It’s hard to believe this white hairy thing from the tree is a mushroom let alone edible. It literally looks like hundreds of white strands of hair hanging from a pole hidden in the center. I didn’t want to waste time like this looking for mushrooms, but a few more minutes can’t hurt. I split up from Ada to look the hairy thing on trees because it looks the most interesting. The other ones give me bad memories of my 5th year. I don’t want to wander too far, though.


I circle each tree individually. It takes a few to find my first one. I use one of my swords to scrape it off the tree. These things aren’t on every tree, but it looks like they’re common enough to gather in a short amount of time. It’s a bit annoying to drop everything on the ground to cut the next one I find, pick everything back up, and restart the process. I head back to my starting point with plenty of these hairy mushrooms in my arms.


“Ada, I got a bunch of the hairy ones,” I say. Dead silence. Not sure if she heard me, but I don’t want to yell. It could alert predators. “Ada?”


Nothing other than a few small noises in the distance. Did she wander off somewhere else? Or did she get caught by a monster?


I drop all the mushrooms and unsheathe both of my blades. I search the vicinity of the last place I saw her. I move through the area with light steps, turning slowly around the large scattered boulders.


If it were a monster, she would have screamed unless something got her in an instant. And she wouldn’t dare try to split up from me. She knows that she needs me to survive. She’s not stupid enough to wander off either.


Her legs are sticking out from behind a bush. She’s on the ground. “Ada?”


No response. I gulp and slowly walk toward her, not knowing whether she’s dead or alive, my heartbeat racing.


I don’t know why I’m concerned about her safety to this extent. I wanted nothing more than for her to suffer for what she did to me. But it increases my chances of survival if I keep her with me.


I find her intact in one piece with no signs of battle or monsters nearby. I sigh. But there’s still the problem with Ada. Did she accidentally eat something poisonous? There’s not much I can do for her if that’s the case.


I kneel next to her head. Her breathing is heavy, and sweat drips from her face. I put my palm over her forehead. She’s burning up. Her left arm catches my attention. The wound she suffered is turning slightly yellow on some parts of her raw skin. I don’t think a wound would be infected this quick, but that guy might have done something else to her too.


Do I wait here for her to recover or bring her with me? We’re out in the open here, so it would be risky to stay. But it would also be risky to carry her and continue onward. If I ran into any trouble, she’s toast. I wouldn’t be able to protect us both. I need to find a place where it’s safe to recover. Nowhere is completely safe, but there has to be a place.


In a tree could work, though getting her up there would be difficult, but doable. I climb the thickest nearby tree and then stand on top the branch closest to the ground. It’s thick enough for my purposes. I release a short stream of Fire magic made from Unrefined Mana from my left palm. I guide the flames to the trunk of the tree.


I’m not trying to burst the tree into flames, instead, only to weaken the wood. It doesn’t burn at first because of the presence of Mana inside the tree. It’s only a matter of time before it can’t protect itself from my magic.


Hopefully, the wood on these trees isn’t too hard to break. I only have Iron swords with me because of the basic equipment requirement of the Rising Champions.


Finally, a small piece of the tree burns and smoke rises from it. I use my sword with my free hand to scrape off the smoking pieces from the trunk. It doesn’t take much force to separate it from the rest of the tree, which is a relief. I repeat the process of burning and scraping the tree, eventually carving out a hollow shell of the tree enough to rest Ada inside. Now all there is to do is bring her up.


I jump off the tree and slam my blade into the tree tip first, pushing it until my hilt touches the wood. It’s comfortably high enough for me to jump to it easily while carrying Ada. I’ll put the second one off to the right and equidistant between the first and the branch with the burrow. Now, I’ll be able to climb up the tree with no hands.


I sweep my hands from under Ada to pick her up. The mushrooms she collected are piled under her. I go over to the two steps I created and then go from one foothold to the next. Finally, reaching the branch, I rest her back inside the opening I made while balancing my weight. Her legs hang off the edge because the tree isn’t thick enough to hide her entire body. This won’t protect her completely, especially if monsters here uses magic.


While I’m waiting, I’ll cook those mushrooms. I’ll toss them in a pile and use some Fire magic. I go back to gather the hairy mushrooms I dropped and add them to the heap Ada collected. Things won’t turn well if I use Fire magic on the clump of mushrooms. It’ll end up too burnt that way. But it’s not like I have any cooking supplies either. And it would be too much of a hassle to set one up. I don’t want to set the environment on fire if possible because monsters might smell the smoke. It was already risky to burn a part of the tree, but that was only a little bit at a time.


So I’ll have to cook over mid-air, which means I’ll have to skewer the mushrooms with something. My swords and Ada’s daggers are probably too thick for the job. However, I could use those twigs on the branch. Those should be thin enough for the job.


I take my weapons back from the tree and then put them back into my sheaths. I climb the tree and use one sword to cut off I the most straight-looking twigs from the branch. I jump down to the ground where they fell, remove the leaves, and then skewer all the mushrooms on them. I bring them up on the branch with me.


I sit on the branch next to Ada with my legs hanging in front. I bond my Scrap Mana to Fire Affinity to create a small flat surface of fire with the heat pointing up. I split the twigs among both of my hands and hang it a few inches away from the fire. It won’t be evenly cooked this way since I’m holding a clump of twigs in each hand. The ones near the top won’t be cooked well. I don’t have the patience to do this one by one.


I opt to create more flat surfaces of Fire, all pointing toward the skewers. I form a box of fire, leaving the front and back empty because I don’t want to burn the twig. Since I’m unsure how long I need to cook for, I’ll leave it like this for a while. The rumbling in the distance worries me, but it’s all good here, so far.


“Ugh…” Ada moans.


“Don’t try to move yet. You’re weak.”


“Where am I?”


“I made a hole in a tree. ”


“I see. Sorry for the trouble… Look. I really don’t want to owe you anything, so I’ll swallow my pride just this once. I’ll let you do whatever sick thing you want me to do as payback, and I won’t tell anyone about it.”



“Forget it. I wasn't serious about that,” I say. General Nero is the real person to blame here. He’s the one who triggered everything. “Instead, you can tell me what General Nero told you that day.”


“That…” she pauses.


Speaking of which, General Nero told me to keep my mouth shut regarding the punishment. He must have done the same with Ada…and Captain Albius. I don’t know how he intends to make sure no one knows, but it’s best not to let something slip. Even now, someone could be listening. Highly doubtful, but there could be a way for him to know whether any of us ratted.


“Nevermind. He probably told you to not speak about it or else. The restaurant your parents run. Convince them to give me a free pass for a lifetime. You can do that much, right?”


“I…can’t,” she answers after several seconds. The tone of her voice has a tinge of sadness. Then I make the connection. It all makes sense now. Her blind anger toward me and why she’s in the army instead of continuing to help her parent’s business. Everyone’s in it for revenge, after all. Maybe I can use her help with the upcoming Inteiru Expota.


“Sorry, I should’ve known that you lost them, all things considered. Everyone from the Academy who joined has the same motive.”


“It’s fine. So, sorry. I won’t be able to do that for you either.”


“There’s something else you can help me with, but you have to promise me that you’ll stay calm no matter what I tell you,” I say. Ada furrows her eyebrows and nods her head. “First, you should know that the man we fought earlier…was one of the masked men.”


“What?!” Ada exclaims and leans forward. She clutches her left arm and lets out a cry of pain.


“Quiet. I told you to stay calm. And your body isn’t in the best shape right now. You didn’t feel it earlier because of an adrenaline rush,” I say. Although I could say the same for myself, my left forearm is throbbing with pain. I won’t be able to fight with full strength. It’s also a gamble whether or not my weapons will hold up against monsters in this forest.


“I can’t sit let this bother me after what you’ve told me. How’d you find out?”


“It was his—“


Loud rumblings in the distance. Louder than before. The vibrations shake the branch a few times before going. No signs of any monsters nearby, though. I continue, “It was his parting words. I’ve met him before, twice.”


“Twice?”


“Yeah. The first time was at the beginning of the attack. The second time was in the Underground area of the Academy. That time we went to look for survivors during our enlistment into the army. He left with the same parting word. He called us, ‘suckers.’”


“If he was one of them…do you think there were others?”


“I’m not sure. That’s why it was good that I didn’t chase after him. Hopefully, he was the only one. Otherwise…”


“No, Aisha wouldn’t be dying to the likes of them. We all survived together the first time. Captain Albius is there too.”


“You’re right. Even if there were more of them, I don’t think they would’ve finished anyone off. After all, we’re alive.”


“I’ll make him regret it for not killing me when he had the chance,” Ada says and sits up completely. She scoots next to me.


“You’re fine already? What about your fever?”


“I’ll power through. Are those done yet?”


“I’m not sure,” I respond. They’ve been roasting for a while, so probably. I send out some more Scrap Mana to deactivate my Fire magic. The mushrooms’ color has browned and blackened on the surface. Hopefully, not too burnt. I hand the twigs in my right hand over to Ada.


“Thanks,” she says and then separates one twig from the rest. She blows on them. “So, what did you need help with?”


I give her a quick summary of what we learned from Viessa while we eat the food.


“I haven’t updated Hina, but I’m sure after running into one of the masked men today,” I say. “We’ll do our own investigation during the Inteiru Expota. General Nero knows everything I told you, but he wouldn’t approve an individual investigation. Make sure to keep the inner circle on who knows small.”


“I got it. I need a favor,” she says and looks at her left shoulder. The yellow parts of her injury are darkening and spreading to other parts of her skin. ”He did something to me. I feel really weak. This might be the cause.”


I have a bad feeling about where she’s going with this. She continues, “I need you to burn it.”


I shake my head and reply, “No way. You’ll pass out. I don’t think that’ll fix your issue either. You need to see a doctor.”


“I’m not going to pass out. You’ve given me a lead on those masked men. Now that I know, I won’t let myself kick the bucket here. I’ll be more useful to you if I can hold my own. It’s worth a shot.”


“You’re serious about this?” I ask one last time.


“Yeah, do it,” she answers with a nod.


“Alright. We’ll do it on the ground,” I say and hop off the branch. If she’s going through with this, she won’t be able to keep herself from flopping around. It might be hard for her to jump down from the branch in her state. “Hey—“


She jumped before I could interject. Her legs buckle after touching the ground, and she lands on her butt. “Damn it…”


I was going to offer her some help, but she went off and jumped. She’s definitely the reckless type. I toss all the leftover twigs from the mushrooms except one. I hand her one and say, “You’ll want to bite into this.”


She takes it and then bites into it with her teeth. She rotates her body until her left shoulder is in front of me.


“I shouldn’t have to say this, but I will just in case. You’ll need to keep your voice down and keep your arm steady for me.”


She silently nods. I inspect her arm to check the extent of the damage. Luckily for her, the injury is only located on one side. I won’t have to cover the entire circumference of her arm. The man already cut off her sleeve from the shoulder, so it saves me the trouble.


It’s best that I minimize the time I cover her in Fire. Which means I’ll use Unrefined Mana or Rich Mana to power my magic and hit the entire injury at once. The downside is I’ll torch her healthy skin too, but that’s probably more preferable compared to extending the operation time. Since I’m trying to burn the surface of her skin, a more powerful flame would be better.


I grab hold of her left forearm tightly. I’m stronger than her, so she won’t be able to jolt her arm away when the fire shows up. I bond Rich Mana with my Fire Affinity and instruct them to form a thin band of fire right on top of her wound. It’s set to deactivation in a second. I hold her arm steady in this position since the Mana will appear at the exact assigned location.


“I’m gonna do the whole thing at once. It’s ready to go. Are you ready?” I ask. She gulps and silently nods.


I send a bit of Scrap Mana to the location to activate the magic. Ada squeezes her eyes shut as my fire appears on top of her injury. Surprisingly, she doesn’t try to move away from the fire, and I don’t exert much force trying to keep her arm still. It’s over in a second. She didn’t scream or so much let out a sound. What strong willpower.


I let go of her arm. Her skin has a mixture of white, red, and brown splotches with none of the yellow spots left. She rolls onto her back and grimaces with an open mouth but still stays quiet.


I consider burning my wounds shut on my left arm because my head feels a bit light from the blood loss, but I’d be risking my ability to use my left arm properly in a fight, so probably not the best idea.


Ada spits out the twig and slowly stands up while saying, “I-I’m re-ready.”


Tears and sweat drip from her face as she struggles to keep her balance. “You don’t look ready to me.”


“I-I’m fine. I feel better already.”


We’re both on a time limit. Best to get moving. “Right…well. Let’s go.”


We go back to our previous heading. We come across a few different creatures, but they don’t want to fight. A fat, orange bird with an enormous, wide beak sitting on a tree, a snake, and other small animals like squirrels and rabbits were some that we came across.


I knew it wasn’t going to be easy all the way through. I’m ready for something to go wrong.


And then, something huge lunges at me. I block immediately with both of my swords crossed purely by reflex. A giant snake. It closes its mouth and sinks its fangs into my blades while pushing me backward, putting my back against a tree. Ada screams.


I move Scrap Mana into my arms and legs and then exclaim, “Strength! Haste! A little help here!”


“You-you’re not going to believe this,” she says, standing still. I push with all my strength. A green substance leaks from the snake’s mouth. Simply taking a whiff of it burns the inside of my nose. Something sizzles from the ground while crackling sounds resound inside its mouth. Surprisingly, I’m slowly pushing it back.


“Quick, use Wind magic to knock it away before my swords break!” I yell.


Ada points both of her palms toward the side of the snake’s head. The moment a draft of air blows against my skin, I push forward with a burst of power using only my arms and then jump back, surrendering both of my weapons. The snake is blown away but not before spewing blood all over me.


I shut my eyes because some of the blood went into my eyes. But I saw it before that happened. The only thing left of the snake was its head. That must be why I was able to push it back so easily. I wipe the blood from my eyes with my sleeve.


“Are you okay?” Ada asks.


“Yeah, but what the hell? I ask, turning my head toward the brown snake, flopping on the ground. The hilts of both of my swords are next to it.


“I told you that you weren’t going to believe it.”


“That snake… I think it was the same one that I saw.”


“What happened to it?”


“I don’t know…” I mutter. I walk over to where it initially lunged at me. “It came from over here, so that might give us some answers.”


Behind the bush lies the rest of the snake’s body. I widen my eyes. Something decapitated it with a clean straight vertical cut. Blood continues to spew out of it, forming a larger pool of blood. The snake died recently. I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of monster killed it. We barely missed whatever ended the snake.


“Let’s get out of here,” I say. The thing might come back at any moment to feed on the snake.


“Ri-right. Wait,” she says. She holds her chain daggers in front of her. “Take these. I can’t fully use my left arm right now, so these are useless, and you don’t have a weapon. I still have one other dagger left.”


“Sure,” I respond and take them. I’ve never used these before, but it’s better than nothing. They’re much lighter than my usual weapons and made of Iron too, so won’t be that helpful against monsters like the snake.


We walk around the severed snake head and continue in the same direction, eventually reaching the mound we fought on.


I hope those tigers have moved on to new prey and have left the area by now. Just in case, we sneak up the hill slowly, putting our bodies against the ground nearing the top. We peak out with only our head to minimize detection. We’re on the side with grass still standing, so we have to stand up to see anything. The coast is clear.


Most of the mound has burned up due to Ruby’s magic, so it’s easy to spot the bodies. We jog over there as it might give us some clues about who fell to the monsters.


Something is not right. While it’s not surprising that they’ve eaten everything from skin to flesh from head to toe, but even some of the bones and armor broke into pieces with some missing. Their stomachs must be pretty strong to be able to digest metal and bones. They didn’t bother eating the weapon leftovers, though.


Judging by the number of weapons left on the ground, I’d say around twenty people died, unless I missed some hidden in the grass somewhere. Since there were sixteen people on each team, that means at least four died from our side? With a few of these bows left on the ground, it doesn’t make me feel any less uneasy.


I crouch down next to one of the bows left over. I think Marin’s bow is a bit longer than these. Or were they shorter? I don’t know anymore. For all I know, these bones could be all that’s left of her. Marin’s lifeless head appears in place of the skull on this body. Is it happening again?


“What are you doing, gawking over there? That’s not your friend,” Ada says.


“How’re you sure?” I ask, my heart racing.


“I’m not, but those bones look a little too big for her. When I helped with my parents’ shop, I saw a lot of different carcasses. One thing they had in common was that females usually had smaller bones than males. The bone size around here all look identical, so they have to be all male.”


I look around to compare the relative size of the bones. It’s hard to find a fair comparison since each body seems to be missing a different bone. But she’s right that these all look similar. Nothing stands out.


I don’t know if the group Xantho sent comprised of all males, but there’s also Captain Albius’ team and the other overseer platoon. That’s twenty-four more people right there. I completely overlooked it. What am I worried about? The majority of the people gathered were men, so it makes sense.


A tiger roar resounds nearby. It’s close!



I stand up immediately, recognizing it. It’s definitely the tiger from before. I prepare instructions for my Void magic to avoid the worst case scenario monsters surround us again.


The tiger with red fur with yellow and orange stripes leaps on the mound from lower ground and then charges at us. There are no other tigers nearby. Do we make a run for it like before? I don’t think these chain daggers are going to cut it.


No, wait… It’s injured. At least ten arrows are sticking out of the body. The tiger roars again as sparks of electricity erupt from within out of nowhere. It must have carried some charge with it, though I didn’t see any Lightning magic shoot out from anywhere. The monster drops to the ground, twitching.


“It’s Melody!” Ada exclaims.


“It’s down!” someone yells from the edge of the mound.


Captain Albius appears, running faster than he did during our first duel despite holding onto his massive hammer. He jumps into the air with his arms stretched back as far as possible, swinging the hammer down toward the tiger’s head upon landing. Blood explodes from the tiger’s head where he had struck. It splatters everywhere nearby. The force of the blow was so powerful it created a dent in the ground and a loud boom that was a mixture of hitting the ground and smashing the skull of the tiger.


He looks up and says, “Oh, Sergeant Kai and Corporal Ada? You’re alive.”


“Ye-yeah,” I answer. This is the first time I’ve seen Captain Albius in action other than our duel. I have a feeling that wasn’t his full strength. Seeing how the threat is gone, I cancel the instructions I wrote for my magic.


He stands up and stores the hammer on his back. A crowd of people emerges one by one from the bottom of the mound. I have questions for him, but I want to make sure Marin and Ruby are fine first. I gulp as Ada’s entire team are in sight first before anyone from my team.


“Ada!” Aisha exclaims. “We were so worried!”


Still, no one from my platoon arrives. My heart sinks. But just because they haven’t appeared with Aisha’s team, it doesn’t mean that they’re dead…right?


“He-hey Captain Albius… Whe-where’s my team…?” I ask trembling.


“Oh… They sacrificed themselves,” he says.


I hold in my breath and mutter, “What?”



I know I heard him correctly, but I can’t believe it. He laughs. Does he not care about the lives of Marin and Ruby? I started to trust him recently, but maybe that was a mistake.


“Relax, Kai. You’re misunderstandin’. All I meant was that they sacrificed all of their Mana to weaken the Keor. They should be restin’ outside the Panoramic Grove now with my platoon,” Captain Albius informs.


“Oh…” I interject, ending it with a long sigh.


“You did well to survive. What happened?”


“That’s what we should be asking you,” I say. “I thought you were watching over us from somewhere. We fought this crazy guy that broke all the rules…but that’s not important now. I found out he was one of the masked men.”


Captain Albius expression darkens and asks, “You’re sure?”


“Yeah. We barely escaped with our lives.”


“It’s true,” Ada says, walking toward us. Her team right behind her. “If it weren’t for Kai, I would’ve been done for.”


“That’s why it’s really important to know where the group from Xantho are. More of them could be from the white mask group,” I say.


“You don’t have to worry about that. All the participants from their side were killed, leavin’ only a few from the overseer group alive. They’re outside with everyone else.”


“Then, let’s hurry back!” I exclaim. If they’re with the masked men, there’s no time to waste.


“There’s no need to be hasty. My men are no pushovers, and you’re actin’ as if the masked men are from the Xantho military. It won’t look good for us if you go out there and accuse them. Do you have any proof that he was in their group?”


“Well, he was hiding in the ground when we went to check for any survivors after Ruby’s attack. Didn’t their entire team do that?”


“Yeah, but that’s not any proof. Did you kill him?”


“No,” I answer. This isn’t good. He’s going to ask how we thwarted him off. I used Void magic, but I can’t tell him any of that. Ada also knows, but she knows not to spill the beans. We’ll have to get our stories straight if he asks.


“There’s nothing we can do. You don’t know this yet, but we haven’t officially informed any other kingdom about the attack on Drymo. That’s one thing on the agenda for the Inteiru Expota. It’s good enough that you survived and brought this information to us. General Nero will be pleased. You did well.”


“Thank you, sir. What happened to the battle?”


“It was cancelled due to the incomin’ monster attack, but their overseer said they would admit defeat if we took out the Keor. We’re takin’ home a win.”


“Ugh…” Ada moans and collapses face first on the ground.


“Ada!” her team exclaims, gathering around her.


I almost forgot about her injury. I inform, “She needs a doctor’s attention immediately. The man we fought skinned her alive and did something to her. She collapsed earlier with a fever too with her injury discolored yellow, until she told me to burn it off with my magic. I knew it wasn’t gonna work, but she insisted.”


“We’ll head back to Drymo immediately,” Captain Albius says and walks off. “Someone carry her.”


Deniz takes her, and the rest of us follow Captain Albius out of this forest.


The initial breeze of cold air feels good. Marin is resting on one of the wagons as far as I can see with Ruby asleep on her lap. Captain Albius was a bit sarcastic with the sacrifice part. Marin and Ruby are the only two that can use magic other than myself on the team. Ruby should’ve burned most of her Mana in the initial attack, but I don’t know how large her Mana pool is. Marin seems fine since she’s awake.


I’m going to miss this place only because it was warm. It nearly made me forget that we’re in the middle of dead winter.


“We’re leavin’ immediately! Hand out the rations,” Captain Albius says as he walks his platoon. Marin and I exchange waves as I follow Captain Albius. He continues to the other five men left from Xantho’s group. I pay close attention to their leader.


“Is it done?” the man asks.


“Yes,” Captain Albius answers.


“Good work on disposing of an A-ranked monster, though I’m not sure how fair it is for you to participate as well. I didn’t say you couldn’t, so as agreed, we’ll report the battle as our loss,” the man answers. I’ll remember his face. It doesn’t look like he has any injuries. Did he leave his men to die? I look away at the moment our eyes meet.


“It was nothin’,” Captain Albius says. “I only finished it off. The participants weakened it to the point that allowed me to finish it. We’ll take our leave.”


I follow Captain Albius back to our transportation. He turns toward me and says, “Sergeant Kai, we’ll have another discussion when we’re back, but really well done today. You must have worked well with Ada to survive an encounter with one of the masked men. There’s no doubt that you’ll be one of the chosen platoons to escort the ministers and the king to the upcomin’ Inteiru Expota.”


“Thank you, sir,” I respond. Marin’s wagon is already full, so I guess we’re going back to Drosera with the same seating as before. Jetia, Garen, and Laud have already switched places with members of Sigma 3.


I climb onto my assigned wagon. I’m the last one to arrive.


“Our great leader’s alive, hooray,” Jetia says with no enthusiasm. “We all thought some monsters took you out in the back. If it weren’t for Marin and Ruby vouching for you and Sigma 3 vouching for Ada, Captain Albius wouldn’t have accepted Xantho’s replacement offer for selecting the winner.”


“There’s no way that’s true. Captain Albius values me. So take that into account of why he decided to do that,” I say.


“Whatever. I’m just letting you know what I saw. Don’t forget about yer promise.”


“Yeah, yeah. We’ll do it when we’re back,” I answer. It’s a bit of a stretch to play along considering Captain Albius took care of most of the training for the battle. Still, I made the promise. I also don’t want him to piss him off too much because he knows the truth between my relationship with Marin.


A member from Captain Albius’ team hands some food for us for the journey back to Drymo. It includes a portion for Ada too even though she’s not conscious. I miss those mushrooms already. It was far tastier than these hard pieces of dried meat and bread. Our transports embark back to Drymo.


“Kai, I want to thank you sincerely for saving Ada’s life,” Aisha says. “So, thank you.”


“Thank you,” the two other archers from Sigma 3 say with their heads lowered.


Aisha continues, “But I also want to apologize…for how Ada has treated you in the past.”


“It’s whatever. I needed her help to survive too. She apologized to me whole-heartedly for how she treated me, and I can understand her circumstances. The masked men got her parents.”


“Yes, but I doubt she shared with you the entire perspective. I think you have the right to know. Now’s a good time since Ada’s unconscious.”


So it’s something she doesn’t want Ada to know that she told me. Is it because it would bring too many sad memories? I don’t have anything better to do right now. I take a bite into the dried meat and say, “Okay, let’s hear it.”


“All of us knew that you weren’t truly one of the masked men or held any responsibility for the attack, but we didn’t discourage her with her reasoning.”


Seriously? Today is full of surprises. I never thought to blame any of the other members on her team for her behavior, but now I’m starting to think differently. So they’re all scummy. They essentially encouraged her to treat me that way, only caring for her feelings and not mine. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth despite that I’ve moved on from it.


“It was easier to blame someone for her parents’ death than no one at all. To be more accurate, it was her adoptive parents’ death.”


“So they weren’t even her real parents?”


“Yes, but it was just as impactful as real parents would be. Or even more considering the circumstances.”


“I get that. I can relate because I never knew my real parents either,” I say. Emdos isn’t my birth father, but he served the same role. Where did you go, Emdos?


“Sure, but she did know her real parents. They abandoned her because she was a bit of a problem child. She grew up hyperactive for her age and had a penchant for sharp knives. She broke everything and misbehaved. So, her parents abandoned her at a young age of five. But that wasn’t the end of it. She went through many adoptions, but it all ended the same. Until one family accepted her for who she was.”


“The ones who ran a restaurant?”


“Yes. We spent our downtime during our 5th year gathering materials for them because we knew how much they meant to Ada. We always took the time to collect meat, extract crystals from monsters, gather plants, and anything else we could find. She wanted to help out in any way she could to make them proud. It’s really unfortunate how it ended.”


“Okay, I get the whole picture now, but why’d she have to blame me? I ask. It’s all the same if she takes me out of the equation. “Blame the masked men. Hate them. That’s what I did. And that’s what drives me forward.”


“It was easier for her to blame someone physically near her. We don’t know anything about the attackers, after all. It’s easier to hate a person rather than an unknown group. She made herself think that you were one of them, and the hate helped her steer away from blaming herself and helped her move on. You were her goal. Thanks for listening. And thank you again for taking the high road, saving her life,” Aisha says.


“No problem,” I answer. I don’t want to bring up the stuff about the snake earring group now with Jetia and the two goons listening, though I might have to eventually.


The last part of Aisha’s story reminds of that man’s words. “The secret is rage… Let it consume you and you will become much stronger.”


I shake my head. I don’t want to think that much about it. I’m just glad everything worked out in the end today. The only time we truly came out on top with no losses to my knowledge. I finish the rations and take a nap.

 

Chapter 62 – Inteiru Expota – Arrival


After another long ride, we arrive back at Drymo. From the looks of it, it’s past dinner time but not quite the usual bedtime. I’ve slept a lot during the ride, so I’ll be awake all night.


Our transport comes to a stop outside the stables by the Castle. I couldn’t be any more glad to be finally done.


“Those of you not going to the Clinic can leave here,” one of Captain Albius’ men says from the front of the wagon.


That’s right. There’s still a bit more to go since we’re going to be taking the back entrance to the Clinic. Ada and I should be the only ones injured here, but I’m sure her platoon will be staying too. That means, only Jetia and the two goons will be leaving. They should be glad that our group was pretty competent. They didn’t have to risk their lives much at all thanks to Ruby and the archers. Not even a scratch on them.


“You going to be busy with Hina tonight?” Jetia asks with a smirk. This bastard. He knows that it’s all an act.


“Of course,” I answer, forcing a smile. I can’t really answer any other way. “If she’s in the mood.”


“Kai, you lady killer,” Laud says.


“I hope Ruby doesn’t get too jealous. I’d hate if she lashed out at you or Hina again,” Garen says.


“As our leader, I hope you stay responsible for yer actions and don’t get us caught in the crossfire,” Jetia says and hops off the wagon and walks away. The two goons follow. Jetia continues, “I’ll let Hina know how you fought valiantly during the battle.”


The wagon continues moving.


“So, how’d you manage to calm Ruby down during that day?” Aisha asks. I slowly turn my head toward her. “She seemed a bit upset about the whole thing, given your…history.”


“You were there?” I ask.


“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Most of us from the Academy were there…but we didn’t want to get involved.”


What do I tell her? I can’t tell her the facts because no one can know the truth about the relationship between Hina and me. Not even her platoon knows. Would anyone ever believe that Ruby would simply calm down? I gulp.


“You and Hina always struck me as an unlikely couple. Hina’s more of a hard worker with a sense of justice. You’re nothing like that. It’s all a lie, isn’t it? That’s the only way I see how you calmed Ruby down.”


Shit. Sweat slowly creeps out my skin, everywhere. I try not to have any sort of reaction toward her words while keeping my head locked in place. I can’t hesitate to answer any longer. I crack a smile and reply, “I see how a lot of people like you would make have that misunderstanding, but first of all, I work plenty of hard. I simply like people to think that I don’t try. Why do you think I took naps all the time? I was training when everyone was sleeping at night.”


What the hell am I saying? No one’s buying this. But with three pairs of eyes on me, I can’t stop now. I continue, “Hina caught me in the act one day, and we instantly connected. Sorry, I’m not as talented as you thought I was. As for Ruby, I told her that my blossoming with Hina wasn’t a sudden thing. It wasn’t manipulation or anything like what she thought. I also lied and told her that Hina didn’t mean anything to me and that I might pursue her instead in the future. What can I say? I’m a lady killer like Laud said.”


“I...see…” Aisha replies with little energy. Not sure if she bought it. There’s no winning scenario here. People are going to have a false negative view about me if she did. “Your secret’s safe with us. We’re not going to meddle in your business. You are quite the lady killer, though. You managed to destroy Ada’s stubbornness and change her too. I’d approve of you two.”


I force a laugh. It’s the sound of my reputation dying. “You can’t be serious. I only have eyes for Hina.”


“Of course. I’m joking.”


The thought of Ada and me together as a couple sickens me regardless. Ada wouldn’t be pleased to hear that either if she was awake. Now might be a good time to bring up what is coming next. Though, I don’t know if Ada wants to involve the two novices with the investigation. With one of them here, maybe I shouldn’t bring it up. I’ll let her handle it. Hopefully soon because the Inteiru Expota is right around the corner.


We eventually reach the back entrance of the Castle and then pass through the nearby entrance to the Clinic. Aisha’s team carries Ada off the wagon and follows a man who presumably directs them to an empty room. I follow another man to the second floor. I’ve never seen the Clinic this populated before. We were probably the last ones to arrive from our respective Rising Champions battle, but it makes sense because the travel time is the longest. It’s still surprising to see so many with injuries, considering that we only had a few at best.


I arrive in an empty room. Apparently, there’s a waiting time before a doctor will come to see me. Since I’ll probably be here a while, it’s time to relax. I take off my armor and boots before stretching my body across the bed with my back resting on the frame. This is bliss compared to a hard rickity wagon. I close my eyes, practically melting into the bed while filtering all the noise.


“Kai?” Ruby asks.


I open my eyes. Ruby and Marin are next to me. I say, “Oh, hey.”


Ruby looks toward my bloody arm and asks, “How’re ya feelin’?”


“I’m fine. It’s not that bad.”


She grabs my hands and kneels, resting her head on top of them. “I was really scared, ya know. That ya weren’t gonna come back.”


She’s overreacting as usual. I let out a chuckle and then say, “Seriously, this is nothing. I’ve endured worse. There’s nothing to worry about.”


“No!” she screams tearfully. Her fluids wet my hands. “I’m talkin’ ‘bout when ya were in the forest without us.”


Oh, when I was split from everyone for a while. “But I wasn’t alone. I was with Ada.”


“Yeah…but… Captain Albius was actin’ like ya were already gone. He said ya were probably already dead from monsters.”


“Really?” I ask, looking toward Marin. She nods her head. Jetia did say something like that too. I guess he wasn’t lying.


“Yeah… So I’m really glad yer okay now,” Ruby says and then sniffs.


So, she was worried about me whole-heartedly… It’s because I’m still too weak. I need to get stronger for the sake of Ruby and Marin. I don’t want to see Ruby or Marin sad. Seeing her crying like this reminds me of her. “Look, I’m fine now, so you don’t have to cry anymore.”


“I’m sorry. I’ll try ta stop cryin’ if it’s botherin’ ya,” she says while wiping her face with her sleeve.


“Uh, no. It’s not bothering me. You don’t have to force yourself.”


“No, I’m fine now,” she says with a smile. Her gaze penetrates me. Some water rushes into the back of my eyes, but I hold them back and look away. I always doubt myself during times like these that I made the wrong choice back then to cast her out, but it’s all a trick. It’s only her shell. I have to remember that.


“Hey, Darling,” Hina says. She appears from the hallway. “Heard you were back.”


“Hey Hi-Pearl,” I respond, correcting myself as Luke comes in the room too. Why is he here? This just complicates things.


“Pearl?” Ruby asks and turns around.


“That would be me,” Hina answers as she walks closer. Marin steps aside to make room for her. Hina climbs onto the bed on the side with my good arm. She moves her head closer to mine.


Is she crazy? This is a little bit too bold with Ruby in the room. Even though I told her that it’s all a lie anyway. But a kiss is a kiss. Now that she’s set this in motion, I can only follow. I lean in a bit, and we exchange a quick kiss on the lips. Ruby frowns and stares at us. I have no idea what she’s thinking right now. I need her to behave, or a lot of things will go to shit.


Just like how Aisha has been doubtful of us, maybe Hina is feeling pressure from other sources too. I put my arm around her.


“How’re you feelin’?” Hina asks. “Heard you fought valiantly.”


Damn Jetia. Always trying to screw me over. “Yeah, well. It was a hard-fought battle for a lot of reasons. This is my only injury.”


I move my left arm in view for everyone to see. It might be safe to divulge who I met during the battle with the people in this room, and it seems like a good time.


“Hina, I’m sorry…” Ruby suddenly says. “Fer attackin’ ya in the cafeteria that one day.”


“Apology accepted. As long as we have the mutual understandin’ that Kai isn’t yours. He’s mine,” Hina declares.


My palms sweat. God, it never ends.



“I understand,” Ruby says with a grin. “I hope ya take good care of ‘im.”


I need to change the subject before any more tension builds up. I say, “So, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you guys… I met one of the masked men during the Rising Champions battle. The hard-fought battle? Yeah, it was with him.”


“How’d that happen?” Hina asks with a concerned expression. Ruby and Marin look at me with worry too. But it’s good that Ruby is holding back, especially, to not get touchy with me again.


I fill everyone in on the important details minus my true magic capabilities and summarize the stuff we learned from Viessa for Ruby and Luke.


“So, we’re probably gonna meet with Ada’s team sometime tomorrow to discuss our plan,” I inform.


“What do you think, Luke? Are you in?” Hina asks.


“Of course,” Luke answers.


“Do you think you can fill in Simon and Dennis?” Hina asks.


“I can do that. I’ll go now before the night’s over,” he says and then leaves.


I sigh.


“Ya can let go of ‘er now, Kai,” Ruby says with a pout.


Right, there’s no reason to pretend with everyone in this room knowing the truth. I take my arm off Hina. Ruby switches her glare to Hina.


“I need to stay here for safe measure, in case someone else walks in,” Hina replies and then smiles. “Are you gettin’ jealous?”


I nudge Hina in the side with my elbow. She’s messing with Ruby too much. Who knows how she’ll react?


“Hmph!” Ruby interjects and turns away. She’s taking this a lot better than I thought.


“Still, I can’t believe you survived a head-on fight with one of the masked men,” Hina says. “And he let you two live afterward. There must’ve been another way to implicate Xantho if he wanted to do that.”


“Was he that guy that went boom! On that girl that one day?” Ruby asks.


“Yeah,” I respond. “We’ll never know what they’re really thinking until we capture them and ask them ourselves. I think that’s the goal at the Inteiru Expota. If they’re really gonna show up. We’re gonna find a way to capture one of them and find out what they know.”


“How do you plan on findin’ them? Are you goin’ to look for that lake? We don’t have any other clues where they might be,” Hina says.


“I don’t know, but they have to be keeping tabs on everyone who’re meeting at the Inteiru Expota right? They’d have to be in the city somewhere. We’d split up and look for suspicious people. Tail them and see where they go.”


“That’s not very safe to do alone, and it would be too obvious as a group. Not to mention, they’re givin’ us all these clues that they’re goin’ to appear. You’d think they’d cover their tracks because they’re expectin’ us.”


“You don’t know how that masked man I fought was, but I was there. Ada could relate too. He seemed to like games. He chose to play along and give us a chance. Maybe, they’re all like that. They’re giving us these clues on purpose to mess around and have some fun.”


“That seems far-fetched. Meticulously plannin’ out an attack while purposely leavin’ holes around for it to fall apart. I think that man you fought was actin’ alone. Not a part of the group’s interest. I mean, you met him before at the Underground area after the attack right? He stuck around when all their other members left. He’s the only one treadin’ on the edge.”


“He wasn’t the only there, I know it. It might not be a part of their group operation as you said, but I can’t believe there’s only one person wanting to satisfy their own motives. What do you guys think?” I ask, tilting my head in Ruby’s and Marin’s directions.


“I’m on yer side!”


“I don’t know since I wasn’t there…but I’ll trust your judgment, Kai.”


“See? Three against one,” I say.


Hina sighs. “Right… We need more than a single plan that’s bound to fall apart.”


“We’ll think of more plans tomorrow in detail with everyone present. Someone has to have a good idea. Worst case, we’ll think of something once we’re there. It’ll work out,” I say.


“That blind confidence of yours is somethin’,” she says. Captain Albius walks in. Hina lunges her entire body toward me and exclaims, “I’ve missed you so much!”


I don’t know anymore if Captain Albius believes our ruse but better safe than sorry. I put my arm around Hina again after her outburst. “I’ve missed you too.”


I direct my attention to Captain Albius and say, “Hey, Captain Albius.”


“Hey, Sergeant Kai, how’re you feelin’?” Captain Albius asks. “I see you’re very popular with the ladies.”


I laugh and reply, “Not too bad. Still waiting for the doctor to show up.”


“They’re prioritizin’ Ada since her injuries were worse. Someone should be comin’ for you soon. Anyway, I have some news I wanted to bring you. I just got back from talkin’ to General Nero.”


“What kind of news?” I ask.


“All good news. First, General Nero was impressed by your performance in the Rising Champions. Your coordination with Corporal Ada to ward off an attack by one of the masked men was great, but he especially respects you for movin’ past the bad blood between you and Corporal Ada. It’s certainly fascinatin’ to him when Corporal Ada, who despised you greatly, vouchin’ that you saved her life and creditin’ you with good.”


“That’s my Darling!”


Captain Albius smiles before continuing, “The information you brought regardin’ the attackers on our city was good too. If you complete your upcomin’ task, there’s no doubt he’ll promote you to Lieutenant by the end of it. You’ll be the youngest man to have achieved Lieutenant in our entire history. Congratulations.”


I gawk, taking a few seconds to let that absorb before answering, “Seriously? Wow… Thanks.”


“Which brings me to the last piece of good news, General Nero respects your relationship with Sergeant Hina, and he’s groupin’ you two together for the upcomin’ mission. To be more accurate, Sigma 4 and Sigma 8 will be completin’ that mission together. It starts in two days in the morning. You’ll escort a few ministers from Drymo to Syrina where the Inteiru Expota starts in four days. You’re responsible for their safety for the entire event, three days and travel to and from Syrina. Full details available tomorrow.”


“Well, that’s all I got for you. If you need something, let me know,” he says and then walks away.


There's that piece that Jetia and Ruby told me. Did Captain Albius really intend on abandoning us? It’s all a misunderstanding, but I'll clear it up.


“Wait,” I say. He stops and turns around. “I heard you were hesitating on accepting Xantho’s deal on taking out the Keor for the victory. You were going under the assumption that Ada and I were both already dead.”


“Yeah, ya were gonna leave ‘im! Don’t lie ‘bout it!”


He’s expressionless and doesn’t say anything. Was everything true? He’s caught red-handed, so he doesn’t have anything to say back. But then, he bursts out laughing. “Yeah, my actin’ skills are pretty awesome. It was a loyalty test. I never planned on abandonin’ you in there. Why would I ditch someone I had high hopes for? Of course, Corporal Ruby and Corporal Marin backed you up. There wasn’t anyone else, but that’s okay, you excelled everywhere else. Sigma 3 passed it with flyin’ colors.”


I laugh and then reply, “I knew it was something else. It didn’t feel right otherwise.”


Speaking of Sigma 3, did they get selected for the upcoming mission? If they didn’t, there’s not much of a point to meet up with them to plan tomorrow. But, the whole point of the investigation and plan was to put our reputations on the line to become a Lieutenant quicker. If I’m already guaranteed the role, the risk isn’t worth it anymore. I could call in another favor from Captain Albius to help us out to reduce it, but the result could be so bad that I don’t end up as Lieutenant.


“Well, then. I’ll be on my way,” Captain Albius says and then leaves.


“Jeez… I seriously can’t believe you’re bein’ promoted to Lieutenant already,” Hina says. “Somethin’ isn’t right.”


“Is it so hard to believe? I’ve been following my orders and have had good results recently. You could learn from us,” I say with a smug.


“That’s exactly the problem. How many people here do you think follows their orders? Practically everyone. What makes you so different? If a few good results were all that’s needed to advance, there’d be a lot more promotions. On top of that, you’ll have achieved it in what…eight months?”


“It’s ‘cause Kai’s the best! Yer just jealous. Don’t wanna admit that he’s more successful than ya,” Ruby says.


“Je-jealous? Of course not. I wouldn’t be jealous over my boyfriend,” Hina says and squeezes my arm tightly. Ruby frowns and glares. Hina lets go of me and says, “I’m kiddin’, okay? It’s just that I’ve been talkin’ to actual Lieutenants. I know exactly how much work, success, and luck it takes to become one. It has taken them anywhere between two and ten years from our rank. One person, in particular, I talked to took over a decade.”


“What about that one Lieutenant who we saw on our first day…? The one with orange hair and similar hairstyle as you, pigtails,” I say. “She seemed pretty young.”


“I haven’t talked to Lieutenant Elinnore, so I don’t know, but other people talk about her. I’ve heard…rumors.”


“Rumors? Like what?” I ask.


Hina looks at Marin and then Ruby before responding, “Nevermind. It’s only rumors. I don’t know if it's true.”


“Come on, now you’ve got me curious. What rumors?” I ask again.


Hina sighs. “That she slept her way up the ladder. The words slut and whore were used. And she isn’t the only one. All the women at Lieutenant rank or higher have rumors floatin’ around, so I think it’s all garbage.”


“I see, so why were you hesitating on telling us?”


“Didn’t want to scare Ruby or Marin on what might be comin’. There’s no precedent for someone as young as you becomin’ Lieutenant. In record time too. People will be jealous, and rumors will start, seein’ how two young women are right under your command.”


“People are dumb. Us ex-adventurers are just superior to these masses of mindless guards. And General Nero got into his position within a year or two of us enlisting, right? Maybe he’s more progressive and wants to change how things are done, so how promotions are decided changed too.”


“You’re right. I’m sure the ones who spread the rumors about Lieutenant Elinnore and the other women are men who were rejected by them. They’re bitter and jealous about it. You know, I think the real reason why you start seein’ more women in the higher ranks compared to the lower ranks is because we’re more dedicated than men.”


“Wait, is that true?” I ask. I know that the army comprises of mostly men. Most women I’ve seen are ones from the Academy or new recruits on the same day we joined. Then there are the non-combatants, but not a whole not of women otherwise. “You’re saying that out of all the women and men here, the percentage of women in the higher ranks is higher than men, right?”


“Oh…yeah. It’s because we’re willin’ to sacrifice things, unlike men. Right?” Hina asks and looks toward Ruby. She gives her a dirty look. Probably misunderstanding again. Either that or she doesn’t like any statements that put me in a bad light. Hina looks toward Marin, but she stays silent. She’s been quiet this whole time, but this is a bit of a tricky situation. We don’t want to give Ruby any clues on who’s actually with who here.


“Well,” I interject. “I don’t know about that one. Are you trying to imply that you work harder than me?”


“No, I’m talkin’ about sacrifice and men in general. For example, when we have children, we’re always the ones who put everythin’ aside to raise the child while men leave us to do their own thing.”


“That’s got nothing to do with anything in the army, but I’ll bite. I grew up without my real parents; I only had Emdos. Marin’s parents were both adventurers, and neither of them gave it up. Ada’s real parents both abandoned her. Drugo and Hiro were orphans, and then there’s…” I stop, not wanting to bring up her name. Ruby looks away. “Jetia. He sacrificed his Academy education to take of his mother and still sends her money.”


“That’s only a few cases. I’m talkin’ about the general population. Could you say the same for all the mindless guards around here?”


“Hmm. Probably not,” I reply. She got me at mindless guards. Not a lot of people around here have a backbone. “You’re probably right.”


“And just so we’re clear, my father ran off when I was young, leavin’ my mother alone. I experienced it first-hand.”


“Oh, so you’re dragging personal feelings into this, after all,” I say with a smile.


“That doesn’t change anythin’…anyway, it’s only a possibility I thought up. We’re gettin’ too sidetracked here. When’re we meetin’ tomorrow?”


“Oh, umm… I don’t know.”


Hina smiles and cocks an eyebrow. “Wait, you’re not havin’ second thoughts about this, are you? Because you’re gettin’ promoted?”


I sigh. “A little bit. I mean, when I’m Lieutenant, I’ll freely be able to investigate. If things don’t go well during this time, General Nero might change his mind about promoting me to Lieutenant, right?”


“What happened to that blind confidence of yours? ‘It’ll work out,’ you said.”


“That was before I knew I would be promoted to Lieutenant anyway. You were skeptical before, but now you’re suddenly on-board with the plan? Do you want us to fail, so my promotion’s gone?”


“I didn’t say I didn’t want to go through with the investigation. I said I wasn’t completely on-board with the plan you proposed. This is what I was talkin’ about before. You don’t want to take one for the team and sacrifice your promotion.”


“Come on, that’s not fair. You wouldn’t either if you knew you’d get a promotion.”


“No, I’d do it. Think about it. When you’re conductin’ your own investigation, you’ll only have your platoon. You won’t have my platoon or Sigma 3 to support you. You want to mess around with them with only Ruby and Marin as your reliable backup? And you won’t know where to find them. This time around, we know they’re goin’ to show up at the Inteiru Expota, and as you said, they’ve laid out clues for us to follow.”


She makes a good point. I can’t forget about the reason why I’m striving to become a Lieutenant. “Okay, fine. I might still go through with the plan. I’m gonna have to call in another favor from Captain Albius to see if he can assist us in any way. With the mission, it doesn’t sound like we can leave the ministers alone at any time, but maybe there’s a way. Hopefully, Ada’s team was selected for the mission too.”


“How does meetin’ at lunch or after lunch sound?” Hina asks.


“That’s fine,” I respond. Though we could meet as early as the morning. Since we had plenty of rest over our ride back, we don’t need any rest. It probably wouldn’t be good to be meeting the entire time, though. I don’t want gossip about us to circulate to General Nero. He’d be able to piece one thing with another and figure out that we’re planning something. He’s the last person I want to find out about what we’re doing.


I’ll have up until lunch tomorrow to meet with Ada and call in the favor with Captain Albius.


A doctor arrives a few minutes later to treat my injuries. Unfortunately, I split up with Ruby and Marin to accompany Hina to her room when it’s time to leave. We put on another act in case anyone is listening to keep up our charade. With nothing else to do, I force myself to sleep, waking up every hour of the night until morning.


We temporarily separate as I return to my room in the morning to take a well-deserved shower. Later, we meet up to check the mail station. I filter out the trash I always get from Beltan, to find the details of the mission in detail Captain Albius spoke of yesterday. We go to the cafeteria for breakfast, where I find the chance to meet up with Ada.


She filled in her entire team on what’s going on, but the four novices are fine with being left out of the plan. That means that there would be thirteen of us, assuming that Hina and Luke convince the other two Academy folk to join. I let her know that we’d be meeting around lunchtime. Perfect, since that’s when Ruby has agreed to always show up for lunch. Otherwise, who knows what she’s doing right now.


And so, the day passes. It’s finally the morning we leave for Syrina. The three ministers we’re escorting have a fancy convoy while we’re in the back of a wagon again. Despite that we’re responsible for the safety of them during the ride, we’re traveling as a kingdom, so there’s not much danger. Half of us lead the convoy while the other half follow it, sandwiching them in the middle.


The ride is long and boring. I’ve been having a lot of that recently. It takes eight hours to reach the border up north. For some reason, our pace slows down dramatically for our travel in Neomeris. Something to do with safety precautions, but you’d think it would be more dangerous traveling slower, but I don’t make the decisions. The eight of us take turns staying awake to keep watch.


The transportations take several stops throughout the ride because of monster attacks at the front, but we don’t get any action back here.


Just like that, Syrina is in our sights the next morning. Since we’re on higher ground, it’s a sight to behold. The city is immensely massive. Since I’ve never been to any other city outside of Drymo, I don’t know what the standard is. Maybe Drymo is a small city. But I can’t imagine anything being as large as Syrina. But it makes sense, if all the races coexist here, there has to be enough room to accommodate for an extra headcount.


It doesn’t take much longer to reach the city. I thought I would see Elves, Dwarves, and Xog walking everywhere mixed with Humans, but there are only Humans right now. We were told we would be entering from the Human entrance, so there wouldn’t be many of the other races loitering around the edge of this part of the city.


The convoys in front of us split off from the group. We go our separate ways since each set of ministers goes to a different inn. If all the ministers to the same inn, the masked men could use large-scale magic to easily take them all out even if we’re there to protect them. They’d be less likely to employ this tactic if they were split up.


Captain Albius said that the best time to investigate would be today since the ministers would be staying at their inns the entire time and then the periods they’re at the grand meeting since we won’t be attending the actual event.


We reach our destination; The Windmill Inn. I stretch and say, “Finally.”



“Darling, were you that sick of keepin’ me warm durin’ the ride?” Hina asks. Luke, Simon, and Dennis stare at us.


With them present the entire time, tensions were a bit high since Ruby was with us too. I might’ve preferred a more relaxing atmosphere and had our platoons sit separately from Sigma 8. But since the higher-ups thought they were doing good with pairing our platoons together, they wanted us to ride intermingled too. I made the mistake of acting relieved when I shouldn’t do that considering my relationship with Hina.


I laugh once and respond, “Of course not, Pearl. I just hate sitting still for so long. You know that.”


She laughs and then answers, “I know, Darling. Just teasin’.”


We both smile.


“We should bring the ministers inside before you two get too flirty,” Luke says.


“Right,” I say. The group in front meets us as we open the doors to the convoy. “Gentleman, we’ve arrived at The Windmill Inn, where you’ll be staying until the Inteiru Expota tomorrow.”


“Hell, no,” one of them says.


“Excuse me?” I ask.


“You heard me. We refuse to stay confined to an inn for an entire day. We want to explore the city and witness the current state of interracial relationships.”


“Our orders from General Nero is that you’ll be staying—“


“Fuck General Nero,” another one of them says, “He’s been trying to sabotage our policy changes for over a year. He’s trying to shove us inside an inn, so we don’t have any time to prepare for the Inteiru Expota.”


Is this a test? I don’t know if General Nero or Captain Albius is watching from somewhere. A test of loyalty like from the Rising Champions battle. If that’s true, our plan to meet up later today with Ada’s group might not be possible either way. Captain Albius didn’t say anything about that, so that doesn’t sound right. “Sir, I need you to—“


“Of course, we’d be happy to accompany you around the city,” Hina interrupts. “Where would you like to go?”


“What’re you doing?” I ask in a whisper next to Hina’s ear. “What about our plans to meet up with Ada?”


She whispers back in my ear, “Improvise. A few of us can split off from the group for a bit to send the message to Ada.”


“You two go,” Luke whispers. “We got this.”


“Take us around the entire city. For starters, how about the Elven District?” one of the ministers says.


“Of course, our men and women will escort you there. If you don’t mind, Sergeant Kai and I will need to let Captain Albius know of the new agenda for today,” Hina informs.


“Wait, I wanna go too,” Ruby says.


“No, you stay here, Ruby. Make sure that you protect these men from any harm, got it?”


“’Kay…I got it.”


“Do what you must,” one of the ministers says.


“We’ll be meetin’ up with you in the Elven District later. Is there a place you know of that would be suitable?” Hina asks.


“This is our first time here, so we don’t know anything.”


“Okay, so—“


“Look, we know you’ve got orders to follow, but we won’t report you if you don’t want to come with us around the city,” one of the ministers interrupts. “There’s sixteen of you. That’s a bit overkill when nothing’s going to happen.”


“It’s for your safety, sir. A precaution in case someone attacks you,” I warn. My promotion is resting on the lives of these three men. “The masked men could strike again.”


“Is that what General Nero told you? The attack on Drymo was tragic, but that’s because our defenses were low due to a variety of reasons. It would be extremely difficult for that same group to attack this city when the military forces of every kingdom on Eiruta is present. There’s no way they would attack. And there’s no way we would be singled out by them,” one of the men says.


“And no one from the other races would dare strike us. It would cause an international outrage. Fourteen of you is enough for our escort. Why don’t you two lovebirds have some fun? Explore the city.”


Hina and I exchange glances. I’m a bit skeptical about leaving them to their own devices, but it’s only for today, and they made good points. The only real danger is if something big happened, and that’s unlikely. Or Ruby goes out of control at the wrong place, but I’ve made things clear to her yesterday not to kill anyone unless Marin says so.


“Very well, thank you,” Hina says and grabs my hand. Jetia narrows his eyes on me. He knows that we’re planning something. “Let’s go, Kai.”


I follow with not much else choice at this point. Hina made all the decisions already. I sigh. My fingers are crossed for nothing bad to happen. I think about that time I spent in the shit hole. General Nero can never find out that we’re breaking orders. That means that no one can see us split off alone.


“What’re you so worried about? Your fingers are sweatin’.”


“It’s nothing. Just nervous that something would happen. Or someone will see us and word spreads to General Nero.”


“It’s not like anyone is spyin’ on us. There’s no way General Nero would ever know. He’s too busy with the Inteiru Expota.”


“Yeah, but you never know.”


“Wait, hold on a second,” Hina says and suddenly turns around. I have no choice but to follow since our hands are locked.


“Where’re you going?” I ask. She’s walking toward a young boy and girl skipping in the opposite direction.


“I gotta bust my nuts at home, I gotta bust my nuts at home,” the young boy says.


What the hell’s he saying? That’s not weird at all. The boy can’t be any older than seven years old.


“Hey!” Hina yells and grabs the boy’s shoulder.


“Wha!” the boy exclaims and turns around. “Who’re you?”


“That doesn’t matter. You were sayin’ somethin’ really inappropriate for your age. Where are your parents?” Hina asks.


“Inappropriate? What’s inappropriate?” the boy asks. He looks at us innocently. It doesn’t seem like he’s aware of the lewdness of his words. “I gotta bust my nuts at home?”


“Yes, that. Stop sayin’ that. I don’t know how your mother raised you, but you shouldn’t be doin’ that at that age anyway! I’ll need to have a word with your parents.”


I sigh. Hina can’t let go of a random kid saying an inappropriate phrase. It reminds me of the time she reprimanded me for not telling some kids to stop playing with weapons back in Aramore. Her weird sense of justice can’t stop her from meddling.


“What does that mean? Do you know, miss?”


“Huh?” Hina interjects. I knit my eyebrows too. Then, I notice that the boy’s holding onto a piece of paper.


“Can I see that piece of paper?” I ask.


“Sure! But you have to give it back to me, okay? Mom’s gonna be mad otherwise.”


I’m not sure what he means by that, but I take the piece of paper, holding it in front of me so that Hina can read it too.

Urges



I gotta bust my nuts at home.

It-has-to-be-at-home syndrome.

Peeling an orange easy,

Cracking a nut crappy,

It’s just the wrong month and biome.

- Nacsu​

What the hell? I read it several more times to make sure I didn’t miss anything.


“Ohh..” Hina interjects. “This whole thing’s a joke. It’s not talkin’ about nuts. It’s talkin’ about the nuts with a shell. Since it’s the winter, you don’t normally find oranges to peel, so you’re left with nuts to crack open.”


“Oh, I interject and laugh a few times, but it’s not that funny.


“What’s funny?” the boy asks. He’s too young to understand. I give the piece of paper back to him.


“Don’t worry about it. Why’d you say your mom was gonna be mad?”


“She said that we have to go to the book store to bring back something to read. We didn’t want to bring back a long book, so we found this instead. Do you think mom will laugh too?”


“No, I—“


“Of course. She’s gonna love it,” I cut Hina off. We don’t have time to tag along with them to grab proper reading material.


“Thanks, mister!” the boy says and then smiles. He runs off with the girl.


“Come on, let’s go. Let it go and leave him to be scolded by his mother. Or she’ll get a kick out of it and laugh it off,” I say. “He didn’t mean what he said the first time, so it’s fine.”


“Fine…” Hina concedes.


Since we lost the coin toss yesterday, we continue along to meet Ada’s group outside the Icy Tavern, where they were instructed to bring their group of ministers.

 

Chapter 63 – Inteiru Expota – Search



After asking passersby, we learn that the Icy Tavern is at the heart of the city, the intersection of the four districts. That’s where Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and the Xog intermingle. We’ll finally be able to see the other races. I can’t wait. Hina’s excited too. Otherwise, her palms wouldn’t be sweating. It could mean that she’s nervous, but there’s no reason to be.


“What’re you excited more to see?” I ask. “Xog or Dwarves? Personally, I wanna see the Xog. If they’re as outlandish as what the books say.”


“I’d rather see a…Dwarf,” Hina mutters.


A Dwarf? That’s so boring. It’s almost as if she’s…nervous. I smile before saying, “What, the idea of meeting a Xog scares you?”



She turns her head toward me and exclaims, “O-of course not!”


“Your face’s red.”


“It’s cold,” she answers calmly.


“If you’re that cold, your fingers wouldn’t be sweating,” I say. Hina doesn’t respond. She doesn’t have an excuse for that, but the hand never lies. I don’t see the big deal about Xog. From what we’ve read in the Academy, they can be the same size as us or as tall as a house. Some have a lot of hair, and some don’t have hair at all. The description is contradicting a lot. But, when Viessa first revealed herself, it was just as the books described.


It makes me think that the books could all be right. But what kind of thing would it be like? Is Hina nervous because they could be anything?


“They can’t be that scary,” I say. “I mean…if Elves, Dwarves, and Humans are willing to live with them in the same city, how bad can they be?”


“I guess…” she answers with little energy.


‘You wanted to be an Adventurer, but you’re scared of this?”



“That’s completely different, and I’m not scared. I’ll admit I’m nervous, though.”


So, she’s willing to admit that. It’s basically the same thing, but I’ll let it go. “How’s that any different?”


“You hunt monsters as an Adventurer. You walk into a zone filled with them expectin’ to see them, and with the monster codex, you know what you’re exactly walkin’ into. No surprises. They’re not very smart either. What’s there to be scared about?”


I tighten my grip while thinking of that day. “You haven’t met a real monster.”


“And what’s that?”


I remember it clearly. I answer, “An Albino Flying Squirrel.”


“An Albino—“ Hina breaks out in a cackle. “Flyin’ Squirrel!”


I try to stay calm, not letting her laughs get to me. She doesn’t know the destructive power that it had. “It wasn’t an ordinary version of the Albino Flying Squirrel. It had red eyes.”


“Red, eyes!” she exclaims and continues laughing. Suddenly, she stops and says, “Ow, you’re hurtin’ me.”


“Oh, sorry,” I apologize and let go of her hand. I clenched my hand on hers without realizing it.


“You look serious. I thought you were tryin’ to be funny.”


“If it were a joke, Hiro might still be alive.”


“Hiro…the loud one that you mentioned died to a monster? It was to an Albino Flyin’ Squirrel?”


“Yeah.”


“I’m sorry for laughin’…when it was your friend who died. I take everythin’ back.”


“Nah, it’s fine. Anyone would’ve laughed considering that they’re normally E ranked monsters,” I say.


“What were you sayin’ about red eyes?”


“I asked Moria about it. He said that those with red eyes are called Anomalies. Exceedingly rare and powerful. There’s no record of anyone beating one.”


“Seriously?” she asks with widened eyes. “You guys managed to escape it?”


I don’t like the way this conversation is heading. I’d move it along elsewhere. I can’t reveal my Void magic to her after all. “Yeah, we got lucky. Hiro…took the fall for us.”


“That was very brave of him. I have a lot more respect for him now.”


“Yeah, well. So, there you have it. You never know when you’ll meet an Anomaly, so you don’t always know what you’re walking into.”


“You’re right. I was wrong about that. But… Anomalies are exceedingly rare. Those masked attackers are scary…why? They can think, learn from mistakes, and make decisions, unlike monsters. That’s what makes them really scary. You never know what they’re truly thinkin’. Where they could be watchin’ you or huntin’ you.”


“I guess I can agree with that, so how does that tie in with your nervousness with the Xog?” I ask.


“Well, they can think like us too. They’re people too…or I don’t know. From some of the descriptions...I picture them as upright monsters. When I think of monsters that are capable of makin’ decisions and thinkin’ for themselves, that’s what makes me a little nervous.”


Imagining a wolf walking upright on its hindlegs is a little intimidating. Especially when I think there could be an entire population of them walking in the streets. I reply, “I get it.”


“Good. Can I borrow your hand? My hand’s cold,” Hina says and holds out her next to mine. “Try not to crush it this time.”


“Fine,” I respond and hold her hand. “As long as you promise you won’t cry if the Xog turns out to be a little scary.”


She squeezes her hand on mine instead. She smiles and says, “Admit it, you’re actually scared too. I did you a favor by askin’ you to hold my hand, so you wouldn’t have to ask awkwardly.”


You don’t want to play this game with me. I gradually put more force into the grip on her hand.


“I’m sorry,” she utters quickly and relaxes her hand. I loosen mine too, applying enough to still hold on to it.


Heh. I get the last laugh. The buildings up ahead are painted blue instead of the red buildings in this area. That must be the central district.


Part of me wonders how long ago the races have been living together in this city. Since the other races have their separate entrances, they must have their unique districts too. Viessa said that other races could live here or do work nearly a decade ago. So, that should’ve been nine years ago or three Inteiru Expota’s ago.


So, was Syrina built before or after the races came together? Considering that these districts separated clearly, I can only assume that the other districts are colored differently, too. Viessa didn’t mention anything about the Inteiru Expota being new, so there must have been more Inteiru Expotas in the past held here. Did the Humans here live in the other districts before the other races moved in? And if they did, were they shoved all onto this side of the city? I feel like there’s more than enough space, but I have so many questions.


While I’m still lost in thought, Hina raises her hand and shakes it while it’s still locked with mine. “Kai, look!”


I look toward where she’s pulling my hand. A fat bearded kid is walking across from us. No, that has to be a Dwarf. No way a kid’s face ages like that or grows beards. So, they’re like Humans but smaller in height and a bit wider…


“He’s small like the books say,” Hina says and then lets out a chuckle.


The Dwarf walks toward us and narrows his eyebrows. “’Ey, lewk. ‘Tis a fuckin’ Human. Shut yer puss, ye fuckin’ flat nugget. Ma tools be big enoof ter wreck havok in yer shed. De bewks dun tell ya dat. Call me smol agin an’ Ay will make ye chew ma banger.”


I don’t comprehend everything he said, but he definitely seems angry. Hina opens her mouth and lets out a few sounds but no words, so she probably didn’t understand entirely either. Don’t want him to get too close to her. I step in front to block him from her before things turn for the worst.


“Sir, I’m sorry. She didn’t mean to offend you,” I say.


“Oi'm nae deaf. 'Tis a wee tew late fer dat,” he says. No one around us seems to care about what’s happening, not even other Humans.


Wanting to defuse the situation quickly, I reach into my pocket to grab a handful of coins. I hold out my palm in front of me. It’s only about ten silver coins, but that’s over half of my weekly salary. “Look, we’re both new here and don’t know anything. Take this and let us be on our way.”


He stares at me with the most menacing look for several seconds until he finally takes the coins from my palm responds, “Fine.”


"Ward o' advice. Nivver call a Dwarf smol unless yer lewkin ter start a figh’. Fuckin’ Humans…” he scoffs and walks away.


Hina and I stand in place for a while longer until he’s far from us.


“Dwarves are scary…” Hina says. “He was talkin’ so fast I couldn’t understand what he was sayin’. So they don’t like bein’ called sm...”


She looks around her before continuing in a whisper, “Small.”


“Apparently not,” I answer. “Let’s hurry up.”


Glancing around, it’s still mostly Humans around. We continue our way with the directions we got earlier, eventually reaching the Icy Tavern. While we saw more Dwarves and some Elves, we didn’t see anything that could be a Xog.


“What took you so long?” Ada asks as we enter the tavern. She and her team are standing by the entrance. “Where’s the rest of the team?”


“We had to improvise,” Hina explains. “The ministers wanted to explore the city.”


“What? They’re not supposed to do that. It’s General Nero’s orders.”


“Yeah, we told them. But, they aren’t fans of him so they don’t wanna listen,” I say. “Just the two of us for now.”


“Fine, let’s get started then, “ Ada says and then turns to Aisha.


“Right. Let’s move to the corner,” Aisha says and walks toward the corner farthest from everyone else inside the tavern. It’s all Dwarves, so it’s a good thing that we’re moving away from them. Who knows what’ll happen if they mishear one of us talking and have a misunderstanding. They’re a bit loud, so it’s doubtful that they’ll hear us anyway. The rest of us follow her.


“Logistics. We’re missing about half of us, so that decreases our odds of finding anything on the first day, the most important. Our team’s completely free today, but I don’t know about you guys,” Aisha says and turns toward Hina and me.


“I wouldn’t count on it. There’re eight of us here. We can split into pairs of two, and with the entire day ahead of us, I’m sure we’ll find something,” I say.


“Groups of two…we talked about this. It covers more ground, but it’s riskier. Especially since half of us here are less effective in close-quarters where we’d be likely to be investigating. We don’t have much of a choice now, so I’ll agree. On one condition, everyone’s only to do light scouting and investigating. Don’t go too deep by yourself. So regarding the sewers topic, you’re only to look for the entrance. We’ll reconvene here in two hours to see if anyone has found any leads. Then we’ll go as a bigger team to investigate the noteworthy ones,” Aisha says.


“Sounds good,” I say. “So, which pair’s taking which district? If we wanna be efficient. There’re five districts while there’re only eight of us.”


I already know which three Hina doesn’t want to be in.


“Actually…about that,” Aisha says. “Someone recommended that we don’t go into the Xog district.”


I knit my eyebrows. If the races are living together in the city, it would be weird that if we’re not allowed in the other districts. The ministers wanted to explore the Elven district too. They should know whether or not that was possible before deciding that. I ask, “What do you mean? It’s not allowed?”


“It’s allowed, but no one recommended it. It’s not a highly regulated area, and it’s not safe. Everywhere else is fine, though.”


“Who told you that?” I ask.” That sounds like the perfect place for the masked men to hide. They could’ve been the ones to tell everyone to keep out.”


“It’s possible they’re operating there, but I think we should avoid that area for now. We double-checked the information with practically everyone on the street. They all say the same thing. It’s doubtful that everyone’s working with the masked men,” Aisha says.


“Okay, well, that simplifies things. Four districts and four pairs,” I say. If we can’t go to the Xog district, there’s only one other district I would prefer. I’d better speak up before Hina takes the lead and makes it impossible for me to disagree. I smile. The same goes for her. “We prefer to stray in the central district. Pearl’s dying to see one of the Xog for herself. Shame that we’re keeping the Xog district out of limits for now.”


Hina gives me a nasty look for a moment, but it transforms into a smile. We have to play the role of a happy couple in the end, or our cover is blown. I’ve figured out that I can control our actions more or less by having the first say. But she’s probably realized that too. She says, “You took the words right out of my mouth, Darling. That’s why I love you. You always know what I want.”


I’m the only one who knows her smile is not an innocent one. But hey, we’re convincing them that we’re a true couple. They’ve been skeptical of us lately. I did her a favor by playing into both of our interests.


“We’ll let you two stay here then. Ada will go with me to the Elven district, Melody go with Deniz to the Dwarven District, and Doris with Irwin in the Human district,” Aisha says. “Remember to tread lightly. This is our first round of investigations. Anyone have concerns?”


No one speaks. Aisha turns toward Hina and me. “Well, we’ll see you back here in two hours.”


Hina and I nod. The six of them leave the tavern. Hina squeezes my hand and says, “Darling, I think we need to have a discussion.”


“You don’t wanna play this game with me again,” I say and clutch my hand tighter around hers. She stops trying to out squeeze my hand and frowns. “Besides, with the number of times you’ve screwed with me, you deserve it. Also, I saved you from the Dwarf earlier.”


“I could’ve handled him myself.”


Liar. You looked like you were about to wet your pants. Admitted you were scared too.


“’Ey,” a Dwarf suddenly says behind us. This guy is a bit taller than the other guy and his beard braided. There’s so much grime on his face that it looks like he hasn’t bathed in weeks. It’s obvious by his stench too. I want to get out of here. “Ye juss gonnae stand dare er sit down an' order somethin’? Ye Humans always be rude usin’ ma business fer meetin’ an' nothin’ else.”


Damn. We should’ve left with Aisha and the others when we had the chance. I have a feeling that it would be better to oblige than to walk away at this point. It might be insulting to them to refuse, or maybe we’ve already made a bad impression. It’s not like they’re going to chase us down and try to kill us, but this could be a good chance to learn more about them.


“Of course, we’re sitting down to eat something,” I respond. I’m a bit hungry anyway. We haven’t had anything to eat since we’ve arrived. Hina looks at me with a confused expression. I lead her to the nearest table and sit down.


“Dun be shy. Sit closer wiff de rest o' us. We dun bite,” he says and points with his hand to a table next to a group of Dwarves.


Reluctantly, I stand back up and sit down where he indicates. Hina follows my lead.


“So, wha' will ye have?” he asks. He asks that as if I know what’s there to be offered.


“Just get me some soup if you have some,” I say, wanting to get it over with.


“Oh, Ay wou' nae recommend any food fer ya, sir. Ye knoo hoo it goes. Stick ter de drinks.”


I don’t know what he means by that. Is he saying that I can’t finish it? Seeing how Dwarves are a bit plumper than us, maybe the food portions are a lot bigger too. “Whatever, just get me the soup. I’ll eat anything you give me.”


“Sir, Ay dun think ye understand. Ye must be new 'round haur.”


The group of Dwarves next to us laugh. One of them exclaims, “Boss, wha’ be de big deal? Let deez Humans have dare soup.”


“Aye yai yai…two rock soups fer de Humans comin’ roight up,” the server says and walks away.


Rock soups…? He’s not being literal, right? Rocks aren’t edible. Must be a metaphor for something else like how ‘on the rocks’ mean ice. They’re named the ‘Icy Tavern,’ after all.


“What about my order? I didn’t say I wanted soup…” Hina mutters and then whispers. “What’re we stickin’ around for?”


I whisper back, “Well, I was hungry. And you owed me some money for making that other Dwarf go away. I had to act fast before you decided to handle him yourself. Running away could have pissed them off resulting in them chasing you down.”


“Yo-you’re right…” she mutters with widened eyes while looking down at the table. Good thing I acted fast. Seems like she was actually thinking about bolting. She’s really easy to manipulate right now, though. Heh. I’ll find her other weaknesses, so she’ll never mess with me again.


“Bahaha!” multiple Dwarves laugh at the table next to us. They’ve been rowdy since we walked in here. What’s so funny? “Drink up, drink up! ‘Tis a celebration!”


Another Dwarf chugs a stein. The entire group cheers him on and explode into laughter after he slams it back onto the table. Your usual antiques of a drunk crowd.


“Listen, ye may have beaten me dis time, but a new shipment o' Aerkins be comin’ in. Ay will bet dat one o' them will finally beat ya,” one of them says.


“Nae way. Ye will have ter start trainin’ one fer yerself if ye want a chance against me,” another answers. “Ay dint get dis far by chance.”


“Bahaha! Ay know, Nazug. Oi'm givin’ ya a heads up. Dis new shipment Ayve heard rumors abart be on an entirely different level. Ye best be prepared. Ay dun want ter see the current champion go down so easily.”


“Thanks fer de warnin’, friend. Ayve got ter battle anoder challenger soon,” Nazug says and stands up from his seat. “Ay will see ya later.”


“See ya later. May de spirit o’ Achilles be wiff ya.”


Our server’s walking toward us, holding onto two big bowls, one on top of each hand. What kind of soup is it going to be?


“Lotrem, ye be sure we ken trust them?” one of the Dwarves next to us asks.


“Relax, brahder. We’ll figure it art later. Drink! We still have ter celebrate Nazug’s win streak!” Lotrem exclaims. “More beer, boss!”


“Oi'm workin’ as fast as possible hold yer horses. Two rock soups fer de Humans,” the server says.


“Oh, dis will be good,” Lotrem snorts. The two other Dwarves with him snicker too.


The Dwarf sets down the bowls in front of us. He didn’t provide us with any spoons which I find strange. What’s stranger is inside the bowl. Several different colored roughed objects are inside. Some are about the size of an apricot, while others are like grapes. If I didn’t know any better, those were rocks, but that can’t be it. I lift up the bowl seeing how I have no spoon. The bowl is pretty heavy for this little amount of food, which indicates to me that these might literally be rocks.


I lift the bowl toward my mouth to sip this strange liquid. With one small sip, I knit my eyebrows. This isn’t water or anything I’ve tasted before. It does a burning feeling down my throat, so I figure this was a type of alcohol. The taste isn’t reminiscent of what soups should taste like.


The only thing left to try is these colored rock-like objects. It’s not very sanitary to reach into the bowl with my hands, but there’s no other option. I take one of the smaller ones. Maybe these will melt in my mouth like candy. I carefully pop it into my mouth and suck on it, as if it was hard candy.


Initially, only the taste of the clear liquid is distinguishable. Afterward, the only way I can describe the flavor is like that of a metal; a bit of a sour aftertaste. I don’t think that’s the right method of eating it either. The only other possibility is if there’s something soft inside this hard shell. I bang it against the table in which a high pitched thump resounds. Yep, one hundred percent rock. All of them are rocks.


The Dwarves next to us are grinning, and it looks like they’re trying to keep themselves from breaking into a cackle. Unless their teeth are somehow made of something much harder than rock, I don’t see how anyone would eat this.


“Wha’ be wrong Human? Ye said ye would eat anythin’,” Lotrem says.


“Well, then, tell me Lotrem. How would you eat this?” I ask, feeling like the Dwarves at only messing with us at this point. I’m not trying to start anything, but at the same time, I won’t simply take it.


“Eavesdroppin’ intae our conversation an' gettin’ familiar now, are we? Well, sin' ye asked nicely, Ay will tell ya wha' Ayd dae if Ay came wiff ma lady. Ayd take one o' de medium-sized rocks ter shove in her hole, lettin’ it fester inside her fer a while. Only eftor her juices thoroughly cover de rock, Ayd take it art ter dip in de soup,” he replies.


Dwarves may be harder to understand, but they’re still speaking mostly in the Human language. He’s very clearly trying to pick a fight with us. Suggesting something like that when the whole reason we’re pretending to be a couple is to help Hina with Captain Citrio making unwanted advancements on her. Now, these random Dwarves are suggesting something inappropriate to her. I won’t stand for it. I stand up from my seat and ask, “What’re you trying to say?”


“Oi’m only answerin’ yer question. Nae need ter get worked up abart it. Dun be such an Elf.”


“How exactly did you answer my question? You think I’m dumb enough to think that you were serious when you suggested I should shove some rocks between my friend’s legs?”


They stare at me in silence for several seconds before bursting into laughter again.


Lotrem exclaims, “Ay won again! Next round’s on ya.”


“Yeah, yeah…” the Dwarf next to him says.


“Darling, let’s pay and leave,” Hina says quietly behind me.


That might be for the best. I wouldn’t want this to turn like the first mistake I made upon joining the Army. I look toward the server in the back of the establishment and say, “Hey! How much for the two rock soups? We’re out of here.”


“One moment!” he exclaims, carrying an entire plate of steins.


“Hey, Lotrem. Our Human friends not be very happy. Maybe ye ought ter explain ter them wha’ be guin on.”


“No need. We’ll leave,” I say.


“Dun be loike dat. Ye moight still be able ter enjoy them if Ay shove them intae our holes instead.”


I don’t answer. I don’t know what to think at this point. Is that something a Dwarf usually would say when they’re trying to make amends?


“Brahder, ye won de bet. Stop beatin’ a dead horse an’ tell them already,” another Dwarf says.


The server sets down the plate of drinks on Lotrem’s table before turning toward us. He nervously looks down onto our unfinished bowls of soup.


“Boss, dun worry. We’ll cover fer them,” Lotrem says.


“You don’t have to. We have enough,” I answer, not wanting to owe this rude Dwarf anything.


“Dun be loike dat. Yer misunderstandin’ de whole thin’. ‘Tis an onguin bet we dae on unsuspectin’ Humans. De hole O’im talkin’ abart be roight haur,” he says and points to the side of his abdomen. He lifts his shirt, revealing something disturbing.


“The fuck?!” I exclaim while taking a step back. There’s a slit on the side of his belly resembling something that of the female body.


“Dats pretty rude, but Ay will let it slide. Best ya learn dis befer ya get intae a mixup wiff de wrong crowd o' Dwarves. 'Tis an outer stomach we have called a Beje. We use it ter predigest rocks loike doze in de soup. It softens de rocky material intae somethin' jelly-like wiff de acid substance inside. Each Dwarf's juices taste slightly different, so 'tis always interestin' ter utilize someone else's Beje fer a different taste,” he explains.


That’s super weird. I think before speaking up, “So, that’s all you eat?”


“Oh, heavens nae. We cou' live aff feedin’ only on rocks, but we enjoy fine cuisine tew. Dare be cheap rocks an' finer rocks. Doze in de soup be mid-tier. Probably owor ten silver coins fer de whole bowl,” Lotrem informs.


“Fifteen silver coins, ter be exact,” the server informs.


I widen my eyes. It was good that they stopped us from leaving. We learned something useful and got out of paying a ridiculously expensive bill for practically nothing. I thought the only thing that contrasted us was our physiques. That brings me to question what else differs, but now’s not the time to learn about Dwarves. We’ve got to investigate leads. I say, “Well, thank you for paying for us and telling us a little about yourselves. It was helpful.”


“Bahaha! Nae problem! Ay dint get yer names,” Lotrem says.


“Kai, and that’s Hina,” I say while pointing to Hina who has been quiet this entire time. Still scared of conversing with them despite their more friendly behavior. “She’s a quiet one.”


“’Tis nice meetin’ ya. Have a good one. We’ll probably be seein’ ya ‘round.”


I smile before turning for the door. We’ve spent enough time here. Did he overhear us talking about our investigation earlier? There’s no way he heard us from that distance, especially with their rowdiness. It’s weird for him to think that our paths would cross again. He might’ve seen Ada’s group escort the ministers upstairs. I guess a lot of people are here for the Inteiru Expota, so it’s not unusual to assume.


“Still think Dwarves are scary?” I ask. “Those bunch seemed pretty friendly.”


“Oh, yeah…” Hina mutters. Her face is red.


“What’s up?” I ask.


“It-it’s nothin’. Let’s get movin’,” she says and walks away from the Icy Tavern.


I stare before shaking my head and following. I grab onto her hand and look to the side of her face. She should be able to see my head turned, but she keeps her view straight, avoiding all eye contact. There’s very clearly something. I sigh before saying, “Your face’s pretty red, and don’t even think about blaming it on the cold. Out with it.”


She glances at me with a frown. “Fine… It’s about the Dwarves.”


“What about them? That Beje of their’s pretty cool, right? Although, a little gross the first time you see it.”


“Is that what the weird lookin’ thing on the side of their body was?”


“Yeah, were you not listening?”


“I was…but…”


“But?”


“I can’t understand what they’re sayin’, okay?” she finally admits. “It’s not that they’re scary anymore.”


“Hmm…yeah. I had trouble following what they were saying at first too. I got used to it pretty fast. I understand most of it now.”


“So, can you summarize what they said?”


If she didn’t understand anything, that means she completely missed their joke about the holes… Well, talking about that isn’t important. “Basically, they predigest the rocks by putting into that Beje of theirs. Some acids melt it, and it turns into jelly. They take it out, and I assume put it into their mouths afterward to eat normally. Or dipping it into that weird liquid before that.”


I continue, “And before you ask, they can eat normal food too.”


“That’s pretty interestin’. Do you think Elves and Xog have somethin’ different about them too? Viessa looked normal other than for the ears.”


“Maybe, I’m sure we’ll learn eventually. I have a feeling there’s more to Dwarves that we don’t know,” I mention. Now that I think about it. They were initially talking about something. It sounded like some kind of fighting ring. The first Dwarf that left, Nazug was his name. He was undefeated, and from how their conversation ended, he’s headed to another fight.


“Oh!” Hina interjects and then chuckles. “Belly jelly! That’s where they got the Beje name from.”


“Wow…” I mutter and palm my face. Their naming sense is very literal. “By the way, I picked up a potential lead from one of their earlier conversations.”


“A lead?”


“Yeah. There was a guy named Nazug talking like he was gonna fight someone. The other Dwarf referred to him as a champion. I’ll bet that there’s an unofficial fighting ring somewhere.”


“Light investigation only, remember? It sounds like that might be underground. We should double-check if there isn’t an official one first.”


“I doubt it. He was saying that he had another challenger. Sounds pretty unofficial to me.”


“It’s nice that we know this, but how will we find them? Knowin’ does as much good as we know the masked men might utilize the sewers.”


“That’s true…but we can ask someone. Asking someone about wanting to spectate a fight sounds a lot less suspicious than wanting to know where the sewer entrance is,” I say.


We roll with that idea, asking anyone on the street who is willing to spare a second to speak to us. We even try asking a few Dwarves since it might be a Dwarven thing much to Hina’s dismay. Of course, we don’t see any Xog around.


We found nothing other than that it’s not an official tournament or fighting ring.


“What now?” Hina asks. “The location might be in another district or even outside the city.”


“Yeah… I guess it’s a dead end. Still, it’s something to share with the others. I guess we’ll just make a few laps around this part of the city,” I say. “Might finally see one of those Xog. If you thought Dwarves were scary, imagine what a Xog will be like.”


“Shut up, don’t make me think about it. Are you really lookin’ for suspicious people?”


“I’m doing both,” I answer. A bit hard to detect any real suspicious figures. Since we haven’t been in the area before, what we consider abnormal might be normal in the area. The organization of the city is different. It’s like the Trade District, Residential District, and Adventurer’s District from Drymo were merged into one district for every district. It’s a bit chaotic.


Two hours of light investigation is a bit overkill considering the rules. We can only go into publicly crowded places, avoiding all suspicious-looking alleyways and dead zones.


Something moves in the corner of my eye. I stop look into the nearby alley. I swear I saw something, and it wasn’t an upright figure. It was something with a tail. If I didn’t know any better, it might’ve been a monster. But that doesn’t make any sense.


“Darling, what’s wrong?” Hina asks.


“I thought I just saw a monster run past over there,” I say, pointing into the alley. There’s more connecting alleys deeper within.


“You’re seein’ things. How can there be any monsters in the city? Besides, we can’t check over there because those were our ground rules.”


That’s true, but at the same time, actually witnessing something suspicious is different. If I go back and report that I saw this, it will be worth nothing. By the time we gather the group to search the area, whatever it was would be long gone. We’re still in the city. Nothing terrible can seriously happen even if it’s in an area with fewer or no people.


“Let’s check it out. It’ll be quick,” I say, letting go of Hina’s hand to run forward into the alley.


“Darling, wait!” she exclaims behind me.


I ignore her and continue to the intersection I saw a glimpse of the figure. I look left and right, trying to remember whether the thing came from one way or the other. The one time snow would be useful, and there isn’t any. The city managed to stay clear of it despite conditions outside.


I go with my gut instinct and go right. There’ a big open area up ahead. The back end of a building is on the left and the right. We’re basically in between two streets.


It makes me wonder why they decided to construct the city this way. It’s like they’re trying to include secret passages within the city purposely from the start. There is no other exit except continuing forward or returning back. No windows or doors present at first glance. No one around either.


“We shouldn’t be here,” Hina warns.


I reply, “It’ll be fine. Me and you, we’re strong enough to handle most encounters.”


“There’s nothin’ here anyway. It was your imagination.”


I walk around the edges of this open lot. There has to be something here. “Let’s check out this area to see if there’s anything fishy.”


“Fine… I’ll help you look,” she concedes.


I can’t seem to find anything. But, my gut feeling tells me that it’s here somewhere. I search the entire lot with no luck. I ask, “Did you find something?”


“No, but I’ll trust your intuition and try somethin’,” Hina says and stands still in the middle of the lot. She places both of her palms face down with her arms fully stretched, pointing to the ground. “Might be a little cold.”


Soaking us with water in this weather? What’s her game plan? If she floods the area, it’ll go all over the alleys. People will come if they see water coming out of nowhere. I’d like to think she has a bit of common sense so that she wouldn’t do that.


A thick, flat layer of Water appears that covers the entire lot from edge to edge. It soaks my feet wet with the water level reaching all the way up to my waist. She’s abusing her high Water Affinity as usual. Somehow, she manages to keep the water contained within this area so that it doesn’t leak out into the narrow alley we came. Something creaks around us, though I can’t pinpoint where.


“There it is,” Hina says. “A hidden trapdoor.”


The water disappears seconds later, but I’m still wet. Should I dry myself off with some Fire magic? I’m not sure that’s possible without burning the fabric.


“It-it’s co-cold…” Hina mutters. “Gi-give me o-one se-second…”


She continues a moment later, “All better. Let me get you too.”


She touches me all over with her hands. I guess she needs physical contact to remove the magical water from my clothing. She manages to eliminate the water everywhere except for one place.


“You should be good,” she says.


I smile and respond, “You missed a spot. If you don’t mind. Try not to let your hand slip.”


She blushes and answers, “In your dreams.”


She reaches her hand into my pants for a moment to dry off the last piece of cloth on my body. Then, she walked the spot where the ground creaked. She crouches down and slides her hands across the ground. Seconds later, she grabs onto something and lifts it. I walk over and help her raise the door. A stairway leading down into the darkness behind it.


“Well, this is it. We’d better back off before goin’ any further,” Hina says.


After coming this far, I don’t want to leave. “Aren’t you curious what’s in here, though?”


“Tread lightly. That’s what we agreed on. This is too dangerous,” she warns. “This passage won’t be goin’ anywhere. Can’t you wait an hour?”


“Ehh…”


She sighs. “It’s always black and white with you. First, you don’t want to investigate. Now, you want to risk everythin’.”


“So, we gonna go in?” I ask.


“You’re probably goin’ to regardless of what I say, right? I’m not goin’ to let you go alone either way.”


“You know me best, Pearl, that’s why I love you,” I say. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. I take a few steps into the stairway. We should keep our voices down. I whisper, “Close the door.”


Hina slowly steps down while holding onto the door handle from the bottom side. She closes it completely, leaving only small traces of light piercing through the edges of the door.

 

Chapter 64 – Inteiru Expota - Circuit


“You mind?” Hina asks quietly.


“They’ll see us,” I answer in the same volume while carefully taking steps down. Tripping here wouldn’t be funny.


“They’ll already hear us if they’re nearby,” she says. She hasn’t taken any steps down.


“Fine,” I concede. I bond some Scrap Mana to some Fire Affinity and then release a small, steady stream of fire of outward heat out of my forehead. It barely illuminates several feet ahead of us. Something deep-toned rumbles in the distance. I stop releasing Fire magic from my forehead. The sound of whatever that was echoes.


When there’s only silence, I light the way ahead with Fire magic again.


“I really wish we hadn’t come down here,” Hina says.


“You can still turn back. I’ll go alone,” I say and descend slowly into the darkness below. She sighs and follows me. I have Rich Mana prepared within my body and my hands on my weapons in case anything happens.


We’ve gone down at least three flights of stairs with seemingly no end in sight. The steps, ceiling, and walls are made of the same stone material. Hina whispers, “This must’ve been constructed when the city was built.”


“Yeah,” I respond with a similar volume. “It’s stupid because it adds vulnerability to our defenses.”


“What’ll we do if we run into them?”


“Depends on how many of them are there. If it looks bad, flood the place, and we run. This passage seems narrow enough for you to abuse your high Water Affinity. No matter their skill, they can’t brute force their way through a large amount of Rich Mana Water magic.”


“My magic can’t save us from every scenario. If they pincer us, it won’t work, for one.”


“Good thing we know no one followed us. It would be obvious if anyone appeared behind us,” I say. Just a few more steps and they end. I lost track of how many flights we went down.


Ahead is a broader corridor, both in width and height, and still no sign of light. I don’t know how anyone without Fire or Light magic would pass. The path continues straight. With an area this large, it’ll be less efficient for Hina to push potential enemies back with Water magic if the need arises. They could focus their magic on a smaller point and break through.


Did the ground vibrate? I felt the slightest tremor for only a moment. I stop walking.


Hina asks, “What’s wrong?”


“I thought I felt the ground shake. Did you feel anything?”


“No…” she replies.


I survey our surroundings with the limited vision we have. It’s hard to tell if something’s going on here. I could increase the Fire output to my forehead to see more, but if there’s anyone here, they’d see us. Then again, it would be more beneficial to us to know if there’s any danger before continuing – mind as well as light up the whole place.


“I’m gonna light up the entire place. Get ready,” I warn. I’ll give her thirty seconds or so to prepare something if push comes to shove.


“Okay,” she says with no dispute. She understands the present potential danger.


It doesn’t take long for me to prepare a ball of Fire magic bonded to some Scrap Mana. All ready to go within a few seconds, but I wait longer to give Hina some time to prepare.


When enough time has passed, I release my magic. A small ball of fire appears in the air above us that slowly flies ahead of us. The slow speed gives us a larger window of sight. Surprisingly, there’s nothing ahead except a large, black double door at the end of the corridor that’s not too far ahead of us. I’ve never seen a door this massive before.


That thing is going to make a lot of noise when we open it. That rumble we heard must’ve been this door. It’ll alert everyone who’s behind it to our presence. One thing bothers me, though. How’d a monster-like thing open this door if it came through here? Unless what I saw wasn’t a monster, but a Xog. There’s nothing else it could be. Either way, this is too risky even for me.


“We should leave,” I say. The ball of fire collides with the door and disappears into nothing. Our sight reduces back to several feet in front of us. I increase the Fire output of my magic for sanity’s sake. There’s no one around us, and it would be better if we saw more of our surroundings.


“I was hopin’ you were goin’ to say that,” Hina says.


The moment I turn around, the ground shakes again, this time more violently. Knowing that something will happen, I sprint forward and exclaim, “Run!”


But it’s too late. The wall ahead of us rises rapidly and reaches the ceiling in a matter of seconds. The rumbling stops, but now we’re stuck. I was careless. I must’ve stepped on a trap. Is the door our only possible route now?


With the sound of the wall rising, it should’ve alerted everyone nearby. We’d be sitting ducks if we go through that door now. We might have a better advantage by waiting for them to come to us.


“I’m hopin’ you have a way out of this,” Hina says.


How thick is this wall? I unsheathe one of my swords to use the hilt my sword to bash the wall. It doesn’t feel like it’s thin at all. I don’t think this Cobalt sword is sturdy enough to cut it either, and my Artificial Magic Weapon won’t do any good earlier. Platinum is heavier and harder than Cobalt, but not enough to make it be able to cut the rock. If Marin were here, she’d be able to move the wall with Earth magic. Does Hina have anything useful? I never asked about her other Magic Affinities.


“You don’t happen to have any Earth Affinity, do you?” I ask and put my sword back in its sheath.


“No, only Water and Wind,” Hina responds.


Wait, I’m sure that Teacher Moria said that the masked men used Wind magic to collapse the Academy’s dormitory building. That was mostly made out of stone. “Perfect. Put that Wind magic to good use and cut through this wall.”


“That’s impossible, you idiot.”


“No, it’s definitely possible,” I answer. “Remember how Teacher Moria said that the enemies used Wind magic to collapse the Academy’s dormitory building?”


“I do, and I’ve tried to cut stone with Wind magic several times since. It doesn’t work even when I use Rich Mana to do it. Nothin’ against Moria, but he must’ve misunderstood.”


“Moria has Wind magic too. You think he doesn’t know what he’s talking about? Clearly, you’re doing something wrong. You need to be more creative.”


“I don’t want to hear that from you. You got us into this mess, so don’t blame me for my inability to cut through stone with Wind magic. I’ve been mostly trainin’ my Water magic skills.”


“You’re the one who tagged along—“


Something loud creaks behind us. Someone’s opening the door. I shield my eyes from the light piercing through the open space between the doors. I stop emitting Fire from my forehead since there’s enough light. Is it them? I prepare instructions for my Mana and Void magic if things take a turn for the worst.


The doors open fully, revealing six Dwarves behind them. Each of them armed with weapons and armor. As they approach us, one of them exclaims, “Who ye be?!”


Do they want a fight? I grab onto both of my weapons.


“Dun even think abart drawin’ yer weapon er ye will regret it,” a Dwarf says.


I do as he says and take my hands off my swords. Why would Dwarves be down here? That’s good news, though. I don’t think they’ll harm us.


“Wha’ ye be doin’ here, Humans?” one of them asks. “Army dogs sniffin’ ‘round?”


They know we’re from the army? No, they wouldn’t ask that if they did. Should I tell them the truth about seeing a monster in the city? Or do we tell them we’re from the Drosera army and hope that they’ll let us go? Or…


“Answer de question!” one of them exclaims.


Oh, hell with it. I’m not going to bet on the option that will get us nowhere. I reply, “We’re here to see Nazug’s fight. We heard he had another challenger.”


“Nazug?” one of them asks. They all turn their heads to each other.


I gulp. Did I make a mistake?


“Whaur be yer pass? Who referred ya haur?”


“Lotrem referred us,” I lie. It’s the only card we can play. “We spoke to him earlier about entertainment options.”


“Lotrem?” a Dwarf asks. They laugh in unison before the same Dwarf continues, “Dat bampot dint give ya a pass? Come on in.”


Hina and I exchange a glance before following the group of Dwarves inside.


Several paces beyond the door lead to a vast open area. I can’t see much from here other than that we’re at the highest elevation. There are stone pillars in the distance.


“Go ter de noisiest place an' ye will find Nazug. Lucky fer ya, his battle has nae started yet,” one of the Dwarves say as all of them come to a stop. “Dun forget ter grab a pass befer ye leave. Have fun, Humans.”


I smile and nod my head. They close the double-door and then go into a doorway nearby.


Hina and I reach the railing ahead. There are over a dozen of stone structures in front of us and directly underneath the railing. The building sizes vary between small and large, with the number of people walking around in the hundreds. Loud cheers and screams resound in the distance. That must what the Dwarf referred to.


“This is amazin’,” Hina says. “It’s like an underground city.”


“Yeah, but it looks like it’s supposed to be a secret. Or at least I think it is. Why else would the entrance be hidden like that?” I ask.


“I don’t know. But there’s certainly more than one entrance. There’s no way there’s only one. It wouldn’t be a secret anymore if that were true.”


“Probably. I know we were originally looking for leads on the masked men, but you wanna check out the battle? There’s too much to explore down here within the remaining time left before we regroup at the Icy Tavern.”


“Sure. But you’re goin’ to have to promise me you’re not goin’ to pick a fight with Nazug. You’re not number one anymore.”


“Shut up. I’m not gonna do anything stupid,” I say and walk down the steps nearby. It connects to the curved wall.


Hina follows and responds, “I hope not. We’re goin’ to need to figure out how to obtain passes too, so we can’t watch for too long.”


“Yeah, yeah.”


We navigate through this underground city toward the noisy place. There’s one thing we noticed. Most of the people here are Dwarves with the remaining Humans. Not much different from the surface exception that there’s not a single Elf. There aren’t any Xog either, but that’s no surprise.


We reach our destination, though we can’t see anything. The noise is coming from beyond this circular curved wall. After following the edge, we discover the entrance and then go inside.


“More customers? De first fight’s already started,” a Dwarf sitting behind a table says. There’s a massive pile of money on the table in the form of all three currencies. I’m surprised there isn’t more security here. It’s just the one guy, and he doesn’t look too competent when it comes to combat. Though, I don’t know anything about how Dwarves fight. It might also be that this underground place is already under lockdown.


“What fight?” I ask. “We’re only here to see Nazug’s fight.”


“Two Human newcomers. ‘Tis de openin’ foight befer de main one yer haur ter see. Ye will nae be able ter make a bet on dat one sin’ ‘tis already started. Dae ye want ter bet on de winner fer de champion’s foight?”


“Nah, we’re good,” I answer and walk toward one of two possible paths to take from here. I’m not sure what point there is to the betting system when you know who’s more likely to win. I’m also a little more interested in these fights now. It sounds like we could participate. I thought it might have only been a Dwarves only thing.


The cheering comes on full blast as we reach the end of this passage. It leads to an wide area with seats all around the edges. The audience numbers at least a hundred, but most of the available seats are empty. There’s a railing that separates us from the center of this arena. Inside is a pit with two monsters fighting. Unexpected because I thought it was two Humans fighting during the first round, but we might’ve missed it.


“Get him Bullet! Don’t let him catch you!” someone yells. His voice is extremely loud for some reason. It’s a Human male standing on a platform above the pit. It’s connected to the same one we’re standing on. It looks like you have to walk around to the end of this place to get there. There’s the same platform opposite of him with another guy on top of it. Those must be the two Humans he was talking about. But this is not what I expected.


The two monsters fighting are a lion and a boar. The latter looks familiar. It’s one of those boars we encountered during the Academy when we were on our way back from those ruins. The one with red fur. We found out later that it’s an E ranked monster with some Fire Affinity and Fire Resistance. It stands no chance against that lion. I haven’t seen that type before, but the ones I know of are all C rank or higher. There was the lion from the tournament, but that was summoned through Conjuration magic. Just an artificial creation that didn’t even have any magic capabilities.


“Kill that little bugger!” the other Human opposite of the previous exclaims. How are these people yelling so loudly? It overpowers the cheers of the crowd easily. What does he hope to accomplish by shouting stuff at the monsters? Is he trying to communicate with it?


The boar jumps two stories high in the air, which is about our eye level. I gape as the boar shoots several balls of fire from its mouth toward the lion underneath him. I’ve seen this magic enough to know that it’s made with Unrefined Mana. It’s the same boar, but somehow it looks much more deadly than the ones we fought back then. There’s no way for the boar to reach that height unless it used Enhancement magic.


The lion evades the fireballs and closes in on the boar at the same time. After the boar lands on the ground, it immediately runs away. Balls of fire appear above the boar that flies toward the lion. It’s using Intermediate Evocation magic now. The lion chases the boar, but it’s not as fast. The lion gives up on dodging and takes the balls of fire head-on. Has it given up?


No, monsters don’t merely give up and die. They’re always fighting for survival. The only option in this enclosed area is to fight until one of them dies. If I didn’t know any better, it seems like that boar has the advantage in the fight. I haven’t seen the lion use any magic yet, though. Must be toying with the boar.


The lion suddenly speeds up its movement. It outclasses that of the boar.


“Bullet, watch out! He’s increased his speed!”


It’s over. The lion has decided to stop messing around. The boar tries to run, but there’s nowhere to run. It leaps in the air as the lion reaches arm’s length, but the lion continues to follow the boar’s trajectory. The lion leaps and catches the boar with its teeth. The boar cries out as the lion rips it apart.


“Bullet, noo!”


“An’ dats it! De crowd’s favorite, Bullet, has bit de dust! Brandy won his first foight!” a Dwarf yells loudly from the opposite side of this arena. His voice is also ridiculously loud. He’s holding onto something close to his mouth. The two Humans were holding onto it too. Is it a new kind of magic item? It could be something the Dwarves created.


“Brandy, I’ll feed you later. Go back to the cage!” the man orders, but Brandy continues to eat the lifeless boar.


An expected response. Monsters don’t listen to our commands. I don’t know if I misheard the announcer, but did he say the boar was the crowd’s favorite? So that means that the majority of people bet on the boar? That’s strange.


“Clean up crew, get in haur!” the announcer exclaims.


“This is insane. It’s a monster fightin’ arena,” Hina says.


‘Yeah, but I don’t see why it’s so popular. The outcome should be obvious from the start. The lion obviously outclasses the boar, but more people bet on the boar? Are these people dumb?” I ask.


“Hey, how’s it going?” someone asks from behind us – a middle-aged guy. “I don’t see Humans too often around here, so I came to say hi. I’m Floyd.”


I shake his hand and say, “Kai. That’s Hina. You come here often?”


“Indeed. Aerkin battles are quite exciting, and if you do your research, it’s easy to make some money through the betting system,” he explains.


“Aerkins? The monsters?” Hina asks.


“Yes, they’re basically monster companions that fight in the Achilles Sundance Circuit. It’s this arena you see here. People bring their own Aerkins to fight for glory.”


“Wait,” I say. I’m too confused about the part where he mentions that it’s easy to make money. “Why’d more people bet on the boar? It should’ve been a safer bet on the lion. Does that mean the more risky option has a higher payout?”


“Nah, that’s not how it works. The winnings on the boar depend on how much money people place on the lion. The majority bet on the boar this time around, so whoever bet on the lion split a portion of the money placed on the boar plus their original bets. Well, there are a couple other calculations they use too. A portion of the money goes to the owner of the Aerkin who won while another portion goes to the organizer.”


“Forget about the bettin’ system. We don’t need to know about that,” Hina says and gives me a dirty look. “What exactly is the Achilles Sundance Circuit?”


“You don’t know that either? I figured you were at least informed of that, considering that you’re here to spectate.”


“We’re completely new here. Referred here by…a friend,” Hina says with a smile. “If you don’t mind explainin’ things to us.”


“Well, we’re waiting for the next fight to be set up anyway. The Achilles Sundance Circuit is the name of this sport of training Aerkins and battling other Aerkins. It’s based off of the first Human and his Aerkin who came up with this idea,” he explains.


“First Human? It wasn’t a Dwarf?” I ask. Considering that most of the spectators here are Dwarves. I would think they’re the ones who came up with the idea.


“Indeed. The Dwarves took a liking to the sport since then and created this arena. Back in Achilles time, people did their fights unofficially, and it spread by word of mouth. People still do fights outside of an official arena, “ Floyd says.


“How long ago was the sport invented?” Hina asks.


“I don’t know. For at least several hundred years, I imagine. There’s a story in Xantho about Achilles, though I’m not sure which village it originated from. It was close to where I was born. Those interested in the Achilles Sundance Circuit, know that he was a legendary, undefeated adventurer. But one day, he showed up with his foot from the heel down gone but had a fox next to him, whom we now know as Sundance. He went on to build the foundation of Aerkin battles, and his Aerkin, Sundance, went on to be undefeated.”


“What kind of monster was Sundance? An S ranked monster?” I ask. “For it to be undefeated.”


He laughs and then answers, “It was an E ranked monster. Some say that it might’ve not even be considered a monster. It wasn’t in any monster codex at the time. It’s not now either.”


I drop my jaws. Was it an Anomaly? The Albino Flying Squirrel was a low ranked monster, but it was extremely powerful.


“Haha, I know it’s hard to believe at first, but the lower-ranked monsters tend to have more potential. Achilles proved that they could grow to be very powerful if properly trained.”


“Trained…you mean he taught it to use magic?” Hina asks.


“Indeed.”


“Did it have red eyes?” I ask.


He knits his eyebrows and replies, “I don’t think so.”


Right, that makes more sense. There’s no way anyone could control Anomalies. They’re too destructive and crazy. But then again, it’s still crazy that anyone managed to communicate with monsters. I ask, “How’d he manage to teach Sundance how to use magic? Is there a way to communicate with monsters?”


“No one knows how he did it. Some say that he did it by feeding Sundance his foot. But we know now that his selection process was very precise. You see, monsters have personality. Some monsters are more friendly and are more receptible to being trained. Some trainers go for a more wild, aggressive monster like the owner of that lion. Those monsters are controlled through drugs, and the relationship between the trainer and Aerkin is more artificial,” he explains. The lion in the arena collapses as several Dwarves with crossbows close in on him.


Friendly monsters huh… I remember Rocky. A friendly turtle we saved after we came out of the ruins during our fourth year. Good monsters and bad monsters. Is that what he’s talking about?


That boar that got killed by the lion might’ve been the same kind of boar we encountered back then. So the guy who trained the boar taught it to use Enhancement magic? Monsters could have the same potential as us, but they don’t have the same knowledge as us. They can’t think and make decisions like us…or can they?


“If they’re controlled by drugs, can you really call that a monster companion?” Hina asks.


“Aerkins were originally monster companions when the sport was invented. However, past Achilles generation, violent monsters have been allowed to participate in the battle to make it more accessible. So that virtually anyone could acquire an Aerkin and participate in the Achilles Sundance Circuit.”


“I see. What you said before doesn’t make any sense to me. You’re sayin’ that the E ranked monsters are the strongest monsters? They’re E ranked for a reason, they’re the weakest,” Hina says. “But they can grow to be the strongest? As strong as S ranked monsters?”


“Bah. The monster codex is all garbage. It’s based on the standard monster of that type. It doesn’t take into account the ones that survive repeated near-death encounters,” Floyd says.


“You mean like a monster who fought another monster to the death? Or a monster who fought a person and lived?” I ask.


“Exactly. They grow stronger in the same way we do – through fighting. They rely mostly on instincts, so the more they fight, the stronger they’ll get. Well, if that were the only thing it took, everyone would have success with low ranked monsters as Aerkins. It’s a rare case that anyone manages to repeat the same thing Achilles did with Sundance.”


It makes sense. We know that there were people like Ragnar who learned how to use magic without learning it formally at the Academy. Monsters are never taught by anyone how to use magic. They just do it. It’s not as if the higher ranked monsters have more fighting experience, either. It could be that some monsters are born stronger than others. But he said Sundance was an E rank or weaker… It doesn’t add up.


“What of magic did Sundance use?” I ask.


“The legends say that he elegantly danced across the battlefields with colorful lights. That’s why he was called Sundance. Unfortunately, I don’t know if that’s really true. I’ve never heard of any sort of magic like that,” he says.


Yeah, that sounds a bit sketchy. It’s just a legend. All of it could be a made-up story to make people think that weak E ranked monsters can grow to be strong. But it wasn’t a lie when that boar was putting up a good fight against that lion. It could have something to do with changing the special property of Light, but I’m not sure what that entails. I can’t even make cold fire yet.


The Dwarves in the Arena push the lion and boar onto separate flat carts. They push them through the gate on the left side.


“So, will either one of you two purchase an Aerkin or capture one yourself?” Floyd asks. “You seem to be a capable bunch, given your equipment.”


“Nah, not interested,” I say. Our only purpose here is to find leads on the masked men. That shadow of a monster I saw might’ve actually been a monster. There’s not any point in staying to watch the rest. “We’ve got other business to take care of, so we’re gonna leave.”


“Oh, come on. Why not stay to watch the champion’s fight? Don’t you want to see what kind of a monster the current undefeated champion is? You’ll understand why the crowd favored the boar in the fight you saw.”


I look at Hina. She nods her head. Come on. She’s the one who said we shouldn’t stay too long to watch. It can’t be helped. I respond, “Fine. We’ll stay to watch.”


“That’s the spirit,” he says with a smile.


Judging by his words, Nazug’s Aerkin must be a low ranked monster. There he is. He walks toward the center of the platform overseeing the arena. Nazug looks toward us, perhaps recognizing us from the Icy Tavern. His opponent’s a Human. What kind of fight will we see?


“Ladies an’ gentleman. Haur be de moment ye have all been waitin’ fer. On de east side, our current champion, Nazug, and his Aerkin, Splinter!” the announcer exclaims. The crowd bursts into a loud cheer. The gate from Nazug’s side of the pit opens. A Gray Wolf walks out.


A Gray Wolf…? I saw a few dead ones on our way to the Rising Champions battle. They’re native to Xantho. Captain Albius’ team were the ones who took them out at the front of the group. They couldn’t have been any higher than E rank. Splinter doesn’t look much different than them, but he’s somehow undefeated.


An older Human male walks to the platform opposite to Nazug.


“On de west side, our latest challenger, Dominic, an’ his Aerkin, a Brown Ursa!”


Something roars from beyond the other gate. It bashes against the closed gates.


“Why doesn’t his Aerkin have a name?” Hina asks.


Floyd answers, “The monster name is used instead when the owner hasn’t provided a name yet. Typically, those are the people who disregard the Aerkin’s life and use drugs to keep them tranquilized out of fights and additional drugs to give them a boost before the fight. I’m not a fan. That’s why I have my money on Splinter.”


“I haven’t heard of the Brown Ursa. What kind of monster is it?” I ask, the monster still bashing against the gates. Whoever’s in charge of the gate control must be scared. At this rate, it’ll bust it open.


“An Ursa is a more vicious type of bear native to Neomeris. A B ranked monster. From what I saw, the bets are about evenly split. That’s no surprise because it’s also been given a performance-boosting drug. It makes them more violent.”


“I thought you wanted to show me why the crowd would favor the lower-ranked monster,” I say.


“It’s the first B ranked monster Splinter will have fought. Some people are skeptical, especially taking the drug into account. I’ll take my chances.”


Another roar resounds as the west gate busts open. The gate is flung in the air and falls flat on the ground. An enormous brown bear stomps out of the entrance. It paces around in small circles. Meanwhile, Splinter hasn’t moved from his side of the arena.


“Kill that fucking mutt, you stupid bear!” Dominic yells with the magic item in front of him.


“What’s with that sound amplifying magic item?” I ask. The bear stands still and roars. “It doesn’t look like Nazug has one.”


“It’s optional. The organizers profit from it because you have to pay a fee to use one during the fight. Newbies tend to buy them because they think yelling at their Aerkin to do something would be effective. Proper trainers like Nazug doesn’t need one. He’s trained Splinter well enough to adapt to the fight on his own.”


“I see.” That makes sense. It would be annoying if someone were trying to give me orders while I fought a battle. But if I watched a pair of goons fighting from my team, it would be more effective for me to give orders. Though, I think it could still be useful for more experienced fighters too. It’s basically a cheat. Having someone look overhead and give warnings that the fighter doesn’t see. That proves that Nazug has high confidence in his Aerkin’s ability to win despite the challenge ahead of him.


“You worthless shit bear! Get off your ass and kill the mutt! He’s right in front of you! I paid good money for you!” Dominic yells. The Brown Ursa turns toward him as if understanding that the orders are directed at it.


“Uh oh. We might have a casualty today,” Floyd says.


“Casualty? You say like that’s a normal occurrence,” I say, thinking that he’s talking about the trainers being killed by an Aerkin.


“It happens from time to time.”


“Arent there safeguards placed above the arena?”


Floyd laughs and then responds, “Of course not.”


“What’re you looking at, twatface? If it weren’t for me, you’d still be rotting in that disgusting cage. Now, go kill that wolf!” Dominic exclaims. A rock appears behind Dominic that knocks him past the railing. He falls. “Don’t you even think about eating me you fucking be—“


Chomp. The bear catches his head by his teeth. The audience explodes into a cheer again.


“What the hell?” I interject. No one’s fazed at all by his gruesome death. The monster tears into the rest of his flesh. An unexpected meal for him.


“Dominic has a bit of an infamous reputation around these parts. Just another snobby noble.”


“There’re more people like him?” I ask.


“Yeah. The majority of people who partake in the Achilles Sundance Circuit are wealthy, but not all of them are like Dominic. The hobby has recently grown to be more accessible by the lower-income class, however. An unknown group has been supplying them at an astronomically low price so that practically anyone could participate.”


“What’s the point? Is it to make money?” I ask.


“Recognition in the community for one. You get better rewards, the more victories you get with the same monster. You have a chance to make it into the hall of fame. The short term rewards depend on the betting pool, so your profit is a tossup, especially if you purchase one,” Floyd informs.


“What kind of rewards?”


“Never participated, so I don’t know.”


This fight still hasn’t started. Splinter has started moving slowly toward the bear, though. Either the Brown Ursa doesn’t see Splinter as a threat or hasn’t noticed him yet. I ask, “What happens if the monsters never fight? Has that ever happened?”


“It’s rare, but I’ve seen it happen once. They’d find a way to make them fight. That won’t be necessary here. Splinter’s a smart wolf.”


Splinter howls. The Brown Ursa turns around and stares at him for a moment. But it turns back around and continues his meal. From the looks of it, it’s almost done. The wolf could use this opportunity to attack it, but he doesn’t move.


A triangular-shaped spike made of wood appears above Splinter’s head that speeds toward the back of the bear. This will do some damage if it’s a direct hit. A stone wall appears behind the bear at the last moment. The wooden spike collides with it for a moment before falling to the ground. The attack did nothing to the wall, but half of the spike disappeared, leaving only the blunt half behind.


So, Splinter uses Intermediate Evocation magic as the boar did. He’s already above the normal E ranked monster standards, but I don’t see how he can beat the bear with such weak firepower. If I had to guess, that wooden spike was only made of Scrap Mana.


The stone wall suddenly bursts into pieces. Each small piece speeds toward Splinter as the Brown Ursa charges right behind. Splinter jumps over the incoming barrage of rocks, but the rocks change trajectory to the left, right, and above its original course. A stone wall appears in front of Splinter. The rocks crash into the wall, destroying a part of it.


Another stone surface appears under Splinter. He jumps backward before the bear crashes through it with brute force. While the platform disappeared a moment later, the fragments of the wall propel into the bear. The same attack that the bear used turned against himself. It seems to do no damage as the bear does not let out even a sound when it hits it. Splinter has no chance of victory utilizing only Scrap Mana.


Stilll, it’s very impressive that he’s utilizing these strategies. This is more advanced than anything I’ve seen monsters employ.


The Brown Ursa lands on his legs and then roars. It charges at the wolf again. Several small balls of fire appear above the bear that flies toward the wolf. It’s more like a barrage with the speed at which they’re appearing. Splinter runs in a diagonal away from the Brown Ursa. He’s too fast for the bear to catch up, and the Fire magic proves ineffective even though they’re made of Rich Mana.


The bear speeds up his pace to match Splinter, all while continuing to shoot the same barrage of Fire at him. Stone walls erupt from the ground around the wolf to cut off his retreat. In mere seconds, he’s completely trapped inside a makeshift structure presumably created by the Brown Ursa. There’s only one way in or out, and the bear is charging toward it. It stopped releasing the barrage of Fire, but there’s no way for Splinter to get out of this one.


A bigger sphere of Fire appears in front of the bear. It’s big enough to take up the entire width of the entrance of the structure. I don’t know whether Splinter has tried escaping, but with Scrap Mana, he won’t hope at accomplishing much. The Brown Ursa has stopped playing games and is going all out to kill him. If that large fireball disperses while inside the structure, Splinter will take a direct hit from a strong dose of Fire magic.


A wall of Rich Mana appears in front of the ball of fire at the last second. It redirects the ball of fire back at the bear, erupting fiery gases all over him. He cries out this time, unlike with the small rocks hitting him from earlier.


Splinter can use Rich Mana?! On top of that, he has skills in Abjuration magic. That’s ridiculous coming from an E ranked monster. It was almost as if he purposes hid his real power at the start until this scenario came up. Did he plan for this?


It’s hard to see how much damage that really did, but it stopped the bear’s charge forward. A stone spike erupts from the ground in front of the wall of Rich Mana. A loud bang resounds the spike rips through the Mana, trapping Splinter inside. The reflective mode doesn’t work against magical objects that are grounded in something. The Brown Ursa understands that weakness.


The stone structure collapses inward, and boulder-sized rocks appear above it that crash down quickly. I gape as the Brown Ursa launches a relentless Earth attack on Splinter. A dust cloud forms that obscures everyone’s sight from the battle, but the sound of rocks crashing onto stone resounds.


Eventually, it stops. There’s only silence as the dust cloud clears. I can’t believe what I’m seeing right now. I expected to see a pile of destroyed rocks, but instead, the Rich Mana envelops the entire area. Splinter stands atop of it all.


Floyd smiles and says, “There it is. The Brown Ursa has completely fallen in Splinter’s trap. He’s won this battle.”


“What do you mean?” I ask. He survived the barrage somehow, but the bear could launch another attack now that he sees that the wolf is fine. The excessive Rich Mana surrounding the whole area seems a bit excessive since Splinter is outside of it. He must be standing atop the rocks. The Brown Ursa shoots fireballs at the clump of Rich Mana, but a wall of Rich Mana appears. It deflects the bear’s magic again. This time, it side steps the fire.


“He’s perfectly utilized the Cohesion property of Abjuration magic.”


“I’m not sure what that means. I know Abjuration magic can reflect magic…but what else does it do?” I ask. As with most magic, the Academy only taught the basic concept. Abjuration magic deals with the bonds between Mana particles. The specifics were introduced only if you had talent for it. Drugo wasn’t the most talented Abjuration user and only informed us of two modes; Reflection and Destroy.


“It’s Intermediate Abjuration magic. The Cohesion mode allows his Mana to form bonds on other magical objects other than his own,” Floyd explains. “As a result, The Brown Ursa won’t be able to unleash more Earth magic until he removes Splinter’s Mana or his magic expires.”


I raise my eyebrows. It has that sort of interaction? I’ve always had to deal with that limitation with Fire magic. I can’t force fresh Fire magic to come out of my body if I’ve already utilized all the Fire Affinity I have. If I had other Evocation Affinities, I could ignore that, although, it would not be very efficient as it would force the previously cast magic to disappear. That would be especially stupid if they’re about to hit a target, and I replace it with something else.


The Brown Ursa charges forward. Perhaps its only chance now is to come into physical contact with its magic to cancel it. With the Rich Mana surrounding its magic, it can’t even send out its own Mana to cancel it. And its Fire magic will be deflected.


Splinter jumps off the rubble toward the bear. Wooden platforms appear in the air that the wolf uses to jump off from one to the next, circling the bear. Afterward, the platforms transform into several spikes that fall toward the bear. The bear sends a barrage of Fire toward Splinter’s path, but that’s not very smart. As a user of Fire magic, I know. Splinter’s trying to abuse Fire’s greatest weakness, but he’s forgotten one thing.


The bear turns toward Splinter and shoots out large balls of fire. Its Fire magic quickly destroys the wooden spikes. So easily that Splinter must’ve utilized only Scrap Mana to create them. The Fire magic goes into the distance above the arena. Unfortunately for Splinter, we’re already underground. There’s not a whole lot of distance compared to an open sky. But the magic at least won’t hit the audience or the arena walls.


The Brown Ursa also seems to have forgotten that the pile of Rich Mana is defenseless right now. It could bust through and get its Earth Affinity back, but it may be too late. Splinter falls from the air. If The bear already used all its Fire Affinity, a few seconds is all Splinter needs to finish off the bear. The Brown Ursa only has its leftover Mana as a defense to whatever Splinter has planned. The brute force of the bear isn’t to be estimated, so it could still have a chance.


Splinter must have a better plan because he could’ve simply used his Rich Mana to deflect the balls of fire back at the bear as he did previously. He wanted to create this scenario of the Brown Ursa having no Affinity left. The bear lunges toward Splinter as he approaches the ground.


A stone spike appears between them with the sharp side pointing at the bear. It stays stationary for a moment as Splinter uses the flat side to rebound to the ground. The Brown Ursa covers its paw in Rich Mana as it swipes the spike. More spikes appear from every angle around the bear that shoots toward it. Rich Mana surrounds the bear now as it falls to the ground. A loud bang resounds as the spikes strike its Mana and rocks hitting the ground. A bed of spikes trap the bear inside.


A massive rock appears above Splinter’s magic that dives toward the bear’s location. At the last moment, all of Splinter’s previous magic disappears, revealing a clump of Rich Mana inside. A giant spike erupts from the ground as the boulder from above smashes the bear. There’s nothing but the crackling of the remnants of Splinter’s magic until he sits and howls.


The crowd applauds and cheers.


“An’ dats it folks! Nazug an’ Splinter have claimed dare twelff victory!” the announcer exclaims.


“So, what’d you think?” Floyd asks.


“I-uh-bluh,” I interject and shake my head. I witnessed Splinter winning, but I can’t believe it.


He laughs and asks, “What about you, Hina?”


“I’m at a loss for words. All my previous beliefs about monsters have shattered.”


I’ve always known monsters were capable of thought ever since I met Rocky, but I never imagined they would be this skilled at using magic. Even though the Brown Ursa was not very strategic or smart in its tactics, he was able to write all the instructions to the magic very quickly during the battle. That only goes to show how dangerous these monsters can get. Society recommends an entire group of six C-ranked or B-ranked adventurers to take down the bear, but this wolf did it alone without a scratch on him. What’s more impressive is how Nazug managed to train an E ranked monster to this level…


“I’m glad I was able to educate you on this amazing sport,” Floyd says and walks away from the railing. “So, I’m sure you understand the lengths I’ll go to, to protect it, right?”


“Huh?” I interject and turn around. Oh, shit…



Five Dwarves trap us between the railing. They don Titanium armor and Titanium weapons of various types. I know they’re no ordinary fighters and trying to escape or fight would be stupid. One of them says, “Humans…yer comin’ wiff us.”

 

Chapter 65 – Inteiru Expota - Rat


“Wha-what’s going on?” I ask and turn my head to Floyd. His smirking face tells me that he set us up.


“Sorry, it’s nothing personal,” he says. The Dwarves grabs us by the arm, moving us by force. “Do what they ask, and everything will be fine. Find me in the Casino if you’re ever around again.”


“Where’re you taking us?” I ask but get no answer. “Does this have to do with us not having passes?”


“Shut yer mouff er Ay will shut it fer ya,” one of them says.


I won’t get any answers out of them, it seems. That has to be the only possibility, but it’s strange. The Dwarves at the entrance let us through pretty quickly despite not having passes. We mentioned Lotrem and Nazug, so those two are the only people that could’ve said something otherwise. We went straight to the Aerkin arena, and Floyd came talking to us shortly afterward. Considering that none of those Dwarves from the entrance followed us, there’s no way they could inform anyone of us.


There was that moment Nazug looked our way, but there was no exchange of words. Lotrem isn’t anywhere near us, and I don’t think he would put us in a situation like this. A bit of a jokester, but friendly.


With the safety regulations at the Aerkin arena nonexistent combined with the fact that this place is hidden, it’s safe to say that whatever goes on here isn’t allowed on the surface. That’s what Floyd meant by protecting this place and why I haven’t heard of the Achilles Sundance Circuit until now. But it’s impossible for this place to have stayed hidden forever. And the only way that this place exists in the first place is that it was built at the time of the city.


Doesn’t that imply Syrina was built recently? Each race could’ve been responsible for their own district. But this entrance was in the central zone. So that means every race knew about it, but then there’s no point in keeping this place a secret. There are also other entrances, as Hina suggested. I find it hard to believe that every entry could remain hidden. There’s too little to go off of right now.


Floyd said to find him at the Casino…wherever that is. Must be a unique location in this underground city. I’m not sure if we can trust him again, but he may be our only source of additional knowledge. The information he gave regarding the Achilles Sundance Circuit was right as far as I know. So, if I do what the Dwarves ask of us, they’ll let us go unharmed according to him. I’m scared about what they’ll ask, though.


They lead us into a small building. The sound of a hammer hitting metal resounds. A blacksmith inside. He turns toward us and asks, “Vanguards? Wha’ ken Ay dae fer ya?”


“We got deez rats sniffin’ ‘round whaur dae shou’ nae be. Give dem de usual,” the Dwarf next to me says.


“Wait, no,” I object. I think I know what’s going on here now. “I’m sorry we came in without passes, Lotrem didn’t tell us before he referred us here.”


“Doze lies be nae guin ter work on us. We already knoo Lotrem dint refer ya here, army dog,” a Dwarf says and shoves me forward. How’d they know that we’re from the army? The blacksmith in the shop holds onto a hot piece of metal. So blazing that it’s glowing bright red. My eyes widen.


“No no no, you’re right. I’m sorry. We lied. We’re from the Drosera army,” I say quickly. It seems like honesty is the only card we can play now. “Lotrem didn’t refer us, but we had a nice chat with him at the Icy Tavern. We only discovered this place by chance. I thought I saw a monster in the street, and I was curious where it went. That’s all. And we’re not rats. We won’t tell anyone about this place. We swear. Right, Hina?”


“Yeah,” she answers promptly.


Despite that, they push me down and put my arm on the table. “Dun worry. We be guin ter make sure o’ dat."


They remove the arm guard on my right arm and then roll my sleeve up. I continue, “Yo-you don’t have to do this. Just give us the passes, and we won’t let this happen again.”


“Okay,” one of them says. I sigh. I managed to convince them before it was too late. But they’re not letting me go, which makes me feel uneasy.


Suddenly, something scorching burns my upper arm. I exclaim, “Fuck!”


It catches me by complete surprise. The Dwarves laugh. “Dun be a baby. ‘Tis nae dat bad. It ken get way hotter dan dat.”


It’s not the worst pain I’ve felt, but I wasn’t expecting it. The blacksmith pulls the hot metal away from me. The Dwarves grab me and then pull me up.


“Dare be de pass ye wanted,” one of them says.


That’s the pass? It’s not an actual pass? He reattaches the arm guard.


“Nigh fer de girl,” one of them says and pushes Hina onto the table as they did with me.


I can only watch. Fighting them would be impossible, given that we’re in their territory. We wouldn’t be able to escape, assuming we get past these capable warriors. The blacksmith called them Vanguards. They must be powerful. Hina whimpers weakly as they brand her arm the same, pulling her up afterward.


“Dat be embarassin’. Yer lady friend been quieter dan ya.”


She knew what was coming. I keep my thoughts to myself. On the bright side, we got the passes we needed to get out of here without wasting time. We were just on our way out, so this works for us.


“Nigh yer comin’ wiff us, boy,” one of them says and the two of the others tag along. They grab me as before.


“Kai, they’re separatin’ us!” Hina exclaims. I resist their pulls and turn around. She struggles to break free, but the two Dwarves restrain her and drag her toward the backroom.


“Wait, what’re you doing?!” I exclaim. My heart pounds rapidly as possibilities course through my mind. Is this the moment to fight back? Hina chose to tag along, but it’s still my fault she’s in this mess. This is my responsibility. I can’t let anything happen, but… I bite my lip. We could break free from this current situation, but we would alert everyone nearby. That wouldn’t be good for us, and we don’t know how to leave this place either. It’s a death wish.


“Juss shut up an’ walk. Dae wha’ we say, an’ we’ll return de girl alive,” one of them says as he yanks me arm forward.


“Kai!” Hina cries out.


“Don’t worry!” I exclaim, but they’re empty words to make her feel better. Though I’m fearful of what happens next, I want to say something else to follow up. I open my mouth, but no words come out. Something like, We’ll find a way out of here, seems like it would make the situation seem more hopeless.


Hina doesn’t say anything more. I don’t know of my meaningless words reassured her that it would be fine, if they shut her mouth, or something else. It’s better that she’s alive than dead.


I think back to my careless actions half a year ago. My stupid, selfish decisions that endangered everyone. It feels the same now as it did then. All the negative thoughts fill my head. What if we never make it out of this situation? What if it’s my fault something happens to Hina? It would be all my fault. I haven’t learned anything from my mistakes. Orders are everything, and I’m breaking them.


But it’s necessary to achieve my ultimate goal of finding those masked men… And things are different this time. I tried to do everything alone back then. Now, I have the support of everyone. Well, almost everyone. I should focus on what the Dwarves want me to do instead of the potential consequences if I fail. It’s not over until it’s over. I won’t let this result in another negative outcome like that day with General Nero again.


The Dwarves continue to pull me through these underground streets. The passersby give me long stares like I’m some kind of spectacle, be it a Human or Dwarf. If this was on the surface and roles were reversed, there’d be a very different reaction. Like how a war almost broke out when Elf slaves were discovered in the city.


Eventually, there’s a huge door ahead. Like the entrance I first came through, but at a different location. It’s strange how there’s no one guarding it, considering how much trouble they go through to make sure no one speaks of this place. You’d think they’d bother to station some guards.


They could be beyond the door next to the gate. That’s where the guards from the initial entrance went after they let us in. But, there’s no openings or windows along the wall. There’s no way for them to see us. It was like that at the entrance too.


As we approach the gate, the door next to it opens. A Dwarf emerges and asks, “Vanguards? What be guin on?”


Who are these guys? Everyone recognizes them by sight.


“Takin’ care o’ a high-risk rat. Let us through.”


“Roight away, sir,” he says and goes back into the door. He comes out less than a minute later. “All good ter go.”


What does he mean by high-risk? Because we’re from the army? Or because we didn’t have the pass? I’d ask them, but they wouldn’t answer.


He goes back into the door, closing it behind him. Two of the Dwarves pull the gate open. We go through the gate, which leads to a similar looking passage, except that it’s illuminated. So mysterious. A part of the wall sticks out like a rectangle at the end. The ceiling underneath is shorter than a standard room. At the end, there’s a ladder leading up. The closing of the doors behind us resound.


“Dun think abart runnin’. Ye knoo wha’ will happen ter yer friend, if ye dae.”


“I won’t,” I answer.


“Good.”


“Are you gonna tell me what you want me to do yet?”


“We juss need yer help wiff a wee somethin’.”


I don’t like the sound of that. If it’s only a little help, they won’t bother going through all this trouble. We reach the end of the room. There’s a small circular opening in the ceiling in front of the ladder. I could probably climb this without the ladder, though it would be tiresome. Darkness fills the void above the ladder. There’s also a narrow hallway to the left of the ladder and the right.


“Climb de ladder an’ wait fer us at de top.”


I do as he says and climb the ladder. Something rumbles from under us. I ignore it and continue my way up, eventually reaching in a tiny room enclosed by four solid wooden walls. The three Dwarves shortly arrive.


“Alright, take aff yer armor an’ remove yer weapons.”


“Uh, why?” I ask, feeling suspicious.


“Juss dae it er we will dae it fer ya.”


“Fine,” I concede and begin by unclipping my scabbards off my belt. Afterward, I take off my arm guards and then my chest plate. They’re not going to ask me to take off my clothes next, right?


Before I know it, they’re spread around the room. One on each side of the room. Each of them are looking through a small gap in the wall. I swear those holes weren’t there before.


“Clear dis side,” one of them says. I turn to him, who slides a part of the wall back that closes the small opening. “Take aff dat red waist cape. It sticks art loike a sore dumb. Ye will thank me later.”


I sigh as I loosen my belt momentarily to remove my waist cape without questioning him. He then presses a camouflaged button on the wall. A way out appears on the same side. He looks at me and continues, “Ya first.”


Beyond the door is a restaurant. The Dwarves around the room give me nothing but a glance. My eyes linger on a Dwarf with long hair. It reminds me what’s been bothering me. I haven’t seen any Dwarven women. And it can’t be that there aren’t any…but every Dwarf I’ve seen today had a beard.


If only this Dwarf was seated toward me instead of the other way. Then I could get a good look at the chest region to know for sure. I curl my lips inward. I’m not sure I want to imagine that. I don’t have anything against them but…they’re not my type.


“Get movin,” one of the Vanguards says and shoves me forward. He exerts too much force, and my face meets the ground. He gloats.


Shit. These bastards are making a fool of me, and I can’t do anything about it. I stand up and leave the building. This must be the Dwarven district. Seeing how there’s any direction I could go, I ask, “Where to now?”


“Dis way,” one of them says and walks in a direction. I follow him. It’s a little cold without my armor warmers. Hina and I are unquestionably going to be late to our agreed meetup time at the Icy Tavern. This is taking forever, and I still don’t know what they want me to do. It could take even longer. What will the others think?


We end up in an alleyway, but this one is different somehow. There’s a tall fence-like divider on one side. The city continues on the other side, so it must be another district.


“So haur be de ding. We have an escaped Aerkin who jumped de fence. We need ya ter go owor dare an' find him. He does nae loike people, so he be probably hidin’ somewhere. Catch him an' bring him back.”


“What’s the catch…? I ask skeptically. “Why can’t you do it instead? Why me?”


“'Tis nae a secret dat 'tis de Xog district owor dare. Dae dun loike oder races walking in dare, so we be nae takin’ dat risk. Ye be instead. Dun be seen an’ ye will be fine.”


“Okay,” I respond. It’s not like I have much of a choice. With my armor off, it’ll be easier to scale this wall. “What’s this Aerkin look like?”


“’Tis a rat. Sin’ yer a rat, ya shou’ knoo wha’ dat looks loike. Let a rat catch a rat,” one of them says. They all laugh. “Get guin. We will be roight haur if ye need us.”


I don’t know how I’m going to find a rat…but there’s nothing to do but scale this wall first.


“Almost forgot. Ye will need dis,” one of them says and pulls out something from his shirt pocket. He tosses it to me without delay. “We dun want ya ter be seen. Dis be insurance.”


It’s a black balaclava with only the eye holes. Usually good for keeping the head warm, but could also be used for anonymity. I put it over my head and then adjust it to position the holes to be over my eyes. The mask obstructs my vision a bit that would be annoying if I had to fight with it on, but to catch a rat shouldn’t be a problem. I walk over to the wall while moving Scrap Mana to my legs with immediate activation, instructing them to strengthen my leg muscles for several seconds.


Upon reaching the wall, I jump, easily reaching the top of the barrier. The other side isn’t too different from the Dwarven side because it’s another alley. Luckily for me, this place is quiet, which means that the main street isn’t near here.


Wait a minute… How’d a rat escape that underground place? Those heavy doors blocked anything going in or out. Does that mean there are small holes in the ceiling or walls that lead to the surface? I imagine there would have to be ventilation holes present for oxygen. Breathing down there wasn’t so much different than in the city.


Still, I find it hard to believe a rat managed to run away. And how am I going to know if I catch the right rat? They could be everywhere…especially in a filthy place like this. Is that a food trail?


There are these thin, long brown things on the ground. They’re a tad bit bulkier than a rice grain. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that’s poop. Rat poop.


Strange how I would stumble upon this as soon as jumping over the fence the Dwarves told me to, but I have no choice but to follow their orders. They can’t blame me if I bring back the wrong rat. They weren’t very specific in their instructions. They’re probably doing this for someone else, anyway. It’s likely that the Dwarves don’t know what this rat looks like either, so any rat should work.


I should be satisfied with that, but I’m not. If the rat escaped through an opening in the wall or ceiling, there’s no way for the Dwarves to track it. Let alone know that the rat traveled to the Xog district.


I remember how I saw a monster run in the city. The rat must’ve been the same. Brought from the outside. It was a little disobedient, escaped the owner, and climbed this wall. Yeah. That’s it.


I follow the feces trail to a connecting path. I continue, peeking my head out first to make sure it’s clear. I resume tracking the rat. Speaking of which, I haven’t seen a rat use any magic even though all living things have Mana. They aren’t exactly hostile creatures, though. I’ve noticed that docile animals don’t use magic. It makes me wonder what the owner was thinking of making a rat an Aerkin. The small size of the creature wouldn’t be any good for fighting. Even without magic, a larger beast could step on it with some force to end its life.


Small rustling resounds near a trash can. A long-tail connected to some white fur is visible near the end of it. I can’t tell if that’s a rat, but I’ll find out after I grab it. I haven’t seen a white rat before, but this could be why the owner decided to make this an Aerkin for good luck of sorts.


I don’t want the critter to run away. It would be troublesome if it did. If it retreated into a small hole, I’d be at a loss. And if its fast, so the chances of running into a Xog would increase.


I’ll have to be quick…or use Void magic. Using Void magic to catch a rat. I laugh to myself. Hina’s life is on the line, so I can’t take any chances.


I bond my Mana with Void Affinity, write the instructions, and send out my charged Mana. One quick movement is all I need. It will only stay active for two seconds – more than enough time. I raise my right arm and bend it in a 90-degree angle in front of my chest. The Mana activates upon reaching the destination. A circular portal appears right behind the rat. The other one is facing the tips of my fingers. The size of the gate is wider than it needs to be, but it allows some room for error in case the rat bends its body toward the edges of the portal.


I lunge my right arm into the portal and grab the white creature, careful not to use too much pressure. I quickly pull my arm back in the same motion. My magic disappears without a trace. The rat squeaks and tries to break free of my grasp. I bring it in front of my face and then stare into its black eyes.


It stops struggling for a moment and centers its head on me, staring right back. It stops squeaking too. Such a tiny creature. I almost want to let it go, but I need to return it to have Hina released unharmed. Sorry, bud. You’re going to have to come with me.


Suddenly, it escapes my grasp and leaps toward me. Before I know it, it leaps off the front of my body. My right hand lunges toward it before it’s too late. I’m sure I grasp onto it, but it slips away anyway. Oh, no!


I chase after it. Luckily it’s going on a straight path instead of climbing a wall or going into a hole. Some sort of thick liquid coats my right hand. It’s a bit gross. I wipe it onto my pants. The rat must have released it somehow to make it impossible for me to grab onto it. How am I supposed to catch it now? I should’ve put him in a box instead of carrying him. I was careless.


It scurries away while squeaking. It sounds more panic-stricken this time as if it’s crying for help. Worst case, I’ll have a rat swarm to deal with…but wait. That’s actually a good thing. I only need to bring back a rat. But for now, I need to make sure this rat doesn’t sway too far from this alley.


I grab onto a nearby trash can while running toward the rat. It’s not too fast, so I’m not worried about it straying too far. I dump the contents of the trash toward my left side. A whole bunch of junk falls to the ground. I’m careful not to trip on a random object. Soon, I catch up to the rat and slam the top side of the trash on it. Damn rat giving me so much trouble.


I retrace my steps a little to retrieve the garbage can lid. I’ll need it to keep the rat inside. I return to the trash can, the rat still squeaking pointlessly. No other rats have come to its aid.


Now, I need to scoop it into the empty trash can. If I’m not careful, I’ll have to repeat the entire process. I slowly lift one side of the trash can and put my head on the ground, so I can see through the small crack. There it is.


I raise the garbage can up and simultaneously use the lid to smack the rat inside like a ball. I return the trash can to a vertical position and close the lid. Can’t escape now even if you’re slippery. I turn back and begin retracing my steps.


It hasn’t even been a minute, but a bad feeling creeps down my spine. Then a quiet sound behind me. I turn around and find a monster in the air coming my way. I widen my eyes.



But it’s not like any monster I’ve seen. It’s too late to do any evasive maneuvers. It slams into the trash can. I hold onto the garbage can tightly. I can’t afford to lose the rat after coming this far. The blow is powerful, and I fall through the air backward, eventually sliding aross the ground. As I come to a stop, the lid pops off. No!



The rat jumps out, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I toss the can aside now that it serves no purpose. It gives me full view of this thing in front of me. It’s standing upright. An upright monster… There’s only one thing that it could be. Xog.


The clothing choice makes it clear that this one’s a girl. The fur on her face is colored like that of a tiger, mostly orange with some white and black. The head isn’t like a Dwarf, Human, or Elf but that of an animal. It bulges out with a pink nose in front and white whiskers protruding from the sides of the face.


I don’t know if the fur extends throughout her body under those clothes, but they do cover all four paws. Long claws extend from each of them. Her orange tail with black stripes wags slowly as she stares at me silently with her golden eyes. It sends a chill down my spine.


I…I need to get out of here! The Xog hasn’t moved yet, so it gives me time to move Scrap Mana into my legs. I’ll get up and dash for it at the same moment.


Now! I activate my magic and kick off the ground. The moment I turn around, another one of them is running toward me. The same fur and golden eyes but different clothes, I think he’s a dude. His steps are entirely silent. I can’t stop my sprint at this point, so I swerve to the side. There’s no space in this damn alley. The random obstacles like trash cans and boxes don’t help. My heart skips a beat as he extends his claws right at the moment I pass him.


I dive forward along the side of the wall, but I’m still within his range. I grit my teeth as his claws swipe across my chest. I crash into several trash cans. With no time to lose, I get up and continue running without looking back.


He ripped off a large portion of my sweatshirt. He barely scratched the surface of my skin enough to draw trace amounts of blood. Good that it wasn’t deep.


Since their footsteps are silent, I don’t know if they’re chasing me. I hope they don’t have more friends nearby.


Suddenly, a stone wall erupts in front of me right before the intersection, leaving not even a sliver of space on the sides. I don’t see a way through the top either, which leaves me one choice. I move Rich Mana into my right palm and then exclaim, “Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!”


Balls of fire fly toward the center of the wall. I don’t know what kind of Mana they’ve utilized, so it’s hard to tell how much Durability it has. I can only hope that three of my fireballs will be enough to leave an opening big enough for me to leap through.


My magic collides with the wall and rips a hole through it with only the first one, so it was probably made of Scrap Mana. Since an actual wall was right in front of the magic wall, my balls of fire burst into nothing soon after. It returns my Fire Affinity immediately, so I can create a larger opening for myself before I reach the wall.


“Fireball! Fireball!” I exclaim and point them at different points near the first hole.


I lunge through the opening head first with my arms extended forward. After going through and before I hit the ground, I launch myself back into an upright position by pushing my arms into the ground. I make a quick turn to my left. With the corner of my eye, I notice that they’re still coming for me, though they are lagging behind. I don’t linger a moment and maintain my rush forward.


I come to a stop in front of the barrier between the Xog district and the Dwarven district. It’s not exactly where I initially vaulted over the wall, but I want to lose my pursuers. I clear the wall. The Dwarves are no longe stationed where I left them. I don’t know if those tiger guys are going to keep chasing me, but I don’t waste any time standing still.


It doesn’t take long before I reach the main street filled with Dwarves. They’re probably giving me strange glances, but I don’t care. I’m used to it by this point. The only place I know where those Vanguards could be is that restaurant I came through when we left the underground area.


The Vanguards are waiting outside my destination. Those Xog aren’t chasing me.


“Relax. Dae be nae guin ter come haur,” one of the Vanguards says. None of them look surprised that I got attacked.


I look down, regretting I was careless the first time I caught the rat. If it weren’t for that, I’d have accomplished the task. Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ll be honest. It’s worked out for me so far. They could give me another opportunity to accomplish the task. I inform, “I didn’t get the rat. It got away.”


“’Tis all good. Come haur,” one of them says and points to the space between the restaurant and the building next door.


Are they going to kill me where there aren’t any prying eyes? I walk there as instructed. Worst comes to worst, I’ll fight back. Then break into the underground place with everyone to break Hina out.


“Listen, ye did well an’ accomplished de main goal. We will let de girl go,” one of them says.


I smile for a moment but then frown and knit my eyebrows. “What do you mean I did well? I didn’t get back the Aerkin.”


They snicker. “Dare been nivver an escaped Aerkin, boy.”


I was set up…? I grab one of them and exclaim, “Wha-what do you mean?!”


He shoves me away and answers, “Get yer hands aff me. Yer lucky we left both o’ ya alive. Be thankful fer dat.”


I grimace, not knowing what they really wanted from me. Did they want to give me a scare? Or did they just want me to wander into the Xog district? As far as I know, it’s not illegal to go there, just frowned upon. There shouldn’t be a problem.


“O’im guin ter contact de oders,” one of them says. The other two nod their head. He walks away, presumably back into the restaurant.


“Ward o’ advice, boy. Ye shou’ ditch yer shirt an’ replace it as soon as possible,” one of the two remaining Vanguards says. He walks over to me and takes my mask off. “Ay will take dat aff yer hands too.”


He’s obviously saying this in case those two tiger humanoids come looking for me. I ask, “Why’re you giving me advice? If you think I’m gonna be a problem.”


“We be only wha’ be necessary ter ensure secrecy. Dun confuse us fer ruthless barbarians. We cou’ have easily slaughtered ya underground wiffout anyone ever findin’ art.”


“You could at least tell me what’s gonna happen next,” I say. This is all strange to me. “How’re you gonna ensure that I don’t rat after you leave?”


The other Dwarf returns. “De oders be on dare way. Seems loike we have a chatty one, dun we.”


Somehow, they have a way to contact people long-distance. That’s confirmed now. The same way we got caught earlier not too long after entering the underground place. They contacted Nazug somehow to verify the information. Now, that’s two magic items they have that I’ve never heard of.


“We cou’ tell ya, but dat ruins de fun. Dae ye want ter ruin de fun?” one of them asks.


“Yes,” I respond. I’m not trying to have fun here, especially when it regards my safety.


He lets out a drawn out sigh. “Haur be wha’ Ay will tell ya. Dun let dem find ya, er ‘tis curtains fer ya. Dats all ye need ter knoo. Dun get caught.”


So he’s still not going to tell me straight up. They’ve only told me what I already know. I sigh. Now it’s a waiting game for Hina.


I think back to my encounter with the Xog. How’d they discover me in the first place? I couldn’t hear their approach at all. Was it the rat? The Vanguards told me that there never was an escaped Aerkin, but a conveniently placed rat right there can’t be a coincidence. That must’ve been how they discovered me. An incredibly good sense of hearing. If that’s true…they should also a great sense of smell.


I gulp and look at the damage they did to my sweatshirt. They could locate me by following my scent. They’ve marked me. I can’t simply ditch the shirt now, or I’ll really be out of place without a shirt in the dead of winter in this city. It’s also cold. The Vanguards snort as if they know my exact thoughts.


Now I understand why they had me wear the mask and ditch my armor. Those tiger humanoids shouldn’t be able to find me once I switch outfits and put my other equipment on. The smell is the main problem. I’ll have Hina buy something for me, and I’ll return to our assigned inn for a shower.


Wait…to begin with, why am I scared that those upright monsters will come after me? They’re not going to attack me in the middle of an entire city. The same reason why I wouldn’t attack an Elf or a Dwarf, especially given that it’s the Inteiru Expota. There’s obviously something the Dwarves aren’t telling me that would certainly explain things. I’ll just have to wait and see.


Eventually, the two other Vanguards join us with Hina, along with my things.


“Kai!” Hina exclaims and runs to me. She gives me a tight hug. I hug back. “I’m glad you’re okay.”


“We will leave ya nigh. Haur be yer final warnin’. If ye er any o’ yer friends rat, we will nae hesitate ter turn ya in,” one of them says before all of them turn their backs and walk away.


Hina lets me go. I ask, “Did anything happen to you?”


“No, nothin’. They took me to a room, they didn’t do anythin’. “


Is that absolutely true, though? She could be putting up a front to avoid talking about it. I look into her eyes and ask again, “Are you sure? Nothing happened?”


“Nothing happened. That’s scary thinkin’ about it for other reasons…” she mutters and shivers.


She sounds normal, so she’s telling the truth. That’s a relief.


“What about you?” she asks and looks at the scratch mark on my chest. “Showin’ off your battle scars again, I see.”


I sigh and reply, “I’m fine, but I have a lot to catch you up on. We don’t have any time to waste.”


“We’re goin’ to be so late,” Hina says.


“Mind as well be later. I’m gonna go back to the first inn. I need to shower and ditch my shirt,” I say while putting all my armor and weapons back on.


Hina looks at me with a skewed frown. “I don’t know what happened to you, but don’t you think meetin’ with the others is more important? They’re goin’ to be pissed.”


“I’d rather that they’d be pissed than total disaster taking place. The Dwarves tricked me into doing something. Well, I didn’t have a choice.”


“What happened?”


“Okay, look… The Dwarves said they needed help catching an Aerkin. Told me it was a rat, and I had to go into the Xog district for that. Didn’t specify on the rat, so I went for the first rat I saw. It was a white rat nearby. After a bit of struggle, I trapped the rat into a trash can. But then… I was attacked by a Xog.”


Hina raises her eyebrows and asks, “You saw it? What’d they look like?”


“Yeah,” I respond and then start walking toward the center of Syrina. “I don’t blame you for being scared anymore. Imagine a Human…but with the head replaced with a tiger’s head and the skin replaced with fur. That’s essentially what I saw in a nutshell. The head’s not precisely the same, but you get the point.”


“An upright monster…”


“Literally. They’ve got the senses and physical advantages of a monster too. Their paws allowed them to sneak up on me in total silence. I think they also heard the rat squeaking from far away. I know for a fact that the main street was nowhere near me at the time, so either they happen to be in the area, or they heard from afar.”


“Don’t talk about them anymore!” Hina says while pressing her palms onto her ears and grimacing with her eyes shut.


“They’ve got claws, a tail...and wore clothes,” I continue.


Hina takes her hands off her head and asks, “Clothes?”


“Yup.”


“Why? They’ve got fur.”


“Beats me. Could be to distinguish their gender? The two I encountered wore distinctively different styles of clothing. One was girly, and the other one wasn’t. I could be wrong, but it’s not like I had a whole lot of time to study them thoroughly. I was running for my life. If I had stayed any longer, more of them might’ve appeared.”


“Maybe they don’t have any fur closer to the center of their body.”


“Perhaps. Next time, I’ll ask them nicely to take off their clothes so that I can make sure. Those two I encountered weren’t very friendly, attacking me with no warning. Didn’t speak a word to me throughout the entire encounter.”


“It’s strange why’d they attack you. People said bein’ in the Xog district was allowed but frowned upon. Do you think they’re goin’ to come lookin’ for you?”


“That’s what I’m worried about. That’s why I’m ditching the shirt and taking a shower.”


“But…they saw you, didn’t they?”


“Oh, right. I forgot to mention the Dwarves gave me a balaclava to wear. They definitely knew I was gonna get attacked, but they didn’t say anything. By the time I got back to them, they didn’t even care I failed to capture the rat because it wasn’t an escaped Aerkin to start with. It was all a trick.”


“All a trick...? The whole point was to get attacked by the Xog?”


“I don’t know what else it could be.”


“Hmm…so you’re concerned that they’re goin’ to sniff you out.”


“Exactly. The Dwarves mentioned that I shouldn’t get caught by the Xog.”


“What’s the worst that could happen? They wouldn’t dare attack you in the midst of the city. Too many pryin’ eyes. They wouldn’t want to start a war.”


“I don’t know. The Dwarves are hiding something important. I wish they’d tell me outright. Now, all I can do is trust their warning. I think they’re trying to be helpful in their own twisted way like suggesting I ditch the shirt. They’re just not very direct about it. Like how they’ve gone through a roundabout way of silencing us using the Xog threat. They said they’ll turn me in to them if they ever find out we tell someone about the Aerkin arena.”


“What’re we goin’ to do if we can’t disclose it to Aisha’s team? They’re goin’ to want a good explanation to why we’ve been gone so long.”


“No, I think they meant the army…or the government. They called us army dogs, remember?” I ask. I almost forgot Hina can’ t comprehend most of what they’re saying, so she might’ve not caught that. “We should be fine if we reveal everything we’ve discovered…but can we trust Ada and her team with that information? They could decide to tell someone.”


“I say we tell them. We’re goin’ to need their cooperation to continue with our investigation.”


I’m skeptical. Mainly because Ada and I used to be at each other’s throats. She’s cooperating now, but I’ll never forget how she treated me in the past. A part of me still can’t trust her fully. She could screw me at any point. At the same time, I have to take the risk. Hopefully, her team can keep her in check if she has another bout of anger. I saved her life, so unless she’s an ungrateful brat, I won’t have anything to worry about.


“Fine, we’ll tell them,” I concede. “But something still bothers me about why the Dwarves are trying so hard to keep things a secret.”


“I know what you mean. We know that their underground base must’ve been built at the same time as Syrina. I’m sure that Humans built the city considerin’ the villages in Neomeris are populated by us. It would be strange if the other races played a role in the construction of the capital.”


“Exactly…and we know Viessa told us that other races could live here or do work about three Inteiru Expotas ago. The Dwarves weren’t here until about then.”


“Don’t we already know the answer then?” Hina asks. I cock an eyebrow. “The government must already know about the underground city. They allowed the Dwarves to build it or even constructed it themselves.”


“The Humans built it…” I mutter. “Of course! It’s all for the sake of coexistence. They must’ve used the underground city as some sort of bargaining chip to convince the Dwarves to come to live here.”


“If that’s true, why would those Dwarves go through so much trouble to threaten us?”


“Yeah…that has me stumped. I find it hard to believe that they’ve managed to stop everyone from ratting for ten whole years. Why don’t we go probe for more information down there? Floyd might know more. The Casino, he said.”


“We barely got out, and you want to go back? First things first, we need to inform the others on what we’ve found.”


“Yeah, yeah. But first, buy me a replacement shirt, would you? Gonna need a new one. You have money with you?”


“I have more than enough,” Hina says with a giggle.


I cock an eyebrow and then warn, “You don’t wanna fuck with me.”


“I won’t. Anythin’ warm should be good, right?”


“Yeah. You don’t need to spend too much thought on it. We don’t have any time to spare,” I say, feeling like she’s still going to ignore that and buy something ridiculous.


“Don’t worry, Marin’s goin’ to love it,” she says with a mischievous smile.


I sigh. Well, it can’t be all that bad. My chest plate will be covering most of it. We split ways after finding our way into the Human district. I increase my pace back to The Windmill Inn.

 

Chapter 66 – Inteiru Expota – Inequality


I reach the inn and go inside. There’s one thing we forgot to do before we left. Purchase the available rooms for the next few days. Worst case, we only need a few for the ministers, and the rest of us will have to make do without one.


Apparently, the Neomeris government has already reserved twenty rooms for us. I show the receptionist my army ID card, and then he hands me a key. Makes sense to do it this way to avoid overcrowding of the representatives of the Inteiru Expota into one location. They must’ve met and planned this.


I head upstairs and then find my room. I close the door and lock the door before taking off everything.


Crap. I don’t know how good their nose is, but couldn’t they track my scent to this room? I walk over to the window and then open it. Well, this should do fine. I take off my sweatshirt, rolling it into a ball. Don’t want to be seen doing this. I hide around the edge of the window and crouch. Then, I toss out my shirt before closing the window. It’s in clear view in the middle of the street with a couple of confused bystanders.


I strip the remainder of my clothes before hopping into the shower. The blood is a problem. I might have to find a clinic with a healer to quickly close the wound. They might be able to track me that way. It’s not that much, though. Should be enough to wash it off.


I finish with the shower and then dress my lower half. I shiver. It’s a little cold coming right out of the bathroom. I wrap myself with a towel in the bathroom. It doesn’t really help, but it’s something.


Now, I just have to wait for Hina to arrive with my surprise. I unlock the door and leave it slightly open. I lay across the bed while I’m waiting.


There’s some faint communication going on in the lobby area. Then footsteps coming up the stairs. Hina’s here already?


I sit up and then open the door. I hold my breath, realizing that this isn’t Hina. It’s a young girl with short white hair. Big round white ears with a pink center on the top of her head. Two teeth are sticking out of her mouth, just like a rat. Unless it’s all a prop, this has to be another one of the Xog. But, the skin on her face is white and hairless. The rest of her facial features are like a Human’s. Same goes for the rest of the body, including the hands. Except for the furless tail protruding from the back end of her clothes.


With her eyes still closed, she wiggles her nose while leaning closer to me. Her nose has to be different because there’s no way to wiggle the nose left and right otherwise. Has she not noticed me yet? I feel like it isn’t a coincidence that a rat girl showed up at my door. I’m not sure what to make of this situation.


She definitely tracked my scent here, but with what lead? Is this the white rat that I captured? Somehow it turned into a normal-sized Human with rat features. God. This doesn’t make any sense. What do I do?


She suddenly opens her eyes and asks, “Are you who the Feloidians are looking for?”


“Uhhh…” I interject to stall for time. I’m certain that I’m the one she’s looking for, but I can’t get caught now. My heart is pounding. What would a normal person say in this situation? “Who’re you?”


“Oh, excuse my manners,” she says and bows her head before looking up again. “I’m Pem.”


“Kai,” I introduce and hold out my hand. I’m afraid she might notice that I’m nervous, but I’m trying to stay as calm as one can be in this situation. “Nice to meet you.”


She smiles and grabs my hand, but instead of shaking it, she lowers her head toward it.


I pull my arm back before she makes contact and ask, “What’re you doing?”


Pem gives me a look of confusion for several seconds and then says, “Oh, I’m sorry. Humans don’t do that?”


“No…” I answer, not sure what she was planning to do. I figure she might have never seen a simple handshake. It might not exist in Xog culture. “Grab my hand with yours.”


She reaches out and grabs onto my hand. I continue, “Now we tighten our grasps a little and move it up and down a little. This is called a handshake. It’s our common greeting for meeting new people. Well, I’m sure Dwarves and Elves do it too, but I can’t say for sure.”


“Oh, I see. Thank you for teaching me!” she exclaims.


She’s still holding onto my arm while going through the up and down motion. I say, “No problem. You’re only supposed to do it for a few seconds tops. You can let go now.”


“Oh, I’m sorry. I need to check something. Can I come in?” Pem asks.


She’s going to be suspicious if I reject her. But, what if she figures out that I’m the one she wants?


She walks closer to me and sniffs. Her cheery and calm demeanor is suddenly broken when she asks, “Are you hiding something?”


Shit. Did she figure it out? No matter, I’ll keep on playing the ignorance card. “I don’t know what you’re referring to, but you’re free to come in.”


I gulp as she accepts my invitation to come in. For the first time, I notice that she has two weapons attached to her Titanium belt. The hilt style reminds me of a rapier, but it isn’t one. There isn’t any blade for that matter. It looks almost as if the belt is the weapon. That would make more sense than the concept of a metal belt.


She narrows her eyebrows and paces around me. Pem says, “Let me see your chest.”


That’s what she’s going for. That scratch the tiger guy managed to get on me?


“What are you waiting for? Take off the towel,” she demands.


My palms sweat, and my heart beats faster. I respond, “No, I’m not gonna show you my chest for no reason.”


“So you are hiding something…” she says and wiggles her nose. “You can’t fool me. I smell your fear.”


What?! She can do that?! What do I do now? Fight her? My weapons are too far out of my reach. There has to be another way out of this. Wait. Fear… Monsters…


“So-sorry…” I mutter with a trembling voice. I make and break eye contact several times. “I didn’t want you to know because it’s a little embarrassing… I’m kinda scared by you.”


Her expression loosens up. She bows her head again and says, “Oh, no. I should apologize!”


I cock an eyebrow. I really don’t know what to make of this situation. Her attitude changes so easily.


Pem continues, “It’s your first time seeing one of us Xog, right?”


“Yeah,” I answer. “I’m not from around here.”


“Same here. What a coincidence,” she says and then laughs. When she’s not giving me a death stare, she seems like an ordinary nice girl…with a few extra features. If it weren’t for those front teeth bulging out of her mouth, she’d be quite attractive. “I didn’t know Humans were frightened so easily… I think you’ll cry when you’re in the presence of Feradians.”


“Cry?” I ask and then crack a skeptical smile. I quickly drop it, realizing I’m supposed to be scared. “Maybe…if they’re really that scary… What’re they?”


“I’ll tell you a few things for free to show that you don’t have to be scared of me. I’m not going to eat you,” she says with a grin while patting me on the head. I don’t like how she’s looking down on me, but that’s a good thing in this case. “We Xog are the most diverse race on this planet. We’re split into two categories. The Dociforms, who exhibit less beast-like characteristics, and the Feradians, who are the opposite. They look more like beasts, but none of us are what other races call monsters.”


“Who’re the Feloidians then?” I ask, remembering that she mentioned it earlier.


“There’s a second way we’re categorized. By our physical features. The Feloidians are the feline beasts, and I’m a Muriform, a family of mostly rodents. Particularly, I’m a rat type, but you can’t really tell most of us apart by glance. We all look similar other than rabbits or those who exhibit more beast traits.”


“Oh,” I interject. Should I ask more questions? Something more specific as to why those Felodians are looking for me. There’s no mistake that those tiger guys I ran into were part of that group. But, I can’t let her show any more nervousness. She’s going to be suspicious, and I can’t keep playing the scared card. Hina, hurry up! She’s the only one that can get me out of this situation.


“Want to see something cool?” She asks with a grin. It seems like she’s the one who wants to show me something, if anything. Before I can answer, she exclaims, “Look!”


She raises her hand in front of her and then something crackles within it. Her wrist and fingers pop out of their sockets and bend in impossible ways. I blurt out, “What the hell?!”


“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!” she exclaims and returns her hand to normal somehow. “I wanted to show you my special ability to soften and harden my bones. It pretty much allows me to dislocate my bones without any consequence. Cool, right?”


“Yeah…that’s interesting,” I reply. I guess she only looks similar to us., Like Dwarves, Xog may have their own special adaptations that are unique to them. She mentioned that there were different types of Xog. It’s a fair assumption to conclude that they have a variety of different features. If she can do this to her bones, she can essentially bend her body in any way she wants. I can’t imagine what it would be like to fight someone like that in combat.


“So, what special powers do Humans have?” she asks with sparkling eyes.


It seems like she’s genuinely interested, but only disappointment awaits her. We can’t see in the dark, we can’t melt rocks, and we can’t do things like dislocating our bones. There’s nothing special about us. We’re weak and pitiful creatures unable to do anything right no matter how hard we try. It’s so unfair, but we lost the game of life. I respond, “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”


“Oh, come on. There has to be something! After all, you’re different than other Humans.”


I knit my eyebrows. “What do you mean? I’m the same as everyone else.”


“No, you’re different,” she says and sniffs me. “You smell different. You’re different than the other Humans out there.”


I instantly think about my Mana. That’s the only thing I know that’s different than anyone else. I’m the only one with this Mana. Is that what she’s referring to? How can she tell that by smelling, though? I can’t afford to show her my Mana, so that’s another thing I’ll have to hide from her… The ignorance card is all I have. Hopefully, she can’t smell lies. Otherwise, I’m screwed.


“There must be a mistake. I don’t know what could be different about me, if there is.”


She pouts and answers, “That’s boring. If you let me inspect you, I might be able to tell you. You’ll have to show me your chest first.”


“I assure you there’s nothing special about my chest.”


“Show me! I need to see it.”


“Why do you wanna see my chest so badly…?” I ask, feeling like I might be treading into dangerous territory. She’s going to notice that my concern increases after asking that question.


“I’m sorry for being rude all this time. I haven’t told you anything,” she says and bows her head. “I received orders from my boss to find the Human male with a diagonal scar across his chest. They gave me a small piece of his clothing I used to track here. So, can you show me now?”


Shit, shit, shit. That’s definitely me. If I show her, it’s over. If I don’t show her, she’s going to suspect something too. I think of something that might work, but I don’t know. What other options do I have? None. She’s probably already smelling the fear from me now. I need an explanation, fast.


“No, look. There’s something you don’t understand. I don’t know if it’s because it’s normal in your culture, but…we Humans don’t show each other our bare skins that easily,” I say. The fact that it’s in the winter plays to my advantage. No one’s walking around bare-chested in this weather. If this is her first time here, she hasn’t seen that and has no reference. I continue, “We need a certain level of intimacy and trust first, you know?”


“Hmm… I understand. Will you feel more comfortable if I bare my chest first?” Pem asks. She starts undressing her top.


Oh, no. What have I done? I can’t tell if this girl is seriously sheltered or if Xog’s values and common sense are that much different than ours. I could tell her to stop, but she might take offense to it. It doesn’t make any sense as to why it might offend her, but at this point, I have no idea what to think.


In no time, she takes off her bra, revealing small but round and full breasts. I gulp as my lower half becomes quite excited despite those hideous teeth. Her face isn’t red at all. It makes me think that she does this sort of thing all the time with her own race.


“Oh, I’m sorry!” she exclaims and bows her head. What’s going on now? I’ve gotten used to her apologetic behavior. “My master taught me not to allow weaker males to copulate with me. If you want to do that, you’ll have to beat me in a duel first.”


“Pardon?” I mutter and cock an eyebrow. Did she just…?


“Oh, I’m sorry. I also forgot to mention there are laws preventing us from copulating with other races. So, don’t get your hopes up,” she says with a grin. “I fear you might die trying otherwise. I wouldn’t want to accidentally kill you for nothing, ehehe. I would get into big trouble for that. Besides, I want to be friends with other races! That means you too!”


I sigh and palm my face. I can’t believe I was scared of this girl. At this point, it’s easy to see that she’s just a naïve idiot. If I wanted to, I could convince her to…no, no, no. I have Marin.


“What’s wrong?” Pem asks. “Are you going to show me your chest now?”


“No, look. What I really mean was that when we lay ourselves bare, we plan to have sex.”


“Oh, I’m sorry!” she exclaims and hurriedly dresses. “That’s why you got excited. I’m sorry for confusing you. I can’t do that with you. I’m sorry.”


“Yeah, it’s okay. So, that’s why I can’t show you my chest,” I say.


“Don’t worry, I understand,” she says. She tilts her head. “That puts me in quite a pickle, though…”


“That window over there was open when I got here,” I say and nudge my head in that direction. “Maybe the guy you’re looking for went out there?”


“Oh…” she mutters and walks over to the window. “The smell does seem to lead here.”


Pem opens the window and sticks her head out the window. She leans back inside moments later. “I’m sorry, but I have to return to work.”


“That’s totally fine,” I answer. Please leave.


She walks up to me and leans into my personal space. I don’t move and try to keep calm as she sniffs me all over from head to toe without explanation.


“Okay, I’ve memorized your scent. I’ll remember you as my first Human friend. Kai, right?”


“Yeah…and you’re Pem,” I respond. I feel a bit honored that she’d call me her first Human friend when all I’ve done is mislead her.


“Yep. Thanks for showing me that Humans aren’t as wicked as they say,” she says with a smile. “I’ll come to say hi when I’m not busy. Bye, and I’m sorry!”


She dives out the window. What’s she sorry for this time? Wait… If she’s looking for the scent, the shirt I threw is literally right there. I run to the window and look down. Pem is gone, and so is the shirt I threw.


The shirt is in her possession, and she memorized my scent. It won’t take long at all for a nose of her caliber to figure out that it’s been me all along. But isn’t that why she apologized again? She already knows? This situation can’t be any worse than it is. I sigh.


“What’re you sighin’ for?” Hina asks. What timing she has. She’s at the door with a white thing in her hand, presumably my replacement attire. “We’re you talkin’ to someone?


“Yeah, I’ll have to catch you up again.”


“Nevermind that for now. Check this out,” she says and tosses me the white clothing.


That’s when it’s evident that Hina bought something new for herself too. A black sweatshirt with the image of a slice of cheese in the middle. Mine has a black rat in the middle. Seriously? I’ve had enough rats for one day.


“I had a hard time decidin’, but I figure we should have matchin’ tops, so people don’t grow suspicious of us, you know?”


“You could’ve chosen something better…”


“Come on, there’s nothin’ better than this,” she says and giggles. “With everythin’ that’s happened.”


I grimace and shake my head before putting it on. At least it’s warm. I replay the events that happened while Hina was on her shopping trip as I equip everything back on.


She looks at me like I’m hopeless and says, “I can’t believe you took advantage of that poor rat girl and made her strip. As expected of the lady killer.”


I can’t believe that nickname has been spreading throughout the Castle. I swear, I’m going to kill Jetia one of these days.“That’s all you have to say? I didn’t make her strip. There’re more important things we need to worry about here.”


“We don’t have time to fancy your rat fetish,” Hina says. I stare at her blankly. “I’m kiddin’, okay? So serious…”


“Gee, I don’t know. It’s not because of a bunch of intelligible upright monsters with superpowers are all looking for me, and Pem has strong evidence that it was me. Her smell’s so powerful that she can tell if I’m scared or even excited. And it’s not because we’re extremely late for our team meeting. Now, let’s leave,” I say and walk out the door.


Hina follows and says, “Well, to be fair. You don’t need a superpower to tell if a man has a boner.”


I pretend that she didn’t say that and move on. We eventually arrive at the Icy Tavern.


Ada and the others are practically scowling at us the moment we walk inside. They’re at the same table as before. Lotrem and the Dwarves with him are gone.


“You’re late,” Ada says and pounds the table with her palms. “All because you guys decided to go on a date? Have you forgotten our objective?”


This doesn’t look good from our end. I understand their frustration, and I’m not sure how to start explaining how we got ourselves in this situation. It first requires confessing that we broke the ground rules.


“It’s not what it looks like,” Hina initiates as we pull up a chair and sit down. “We got here as soon as we could.”


Well, that’s not exactly accurate, but I don’t want to waste any more time messing around. I’ll let her tell the story, only filling in the blanks when I need to. She’ll probably need me to do that a lot, actually, considering her inability to comprehend the Dwarves. Then there’s my personal account of my encounter with the Xog.


So, we tell them everything that we learned from Lotrem, to the underground city, to my meetings with the Feloidians and Pem.


“And here we are,” I conclude. They didn’t interrupt us once during our story, despite revealing that we broke the ground rules. And now, they aren’t saying anything. It’s a lot to take in.


“So, basically…You guys found nothing,” Ada breaks the silence.


I cock an eyebrow and say, “No, did you hear a word we—”


“We heard everything. I don’t need to know about your attraction to rats. Clearly, you’ve forgotten our main objective.”


True, it did leave my mind for a bit because I was more concerned with matters closely tied to our lives. I don’t want her to feel like she’s won this conversation. I reply, “No, we haven’t. The underground area could be a potential base of operations for the masked men. They already have the Aerkin arena, which probably isn’t allowed up here, so that means there could be more illegal dealings down there.”


“He has a point, Ada,” Aisha says.


“Tch. I didn’t say there wasn’t a possibility there. He went on too many tangents talking about the Dwarves and the Xog. That stuff doesn’t matter to us now. I don’t care if Humans built the underground area or the Dwarves did. I don’t care when it was built. He’s already wasted two of our hours. The least he could do was cut the filler when he briefed us.”


Even though Ada has stopped coming after my throat, it doesn’t mean she’s stopped being less of a bitch. I can’t believe no one was interested in the Achilles Sundance Circuit or that the other races have special abilities. It almost makes me feel stupid for not going along with Hina’s antics. These people are too serious.


“Well, I’m glad that he didn’t,” Aisha says.


“Why are you on his side?” Ada asks.


“I’m not on anyone’s side, but what they discovered could be of great use to us. The other races could very well be involved with the attack on our city as long as there exist members of other races with animosity toward races not their own,” Aisha says. Ada stays sighs and says nothing more. The power dynamics in their group are too uneven. Either that or only Aisha wants to talk over Ada.


Aisha continues, “From what Ada and I have observed in the Elven District, Elves treat Humans with prejudice. Deniz and Melody were mistreated by Dwarves in a restaurant in the Dwarven district. Humans are guilty of this too. We don’t treat each other equally. It’s going to be hard to achieve coexistence when we don’t respect everyone the same in our own society. We learned that first-hand as female members of the army.”


That goes along with my discussion with Hina, Marin, and Ruby the other day. How there are rumors about how all the high ranked females in the army slept their way up the ladder. In either case, it seems like women have the unfair advantage. Because there are more of them at the top of the ladder than at the bottom.


But many people look down on females that learn the art of melee weaponry. Though, it’s true that they tend to gravitate toward Archer and Mage positions as I’ve observed in adventurer groups. It was the same for us too.


Is that problem truly one and the same as pursuing friendly relations with other races? I’m not sure. It’s not as if there aren’t any friendly Dwarves, Elves, or Xog. I don’t know if Pem means good at this point, considering the situation. But Lotrem seemed welcoming. And Viessa is trying to push for coexistence. Our initial encounter was a bit rough, but that quickly changed.


Well, if we mistreat females from other races as we do in our own population, that might be seen as something much more because they’re not Human on top of it. It depends mainly on how they treat each other and what’s normal.


There’s one thing I have to make certain. I say, “Before you guys tell us what you’ve found, promise me that you’re not gonna tell anyone about the Aerkin arena underground.”


“You don’t have to worry about that,” Aisha says. “We already know about it.”


“Pardon?”


“More accurately, we know about the Achilles Sundance Circuit, but not the Aerkin arena. The same general rules applied for Drymo, though. If you try to report it to the authorities, successful or not, you’ll be hunted down by all sorts of people,” Aisha informs.


“Did you live in the Royal District?” Hina asks. “I didn’t expect that out of you.”


“I didn’t want people treating me differently, so I didn’t make it obvious. I purposely dressed in commoner clothes,” Aisha says.


“We’ve always known that Aisha was something special since day one. That’s why none of us raised a fuss when Aisha made herself the leader,” Deniz says.


Everyone snortles. Even Ada joins. Aisha blushes and says, “Don’t talk about the past. I’m embarrassed thinking about my entitlement and immaturity from those days.”


I scoff. I’m a little irritated by their tangent. Ada’s the one who was going off on me about filler, and here we are. All eyes are suddenly on me, but I don’t know what to say. “Ahem…so how’d you learn about Aerkins?”


“Well, my family’s actually the one sponsoring most of the battles that take place in Drymo. We have an underground arena of our own under our home. I’ve watched a lot of the battles for fun before enrolling in the Academy. It’s a little embarrassing, but I wanted only wanted to attend because, in the legend, Achilles was an adventurer too. I wanted to train a companion of my own one day,” Aisha explains.


Doris and Melody laugh. “She forced Melody and me into learning archery because she wanted to practice training us. She was already good because of tutoring lessons by a pro.”


“Enough about the past. Before we move on to our discoveries, there’s something you two should know about the pass you received from the Dwarves,” Aisha says.


“What’s that?” I ask.


“Don’t let anyone from the army or any government official see you have the marking,” she warns.


I gulp and then ask, “What happens if someone does?”


“I have no clue. They crack down on this sort of thing a lot because of the dangers it presents to the population, if a monster escaped into the city or went berserk at the wrong place. They’re willing to punish anyone who is known to have any connections to the sport. I haven’t heard back from those who’ve been caught.”


“Who takes them? The army?” Hina asks.


“Yes. That’s why you should get the mark removed as soon as possible. The consequences could extend to your entire platoon.”


“Well, we still need it, for now, so we’ll be careful,” I say and then turn to Ada. “Don’t even think about turning me in. Or I’ll feed them Aisha too. And her family.”


Ada scowls and answers, “I wouldn’t do that.”


“Now, now. Let’s be nice,” Aisha says and then turns to Doris. “Moving on. Why don’t you start, Doris? With your big discovery. “


Doris nods and then says, “Well, Irwin and I found two suspicious men. After eavesdropping, we found out that they’re keeping someone in a dark place where no one can hear his screams. They’re planning to go back later to torture him. It was going to be the last time, so they plan to kill him.”


That does sound dubious. I ask, “Who do they have?”


“Some guy named Porters,” Irwin answers. “They used some very vivid descriptions for the few words we caught. Their plans for their victim were progressively more intense than the previous. To summarize what they said, they we’re going to start mild by dripping hot wax onto him. Then, simultaneously choke and, ‘beat the shit out of him.’ Later, cutting him slowly with a dull knife. Finally, in the most sickening voice, ‘Show no mercy.’”


“Is Porters someone important?” I ask. “Why’d they target him?”


“We don’t know. No one knows anything about him that we asked,” Doris says. “But they don’t need a reason. Remember the Underground under the Academy?”


True. It’s like that one guy we encountered. Putting himself at risk to have a little fun. But I’m skeptical. They wouldn’t get discovered this easily. “Are you sure it was them? Were they well-built?”


“Not really,” Irwin responds. “They didn’t look like fighters, but you never know. Their specialty could be magic. But they spoke with such enthusiasm and power when they were talking about their plan. It sounded heinous. Worst case, we might discover what hidden place they’re talking about.”


“They were suspicious, so it’s worth checking out. They looked around in paranoia, careful about who was listening,” Doris adds.


“Not careful enough, apparently,” Hina says. “It sounds like a trap.”


“Yes, that’s why we’ll only go with our full group. They plan on meeting back at the same bar after collecting supplies,” Aisha says.


“If you guys took any longer, we would’ve missed the opportunity completely,” Ada says. “We need to go back to that location before we miss them.”


“You mean, you don’t know when they’re gonna return? We should head there now,” I say and stand up. A part of me is worried about the Xog situation, but the Human district should be the safest place for me right now, though it doesn’t seem like it stops Xog from coming in there. Pem went there without a problem, though she wasn’t a Feradian.


Doris and Irwin lead us to the place they found the suspicious pair. On the way, they told us a few other trivial details about them. We also start planning on our strategies for engaging them after they lead us to their hideout.


We reach the restaurant where the two men agreed to meet up. No current signs of them. The eight of us split up and blend in the area around the perimeter.


Nearly an hour passes, and still nothing, We don’t know if they’ve already left, but we’ve agreed to camp it out for a maximum of three hours before moving onto the other leads we have.


On top being on the lookout for the two men, I keep my eyes peeled for any Xog in the area. The fact that I haven’t seen a single one eases my anxiety.


Another hour passes, but then someone shows up. The physical description matches what Irwin and Doris told us. He’s wearing a black hooded mantle and carries a massive bag. All his torture devices are probably in there. Not too long passes when the other guy shows up dressed up the same. He also has a similarly sized bag with him.


We follow them with some distance between us. We don’t want them to know that we’re stalking them. It’s quite easy to track them. They take the most direct paths without going into alleys. It’s easy to blend in with the crowd.


The two men stop at the front entrance of a medium-sized house. Not too long after, they open the door and shut it behind them. The secret place they were talking about was a simple house? That can’t be right. But then it hits me. What if there’s a secret passage in there? That’s one thing we’ll never be able to check under normal circumstances. There are thousands of houses throughout this city, and we can’t check every unit.


I regroup with the others at the front of the house. Since this is off the main street, we can’t do anything conspicuous or out of the ordinary. Eight people crowding in front of a home would be stupid. Ada’s the closest one to the door, so she’s the first one to walk up to the door. Moments later, she turns back and then shakes her head. So the door’s locked. No one’s stupid enough to keep the door unlocked when they’re about to torture someone. We’ll have to find another way in.


We could easily break in, but that attracts too much attention. It would also alert those inside. I’m the closest to the right side of the place, so I survey that edge. Windows on the first and second floor, but they’re all closed. I don’t expect them to be open in the middle of the center. The best we can hope for is that they’re unlocked.


I doubt anyone’s going to pay attention to what happens on the side here, so I walk up to the closest window and then try sliding it in various ways. Seems locked. The curtains are blocking the view inside too.


The backside of the house is a side street with fewer people, which makes things easier for us, but still not convenient. We don’t know who could be watching. The houses lined up in front, or anyone walking by. One stupid mistake could lead to someone reporting us that could make its way up to General Nero.


The window situation looks the same here too, and there’s no backdoor. We have no way in from the ground…but there’s a chimney on the roof. It would be inefficient for all of us to go down that chimney and would attract some attention. One of us needs to take the risk and then unlock some of the windows for the rest of us to enter.


Ada meets up with me from the left side of the house. If anyone can do it, it’s her. She’s got Wind magic, though her equipment may make it more difficult. I whisper, “I have an idea if you’re up for it.”


“Spit it out.”


“Do you think you can get onto the roof somehow and go down the chimney? Then, you’d be able to unlock the windows and door for us from the inside. I don’t know if you’d be able to do that without getting caught.”


She looks at the ground for a few seconds in thought before replying, “I can do it, but it’ll be safer if I take off my armor for this one. It’s a stealth mission. I’m going to find somewhere nearby to store my equipment and then come back. Tell the others.”


“Hurry. Time’s ticking for our victim inside,” I say.


She nods and runs off. And I rejoin the others huddled together on the other side. I let them know what Ada is planning to do, so we should situate ourselves at various entrances and enter when she’s completed the task. If any one of us hears anything that indicates Ada is in trouble, we’ll all bust in. It might create a scene, but our lives come first.


After we see Ada on the roof about fifteen minutes later, we move into our positions. We haven’t heard any screams yet despite being close to the windows. Could it be an underground passage after all?


Ada moves the curtains aside and then unlocks the window from my side. While it does cross my mind it might raise a few eyebrows, but I quickly discard all thoughts of worry from my mind. I slide the window and hop inside. Afterward, I shut and lock the windows behind me. Finally, moving the curtains back into place.


It’s quiet. Too quiet. The inside looks like an ordinary home. I slowly walk around. Several of the others are already at the entrance. Soon enough, everyone is here.


We don’t say much and only nod in agreement. Deniz, Ada, and I lead since our weapons are the most suitable for this environment. I follow Ada through the house, eventually arriving at the stairs to the lower level. Luckily, the steps are made of stone, so it doesn’t make any noise as we go down.


There are faint noises in the distance, but they’re strange. They’re not the ear-piercing screams I was expecting. But, my intuition still tells me that there’s something wrong here. We get to the generic basement underneath. There’s an unnatural hole in the ground here. That’s where the noises originate.


The downward passage doesn’t take us too far until there’s a crudely crafted door at the end of it. The noises from earlier have become high pitched. Then they suddenly stop.


“End it... End it, Reaves,” someone says.


Uh, oh. We have to hurry! They’re planning to kill him now! The same thoughts go through Ada as she opens and then busts the door open.


She tackles the naked guy on the left. The remaining two are without clothes too. The guy on all four looks to be the victim. Without overthinking, I kick the guy on the right hunched over him. He lets out a grunt as he’s knocked back. It was at this moment I realize these guys aren’t any real threat, but we should help this chained up guy, who I assume is Porters. He is blindfolded, has his hands tied behind his back, and feet chained to the wall. He also has small paper cuts throughout his body and areas with solidified wax. He gags.


“I’m sorry, don’t kill me!” the guy Ada tackled yells.


The smell of the room hits me. It smells like a certain kind of man stink. But that’s not what causes me to narrow my eyebrows, scrunch my nose, and frown with an open mouth. I would free Porters, but a familiar thick liquid covers his back where his hands reside. The part that confuses me the most is that he has an erection too. Someone forced into this situation wouldn’t have that at all.


“Shut up and don’t move or I’ll kill you!” Ada exclaims.


“Reaves? Jon? What’s going on?!” Porters exclaims. The tone of his voice confirms my suspicions. He knows these two men. And it doesn’t sound like he was about to be killed at all.


“Please!” the guy I kicked pleads to Ada. “I know I disobeyed my father’s wishes, but you don’t need to kill us! At least let Reaves live!”


Ada stands up without a word. The two men embrace each other. It was at this moment she must’ve realized what was going on too.


“You sick fucks… You’re all faggots!” Ada exclaims. She clenches onto her weapons. “You’re better off dead!”


“No, please!” they scream.


“Whoa!” I interject and step in between Ada and the two men. I don’t know what she’s thinking in this kind of situation. They’re into some weird shit, but it doesn’t mean they should die. The others stare in disgust from the back of the room. “We don’t have time for this. Let’s get out of here and move onto our next lead.”


Deniz grabs onto Ada, who thankfully backs off without causing more of a scene. She’s got some bit of some white dripping down her armor. I can’t help myself but let out chuckle and smile, but quickly return to a neutral expression. As everyone leaves the room, I follow. Everyone seems to abandon stealth as they all walk out the front door as if nothing happened.


“I’m getting my equipment back,” Ada says with little energy. “See you back at the tavern.”


The rest of us gather in the area between the two streets nearby. I sigh, turn to Irwin and Doris, and then ask, “So…which one of you guys wanna explain to me what just happened?”


“We’re sorry…” they say in unison with their heads down.


That aside, I’m confused why they spoke about their activities in the way that they did. I say, “It’s alright. No one would’ve guessed that they were into that sort of thing.”


“No, it’s something we considered, but didn’t think it would end up to be true,” Irwin says. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a stigma surrounding homosexuality. The rest of society shuns them if it’s known, so they go through additional measures to avoid discovery.”


I can relate to that with my fake relationship with Hina and my secret relationship with Marin. It’s hard keeping up the façade sometimes. I can’t believe people make such a big deal over something so trivial. Why can’t everyone get along? It’s not like they’re harming anyone else.


“Unfortunately, Ada is one of the extremists with views believing that they’re better off dead, so that their kids, should they have any, aren’t gay either. Eventually removing them from the entire population.”


I never knew about this issue. It makes me think that coexistence may be harder to achieve than I initially thought. I wonder if any other groups are not accepted in our society.


On the one hand, we may have wasted a few hours with this lead, but I never would’ve learned about unseen inequality in our kingdoms otherwise. There’s also the issue with secret passages. We didn’t find one in this case, but it doesn’t eliminate the possibility. If I recall, Sitos’ place had a place like that. And Aisha’s place did too… It’s a common pattern for mansions to have underground passages, so it might be helpful to check some in the area in Syrina. For now, we all head back to the Icy Tavern.

 

Chapter 67 – Inteiru Expota – Tension


It’s early afternoon, and we haven’t found anything related to the masked men or snake earring group. We’re back at the table inside the Icy Tavern.


Ada, who was so keen on utilizing the time we have effectively, is silent as the rest of us rejoin her.


Seeing how no one else is saying anything, I interject, “Well, what else have you guys found?”


My question is met with silence. How ironic. Despite Ada making a fuss about wasting time, none of them have found anything else other than our encounter with those men.


“We didn’t find anything, but two of our groups heard something about an auction event somewhere,” Aisha informs. “We’ll have to repeat our scouting process to find out more.”


“I have a better idea,” I say. Since we can’t exactly get access to some of the larger residences in the city, we’ll fall back to our original discovery. “Let’s explore the rest of the underground city. As we mentioned in our story, we think Floyd might know a few things. He’s at the Casino somewhere down there.”


I don’t know if none of them think it’s a good idea or if they’re all too scared to get a pass, but no one answers. I continue, ”Unless you guys have a better idea…hurry up and get a pass. We don’t have all day. Half the day’s already over.”


“Let’s go with that,” Aisha says. “Any objections?”


A moment of silence before Aisha continues, “Great. Do you know where to obtain passes?”


“I don’t know. Just go any Dwarven blacksmith, they’ll probably do it. Try the Dwarven district,” I say, and then my stomach growls. “While you guys do that, I’m gonna grab some grub with Hina. We haven’t had a chance to eat anything since arriving.”


“Right. We’ll be back as soon as possible,” Aisha says and stands up. The rest of her team follow and leave the building.


“Good call, I’m starvin’,” Hina says and walks out the door. I follow.


“Let’s find a Human establishment. I don’t wanna risk having to eat some strange rocks or something at another place. Not saying that it’s all they eat, but you know?”


“No objections here.”


We repeat the process of going into restaurants and looking around a few times. On our third attempt, we find Human servers. It’s a bit crowded, but I’d imagine most places will be considering it’s the Inteiru Expota. Well, except the Dwarven places. There seems to be an overabundance of them in this area. Everyone can enjoy a nice universal meal while only Dwarves can eat those rocks, though it’s only Humans in here as far as I can see.


A man carrying some food walks past us and says, “I’ll be right with you. There are two open tables. Feel free to take the smallest one in the corner.”


We sit down at the empty booth in the corner. Oh, two Dwarven men are sitting at the table next to us. They have their arms crossed and look grumpy. There are a few small rocks on the table. That’s interesting how this place accommodates Dwarves by giving them some rocks. I wish the Icy Tavern had some food for non-Dwarves too.


“So, we have some downtime. Let’s talk about that Aerkin battle,” Hina says and beams with an open mouth. Looks like someone enjoyed themselves.


“What—“


“I take everythin’ back what I said about monsters bein’ dumb,” she continues before I can say anything. “Well, the bear was dumb, but the wolf was amazin’.”


I think back to the moment that I thought was most impressive. “Yeah. He had an ingenious plan to attack only when the bear exhausted its Fire Affinity. If he didn’t, the bear’s Fire magic would have been continuously used and replenished at the same rate allowing him to use it as a defense mechanism as the Earth magic closed in on him. It made me realize that I should be more careful about how I use my magic, considering I have low Fire Affinity.”


Hina smiles smugly and answers, “Well, I don’t have to worry. It’s a shame your talent won’t be of much use when everyone’s Mana manipulation skill catches up to you. You’ll be at a severe disadvantage with your low Mana capacity and Fire Affinity.”


I smile back and respond, “Well, if I cut their throat with my swords before they can use any magic, it won’t be a problem. High Affinity and Mana capacity mean nothing if you make dumb decisions like the bear.”


“Fine, but seriously. What’ll you do when you can’t overpower the enemy? It won’t work if they’re stronger like those masked men. Or when they’re smarter than you? You’ll lose a battle of attrition.”


“Run like hell, what else? I won’t get into those situations. Unfortunately for those Aerkins, they have nowhere to run. It’s life or death,” I answer, though technically my Fire magic is the strongest. Nothing can overpower it.


The server from earlier runs up to us and says, “Sorry, we’re quite busy at the moment. We don’t have a menu for today since we have an overabundance of various monster meats. Ten silver coins upfront for one plate of an assortment of meats.”


Ten silver coins…? That’s ridiculously expensive for one meal. Is it because it’s overcrowded in the city? People are taking advantage of this to charge way more than the standard. We don’t have time to look for another place that might be the same way. I’m starving too. We have enough money, so it’s not a problem. I drop twenty silver coins on the table and respond, “Sure. Give us two servings. One for each of us.”


“Right away, sir,” he says, picks up the coins, and then walks away.


Considering that these Dwarves next to us haven’t got their food yet, it’ll probably be a while for us, given their grumpy expression.


“Don’t you feel sorry for those Aerkins?” Hina asks. “What if we had to fight to the death?”


“Feeling empathetic for monsters?”


“Not specifically all monsters. Just the ones like Splinter, who's smart and can make decisions like us. They’re no different other than their physical appearances. It’s not fair to bucket them with the generic monster. They deserve a separate name.”


“I call them good monsters. I encountered a turtle in the past after the tournament,” I say, thinking of Rocky. Hina knits her eyebrows. I continue, “Long story. But, some rocks on top trapped him in place. I removed the rocks and then…”


Luna’s face appears in my head. I hesitate and then continue, “Luna said turtles taste great in soup, but I said it would be sad if we saved it only to eat it for lunch, so in the end, we didn’t. I named him Rocky. I didn’t know he was a monster until he used Water magic on Hiro, who had it coming because he was harassing Rocky.”


Hina laughs softly. “I can see that.”


“Well, even though I admit he was quite friendly, I’m not sure if he’s comparable to a person. Would they know right from wrong? Just because Splinter’s battle tactics were amazing, doesn’t mean he’s the same as us. Good monster or not. We’ll never know because we can’t communicate with them.”


“Actions speak louder than words. Rocky didn’t try to kill Hiro, did he? He knew that seriously attackin’ him wasn’t appropriate for the situation. You don’t need to communicate with words. He didn’t have killin’ intent, right?”


“Yeah, but how do I know he isn’t really good at hiding it? If you’re trying to compare it to a person…skilled fighters have no problem concealing their bloodlust.”


“There’s body language and verbal cues too. Did he hiss or look like he was about to attack anyone?”


Hmm… She has a point. Rocky was lounging on the grass, minding his own business, relaxed. But he could’ve been biding his time. “No, but he could’ve been waiting for the right opportunity when our guards were down. I mean, he clearly didn’t have any bad intentions, but if he did, it would be too late.”


“You’re stubborn. But you realize that everythin’ you said could be true of people too, right? We give them the benefit of the doubt until they show otherwise. Why shouldn’t those good monsters be given the same standard? As they say, innocent until proven guilty.”


“Because a lot of people have fallen to monsters. It’s the whole reason why villages are surrounded by walls. To protect them from the vicious monsters that roam Eiruta.”


“We have killed a lot of our own too. Take the attack on our city.”


I sigh and then concede, “You’re right. I don’t know what else to say. But, society has deemed monsters all hostile for a long time. Probably since the beginning? I don’t think that viewpoint will be easy to change. It doesn’t help that a lot of monsters look scary.”


“We can change. After all, we’re movin’ toward coexistence with the other races.”


“I guess, though I’m not sure how many people you’d be able to convince that there’re good monsters from the bad ones.”


“I don’t like how you call them good monsters. The Aerkins like Splinter. Think about it. There are real criminals among us, right? All people can make decisions, but not all of them are good. I’m sure the same can be said of monsters.”


“Ehh…this is getting too complicated. Now you want to divide the monsters up into three groups? At this point, maybe even four. For all you know, that bear could be capable of making decisions too. Or every monster on the planet. Except that most of them are dumb since you want to compare them to us. “


“Well, we don’t have to give them all names. As long as you know what I’m talkin’ about. Monsters like the bear are like most monsters we encounter. They operate on instinct. They do what they do because they don’t know any better. Then there would be those like Splinter. All I’m sayin’ if we should give those monsters a second chance.”


“Right, so how do you propose we do that? It’s not viable to wait and see if every monster will kill you. We need to hunt them for food and materials too. That’s why we have Adventurers.”


“We have our local slaughterhouses and farms. The animals we breed specifically for our main food supply. We don’t need to hunt all the monsters out there. I don’t know how we’re goin’ to do it, but I’ll make it my mission to see through this.”


“Okay, but those monsters you want to live alongside of have to hunt to stay alive too. What if they have no other choice but to attack Humans, Elves, or whatever?”


“That’s easy. We’ll increase the number of animals we raise and leave some for them. Mass feed them.”


I scoff and then interject, “Okay…”


Hina frowns and asks, “What’s that supposed to mean?”


“I mean…it’s a bit of an unrealistic solution. You want to increase our food output to feed monsters when we have poverty problems with our cities. People that can’t afford food or housing. Instead of fixing that first, you wanna feed the monsters. Hell, even the baseline amount of food the army provides is lacking. That aside, you’re trying to change centuries of behavior with no real benefit to us. And earlier today, we were discussing how the Xog were terrifying because they’re upright monsters who can think. After meeting the Felodians, I’m skeptical whether we’ll ever achieve coexistence with them.


“And you can’t understand the Dwarves either who we can communicate with. But you’re jumping ahead of all of that and want to pick out the good monsters of all the bad somehow and treat them the same as us. Don’t get me started on the other social problems that we discussed, how men belittle women and everyone shunning people like Porters for no good reason. We should resolve that first, don’t you think?”


“That’s true…” she mutters. “But I’m still goin’ to try. It’s not somethin’ I can do on my own, so…will you help?”


“I don’t know how to even begin helping with that. Honestly, I don’t really care. The only thing I want is to kill the one responsible for the attack on our city. That’s all. I hope you haven’t forgotten what’s most important here.”


Hina sighs. “Yeah…about that. As much as I want to find the ones responsible and give them justice…I’m startin’ to realize there are more important things.”


“What’s more important than revenge? Don’t you wanna make them pay? Especially since they killed…you know... Your boyfriend.”


“Yeah…and that’s all I wanted for a while…but I realized. I don’t think I’ll be happy even if I find those responsible. Lucius would want me to be happy. Instead of making life miserable for those who attacked our city, I want to make livin’ more tolerable for those still alive. You should—”


‘Shut up,” I interrupt. “Don’t push your ideals on me. I told you. I only want revenge. And I’ll do anything to accomplish that goal. So, are you the one thinking about backing out now?”


“No, of course not. I hope you didn’t misunderstand me. I still want to find those responsible. It’s important so that they don’t create another tragedy. It’s a different mindset. What’re you goin’ to do after you achieve your goal? Go back to bein’ an Adventurer?”


“I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far yet. I’ll cross that bridge after I kill that masked man. The one responsible for everything.”


“You should cross that bridge now, so you don’t feel lost after you’ve killed him.”


“Nah. I don’t want it to distract me from doing what I need to do.”


“I’m worried about you. About the things you’ll do to achieve your goal. I only hope that you don’t lose your sense of self. Don’t turn into one of them; a monster.”


“Don’t worry. I won’t stoop to their level. Thanks for your concern. More importantly–”


“Sorry for the long wait. Here are your meals,” the server says and sets down two plates of various cubed meats in front of us. It makes my mouth water. Perhaps ten silver coins doesn’t overrate the quality of this food.


I frown skeptically and look toward the Dwarves who still haven’t gotten anything.


“Enjoy,” the man says and then turns around.


One of the Dwarves picks up a rock and then chucks it at the server before he walks away. He turns around, and one of the Dwarves says, “’Ey, ye fuckin’ Human. We’ve been waitin’ fer owor half an hour. Whaur be our food?”


The server smiles and clasps his hands together. “Please, sirs, don’t throw your food. We’ve provided you a few snacks to munch on while you wait. We’re very busy today.”


“Busy ma fart-box,” one of them says while both stand up. They walk toward the man. “We’ve seen ye serve oder customers arrivin’ later roight in front o’ us. “


“Ye dare serve us deez crummy rocks an’ call it food? Ye ma fuckin’ racist,” the other Dwarf says.


The server takes a few steps back and points his palms forward. “Please, sit down. We’ll have your food out soon.”


Hina suddenly stands up and says, “Excuse me.”


“Huh?” the Dwarves interject and stare our way.


Hina lifts her plate and continues, “You’re free to take my plate. I know you’ve been waitin’ for a while, and you deserve it.”


She signals me with her eyes.


I sigh and stand up, too, with my plate in hand. “Take mine as well. We don’t mind waiting a little longer.”


“We dank ya, Humans,” they say and take our plates. We all sit back down in our seats.


“Ah. Dis be delicious. It been worff de wait.”


I stare at Hina and frown. “Seriously?”


She smiles and responds, “One small step at a time. If other Humans are mistreatin’ the other races, we can make up for it by bein’ nice. As you said, this is an issue we have to tackle first before thinkin’ about savin’ monsters like Splinter.”


I frown with a skew. I’m not sure if that’s a good idea…


The server comes back with two plates of meat. That was surprisingly fast. Succulent pieces of meat here I come! He sets it in front of us and quietly mutters, “Midget lovers…”


My grin quickly dies as the perfectly cooked meats from earlier are gone. The meats on both of our plates are half burnt and dried out. I eat a piece, and it tastes as good as it looks. Still edible, but not very good. This is also beef, nothing like those mystery pieces of other meats we had previously. All of these pieces are beef, one of the most common pieces of meat. We paid ten silvers for some burnt low-quality common meat.


I stare back at Hina and ask, “So, you were saying…?”


She quietly eats her meal. I don’t blame her. Even I wouldn’t have thought that we would get backlash from our own kind from showing generosity toward Dwarves. We saved his ass and this is how he treats us. It wasn’t even a big deal. We quickly finish eating our meals and then leave the place. We make our way back to the Icy Tavern. The others should be back soon as well.


“This isn’t goin’ to be easy…” Hina says.


“What’s that?” I ask.


“Coexistence.”


“No shit? Because of you, we wasted twenty silver coins on a subpar meal. I was looking forward to that assortment of monster meats…”


“I’m sorry,” she says and then takes out twenty silver coins. “Here.”


I accept it and say, “Thanks. Don’t bother carrying out small acts of kindness next time. It’s not like that’s gonna solve the problem at its core.”


“Yeah. You’re probably right…but I feel like I still need to do it. It doesn’t feel right to stand idle while somethin’ like that happens, though. Couldn’t it turn into an international crisis if those Dwarves reported that restaurant?”


“Who knows. But I doubt that server is the only one who isn’t fond of Dwarves. Or even Elves and Xog. I’m sure the members of the other races feel the same about other races. No matter what you do, nothing’s gonna change. You see how hopeless your mission is?”


“It’s doubtlessly challengin’, but not impossible. I can’t do anythin’ from the bottom of the army. I need to move up.”


“How’s that gonna help?” I ask, thinking of Captain Albius. He doesn’t want to rank up because the higher rank requires more administrative responsibilities. “You’d have to be a Major…or the General.”


“Fine. I’ll aim for the very top. I’ll become a General.”


I laugh.


Hina frowns and says, “There you go again…”


“Sorry, it’s just you’re too optimistic. I don’t think there’re even any female Captains. Now, you wanna overtake General Nero all of a sudden. We don’t even know if that’s possible.”


“I’ll make it possible. It’ll show that women are just as capable of men, accomplishin’ two goals at once.”


“Good luck with—“


Screams resound up ahead and a roar afterward. Is it a monster? An escaped Aerkin?


Hina and I glance at each other before rushing toward the source. At the next turn, there’s a wave of people fleeing the area. But not everyone is fleeing which makes it weird. It could be that the people remaining are confident that they could fend for themselves if need be.


There’s a line of people standing up ahead. Huh? Is that Ruby? The ministers are next to them, but the others aren’t here.


“Ruby!” I exclaim.


“Kai!” Ruby turns around and exclaims with a grin. “I did whatcha asked me ta do.”


“Good job. What’s going on here?”


“A buncha monsters appeared,” Ruby informs.


“No one’s killed them yet?” I ask. Are they escaped Aerkins? Considering the panic, they aren’t good monsters. The others must be handling the situation.


“I’ll kill ‘em now,” Ruby says calmly and turns around.


One of the ministers turns toward us and yells, “No! We’ve told you that you musn’t!”


Ruby continues walking forward. Another minister exclaims, “Sergeant Kai, stop her now!”


I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, but I run forward. “Ruby, wait! Stop!”


I put a hand on her shoulder. It was at this moment the Feloidians are in my sights. A large group of them standing there all with the monster heads. They weren’t escaped Aerkins but something worse. My heartbeat quickens.


“Okay, I’ll stop. But why?” Ruby asks. “They tried ta hurt the ministers…’n’ they’re hurtin’ everyone.”


“Take it off!” one of the Feloidians exclaims with a raspy voice. One of the goons is in front of the feline beast. He takes off his armor and then his shirt despite the cold weather. Jetia, Luke, and everyone else is in the same situation with a different Feloidian in front of them.


Oh, shit… It’s happening. They’re looking for me. A scar across the chest. This is bad. I can’t be here. I can’t hide my fear. They’ll know. But I can’t leave the ministers here if they get hurt, it’s all for naught. I back away slowly for now.


One of them suddenly turns his head toward me. The moment our eyes meet, I freeze. A cold chill goes down my spine.


“You!” he exclaims and sprints toward me on all four limbs so fast that it leaves a dirt trail behind him. It was the fastest I’ve seen anything run. He stands straight in front of me. His physique is the largest out of all the Feloidians, and his head is that of a lion instead of a tiger. His armor is a deep blue, the same color as those swords we found in that underground place. There’s an emblem of a lion baring its fangs on the center of his chest plate. Similar to Xantho’s symbol, but very different at the same time. It’s much fiercer. A huge scythe rests on his back.


He opens his mouth widely, revealing his fangs and sharp teeth. A stream of mist exits from his mouth. “Ahh…I can practically taste your trepidation. Are you the one?”


Fuck, fuck, fuck… This guy’s no joke. The amount of pressure I’m feeling from him is insane. He’s nothing like Pem. I won’t be able to lie my way out of this one. Running won’t work. He’s too fast. I could slow him down with my strongest Fire magic, but if that doesn’t work, I’m dead. Using Void magic to escape is the only viable option, but I have to keep that hidden. Attacking in any shape or form might start a war too.


“Show me your chest,” he says and then growls.


I’m running out of time. What are my options again? Retaliating in any way would probably result in him attacking me. If that happens, Ruby will be involved, and he’ probably kill her. What if I give myself up…? I don’t know what they want with me yet. That’s the best option, but I’m not sure if Ruby will understand. What if I burn off my entire chest with Fire magic? No, he’d smell the burn. If I reveal myself, it’s all or nothing.


Then, if Ruby goes berserk, it’s all for naught. It would be clear that she attacked first and then best-case scenario, we live, but would be held responsible for trying to instigate a war.


Ruby walks in between him and me. “I won’t let ya be mean ta Kai.”


Ruby… I open my mouth to say something, but I can’t. No words come out. What would I even say? Before I know it, my body begins to quiver. My hands, lips, and everything.


“Human girl, move,” he says.


Ruby doesn’t move an inch. I have to give myself up before it’s too late. I have to. I want to, but I can’t.


“No,” she says.


“MOVE!” he yells at a deafening volume and then growls at an equally intense force with enough strength to blow Ruby’s hair backward. He sends out an enormous amount of killing intent at the same time. The power of his roar splits my ears, leaving only ringing.


Yet, somehow, Ruby still does not move an inch. Not even a tremble. How can she be so fearless in front of this lion beast?


The ringing decreases over time. Now’s not the time for you to be acting like this, Ruby. Please, concede and move out of the way. Anyone would turn tail after that roar. Let me turn myself in. Her shoulders rise as if taking a deep breath. A part of my hearing returns just in time to hear Ruby scream, “No!”


Damn it, Ruby. I prepare my Mana and instructions as a counter-measure. If it comes down to it, I’ll reveal my Void magic and bring us to safety. I don’t care about the consequences.


“That is enough!” a man exclaims from behind me. “Bazaleon, please. Is this any way how a ruler should behave?”


This lion guy is a ruler…? I can’t believe how anyone this violent and scary could be a king. Our king in Drymo is hardly that. I don’t know who’s speaking to this beast right now, but I’m thankful for the additional time it gives me to prepare for the worst-case scenario.


“King Diell…” the lion guy mutters.


I raise my eyebrows. Or maybe not.


The lion beast continues, “A true ruler takes matters into his own hands instead of cowering into their chambers. What are you doing out here?”


“I heard from this red-haired young lady that you are terrorizing my citizens. So, I have come to take matters into my own hands.”


A red-haired young lady? Come to think of it… I didn’t see Marin around here. My body is responding again. I turn around, finding her there with a middle-aged man wearing noble clothing, who must be King Diell. Three armed men donning a full set of armor are behind him — two with Titanium and the other with dark green armor. I can’t get a good read on them right now, but they’re definitely seasoned fighters.


“If that’s actually true, you wouldn’t have come with back-up or required a messenger to inform you. I don’t understand how the other races could ever allow the weak to be in power. Only the strong should rule.”


“We will leave that discussion for another time. I cannot allow you to continue violating the rights of my citizens.”


“Hah! That’s laughable. So, Elves, Dwarves, and Xog don’t count as citizens despite that we’re all living in the same city? It’s fine if your citizens violate the rights of Elves and Dwarves every day.”


“Bazaleon, you are not a resident of the Xog district, so of course, you are not a citizen. I assure you that I am doing all that I can to ensure that coexistence with the other races proceeds smoothly. I cannot keep watch in every corner of the city making sure that everyone is treated justly.”


“There’s a simple solution for that. Create a law that punishes those who show injustice to another race.”


“That only creates fear. At the surface, yes, it may stop people from showing their displeasure, but it does not create a friendly environment, which is what we wish to achieve. Governing through fear is not the answer.”


“Typical Human response.”


“Adjusting to coexistence takes time. I cannot help it if people are not ready for that change.”


“Then why the aggressive push for coexistence? What is it that you want from us? We acquire magic instruction from your institution, but what do you hope to gain?”


“Why must every action be associated with profit? We only want current and future peace.”


“Lies. Are you looking to have more land under Human rule? Or do you want to lay your filthy hands on our defenseless women?”


“Surely, you jest. Your women are more than capable of protecting themselves. What is this really about?”


“A lecherous man forced my star pupil into taking off her clothes, showing him her bare chest.”


Wait… What?! Is he talking about Pem and me? I didn’t force her to do anything! She misunderstood! He’s making up lies, but I can’t say anything. But then it hits me. If he knows about that, Pem must’ve told him. My heartbeat speeds up, and my palms sweat quickly. Do they know it was me? I look at this monstrosity of a body. Does he know it was me all along?


“How did that happen?”


“It happened because your men take advantage of our naïve women who don’t understand what’s proper and what isn’t. They don’t want to retaliate and ignite a war, so they politely comply.”


“So you are forcing these men to strip as revenge? Preposterous.”


“We’re treating you kind to satisfy our objectives.”


“And what objectives are those?”


“To find a Human male with a diagonal scar across his chest,” Bazaleon says. My heart sinks, but I try not to show a strong reaction. “And to find the fiend who violated my pupil.”


His word choice frustrates me despite the urgency of this situation. Forcing someone to strip turns into violating. What the hell did Pem tell him? I recall her last parting words. Could this situation be what she’s sorry for? It doesn’t make sense. She memorized my scent, so it shouldn’t be that hard for her to bring me to him.


“I understand the latter, but what has this other man done to displease you?” King Diell asks.


“I’ve received a tip that he’s committed atrocities against our citizens.”


Again… More lies.


“So you are terrorizing my citizens based on an anonymous tip? How reliable is the information?”


“It’s not an anonymous tip, and I can’t tell you more than that. Know that it comes from a very reliable source.”


“No matter. I order you to cease your activities immediately.”


“Are you sure you want to do that? If you want my vote to pass the upcoming reforms.”


“If it comes down to it, we will not need your vote. You are only one of fourteen. Push this any further, and we will exclude the Feloidians from the reforms.”


“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. The other six Feradian representatives share my perspective. And if you think you’ll be getting the Dociforms’ votes…they are much easily persuaded. What’ll the other races think if you’ve shut us out for a petty reason?”


“Petty? The safety of my citizens?”


“So, you’re only worried about the safety of your citizens?”


“Yes, it looks like you understand.”


“Oh, I understand perfectly…” he says and then looks at me. At that moment, I knew something wasn’t right. “These two aren’t native to Syrina!”


The second he reached for his weapon, my body moves on its own. I step in front of Ruby and pull out my swords.


“Stop this!” General Nero exclaims behind us before Bazaleon unclips his scythe. “Those are my soldiers. I won’t allow you to harm them.”


Shit. If he’s here, he knows that I disobeyed orders and let the ministers do what they want. Always from one crisis to the next. General Nero should know I have that scar across my chest. I pray that Bazaleon doesn’t mention it again. He would no doubt give me up in a heartbeat.


“Relax, general from Drosera. I only planned to scare them a little,” Bazaleon says and then laughs. “It seems none of you are equipped with Mithril. Only measly Titanium and Tungsten, despite your lavish treatment toward the Dwarves. There are no advantages of using Titanium over Mithril, so it means you don’t have it. Why’s that? What are you receiving from the Dwarves in exchange? ”


Mithril…the name of that blue metal?


“I do not feel obliged to answer your questions with your level of cooperation,” King Diell says. “Tell us why you are fixated on those two in front of you.”


“It’s the boy,” he says and then tilts his head down to me. I freeze up again despite being able to move earlier. He laughs and then continues, “There it is again. Fear. Most of us Xog can smell it, taste it, and, most of all, sense it. Out of anyone we’ve encountered today, this boy has had the most fear out of anyone. He knows he’s the one we’re looking for. That’s why he’s far more scared than anyone we’ve met.”


“I do not mean to be rude, but anyone would be scared of you. Especially, considering you are one of the most fearsome Feradian Xog known as the Grim Reaper. Take into account that some of us are frightened very easily.”


“Fair enough. Try this. Help us find the two men we’re looking for, and you’ll have my vote. I’d like for all Human kingdoms to assist with the inspection of their respective citizens that are here. No questions asked. I won’t interfere with the decisions of the other representatives either if you do.”


“On one condition,” King Diell answers. “If we find the men responsible for both incidents, we will not hand them over unless you provide us proof that it was undoubtedly them. It should be easy for the second man. Have your pupil come and point out the man responsible.”


“Very well. Currently, I have my pupil hidden away in the Xog district away from Human influence. We’ll arrange for the inspection later. Are you sure the other kingdoms will agree to the terms?”


“I’m sure my king will agree without a doubt,” General Nero says. “They are simple requests, and if they’re as guilty as you claim, we’ll be glad to hand them over to you as a courteous gesture.”


“There you have it. Do we have a deal?” King Diell asks.


“Of course,” Bazaleon says and smiles. “I’ll see you at the meeting tomorrow.”


He then looks down toward me. He bends down with his face only an inch from mine. I don’t dare to break eye contact. He continues, “Don’t think you’re getting away, boy. We’ll know if you’re guilty soon enough.”


He suddenly snarls and lets out a low growl. My head flinches backward. He stands up and gloats. “Yellow-belly.”


He turns around and then walks away, laughing. The other Feloidians in the area quietly follow him. I sheathe my weapons.


“Sergeant Kai,” General Nero says.


I turn around immediately and salute him. “Yes, sir!”


“Tell me. Why have you broken orders?” he asks in a tone reminiscent of that unspeakable day, refreshing my memory fully of the consequences.


I gulp, unable to answer. I’d have to admit that I broke orders fully aware to accomplish my side goals, that he specifically told me to drop.


“General Nero,” one of the ministers speaks up. “Please, don’t blame Sergeant Kai for this. We forced him to play along with us. We told him that we received updated orders from you to accompany us around town.”


“General Nero, may we have a word with you? There are matters we would like to discuss,” King Diell says.


“It would be my pleasure,” General Nero answers before turning back toward me. “You will be off the hook this time, but I order you now. Return to your inn and stay there until the Inteiru Expota tomorrow. That goes for you too, Sergeant Hina. You are not to leave under any circumstance, and my orders will not change. Understood?”


‘Yes, sir!” we exclaim.


He leaves with King Diell and his men afterward. The random spectators around us take off too. Marin rejoins us.


“Are you guys okay?” she asks.


“Yep!” Ruby exclaims cheerfully without a trace of any fear from a direct encounter with a Felodian beast. The most fearsome one too. The Grim Reaper? It sounds ominous. “I protected Kai from the mean monster. Are ya hurt, Kai?”


“No…” I respond, unable to keep long eye contact with her. Her expression reminds me too much of Luna.


“Ho-how could you stand up to that lion, Bazaleon like it was nothin’?” Hina asks, quivering. At least I wasn’t alone in that regard. “I still feel it now.”


“’Cause nothin’s scarier than losin’ Kai forever.”


I widen my eyes. She did that impossible feat all for me. Maybe I’ve been wrong about her all this time. She’s always watching out for me. Is that proof that there’s a hint of her left somewhere in there?


“I’m sorry to interrupt your moment, but we don’t have much time. We need a favor from you,” one of the ministers says. “It involves breaking orders. However, we’ll make it up to you somehow.”


“Hurry, decide before the others come back. We trust you with this, but not the others,” another says.


“I’ll buy more time,” Hina says and starts walking over to the others. They’re still putting their clothes back on. I’d hate to be them without any clothes throughout that entire scene. “Take your time, but hurry.”


Breaking orders…it shouldn’t be a problem considering that we’re already doing that to discover anything relating to the masked men or snake earring group. We can’t back out of this now. Or Ada and Hina will never never let me live it down. The ministers don’t know anything about what we’re doing, so we could use this to our advantage. I ask, “What’s the favor?”


“Investigate and find out if there’s dissent from the Xog toward Humans. Anything that could threaten the reforms planned for coexistence. The final decisions will be made two days from now, so that’s your deadline. If you discover anything, let us know immediately. It allows us to address the matter and offer a solution to their disapproval.”


“Well, there’s definitely dissent.”


“We know that. But we don’t know all the details surrounding that. Find them.”


“What if we don’t find anything? We’d be taking the risk for nothing,” I say.


“That’s fine as long as you try. We’ll be glad to do something for you,” one of them says.


“How about we fill you in about the important details of the Inteiru Expota?” another asks.


“They don’t care about those boring details. How about a large sum of money?” the third minister asks.


The large sum of money sounds tantalizing. We don’t have a good source of income otherwise in the army. It would pay for a lot of seminars to learn more about magic. But…information could be useful to us. There could be a clue if we knew more about what’s talked about to know if the masked men or snake earring group will appear. Good information is rare, and the possibilities it gives us are limitless. The only reason we made it this far is because Viessa provided us with some great information. We don’t know what we could discover, so it’s an easy choice.


“Information sounds good,” I answer. I might be reaching too deep, but I continue, “You’ll also answer some questions that we have.”


“Okay, agreed,” one of them says. “What questions do you have right now?”


“How long ago was Syrina built? It seems strange to me how the districts are colored differently, but the other races only started living here three Inteiru Expotas ago.”


They look at me strangely. Wait… Maybe that was supposed to be secret information that I wasn’t supposed to know. Or perhaps wanting to know the answer to the question is strange. They look at each other silently.


“We don’t know, but we could find out,” one of them says. “Anything else?”


“Nothing for now. I’ll let you know if there’s anything else later,” I say. In truth, I want to ask them about the Dwarves, but I feel like they wouldn’t be able to find out the answer to that. I don’t want to reach too deep.


“Alright. Gather everyone. Let’s head back to the Windmill Inn,” one of the ministers says.


I nod and walk toward the others, who are just about dressed.

 

Chapter 68 – Inteiru Expota – Casino


“How’s everyone, Pearl?” I ask, putting an arm around her.


“Still a little shaken up. Can’t blame them,” she answers and hugs me from the side, shaking. She asks in a whisper, “What’d the ministers want?”


Conveniently, she doesn’t have to fake something to close the distance between us. I whisper, “They wanna know why the Xog hate us. We help them in exchange for exclusive information from the Inteiru Expota and more.”


“Did you agree? After General Nero’s orders… We won’t have an excuse if he catches us again.”


“Of course. Technically, we don’t have to give them anything, but they’ll give us their side of the bargain. We only have to give them an impression of trying to find stuff. I didn’t mention our side project.”


“That doesn’t seem right after they saved us…”


“One of the dumbest ways to get caught would be to walk right into their hands…claws, rather. I know it’s not right, but self-preservation’s more important. And our main goal…which we have no leads on.”


“At least we—“


“What’re you lovebirds over there whispering about?” Jetia asks with a smirk.


“Nothing important,” I respond. “Just waiting for your slow asses to get dressed so that we can escort the ministers back to the Windmill Inn.”


“That’s funny coming from you, showing up whenever you feel like it. What’d General Nero want?”


“New orders. We’re to stay at the Windmill Inn and leave under no circumstance until the Inteiru Expota tomorrow.”


“Was that before or after those monsters showed up? Captain Albius surely contacted him before, right?.”


Stop talking and shut up. That’s what I want to tell him, but I can’t. He only speaks up to screw with me. To make me lose my credibility. Him, the goons, and the other people out of the loop know nothing of our main priority. For all they know, we left to find Captain Albius to update him that the ministers wanted to explore a bit.


Should I lie about finding Captain Albius and fabricate something he supposedly said? Either scenario is a loss because Jetia won’t stop poking around. He’s going to try to verify what I tell him and if something doesn’t match up, he’s going to confront me later and make my life difficult. The least he could do is at least keep it private. But he’s bringing this up in front of everyone. It forces me to act accordingly.


I should be straight with them. At least partially. It’s the safest because the ministers might ask about that too. “It was after. We didn’t find Captain Albius, so we tried to get back to the group, but couldn’t find you guys.”


“So, you were on a leisure date with yer girlfriend while we’re doing our jobs. And you dared to walk up to us and say to hurry our asses. Can you give us at least a few minutes of slack, especially after an encounter with those monsters?”


Don’t get angry. That’s what he’s trying to do, for me to lose my shit and blow up. He knows exactly how to do it. It’s frustrating because if he could put that effort into training, he might be stronger, but instead, here we are. I can’t wait too long to answer and risk someone else butting in like Hina. It’ll reflect badly on me as the leader. I don’t want to look bad in front of Hina’s platoon either. I’ll have to phrase my answer as if I’m talking to the goons.


“You’re right. I’m sorry for being insensitive. If it makes you feel any better, those guys scared me too. Take a few more minutes if you need to. As much as I wanna relax here a while longer, we were ordered to return to the inn. We’ll have the remaining part of the day to rest. Join us when you’re ready,” I say and then turn around. Hina and I return to the ministers, Marin, and Ruby.


“What’s the holdup?” one of the ministers asks.


“They’re resting for a few more minutes. They were a bit shaken up from the encounter with the Xog,” I inform.


“That’s understandable. They did good defending us. They’re good men.”


“Defending?” I ask.


“Yes. Those Xog were targeting everyone, and they happened upon us. When it was our turn to comply with their orders, Sergeant Hina’s and your men volunteered themselves instead.”


I guess I’ll have to give Jetia some credit. He and the goons were useful for once.


One of them turns to Marin and says, “That’s when we asked this young lady to contact the authorities. You saved us. What’s your name?”


“Corporal Marin, sir,” she replies.


“Thank you, Corporal Marin. You’re in our debt.”


“No problem,” she responds and looks away.


“And then you arrived.”


“Right…” I interject. That’s when Ruby wanted to blow them up. Marin must’ve told her not to do anything rash. Explains why she wanted to act after I arrived asking about monsters.


On the one hand, Ruby’s stubbornness is just like hers in the past. Not yielding to Bazaleon despite his ferocity to protect me. Otherwise, there’s something fundamentally different about her. She talks differently, but there’s something more than that. It reminds me of the time after the tournament, where she killed that bandit without a second thought. I shouldn’t have passed it off as nothing at the time and pryed further. It’s too late for that now.


She’s standing there next to Marin, smiling. Not knowing that what she wanted to do would’ve created a catastrophe. But, she’s not completely crazy contrary to what everyone thinks. She still listens to my orders and things that I say, so that leaves room for hope. Maybe I can fix her and bring Luna back. All that talk with Hina about good monsters and those that can make decisions.


What if the only thing that’s changed with her is how she makes her choices? She’s confused, that’s all. I could teach her what choices to make in a bunch of scenarios, rewiring her brain closer to how she used to be — reassembling her brain, basically. Putting the pieces back into their relative positions and then she might be able to fix herself. I’ll worry about how to do that after this mission.


The others rejoin us soon enough, and then we head back to the Windmill Inn.


The ministers retire in their rooms. I’m hoping they stay there for the rest of the night. We’re in the Human district, so this place should have food available unlike the Icy Tavern. I’m not sure how Aisha’s team are dealing with their situation. The two novices of their platoon could be tasked with feeding the ministers.


Now, the only other problem is somehow ditching the ones not involved in the mission. Since Hina filled in her entire team, it would only be giving Jetia and the goons in my platoon the slip. I mean, we don’t need all sixteen of us standing in the hallway outside the minister’s room.


Luke suggests that everyone goes down to get some grub. More specifically, the novices. I follow his lead and encourage Jetia and the goons to do the same, praising the good work that he did earlier much to his surprise. He gives me a suspicious look but joins everyone downstairs. There’s no reason for him to refuse considering that he probably hasn’t eaten anything since arriving.


We move a bit away from the rooms in which the ministers are staying. Wouldn’t want them to overhear us talking. Hina and I fill in everyone on what they missed out on, leaving out the part where Pem bared her chest. Would send the wrong message to a few people here. I also mention the last bit the ministers want us to uncover about the Xog.


Luke gives us a summary of their side of things. Two things stuck out to them. The first is that they felt like the Elves were staring down them at all times at the Elven district specifically. None of them were cooperative with any conversations with the ministers when confronted. With my experience with the Dwarves in mind, this behavior doesn’t set off any alarms in my head. It seems like there’s a general dislike toward Humans from all the races. I have doubts about how this coexistence thing is going to play out.


The second thing they heard was something of an auction here and there that starts tomorrow. It can’t be a coincidence with the Inteiru Expota beginning the same day. There were plenty of people talking about it but no one knew anything about it when the ministers asked the same people. They think it’s a black market type of auction. Given our experiences, we deduce that it’s going to take place in the underground city. Add that to our laundry list of things to do. We’re relying on Floyd to give us some answers.


“So, Kai and Hina should go ahead of us to meet Aisha’s team at the Icy Tavern while the rest of us get passes from the Dwarven district,” Luke says.


“Hold on,” I say. A part of me doesn’t want Marin or Ruby to get involved. The process is painful, and we don’t need so many people there. “Maybe a few of us should stay here. We don’t wanna leave our defenses here too lax. My men will get too suspicious. They aren’t gonna be on board with what we’re doing.”


“That sounds like a you problem. We told everyone in our platoon, and the novices were understanding. They won’t do anything to blow our cover.”


I sigh. I have no idea how I’ll ever convince Jetia to go along with our shenanigans. No, I do. Paying for more seminars for him and the goons. Thanks to the last promise I made to him, we’re completely broke. We won’t be able to fund ourselves any new lessons for a while after a new deal. I answer, “Fine. I’ll talk to them. It might be easier to convince them if we leave Marin and Ruby behind to leave this place with some form of defense.”


“No, I wanna come too!” Ruby exclaims with a pout. “Marin too, right?”


“Yeah…”


“We don’t need thirteen of us down there. That’s overkill,” I say.


“Fine, ya stay with us too.”


“No, I need to be down there. Floyd knows me.”


“He knows Hina too. Leave ‘er ta do it.”


“And I need to be with Hina. It might be dangerous.”


“Aw, darling! I’m glad you’re worried about me,” Hina says and then hugs me, bringing her head closer to the side of mine. She whispers, “Kai, shut up.”


Luke glares at me as she lets me go. The meaning of Hina’s words hits me. If I were worried about Hina’s safety, I would be suggesting to leave her behind. Not Ruby and Marin. I screwed up.


“They should come along with us,” Luke says before I can come up with an excuse. “We’re going to need all the help we can get for the auction tomorrow.”


That’s assuming the auction is really in the underground city. I can’t risk saying anything more, though. It would bring too much suspicion that I prioritize Ruby’s safety over Hina’s. I’ll leave it alone. I say, “Yeah, you’re right. I wasn’t thinking about that. Just be on your best behavior, Ruby.”


“I won’t let ya down.”


“Let me talk to Jetia, and we can leave,” I say and walk toward the stairs down.


“That won’t be necessary,” Jetia says and steps into view from the stairs. “I knew you were planning something, as usual. The answer’s no. I know how this all ends.”


“Come on, don’t be like that,” I reply, unsure of how much he heard from our discussion. “Let’s go for a walk.”


I don’t want the others to hear me bribing my own men to comply with my orders. He follows me quietly outside. A little bit off to the side as to not get in anyone’s way if they wanted to go inside the building.


“Alright. So what do you want?” I ask, having a good guess. “Pooling our funds into providing more magic training for you guys should be good, right?”


“You’ll need to do better than that,” he says with a smirk. “I know all about yer little relationship with Marin.”


Ugh. He brings that up now? I was wondering why he hasn’t already.


“I’ll make you do that for us even without agreeing to yer reckless plan. Or else I’ll spill the beans to everyone. What’ll everyone think of you when they find out yer two-timing Marin and Hina.”


If he really wants to screw me over, he would’ve told everyone already. Instead, he’s bringing it up now. What’s his game? It seems he doesn’t know the full truth about Hina and me. I ask, “So, what do you want?”


“I don’t want anything. Continue with yer plan, and I’ll rat you out to Captain Albius and General Nero. It’ll exclude us from the harsh punishment you’ll receive, and I’ll tell everyone about Marin. If you don’t fund our training, I’ll tell everyone too.”


Tch. He can’t be serious. I don’t know what he’s planning, but this has to be a bluff. What’s he trying to gain? If he truly didn’t want anything, he wouldn’t go through this trouble of threatening me. He’s always trying to do things for those useless goons. If he keeps pushing like this, he’ll end up with nothing. He’s annoying, but he’s never gone through with directly screwing me over. Just always trying to make me look bad.


I thought I would be rid of Jetia’s face forever after the Ragnar incident. I was sure that he would leave the platoon, especially because Kama and Vicki left. He could’ve easily been reassigned somewhere else or went back to The Reserve. Instead, he chose to stay with us.


Wait...it all makes sense with one assumption. His behavior. Jetia thinks he’s won with his smile and arms crossed, waiting for me to agree to his demands. Reflecting back, he usually cooperates when something involves everyone’s safety. I’ve always thought it was because of the other novices, but maybe I was wrong.


I should be more aware of these things, considering what happened with Sitos… I can’t believe it took me all this time to realize what Jetia’s intentions are. That’s why he didn’t say anything about Marin and me. He doesn’t want to hurt her. And the situation now. I suppose that staying cramped up in this inn is the safest, which could be his way of ensuring her safety. A part of me is glad that he’s looking out for her, but I don’t need him to do that. I’ve got that covered.


“Nah,” I interject. “I’m gonna continue with the plan regardless of what you do. If you screw us over in any way, I won’t fund those seminars for you guys.”


He lets out a brief laugh and then asks, “Didn’t you hear what I said? I’ll tell Captain Albius and—“


“Yeah, whatever. And I’ll tell Marin that you’re trying to put everything in jeopardy because you like her.”


His smile quickly disappears from his face, and he turns pale, his eyes widening. That confirms everything. I smirk, finally finding his weakness. He won’t screw with me again or his secret’s out. I should be careful, though. If I push him too far, I’ll lose my only leverage over him if he self destructs. I’ll give him an offer he can’t refuse.


“Look. I’ll continue to fund your guys’ magic education and stay quiet about your secret, but only if you help cover for us while we’re gone. Figure out what you’re gonna say to Captain Albius or General Nero if they come sniffing around.”


“Fine. I’ll help you, even though you have more to lose than me. This doesn’t make you any less of a hypocrite, either. You care about Marin’s and Ruby’s safety, but yer the one putting them in the most danger every time. It’s on you if anything happens to them.”


“I know that.”


“Do you, really?” he asks and then walks back inside.


Of course, I know. They’ve agreed to go along with my plans. When I think about it, they don’t really need my protection. Ruby’s Fire magic is powerful. And we, well. Marin went to the Academy with me. Ruby graduated from the Academy a year ahead of us too. We know how to protect ourselves.


I go back inside, too, regrouping with the others upstairs. I tell them that it’s all good with my platoon, so we can proceed with the plan.


We depart in two separate groups, as discussed before. Hina and I depart for the Icy Tavern.


They give us an understandably annoyed welcome back. We kept them waiting again, but not quite as long as the first time. Once again, we give them the latest update while waiting for the others for their passes.


Eventually, the others arrive, and then we lead the group to the underground city. We go through the dark steps down. Ada illuminates the way with Light magic.


Apparently, one other thing the others learned about the ‘pass’ is that you’re supposed to reveal it in front of the door. Explains our hostile welcome the first time around. Though, I don’t know how they see us through these solid walls. Another magic item, perhaps?


The doors open. The few Dwarves ahead verify that we have the passes before letting us through without much of a fuss.


Despite that we’re here for the Casino, we decide to split up into different groups.


Me, Hina, Marin, Ruby, Aisha, and Ada will be the ones to go to the Casino while the others will explore the surrounding area for any other information.


We ask around for the location of the Casino. The first two Dwarves we ask don’t want anything to do with us. A third Dwarf points us in the right direction.


We go inside what should be the Casino.


(Need to convert dwarf dialogue to dwarf later)


“Humans, welcome!” a receptionist exclaims behind the short counter the second we walk in. This is the first time I’ve seen a Dwarf so welcoming. It’s a little suspicious. Security is heavier here with six armed Dwarves scattered around this small room. They don’t look as friendly. “Wha’ dae ya have ter wager?”


I’m not sure what he means by that. Might be faster to get to the point. It seems unlikely that he’ll know about Floyd unless they require names from everyone that visits here. Since he’s one of the few Humans I’ve seen around, he might be recognizable. I inform, ‘We’re here to see Floyd. Do you know him?”


“Oh, so ye be haur te see de boss. Wha’ business dae ya have wiff him?”


He’s the boss…? That’s a little weird. Surprising because I thought they wouldn’t like being under a Human’s authority of all people. “He told us to find him here.”


“Did he nigh? Wha’ be yer name?”


“Kai.”


He bends down out of our view and whispers something inaudible. Several seconds later, he stands up and says, “He shou’ be art haur soon.”


He must’ve used that long-distance communication tool. Nothing else would make sense. He might be nice enough to tell us what’s that about. I should ask. “How’d you talk to Floyd from there?”


“Oi’m afraid Ay canna tell ya dat.”


Whatever. At least he confirmed that it’s a communication device. He didn’t deny speaking into something. We can always ask Floyd for clarification. I’m sure he can answer all of our questions now that we know he’s somewhat of an important figure down here. Like he said, it’s rare to see Humans in this place. He’ll share what he knows. He informed us about the Achilles Sundance Circuit and a bit of Abjuration magic. Did he graduate from the Academy? I didn’t get any vibes that he was a fighter of any kind the first time we met.


Floyd walks out from the connecting room a few minutes later. He smiles and then says, “Kai, Hina, I’m glad you were able to sort out your issues. Come on in.”


We follow him inside. The other room is much more spacious and has various different tables scattered across. The populated tables have at least two people there with almost no empty ones.


“Business is booming right now,” Floyd says.


“What’s this place?” I ask. It’s hard to tell what these people are doing standing around.


“It’s a gambling hub,” Floyd responds. “One on one battles after each side agrees on the stakes. There’s at least one witness to ensure sportsmanship and fairness.”


That explains why the receptionist asked about what we had to wager. If you have no money, this place serves no purpose. I assume that they wouldn’t be allowed entry. This place reminds me of the scams in Drymo that are designed to profit the seller. But it’s not quite the same here. He said business is booming, but how does he benefit?


“We charge a service fee from both participants depending on the wager and game for hosting third party duels.”


Oh, I see. He always has an answer. It makes me hopeful that he knows what we’re looking for.


“We’ll be right in here,” he says and stands next to a distinctively different table. There isn’t another one like this nearby. It has some sort of wooden pole protruding upward at both ends of the table. “I know you have questions. That’s why you came, right?”


“Yeah. You know everything,” I say.


“I just know what you want to know.”


“That makes this easy then. First, I’m curious. How’d you communicate with the Dwarf at the entrance? Some sort of magic item?”


“I’m going to stop you there. I have to make one thing clear. I didn’t suggest you come here so that I could answer all of your questions for free.”


I frown. It’s never straight forward.


“Forget this place. We’ve got other places,” Ada says. No, we don’t. “This was a waste of time.”


“I highly doubt you’ll find the answers you’re looking for anywhere else. I could still answer your questions at no cost to you. You’ll only have to risk something of equal value.”


He wants us to play one of these games with him. Us, who have no clue what that entails versus him, a veteran. Maybe even the creator. Couldn’t hurt to find out what he wants. I ask, “Which is?”


“That depends on what you want to know. Think hard on what you want answered most. Go on.”


I turn to everyone and interject, “Well. Should we put it to a vote?”


If we had to pick one, we don’t need to know anything irrelevant, like how they communicate long-distance. Although, that would be helpful to have amongst ourselves.


“Let’s go over our options first,” Aisha suggests. “Is there anything more important than finding leads on the snake earring group?”


“No, but even he’s not gonna know anything about that,” I say.


“Actually, I do know a few things about them,” Floyd says. “You’re going to have to make a bet worth at least twenty gold coins for it.”


Numerous of us gasp. Ada says, “Twenty gold coins? You’re insane.”


“Yeah, we don’t have nearly that much anyway. Between all of us, we might have a few gold coins at best, and that’s being generous,” I inform.


“I’d say I’m running a bargain at that price. It’s risky for me to tell you the details,” Floyd says and then smiles. “The nice thing about the Casino is that you have more than money to wager. You’ve brought gems with you.”


Gems…? Oh.


Ada takes out her daggers and says, “How about, tell us what you know, and we don’t kill you.”


“Harm me, and you won’t get out of here alive. You know that, so why don’t we put the knives away?”


“Tch,” Ada interjects and sheathes her weapons.


“It’s a possibility and some not as obscene as you think. Depending on your magic potential, there would be clients willing to pay a fortune to create a baby. Otherwise, you’re left with perverts wanting to lay their hands on some young women, especially virgins. Some even enjoy men. Kai, if you’d like to indulge--”


“Enough,” I say. I have no problem betting Aisha or Ada, but they’re not going to agree to it no matter the price. There’s no way in hell I’m going to wager the other three. After that Porters incident, I’m not going to subject myself to that possibility either. It disturbs me thinking about it. “None of us are gonna agree to bet our bodies on the line. What’re the other options?”


Floyd shrugs and then says, “Well, if you had equipment of higher quality, that would be on the table. Otherwise, there’s an entire black market for organs and body parts.”


“No.”


“You could bet your life.”


“My life? So, you’re gonna kill me if I do that and lose?”


“No, that wouldn’t be worth anything to me. For you, I’d probably sell you as a labor slave. Perhaps harvest your organs and turn you into meat later. For the other five, it would mean being sold into sexual slavery. This would be set at a value of an excess of twenty gold coins. Unless you’ve got other questions you want to add to the list, you’re better off with the first option I mentioned where it would be as many times as you wish.”


“Move onto the next option,” I say.


“How about promised future services?”


I glare at him.


“There are non-sexual ones, mind you. The possibilities vary from what you’re open to. You could enter as a contestant in the coliseum.”


“What’s that?” I ask. That sounds intriguing. If it means dueling other people, I wouldn’t mind that. I’d do it without anyone forcing me.


“A place where you’d fight to the death with other contestants. Two fights minimum before a fighter can back out. You’d win rewards, but the biggest thing is that the audience makes bets on who the winners are with no limit on how much you can bet. You see where I’m going with this. I’d bet my money on you to win. Well, I’m not going to do that unless I’m confident in your abilities. I’d give you a twenty gold coins value if you’re interested.”


Twenty gold coins…? That’s exactly how much he’s asking for. Hmm…


“Don’t do it, Darling,” Hina says. “It’s too dangerous. It’s not worth it.”


She’s right. I don’t know who I would end up fighting against. Other people would know the risks going in, so probably only the confident ones would enter. I answer, “Nah.”


“Smart choice. You’d be better off betting your life. You wouldn’t last a round.”


He says that so convincingly. It makes me want to prove him wrong...but I shouldn’t.


“How about a promise to pay you gold coins in the future?” Aisha asks. “I may not look it, but I’m from a wealthy family in Drosera.”


“Interesting offer, but I’ll need my full payment by the end of the Inteiru Expota. I already know of your affiliation with the Drosera army. You wouldn’t be able to return to Syrina easily to pay your dues.”


“I’ll write a letter of introduction for you to my family in Drymo. We have an underground Aerkin arena under our mansion and sponsor most of the Achilles Sundance Circuit events.”


“That’s an interesting proposal. Are they here for the Inteiru Expota?”


“No, I--”


“Then I’m not interested. If they’re not here for the biggest Achilles Sundance Circuit events only once every three years, they’re not that influential in the scene. No offense, but the scene down there is archaic.”


“Psst,” Hina interjects and then turns around. She signals us to huddle close together. We do. She continues in a whisper, “One of us should do a body wager. More if needed.”


“Are you crazy?” I whisper.


“It’s not what you think. These are all services promised in the future. If we end up losin’, we won’t come back. No harm done, right?”


“That’s not a good idea,” Aisha whispers. “If it’s a comparable community to the Achilles Sundance Circuit, they’ll hunt you down.”


I’d poke fun at Hina for breaking her moral code here, but that’s not appropriate with Aisha and Ada present. I recall something from the Academy. I whisper, “Why don’t you, Ada, and the other girls on your team consider betting your bodies? You used them to persuade sponsors to pay you more during the tournament, didn’t you? What happened to your charm?”


Ada glares at me and grunts.


Aisha knits her eyebrows and then whispers, “No, that might be a viable option.”


“Are you serious, Aisha?” Ada whispers. “I’m not doing that.”


“Yes, but it’s something milder. What if it’s only looking? Or first base and second base? Don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with. It won’t be worth as much, but we have numbers to make up for it. Six of us counting Marin and Ruby.”


“No, no, no. Leave them out of this,” I whisper quickly. There’s no doubt that Ruby would agree to it, but there’s no way that Luna would in this situation. I’m trying to piece her back together, not scatter her.


“Okay, four of us.”


“Fine… I’ll do it if you convince Melody and Doris.”


I hold in a snort. Can’t imagine Ada going along with this. She’s too hostile and unladylike. There’s no way she’s going to exchange spit with old men and let them grope her. I can’t believe Aisha’s willing to go through that. It goes to show that they’re quite serious about completing their goals. I shouldn’t laugh.


“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Hina whispers. “We could ask somethin’ that requires less money first. We don’t know what kind of game he’s goin’ to have us play yet.”


“That’s true. Shall we ask about the auction first?” Aisha whispers. “Objections?”


A moment of silence. Our only other option is to ask about the Xog, but that’s obviously going to be set at a higher value than the auction.


We break the huddle and face Floyd.


I ask, “Do you know anything about an auction starting tomorrow?”


“I do. A bet worth two gold coins will suffice for that.”


“Okay, give us a moment to see if we have that much between all of us,” I say.


“There’s no need for that,” Aisha says. “There are two of us here and two other girls who would be willing to strip and entertain at the very least. I’m willing to go as far as second base. How much would that put at value?”


“Aisha, aren’t you going to confirm with Melody and Doris first?” Ada asks.


“I know they’ll play along. It’s not a big deal, you know we’ve messed around with the guys before. It’s only you who hasn’t.”


“I don’t want to make things weird between us,” Ada says and blushes.


“My advice, don’t wager anything you aren’t willing to act on if it comes down to it,” Floyd warns. “Are you sure?”


“Yes.”


“Very well. The exact value of what you’re offering depends on the length of service, how far you’re willing to go, how many clients you take on, and your bust. Remember that you’ll have to submit appropriate payment should you lose before you leave the city. How about we leave the juicy details for later? I’m sure you’d appreciate some privacy.”


“No, we’ll settle that now. I’m not comfortable letting you decide our value after the fact,” Aisha says.


“Sure. Right this way,” Floyd says and walks off.


Aisha and Ada follow him some distance away from us.


“Can you believe her?” Hina asks. “I can’t believe she’s serious about this. That’s not how someone raised in the Royal District should act, doing things like this on a whim. She should be more modest. Or else her parents will be troubled if people know how promiscuous she’s been. Then they wouldn’t be able to arrange a marriage for influence.”


“Didn’t you hear her earlier? It sounds like everyone except Ada has already slept with each other casually. It’s probably too late for her. Besides, if her parents wanted to marry her off, they wouldn’t have agreed to let her become an adventurer or join the army.”


Arranged marriage, huh. That’s what happened to Sitos. I didn’t know back then, but he was under a lot of family pressure I didn’t know about. I’ll never understand what he went through. I think Luna was his only reason to not get engaged, and then he finally resigned to the pressure after losing our duel. I continue, “Or maybe, Aisha’s doing this all to have an excuse to not be married off to a stranger.”


“Hookin’ up with people you know is one thing, but this is with total strangers with an exchange of goods involved. It’s prostitution and there’s a lot of bad stigma around it. She could be disowned if her family finds out.”


“She’s not exactly selling her body in the traditional sense, though. As she said, it’s only up to second base. If she was still a virgin, she’d still be one afterward.”


“That’s basically the same thing. People pay her to kiss and touch her. Could you still say a girl’s innocent if hundreds of different guys have seen her naked, made out with her, fiddled with her breasts like a toy, and heard her moans?” Hina asks and then blushing. “I don’t know if you know this, but it can be really stimulatin’ when we’re touched up there…”


I gulp, thinking back to all those times I squeezed her nubs a few weeks prior. I can’t let myself get too excited. I try to clear my mind.


“So...even without touchin’ down there, a woman can...you know.”


Well, I can’t argue back now. She’s proved her point. I say, “Okay, you got me there. But, you’re the one who suggested the whole body selling thing in the first place.”


“I didn’t mean for her to take it seriously. Only as--”


“A trick?” I ask. “You’re fine with being disingenuous here but not with the minister’s favor?”


“Have you heard the words comin’ from his mouth? He’s a criminal. He’s also the one who turned us in, remember?”


“He’s also the one who introduced you to Aerkins and the good monsters you’re obsessed about.”


“Whatever,” she interjects and turns her head away. “So, Marin, Ruby, how were your experiences with getting the pass? Did it hurt?”


Tsk tsk. Changing the subject when she’s cornered as usual.


“It wasn’t too bad,” Marin responds.


“It didn’t hurt,” Ruby answers.


Oh, no. Hina smiles. I already know what she’s thinking.


“Oh, really?” Hina asks and wraps an arm around my neck. “Did you know this guy screamed when he got his pass? Bazaleon called him a yellow-belly too.”


She laughs, but Marin and Ruby don’t join. Heh, your plan backfired.


“If yer gonna be mean ta Kai, give ‘im ta me instead,” Ruby says with a frown.


“I’m kiddin’, jeez. If you want me to be nice, wait until bedtime,” she says and then winks.


Ruby’s face contorts into that of anger while Marin looks uncomfortable. Ugh. Hina, why do you put me in these situations?


“Hey, Ruby, don’t take her seriously,” I say. This could be a good chance to condition her on how she should act. I’m not sure what’s appropriate in this case. What would she say? The situation has never come up, and we wouldn’t be here if she was still here...


“I know,” Ruby says before I can think of a follow-up. “Just annoys me a little when she keeps sayin’ that when all of us know it’s not true ‘n’ it’s not funny.”


“She’s just jealous, right Darling?” Hina asks and then kisses my cheek. I frown. She just keeps pushing and doesn’t know when to stop.


“She doesn’t let ya do anythin’, right? That’s not fair when yer the one helpin’ ‘er.”


“Wait, you want me to do stuff with her?” I ask, unable to believe what I’m hearing. I thought Ruby would hate the idea of me touching any other girl but her.


“I want ta make sure yer needs are taken care of. I know yer a guy with those kinda thoughts. You’ve had ta put up with Hina teasin’ ya without any outlet. Ya don’t have any feelin’s for ‘er, so it’s ‘kay with me since we’re takin’ a break. I’m not gonna be selfish ‘bout that. My heart will always lie with ya.”


Taking a break? Is that how she sees us? That’s not exactly accurate… We were never together. I was only ever with Luna, who’s now shattered into pieces and twisted into someone else who can only be called Ruby. She has a bit of a one-sided crush on me. Or maybe she’s speaking as one of the pieces that could be called Luna?


All of us are speechless. I look toward Marin for ideas, but she lightly shakes her head. Look at the mess you’ve created, Hina!


Ruby walks toward us and then leans her head closer to Hina’s side. Quietly, she says, “I don’t care if ya act, but ya better lay there ‘n’ take it, or yer gonna have problems with me.”


First, she almost kills Hina because she thought we were together, and now this. Well, I guess she only cared because she thought we had feelings for each other. She doesn’t care if there’s no love involved, only lust. She treated Hina like a piece of meat.


I can’t tell her to calm down or anything, either. I know she’s not going to listen to me this time. I mean, she still only has me in her mind. Talking back to her in this situation would only make her more aggressive in corrective action. If she can’t get me to shag Hina, she might take more desperate measures like reveal that the whole thing’s a sham. I can’t have that. I had the back and forth permissions between Hina and Marin for the same issue, though Hina decided against it in the end. I’m surprised Ruby hasn’t offered herself as a potential solution to this problem.


“They’re coming back,” Marin warns.


Ruby glares at Hina one last time before making a small sound and then returning to Marin’s side.


One possibility lingers in the back of my mind. That time I found...Ruby with that man at the inn. She’s fine with me having a physical relationship with someone else, but what about her? Has she been casually hooking up with someone? I don’t know if that’s why she hasn’t tried to hook up with me. I need to ask her and find out what’s going on, but at the same time, I don’t want to plant that thought in her head, or I’ll have bigger problems.


I can’t help but think back to Hina’s mention of my abnormal progression up the ranks. Ruby acted strange in the past, but that’s because she’s training hard for my sake and the food makes her feel bad. She’s been fine these last few weeks. I’ll have all of this cleared up when I confront her. She wouldn’t lie to me.