Lying down on the ground, Alnea stared into the black emptiness above him, trying to forget everything, as he exhaled heavy breaths. He knew that challenging ten Trials at once was going to be taxing, but it was only when he reached the fifth Trial, that he truly understood how much of a toll it was going to take on him. What happened next…

  Alnea closed his eyes, while subduing the irrelevant thoughts in his Heart, trying to clear his head, and achieve True Serenity. The kind he had once experience by an accident. The one where no thoughts could touch him, no memories could disturb him. The Void of his Heart…

  Unfortunately, he was not ready for Void yet. Stopping himself before he could make a mistake, Alnea opened his eyes, and glanced at the blood red panel floating right in front of his eyes. Such a convenient mechanism… He wondered how they did it. Though, in all honesty, there were quite a few things about the Lost City that left him wondering about their principles. Like the black boxes, or the blood red wisp of energy seeping into his body, helping him recover faster, even as he let his thoughts drift away…

  “…Congratulations, Blood Soldier N 06 08499, for passing the tenth level of the Initial Stage Arcana Trial.”

  “You have cleared the Trial perfectly.”

  “Time taken to create the Arcana: 1 hour, 43 minutes, 27 seconds.”

  “Tries taken to create the Arcana: 27.”

  “Estimated Grade of the Arcana: Transcendent.”

  “Records broken: 1.”

  “Perfect clearance of Trials: 10.”

  “Blood Soldier N 06 08499, you have been rewarded with 700 Blood Coins, and 1 Low Grade Arcana Medal.”

  “Do you wish to continue with the Trials, or do you wish to leave the Trial Space?”

  “Reminder: You have completed all the Initial Stage Trials. If you wish to challenge Trials of a higher difficulty, you must exit the Initial Stage Trial Space and get the permission to challenge the Intermediate Stage Trials, before you can continue with the Trials.”

  “…Are you still there?”

  “Of course. We will never leave without you.”

  “…What time is it?”

  “I cannot say for certain, but it is probably a couple of hours later than our usual dinner time. What about you? How are you doing in there?”

  “…I am so hungry…”

  “If you can think about food, then it means that you have completed the Trials.”

  “…I cannot move.”

  “…You do not have to. Since you have completed all the Trials, the Trial Space should be kicking you out in a while.”

  As if to confirm her words, the symbols on the panel, having waited long enough for his response, transformed and rearranged themselves, forming new instructions.

  “Please place your Blood Card on the space provided below to collect your rewards.”

  “Note: If you do not respond within 60 seconds, it will be counted as forfeiture of all your rewards.”

  “…Oronir’s tongue,” Alnea said, as he pushed himself off the ground, and placed his Blood Card onto the panel.

  “Optah’s tongue.”

  “All rewards have been distributed.”

  “How am I Optah’s tongue?”

  “You can remove your Blood Card.”

  “Because you are a liar.”

  “The Trial Space’s exit has been opened for you.”

  “When did I lie?”

  “If you do not leave in 10 seconds, you will be evicted from the Trial Space.”

  “When did you not?”

  “10.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “9.”

  “I am still waiting for the ‘compensation’ you promised.”

  “8.”

  “…I did not promise anything.”

  “7.”

  “See, liar.”

  “6.”

  “But I am working on your ‘compensation’. If not for these Trials… Just give me some time.”

  “5.”

  “Liars always ask for more time.”

  “4.”

  “I am telling the truth.”

  “3.”

  “That’s what a liar would say.”

  “2.”

  “…Fine. What do you want?”

  “1.”

  “First promise me that you will listen to me.”

  “0.”

  “…I promise.”

  “Let’s take a day off tomorrow, and have some rest,” Yuri said, greeting him with a warm smile, as he stepped out of the Trial Space. “You deserve it.”

  “But—

  “You promised me.”

  Alnea stared at Yuri in silence for a few moments, before letting out a sigh, and smiling back in return.

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  “Alright. We needed some rest anyway. But this is not part of your ‘compensation’. For that, I have planned something special.”

  “…Now you are making me curious.”

  “No way. Who asked you to waste the promise you got out of me to just let us get some rest?”

  “…How about you give me another promise?”

  “Keep dreaming,” Alnea said to Yuri, before turning towards Cecilia with an apologetic smile.

  “I am sorry for being late.”

  “Do you think that just a sorry is going to be enough?” Cecilia said, with a dissatisfied pout on her face. “I am starving right now.”

  “Not more than me,” Alnea mumbled to himself, as he scratched his head. “Since we are all starving, let’s just head to the canteen.”

  “Not so fast. First, you have to make up to us for having us wait for you so long. Only then, will we go anywhere.”

  “…I don’t have the energy to do anything right now… How about we continue this later?”

  “So that you can push it away, like you do with everything else?”

  “…Am I so unreliable?” Alnea said, only for Yuri to shrug her shoulders.

  “Do not look at me,” Yuri said. “She completed her Trials earlier than me, so she has the right to negotiate this time.”

  “That’s right. This time, no one will help you. Let’s see what you have to say for yourself.”

  “…It’s alright if you want me to make up to you, but are you sure that you want me to do it right now?” Alnea said after some thought. “Aren’t you hungry?”

  “…I am not going to fall for your tricks.”

  “I am not playing any tricks,” Alnea said, raising his hands to show his innocence. “We can stay up here, and discuss how I make up to you, but that might take some time. Or do you want me to just go through the motions? No, right? And with how angry you are, I don’t think you are going to be satisfied so easily…”

  “So? Do you have a problem?”

  “I do not have any problems, but I am not so sure about Forne. She has been practically inseparable from you for over half a year, and then, you spend three days without her all at once. Are you not worried about her? Who knows how she is? Did she eat enough? Did she get hurt? What if she is missing you? Or worst, what if she has become clingy with Vestia, and forgotten all about you? Just imagine—

  “Enough,” Cecilia said, glaring at him with puffed out cheeks. “We are going to the canteen. But I want an explanation later. And this time, you are not allowed to push it away by saying things like ‘let’s talk about it later’, or ‘I will compensate you later’.”

  “…I am not that mean,” Alnea said, as he followed behind a grumpy Cecilia, with a giggling Yuri walking beside him.

  “Why did you not help me earlier?”

  “I thought you did fine.”

  “…Is this fine?”

  “It is better than how you used to handle her tantrums earlier. At lest you have learned how to change the direction of the conversation to better suit your needs.”

  “…You are just calling me a hypocrite with more pleasing words.”

  “…That’s exaggerating things a little, but you are not completely wrong,” Yuri said. “In life, you will meet all kinds of people. Some of them will be kind, while others will be hostile. As Wanderers, we must have the ability to distinguish between the two. And that is where having a thick skin will come in handy. As long as you do not violate the principles of your Heart, you should not be ashamed of lying every now and then. Though I must say, lying and deceiving girls… you truly are a pervert.”

  “…When you put it like that, it does make me seem like a pervert, but you know what I meant.”

  “I only know that you are a pervert.”

  “…Stop playing around, I—

  “Pervert.”

  Alnea paused, and glared at Yuri, before quickly catching up with Cecilia.

  “Are you alright?”

  “What would happen to me?”

  “…Why were you so angry earlier?”

  “…I was not angry. I just…”

  “It is my fault. I should not have made you wait for so long.”

  “No, it is not about that. I—

  “And I should have fulfilled all the things that I promised earlier. Like the compensations I promised.”

  “…It is alright. I know you are busy.”

  “That’s not an excuse. Rather, that is another thing I want to apologise for. In my zeal for meeting master as soon as possible, I may have neglected quite a few things. Especially you and Yuri. I am sorry. I will not let it happen again.”

  “…No, you were not wrong. I… I want to meet up with Lady Nyssa too.”

  “But we should also not forget the moment we are living in, right?” Alnea said, glancing at Yuri from the corner of his eyes. She was looking at him with satisfaction, and… was that pride?

  “Let’s leave those things aside for now. I have something else to tell you,” Alnea said, losing the solemn tone for a more relaxed, and casual voice. “I discussed it with Yuri, and we decided that we should take some rest from the Trials for a day. What do you think?”

  “But your plan—

  “Forget about the plan. After all that we have been through, we deserve some rest from time to time. And it is not as if the city is going to run away if we delay our Trials by a day or two. As for the Lotus clan and their alliance… There is no need to take them seriously. I already have a way to deal with them.”

  “…Are you sure? Last time, you said that there might be hundreds of Wanderers lying in ambush for us. Although I am not afraid, we might have some casualties if we face them head on.”

  “…Since we know that they are going to ambush us, why should we walk into their trap?”

  “Then are we going to stay in the city forever?”

  “Who said that we must stay in the city to avoid their trap?”

  “But—

  “Like I said, I have a way to deal with them. I cannot talk about it right now, but trust me. Everything is going to be fine.”

  “…I always trust you,” Cecilia said, bowing down to hide the flush on her face.

  “It is decided then. We are going not going to challenge any Trials tomorrow,” Alnea said. “Speaking of Trials, how did your Trials go?”

  “It was fine, I guess. At least I cleared all the Trials perfectly. But I could not break any records.”

  “Its fine. The Trials were indeed a little weird. Only those who have a deep understanding of Arcanas and Mysteries have a chance of breaking its records.”

  “…And you happen to be exactly such a person?”

  “…Hey, what can I say? It is not my fault that I am so talented… No, wait! Where did you get that stick? Have you been carrying it in your Storage Pouch this whole time? How could it even fit in there? No, wait, let’s talk this through.”

  They did talk things through, but not because how reasonable he was. Yuri had to step in herself, and calm Cecilia down, before she was willing to put away her stick. A Glyph weapon of sort, it seemed. With just a thought, and an inflow of Oren into the Glyph carved into the stick’s spine, it glowed in a green light, retracting both its end into a palm sized cylinder resting in her right hand.

  “I got it from the acquaintance I was talking about earlier…”

  “Did your mother send it to you?”

  “…No. It was a gift from the acquaintance…”

  Alnea paused, squinting his eyes at Cecilia’s flushed cheeks. Why was his Heart feeling so restless at the mention of the acquaintance…

  “…And did you give him anything in return?”

  “…No… I…”

  “Feeling jealous, are we?”

  “…I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “You have become even better at dealing with other Wanderers.”

  “…Again, I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “Especially the way you frame your words to get them answer your question, without them even realising about it…”

  “Don’t slander me! I did no such things.”

  “Do you want to know if she returned the gift?”

  “…And how would you know that?”

  “Because she told me about it.”

  “…I am not jealous or anything like that. I am just a little curious.”

  “Relax. I won’t tell Cecilia about it,” Yuri said, adding in her giggles. “Oh, by the way, did I forget to mention? The acquaintance she mentioned is a girl.”

  “…You should have said that at the beginning!”

  “Huh? I thought you had no idea about what I was saying.”

  “…You win.”

  “Like I said before, you are a hundred years too early to win against me.”

  “…That’s not what you said though…”

  “Huh? Did you say anything? Should I ask Cecilia—

  “I said, you are right. I need more practice if I want to catch up to you.”

  Yuri flashed a smirk at him, before restraining her smile, and turning towards a fumbling Cecilia.

  “You should always return a gift, Cecilia. Especially if it is not from someone you are close with. Or it will not look good on your status as an heiress of the Serpia clan. People will say that your clan has not taught any manners, and they might even question your mother. You should be careful in the future.”

  “…I know,” Cecilia said, heaving a sigh of relief, before quickly putting on a solemn look. “I will keep it in mind.”

  “Alright, that’s enough of a gloomy face for a day,” Alnea said, as they reached the canteen. “You should always eat your meals with a smile.”