“Yeah, the idiot has accepted a Military Duel,” Arminius laughed among a group of his pals.

“Really? He thought that because he could use some stupid spell, he could just take down a [Soldier]?”

“He did not know about the no-magic clause,” Arminius smiled.

“How? Everyone knows,” one of the officers said, incredulous.

“The worm didn’t,” Arminius smirked.

But the big laugh he was waiting for from the other didn’t come. Instead, everyone raised their eyebrows, and Arminius suddenly felt an acute spike in his [Dangersense].

He got yanked up by the collar of his tattered shirt, further tearing it off.

“Foolish child,” the words hit him like a ton of bricks in the face as he found himself staring at the tallest Elf in all Amorium, Stan.

Grigio, his massive dog, had his hackles raised, seemingly forming spikes. And its growl sounded like thunder—everyone immediately scampered away. No one had seen Stan angry, but they could recognize trouble when it appeared in front of their noses.

“You little, vile thing,” Stan spat the words to an astonished Arminius. “Elves like you are the reason we can’t be better than the Humans who enslaved us.”

“What the fuck—”

“Silence!” Stan’s words boomed so strongly that the trees around them bent exactly as if a cyclone had struck. “I heard of all your deals! I didn’t think you would be so brazen! A vile cripple, bitter and cowardly! You could no longer beat up on the Human, and for that fact alone, you sold him out!”

Arminius wanted to speak, but Stan’s aura seemed to drown him. He could barely squeeze the air in and out of his lungs.

“Tell me,” Stan said, his aura relenting, “Why did you do this? Why did you betray a Human who only did good to the people here? What does this accomplish?”

“Are you out of your molded mind, Stan?!” Arminius tried to take out his dagger now that the aura had relented. He wanted to stab the damn gigantic Elf through the eye for acting like this.

But as soon as he reached for his side, Stan tossed him against a tree.

Arminius felt his bones pop and the air leave his lungs again.

“You are a little coward,” Stan growled, looking at his own hands and panting. The tall Elf bared his pearl-white teeth like a beast before staring at the ground and trying to calm himself.

Arminius tried to get up, but his chest felt like it had been shattered by the impact. He most certainly had several cracked ribs.

“People!” Stan panted. “Arminius gave information to the [Soldiers] so that Joey would be tricked into accepting a Military Duel with a [Corporal]. Arminius baited Joey into thinking he could probably win, and that’s why he accepted! Do what you may of this!”

That said, Stan walked away.

…

“Without Joey…” Clodia shook her head and poured herself another drink. Then, she looked at Flaminia’s empty glass and poured her one too.

“Clodia,” Flaminia hesitated. “If Joey gets out of Amorium… let’s get out. Let’s move.”

Clodia raised her gaze to meet the pink-haired chef’s eyes.

“I didn’t take you for such a big fan of Joey that it would make you want to move our entire operation. Most of our employees have a life here. What about them?”

“Joey is the future,” Flaminia said resolutely. “Without him, we wouldn’t be on this path. With him, we can hire as many as ten times the people we have now. You started this with women who had troubles. Imagine what would happen without Joey.”

“He could still own part of this without being in the city,” Clodia tried.

“No. That’s not right.”

“Am I talking with the same Flaminia who said that he wasn’t a [Baker]?”

Flaminia sustained Clodia’s gaze and exhaled slowly.

“I know. I was wrong. I’ve told him repeatedly, and I’ll tell you too; I was extremely wrong. I’ve seen what he’s doing with baking, with the homeless—do you know I brought him to the Pratus the very first time he interacted with the homeless people there? I was there. And I doubted him. Wherever Joey is going, I’m going with him. And I’ve also seen the effort he’s been putting into finding a girl for himself, Clodia. I respect everything that damn Human does. Everything.”

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“I—I think you are right,” Clodia rubbed her face. “That damn Human will make my brain mold, Flaminia, I swear. And he said he knows? Why did he accept the stupid duel? I can’t understand!”

“Men are like that sometimes. Just because Joey is more delicate than the other idiots we have dealt with, he’s still a man. Also, has he let us down in any possible way so far? Don’t you think he has a chance?”

“You fucked a [Sergeant], Flaminia. That guy’s a [Sergeant], right? My father was in the military, and I’ve seen what twenty levels in a [Soldier] or [Warrior] class can do. If that Appius is anywhere close to level 30, even just in his high 20s, Joey’s dead. He might fucking die.”

Clodia balled a fist and had to hold herself from slamming it into her desk. She didn’t want to get a new one again. There have been enough changes lately to refurbish her stupid office.

“Anyway, my mother would probably be able to set us up if we had to move out,” Clodia sighed. “I’m sure that the word has reached her by now.”

…

“Yes, he has,” Marcella spoke with an impenetrable expression to a rock in her most guarded quarter.

“Even though you warned him?” Came a warped voice from the stone.

“Yes.”

There was a small stretch of silence.

“And you think the rat is involved?”

“My men have already uncovered half the deals and traced them to the Valerii estate through proxies. I don’t know what they are planning exactly. But it’s nothing good. And their villa is a fortress. It’s impossible to have a reckoning without exposing ourselves.”

Marcella heard a grunt from the other side.

“I swear, the South of this country is more problematic than the life at court these days. If the rat is involved, it must be a financial and political decision to hoist the Human out. He would have never sanctioned this idiocy otherwise. Keep the Green Stretches in check. The last thing we want is a rotten famine in our lands.”

“I think that taking action against the rat is of utmost importance by now, even at the cost of destabilizing the current order.”

“No. We won’t put down the dog until it bites the hand, Marcella. He is still an asset for now.”

Marcella gritted her teeth.

“It’s a foolish move! The Human is just the beginning! He’s scheming something!”

“And it’s your job to find out what! Don’t pick up this channel again until you have some real information to act on! Do you know how much these damn rocks cost?! You just cost us hundreds of golds!”

“Miser,” Marcella spat, “I’ll have it replaced in two days. May the forests bloom again.”

“May the forests bloom again,” the distorted voice replied begrudgingly.

…

Agostina stared wide-eyed at her sister.

She had taken a stroll to the Adventurers’ Guild to see how Domitilla was doing with magic and to advise her to visit Joey. Who knew, with some luck, the Human might make her pregnant on the first try.

But what she found out at the Guild almost gave her a stroke from the anger.

“Agostina, calm down!” Julia said, pulling her sister back inside the private room they had been chatting in.

“Calm down?! Those filthy [Soldiers] challenging a clueless Human who’s also a greatly talented [Mage]?! And if he doesn’t win, he can’t come back to Amorium, Julia! Ever! Even if we murder the idiot! They swore! The stupid Human doesn’t even know what that means!”

“I know, but there’s nothing we can do!” Julia struggled to bring Agostina back to the couch in the room. “Please, just sit!”

“Sit! I’m going to poison all the rations of those fools! Let me go!”

“Stop being an idiot!” Julia shouted.

…

The air in the war room of the Three Roses felt extremely dangerous.

The fact that Camilla was staring emptily after an employee had relayed the gossip was not a good sign.

“I—I,” Irene stuttered, not knowing what to say. “What—”

“Irene,” Amelia gave her a long look and shook her head before focusing on Camilla again.

Flavia, the middle sister, didn’t say anything. She knew better.

“If he loses,” Camilla said slowly, “we move out of Amorium.”

“What?!” It was Irene replying. “Camilla, I really like Joey, but my entire life is here! How can we just move?! Listen, I’ll go talk to him; maybe there’s something that we can say—”

The way Camilla turned to look at Irene froze the entire room.

“If you want to stay, coward, you can stay. Tell your brother he should die in a ditch too.”

Irene’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

“Flavia, start making arrangements and find a buyer in case he loses. You have two weeks. If he wins, I want you to draft me a proposal I can bring to Clodia for the merger.”

Flavia nodded slowly.

Amelia didn’t say anything, but she sighed loudly.

“Ok,” she gave her blessing.

She didn’t ask her younger sister if she was sure about it, nor if it was a good idea. At some point, you either trusted Camilla or you didn’t. And, partly against her will, she did.

“Why are you still here?” Camilla asked Irene.

“What? Am I fired?” Irene lashed out.

Camilla put both her forearms down on the table and licked her lips before speaking.

“Irene, Joey is smitten with you. He might die from this.”

Irene, who had not been thinking about that at all and instead had been worrying about her position, suddenly shut up.

…

I sat at the table in my room, taking deep breaths, looking at the book at my side, and shaking my head.

It’s been hard explaining what had brought me to take that decision. Everyone back at Happy Bakery had pretty much lost it when they heard me accept.

Quintus and Tiberius explained what a Military Duel was more than once, thinking I must have hit my head or something.

I tried telling them I knew, but they didn’t listen.

Clodia and Flaminia probably think I’m more of a lunatic than they ever have before.

And listen, I tried explaining some of my reasoning.

It’s just a bit convoluted.

Also, not completely rational.

I just know I have to do this.

My father was told multiple times that I should box professionally, okay? And I’m not a complete idiot. I know the stakes are high.

But something in my brain just went off.

Something in my brain just told me to go for it, that it was the right thing to do.

For once in my life, I think it’s time to act and figure out the rest later.

Can I really win, though, against someone who’s got years of fighting experience under their belt?

“Child,” an old man’s voice laughed behind my back, “you finally seem ready.”

I spun around wildly to see who spoke those words.