“…He is my grandson!”
A ray of sunlight peeked through the window and shone in Frey’s face, making his hair bright crimson.
“That dream again… I wonder who those people were. My family, perhaps?”
*SLAM!*
“This little idiot’s still in bed? Hmph!” said a blonde haired youth with green eyes and a pointed face.
“I-I…I just woke up, Herbert. I was up all night doing the chores sister Clementine told you to do. I’m sorry.”
“Enough of the chit-chat. Sister Clementine asked me to fetch you, it’s time to eat.”
Herbert grabbed Frey’s hair and pulled him out of bed, forcefully dragging him to the cafeteria. Just about as thy were about to reach the dining area, he let go and punched Frey on the shoulder.
“Sister! I called him for you.”
In the middle of the cafeteria, a young lady around her late twenties stood gracefully with clasped hands leaning on her chest. She was really pretty with long lush black hair, big brown eyes and porcelain skin.
“Oh? Why thank you, Herbert.” Clementine replied with a beaming smile.
“Now that we’re all here, sit down and we can start eating breakfast.” she continued.
All the children sat down in front of a long table which was about twenty feet long, and started to eat their meal, which consisted of two pieces of bread and potato soup.
“Oi, Frey. Why do you let Herbert do all those stuff? You do all his chores and follow his every command, you even let yourself get beat up by him without fighting back!” whispered a child to Frey, while stuffing his mouth with bread.
“I can’t help it. I lost to him in a game of virtuoso, and these were the conditions of the bet.”
“Though you’ve been my best friend ever since I got here, you really are an idiot. What were your conditions if you won then? asked the child in bewilderment.
“If I won, I asked him to return my pendant. I lost my memories you see, and it’s my only clue on finding out who I really am. He took it from me the day I arrived here.”
“Eh? Then why haven’t you told this to sister Clementine? Heh, speaking of sister, isn’t she really hot? I wanna marry her someday. Ehehe.” replied the boy.
“Hale, stop. Sisters don’t get married anyways, so why pursue her? It’s pointless.”
“Anyway, the reason I haven’t told her is because Herbert threatened to break it if I rat him out.” Frey explained.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
An expression of anger rose in Hale’s face. “That bastard! Don’t you worry, Frey. I’ll win back your pendant for you, just wait. I’m pretty smart, you know?” he confidently reassured.
Seeing the look of sadness on Frey’s face, Hale stood up and went to where Herbert and his lackeys were sitting.
“Herbert! I challenge you to a game of virtuoso!”
Hearing this, Herbert scoffed. “Heh. Another idiot rushes into a game with me, eh? Fine. What are the conditions?”
“If I win, you give back Frey’s pendant and apologize to him!”
“And if you lose?” a voice from Herbert’s group echoed.
“If I lose, I give you this!” Hale removed one of the two rings fitted into his finger and slammed it into the table.
“H-Hale, no! Don’t bet your magic artifact!” objected Frey.
Hale put his hand on Frey’s shoulder to comfort him. “Don’t worry, partner. I’m gonna win.”
“Let’s begin, Herbert.” A strange glint flashed through Hale’s eyes that no one but Frey noticed.
“In a hurry to lose, I see? The arbitrator would be Frey, take it as a handicap. Hahaha!” pointed Herbert to Frey.
He nodded his head and stepped forward with small nervous strides. “A-As you wish…t-the Virtuoso match between Herbert and Hale will now begin. Round one would be a battle of knowledge. What topic will you both agree on?”
“How about this kingdom that we live in, the Iron Fissure Kingdom?” proposed Hale.
“All of Frey’s friends are idiots, so you’ll lose in any topic anyway. Heh. I agree! You can also go first if you want.” A scheming smile appeared on Herbert’s face.
“Many thanks.” Hale bowed. “Okay, my first question. Why is this kingdom called Iron Fissure Kingdom?”
“That’s easy! Iron Fissure got it’s name 3092 years ago, when a wandering Iron element S-class Virtuoso made the ground quake and split in the village he was cultivating in when he broke through to SS-class. As a compensation, he made Iron fortresses and villages inside the fissure and trained the elder of the village at that time into an Intermediate B-class Virtuoso; The descendants of that B-class are now the royal family, the Schnellfeurs.” replied Herbert with a mocking look.
“C-correct! One point for Herbert!”
“As expected of the smartest kid in the shelter! He knows his stuff.”
“I wish I could be as smart as him…”
The children watching the game clamored and talked amongst themselves.
“My turn to ask, eh? I’ll throw you something easy. Our King, his royal highness Faust Schnellfeur. What is his rank, cultivation, and specialty?”
“King Schnellfeur is in the second sky of the cleansing meridian realm. He’s currently an intermediate E-rank Virtuoso and he specializes in the usage of bows with the strength to shoot a moving target up to 27 kilometers away. In a Virtuoso game, he specializes in the second round, defeating enemies with his strategic wordplay which renders his opponents dazed.”
“Correct! One point for Hale!” Frey energetically shouted out.
…
“Correct! With this, we have 4 points for each player!
“Hale’s holding up pretty well. I was never aware that he knew a lot.”
“I know. He might even end round 1 with a draw with Herbert as his opponent.”
“Shut up! I’m gonna win this round!” Screamed Herbert as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead and mumbled to himself “No! I refuse to tie with this idiot. How does he know so much? I made sure to keep most of the books from Frey and his buddies! I need to come up with a question that he doesn’t know…AH! How about that?”
“My last question, Hale! Prepare to lose.” Herbert harrumphed. “12 years ago, the king had an affair. She wasn’t even a concubine. WHAT. WAS. HER. NAME?” A sinister look appeared on Herbert’s face.
“That’s your question? HAHAHAHAHA!” Roared Hale with laughter. “I already knew that you’d ask me that at some point.”
“W-What? You’re bluffing!” Herbert suddenly became anxious when he heard Hale’s words. “Even I don’t know that answer to that!”
“Don’t believe me?” He smiled. “Her name…is Clementine.” Hale looked toward a corner of the room slowly, and pointed his finger towards her. “Isn’t that right…sister?”
“W-W-W-What?!?!”