Despite having been electrocuted, Wesley quickly refocused his mind, and tried to work through the pain, as well as a few lingering muscle twitches.

On the other side, Marcus was incensed that he hadn’t won the duel yet, and was busy complaining in his mind while drawing his second seal. Wasn’t his opponent supposed to be a mage initiate? Why the hell could he draw seals? Furthermore, how did he have the mana to cast a spell that could create and fire so many icicles at once?

For Marcus, unexpectedly, the first exchange had already made him feel as if he were fighting a peer.

With a fierce expression, he quickly drew his second seal, intending to end the duel in a swift manner to save his pride. After all, if he, the genius of the Larwin Kingdom, could only struggle to defeat a mage initiate two years younger than him, then what face would he have left?

Without an ounce of mercy, Marcus unleashed his family’s signature spell, Lightning Dragon! Despite the spell’s fearsome name, Marcus lacked the mana to use the spell to its fullest - all that came out was a small lightning dragon, only a few feet long.

Despite its size, this dragon was brimming with an alarming amount of energy - basically all of Marcus’s mana pool had been consumed in creating it. After casting the spell, he looked toward Wesley, his eyes brimming with confidence.

‘You may have survived the first clash, but the second will be your last!’

However, when he saw the result of Wesley’s second seal, his eyes bulged.

An ice dragon, almost identical to the lightning dragon he’d just created, was soaring his way, ad was about to come into contact with his lightning dragon.

Furthermore, the ice dragon was actually slightly bigger than his lightning dragon!

The two dragons quickly collided with each other midair. Despite its larger size, the ice dragon was broken apart by the lightning dragon, but the energy of the lightning dragon had also been completely spent on destroying the ice dragon.

Marcus stood still, his eyes glazed over. Without any mana to cast additional spells with, had he lost? He, the genius of the Larwin Kingdom, had actually lost?

Actually, as Wesley had used all of his mana as well, the fight had actually ended in a draw, but the reactions from the two fighters were polar opposites.

As the announcer announced the results, Marcus simply stood still, still unable to accept the outcome.

Meanwhile, Wesley had been joined by Gust on stage, where the two were celebrating. Despite Wesley not having won the battle, they’d be getting a modest payout from the duel.

“We’re going to be fancy boys tonight!”

Wesley and Gust quickly collected their earnings on the way out, then went back to the fancy, two-story restaurant they’d been kicked out of yesterday.

This time, however, they were immediately seated and given menus. With the menus, however, a new problem quickly arose.

What the hell were all of these dishes? Gust felt a headache forming as he tried to decipher the complicated names.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Uh, let’s see, they have Red-wine braised black lamb shanks with a side-salad with dressing options of balsamic vinaigrette, ranch, uh…

“Oh okay, let’s see, oh wow, here’s an expensive one. Roasted golden duck legs served with spring onion, cucumber, sweet bean sauce, flour pancakes, and caviar…”

Gust felt his headache getting stronger.

“Hey little man, how about we just save our money and eat at a food stall somewhere?”

“Yeah…”

Although Wesley had eaten fancy dishes at birth, and had learned proper table manners, he’d never had to deal with actually ordering the food. Hence, just listening to Gust earlier had given him a headache.

The two promptly stood up and left the restaurant, leading the hostess to stare after them in confusion. After walking a bit, they came by a food stall that served beef noodle soup.

Gust looked toward Wesley. “What does Mr. Nose say?”

“He says it’s good.”

“Good enough for me.”

The two sat down and quickly ordered. “Two bowls of beef noodle soup, extra beef please.”

Nice and simple.

The two quickly devoured their bowls of beef noodle soup, then ordered another each. By the time they were finished, Wesley’s stomach was poking through his shirt, and Gust’s own belly had grown significantly as well.

Having sated his stomach, Wesley’s mind wandered to the bigger question at hand.

“Hey Gust, when can we cross the Alaki Mountain Range?”

“That, little man, is more of a question of how. Let’s walk and talk.”

Gust handed over a few coins to the stall owner for their meals, then took Wesley’s hand to lead him to their next destination.

“Anyway, I’ve got something personal I need to talk to you about regarding this shitty mountain range. In the meantime though, might as well fill you in on the general details of the mountain range.

“Crossing the Alaki Mountain Range will be, by far, the most dangerous part of our trip. After all, the mountain range is why the Reiniad Kingdom, despite being larger than the Larwin and Kenta Kingdoms combined, hasn’t tried even once to invade their neighbors.

“The mountain range is inhabited by hundreds of mountain tribes, all of whom are ruled by six large tribes. They don’t exactly take kindly to ‘outsiders’, and they’re typically great fighters. Actually, I learned how to fight in the mountains myself.

“Anyway, in order to safely cross the mountain range, we’ll need to join up with at least a few hundred travellers, or we’ll have next to no chance of crossing the mountain range, even with the chaos gems.”

“The mountain tribes, they’ll attack any outsiders they see, and the tribes live just far apart to not interfere with each other, so if you’re not walking through one tribe’s territory, you’re walking through that of another’s. The only way they won’t attack you is if you’re with a big enough group for them to not want to deal with.

“And that is why we’re here.” Gust made a grandiose gesture toward a signboard next to Border Town’s eastern entrance.

“Where?”

“Uh, the eastern entrance to Border Town. There’s a board for people to sign up on, to show that they want to cross the Alaki Mountain Range. Once there’s enough people, the officials will add a date on the top of the signboard, which’ll be the date that everyone who signs the board leaves Border Town as a group.”

“Oh, that’s fairly handy.”

“Yep. Now, let’s see...”

Gust quickly signed their names on the signboard.

-Gust: Experienced light-armored fighter. World-famous bard

-Wesley: Rank 3 Elementary Mage

Having finished, the two began their trip back to the inn. Wesley didn’t mind the walk much, but as they approached their destination, Gust’s steps grew heavier and heavier.

It was time to face his past.