Tristan slowly came to, he shook his head. Well he tried to, it was currently strapped down. As were his arms and legs. Pain registered next, unlike last time he broke his kern, Luke was not around to apply top quality medical aid in the form of a disgusting liquid. The simple fact that Tristan was alive probably meant that some kind of herb or artifact was used to patch him up. Luke did say it would get easier, but it was more likely that he would just get used to it.

Opening his eyes he looked around the room. He could see four log walls, a window and what looked like a chair in one corner. Only the back was visible so he could not be completely sure. There was a decision before Tristan, and it was based on an assumption. Was the fort keeping him here because they knew who he was and had seen danger or they suspected he had gotten some kind of injury that would harm him if he moved.

Tristan thought back on his past experiences, and decided not to bet on the Golden Heart’s generosity. He jerked his arm, but got nowhere with the leather strap holding his wrist to the table. His ankles gave him the same result. The big difference was that he realized someone had taken his boots.

He felt the table and got a surprise. Tristan had expected oak or some other hard wood. It was rough hewn pine, a wood that was both easy to work and easy to damage. There was a chance he could break the notch cut into the table that the strap was looped through. Tristan prepared to jerk his legs up when the door opened.

A woman with a cold expression strode in, he recognized Lesly. She sat in the chair and inspected him. Tristan actually felt some relief, if it was someone from the Forest Caldera, they would be forced to abide with Elder Forest’s decisions. Sure, Lesly could beat him up, but she could not do more, especially if Tristan’s suspicions about her family were true. They were probably the tier four family, if one even existed.

“What were you planning to do with Bruce,” Lesly asked.

Tristan had no idea what she was talking about, but he assumed that honesty would be the best answer, “Camping?”

“Were you planning to get revenge?” Lesly said, “I won’t let that happen.”

Tristan sighed, it was the first scenario. He was detained because they were afraid, however he needed her to leave before he could do anything, so he decided to answer.

“No, I don’t bully people weaker than me,” Tristan said. He forced some exasperation into his voice.

Lesly stood she seemed angry, “What do you mean weaker.”

“I assume when you say revenge, your referring to the time your little brother teamed up with the neighborhood to knock me to the ground and kick me?” Tristan took the raised eyebrow as a yes, “I also assume that you have me strapped down because I did literally all the fighting, and am now the one in the position of power over your brother, you don’t want me to act like you. That’s what your saying, right.”

Lesly was standing beside Tristan in a flash, she planted one fist beside his face, “You don’t get to act like us. We are your betters, now tell me what you had planned for Bruce.”

This was why Tristan did not tell people about his kern. Adults needed quite a bit of time to change their world view, so he needed a safe environment to tell them. By that he meant that he would need an overwhelming amount of firepower in the form of Siren to keep them in their place.

Tristan squirmed under her glare, he was not good at pretending to look uncomfortable, however this threatening look that Lesly had on was pitiful when placed beside a dark elemental. She was a woman, barely not a girl, from a merchant family. With a little planning he could best her, and she seemed to be very poor at planning.

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“Nothing, I was planning nothing,” Tristan said.

“Then what about Ray, you killed him,” Lesly accused.

“Ray disobeyed orders and suffered the consequences, in fact he’s the entire reason we were in danger in the first place!” Tristan was almost done.

Lesly’s face relaxed and she took a step back, “Good, I just needed to make sure your story matched everyone else’s.”

Tristan frowned, “You accuse me of murderous intent? Then you antagonize me? You’re lucky you said something.”

Lesly frowned, confused. Then her face paled and a hand went to her belt, specifically to the empty sheath. Tristan cut himself free using the knife he took from Lesly. He knew how people could be and he had learned how to be ruthless from some of the best. Conni had worried about it a long time ago and many of his worries had come to pass.

Tristan tossed the knife to Lesly, “So, where are my boots?”

She did not even attempt to catch the blade, letting it his the floor, “Just outside the door, your knives are too.” A question sprang up at that time, “Are you and Eve a thing.”

Tristan frowned while he put on his boots, “Uh, no, why?”

“She’s come here at least once a day over the last week and a half to make sure you’re still alright,” Lesly said, “You were pretty messed up before, the physician said it was a miracle you survived a broken kern.”

Tristan shook his head, people were weird. He had just commented on how he almost stabbed her and she was asking about Eve. Tristan was not sure how one developed their taste in women. Though he was also unsure why the word ‘taste’ was used, it seemed barbaric. If positive events during childhood molded one’s preferences, then he would be heavily influenced by Grace and Sun Set. Whatever the case was, he was not physically attracted to any of the women here.

“She has an odd set of morals, which leads her to do odd things like avoiding meat, or taking care of hurt people,” Tristan said, “As far as the second thing you said, weak people can actually survive their kern breaking, we have relatively little to damage compared to warriors.”

Lesly seemed to find that surprising, but her attention was grabbed by the very person they had been talking about. Eve came down the hallway and poked her head in the open door. Tristan ignored her, his kern had definitely healed stronger and it made it difficult to tie his shoes. There were some concerns that he had, the boost he got from his first time was from bottom tier zero to bottom tier one.

That was a fifty percent increase. A jump from bottom tier one to bottom tier two should be the same, it should even feel the same as the increase was proportional. However, he would say that the increase now was around half of before. That would make him a mid tier one, which was disappointing. Tristan was not surprised that progress had slowed down, there had to be a reason why Luke was not something ridiculous like tier six. He just had the hope or delusion that it would not happen to him.

“What, do you dislike me that much?” Eve said, she sounded angry.

Tristan could not see his own face so he did not know that he frowned right as she showed up. All he could think was women are weird with a shake of his head.

“That’s good, I’m glad you’re not dead,” Eve said. She saluted Lesly then left.

Tristan stood and strapped his belt on, “What has been told about me.”

He needed to know what he was walking into. Eve clearly did not know that he had a metal kern, she had a poor opinion of Hadrid, so she would be more likely to avoid him due to that. He could see Lesly warning Bruce about it, as he was an unverified threat. Clive would probably figure it out eventually, Tristan looked similar to how he did a few years ago.

Lesly shrugged, “Everyone knows your a silver blooded devil.”

Tristan’s head snapped around. Lesly took a step back, a hand falling to the empty sheath. Evidently a tier three was wary of a tier one, however in this situation it was completely unjustified. That knowledge could fracture any team he was part of. It would not be an issue for him, as he could always make it back to the mine. However the lack of cooperation could get the rest of the team killed.

“Why would you tell everyone that?” Tristan could not see an advantage in spreading that information.

“I didn’t,” Lesly held up her hands like she was saying that she was innocent, “This crass man named Olfred was using it to get free beer at the Stone Caldera’s bars. It kind of spread from there.”

Tristan could only sigh in exasperation, “Stupid Olfred.”