“Feel free to come back whenever you wish.”

“Good luck on the tournament, we’ll be rooting for you.”

“Please come back to spar with us again!”

“Don’t you dare attack him at random again!”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Thanks, everyone.” Raphael bowed his head, feeling the weight of everyone’s expectations on his shoulders. He had learned a lot in these last few days in Proteorno. The group, consisting of several teachers and who knows how many students, waved toward him as he turned around, heading to Proteorno International Airport’s private terminal. Inside, his pilot friend waited for him.

“A celebrity, huh?” Fraone quipped, standing up from a chair.

“Wish I could deny that.”

“Well, don’t disappoint them.”

“I’ll try my best.”

He couldn’t really say he hated all this attention, although he definitely hated how heavy all these hopes felt.

“Sigh… I’m not saving the world.”

“Well, you’re their world.”

“I hope it didn’t go that far.”

“No worries, I’m just joking. Worst case scenario they’ll think of you as a god.”

“That’s equally as terrible!”

Fraone laughed at his friend’s antics.

“Come on, you defeated me effortlessly when we sparred. You’ll have no trouble.”

“You think so?”

“Of course. If anything, the way your face looked said it all. It’s as if you saw spars as nothing but a nuisance, that you wish you could return to your room and read your books.”

“Do I really look like that?” Raphael let out a nervous chuckle, partly because he knew Fraone was at least half-right.

“Yeah.” They left the terminal, heading toward Fraone’s airplane that was parked at the apron. Raphael climbed into the fuselage of the aircraft as Fraone turned its engine on. In no time, they found themselves airborne, heading back for Kaleya.

* ••

“So your plans?” Fraone asked after turning the engines off. They were now in front of Raphael’s manor in Kaleya. Raphael stood next to the cockpit door, looking at the building that remained the same.

“I think I’ll continue making medicine.”

“Look, Great Mage, I know you’re great, but I don’t think you should underestimate your enemies like that.”

“You got it wrong!” Raphael turned around, waving his hands.

“Then?”

“I’ll reduce my output so that I can have some more time to practice and rest.”

“Good to hear. I hope you commit to that.” Fraone turned his body, facing the control panel. He turned his head, smiling.

“Don’t worry, my father is inspired by you, so our family started donating some money to help make and research medicine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Medicine is getting cheaper as we speak. Well, some started complaining, saying that they can’t make a profit if we go too cheap.” Fraone smiled wryly. The road in front of them wasn’t smooth, unfortunately. Raphael let out a sigh, wishing people just could stay healthy all the time, but if that was the case, thousands would lose their jobs.

This world sure is complicated.

“But for now, we’re sharing everything we find with them, so they can reduce their manufacturing cost and still make a profit. You don’t need to worry, alright?” Fraone closed the door and waved his hand through the window. Raphael returned his wave, watching as the plane took to the yellow afternoon skies.

He turned around, heading back into his manor.

I can’t give up as well!

With renewed determination, he went to his laboratory.

* ••

Carol, Lerus, Emma, and Martus sat next to the training hall walls.

“You’re ready,” Carol’s teacher, Martus, said.

“You didn’t even join us that often,” Lerus remarked. Martus nodded.

“True, but I did join you today, didn’t I?”

“Can’t refute that.”

“Still, Carol, regardless of whether you win or not, it doesn’t matter. What's important is you have fun… but don’t you dare disappoint us." Martus pointed his finger at Carol. Carol smiled nervously as she pushed Martus’ finger away.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“I’ll try my best.”

“You’re just scaring her,” Lerus pushed Martus away.

“I’m just saying it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Carol-sis! I’m sure you’ll win!”

“I’ll try my best,” Carol repeated her own words, not knowing how else to respond. Today, she had managed to fight against all three of them at once and win, all in the span of less than five seconds. She had grown tremendously during the last few days, a result of her hard work. She had climbed the ranks, now unofficially the strongest Ranger in Kaleya.

“You should rest tomorrow, get your body in tip-top shape.”

“I’ll do that.”

Carol looked up at the training hall ceilings. The metal structure that supported the roof wasn’t covered by anything, making it look hollow, yet it felt strong regardless. Those beams supported the roof that protected her from the outside world these last few years. Every physical training she spent here built up her strength. The time for her to step out from its protection had come.

She looked back down at the three companions in front of her, and for the third time, she repeated,

“I’ll do my absolute best!”

* ••

Koski stood in the crater of Mount Moluart. The once barren crater had been turned into a decorated arena. Spectators' seats surrounded a circle arena five hundred pebs in diameter. Various dragons with the help of several humans set up this arena for the event beginning in two days.

“Sorry, can you please move?” a pink dragon carrying a large, steel beam stood behind him. She had dark blue scales and dark red eyes.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” Koski moved to the side. The dragon set the beam down in the stack next to Koski, before turning toward Koski.

“Koskiukoviaskeiseir Kalstaetein?” the dragon asked, addressing Koski. Koski nodded.

“Is there something wrong?”

The other dragon shook her head.

“No, it’s just, you’ve been the center of conversation for a while now.”

“Because I brought him?”

“Yeah. How did you even do that? Everyone wants to know. If we can invite him next year, the tournament will continue gaining more popularity. This way, we can rival other region’s tournaments as well.

“Aren’t we already attracting attention from other regions?”

“Well, there’s no reason to continue growing, don’t you think?” the dragon elbowed him.

“Anyway, continue your good work. I wish you guys luck in the tournament.”

“Ah, yes, thank you.”

The dragon smiled and stepped away, heading back to where she came from. Thinking that he would just bother people by staying there, Koski flapped his wings, careful to not hit the seats around him. Taking flight, he went up to the sky. He took a look at the crater, the battleground.

Raphael wouldn’t be battling there for the first round. All of his preliminary matches would be held in Orotta stadium located east of the mountain, yet in his eyes, not going into the finals was practically impossible.

I know you can do it, Great Mage Sir.

He turned around, heading back home.

* ••

“You’re watching the preliminaries this Saturday?” the man in the chef uniform asked as he rinsed the plates. Lucas, Meky’s boyfriend, worked under Meky’s parents to study the ways of the kitchen. Even before they started dating, Lucas was already set to be the future owner of the family business, primarily because Meky didn’t have much interest in the business.

They didn’t begin dating until last year, so they were still quite far from marriage, unlike Carol and Raphael.

Meky looked up at him, scrubbing one of the plates with soap. She may not be interested, but she did help regardless.

“No, I’ll watch the finals.”

“You’re really confident those two will go through, huh?”

“Yep. I trust our friends.”

“Same.”

Carol and Raphael had always been the most powerful duo in the school. The iron-willed Carol and the can-create-anything Raphael, truly an undefeatable pair. They fit each other so well that the two of them couldn’t help feeling curious about how it would look if they fought each other.

“Who do you think will win? Carol or Raphael?” Lucas asked, receiving a plate from Meky.

“Well, both of them have an equal chance, in my opinion.” Meky considered the strengths and weaknesses of them both, only to realize that in her eyes, neither had any weakness. Their combat techniques were simply too perfect for an untrained eye. She couldn’t spot any openings or weaknesses that could be fatal.

“I don’t have an answer.”

“Guess we can only wait and watch.”

“Just making sure, but you did secure our tickets, right?” Meky sharpened her gaze.

“Of course. I’m still surprised you asked me to just get the tickets for the finals, though.”

“Trust me on that.”

“Yeah, yeah. Besides, how do you know they’re participating in the first place?”

“I have my connections.” Meky winked with a teasing smile. Lucas put down the plate he was cleaning and splashed the water on Meky.

“Hey, stop! I’m getting wet!” Meky tried to dodge, but she couldn’t let go of the plate in her hand.

“You’re not wet enough,” Lucas said with a laugh.

“I’m not a waterfall!” Meky put down the plate in the sink, rinsed his hands clean of soap, and returned fire against her boyfriend.

“Hey!”

From outside, Meky’s parents observe the two splashing each other through the small window connecting the kitchen and the dining room.

“Should we stop them?” Meky’s father asked, whispering to his wife.

“Let the youngsters have fun,” Meky’s mother said, a smile on her face.

“Alright then.” The two turned around, continuing their job of cleaning the dining area.

* ••

“Are the tickets ready, dear?” Milyane asked her husband, who sat on the computer. The printer let out a noise, printing two paper tickets. Kaye took them and cut the paper. They were tickets for the D group fight in Orotta. They had also secured train tickets for the trip to the city.

“This year’s tickets for the D group sold out in an instant. I’m lucky we can secure two.”

“I know, right?”

With news of the great mage himself participating, the tickets for Raphael’s group sold like hotcakes. The increase in interest was so massive that for the first time, the dragons set up an online account just so they could stream the video online. In theory, there should be no reason to buy the tickets, but everyone wanted to see the great mage in the flesh.

“Isn’t Orotta Stadium large, though?” Milyane put her finger under her chin.

“Well, dragons are also bigger. They need to adjust some sections to fit them.”

“Ah, yeah, you’re right.”

“Things really do change, huh? To think a few years ago Raphy was just a little boy looking at dragons fighting.”

“Yeah, now he’ll knock them down.” Kaye went as far as taking the next day off just so he could be in Orotta ahead of time. He had high expectations of his son.

“But you better not do anything rash, okay? We’ll just show our support by surprising him through text.”

“Aww…” Kaye had hoped to hold a big banner with the writing ‘Go Raphael!’ in the stadium, but his wife stopped him.

“Anything more will distract him.”

“I guess you're right.”

Closing the web browser, the screen revealed a family picture of Raphael when he was still little. Beside him was Carol and her family, all of them smiling happily.

“Do your best, you two.”