“Cowards of the Lotus clan,” Alnea said, trying to speak as loudly as he could. He even gathered his Aspects around his throat, just in hope that his voice could be louder. Fortunately, he was not alone. With Cecilia and Yuri shouting the same words, their voice soon resonated with each other’s, spreading to every corner of the Arena, enshrouding it in a layer of shock and silence.
“As descendants of the ones chosen by Goddess Quona, are you not ashamed of playing your tricks over, and over again? We truly did not wish to have to do anything with you, but you would just not leave us alone, would you? Did you not learn your lesson half a year ago? Why can you not just let it go? Why do you have to be so ruthless? Forget it… Since you want to play, we will play with you.
“Of course, we do not have either the time, or the patience to play along with your ridiculous schemes. So, from today onwards, we will be coming to the Arena every day, waiting for your challenge. We will not back out. We will not cower. Even if you are shameless enough to send Peak Stage False Wanderers, we will still fight you. We only request that you fight like Wanderers, and not like rats.”
“…Fight!”
“…Fight!”
“…Fight!”
“Fight!”
“Fight!”
“Rats!”
“Rats!”
“Rats!”
“Fight!”
“Fight!”
“Fight!”
For the first time, Alnea heard the audience in the stands demanding something other than blood. His plan… he did not know if it would work or not, but it surely did rile up the hunger of the Wanderers in the stands. Hiding all the blood rushing to his face with the help of his Aspects, he glanced towards the girls, trying his best to ignore the burning gaze of the guard standing next to him. Thankfully, the guard did not stop him from completing his speech. Still, he could feel the guard’s annoyance increasing with every passing moment.
Not in the mood to test the patience of the guard, he quickly boarded the small platform, and urged it to leave main stage. Only when he met up with the girls near the edge of the Arena, did Alnea dare to relax a little. But not for long. The crowd, following the end of his speech, burst into an uproar, shouting, and chanting for blood once again. Except, this time, they were also chanting the Lotus clan’s name, urging them to take up the challenge. Especially the ones who were at the edge of the Arena, and not in the stands.
“…So daring…”
“…As expected of the Unfavoured…”
“…the Serpian is not…”
“…cannot expect much from those muscleheads…”
“…what do you think…”
“…isn’t it obvious?”
“…madness…”
“…How long…”
“…poor kids…”
“…teach them a lesson…”
“…weak Heart…”
…Alnea had expected other Wanderers to react violently to his open challenge. That was why he had made the challenge in the first place. But to think that these Wanderers, who could not even guard their own Hearts, would dare to say that his Heart was weak… Forget about him. They even dared to say that Yuri’s Heart was weak… These Wanderers were truly ignorant.
Still, they were Wanderers, nonetheless. And all of them were older than him. Being stared at by so many Wanderers, even if he had a strong Heart, he could not help feeling a little flustered. Besides, he had completed his plan anyway. Next, all they had to do was to wait. He was sure that the Lotus clan would come running to them on their own. So, there was no need for them to continue staying in the Arena and become the subject of scrutiny for thousands of Wanderers.
“Let’s leave,” Alnea said to the girls, who nodded back in return.
“To the Blood Hall, or to our rooms?”
“…Let’s go check out the Blood Hall. We still do not know what else is there in the Hall. And don’t forget, we also need to exchange the Warrior Tokens.”
“The Blood Hall is not going anywhere, and neither are the Warrior Tokens. We can exchange them anytime we want. But now is not the time to be hasty. We have provoked too many people this time. Waltzing into the Blood Hall does not sound like a wise choice. I think it would be best if we lie low for a while.”
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“Isn’t it too late for that?” Cecilia said, pointing at the crowd around them. “We were already famous in the city as we were, but after today, I reckon that there should be no one in the city who would not hear about us. Do you think it is possible for us to lie low now?”
“…Maybe we should have thought a little more before making a scene.”
“…You were the one who came up with the plan in the first place.”
“…Quite a good plan, isn’t it?” Alnea said, trying to shamelessly diver the topic in another direction. Thankfully, Yuri came to his rescue once again.
“Seriously, why are you two always looking for things to argue about?”
“We are not!”
“Don’t slander me!”
“…Even if you use your Aspects to hide your lies, you cannot hide from me,” Yuri said, smirking at Alnea. “Or did you think that I would forget where our room is?”
“…Let’s leave the Arena first,” Alnea said, hastily tearing his eyes away from Yuri.
“…Right,” Cecilia added, as she too looked away from Yuri. Unlike him though, she had a perfect excuse. Picking up the dumb cat prowling around her feet, she caressed its fur until it burped in satisfaction. “I think Forne is getting a little sleepy from all the Fortune it devoured. We can decide where to go after we reach our rooms.”
…Traitor, Alnea thought, as he closed his eyes, and imagined himself stepping out of the Arena. Almost immediately, space itself began fluctuating around him, rippling, and shifting, bringing him to a whole new world. A world where only he, and clusters of white light floating above his head remained. As for the girls, they were gone, disappearing into the countless folds of space. Or maybe it was just an illusion of space…
Whatever it was, it was not something that he could understand just yet. The Mysteries of Space… Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Alnea turned around and stepped into the curtain of light blocking the only exit from the dark space that he had found himself in. It was also the only exit of the Arena. At least, the only exit for the people who had come to fight in the Arena.
So, when Alnea passed through the curtain of light, he was not surprised to see the girls waiting for him in the arched corridor. Yuri not taking advantage of the situation to make him more embarrassed though… that did surprise him a little. She did not even embarrass him through Evi and Fae. Instead, she just stood there, looking at him with her charming smile…
“What are you standing there like a fool for?” Cecilia said, breaking Alnea away from his thoughts.
“…What are you planning?” Alnea said, quickly reigning in his embarrassment with his Aspects, only for Yuri to giggle in return.
“Nothing,” she said, before turning around, and walking towards the exit of the corridor. Alnea looked at her back in confusion, and exchanged a silent glance with Cecilia, before picking up his pace to catch up with Yuri. They did not keep up with their pace for long though. There were couple of other people in the corridor—people who had left the Arena before them— walking at their own leisurely pace, forcing Alnea and the girls to slow down as well.
Fortunately, the corridor itself was not too long, taking them just a tenth of an hour to cover. Once out of the corridor, they quickened their pace, and hurried away from the Arena. Not because they were afraid of other Wanderers, or the Lotus clan, but because they did not wish to waste time on the Wanderers trying to woo them. The endless chattering of those Wanderers… It was too annoying.
Besides, Alnea was afraid that Cecilia might pick up a fight with those Wanderers once again. After all, she had been starving for a true fight for days. Maybe, it was also one of the reasons behind her recent irritability. If she fell into a bad mood, he would have to coax her once again. Not that he minded coaxing her. With how cute she looked with her puffed out cheeks, he would not mind coaxing her even if he would have to do it every day. It was just that they were a little short on time at the moment.
Fishing out the Lotus clan, guarding against other Wanderers, completing the Trials, raising their status, finding a new, better place to stay, exchanging for resources, training their Spirits, tempering their Hearts, Wandering the Origin Sea, comprehending Mysteries, taming Aspects, carving Glyphs onto their Spirits, creating Arcanas, practising their Martial Styles, and the list just kept going. There was so much that they had to do, with so little time to themselves. Wasting time on coaxing Cecilia did not seem like a wise choice. But those puffed up cheeks…
Scratching his head in annoyance, Alnea finally succeeded in pulling the girls to their rooms. It was not easy, considering how adamant Cecilia was about ‘exercising her hands’. Once he shared his view about how they were wasting their time though, she reluctantly let go of her obsession.
“So, we are going to complete the Aspect Trials in the evening, when we go to the Blood Hall for our dinner?”
“…Trying to complete the Trials on full stomach would not be a wise idea. And doing so when almost starving would be even more foolish.”
“Then when exactly do you want to complete the Trials?” Cecilia said, sporting a frown on her face, clearly expressing her displeasure, with the dumb cat following her example. With how sleepy it was though, its purr only made it sound like it was groaning in satisfaction. Or maybe it really was groaning in satisfaction. After all, it did devour the Fortune of two Wanderers…
“…I can guess why you might feel a little agitated, Cecilia, but this time, I am afraid that I will have to agree with Alnea,” Yuri said, trying to comfort Cecilia with her soft voice, and her charming smile. “We might be strong, but we are not invincible. There are too many geniuses in the Lost City. For now, it is just the Lotus clan that is after us. Once the other clans realise that we have no intention of joining them though, we might end up offending more than half of the city. And even if that was not the case, disregarding everything else, as Wanderers, we must ensure that we never take any decision in haste.”
“But—
“Besides, there are only so many Trials that we can complete in the first place. You don’t want to complete all of them in just one day, right?”
“…Forget it. It is just a day anyways,” Cecilia mumbled, falling to the charms of the white haired girl. When did the reckless girl become so sensible? Looking at the flushed face of the green robed girl sitting next to him, Alnea realised that he might have found the right way of dealing with his hot-headed friend. Though, in her defence, no one could resist against Yuri’s charms.
“…There is still quite a bit of time before dinner,” Alnea said, faking a cough to get the attention of the girls. “We have wasted quite a bit of our time already. Let’s go back to our training.”
“…Training freak,” Cecilia grumbled, glaring at him in annoyance, before getting up, and walking out of his room.
“…Did I say something wrong?”
“…No,” Yuri said, with a hint of helplessness in her voice. “No, you did not.”
“Then—
“There are things that even if I tell you about them, you will not understand. Things, that you need to figure out on your own.”