“How many Martial Style Medals did you win?” Cecilia said, looking at Alnea with a strange gleam in her eyes, trying her best not to let her overflowing excitement leak into her voice, or her face. Not with much success, apparently. But she was too excited to notice her state. Or maybe she just did not care.

“…We will know once we get our medals,” Alnea said with a blank face, doing much better in supressing his emotions in his Heart than Cecilia. With a little help of his Aspects, of course, but that did not matter. Even if the girls knew that he was cheating, they could do nothing about it.

“This is not fair,” Cecilia said, pouting to show her displeasure, as she turned towards Yuri for help. Yet even Yuri could only shake her head helplessly.

“Do not look at me like that,” she said. “He did not tell me either.”

“Like I said, you will know how many Martial Style Medals I earned when we retrieve them from the Warrior Hall’s counter.”

“…Isn’t it just eight or nine medals?” Cecilia said, clicking her tongue in annoyance. “What’s there to be so mysterious about?”

“…You will know in a while,” Alnea said, with the edge of his lips uplifting in a smile, as they entered the main lobby of the Blood Hall. It was bustling as ever, filled with more than a hundred Wanderers, all going about their own way without interfering with each other. That was until a few of them spotted Alnea and the girls.

“Is that…”

“The kids from yesterday…”

“…monsters…”

“…I heard…”

“…in the Arena…”

“…challenge the Lotus clan…”

“…fools…”

“…overconfident…”

“…not our problem…”

“…another trial?”

“…no way…”

“…should we…”

“…let’s take a look…”

So much for keeping a low profile, Alnea thought. He had already given up on being inconspicuous when he had challenged the Lotus clan in the Arena, but it had only been a day since they had issued the challenge. The spread of information in the city was much faster than he expected it to be. Not that he was complaining. The faster that the information spread, the sooner the Lotus clan would react. Maybe, they had already begun taking their action, sending people to challenge him in the Arena…

Lost in his thoughts, Alnea soon joined the queue of the Warrior Hall with the girls, prompting the other Wanderers in the hall to gather around the counter of the Warrior Hall. There was nothing he could do about these Wanderers though. After all, they had not broken any rules. Besides, the whispers and murmurs of these Wanderers were also a good source of information…

“You are back,” Tia said, welcoming Alnea and the girls with a smile. “How did the Trials go? Are the results up to your expectations?”

“Why don’t you help us check it out,” Alnea said, handing his Blood Card, along with the Blood Cards of the girls, to the Wanderer.

“…You sure do look confident,” Tia said, with her smile widening in approval, and anticipation. Nodding at him and the girls, she placed their cards on the black box in front of her one by one, reading their information. And the more she read, the wider her smile became. Until she read Alnea’s Blood Card.

“…You sure gave me a surprise, little brother,” Tia said after a while, when she managed to tear her eyes away from the black box in front of her, looking at Alnea with a complicated gaze. One filled with shock and confusion, but also teeming with hope and anticipation at the same time.

“…It’s Alnea.”

“…Right, Alnea,” Tia said, hurriedly reigning her emotions in, leaving just a smile on her face. A bright and shining smile. “Forgive me, I was just too shocked for a moment.”

“…I understand, but I hope that you will not call me little in the future.”

“Of course,” Tia said, dropping her smile for a solemn look. “Now, if you will excuse me, I still have to bring all your Warrior Medals, and complete the procedure.”

“Of course,” Alnea said nodding back in return, while Cecilia and Yuri stared at him in confusion.

“…What kind of surprise did you give her?” Cecilia said, looking warily at the woman rummaging in the cupboard behind the counter.

“…Did you discover something in the Trial?” Yuri added, glancing at the black and the Blood Cards that Tia had left at the counter.

“Maybe,” Alnea said, smiling at the girls. “You will know in a while.”

“…Stingy,” Cecilia said, turning her head away from him in dissatisfaction, prompting him to let out a laugh, while Yuri just looked at him with pursed lips.

“…I always thought Alnea would never hide anything from me. That he was a true friend…” Yuri said through their rings, trying to sound as if she was talking to herself.

“I told you, you can never trust a man,” said Fae, jumping in between to add fuel to the fire. “Let us just stop talking with him.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“He was never up to any good anyway,” Evi added. “It is best if you deprive him of his authority, and choose a new, reliable partner for me.”

“Shut up, Evi,” Alnea said, wishing that he could punch the arrogant ring. And for once, he was not alone in his dissatisfaction with the stupid ring.

“Who asked for your opinion?” Fae said, humming in annoyance. “You are just as annoying as the kid.”

“…I am not hiding things from you,” Alnea said, ignoring the rings, while trying to subdue his headache. “It is just a surprise that I have prepared for you.”

“Maybe,” Yuri said. “But all I know is that you are hiding things from me… What should I ever do?”

“…How about praising me?”

“…You have become even more shameless than before.”

“Thank you for the complement,” Alnea said, adding in his laughter. “Don’t worry. You know most of what I encountered in the Trials anyway. There is just one tiny little detail that I did not tell you.”

“…Is it related to how you defeated the Blood Shadows without making any moves in the third and fourth trial?”

“Why are you always so intuitive?”

“…Who knows?”

“…This is blatant revenge.”

“When did you become so intuitive?” Yuri said, adding in her laughter, completing her revenge. Thankfully, Tia finally returned back to the counter at that moment, spelling an end to their game.

“Let us begin the same way we did last time,” Tia said, dumping a bunch of Martial Style Medals on the counter, making the crowd burst with exclamations and speculations.

“…How many Martial Style Medals did these monsters earn?”

“…Are they going to empty the coffers of the city?”

“…The city’s coffers are not so easy to empty…”

“…Still, just look at those medals…”

“…more than twenty…”

“…I think about thirty…”

“…before that, I think we should check out the new records…”

“…Fuck!”

“…Cretes’ damnation…”

“…these kids will not let us live in peace…”

“Perfectly clearing all ten Trials and breaking nine city wide records. Ten Martial Style Medals in total,” Tia said, handing ten tokens and her Blood Card to Cecilia. “Is that right?”

“That’s right,” Cecilia said, stuffing the tokens into the pouch hanging by her waist, with a hint of pride on her face. “Exactly ten Martial Style Medals.”

“…ten medals…”

“…I remember she had earned only one medal yesterday…”

“…just some luck…”

“…Can someone earn ten medals with just some luck?”

“…stupid…”

“Good,” Tia said, ignoring the crowd around them, before turning towards Yuri. “Then next, it is your turn.”

“I am fine with it,” Yuri said, nodding in acquiescence.

“Perfectly clearing all ten Trials and breaking ten city wide records. Eleven Martial Style Medals. Is that right?”

“That’s right,” Yuri said, putting her Martial Style Tokens away with grace. “Eleven Martial Style Medals.”

“…eleven Martial Style Medals…”

“…Cretes’ beard…”

“…is this even possible?”

“…just how many…”

“…the records!”

“…nineteen records…”

Ignoring the whispering crowd, Tia glanced at the last pile of Martial Style Tokens, before turning back Yuri, and said, “Yours is already the best result that I have ever seen anyone achieve in any kind of trials. It is also the best result that I thought was possible. That was until I saw little—Alnea’s results.”

Tia’s voice may not have been loud, but it was loud enough for the Wanderers around them to hear what she was saying, piquing their interest even more than before. Even if they could not understand what she was saying, just from her tone itself, they could guess that the boy must have done something remarkable. Something enough for the True Wanderer to put on solemn look.

“To be honest, I still cannot believe that something like this is possible. Yet, the information of the Warrior Hall cannot lie. I do not know how you did it, but you have achieved something unprecedented. Something that will leave your mark in the city for all the time to come. Even if they forget your name, your legends will never fade.”

The more that Tia said, the greater the shock of the Wanderers became, soon engulfing the Blood Hall in a strange, and eerie silence. The implications of her words…

“…What exactly did you do?” Cecilia whispered.

“…What has happened, has already happened,” Alnea whispered back, subduing the unease bubbling in his chest. Although he did not like seeing Cecilia worried, the way that Tia was talking was giving him enough things to worry about himself. Especially the look on her face… “I am assuming that there is a but.”

“…But that is something that will happen in the distant future,” Tia said, sighing with worry. “From how you have not contacted your clans, I can guess that either you do not wish to rely on your clans, or you do not have any elders of your clan in the city. In either case, right now, you are by yourselves. And in the eyes of all the Wanderers in the city, even those Wanderers with the backing of Grand clans are nothing more than just pawns to further themselves in the city, let alone some three lone Wanderers.

“Earlier, although the strength you showed was good, it was only to an extent that the other clans would try to woo you into their camps, but not to an extent that they had to have you at any cost. After they learn of what you did though… I am happy that you can achieve something so remarkable, but being in the limelight is not always a good thing. Especially in a place like the Lost City.”

“…Are things so serious?”

“…What is the most precious thing in the Lost City?”

“…Blood Coins?”

“…Try again.”

“…Trust?”

“…It is the legacy from the Age of Gods.”

“What does the legacy have to do with me?”

“Nothing. But you must know, what you have achieved is something that no one in the city has ever achieved. Forcing the city to reorganise its rules… You might not have gained the legacy of the city right now, but who can say anything about the future? Even if there is just a minute possibility of such an eventuality… they cannot afford to gamble with this opportunity.”

The more that Alnea listened to Tia, the more the uneasiness in his chest kept growing. Legacy from the Age of Gods… Why did it sound like after the Lotus clan, the entire Fifth Sector might be coming after him?

“…Don’t worry,” Yuri said, slipping her hand into his, while looking at him with a confident smile. “You are not alone.”

“…I still want to know what exactly did you do,” Cecilia mumbled, but showed no signs of worries, or panic. It was as if what Tia said about all the Wanderers of the city coming after them had nothing to do with her. “Did you find a way to earn even more Martial Style Medals?”

…She was not wrong.

“Poros’ skin! I knew I should not have listened to you. If only I went through the Trials after you, I might have earned even more tokens.”

…Was she still thinking about Martial Style Tokens? Just how fearless was she? Then again, why was he overthinking so much. He already had an entire Heterodoxy after him. So what if he gained a few mor enemies? It was not as if they could send True or Mystic Wanderers after him in the city. As long as they played within the rules, Alnea was not afraid of anyone. And if they dared to break the rules, it was not him they would have to deal with.

“…I understand. Can I have my Martial Style Medals now?”