The things I would give at that moment to take a picture of Artemis’s expression. The shock and slight frustration was unbelievable.

The four of them remained wide-mouthed for several moments, before snapping out of their shock and turning to face each other, finally, Suiko spoke up.

“How do you know that?” She asked quietly.

“I just talked to them,” I checked my Tenus, “an hour and a half ago.”

If they could be any more shocked, my day would have been exponentially better.

“What’d she say?!” Artemis moved closer to me.

“Nothing, just said I could stay with my ‘mother’ for the rest of the night, and then tomorrow I start as well whatever it is that I am doing for them.” I leaned back as she approached. Once more, the four of them turned to face each other, communicating silently.

“Well then, you have made our lives a lot easier.” Suiko smiled. “She’s already paying attention to you, otherwise there would be no reason to talk to you herself. So now all you have to do is use that curiosity and get closer to her. Do something that really makes you stand out, even more so than the tournament.”

“Ok but-,” before another question could even leave my mouth, three of them already had their feet out the window, ready to leave.

“So much for doors.” I muttered to myself, watching as three of them disappeared into the night, leaving only Artemis behind.

“I still need to have a word with you about your little meltdown earlier, but that can wait until later. You’ve made it this far, don’t screw us over.” She warned, before similarly throwing herself out the window.

I had to ask just what was the problem with leaving normally.

I grumbled angrily, throwing myself down onto my bed. Just what gave her the right to be mad at me? She was practically ready for me to die, and only brought me onto this stupid mission as a contingency plan.

If anything, I should be having a word with her. I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, dreaming and fantasizing about one day getting my pay-back. There was nothing that could make me happier.

⥁

The night came and went, and surprisingly I managed to wake myself up on time. After my morning routine was over, I quickly slipped into my new armour. To my surprise, it was relatively lightweight and comfortable, but my disdain towards suits of armour hadn’t lessened in any way.

I attached my sword to my back, which seemed to have some kind of magnet that held the sword in place, and finally placed the helmet on my head. From the outside the helmet had a small slit across the middle that seemed to be eyeholes, but when looking from the inside of the helmet, it was as if I was wearing nothing at all.

It was fully transparent. I laughed and played around with the ensemble for a few minutes before leaving. I threw the briefcase, pill pouches, and Weaver into my ring before leaving and telling the innkeeper that my mother would pay for the nights we stayed. While walking the streets, the gazes I received from people were greatly mixed.

Some looked at me with respect and awe, while others seemed disgusted and even offended. I paid no attention to anyone, simply trying to calm my nerves. Though the armour and weapon were clear signs that my job would be physical, I didn’t know the actual details just yet.

It didn’t take me long to find the main castle of the Ukorin, as the seemingly impenetrable fortress stood on the edge of the city, with security measures that wouldn’t even allow an ant to walk by. I made my way to the front gate, and quickly explained who I was.

“Hello. I’m Jai Boone, the winner of the tournament. I was told to report here by the break of dawn.” I explained briefly, handing over my ID.

The guards stared at my ID for a moment, then at me, then finally moved aside and motioned for me to enter. I nodded my head, took back my ID, and walked through the gates.

The scene from the interior wasn’t all that grand nor impressive. It was a fairly normal castle, though it had humongous rooms, corridors, and training areas, I saw nothing too insane. A few minutes of casual strolling passed by when a man finally approached me.

“Are you Jai Boone?” The man asked. I looked at him for a moment, his appearance was rather interesting. He wore regular clothes as opposed to a knights armour, which already raised questions about his identity. But his grey hair and wrinkled face had me wondering if he was in the right place himself.

“I am.” I responded confidently.

“You’re late, let’s go.” He turned around and motioned for me to follow.

I stood dumbfounded for a moment before jogging after him. We walked in silence for a good amount of time, walking circles around the entire castle. Finally, we stopped in the main hall of the castle, which coincidentally was also the throne room.

He guided me to a side table and we both took a seat.

“What did you see on the walks?” The man asked as soon as we sat down. “A castle?” I said, unsure. This was clearly a question to gauge some characteristic of mine, but I wasn’t exactly paying attention, nor did I pick up on the fact that I was supposed to.

“Hm.” He nodded his head and paused to think. “For your age, your power is severely lacking, and in all honesty you’d barely be able to become a regular patrolman for us. But your battle prowess and ability isn't terrible, and you did also win the tournament, so here’s what I’m going to do instead. You’ll be assigned to a legion, with which you will train for some time. Maybe a week or two, and then you’ll be sent on a solo mission.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

If you succeed, I’ll get you an audience with the Baron, who will decide your official rank. If you fail, then you’ll be demoted to a regular patrolman for the rest of your days, with no opportunity to rank up. Is that understood?”

He explained. “Yes!” I replied instantly, not even taking a moment to think. If this mission ended within a week or two, then that gave me more than enough time to resume my own training before the exams. Maybe even enough time to break into the second major stage.

“Good.” He pulled a silver tag out of his spatial ring and tossed it to me. “Legion thirteen, their lodgings are in the far east wing. Show this plaque to the Legion Commander, Vincent Sun. He’ll get you sorted out.”

I took the tag and quickly made my way to the east end of the castle. Upon arrival, I was a tad bit disappointed. Clearly the standards of the thirteenth were not the same as the rest of the castles, as the place was absolutely filthy.

Dust, cobwebs, trash, everything that would ruin the image of a castle could be found by simply taking a look around. I found a large door with a plaque that read ‘thirteenth’ over it and knocked on the door.

“Come in!” A high-pitched voice came from the opposite side of the door.

God, I wish I didn’t. I wish I simply waited for a few more minutes before walking through that door.

As soon as my eyes were violated by the scene on the opposite side of the door, the contents of my stomach all jumped out of my throat and onto the ground. I nearly keeled over from how quickly everything came out.

Two men and a woman all rushed to get dressed as I vomited, and the two men quickly ran out of the room. It took me several minutes to recover from what I’d seen, and another few for my throat to stop burning.

And to make matters weirder, the woman was looking at me like it was my fault, like I was interrupting something important.

“I’m looking for Vincent Sun.” I handed over the silver tag, wiping the puke from the corners of my mouth. She examined the tag and handed it back to me, her expression still sour.

“Vincent! We got another one!” She yelled, and within seconds, a tall man wearing nothing but a towel over his waist ran out from another room.

Everyone here were animals, every single one.

“Ah fresh meat huh, you that Boone kid that won the tournament? I watched your final fight, you’re not that terrible.” He laughed, the towel almost falling countless times.

“You think we could have this conversation, after you get fully dressed.” I asked, my hands already creeping to my eyes in case of an emergency.

“Oh,” he looked down, “yeah sure, you wait here for a second.” He ran off, the woman following behind him in a slow stride.

After the pair had left, I took a moment to look around. Beds and nightstands stretched across the hall, with two doors on opposite walls at the end. One I assumed was a bathroom, and the other was Vincent’s room.

I took a seat on a non-sticky bed, and the now fully dressed Vincent arrived once more.

“So, you drew the short straw and ended up here huh. Yeah, that old bastard Albert is a mean one. But don’t worry, it’s not that terrible down here. I’m guessing this is just temporary before they send you on a solo mission to prove yourself?” He asked. I nodded.

“Yeah they always say that. Come with me.” He guided me out the room, and he told me of his most recent ‘conquests’ as he liked to call them.

I stopped paying attention after the first one, my mind still stuck on his words. Clearly he’d been told the same words as me, but was stuck in the worst possible place to be. But there’s no way I’d receive the same treatment?

I mean, there’s no way the prize for going through all of that was becoming a nymphomaniac and a regular guard. Surely not.

We walked out the back of the castle and up over a stretch of small hills. About fifteen people were gathered in a circle at the top of the hills, each one drunk out of their minds. They all cheered as they saw me and Vincent approach, and called out to him to join them. He agreed without hesitation and pulled me along.

“Everyone, this is your newest brother, Jai Boone.” He introduced me.

“Brother?” I asked quickly into his ear.

“Yeah brother! We’re all a family here, now loosen up a bit and get drunk. We can get into the real stuff tomorrow.”

“I don’t really think that’s a good idea.” I began to stammer, but he’d already taken a seat and seconds later someone shoved a wooden mug into my hands.

I turned to see it was the woman from earlier, now standing next to me. Being called brother felt strange. I didn’t hate it, but considering we would only get to know each other for a week or two tops, our level of intimacy wasn’t going to see that drastic of a change.

“You’re thinking about Vincent calling us a family and how you’ll never get that close to us, huh?” The woman stated rather than questioned, leaving me wondering if she could read my mind.

I thought about speaking, but chose to just nod my head. There was no shame in telling the truth.

“You’re a bit stupid and weak, but you’re not a bad person. So lighten up a bit, and you’ll realize this place really isn’t all that bad.” She bumped my arm with hers and took a seat next to the others. I remained standing hesitantly.

To be honest I already knew I was heavily flawed, and that flaw was getting overly attached to people too quickly. But obviously that was only to people who treated me kindly, but it was still a problem. It happened with Goblin, with Suiko, with the woman from the illusion. Then two out of three of those nearly broke me once they were gone.

There was no way I could allow myself to get too close to anyone, ever again.

‘I have to-’ In the middle of my thoughts, a hand grabbed my shin and yanked me off my feet, pulling me into the circle.

Before I could even shout in anger, everyone’s mugs smacked against mine in a cheers’ before downing the contents in less than a few seconds.

I watched on in horror as one by one, each and every single one of them was knocked out by the sheer amount of alcohol entering their bodies. Within the next few minutes, I was the only one left awake, not even having touched my drink.

I placed my drink down beside me and stood up. It took me some time, but I managed to cuddle all of them up together, fairly close to the fire. Grabbing the mugs, I took one last glance back before walking back over to the lodgings.

The mugs I left outside the door, and I ended my very short and eventful day, leaping onto a random bed, not even taking my armour off.

“They’re definitely not terrible” I muttered out loud. Maybe I’d be proven wrong during my time here.

⥁

“You guys are horrible!” I shouted, huffing and panting. My eyes moved around frantically, trying to keep track of the fifteen people inching forward towards me.

“This is for your own good, Jai. Just let it happen!” Vincent came forward, a smile stretched out over his face.

“Over my dead body! I’m not letting you-” I was once more interrupted as a man triple my size lunged forward and pinned me down.

“Wait! Wait! No!” I screamed out in horror.

I take back any nice things I said about this place, it was utterly horrific.