The night sky was twinkling with stars and the moon was shining brightly. Under the night sky, in a quiet part of the market, two people were eating while sitting down on a table in front of a small food stall when one of them noticed a banner hanging high above .
"Hey! Look at that!" Sasa pointed towards the banner.
"Hmm…" Hemon finished gulping down the last piece of a delicious fish fry from his plate before looking up to where Sasa was pointing.
Both of them had one arm in a sling, faces swollen, bandaged lips and on nose. It seemed the two of them were in a war which accurately showed what they had gone through.
"Not that far too from here" Sasa added after finishing her plate of fish fry. She looked at him and asked, "Want to check it out?"
Hemon stared at her for a few moments before sighing a little. He licked his fingers one last time then extended his working arm and said "Help me please".
Sasa smiled and helped him to get up on his feet with a grunt herself. He took out 200 Rias from his purse and paid the young man manning the counter of the stall. Beside the young man, an old man was sitting on a stool in front of the pan and frying a few more delicious pieces of fish and chicken.
"Uncle, I loved your fish fry. I had never seen them in a diamond shape and it was full of fish and less batter, just the way I love them." Hemon complimented the old man. One thing about Hemon, he loved himself a good piece of fish fry now and then. The old man looked up at him and smiled when he heard and replied "Next time try the chicken cutlets, son. I even fry them with a batter made from eggs. You'll love them too".
"Oh! That brings water to my mouth. You sure they are as delicious as you are making it to be?" Hemon asked to which the old man replied smiling "Son, I have been in this business since I was as young as my son here and my wife still loves my chicken cutlets. So there’s two reasons right there."
"If aunty loves them then I will definitely try it next time" Hemon replied before walking away from the stall with Sasa.
He put his good arm around Sasa's shoulder for support and both slowly limped towards another part of the market while supporting each other.
When they reached Madam Weiser's, a sign directed them towards the back of the bar. They found only an employee sweeping the floor in front of a door and no line in front of it.
"Hey! Is the event still open?" Sasa asked the employee.
The employee turned his attention towards them. He measured them up and down then replied, "Wait a moment".
He went inside the bar through the door. They didn't have to wait for long as the employee opened the door from the inside and signaled for them to enter. Upon entering, they saw an open door beside a staircase. Through the door they could see people packed within the bar, waitresses carrying trays of mugs to customers. People were enjoying their beer while listening to music performed by musicians. An employee beckoned them to follow him up the stairs.
They slowly walked up the wooden stairs to the second floor trailing the employee. Upon reaching the second floor, they saw the entire floor had been cleared save for one table. The entire floor only had three people on it. The bar was lit properly with wall mounted torches and they had no problem recognizing the person in front of them. Both of their breaths got caught as they saw the new champion, sitting on the table. The table was set in such a way that the champion was facing the guests walking the stairs with the overview from the balcony behind him. There was a big gold championship belt kept on the table for people to see and recognize him.
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The champion was looking from the balcony holding a half filled mug of beer. Two more people were standing at either side of him and by the look of their uniform, they were employees of the bar. The Champion, Jann, didn't pay attention when they walked up to his table. The bar employee on the right went and whispered something to his ears before he looked forward and saw them standing in front of him.
Jann gazed at both of their faces when his smile got bigger.
“You both look like you had fun before coming here.” He commented on their appearance.
Sasa was the first to reply.
“Had a tournament in the evening, Sir.”
Oh I can see that. From which families do you both belong to?” Jann asked them.
“We’re orphans, Sir. Just came from participating in an orphan tournament back at the Sedow Ground” Sasa replied.
“Oh nice! I used to go there and participate too when I was an orphan back in the day. Have great memories from that time. I had my first tournament win there as well. It’s a great place for you to get noticed by the families”. The champion happily continued on.
“So what places did both of you get?” He asked and he looked very interested to hear about the result of the tournament.
“It was a two part thing, a battle royal followed by the actual tournament. My friend here won both the damn thing, an outright winner” She pointed towards Hemon who was standing flabbergasted.
Jann gazed towards him and raised his cup “Hey Congrats! A two event win while being an orphan is a great achievement. I hope you understand very few are able to achieve those”.
“Yeah… he beat an in-form orphan who had won three consecutive tournaments before coming in the tournament and beat me in the finals with one hand… choked me with his injured arm. Honestly it was terrifying facing him”. Sasa gave a summary to drum up Hemon’s achievement to the current reigning champion.
Jann clapped with a smile on his face then asked, “What’s your name, son?”
Sasa elbowed Hemon to bring him back from his stupefied state. Sasa leaned to his side and whispered in his ears “He’s asking your name, idiot”.
Upon realising he had to introduce himself to the champion, he cleared his throat before replying, “It’s He-Hemon, Sir”, he stuttered a little.
Jann then turned his gaze towards Sasa who promptly introduced herself without hesitation. They spent around five minutes listening to old stories of Jann’s orphan days. He told them how he won his first orphan tournament and how he received a recruitment call from the ‘O’ family.
“When the offer came in front of me, I only thought of one thing. Will my and their fighting philosophy mesh well and the answer I received was yes. They were a perfect fit for me and that’s why I chose them.
So remember, when any offer comes, only think if your and their philosophy matches or not. If not then you’ll have a tremendous mountain to climb to overcome that. I have known many young fighters who at first got enticed by the big signing bonus the families provide and then lost their discipline, form, mental structure until they disappeared from the combat sport altogether.
Make sure to think long and hard before joining any family. Alright?”
His gaze intensified when he asked them. Both of them could only stand nodding their heads under the pressure of his gaze.
Jann chucked and finished his mug in a one big gulp. He then put his mug down and asked them, “Now, do you guys have something I can sign on?”
Hemon realised they didn’t think about bringing something for them to get signed by the current champion. Cursing him internally, he searched his pockets. He didn’t find anything save for the certificate authenticating his victory of the tournament. He fished out the certificate from his front pocket and tentatively put it on the table for Jann to sign.
Jann laughed after taking a look at the unfolded sheet of paper put in front of him by Hemon. He dipped the feather in the inkpot and signed on the back of the certificate where there was free space and not anything important written on it. Sasa followed Hemon’s example and brought out her own runner’s up certificate and put it in front of Jann who happily signed it. In the meantime, an employee brought another mug of beer for Jann. Both Hemon and Sasa thanked Jann for talking to them and let the employee escort Hemon and Sasa back to the first floor where it was lively and filled with people.
They found a spot open in the back end of the bar and sat down to have some drinks and food. Late at night after a grueling tournament, everything hurts and the best thing they can do is have some cold beer to minimise the pain. Hemon ordered the regular beer while Sasa ordered the sweet light beer.
When their mugs arrived, Sasa raised her mug “To your victory. May you keep beating that bitch every time you meet”.
Hemon snorted and replied while raising his own mug, “To you, may you win the next tournament”.
Both of them laughed and downed their mugs in one shot. They ordered a few more after that along with a few plates of chicken nuggets.