Chapter 78

“Morning.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, I meant it as a greeting,” I said as I took a seat on the table. “Forget about it, your reply should be sufficient anyway.”

“What kind of greeting is that?” Sunshine asked, spoon halfway to her mouth.

I thought about what to say for a moment. Was it that they didn’t have such kind of greeting in Mesily? Or that Sunshine didn’t know about it? Thinking too much about it was starting to cause me a headache, so I decided to just tell her what I knew. “It’s short for good morning, like, how are you this morning?”

“You could have just said that,” she said.

“I was feeling lazy.”

There was a stretch of silence as she went back to her meal, interrupted only when the waiter brought my usual breakfast. I thanked her and earnestly dug in; I had taken a light supper the day before, so I needed to compensate for that.

…

“Why did you slam me so hard that last time?” she asked. “You had already won, you didn’t need to use so much force.”

“I hadn’t won yet. We had roughly the same [Health]. Besides, I didn’t think I could take you out if I held back even a little, not after how you had been walking off my attacks throughout the fight. Why are you even complaining, I broke both my arms in that attack.”

“When are you leaving for Makndre?” she asked.

“You’re changing the subject just like that?”

“I’ve nothing else to say on that topic. So, when are you leaving? Can we go together?”

“Tomorrow, early in the morning. We would have left today, but I’m not sure when the ceremony will end; or at least when we would be allowed to leave. On us travelling together, that depends on what Xan says.”

“You’re going with him…”

“Yeah, but we haven’t ironed out the details yet, so things could change.” Not that I thought that to be a likely possibility. Even if he asked for fare, I was sure to have enough gold to cover for that. As long as he was reasonable.

“When were you going to iron out the details?”

“I was planning to go visit him after I was done with breakfast…”

“Fine, I’m coming with.”

“Eehh!” I wanted to tell him alone. If we went together, it felt like I would be pressuring him to agree. I tried to think of a way to argue my point without coming off as me refusing already, but I came up with nothing. I shrugged, admitting my defeat. “Fine.”

“What!?” I asked after I found her staring at me intently.

Her answer was to look at my plate and back at my eyes, several times.

“I’m not going to rush my meal for your sake,” I declared.

In the end, I did end up eating faster than I normally did, grumbling through it all.

…

“Huh, I thought we would meet after the ceremony,” Xan said as he let through us the door, closing it after us.

“I wanted—”

Sunshine spoke over me, going straight to what brought her, “Can I come with you guys? To Makndre, that is.”

“Right, your problems first. It’s not like I had anything important to say,” I grumbled to myself, and I was sure neither of them heard me.

They got all animated talking about the trip, and I tuned them out, falling down on the coach to rest before we were needed to be in the arena for the closing ceremony. We had already planned the trip, so all they were doing was adjust a little to accommodate Sunshine. In that department, there was nothing I could offer. In fact, they were already ironing out the details I had come to talk about. Win-win for me.

It took them minutes before Xan remember I was in the room. “What did you wanted to talk about?” he asked.

“Nothing really,” I said, shaking my head. “You’ve already talked about it with Sunshine. But as long as I have your attention, what does it take to start a kingdom?”

“What?” they both asked.

“I’ve been thinking; I’m doing well in The Grand Competition but that isn’t guaranteed to be the case in the future—”

“And you thought of starting your own kingdom?”

“There was talk of the Lawless Lands, and how some children of rulers go out and carve their own kingdoms in some of the unclaimed lands. I thought anyone could do it, so…”

They just stared at me dumbfoundedly, like I had grown an extra head or something. Truth be told, I was still not interested in ruling people, in any capacity.

I had already been in the Grand Competition for two months. In all that time, I spend most of it either fighting or training for the next fight. And the gold I earned was used to cover up for the mistakes I made, or make myself better for the next fight. If it stayed that way, by the end of the year, I would have little to show for my efforts.

There was no adventuring guild to join, or monsters to hunt down for that matter. From what little I had gathered, things like the not-caterpillar I met when I arrived in Mesily were nothing more than wild animals.

I didn’t have a crazy bright idea that would earn me loads of gold if I found the right people to implement it.

Maybe I was being lazy. If I tried to think about the things in old earth that weren’t in Mesily, maybe I could come up with an idea that would actually sell. I decided to shelf my kingdom building project, and do a thorough comb through of what was different between the two realms. After all, a business idea would be much simpler than the kingdom business.

“Forget about it, it was a stupid thought,” I finally said.

It surprised me when they visibly relaxed after I said that. Was starting a kingdom a bad thing? Or had I been about to commit treason? Before I could ask about it, Sunshine piped up, saying it was time for us to head to the Jibane Arena if we didn’t want to be late for the ceremony. We left Xan’s hotel room soon after.

…

Just like the Baronies, we the competitors were seated in the arena itself, right in front of a podium that had more than a dozen people. I couldn’t tell who was who there, but I was sure that the nobles of the city, maybe the county as a whole, were there. And like in the Baronies closing ceremony, I managed to seat myself between the group of Artina and her friends.

“Do they ever call those who have qualified up on the podium?” I asked Artina to my left. Back on old earth, the top finishers were always called in front for all to see them. Here, it was more like a graduation ceremony where everyone went to the podium to get there share. No emphasis on those proceeding to the next stage. In fact, they gave the gold numerically, following the numbers issued when we arrived at the Competitors’ Inn.

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“No.”

“Not even in the upper stages of the competition?”

“Not that I know of,” she said, then turned to look at me. “What? Do you want to go up there and have everyone adore you?”

“No!” I exclaimed. A few competitors in the neighboring seats turned to look at us, and I squirmed in my seat, slouching down. After they returned to staring ahead, I added, this time in a lower voice, “It’s just something I thought they might do.”

“By the way, thanks for avenging us,” Artina said as she pointedly looked to her left, to where the Sjuma finalist sat, who was busy pretending that she had all her attention to the podium. But I could tell with the way her eye quirked with what Artina was saying that she paid us more attention.

A tiny part of me welled up in pride at the gratitude, but I quickly squashed it down, took a war-hammer to it to make sure it stayed down. What kind of reaction was that? I had known that a few things about me were different than the old me, but perking up just because of a little thanks was a little too much. “I did it for the gold. Only for the gold.”

Artina just shook her head, smiling, and returned her attention back to the podium. I began paying attention myself too. It wouldn’t do to miss it if they tried to annul my win, or even claim, for some reason, that I didn’t qualify for the Duchies.

Highly improbable, but I was anxious. I didn’t think I could find it in me to rest until it was confirmed that I had qualified. Absurd, right? I was a finalist, Mesily, I had won the finals themselves. There shouldn’t be any doubt as to my qualification, and yet…

Soon, the MC began listing off those who had qualified for the Duchies. At first, I was relieved to hear my name, then surprised when all four of us who had made it to the semifinals were named as qualifiers. They had been right all along, I chided myself, there had been no reason for me to go through that grueling finals.

The gold, you idiot, you did it for the gold, I quickly reminded myself. I was starting to sound like a record stuck, always repeating the same phrase over and over again. Was it that my conviction was wavering? No, I didn’t think so. What about the whole starting your own kingdom business? I quickly suppressed that thought and paid the MC more attention, as if what he was talking about then was the most important thing in the world.

The rest of the ceremony went by slowly, too slowly if I were being honest. I wanted to be anywhere else but in the arena for the ceremony, but I knew, deep down, that the spectators wanted to see us. They had paid their hard earned gold, or was it silver? Copper? Anyway, whatever it was, they had paid it to see us, and it was that gold that we ended up getting.

For the gold, I could endure it.

…

The first thing I noticed when the carriage was opened was how empty it was. From what I recalled, it had been filled with Xan’s clothes, if he had been truthful about what was in the cases, the last time I rode in it. Now, it was only empty seats waiting for us. I remembered the time we had visited the wood workshop and Xan had become enamored with a couch seat. Looking at the seats now, it was hard to tell whether he had actually gone ahead and purchased a new one or not. The cases had covered up everything, and I think I remembered sitting on a case. No, that can’t be right?

“What happened to all your cases?” I asked as I took a seat at the end of the back seat, facing forward.

Xan took his time to answer. First allowing Sunshine to climb before him, then he settled in the front seat, facing me, and Sunshine who had sat next to me. “We had company. I decided to create room for her.”

This wasn’t just creating room for Sunshine, he had cleared everything. I was of a mind that he had actually cleared up the carriage long before Sunshine expressed her interest to travel with us. That had to be the real reason, but still, I had to be sure.

“You did all this for Sunshine?” I asked him.

He didn’t even hesitate, answering almost immediately, “Yeah, a fine lady like her should travel in comfort.”

I turned to look at the lady in question, and she was smiling like a loon. For a moment I was stuck there, remembering the elongated canines I had seen on her during the finals. They were nowhere to found now, her teeth pearl white, and normal sized. Or at least, they looked like those of any other person I had seen in Mesily. Had it all been in my head? Me, so scared I imagined her with extra tools to kill me?

I shook my head to get that memory out of my mind, returning to Xan. “So it’s okay for me to be squeezed in with your clothes, but a crime for Sunshine?”

“You know, I don’t remember you complaining much during that trip. In fact, you seemed to enjoy yourself. So relaxed that you fell asleep almost immediately.”

“What!? I …” I trailed off as I tried to remember how the trip from Sjuma to Choska had been like. I couldn’t remember much of it. Had I actually slept through much of it? That was really embarrassing if true, I had no reason to complain at all.

“Where are the cases then?” I asked instead.

“I send them ahead.”

“You’ve already booked a hotel?”

“No, I send them home,” he quickly corrected.

“You mean…” I trailed off as the enormity what he just said registered. “Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself a little? The Duchies haven’t even begun yet.”

“Not at all, I’m sure you’ll see us through,” he said, waving me off as if the Duchies were nothing.

“Okay, you’ve completely lost me,” Sunshine spoke for the first time since climbing into the carriage. “I had a vague idea of what you talking about with the cases, but now I’m completely lost.”

“It’s nothing,” Xan said, waving off another statement.

“It’s not nothing. We had, have, a somewhat non-bidding agreement for me take him all the way home,” I quickly intercepted.

“Through qualifying in The Grand Competition?” she asked hesitatingly. And I just nodded in response. “And home is?”

“Thylom.”

Her eyes bulged a little, getting even bigger than they already were. She turned to stare at Xan for a moment, before returning her attention to me. “But that’s the Grand Duchy,” she said, in a near whisper.

“Yap.”

“You would have to qualify for the Kingdoms,” she said, still in that near-whisper voice, as if she was afraid of being reprimanded for speaking out loud. It brought back memories from old earth, when I was still a student. “No wonder you were so determined to win during our fight.”

“What are you talking about? For a moment, he ran away from you,” Xan quickly interjected. “You should have finished him there and then.”

“I was too shocked to actually do anything,” Sunshine said, returning back to her normal voice.

“Why? I was trying to create distance between us to rethink about my strategy,” I tried to argue, but the looks they threw was enough for me to know there was no point to it. They already knew the truth.

“Anyone smart enough would know why you ran away.” I didn’t understand why Xan felt the need to say that out loud, their eyes had said enough.

“Can we drop the subject already?”

“You need to accept it. The higher up you go, the more that incident will be talked about, that is, unless you do something else more crazy than that,” Xan said.

“I don’t think there is anything that can be crazier than running away in the middle of a fight. Forfeiting would have been better.”

“Shouldn’t you be embarrassed? I eventually won the fight, even after all that,” I said.

“I don’t care,” she said, shooting me that signature adorable smile of hers, as if nothing really mattered to her.

For me, it mattered a lot. If it had been me in her place, I didn’t think I would have been able to walk outside, let other people see me. I was already embarrassed for having ran away in the fight, the only saving grace being that I ended up winning the fight. I couldn’t understand how she could be okay with that.

I stared at her for a moment in contemplation, before tearing my gaze away from her, focusing my gaze on the side of the carriage, studying the floral cushioning that had been installed into the sides. Why didn’t the carriage have windows? I could watch the scenery outside on our way to Makndre. It would be a nice distraction from what was happening inside the carriage. A welcome one at that. Then I realized that we had yet to begin our journey.

I turned to Xan, asking, “Why are still here? Are we waiting for something? Someone?”

Xan had the audacity to look surprised. “Oh, I forgot,” he said as he thumbed the front of the carriage twice. And just like that, we were off for Makndre, and the Duchies.

[+][+][+]

[Species: Human]

[Name: Hartie]

[Sex: Male]

[Level: 40]

Status:

[HP: 5621/5711]

[MP: 7113/7199]

[SP: 9052/9117]

Attributes:

[Agility: 45]

[Constitution: 40]

[Endurance: 47]

[Intelligence: 40]

[Strength: 34]

[Vitality: 34]

[Wisdom: 40]

General Skills [4/4]:

[Health Regeneration: 6]

[Identify: 1]

[Language Proficiency: 4]

[Mana Manipulation: 20]

Primary Skills:

[Daggers: 8]

[Enhanced Hand: 17]

[Earth Grab: 17]

[Fast Dash: 20]

[Fire Ball: 20]

[Hurtling Projectile: 20]

[Staff Strike: 19]

[Staffs: 20]

[Unarmed Combat: 19]

[Wind Gust: 13]

Other Skills:

[Acrobatics: 15]

[Archery: 3]

[Bludgeons: 3]

[Carpentry: 3]

[Chains: 5]

[Enhance Plant Growth: 3]

[Fire Bolt: 10]

[Herbalism: 6]

[Mana Attenuation: 13]

[Mana Projectile: 12]

[Mana Shield: 15]

[Mana Slash: 13]

[Shield: 2]

[Spears: 3]

[Stealth: 2]

[Staff Making: 6]

[Staff Shield: 8]

[Water Ball: 9]

[Water Punch: 12]

[Weeding: 8]

[Whirlpool: 7]