“If you have had your reunion, then can we discuss how to deal with her?” Yuri said, glancing at the purple robed girl standing next to the counter of the Law Enforcement team. “The sooner we can get this over with, the sooner we can be on our way.”

  “…How long have I been out for?”

  “About an hour, give or take,” Ralph said.

  “An hour… We still have some time before the Final Trial then.”

  “That is why we need to deal with this farce as soon as possible.”

  “Why do we have to deal with her?” Alnea said, following Yuri’s gaze to glance at the purple robed girl. “Since she has broken the rules of the city, let the city deal with her.”

  “I thought you were going to let her go.”

  “I am not so naive.”

  “Says the man who was stabbed by a girl he was hugging.”

  “I was not hugging her.”

  “Are you sure? From where the rest of us were looking—

  “Anyways, since she has chosen to be our enemy, there is no need to show mercy.”

  “…She has always been our enemy,” Yuri said, just as Vestia picked up the conversation where he had left it off.

  “We want to hand her over to the city too,” Vestia said. “Why else do you think we have brought her to the Law Enforcement team?”

  “Is the city refusing to acknowledge her attack?”

  “It is not that the city is refusing to acknowledge her attack, but that they cannot come to an agreement as to how to treat her attack.”

  “…What does that mean?”

  “They are considering if she intended to take your life or if it was just a momentary act of passion. At the same time, they are also wondering how she was able to hurt you in the first place.”

  “…And what about the Wanderers of the Lotus clan and their allies? What are they doing here?”

  “They insist that we are just making up false charges. That just an Initial Stage False Wanderer cannot hurt you—

  “Just tell me what they want.”

  “…They want us to return the dagger to them, or at least, hand it over to the Law Enforcement team.”

  “Do they think that we are fools?” Norren said with a snort. “They clearly want to use the dagger against you in the Trials.”

  “Not necessarily,” Alnea said. “Who has the dagger now?”

  “I put it away when those Wanderers came demanding that we return it to them,” Vestia said. “Why? Do you want to see it?”

  “…I want to confirm my guess.”

  “Here,” Vestia said, taking the dagger out of her pouch, and handing it over to him. “Just be careful. Its edge might have acquired some of the properties of Decay. Try not to let it cut you.”

  “I will,” Alnea said, as he observed the dagger in his hands. A rather crude dagger, with a bone like handle, and a rough greyish blade that was roughly a quarter of a way larger than his palms. In total, the dagger seemed to be a little larger than a foot, and had a very rough image. Its blade was jagged, its handle was uncomfortable, and most strange of all, it seemed to have greyish worms crawling under its surface.

  “Mysteries of Decay, is it?” Alnea mumbled to himself, before turning towards Yuri. “What do you think?”

  “…I will have to examine it in detail to be sure, but that will take some time.”

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  “Yet time is one thing that we do not have,” Alnea mumbled. “Do you think that it is possible to mass produce daggers like this?”

  “…Creating it in large numbers might be a stretch—

  “But it should not be a problem to create a batch of them.”

  “That is the most logical conclusion.”

  “Since they already have a bunch of similar Oren Weapons, why do you think the Lotus clan wants the dagger back?” Alnea said, glancing at his teammates.

  “The more this kind of Oren Weapons they have, the greater their advantage will be in the Final Trial,” Karl said after a moment of thought, with the rest following with their own guesses.

  “Or they could be just trying to fool us. They want us to think that they do not have any more such weapons.”

  “Have any of you thought that they might really not have more of such weapons?”

  “…You are too optimistic for your own good, Ralph.”

  “…Though he does have a point.”

  “If they really did not have similar weapons, they would not have sent the dagger away to be sacrificed.”

  “It might not be sacrificed. If we return the dagger to the city, it might flow back into their hands.”

  “The council?”

  “That, or maybe the Law Enforcement team has their acquaintance.”

  “…No wonder the Law Enforcement team has been so lax about an incident that happened right in front of them. Maybe they had known about the attack before it even happened.”

  “In any case, we must not hand the dagger over to the city.”

  “But if we do not hand it over to them, they would not let us go.”

  “So, what are we supposed to do?” Aren said, prompting everyone to turn towards their Captain, only to find him nodding at them with a smile.

  “Good deductive reasoning,” Alnea said. “There is just one point you missed.”

  “What is it?”

  “We are not the only ones in the world who can make multiple plans, and adapt according to the situation.”

  “…What do you mean?”

  Instead of answering his teammates directly, Alnea walked towards the counter of the Law Enforcement team, where a bunch of his enemies were gathered together, arguing something with the Wanderer in charge of the counter. They had kept their voices low though, so he could not hear what they were arguing about. Unless he entered his Spirit State. But doing so in front of a True Wanderer would be akin directly admitting to them that he was spying on them…

  Noticing his movements, the Wanderers of the Lotus clan turned their attention to him, making all kinds of snarky remarks and jeers, trying to belittle him, and quite possibly, provoke a reaction out of him. Unfortunately for the uncouth Wanderers of the Lotus clan and their allies, none of their tricks worked on him.

  “My apologies for disturbing you, Wanderer,” Alnea said to the red Wanderer behind the counter, greeting him with a slight bow, who returned his greeting with a terse nod.

  “I see that you are finally awake,” the Wanderer said. “Are you alright? Is there any discomfort, or sequela from your injury?”

  “I am perfectly fine now. Thank you for your concern, Wanderer, and for ensuring my safety while I was unconscious.”

  “There is no need to be polite. Maintaining the order of the Lost City is my duty.”

  “And we are always grateful for your service,” Alnea said, and paused for a moment, before continuing once again. “About what happened earlier…”

  “I saw it,” the Wanderer said, nodding solemnly, glancing at the purple robed girl, standing quietly to their side. “An attack within the walls of the Blood Hall is unprecedented. Such blatant disregard of the city’s rules…”

  “Pardon my rudeness then, Wanderer. But if you know everything about what happened, then why have you not dealt with the issue already?”

  “…Things are a little more complicated than you know,” the Wanderer said, glancing at the Wanderers of the Lotus clan’s alliance, before turning back to him. “The girl who attacked you is two entire Stages lower than you. Then there is also the issue of the defences of your robe. The city has records about your battles, and we have also tested your defences. Proving that a Wanderer so much weaker than you could breach your defences without your permission would be a little difficult.”

  “In other words, as long as I can prove that the girl had the means to breach my defences, then there should be no problem in dealing with her according to the rules of the city.”

  “…That is one way to put it.”

  “This is the dagger that she used to stab me,” Alnea said, handing the dagger in his hand to the red robed Wanderer. “This should be enough to prove her crimes, and mete out her just punishment.”

  “…Are you sure?” the Law Enforcement Officer said. “Once you submit this dagger as evidence to the city, you will not be getting it back.”

  “It does not matter. I am not short of such a dagger anyway,” Alnea said, patting the Golden Yearning tied to his waist, and grabbing the handle of his sword. “Just a dagger, no matter how weird its Glyph Arrays are, is not enough to stop us.”

  “…As you wish,” the red robed Wanderer said, nodding solemnly to express his understanding, before glancing towards the purple robed girl. “Can you ask your teammates to untie her now?”

  “Yuri,” Alnea said, glancing towards his back. Or was about to. But Yuri was one step faster than him, withdrawing her Foggy Ropes from Amira before he could turn his head. As for Amira herself, though she had regained her freedom, she did not act rashly. She just stood still, with her head down, lost in her own thoughts.

  “We will leave her up to you then,” Alnea said, bowing to the Wanderer, before turning around, and leaving with his teammates.