Alnea had long since stopped keeping scores against Yuri in their little games. There was no meaning in keeping count of their wins and losses if that was how they were going to behave all the time. Not that he was complaining. On the contrary, he liked the way his relationship was with Yuri. She was the one who understood him the most—except for his master, of course— and was also there for him whenever he needed her. If only she could also let him win a few times…

  Maybe, he had stopped keeping scores because it had become too humiliating. Who could tell? It was all in the past anyway. Rather than focussing on the past, it was better to focus on the present. They had been wandering around the city with no goal in their mind, so they had not taken notice of where they had been going. As such, it took them a little over a couple of hours to just find their way to the Arena, while finishing their battles took them another half an hour.

  Walking out of the Arena, Alnea glanced at Orn rising into the sky, and said, “Second hour of Orn’s ascent? No wonder I am beginning to feel my stomach beginning to grumble. Shall we head to the Blood Hall?”

  “It is not like we have anything else to do,” Vestia said, shrugging her shoulders. “Besides, what is a celebration without a feast?”

  “The food of the canteen is not exactly what you would expect in a feast…”

  “But it is all that we have.”

  “…That’s true.”

  And so, after feeding Forne, they decided to head to the Blood Hall to feed themselves. As they entered the Blood Hall though, Alnea recalled what Cecilia had said about food of the canteen not exactly being worthy of feasts. So, after asking the girls to head to the canteen, he secretly went to the counter of Blood Coin Exchange and Redemption to buy some sweets worth a thousand blood coins, before heading into the canteen to give the girls the feast that they wanted.

  “…That’s thousand blood coins!”

  “…It’s not like we could take them with us when leaving the city. And even if we could, we would have nowhere to use them at. When the time comes, we will have to spend all our blood coins anyway. I just spent a few of them a little earlier than you.”

  “…Why do you sound so reasonable?”

  “Because I am,” Alnea said with a grin, only for his smile to stiffen the moment he saw Yuri’s grin.

  “Are you?” Yuri said. “It is true that we will have to use our blood coins before leaving the city, but that does not mean that we can just throw them away. The best use for our blood coins would be to exchange them for resources to aid in our trainings. Just like the Martial Style collection you have been eyeing. If I remember correctly, you are still some distance away from collecting enough blood coins to buy all the Martial Styles you want, right? Not to mention your newfound interests in the collection of Glyphs and Arcanas…”

  “…A thousand blood coin should not affect me much…”

  “A thousand blood coins is roughly equivalent to a hundred False Oren Stones, or a True Oren Stone. Do you know how much resources you can buy with so many Oren Stones?”

  “…I will be more mindful next time…”

  “Of course, since you spent your blood coins for our celebration, it can be excused.”

  “Start with that if you are going to excuse me!”

  “But you should not so wasteful next time.”

  “…I know. Can we start eating already? I am starving,” Alnea grumbled, as he picked up a slice of a cake. And a pie. And a cone. And a souffle… No, where was the souffle? Or the mousse? Even the meringue and cake were gone. He clearly remembered buying eight portions of each item, just so that everyone could have their fill. Why was everything gone in the matter of just a few moments?

  Blinking in confusion, Alnea looked up from the table, and found the girls gently wiping their lips with a satisfied smile. And that was how the mysterious disappearance of all the sweets was solved. Were they not all admonishing him for wasting his Blood Coins earlier? Why was it that when it came to eating the sweets, they were all so much faster than him?

  No, not eating. They had practically devoured the sweets. Usually, he was the fastest eater in their team. A habit developed to compensate for how much more he ate than others, so that he could finish eating at the same time as his teammates. Though, as he looked at the girls smiling ever so gently, he finally understood how terrifyingly fast they could be when needed.

  Holding back his silent tears, Alnea filled up his stomach with the usual food of the canteen. Slowly, of course. Since he could not have his sweets, he was going to have his revenge. Or so he thought. Unfortunately for him, the girls accompanied him with a smile, making him feel as if he was just punching the air. Sighing in defeat, he finally let go of the matter, thinking of the sweets as part of the compensation he had promised to the girls.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Right, compensation,” Alnea mumbled, as they stepped out of the Blood Hall.

  “Did you say something?”

  “I said, since you just want to enjoy the view of the city at night, why not just find a place to sit down, and enjoy it in peace, rather than walking around, and suffering from the stares and gossip of other Wanderers?”

  “Oh? Is our most talented Wanderer feeling shy?”

  “…I am not feeling shy. It is just that being stared at by people wherever you go can be a little annoying.”

  “The stares are indeed a little annoying,” Ceclia mumbled. “Do you know a place where we can just sit?”

  Alna glanced around himself, falling into a silenced as he looked at the tall buildings spreading as far out as he could see.

  “…Let’s just walk around until we find such a place.”

  “It’s alright,” Vestia said. “I know a few places where we can find rest.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?”

  Following Vestia's lead, they came to a building about a quarter of an hour away from the Blood Hall, and walked up its stairs all the way to its top floor, before checking into a room.

  “…This is what you were talking about?”

  “It is away from the eyes and ears of other Wanderers, is it not?” Vestia said, glancing towards the window. “And you can also see the view.”

  “…Are you joking?”

  “I am not.”

  “…This vixen, I am going to—

  “Calm down, Lia,” Alnea said, stepping forward to catch Cecilia before she could pounce on Vestia.

  “Let me go. I am going to teach this vixen a lesson.”

  “…But she is not wrong, you know. Technically, we can indeed see the view of the city from the windows.”

  “…Whose side are you on?”

  “I am on the side of exhaustion. Since we are here already, we might as well get some rest.”

  “You want to rest?”

  “Are you not exhausted from walking around the whole day?”

  “Taking a rest for a while does sound good…”

  “But the night view…”

  “It will not be too late for us to enjoy the city’s night view a couple of hours later, when we are a bit more refreshed.”

  “…Fine. But are we going to rest in the same room?”

  “Why not?” Yuri said. “We are just going to rest, not train our Spirits or Wander the Origin Sea. And it is only for a couple of hours. I do not see any problems with us resting in the same room.”

  After a brief discussion, everyone decided to rest in the same room, closing their eyes to meditate for a while. Not to restore their Spirit Power, or to temper their Hearts, but just to let their minds rest. And their bodies too. Walking around aimlessly was surprisingly more exhausting than he had thought it would be. Thankfully, after more than a year of practice, even Cecilia had become skilled enough with her meditation to replace it with sleep. Mostly. She did doze off for a while, but she woke up on her own before they decided to leave their room, and resume their night visit to enjoy the city’s beauty.

  Blood red light, cascading around them from all the buildings, creating an eerie glow that matched perfectly with the faint smell of blood in the air… If the city was personification of order during the day, then it was an incarnation of chaos at night. It did not even need the people within its walls to behave erratically. Just its existence alone was enough manifest chaos in the air…

  The more that Alnea looked at the city, the more he became worried about its new rules and the Final Trial. He had always thought that the city was going to become more orderly with its new rules, doing away with the bloodshed, forgetting that the Lost City’s second name was the City of Blood. A city dyed with blood and bones of its visitors. Even the desert it was the core of was often called as the Blood Desert. And rightfully so.

  At least the city was still red. The desert had been soaked with so much blood, that it had practically turned black for at least a hundred metres below the surface. Even the natural treasures and resources that could be found in the desert were mostly related to blood. And as the core of such a desert, the Lost City was also bound to uphold the value of blood. Peaceful? Orderly? Civilised?

  Those words did not go well with the Lost City. Besides, since when did the city begin caring about its trialist? Nurturing the new generation? Guiding them on their paths? Even if it did guide them, it did so only to make their battles with other Wanderers more interesting. If the city was really going to introduce rules that would lessen the bloodshed in the desert, then it would have to make up for it in other ways. Like the Final Trial.

  Lost in a daze, Alnea did not notice how the night went by. Even after returning to their mansion, and getting refreshed for the second day of their celebration, he did not return to normal. Rather, as they walked around the city, and heard the rumours about him getting more and more exaggerated, he became even more solemn than before. Something was not right. The rumours…

  Glancing at the girls next to him, Alnea let out a sigh, and gave up thinking. It was too late. He had been deceived by the city’s beauty, forgetting that everything had two sides. A side that one showed to everyone, and a side that one kept hidden. A side that was full of dangers. A side that might threaten the girls…

  No, he could not let anything threaten the girls. If there truly was something that could potentially harm them, then he would just have to nip that threat in its bud. Though, just to be safe, he decided that it would be best if he also prepared to defend against any sudden threats. Even if he had to squander everything he had, he would make sure that nothing could hurt the girls. But first, he had to find some answers.