The three made their way to the staging room and got themselves immersed in their own thoughts. The drop in the adrenaline levels made the jubilation from the victory immediately disappear, and the death of the Dewbrooks started to weight heavily on Anna and Greg’s psyche.

Riwall did not get affected by it at all, both because his mind, albeit immature, was more resistant to sudden changes in hormone levels, and because he was currently immersed in a discussion with Friday.

{How long do you need to heal my arm?}

[I’m doing my best here, it’s not like Hector taught us how to cast healing spells. I can either do it the long and safe way by slowly healing it, or I can try pumping a lot of mana as if casting an attack spell. Your call.] Friday let some of her anger seep through their connection, taking Riwall by surprise.

{Hey! What’s that for? We just won the fight, why are you suddenly so grumpy?}

[Because you almost lost your head, you idiot! We have been training for years! Years! And you almost died because of your arrogance! If you are so eager to end your life, just say the word, and I will make your heart stop.] Friday rarely let emotions cloud her speech pattern, but this time, Riwall could almost touch the bitterness she put in it.

{I already said I’m sorry, ok!? What else do you want!?} Now it was Riwall’s turn to get angry.

[Do you take me for a fool!? Did you forget that I can read your mind!? If you say something but don’t mean it, I will know! You are clearly not worried enough about your mistake and is downplaying it to irresponsible levels!]

Riwall was about to retort when Friday suddenly flooded his mind with a replay of what happened. He knew he had barely managed to block the strike, but looking at it again showed how close to dying he really was. If he was half a second later, he would be dead.

{Ok, I get it, dammit! I’m truly sorry!}

[Humph.]

Once his discussion with Friday was over, he noticed how Anna and Gregory were sulking and had gloomy faces.

“Hey guys, cheer up! We won our first fight!” He wanted them to share the happiness he did not find on Friday, but once they turned to look at him with confused expressions, he knew something was wrong.

“Cheer up, you say?” Anna said those words shook her head and turned to look at the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing in the world right now.

“What about you, Greg? We got them good, right?” It was Riwall’s last chance of getting an ally, as it was clear that Anna shared Friday’s mood right now.

“Mad… They are dead, not hurt, but dead. Did you see that woman face before she blew up? By the gods, I think I will never forget it.” He said the last words almost as a whisper.

“But you know they took part in the attacks, this is called justice!” The last phrase left his mouth as a shout while he brandished a fist at his friend. For some reason that even he did not fully comprehend, he lashed out at Greg.

Anna just got up and walked over to where Riwall was sitting. In a rare display of maturity beyond both her age and personality, she said a few words to Riwall in a flat tone, clearly trying to emulate how Eleanor would speak when imparting them with words of knowledge and self-reflection.

“Riwall, Greg and I are very happy about winning, but we are not like them, we are better. They would be out drinking and partying, just like our masters told us about them. However, we are neither nobles nor cold-blooded killers. I know what I said and what I wanted to do, but once you got hit it dawned on me that I care more about protecting what I already have than avenging those that I will never see again. What would Theodas think if he saw you gloating at another person’s death?”

This sudden confrontation and the feeling of being lectured by a child clouded Riwall’s mind and, before he knew it, he found himself in one of those moments you would do anything to take back what you said. Friday pretended to not be involved and opted to let him deal with it on his own.

“I don’t know Anna, you may not have received the memo, but Master Theodas can’t express his opinion anymore, I wonder why is that!?” She was about to retort while doing her best to not punch Riwall when he continued.

“And what got into you? You were the first to scream bloody vengeance when Master Eleanor broke the news, getting cold feet now? Maybe you were not so affected by what happened after all.” By this point, he was screaming at her with a red face, his immaturity trumped his rationality.

The fox girl had disgust stamped on her face and slapped him with all strength she could muster, breaking his train of thoughts and calming him down just enough for him to see her tears.

{Shit.}

“I… Sorry, Anna, I was angry at…”

“Shut up.”

“It’s just that I..”

“I SAID SHUT UP!”

Riwall looked for Greg for support, but all that his friend had to show was a sad expression on his face. Anna turned away and was already walking back to the bench that she was sitting before, Riwall was about to follow her when Friday shouted.

[Stop right now! Something is wrong, and you are in danger, get it together!] By now his arm was mostly healed, he still felt pain when moving it, but not enough to get in his way when fighting.

Friday words made his training kick in, and he got a new shield from one of his rings while unsheathing his sword.

Greg and Anna both noticed it and also got their weapons, they were well trained and could push their emotions to the back of their minds when needed.

“What is it, Mad?!” Greg shouted while the three kids had each other back to cover as many angles as possible.

{Friday, explain!}

[All our teachers stated that any EXP would be awarded once the enemy was dead, and no further threats to one’s life were close-by.]

“Did any of you get any EXP at all? Check your panels! Now!”

The two chanted the |Panel| spell while Riwall only pretended to do so as he already knew the answer.

“Shit! I got nothing!” Anna started attuning her mana to the dark spectrum as soon as she confirmed his theory.

“Me neither!”

The lanterns in the room suddenly went out, and they found themselves in pitch darkness.

The three did not dare make a sound, all their focus was on finding who was targeting them.

The minutes went on and on, and their heartbeat was frantic. They had not moved but were already covered in sweat as if fighting for hours. Riwall was about to cast a ring of fire around them when the sound of a knife burying itself in flesh broke the silence, and Anna’s scream confirmed who the victim was.

He cast the spell and saw the assailant backing away from Anna, who was holding her bleeding belly, even the steel plate he put there was not enough to protect her. Both he and Greg got distracted by the scene, and a second assailant took the opportunity to do the same to Greg, but the boy reacted on time and managed to deflect the thrust with his own sword.

A third assailant jumped on Riwall, but Friday had his back. She did not take any chances and cast a thin, but sturdy and sharp needle that perforated the attacker’s skull and ended his life immediately.

It was not unheard of people at his age to be able to cast powerful and flashy spells, but the degree of control required for small and deadly spells would raise many flags if displayed in public. This, whoever, was not a situation where Riwall or Friday could afford to not show their hands.

BOOOOOM!

Before anything else could happen, an explosion opened a new entrance to the staging room, from where an enchanted arrow flew through and ended the life of Anna’s attacker. The last surviving assassin darted to the exit that would lead him to the tunnels to the arena court, but a flaming sword pierced him in the back, and he was dead before knowing what happened.

Riwall manipulated the wind with his mana and cleared the dust, revealing the figures of Edward and Lilacoris. She was donning a new set of enchanted armor that was clearly much superior to the one from the |Immortal Memory| he saw, while Edward was wearing bloodied peasant clothes and sported a black eye and cuts all over his body.

Riwall noticed how hurt his master was.

“Master Edward! I can heal you, just lay down for a while, Anna, go watch the door to the Arena! Greg, you…”

“There is no time! Follow us. Lila, you got the back. Riwall, you close the passage behind us with your magic. Anna, Greg, get behind me and don’t engage the enemy until I say so. C’mon, double time!”

He rushed back to the tunnel with Greg and Anna on his tail, Riwall followed after them, and Lila got the job of protecting their backs. Friday was the one responsible for casting spells to close the tunnel off. Her precision made it impossible for anyone to know which way they went, as she settled the soil in such a way that it was almost impossible to see where it had been disturbed before. Edward and Lila did not know about that, so they were worried the pursuers would employ some earth mage to reopen the tunnel.

Suddenly Anna dropped to the ground unconscious, she had been trying to stop the bleeding while running, but it was not enough.

“I got this!” Riwall had no time to properly heal her, so he just cauterized it after making sure to treat the insides just enough to stop the internal bleeding. He berated himself for not doing so as soon as they entered the tunnels, but she had not complained in the last few minutes.

“Greg, carry her, and if you get tired, tell me immediately.” Edward commanded and resumed their escape.

The five ran for a few miles before seeing the exit. Edward silently exited the tunnel and checked the surroundings before signaling for them to follow.

They were now in the woods and, according to Friday, going northeast.

Riwall and Friday were not idling, they were focused on using magic to remove as many traces as they could. As the running did not stop for a few hours, he had to cease his frantic casting of magic to preserve mana in case a fight broke out. He even carried Anna for a while for Greg to catch his breath.

Their stamina was not infinite, and when Edward noticed them panting, he stopped for the kids to rest while he and Lila would patrol the area and make sure their tracks were hidden enough.

Riwall took this opportunity to heal Anna properly, she would still be down for a while because of the loss of blood, but would not be risking going into a hypovolemic shock anymore.

Edward made them start running again after 15 minutes, and this routine of running for a few hours and resting for 15 minutes stretched through the night. He only stopped for a prolonged rest when the sun was already rising on the horizon.

They set up a campfire close to one of the many lakes of the Azure Forest, Lila took the opportunity to teach Riwall how to create simple wards to hide the smoke, and how to properly set alarms and some rudimentary defensive wards around them.

By then, Anna was already awake, albeit still feeling weak. Once they were all sitting around the fire, Edward began telling his tale.

“As you are aware, the other noble families pushed for the change of some rules before the first fight, and I immediately volunteered to be the Farsteel representative. At first, some neutral families tried to make it an individual competition to choose the best 4 fighters who would represent the Marsastor Fief. Still, they were immediately shut down as teamwork is essential, and we don’t have enough time to work on it. Then, they proposed the revocation of the age limit, which only existed to match the dwarven rules, but I opposed it and even got the support of some others. Kester, I mean, the Lord, could not directly oppose the other families’ demands, as they own most of the mines around here since the foundation, so he settled for the middle ground.”

“On the way back, I and my retinue got ambushed, I barely escaped, and if not for Lila, who insisted on not leaving with the crafters, I would be dead by now.” He nodded to her and went on with his account.

“We were about to get to the Arena when an informant intercepted us and told about assassins hidden around to finish the job of the ambushers and to kill you three. Apparently, your display of magic got them worried about losing the tournament. He also shared some worrying information about the other families’ endgame.” Edward uncharacteristically did not immediately continue, as he seemed to be pondering about whether to tell them something or not. In just a few seconds, he had a resolute expression and opted to share it.

“Their objective was never to attain the glory of representing Marsastor in the dwarven tournament, it was all a ruse to give justification to a change of the current leadership, not only in the Marsastor family, who holds the titles to everything around here, but of our family as well.” Although he tried holding his emotions from surfacing, it was clear how this situation had affected him.

It did not take a genius to understand how the Farsteels fit into the picture. By what Riwall heard all over these years, the Farsteels had the authority to muster a sizable army, which they trained to exhaustion and had unwavering loyalty. Should they want it, the control of the Marsastor Fief would be theirs, but if they were the kind who partake in such backstabbing politics, they would have never grown to be what they were today.

“But what do they get from the changes they want?” Riwall, as always, could not wait for his master to finish before asking questions.

“What scares us the most is that we are not sure yet, could be more money, more power, or, and may the gods make it not be the case because they are following the agenda of a third party that we are unaware of.” The simplicity of Edward’s theories, which he spoke as if sharing the results of exhaustive analysis, and the fact that Lila seemed to agree wholeheartedly as she kept nodding while he spoke, baffled Riwall.

{What do you think, Friday?}

[This is what we know from gossip all over these years: Lord Kester is not known for being a despot, the Farsteels are too tame to use their military power to push their own interests, and the other families hold the economic power. The status quo could not get more comfortable.]

[They are either pushing for changes to somehow preserve this status quo, which may be the case if they feel that Kester is not up to the task anymore, and the Farsteels holds too much military power. Or they know the status quo is about to be broken beyond repair and they are preparing for what may come next.]

{What about the involvement of a third party?}

[We can’t rule out that possibility, but we lack enough information to even make educated guesses.]

“Master Edward, if we rule out money, what could a third party get from this? It’s not like they could hope to control old noble families for long.” Riwall sneered at the idea of a third party controlling these proud noble families. His extensive knowledge from Earth’s noble families’ history corroborated this point of view.

[Oh no, not again! You have still not received any EXP! I thought it was from the fact you were running away, and there were multiple creatures in the woods, but we are in a relatively safe spot, by all accounts you should have already received the due EXP from killing the Dewbrooks.]

{Wait, what?} As if waiting for Friday’s remarks, a man’s voice sounded from nearby.

“That’s where you are wrong, young Farsteel.” Everyone turned to look at the man in dark robes that just came from behind one of the many trees. “They have always been under our control.”

The rising sun illuminated his face, and all but Greg and Anna could not help but stare at him with wide eyes.