“Good work, Kai,” Nicolas called out to him.

The remaining students were eyeing him as he approached his old seat. “It was nothing,” he said evenly.

He was frustrated with himself for showing compassion. Perhaps, his family had softened him, or it had been too long since he felt any real danger from people directly. What Emily had done to him had lit a spark in him. He felt that burning anger inside. Needless to say, he wouldn’t show mercy again.

Both Nicolas and Andre were seated next to Kai on a bench in the back of the waiting area. Only the students who hadn’t yet had their names called for the first round were present and a few others similar to Kai who decided to stay and support their friends. Andre’s first fight would be coming up soon.

It was easy to tell at a glance that Nicolas was bored. The young man sat restlessly on the bench, trying to get comfortable. On the opposite side of Kai, Andre’s leg bounced up and down. If he was any stronger, he might have caused the arena to shake. Their other roommate, Sean had chosen not to fight in the tournament. It was a mystery as to why Sean had even bothered to come to the academy. He was absent most of the time and hardly trained.

Letting out a sigh, he closed his eyes. The three sat there in silence, except for Andre’s foot tapping the ground. Sitting and doing nothing wasn’t his thing, but he wanted to show support for Andre, who had helped him quite a bit over the last year.

His thoughts drifted to his family. His father’s letter a few weeks ago stated he wasn’t sure if he would be able to show up. Apparently, the Empire was planning a huge move and incursion into the Ashbourne Kingdom in a month. How his father had received that information, Kai had no clue. As far as he remembered, his father had gone to see Garren’s tournaments, but there had been no active war at that time.

“And for the final match of our first years today, would Andre Belton and John Frame, please join us in the arena,” the announcer called finally.

[Human – Foundation Level 53]

“Good luck Andre,” Kai patted his gulping friend’s back.

“I think I need to pee,” Andre nervously said as he stood.

“You just went twice in the last hour. Now get out there, you have two minutes before they disqualify you,” Kai stood up and lightly pushed Andre to the door.

The shield mage stumbled out of the door, with nerves of jelly. A few steps behind Andre were his opponent, decked out in brown leather armor. It covered the essential areas. Most Foundation realm students didn’t own or wear full body armor. In John’s hands was a crossbow while two identical daggers hung on his sides. A rogue archetype? John was only five levels above Andre. Should be a close match.

Andre held a mace and a rounded shield in each hand. As far as Kai knew, Andre had never used a mace before. It was possible he bought it for the tournament to cover for his lacking offense. It was something to inquire about after the fight.

“Begin!”

A bolt was sent at Andre as soon as the match began. Whether intentional or not, Andre appeared to flinch, causing his shield to raise slightly, blocking the bolt as it ricocheted off. Bringing his shield down, it was obvious he had lost track of his opponent as his eyes darted all around. John was silently moving closer to Andre’s left side, as he stayed in the shield’s blind spot.

Andre looked panicked for a second while he looked for his opponent. Another bolt was shot from the rogue. Kai’s eyes squeezed shut when he heard Andre’s cry of pain. The bolt embedded into Andre’s unprotected thigh. The match wasn’t off to a good start for his roommate.

John darted forward to the distracted Andre. Just when Kai thought the match would end quickly, a large rectangle of transparent barrier materialized, causing the rogue to smash into it hard. The barrier seemed to shift from a transparent silver to a transparent light blue immediately after contact. Recovering quickly, John slashed at the barrier. Almost like a membrane, the barriers parted for the dagger but started healing the damage only a moment later.

On the opposite side of the barrier, Andre lunged forward, his mace overhead, smashing towards the rogue.

“Look at that!” Nicolas yelled.

Andre’s mace had gone through the barrier on the other side as if there was no resistance. Unprepared the rogue only barely managed to dodge out of the way. Pulling his mace back through the barrier, it shifted colors again back to silver.

Black shadows of smoke began to come off the rogue’s body and daggers, almost as if they were on fire. The vicinity near him turned darker as the haze of smoke filled the area. Striking back, his daggers slashed at the barrier blocking the way. Each strike seemed to tear at the wall of energy. Dense black wisps of smoke clung to the barrier, as it slowly recovered. Turning light blue again, Andre struck from the other side, but this time his ploy was easily seen through, as the rogue tried to back off immediately. Only a silver barrier came up right behind the retreating rogue, stopping him as he stepped back into it.

Kai was certain Andre had him until the rogue erupted into smoke. A trial of smoke moved to the side, quickly forming into the shape of a humanoid on the other side of Andre. There was a flurry of movement as Andre knocked away dagger strike after dagger strike, right before they could find purchase. Although Andre was well prepared in his metal armor, there were still vulnerabilities all over that the rogue aimed for.

The next few minutes became a battle of attrition. As Andre tried to defend himself from the quickly moving rogue that shifted around him looking for weaknesses. Andre could do nothing to trap the evasive rogue. Every opportunity to trap him failed as the rogue just dispersed away. Eight minutes into the match, Andre surprised everyone by surrendering. Having to form so many barriers and repairing them must have taken its toll on the shield mage, causing him to run out of mana.

The audience clapped and cheered as the two combatants made their way back to the waiting area. People appreciated the back and forth between the contestants, which made for a nail-biting fight in the last match of the first round.

Walking into the room, Andre looked crestfallen. He said nothing as he slumped into the seat from earlier. The rapid rise and fall of his chest gave away his exhaustion in the intense match despite his lack of movement. Though Andre had shown his capabilities, his opponent had simply turned out to be a bad matchup for him.

“Your majesty,” a finely dressed servant called out, grabbing the attention of what was the arguably the most powerful individual in the Ashbourne Kingdom. His collared shirt was impeccably neat. He wore a black tie, the symbol of servants of the nobility from the olden days.

“What is it, Philip?” the king asked wearily. It was apparently too much to wish for to enjoy the tournament his son was participating in without interruption.

“It’s happened again. Captain Neketa just reported the palace pantry was cleared out once again.”

The king gave a sigh. At his age, every issue or problem that kept popping up, felt like it would take him to an early grave. While this might have been perhaps the most harmless issue he has had to deal with since the war began, it was without a doubt the most mysterious.

“What about the hidden pantry?” the king raised. They had stored most of the food in a second hidden pantry.

Philip, his faithful servant shook his head.

“Can someone please tell me how someone is stealing food from the palace’s pantry, once a month, for five months straight now?” The question was asked clearly to all of his subjects inside the arena’s royal booth.

There was nothing only silence as no one responded after ten seconds. The king snorted. He hadn’t expected a response. For five months, the palace had been plagued by a thief, who stole not riches or gold, but instead food.

Over 25 years ago, something similar happened. A lot of food-related problems had cropped up, with all indications pointing to a woman and a fox, though, no substantial proof had ever been found. And the woman was not one to trifled with. Without said proof, he could not justify sending his best soldiers after a citizen of the kingdom. Not that he expected them to be capable of apprehending her or even killing her. There were both cries of sorrow and joy when the woman and her fox left the capital. Joy for those who had been plagued by their antics, and sorrow for losing such loyal customers.

When that same woman returned only five months ago, immediately, the palace had gone into a frenzy. Royal guards had been tasked with secretly surveilling her, and the family with whom she came. The palace had been on the edge of a cliff, waiting for something to occur. Thankfully, nothing happened during the few days she stayed in the capital. A report came back that the woman had a child, who surprisingly, turned out to be a friend of his youngest son.

After the connection had been found, an investigation had been warranted into the student Kaismo. The report came back describing the young man as a talented warrior using a rare type of magic. Nothing too unusual. His brother happened to be a former champion of the same tournament when he attended the academy but possessed no fox during his stay.

Kaismo’s fox, Akane was notorious around the academy and food venues nearby for her obscene gluttony and being a loyal customer. Nothing of note had happened that would be a cause of concern during their time in the capital to keep the two under the radar. When the investigators tried to trace their origins to a “Kitsune Village,” as written down during his application when joining the academy, nothing could be found. It was as if such a village didn’t exist. And yet they had used the truth-telling orb during their application to the academy. A boy of a meager Foundation realm could not fool an extremely powerful and rare object like that.

The first time the food went missing, it had only been one week since that woman had left the capital, and yet it had been just like 25 years ago. With the woman and the fox missing from the capital, the prime suspects were Kaismo and Akane, purely by association. They were placed under secret surveillance, following the incident. Of course, an investigation had taken place. An investigation that had proved futile. It was as if the food had never existed. No traitor or internal thief had been identified.

The second time the incident occurred, it was again investigated. Nothing was found. The person surveilling Kaismo and the fox reported they had both never left his sight at all on the day of the theft. Strangely, there was a post note on the report claiming that sometime after the theft of the food had occurred, the surveilling person noted that the fox had looked towards the area where he was hiding and had a “cheeky grin.”

The advisors clamored to bring Kaismo in for interrogation, but that notion was dismissed outright when the king remembered whose child he was.

As a result of the theft, guards were posted outside the room, around the clock. Security enchantments were placed around the room. They would prevent teleportation and alert them to anyone who entered. But again, a month later, the replaced food vanished. It was baffling. The surveilling team reported that during the time of the third theft, Kaismo and Akane, were out on the training field, with the former training his sword skills. Approximately 15 minutes after the theft had occurred the fox had oddly let out a belch so loud that everyone within 300 meters heard it.

The king personally hired a famous enchanter from off-world to strengthen the palace’s enchantments and more specifically the pantry. It was a chilling thought when the king realized the pantry was as well protected as his own bedroom, but still, the food went missing almost like clockwork. And now during the tournament, the food had gone missing again even though they switched rooms to hide it.

The king’s head hung tiredly for a moment before he returned it to proper posture. Although he was sure no one would fault him for having bad posture at his age. His last solution was to buy storage ring for his cooking staff so they could hold the food products on their person. Somehow, he still felt that whatever deity was stealing their food would still manage to find a way.

But that wasn’t even the worst issue plaguing him at this time. Not even the war was giving him as much grief as his children. Specifically, his two children sitting next to him.

To his right, his oldest, the first prince and heir to the Ashbourne Kingdom sat, slouching like the lazy shit he was. Charismatic and refined, Ezekiel could talk to anyone, but when it came to personal power, the boy had to be carried to his realm of power. And now he was on the other side, aging visibly just like him. He had long doubted his choice in making Ezekiel his heir, but the decision had been made so long ago in simpler times.

On the opposite side, was his third oldest, Samuel, the third prince of the Ashbourne Kingdom. A man of action. Despite having strength that nearly rivaled his own, Samuel had never shown any disobedience until recently. When growing up, Samuel had shown the most promise of any of his children, except perhaps Nicolas. But Nicolas had been born too late. Any chance he had of inheriting the throne was gone with that.

Still, Samuel wasn’t charismatic. He was too blunt and honest for his own good sometimes. A fine warrior he was, but a great king was not in his future. But now, signs began pointing to a civil war breaking out when he passed on. It would be his greatest failing as a parent and a king if the country he created was destroyed because of a civil war between his two sons. He was aware he had held onto the throne and power for too long, afraid of what might happen.

Another weary sigh escaped his lips.

“Nicolas made a great showing, father,” Samuel pointed out.

The king perked up, only now noticing his son, Nicolas, was walking back to the waiting arena after defeating his opponent. The match must have been quick because he hadn’t noticed it as he thought about his troubles.

“Yes,” he coughed. “Nicolas will make a fine warrior.”

“Of course, he will. He takes after his majesty,” Ezekiel said.

What a suck up… Perhaps I should send Nicolas to Titan Prime. Get him away from all this nonsense.

“Kaismo Cinersis and Jesse Clinetro, please join us in the arena!” the announcer called out.

The king’s eyes followed the young warrior. He wanted to see the true strengthof what a child from that woman was capable of.