I leaned back and let out a long breath, relaxing the tension in my muscles that I had gotten used to for once. Staying on your toes all the time was advisable, especially in dangerous environments, but Helios, if it didn’t feel good to let go sometimes.

As I brought my hands to my side and rested my head on the couch’s armrest, I closed my eyes and remembered calmer times, back when my goals had been simpler and more straightforward.

Right when I was about to fall asleep, the door swung open and a hyperactive rabbit entered. Or, at least, that’s what I thought. Blinking away my confusion from just waking up, I realized it was just an energized Cerion that had entered, babbling about something pointless again.

“...oh, by the way, Arthur! It’s nine o’clock right now, so the tournament booth will be open right now! The sign-up period lasts for a week, so it shouldn’t be too busy… how about we sign up now?”

I sighed and nodded. It seemed my quiet morning would have to be pushed back to tomorrow. This afternoon, Cerion and I would be meeting up with those old men in the palace, so my rest would have to wait.

Slowly, I raised my body, pushing myself upright. I put on some basic commoner’s clothing, brown cloth pants with a white shirt. With my armor still in the middle of being repaired, and with there being no need to arm myself properly anyway, I decided not to worry too much for once. Some simple leather boots would have to do.

We exited the witch hunters’ underground compound through one of its many hidden gates, ending up in a small deserted alleyway. As we joined the main road that was lit up properly by the day’s bright sun, Cerion started to shine. No, really. I had to squint to see his armada of golden ornaments glean in the sun. For a moment, I looked down at my own clothing, and realized that I was severely underdressed as compared to my companion. Well, I wasn’t the type to care too much about how other people saw me anyway. Only their actions towards me mattered, not their thoughts.

About an hour later, we arrived at one of the tournament's many sign-up booths near the arena. For a moment, I observed our future battleground. It was obvious where the dungeon’s arena had gotten its inspiration from. The royal arena in front of me was all arches and carved pillars. The statue we had seen belowground was absent, but the rest of the building was remarkably reminiscent of the arena we had explored before.

Cerion spent a moment looking at it as well, and smiled at me when he noticed I had made the same observation as he had. Still, talking about our dungeon exploration out in the open wasn’t a good idea, since the royal dungeons were normally used exclusively by their owners, the royal family.

We joined a long line in front of the booth and I mentally prepared myself for a long wait. Any queue, even the ones a few people long that formed in front of the bakery back home, would do its best to move as slowly as possible, as a general rule.

Cerion didn’t seem to understand this, because his large smile remained ever-present. Boy, would he be in for an unpleasant revelation.

~scene transition~

A few hours later, my friend looked so grim, that I imagined him going to war with a similar glare. Seriously, for a moment I was scared he would abandon all of his sensibility and jump in line, loudly shouting about who his father was, and how he was rich or something. At least, that’s what arrogant people did in the stories.

He held himself back though, grimacing each time the person at the booth asked another inane question to one of the potential applicants.

Eventually, though, our turn came. Cerion walked to the booth briskly and put both hands down on the counter in a hurry. With an awkward smile, I joined him, waiting for the middle-aged lady with glasses behind the counter to finish writing whatever document she was holding.

For a few minutes, we just waited for her to finish, until Cerion cleared his throat loudly and started to introduce himself as if the lady was already listening.

“Hi there! My friend and I would like to sign up for the tournament! Both the single and…” he began enthusiastically.

He was interrupted by a snort coming from the lady’s direction, who put down her document and raised her eyes above the rims of her glasses.

“Yes, dear, I know. Everybody here wants to sign up, no need to state that again. Name?” she asked brusquely.

Cerion’s mouth hung open, flabbergasted at her impoliteness. It seemed that his noble education hadn’t accounted for people who didn’t know who he was and therefore didn’t hold up at least some form of politeness towards strangers. I, however, was much more used to people like her, so I took control of the conversation.

“He’s Cerion Rass and I’m Arthur, just Arthur. We’re both seeded participants for the tournament, but we still need to sign up. Help us out, please?” I said with a clear tone, leaving no room for interruption.

Behind us, people started to mutter things like ‘Duke Rass…’ and ‘seeded?’. I ignored them, though.

Upon hearing Cerion’s last name, the lady stilled. After I had finished my piece, she gave me a once-over, the look on her face signifying that she was unimpressed by my getup. Once she saw Cerion’s current apparel, though, she sat up, seemingly realizing that I wasn’t lying.

“I -I see. I apologize for my discourtesy, mister Rass… and mister Arthur. Could you tell me which tournament bracket and categories you would like to participate in?” she replied nervously.

Cerion seemed to regain his bearing, because his posture recovered and he dusted off his coat, as if it had gotten dirty.

“Ahem, yes. Both of us will be participating in the singles tournament as well as the doubles tournament, where we will form a team.”

She nodded quickly at Cerion’s answer.

“Of course. I shall add your names to both lists as seeded participants. The cost for entry to both categories is two gold per person. Keep in mind that this money won’t be returned, even if you win. Do you have any badges or sigils that could verify your identities…?” she asked hesitantly.

“I have my family’s sigil right here.”

“Does my witch hunter guild badge work?” I asked.

She nodded and received both items as well as our gold coins, before bringing the two badges into contact with a transparent orb, which from her darting eyes, seemed to bring up a notification that only she could read. After a moment, she handed us back our items, along with two small, gold necklaces.

“Your identities have been confirmed. Please keep in mind that as seeded participants you can’t participate in the early elimination rounds, only in the second and last round, the first of which will occur two weeks from now. Those necklaces are your entry ticket to each of the tournament's venues. Please protect them, because they will break and become useless if they are stolen. A good day to you both.” she finished, giving us a light bow.

The people behind us saw her actions and scoffed audibly at the blatant favoritism, but we decided that wasn’t our problem, so we just left.

A few hours later, we were faced by my uncle’s men, standing guard in front of the nearest entrance to the guild. I looked at the clock and saw that they were early. We weren’t due to meet until three, yet they were already here at two o’clock. Luckily, Cerion and I had grabbed a bite to eat on the way here, since we had found a nice street-side carriage selling an eastern dish called ‘raman’. Or was it ‘ramon’?

One of the armored knights approached us.

“Are the two of you ready to head to the palace?” he asked. From his voice, I recognised him as one of the royal knights that had escorted us to the dungeon a week prior.

“We are, though it’s still a little early, no?” I replied.

“Better to arrive early, otherwise your uncle will have our hides.” one of the knights further in the back muttered.

“Quiet, clancy!”, the one in the front chastised, “Well…, despite clancy’s… uncultured way of putting it, he is not wrong.” he continued.

I just sighed and nodded, gesturing at them to lead the way.

A little while later, we found ourselves at the gates of the palace grounds, which were surrounded by a marble wall so tall only the largest parts of the palace could be seen above it. They weren’t as tall as the city walls, but they were thick. So thick, in fact, that it took us a full thirty seconds to reach the other side.

“Are those walls… hollow?” I asked in shock.

The knight in front just shook his head and continued to march with us in tow.

As we entered the palace grounds, we were surrounded by a large garden that stretched out as far as the eye could see. Neatly trimmed roses and bushes adorned the sides of the white-tiled pathway that lead to a denser small patch of forest. The trees around us had all kinds of colors, reminding me of an enchanted forest. It looked pristine enough to house fairies, though it was too clean to come off as natural.

The walk through the gardens took a solid half hour, proving just how large it was. By the end, we hadn’t even reached the palace itself yet. Instead, the knights had led us to a separate mansion, out of the way from the other buildings. It was filled with large windows, both in the walls and the roof, which led in sunlight from outside, lighting up the single large corridor that, in turn, led to a single set of doors. As we arrived at the two doors, the leading knight turned around to face us.

“I suspect the two of you will be the last to arrive. Make sure to be polite to each of the people you will be meeting.” he spoke, before marching off with his merry band of knights, not even leaving behind a single guard.

Well, it wasn’t like guards did much in this world, when all the truly powerful people were more than strong enough to protect themselves.

Cerion looked uncomfortable, probably expecting a servant to announce our arrival or some other ostentatious thing.

Shrugging, I threw caution to the wind and just opened both doors myself, swinging them open simultaneously.

Stepping in, I found 4 double couches facing one another, forming a square. On each couch, a person sat. On the left, a stoic middle-aged man with blue hair was seated. Cerion lit up as he saw his father, happy to reunite with his only family, though he stayed at my side until they reacted.

On my right, the hunched-over figure that I recognised as the guild head sat, holding a mug that wafted with the familiar smell of hot lemon tea.

Right ahead, on the couch facing the entrance, I saw a man I hadn’t seen in a long time. I hardly remembered what he looked like at all, but now that I stood face to face with him, I recognised him immediately. It was my uncle, Robart. He smiled slightly when he took note of our presence. At least, it seemed like he did. No doubt, as a tier 6 classer, he had noticed our arrival long before.

“It seems our young friends and family have arrived. Good to finally meet you, young Cerion. As for you, Arthur, it is good to see you again. It has been a long time.” he said, not unkindly.

Duke Rass slightly nodded at Cerion, while the guild head cackled loudly and slurped loudly as he brought his mug to his mouth.

“I am sure both of you are already acquainted with Duke Rass and Guild head Rashid. Come here, Arthur, let me introduce you to our final, somewhat anticipated guest.” he continued.

I walked over and stood at the side of his couch, taking note of the final person in the room. A man of large stature with a wild blonde mane and deadly red eyes grinned back at me as he leaned his head on his fist. He was wearing a red robe with golden accents, as well as large golden shoulder guards that were only barely visible under his golden mane.

He had a certain, arrogant, yet humorous air around him, as if he didn’t take anything too seriously. Despite this, his figure demanded a certain amount of respect.

“Arthur, Cerion, meet his royal highness, the king of Roa, Randrusal Roa.”