After Valyr sent the question to Tryndall through the chat function, the former had to wait for a couple minutes before receiving a response back. Though, once he was finished reading through the response Tryndall sent, he quickly understood why it took him so long.
"If you want the short answer to your question, then we haven't made much headway into finding out the mastermind's identity."
"But if you want the long answer, one of the suspects we've apprehended the previous night swiftly surrendered to us once that suspect found out what we were doing. Surprisingly, that suspect told us that they were long sick of what they were doing, and that they wanted to get back at the mastermind of the whole operation somehow."
"With that, the suspect that surrendered decided to cooperate with us on figuring out the mastermind's identity, telling us about all the people they've interacted with regarding the whole Clossbay Killer thing."
Reading through this portion of Tryndall's message, Valyr felt inclined to think that luck was finally on their side for once, a light smile unknowingly appearing on his face sometime later. Noticing that Tryndall was still in the midst of sending him messages, Valyr took a look at them, realizing that they were a continuation of what was sent to him earlier.
"For the most part, all of the people that the five suspects interacted with regarding the incident, according to what the suspect told us, is mostly people with low levels of authority in the city. Fortunately, the suspect recalled a couple people in the city with middle level authority, which is what we've been considering as our most substantial leads into finding out the real identity of the mastermind."
"Speaking of which, the suspect also decided to be our insider regarding the whole Clossbay Killer thing, informing us that the five of them would meet up on the following day. I don't know if your life and death duel and their meeting is related or just pure coincidence, but I'll make sure to keep you updated on whatever's happening."
Sending a message to Tryndall once he was finished reading to thank the latter for what he was doing, Valyr eventually closed the screen in his field of vision before gradually drifting off to sleep.
'I've got a long day ahead of me.'
…
"Today's the day, huh." Letting out a long yawn as he sat upright on his bed, Valyr stared off into nothingness for a bit, giving his consciousness time to become fully awake. Sometime later, he got out of his bed and did a few light stretches before going through his usual morning routine.
Coincidentally, once Valyr was done with his usual morning routine, Wells had woken up from his slumber, taking a while to become fully alert as well before going through his own morning routine of sorts. During his routine, Valyr approached him and asked him whether he would be able to man the Crimson Forge on his own while he was partaking in the life and death duel or not.
Pondering over it for a bit, Wells eventually told Valyr that it would be better if the Crimson Forge was closed today, considering how almost everyone in the city already knew about the life and death duel that was going to happen later in the day.
With Wells informing Valyr soon after that next to no customers would come to the smithy since something like that was going on, it was a no-brainer for the latter to go with what Wells told him, heading to the workshop portion of the smithy to grab the Half Wyvern Armor before chucking pieces of it into a backpack he purposefully requested a crafter to make that would be able to fit armor.
Unfortunately, only three of the six pieces making up the set fit into the backpack, prompting Valyr to put the remaining pieces of armor into a similar bag before telling Wells to bring the other backpack as they made their way to the venue.
As they headed outside the smithy, a few regular customers that would come to the smithy early in the morning appeared in front of Valyr and Wells, telling Valyr to prioritize his health first during the duel and that they were rooting for him to win the duel. After that, they apologized to Valyr that he was caught up into the mess of the Hekaetos Forging Emporium, to which he told them that it was normal for fledgling businesses to butt heads with large, established businesses.
Of course, not in the way the Hekaetos Forging Emporium did it.
Waving to the customers that went out of their way to give him their good luck before the duel, the two headed to a nearby restaurant to get some food into their stomach, with Valyr choosing to get a light breakfast as he thought about how much he would move during the duel later.
While they were digging into their respective breakfasts, Wells asked Valyr at some point as to how he could remain so calm, even though he knew there was a chance he would die in the duel. In response to the question, Valyr brought up the Half Wyvern Armor he had forged before leaving Wells with a sentence that left the man somewhat confused.
"Just so you know, this isn't the first time I've danced with death."
Left to wonder whether Valyr was giving him an important life lesson or was just giving him a cryptic message for him to decode, the two eventually finished their breakfasts and left the restaurant to continue making their way to the venue.
…
"Here we are. The Farraway Coliseum." Standing about a dozen meters away from what appeared to be a large circular building made out of large blocks of chiseled stone, Valyr looked at Wells beside him and asked the latter to give the backpack with the armor to him.
As Valyr received the backpack Wells gave, the two looked around the perimeter of the coliseum for a bit, eventually finding the entrance that led into the inside of the coliseum. Unsurprisingly, with how widespread the news of the life and death duel that was happening today was, a long line to the entrance greeted the two, prompting Valyr to wonder whether the two could get into the coliseum first since he was the one partaking in the duel.
Fortunately, his hypothesis was correct as the guard at the entrance of the coliseum swiftly allowed Valyr to enter the coliseum alongside Wells, with one of the guards within the coliseum guiding the two deeper into the coliseum.
Waving farewell at each other as the two went their separate ways, the guard accompanied Valyr to the section of the coliseum that was specifically made for those who were going to appear on the coliseum's battleground, an area that would allow the participants to prepare and rest.
'I'm actually doing this.' As this thought popped up in his mind, Valyr inwardly let out a light chuckle as the flames of competition and battle burned with greater fervor than ever before.
Though, just as Valyr had stepped foot in the area designated for those who would appear on the battleground, a notification sound resounded in his mind.
Ding!
[You have obtained a sudden quest: Schemes Behind Grudges.]
