"Do you really have to do this?" Watching Valyr get ready to leave the inn once more, Wells decided to pose a question to his friend. "I know it has something to do with the inheritance and all that, but... do you really have to do this?"
"I'll have to fight against them sooner or later, you know?" Flashing a faint bitter smile at his friend, Valyr continued to wear the pieces of Nascent Wyvern Armor over his clothing. "Though it might seem like the three other candidates and I are entering the inheritance together, I know for a fact that we'll quickly head off our separate ways to reap our own benefits."
"With that, fighting against them even before we enter the inheritance allows me to gain an edge over them," he continued. "Of course, I'm pretty sure you've heard of the saying 'Know yourself and your enemy'..."
"...and you need not fear a thousand battles." At those words, Wells let out a low sigh. "It's something even my parents used to tell me."
"Since that's the case, could you believe in me once more?" Seeing how concerned his friend was for his safety, Valyr let out a chuckle, affixing his blood-red spear behind his back. "I'll return to this place without a scratch. Don't you worry."
"Promise me you'll take a break after this tournament, okay? You've pretty much busied yourself these past couple of weeks, after all." said Wells in response. "Or perhaps, at the very least, don't get caught up in battles before the big day."
"The last I can definitely promise." Faintly grinning at Wells in response, Valyr finally bade farewell to his friend for the meantime, leaving the inn as he soon appeared in front of a familiar being.
"They didn't tell me I'd have someone escort me to the venue." Saying these words, Valyr let out a bit of laughter.
"They didn't tell me I'd be escorting a pain in the ass." In response, the familiar man let out laughter as well.
Then, after making sure that Valyr had not forgotten anything in the inn, the two of them swiftly began to make their way to where the small tournament was going to be held.
"Aren't you supposed to be busy with the outbreak and all that, Zeik?" Moving through the streets of Algerie at a slightly hastened pace, Valyr looked at the man accopmanying him for the journey and asked him a question.
"For the first day, definitely." Zeik nodded in response, wryly smiling. "As a commander of the Combat Specialist Division, I had to coordinate the kingdom's offensive against the orcs with the other guilds and organizations."
"However, after that, I've swiftly returned to doing not a lot, which is what allowed me to accompany you to some place once again." At those words, he grinned. "Of course, unlike our quick trip to the Akashic Battlefield, there'll be no orcs this time around."
"Speaking of the Akashic Battlefield, what happened in the days following that incident?" Letting out a faint chuckle in response to Zeik's joke, Valyr then threw a question at the man, opening up the chat function on the side to see if the man had sent him update messages that he might have missed.
"Well, naturally, the Algerie Kingdom went all out in its offensive after everything was sorted out." Telling the young man that he had not sent any message to him regarding the incident, Zeik went ahead and began to explain the situation to Valyr. "With that, most of the culprits behind the Akashic Battlefield incident had been caught..."
"...except for one." Recalling the fight he had against the leader of the orc group within the Akashic Battlefield, a frown briefly appeared on Zeik's face as he let out a sigh. "Nevertheless, the ones that had been caught were quick to cough up information, allowing our side to send out an overwhelming offensive against the orcs on the east defensive line."
"Have we found that being's whereabouts?" Asking Zeik the one that had escaped a bit further, Valyr eventually posed a question to the man that prompted the latter to shake his head.
"Normally, it would've been simple to find someone like him," said Zeik in response. "However, with him being one of Khorzaan's Chosen, it's making it somewhat impossible to do so."
"...I see." Hearing those words, Valyr went silent for a bit before nodding, understanding what the man meant by that.
As someone who had actively played a minor role in the War of the Three Sovereignties in his past life, being one of the many volunteers to participate in the war's frontlines, the young man was no stranger to the existence of the Khorzaan's Chosen.
Being literally chosen by the emperor of the orc race itself, those that have been denoted as Khorzaan's Chosen showed a level of combat strength far greater than the norm thanks to their main class and subclass being of a high rarity.
Aside from that, as they were chosen by the emperor himself, these beings also had access to the finest of skills the orc race had, allowing them to bring out over 100% of their might in every move they made, causing them to become the bane of any human in the battlefield.
Seeing as Valyr did not talk about the incident regarding the orcs any further, Zeik decided to shift the topic to what the young man had been doing during the days they hadn't seen each other.
Fortunately, that was all that was needed for the young man to remove himself from his thoughts, talking with Zeik regarding the items he had forged as the two swiftly left the walls of Algerie Kingdom and headed to a secluded area only a select few knew about.
...
"Is this really the place where the tournament is going to be held?" Standing on the edge of what looked to be a large crater spanning over 50 meters in diameter, Valyr looked at Zeik beside him with a hint of dubiousness.
"Well, the Ancestral Council wanted to make sure that no one, except for the candidates and a select few, knew of the results of the tournament," replied Zeik with a bitter smile. "Or, to be more specific, they don't want people to know of the existence of the tournament at all."
"Oho? If it isn't the no-name representative of the Blacksmith Guild." Just as Valyr was about to ask a few more things to Zeik regarding the tournament's current venue, the young man heard a slightly mocking voice coming from his back, prompting him to look at the man that spoke with a slight frown.
