Putting a great portion of his strength into his punch, Valyr took on a casual stance as his right fist made contact with Faulus' stomach, the force behind it sending the young man flying.
"Faulus!" Coincidentally, the man's escort, who had been minding his own business all this time, happened to notice that the candidate he had escorted was now flying, prompting him to head to where Faulus was going to land and break his fall.
Thud.
With how much momentum Faulus had generated while he was in midair, the force from his fall was more than enough to cover both him and his escort in a layer of dust, stirring up all of the dust in their immediate vicinity in the process.
"Huu." Letting out a low sigh of relief as he retracted his fist, Valyr turned around to look at Zeik, who looked back at him with a faint smile as he briefly gave the young man a thumbs-up.
"You…" After the dust had settled, Faulus and his escort gradually stood up, with the former's face containing immense rage as he stared daggers at Valyr. "Did you think of my earlier words as a joke?"
"Of course not." Valyr gave Faulus an amicable smile.
"You asked me to show you my right, so I did just that." At those words, the young man raised his right fist, forcing Zeik to stifle the laughter that wanted to come out.
"Are you saying that you earned the right to participate in this inheritance through your might?" Muttering a few words to the escort beside him, which caused the former to slightly frown, Faulus eventually asked a question to Valyr.
"You're always free to ask about my right again, you know?" Raising his right fist once more, Valyr taunted Faulus into becoming furious once more.
However, just as it seemed like Valyr's words seemed to take effect, Faulus took in a couple of deep breaths once he noticed his escort place his hand on top of his shoulder.
"There's no need. You've already proven your right." Letting out a long, drawn-out sigh, Faulus instead decided to end the conversation between them then and there, heading to the other side of the crater as he glared daggers at Valyr one more time.
"And here I thought that would've worked a second time." Muttering these words to himself, Valyr watched as Faulus and his escort moved farther away from him and Zeik.
"I guess he instantly realized something from that punch you gave him." Moving closer to where Valyr stood, Zeik gave the young man a probable answer. "After all, the Lord of Medicine isn't renowned for his fighting capabilities."
"Are you telling me he decided to bow down after realizing I was stronger than him?" Faintly nodding at the distant Faulus after realizing he knew when to back down, Valyr posed the question to the man beside him.
"I guess so." Briefly shrugging his shoulders in response, Zeik suggested to Valyr that they passed the time waiting for the other candidates by talking about certain topics. Hearing that, Valyr agreed without hesitation, hoping to catch up on recent events as the two of them sat near the edge of the crater.
'Well then. I guess you're not that insufferable, after all.' Glancing a bit at Faulus, who coincidentally was looking back at him from the other side of the crater, Valyr flashed a smile at the young man as he soon returned to his conversation with Zeik.
…
"I apologize for being late." After waiting near the crater for about half an hour, a couple more people had eventually shown up, prompting Valyr and Faulus' group to look at the group that had just arrived.
With how Faulus and Valyr were escorted to this place by a single person, it was no surprise that the candidate that had arrived was escorted by a single person, which was an old woman that looked to be nearing her sixties.
Accompanying her was a young woman that looked quite frail, her complexion slightly pale. However, if one were to look at her dark brown eyes, one would think otherwise, feeling a great amount of determination and tenacity slumbering deep within.
Combine that with a head of ash blond hair tied up into a ponytail, as well as a simple get-up that accentuated her features even further, one would instantly feel like the young woman had a unique charm to her.
"Have you two been waiting for a long time?" Seeing as the two candidates that came before her had taken up a single side of the crater, the young woman urged that she and her escort take up another side as well. Once that was done, she then asked a question to both Faulus and Valyr.
"We haven't been waiting for that long." Knowing the pitiful condition the young woman was in, Valyr decided to be amicable in his response, flashing a faint smile at her.
"I arrived at around the same time he arrived." Surprisingly, Faulus responded normally to the young woman's question, a stark contrast to his incessant questioning towards Valyr's qualifications earlier. Noticing this, Valyr had a feeling that Faulus knew of the young woman's condition as well.
'Well, it's either that or something else.' Deciding to not think about the sudden shift in Faulus' personality, Valyr engaged in a bit of small talk with the young woman, with Faulus joining in on the conversation not long after as all of them talked about mundane topics.
"Ah, shoot. I'm the last one to arrive." By the time another half hour had passed, the last candidate making up the group had finally arrived, arriving at the crater with an escort behind him.
Giving Valyr and the others an apologetic smile after that, he then asked the three, "Have you three been waiting for long?"
"Not at all. Only a bit of time has passed since your arrival." Hearing the question, the young woman shook her head in response, prompting Valyr and Faulus to look at each other for a bit before shaking their heads as well.
"Thank goodness." At those words, the man that had just arrived let out a sigh of relief. "Since we've all come here to get to know each other better and to determine the one that would lead the group in the upcoming inheritance, we should introduce ourselves."
"With that, how about I introduce myself first?"
