The crowd erupted as soon as the Yeti fell.
"Little Sun!"
"Survivor!"
"SIX!"
"SIX!"
Cheers and chants came from all directions.
Regaining my breath, I slowly stood up. The Yeti's thick muscles gave me enough footing, but standing on a corpse was still difficult. My gaze drifted through the crowd as I stood upright on the beast's body.
Soon, my eyes settled on a familiar figure.
John.
He stood at the podium, watching the crowd.
By now, he should have declared the end of the fight.
But he didn't.
Another person had walked up to him and was whispering something into his ear.
It was the first time I had seen that happen.
Only a few seconds passed before the person disappeared from the platform again.
Then, before speaking, John's gaze shifted.
Toward me.
I didn't know whether he was looking only at me or at our whole group, but it felt as if I was the target of his stare.
A moment passed before his gaze shifted again.
Now it moved somewhere toward the crowd.
Curious, I followed his gaze, but I couldn't make out where exactly he was looking. So I turned my gaze back to him only to find him ending the fight as if nothing had happened.
***
I wasn't able to sleep.
The fight had been exhausting, and I was tired, but my mind refused to rest. My heart still raced as I replayed the fight again and again.
Not the whole fight.
Only the last moments.
The moment I made a mistake and looked up, only to find a large pair of hands before me, ready to crush me. And the way Rash had appeared at the very last second and saved me.
That scene wouldn't leave my mind.
Then, as if only remembering now, I opened my mouth.
"Rash."
A sleepy voice answered.
"Hmm?"
I spoke softly.
"Thanks… for saving me."
In return, I got a lazy, "You're welcome."
I could already picture him smiling while half asleep. That brought a small smile to my own face.
Then my mind finally settled, and I drifted into sleep.
***
Rash and I were taking a break between training and were sitting, backs leaning against the wall.
My gaze traveled forward, where two groups of teens stood at a distance, training and discussing things.
One of the groups consisted of seven teens. Some of them were heavily injured from yesterday's fight, and their members were a mixture of the survivors from two different groups.
The other group consisted of only four people.
It was our group.
In contrast to the others, they were in a pristine state and focused on their training.
Looking at the eleven teens in front of us, I couldn't help but let out a sigh.
'The ending drew near.'
With my experience, I could already guess that John would throw some nasty beasts at us to create something entertaining.
And I wasn't keen on that.
"Maybe one or two battles."
Rash's voice broke me out of my thoughts.
Nodding, I answered,
"Yeah. It will be over soon."
A comfortable silence settled between us as we gazed at the groups of teens, only to be broken a moment later by Rash's voice again.
"Hey, what would you do if you got out of here?"
Confused, I asked,
"Out of here?"
Rash nodded.
"Yeah. If we leave this place after becoming the only group left. What would you do?"
I thought for a moment about his question.
There were a lot of things I planned to do when I left this place.
Going back to Elandor and taking revenge was the first thing on that list. But for that, I needed strength. I didn't know exactly how strong Anton was on the Path of Mana, but with him being a Marquis and everything, he had to be leagues above me.
And even without taking Anton into account, I couldn't just go back to Elandor right now. A criminal wouldn't really be welcomed there, and it wouldn't take long before they imprisoned me again.
So going back immediately was out of the question.
The second thing on that list was finding Lisa.
Something that seemed impossible.
A hopeless endeavor.
The third and last thing was becoming stronger.
There was one law above all others in this world.
That law was strength.
If I were strong, I wouldn't be a slave right now, fighting desperately to survive.
If I were strong, I could have smashed that whole Tribunal into pieces.
Only the strong could do what they wanted.
And I wanted to be strong.
These were the three things I wanted to do once I regained my freedom.
Revenge.
A hopeless search.
And becoming strong.
To achieve all that, one thing was important.
The thing I lacked the most.
Information.
So the most logical thing to do after getting out of here was to stay in Drakoria for a while and learn more about this world.
Opening my mouth, I finally answered,
"I would stay in Drakoria a bit longer. There are still a lot of things I don't know and could learn here."
Rash let out a chuckle at my words, which made me turn my head toward him.
"Wow, learning really? What a noble endeavor, your majesty. Hahah."
My cold stare didn't stop him from laughing.
I asked, annoyed.
"Yeah? And what would you do that is so much better?"
Hearing my serious tone, he slowly stopped laughing and replied after thinking for a bit.
"I would eat something delicious."
I frowned.
"Eating really?"
Rash immediately became overly serious and turned toward me.
"Adonis. You are still too young. Tsk."
He clicked his tongue before continuing in a serious tone.
"The real happiness of life is obviously food…"
Then he lowered his voice.
"…and money."
I still heard the last part.
"Shouldn't you understand it after eating only dried meat and hard bread for so long?"
Thinking about it, I could only nod at his words.
Eating something good would also be one of the first things I'd do. I had simply thought he meant it in a grand scheme.
Seeing me nod, he continued.
"Good. Then what would you eat? Your first real meal after such a long time?"
I thought for a moment before choosing something I really missed.
"Grilled meat."
The juicy taste of grilled meat was what I missed the most after eating nothing but dried meat for so long.
Rash nodded.
"Good decision."
Then I added.
"With salt."
But hearing my added words made Rash freeze for a moment.
His smile vanished as he replied.
"Wow. Look at this guy dreaming big already."
***
I placed my sword back into the weapon rack and headed out of the arena.
Rash was already waiting in the corridor.
But—
"29!"
I stopped walking after hearing my number.
Turning toward the voice, I saw a dragonkin guard stepping out of one of the side corridors. I looked at him in confusion since it wasn't normal to be called by the guards during our free time.
He saw my confusion but ignored it and only gestured with his hand.
"Follow me."
He turned around without even checking if I was actually following him and walked back into the corridor.
I glanced at Rash, who only shrugged.
"See ya."
He waved and headed back to our cell.
Seeing that the guard wasn't waiting, I stepped forward and followed after him.
The guard's pace wasn't fast, and it didn't take long before I caught up and walked behind him.
My mind raced while we moved down the corridor, but no matter how much I thought, I couldn't find a reason why I had been called.
The only thing that came to mind was that I had been quite disobedient during the previous Blooding seasons. There hadn't been another escape attempt since I feared another whipping, but every now and then, I would receive a message from the guards.
That I should entertain the crowd more.
That I should stretch my duels longer.
I had ignored those orders and never faced any repercussions.
But it would be strange if I were now punished for something that happened months ago.
Step.
The guard halted abruptly in front of me.
I almost walked into him with my mind occupied, but stopped just in time. I looked at his back for a moment before shifting my gaze to the side.
We were standing in front of an old metal door.
With a swift movement, the guard pulled out a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked it.
The door opened with a creak.
Step.
He stepped inside.
My gaze followed him past the threshold, and I saw a spiral staircase leading upward.
The guard stopped after climbing a few steps and glanced back, red eyes staring down at me.
"Follow me, slave."