Chapter 7

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"Grandpa!" The two yelled in unison, quickly running to the loving old man they knew.

Grandpa Dinran, who had just finished dealing with a customer, looked over at his two grandchildren and smiled, with a hint of delight in his eyes. "Alivia! Zairen! What are you two doing here?"

"Grandpa, today I brought Zairen out of the house to go see the village. I wanted to show him your awesome store!" Alivia said excitedly. She ran forward and embraced Grandpa Dinran tightly.

After thinking for a moment, she then added on: "Oh yeah, and this morning I found a few earl flowers! You can definitely sell these for a bit of money." She released the hug and enthusiastically dug into her pocket. Out of her pocket appeared three small, grey-leafed flowers. They let out a faint medicinal aroma.

Zairen eyed these flowers with a slight bit of surprise. He immediately recognized this type of flower; back in the Dark Moon Continent, they were simply called "grey flowers". They were a low quality type of pain-reliever, used commonly by the lower class.

Grandpa Dinran accepted Alivia's earl flowers, pat her head, and then said gratefully: "You're a great help, Alivia. Thank you."

Alivia giggled gleefully.

Zairen couldn't help but feel guilty. While Alivia was dedicating herself to helping her grandfather out, he was selfishly only focused on becoming stronger.

"Zairen, you finally came out of your room?" Grandpa Dinran teased. For the past two weeks, Zairen had seldom left his room.

"Yes, Grandpa Dinran. Thanks for taking care of me." Zairen truly felt grateful. "I really should have been helping with the business..."

"No no, Zairen. You’re only a little boy; don't feel so obligated to help us out. We'll manage." Grandpa Dinran chuckled. "Besides, how could I blame the person who fixed my leg? So many people are wondering who my saintly benefactor is!”

Zairen felt a pang of guilt strike his chest. Grandpa Dinran was such a kind person; how could Zairen not help him? Zairen had fixed his leg, but so what? Did that mean he would not help his own family?

"Don’t say that, grandpa.” Zairen said ashamedly. “Of course I will help out!”

“Zairen, I know that you have a lot on your plate,” Grandpa Dinran laughed. “Alivia and I are already very appreciative of you.”

A smiling expression burst onto Zairen's face. Grandpa Dinran was truly too kind.

“Zairen!” Alivia suddenly put her arm around Zairen’s shoulder. “You were interested in watching the arena, right? I’ll go take you to see it.”

Before Zairen could even respond, Alivia had already pushed him off in the direction they had arrived from, heading back to the arena.

Before long, they disappeared from Grandpa Dinran’s view.

“It’s only been about two weeks, but they already seem very affectionate with each other.” Grandpa Dinran chuckled.

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Alivia and Zairen soon arrived at the Bindan Arena. A large, crowded scene greeted them as they saw that there was another fight taking place, this time between the same Komanji they had seen earlier and another seemingly tough fighter.

“Let’s take a seat and watch,” Alivia suggested, pointing at some benches on the side of the platform.

Zairen nodded, and they both sat down on one of the benches closest to the action.

“How come Komanji is still fighting? Didn't he already fight earlier?” He asked Alivia as they were getting settled in.

“Oh, that?” Alivia replied. “That’s because he’s choosing to fight consecutively. The more opponents he can beat in a row, the more bonus money he gets.”

“Oh, you can get bonus money?” Zairen’s ears perked up.

“Yes, each contestant earns an exponentially higher prize every consecutive opponent he can beat,” Alivia said excitedly. “But don’t think that it’s easy money! The opponents also usually get tougher and tougher the further along the contestant gets, and the contestant becomes more and more tired as he isn't given a chance to rest. Most people can only fight one or two matches as they do not have the stamina to continue fighting.”

“But theoretically speaking…” Zairen rubbed his chin. “If a contestant could beat a large number of opponents in a row… They could get really rich?”

“Sure,” Alivia laughed. “Theoretically someone could beat, say, ten opponents in a row and receive a fortune! However, that almost never happens! The most anyone has ever done is seven rounds in a row, and he became a legend. It’s much too difficult to be able to defeat so many strong people in a row without exhausting yourself!”

Zairen nodded. Even if one was skilled, it would still be difficult to fight many back-to-back matches in a row without completely depleting their stamina. “Is there a minimum age a contestant has to be to fight in the arena?”

Alivia chuckled. “Yes, all contestants have to be at least fifteen years old.” She glanced at Zairen and playfully patted him on the back. “What, are you itching to get up there and fight?”

“Maybe,” Zairen responded mysteriously. He was silent as he continued to watch the intense fight that was panning out on the stage. He seemed to be pondering something.

Thinking that he was joking, Alivia laughed, and then turned her attention back to the fight.

Soon after, the fight ended. Komanji had ended up losing, but it had been close, and he had already previously beaten four opponents in a row, so the loss was completely understandable. It was already very impressive for him to have beaten four fighters!

Alivia and Zairen got out of their seats. “Where do you want to go next?” Alivia asked.

“Hmm... Actually, can we go to a clothing shop? I want to get some clothes,” Zairen replied.

“Sure!” Alivia gleefully said. “Since you don't have any money yet, let your big sister pay for you. I just got my allowance from grandpa!”

Knowing that he could probably pay her back three-fold later, Zairen didn't decline. “Thanks so much, big sister!”

The two made their way to a stand that sold different articles of clothing, and Zairen selected a long black full-body robe that had a flap that covered the face.

Although Alivia was curious about this selection, she didn’t question it, and didn't hesitate to pay for it.

“Zairen, how about we visit the pawn shop?” Alivia excitedly suggested, after they had finished buying the clothing he wanted. “It’s always cool to look at what weird new stuff they have.”

“Pawn shop?” Zairen tilted his head.

“Yeah, they sell and buy miscellaneous items there,” Alivia responded. “Anything can end up there, so it’s fun to see if any of the items are any good. If we’re lucky, we can find something very valuable that may have been mistakenly identified!”

“Sure, let’s go!” Zairen said cheerfully. Truthfully, he was very curious about what kinds of things were in this kind of shop.

Without further ado, Alivia held Zairen’s hand to lead him forward again, and the two children set off.

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