Derb gasped and gripped his neck, not able to breathe. It was still attached, luckily enough. He looked around and realized he probably lost the tournament. He woke up as soon as his head hit the ground, in the same room of rituals he was brought to before. The ritualists seemed to be doing a lot better, a lot less exhausted and a lot more formal. Everyone was running around with documents in their hands, going around to the recently killed and making them sign-

Derb dodged a punch to the gut by Adam, who’s face looked ready to explode. With a leap, he hid behind one of the ritualists, a young-looking man who looked at Derb the same way a beetle did an ant. He sighed at the massive man charging towards them and flicked his wrist, enveloping Adam in chains. Adam stumbled and flopped on the floor, still looking at Derb with rage. “Thank you good sir… how old are you again?” Derb didn’t want to call someone younger than him sir and this guy almost fit that description.

The ritualist sighed, before flicking his wrist and summoning a sheet of paper. “Old enough to be your grandfather. Don’t worry, there will always be a few like these.” He kicked Adam lightly in the head, only increasing his rage. “The dumb ones always dont understand the difference between real death and this.” Derb nodded anxiously, a bit uncomfortable at seeing the person he’d been friends with just a moment before treated roughly. The man shoved the papers towards him along with a pen. “Sign this or we won’t be able to fully protect you in case anything happens.” Derb glanced at Adam on the ground and remembered the other enemies he made, before taking the paper and signing it as fast as possible.

Once he handed it back the ritualist continued. “With this you agree to not harm anyone in the tournament unless it is in self defense. Not doing so will mean grave punishment, please refrain from doing so. You’re free to leave until tomorrow, the rankings will be posted then.” The ritualist chanted as if he’d done it a million times, right before walking away and leaving him with Adam. He stretched, feeling better than he’d ever felt in his life. It was probably because he’d felt like shit just a while ago.

He looked down at Adam and thought about the rest of them, sweating bullets. They'd probably already found Chipmunk and learned the situation. He thought about the broken daggers that he needed to pay back. Before he could plan out the situation he saw Connor appear in the middle of the circle, panicking and scuttering away from everyone. Derb sighed and just sent him back inside his soul, no need to worry about him right now. He picked up Adam, who was still chained up.

“Adam… hey, big guy.” Derb said in a consoling tone. Adam didn’t even bother replying, he was too furious, his neck straining as he tried to break free. Derb just kept talking, pulling out a gold coin from the inside of his armor. “Give this to your teammate, gabby. Tell her to keep the change.” He placed the gold inside Adam’s chestplate and booked it. Now that everything was taken care of he had to run before trouble came to look for him. He noticed Frederick in the background talking to the other teams, looking as if he hadn’t just been killed.

He put on his hood and hid from Frederick’s view, this wasn’t the time to talk. The more he walked the more the whispers around him got louder. If he knew he wouldn’t have won either way he’d have at least been kinder to the other competitors. He activated the rabbit spell to speed himself up, now that he was in top shape mana wasn’t a problem. The whispers had turned to pointing as he activated snake eyes to dodge the people in front of him. He cursed at how full the ritual room was, wasn’t this place supposed to be important?

A few minutes later he was out of the room and sprinting full speed down the hallway. Why did he have to be so goddamn recognizable? It didn’t help that his armor was in tatters, making him stand out even more. He pulled the cloak closer to himself, running while hiding his identity. By the time he made it out, he could hear the crowd cheering and applauding. He couldn’t hear the speaker, though. It really must have been a type of magic. He rubbed the completely torn armor in his neck area, it’d already been ruined from fighting but the little bit at the end where someone tore his head clean off had made it really uncomfortable to wear.

He couldn’t even take it off, the clasp was jammed and stuck the helmet to his neck and shoulders. He activated the boar spell to stop the pain and kept walking. The crowd cheering and applauding in the distance was annoying, especially since he wasn’t at the center of it. Did the speaker expose him for his secrets while he was deaf? He shouldn’t have lied with so little regard for details. He was tired and his mind was getting hazy from the poison, there was little he could do in that situation.

He snarled at the fact that he had no money left, how did people even make money here? He still had food and he paid the inn in advance so he wasn’t too… damnit. He almost punched a building before he caught himself, he wouldn’t be able to pay for the damage done. He’d done so much work and made it so far… Why the hell did he lose? He thought about how disappointed Gerald would be, maybe even Deitre would punish him for this. He was so deep in thought that he missed the inn by a couple of buildings. He backtracked, going inside with a bit of anger in his step.

There were a good amount of people eating in the inn and most stared at the intimidating knight with ruined armor, wondering what his problem was. He didn’t bother with any of them, just going to where his room was. Within a few seconds, he tore open his travel bag and took out most of the rations in there. He’d been feeling hungry since before the ritualist handicapped him, healing his body required his own nutrients, after all. He tried pulling off his helmet again, groaning when he remembered what happened. He summoned Connor again, who was calmer than he was before.

“Fix my armor, focus on the helmet.” With the simple order, Derb decided to go into meditation. His body had been feeling stuffy since the beginning of the trip, a product of his new ability. His body was full of impurities at this point, and he cursed how badly his body’s core looked. It was looking almost like Jack’s, speckled in black slime that was putting out the flames of his soul. Nothing a little filtering could fix. He gathered the mana around him, rippling around him in an armor-like substance. It was no longer a whirlpool than it was a second nervous system.

With every breath he released as much mana as he could from his body, filling the air with a dark blue mist. The process repeated itself, filling it with more pure mana while releasing it out again, eventually causing his body to become cleaner. His thoughts became clearer, no longer angry at the betrayal. He’d done the same and was being hypocritical, no lives were lost either way. Besides, he learned plenty of things while in the tournament. Salem and Krystal were two powerhouses in their field, but judging from how they fought they relied on each other to win. Ryan and his team were considered local heroes, for one reason or another. And finally…

That one team he met at the end. Full of young people about his age. They were quite peculiar in how well balanced their team was. Derb had heard that summoners and healers were quite… rare, and usually were picked to do things that weren’t in the front lines. He didn’t care about the rest, except maybe the archer who’d poisoned him for different reasons. He mainly needed to find the summoner, anything she could show him in the practicality behind summoners was desperately needed.

The ritual book he had was a fine teacher but he couldn’t expect all the little things in summoning to be taught in it. If he was being honest, he hoped she had a proper teacher he could take some hints from. He doubted she had the same talent as him in mana control… maybe whoever was teaching her would take him under their wing? Derb grinned, his selfish desires causing the deep meditation to unravel. He’d been doing the technique for a while and his body felt… smoother, more graceful.

At least, his mind felt less spiteful. He looked down to see his armor still in tatters, though his helmet was looking good. Connor was flying around him, holding his head as if it was a diamond. He removed the helmet, taking a breath of fresh air. “Good job, Connor. I’m putting you back now, it’s weird to have someone watch me eat.” Connor nodded and was sent back into the soul. Derb looked ravenously at the wrapped rations, crawling towards them like an animal. He tore the cloth apart, ripping into whatever was inside. The bread and meat had gotten tougher over time but it was nothing compared to his boar spell.

He tore through everything like it was made out of soft cheese only stopping occasionally to cough and choke on something that went down wrong. He stopped soon enough, his stomach could only handle so much after all. With a burp, he sprawled onto the floor, no longer feeling that annoying empty rumbling in his belly. He really hated today, he had to admit. He lied to a lot of people for the sake of winning and didn’t even win, by someone doing the same to him, ironically.

He thought about how he could change the outcome, could he have kept Adam? Should he have just charged Jenny and Derrick? No, at that point he would have been near death from the poison, he wouldn’t have been able to overpower adam. He didn’t expect Derrick’s blade to be that sharp, either… Was there any way he could have won in the end? He no longer felt angry after the meditation, so the disappointment and guilt started setting in. He always became like this after lying so much, even though he used to do it so often.

What would his teachers think? ...What would the sisters think!? Oh god, he was acting like a cheating bastard the whole time and he didn’t once think about them hearing about it. He pulled at his hair, thinking about Hannah watching herself around him, or Tiffany acting like he was a menace again. He’d rather have Deitre beat him black and blue again… Not that that wasn’t going to happen either way. He almost thought about just passing out on the floor before deciding against it. He had to go get some water to wash everything down… and a bath. Oh god, a bath.

He peeled off his armor and summoned Connor, ordering him to fix it while he was gone. He ripped off his cloak and put on one of the expensive outfits Jenny had gotten him. A slim-fit black shirt with roguish-looking pants that were baggy but tight around the ankles. He looked at the mirror… It burned knowing he was broke while wearing this outfit, it made him feel like he was a fake show off. He considered taking his sword before remembering he’d have to hold it the whole time he was outside… After a bit of looking in his pack, he fashioned a trashy makeshift over-the-shoulder handle to hang the sword in.

He’d have to tear through it to use his sword but he doubted that’d matter in the heat of the moment… Wait, why was he even thinking about fighting? This was a peaceful city, no one was going to jump out and rob him or anything. He groaned, his train of thought derailing from such a violent path. Except for that one time he hung out with Jenny there hadn’t been much peace in his life. It made him a bit jumpy and unable to calm down, making him think a bit too rushed. Now that he had literally no money he definitely had no time to rest. Forget his teacher’s reaction to his loss, he’d have to find a way to gather enough money to even make the trip back!

The rope dug into his ribs a bit which just served to annoy him, no amount of repositioning stopping the annoyance. He just activated the boar spell and decided to leave it at that. With a travel ration on hand he walked out the door, a lot of people seemed to be in the end, and all of them were looking around. He guessed they were looking for Jenny and the others, probably to bask in their glory. The thought of the amount of money they won made him green with envy, maybe he’d ask the innkeeper if he could sweep the floor or something for a silver.

He made it to the counter, he saw the innkeeper’s wife struggling to keep up with three heavily armed warriors who looked a bit angry. She looked like she was about to cry, she wasn’t even saying anything. He grinned, maybe he’d be able to make a silver from this. He placed the ration in his hand on a table, rushing over to the counter. “Hey, uh… What’s going on?” Her eyes widened when she saw him, though not in relief but in worry weirdly enough. The three looked at him in annoyance, before one spoke up. “We’re looking for the black knight, Derbemiah was his name. You know where we can find him, little man?”

The last bit shocked him, he was sure he was taller than this man, if a tiny eeny weeny bit skinnier. He obviously wasn’t going to reveal himself. “Doesn’t ring a bell, is that the guy who was acting like hot shit in the arena? Why is he staying here? It’d be funny to see how he looks now that he lost.” The three smirked, before walking away from them. “Maybe keep that to yourself, no need to try for an early death.” One said, before being hit by another. “Shut up, it’s always fun to see an idiot like that. No need to scare him.” The three laughed before walking away, leaving him alone with the innkeeper’s wife.

“I… thank you?” She said/asked. He inwardly sighed, if they fought he’d have been able to make bank as a bodyguard. Instead, they seemed to just be looking for him, not her. “Sorry about lying like that, I don’t usually… let’s forget I said anything. Do you know where I can get money?” He asked, trying to change the subject. It worked a bit too well, he could almost see the gears overworking in her head. “I… um. The adventurer’s guild is accepting quests. You could apply as a mercenary, it might suit you.”

He nodded as she wrote down the directions on paper. “You’d think being a mercenary would be a bad thing, haha. See you later, ma’am.” He didn’t notice the disappointed look on her face as he took the note and set off. The adventurer’s guild wasn’t too far away, only a few blocks away from the inn. It was also hard to miss since it was built more traditionally than all the other buildings. It was large, but looked too much like a home to look intimidating. In fact, he’d mistake it for a comfy bar if it wasn’t for the giant sign nailed to the front.

He made his way inside, taking note of the adventurers inside. Many looked around their forties, playing cards or just all-around drinking and having fun. He almost wanted to go back outside to see if he hadn’t really just walked into a bar. They were all to one side, fortunately enough. To the right, it was a lot more formal, with a giant sign and three ladies manning the counter. He made his way up to one of the counters, not bothering himself with the sign.

The lady looked at him coyishly, nothing like a new fresh face to the never-ending sea of old fogies. She leaned forward, one of her hands fiddling with her hair. “What can I do for you? Not many faces like yours around here, you seem a bit… dark.” He grinned widely at the compliment, completely ruining the mysterious atmosphere he had going on. “Thank you kindly, ma’am. Say, what do you do in these types of places? Someone brought me here after I told them I was broke.” She almost coughed blood, he said almost everything you could say wrong in an adventurer’s guild. He even called her ma’am, she was 28, the prime of her life!

The interest in him dried up like a desert. “What do you know about the guild? I need to know where to go from,” she asked disinterestedly. Derb scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly, “Um, I'm guessing you pay me to kill things? Hopefully enough for the end of the week, I’m almost out of rations… Shit, I left my food at the inn!” She stared with dead eyes as Derb started panicking about losing some of his already finite food supply. This was going to take a while.