As Wesley returned to Gust’s side, the latter patted him on the back.

“Good fight, little man. All of that complicated wall stuff, you stole from his wheelhouse, huh.”

“Yeah… but I’m really tired, and really hungry now. I think I overused my mana.”

“No worries, little man. I think my duel’s next. I’ll finish the old man up quick and we’ll get our money and get some really nice food, okay?”

As if on cue, Gust was motioned to head onto the stage. Just like his first fight, he handed his bag over to Wesley, and leaped onto stage with his kukris. This time, however, he was dressed in the leather armor he’d pilfered off of Eric’s deceased body just the day before.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the stadium a...monolith wielding a heavy, two-handed mace ascended to the arena stage.

“...” Gust could do nothing but stare at his “opponent”.

This was because his opponent was covered head to toe in heavy steel armor. In fact, he wasn’t even sure it was Chad, because not a single sliver of the human wearing the armor could be seen.

Actually, how was Chad even able to move, under the weight of all of that armor? Gust couldn’t help but wonder.

Meanwhile, the system announcer was busy hyping up the match. “As you all know, Chad, the village tanner, lost his son to young Gust over here in the arena yesterday! Clearly, Chad has taken his loss to heart, and has pulled some strings to secure himself Fevi’s famous Heavy Steel Set! Just look at the thing! I promise, folks, this’ll be a battle for the ag- huh?”

“Wait, Gust, where are you going?”

Gust had already jumped off of the arena stage, grabbed his bag from Wesley, and looked to be heading for the stadium exit…

“What the hell you mean, you idiot! How the hell am I supposed to fight that? I ain’t suicidal, the guy could stand there all day and I’d never make a dent. He could kill me just by falling on me, screw that, I’m out.”

“Wait, that’s against stadium rules! You have to fight!” By now, the stadium announcer was growing panicked, as the audience had begun booing.

They’d made a fair amount of money advertising the duels of these two kids, but if Gust didn’t fight, they’d probably be inundated with demands for a refund.

“Alright, fine.” Gust quickly turned right back around, and ascended the arena stage yet again.

“Alright!” Perhaps worried that Gust would leave again, the stadium announcer no longer hyped up the match, but skipped to starting the fight.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Ready?”

Chad lifted the two-handed mace and pointed it toward Gust. “Ready.”

“Fight!”

As soon as this word was uttered, however, Gust quickly said “I forfeit!” and jumped back off the stage.

The system announcer was nearly about to cry. “What are you doing? Go and fight!”

“I did, didn't I? The fight started, and then I forfeited.”

The crowd showered Gust’s words with boos, but he didn’t mind at all.

“Wesley, we’re leaving.”

The two casually made their way out of the stadium to collect Wesley’s earnings, then left to the same restaurant they had visited the day earlier.

As the two chowed down on some more comfort food, Gust brought up the duo’s next plan of action.

“Hey little man, I don’t think we’re going to be able to get much more from the stadium here, how bout you?”

“Mhmm.” Truth be told, Wesley was just glad that he’d come out victorious in his first solo battle. The delicious food they’d had the last two days had been another large benefit, but after having proved himself, he wanted to continue the journey to the Reiniad Kingdom.

It was time to leave.

After the two finished their meal, they headed out of the village, due East.

However, just a few minutes after they left, several armored men, riding horses, could be seen congregating near the eastern entrance of the village.

One of them lifted his helmet’s visor and addressed the one on the lead horse. “Chad, must we really go these lengths? True, your son was killed, but you can always have another one. Besides, it wasn’t as if he was murdered in an abandoned alleyway - he died an honorable death in the arena.”

Chad glared at him. “Remember, I’ve saved your sons life before. The least you can do for me is to avenge mine.”

“...I’m here, aren’t I? Still, I don’t like this.”

Other than Fevi, the village blacksmith, there were several others, mercenaries who had been passing by the village.

While Gust and Wesley had been relaxing, eating their mid-day meal, Chad had angrily stomped over to the village pub, and thrown down his savings to recruit this squad of mercenaries.

At the high price of fifty silver coins, Chad had hired a small team of mercenaries, eight strong, to aid him in his cause.

At the price of another ten silvers, he had rented horses for the entire team, and now, they were ready to chase down their prey.

Meanwhile, as Gust and Wesley were walking down the eastern road, Gust reached inside his bag and started moving stuff around.

‘Any minute now…’

“Hey Wesley, get ready to fight.”

“Hmm? Why?”

“I think that Chad guy I pissed off is going to come after us.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Speaking of, can you build stuff other than walls? And in something that’s not as slippery as ice?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Hm, just a stone pillar or something that we can stand on, circular, about 5 feet in diameter and 15 feet high?”

“I can write that, but I don’t know any non-ice seals yet, so I would need about thirty seconds of lead time.”

“I’ll let you know.”

…

Just a few minutes later, Gust’s perceptive ears picked up the sound of hooves in the distance.

“Wesley, get started.”

Just a few seconds later, Gust could see a dozen horses, mounted by armored fighters, closing in on them from the direction of the village they had just left.

Another few seconds, and Gust and Wesley had been surrounded. Gust reached his arms out, protecting Wesley from the horses. Meanwhile, Wesley concentrated on writing his spell.

From his horse, Chad taunted his prey. “Did you really think you could just leave like that, Gust? You should have just let me kill you in the arena! There, I could only have killed you, but here, haha, I can torture you for hours, and nobody will be any the wiser!

“As for your little friend there, don’t worry, I’m sure I can sell him off to some mage to experiment on.” Chad’s face couldn’t be seen, but one could hear the malice in his voice.

“Oh no! Please, spare us!”, cried Gust.

Despite his words, a hint of mischief could be seen in his eyes, a gem grasped in his fist.