“You know you could have said no, right?” Risa pointedly said while looking at me with her scary eyes. She was reading a book at the library before I told her the news.

I had told Risa what had happened earlier. I knew she wouldn’t like me helping someone who tried to kill her. But I had my own reason.

“So, what part made you think helping William with his problems would make me happy?”

In the eyes of others, her short and fragile body, when genuinely angry, wouldn’t be scary or threatening, it might even motivate others to say silly things but not for me. Every second her eyes angrily stare at me, it hurt. Physically and mentally. It felt as if I received a divine punishment from her.

I held the unbearable pain and wryly said, “Well, I wanted to do it for Merry…”

“For Merry?”

I nodded heavily and scratched the back of my hair. “Remember she volunteered? I don’t know but when I saw her sad face, I wanted to take her place.”

Slowly, Risa’s hostile eyes gently let loose and the pain I felt started to subside. It only happened for a fleeting moment but her face looked troubled. After that moment, her face turned stern.

“I’ll let you go this time,” she warned. “If it’s for Merry then Risa have no problem with that.”

I sighed mentally and said “Well, I don’t plan on postponing our plan…”

“You better not. Risa would be happier if William’s dead.” She continued to read the books she’d been reading. “So what are you going to do now?”

“The festival starts in a few days and so does the tournament. We’re going to the palace today to register.”

“Wait, you have to go to the palace just to register?” Risa furrowed her brows. “Doesn’t that pose security risks?”

“Since it’s only the aristocracy that is allowed to participate in the Champion bracket, most of them are allowed in the palace. The other brackets have other place where they can register.”

She wasn’t even looking at me when she said, “Uh-huh. Do keep an ear on the palace. There might be something we could use there.”

“Roger that. Oh yeah, everybody should be here in a moment. Make sure to play nice, okay?”

“What do you think Risa is? A kid?”

“I mean, can you handle a room full of humans?”

“As long as Merry is there, Risa will be fine. You can go now.”

Well, I would be at ease, too, if I was with Merry. That’s just how big her impact on us.

*

Before I came out of the house, Feim handed me a suit. It was a custom-made suit that was only made for the Borin Family. It was an azure suit with their emblem engraved on the back.

By the time I came out of the house, a coach parked in front of the house. Needless to say, the coach looked grandiose and noble with four white horses leading the way. In total, there would be four people: Lindwal would be the chauffeur, William, Feim and I.

I hadn’t been able to go outside for a couple of days and so many things had changed. Usually, there would only be few people roaming the streets in the Noble’s Quarters but today, the streets teemed with commoners working on decorating and making it livelier.

Flags of the Kingdom waved from the top of establishments as we passed along. I’d lost count on how many carts had passed us by and judging from the looks of it, we stood out like a sore thumb. It wasn’t so bad though, the Noble’s Quarter looked like a ghost town before and now there were people here, it finally felt like a proper place.

In the distance, you could see the King’s Palace. The palace was surrounded by a deep moat and protected by high walls. The palace looked heavily fortified with numerous of royal guards patrolling and walking around. There were no establishments surrounding the palace, which was why there was only little traffic, mostly made up by nobles like us.

The royal guards checked our coach as William showed his face. The royal guard immediately recognized William and let us through the grand gate. Just like in William’s mansion, we had to go through a garden first. I always found it calming when going through one of these gardens.

There were multiple small buildings and most of them were connected to the main building using open hallways. According to Feim, they were the Church, Armory, Greenhouse, Antechamber and an Arena.

The Palace was homed to the King and his family. It also housed the High Courts, where laws and policies were made.

We got off the coach while Lindwal parked the horse at the Royal Stable. For the three of us, we had to meet the List Keeper and probably meet and greet the Queen, too.

The royal guards opened the door for us and we entered the palace. Needless to say, the inside of the palace could take one’s breath away. I’d never felt so out of place even compared to the first time I went to William’s house. Compared to that, I had friends with me, this time though, I didn’t have any.

As we walked the glistening hallways filled with paintings of wealthy people in their best posture, we encountered someone.

“My, I didn’t expect to meet you in this fine morning,” A man with a black top hat and a black suit. He had an incredible amount of jewelry on his neck. He also had an assortment of rings in his hands. On his left chest, there was an emblem. Though it looked small, it might have been the most that stood out of the man. The Sangaa’s emblem.

Feim tagged my shirt as she respectfully bowed to the man, prompting me to do the same.

“Indeed, what a lovely coincidence,” William smiled and took a glance on the young man beside the top hat man. “I reckon you’re here to sign Galbero up?”

The young man in question looked at me and crudely answered, “And I figure that’s who I’m going to face?” He scrutinized me and smiled aggressively towards William. “If that’s who I’m fighting then you’re very much underestimating me, Lord William.”

Lindwal’s description of Galbero was spot on. His height was more or less the same as Takana and even his physique looked the same. I wouldn’t be surprised if his weapon of choice was the same as Takana.

“Of course, that’s far from my intention,” William smiled. “I’m certain you’ll have fun fighting Terrin. I wouldn’t want to embarrass Romero. He’s a good friend of mine, after all.”

Wow, William’s putting a lot of faith in me, huh? Still, even though they were trying to hide it, even a person like me could see that they have bad blood between them.

The man with the top hat, Romero, started to leave. “Make sure to bring him to me when the match is over,” they started walking away and just as they passed by William, Romero mockingly said, “Healing is my specialty, after all.”

After they passed by, I looked at William’s face. He was still smiling as usual. “Come, let us continue.” Even though it was a brief interaction, I felt the intense atmosphere from the very start. Just what had happened between the two of them?

After enlisting to the List Keeper, William went to greet the Queen. Enlisting wasn’t so hard since William was there to verify everything.

Feim and I went on the rooftop of the Palace while waiting for William. There was a garden at the top, as well as gazebos. Feim and I went on one of the gazebos and sat there. A servant also offered us tea. Perfect.

Nobles really like nature, huh?

Being at the top of the Palace made the place pretty windy and made it a bit chilly. The sweet, cold smell of the flowers around calmed my nerves as the warm liquid of the tea ran through my body.

Even without her master, Feim still represented herself properly as if William never left. At the moment, I had nothing to say to her and I assumed she didn’t have anything else to say, too. It was just two people drinking tea and enjoying the silence. Well, at least until she showed up.

“Nature’s an absolute beauty, isn’t she?” Suddenly, beside me, a young woman appeared. Only high-nobles were allowed here, so she must be from some distinguished family.

I mentally sighed. Do I have to act formal again? Just when I started to relax…Also how did she get here?

Immediately, Feim stood up and bowed. “Good day to you, Lady Elis Crista.”

Elis Crista? Crista…

I quickly remembered the name and hastily stood up. As I was about to bow, Feim stared at me menacingly with her clear light-blue eyes and I instantly stopped with what I was about to do.

“Oh? I’m honestly surprised you know me,” Elis playfully chuckled.

“It would be disrespect to the Cristas if a Borin servant doesn’t know their 4th daughter.” Feim replied respectfully. As expected of Feim, she was prepared on what was thrown at her.

She brought out a folding fan and put it over her below her eyes, covering half of her face. “I know who she is but you,” Her eyes narrowed on me. “Who are you?”

As my mind find the answers whether to answer her question, Feim answered it in my stead. “He’s the Borin’s representative for the tournament this year, milady. His name is Terrin.“

“Hmmm…” She scrutinized me exactly like what Galbero did. “Is Lord William underestimating us?”

“I’m afraid he is serious as he has always been.”

“Well, I shouldn’t be surprised since we are talking about Lord William.” She looked at me again and it made me fixed my posture. “I must apologize for belittling you. My mother always emphasizes to not look down on others.”

“It’s okay. I do look a bit weak,” I let out a hollow laugh. Pathetic, I know.

“Yes, and it seems appearance might not be the only thing that looks feeble.” She started to elegantly take a sip from her tea. “How do you like the weather up here?”

“T-The weather? It’s okay, I guess…?” I didn’t know where she was going with this, so I answered honestly.

“It’s perfect, isn’t it?” she blissfully said while looking at the clouds. Nobody replied, so there was a brief silence.

After a couple of minutes, Elis stood up. “Well, I must take my leave. I hope you all have a wondrous day.” She kindly said. “As for you Terrin, we’ll meet again soon.”

With those vague words, she left in a hurry. About a couple of seconds after she left, William appeared. Without asking much question, we went back to the house.