“Arthur! You’re healed? I thought you were stuck in bed for another day, at least?” Cerion asked as I sat down next to him. I had to contain the small groan that threatened to escape my lips as Emeri’s holy power flared up with my movement.

“Of course I’m healed. Did you think a little holy power could keep me down for long?”

Cerion looked at me incredulously, before bursting out laughing.

“I see. I guess I should’ve predicted this. Regardless, I’m happy to see you’ve recovered. I have to admit, you made for a sorry sight after you took Emeri’s attack head-on like that.”

“Yeah, I know. In hindsight, I should’ve backed off after she started to prepare that attack. I probably could have escaped the worst of it by apparating at the right time. Instead, I counterattacked in the heat of the moment.” I admitted, sighing at my own miscalculation. As a result of my healing skill, I had gotten used to favoring a counter over a block. That meant that when I got pushed into a corner and relied on my instincts, that would be the move I would go for.

Cerion moved to console me by offering me one of his meat-skewers, my favorite street food.

“Keep your chin up, Arthur. Second place isn’t bad at all. I didn’t even make it to the podium. Besides, in a real battle, the result would have been considered a tie, since Emeri conked out moments after your unconscious body was revealed.”

At that moment, I noticed a large figure appear in the corner of my eye. Gaius came up to us and sat down. The monk had his hands clasped together in prayer, as per usual. From his smug grin, I could tell what he was here for.

“Indeed, mister Arthur. I find myself agreeing with Cerion’s analysis. That being said, it didn’t look like a draw at first sight. Even if Miss Helios had a strange green scar that ate away her flesh and collapsed because of it, compared to the scorched husk that remained of you, it didn’t seem so bad. Still, logic tells us that you would have been the first to recover, with or without outside help. The fact that Miss Emeri is still recovering right now while you are here proves this point.” the monk proclaimed, merciful towards my pride.

“You’re only sparing Arthur’s feelings because you don’t want to consider that you lost to the second best of our kingdom, rather than the first.” Cerion replied hotly, tired of the monk’s roundabout way of speaking.

The large fellow coughed in embarrassment and didn’t refute Cerion’s statement, though the look on his face made him seem like he was being unjustly accused. Cerion refused to let it go and stared at Gaius with his arms crossed. Neither were willing to speak any further on the matter.

I shook my head, amused by their silent argument and focused on the spectacle in front of me.

The final category of the tier 2 tournament was the team’s category. Teams of 6 would compete to prove to the country who deserved to be called the most powerful tier 2 party.

Grimacing, I realized that the hot headed Reana was a top contender for this category. She led a party of adventurers that had risen to their current position together. In other words, their teamwork would be impeccable. Apart from Reana, three other seeded classers were participating. Karon and X had formed a team with three other mercenaries, one of which I remembered seeing in the last category. Arcellus had formed a team with five of his goons, though he didn’t strike me as the type of person to heed his teammates any mind.

Despite all of these seeded classers participating, I was rooting for John, the kind war veteran that I had faced in the last round. John was one of the two teams facing off at this very moment, in fact. He and his team were facing another team that was vaguely familiar to me. It had a female archer that shot purple bolts and the flame shaper from the doubles tournament. His clones were fierce fighters and allowed him to control the flow of the battle thus far.

Unfortunately for him, John was no pushover. In fact, he was damn near strong enough to be seeded. Seeing his team be pushed back by the immortal clones, he lifted his halberd to the sky and summoned great winds to lift everyone into the air. From there, he held the advantage, since he was capable of moving around in the air, as well as moving his teammates from a distance.

His opponents, however, had no way to counter John’s control over air and wind. A few minutes later, all of them had been defeated and John’s team moved to the semi-finals, where they would face Karon’s team.

The next match would be held between Arcellus and a team I didn’t recognise. At this point, I was starting to get a little bored, since I had no horse in this race. I let Cerion know that I would wander around a bit and left the stands, heading to the outskirts of the arena.

A few minutes later, I approached one of the many arches that served as open-air windows of the arena. I was on the second floor and could look out over the capital. The weather was pristine today. The sun shone down on the entire capital, causing the roofs of the nearby buildings to glisten. A light breeze wafted through the wide corridors of the arena, cooling me down as I sunbathed for a moment.

I enjoyed the peace and quiet for a few minutes. The joy of just doing nothing was something I had been missing out on for a long time. Eventually though, I heard a single set of footsteps as someone approached me. I turned to face the newcomer, and found Reana staring back at me.

Strangely, she stayed silent, as if considering what to say. In the end, I was the first to speak.

“Uhm, did you… need something?” I asked. Clearly, she had a match coming up in a few minutes. Now wasn’t the time for her to be talking to me.

She seemed to catch herself and, to her credit, blushed in embarrassment when she realized her strange behavior.

“Sorry, I… I just needed a moment to think. I, uh, I approached you because I wanted to apologize. For what I said, in our fight. It was uncalled for. I just wanted to win, you know…”

“...Right, I get ya. Well, no hard feelings. I have to admit that I did the same to Emeri, anyway. Instead of an apology, why don’t you tell me where I met you before? For the life of me, I can’t recognise you. I don’t remember much from my childhood either, since my affinity was really wreaking havoc on my mind at the time.” I explained as casually as I could, trying to hide the discomfort I felt when I admitted to my own issues as a child.

Hearing my question, Reana fell quiet and her eyes widened. Her mouth formed an ‘o’, as she seemed to realize something. A moment later, she evaded my eyes and stared down at the ground.

“Well, uh, we were friends when we were kids, back in the village. Martha, remember? Me, you and Ben used to play together all the time.”

Now I remembered… Well, I didn’t. I remembered that my tier-2 trial had a pig-tailed girl named Martha in it. I didn’t actually… remember. Still, I didn't want to admit this to Reana, now Martha.

“Right! The pig-tailed girl! Sorry I didn’t recognise you at first, haha. You’ve changed so much!” I said loudly, cringing internally at how forced the laughter sounded.

“You… do you really remember me?!” she asked excitedly, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Seeing her honest feelings, I felt… inadequate. I wasn’t her friend, not anymore. Ashamed at my previous lie, I decided to speak the truth. I felt that she deserved that much, at least.

“Sorry, I… don’t. I remember your name from my tier-trial, which pushed my childhood into my face. I don’t actually… remember anything beyond that. …Sorry.” I said, dousing her spirits. She remained silent for a moment and turned around, looking away for a few moments. Eventually though, she seemed to perk up. When she turned back around, she was smiling, though even I could tell that it wasn’t genuine.

“That’s alright! It's not your fault. I wasn’t keeping your situation into account when I called you out before. Therefore, it’s me who should be apologizing. Anyway, I have to go now, my match is starting soon. Sorry again. Bye!” she said, before running off into the distance.

I called out after her, more confident than I felt, desperate to maintain some kind of connection. I didn’t want to admit to myself that I had lost something, even after all this time.

“How’s Ben doing?”

Without stopping, she replied.

“Fine! Works as a lumberjack back in the village, actually! Anyway, I really have to go now. Euh, bye!”

I sighed. Seeing her run off like that made it clear she had no intent of becoming friends again. I wasn't sure if I even wanted that, after what had happened in our match. It wasn't like I had completely forgiven her for what she had said at the time, I just wasn't interested in letting that resentment fester. I felt it was better this way. Act like a forgiving fool for five minutes to spare yourself from ever having to deal with her again. If she caused more trouble, it wouldn't be too late to deal with her then.

“With this… have I cut off my last connection to my past? At least my parents are still around…” I mumbled to myself, wondering if I should be happy that it was over with or sad that I had lost someone important to me along the way, without even realizing it at the time.

Speaking of my parents, my sibling was due to be born soon. Another month… I wouldn’t have time to spectate the rest of the tournament, since I wanted to be home in time. After the end of the teams category, I would have to ask after my second place reward, so that I could tie up all the knots left in the capital.

-scene transition-

Over the next few hours, I spectated the rest of the matches listlessly. Though I was happy to see John give Karon’s team hell, it hadn’t been enough to overwhelm them. The addition of X was just too much for John’s team, who were all pretty average by the standards of the tournament. Only John was strong enough to cause an upset, but X’s speed was just too much to handle, especially when Karon entered the fold. As a result, Karon’s team went to the finals.

Arcellus’ match against Reana was much less one-sided. I had to admit I was impressed by the average strength of Reana’s party members. They were all well above average, and their teamwork was, as expected, impeccable. All of them had combo attacks and they instinctively moved from formation to formation to counter Arcellus assault. First, Arcellus’ goons were taken out one by one. They were decent, but they had no clue how to combat Reana’s roots and deal with her team at the same time. Eventually, only Arcellus was left. He promptly activated his ultimate skill and burned everything in sight to a crisp, but Reana’s mage set up some kind of shield that bought Reana enough time to summon her treant. From there, they ran out the clock and waited for Arcellus’ skill to end. When it did, nearly everyone was out of mana, apart from Reana who had held back so far. As a result, Arcellus was overwhelmed the moment he ran out of mana, winning Reana the match.

The final fight was… interesting. Karon’s teammates proved to be no better than Arcellus’ and they were quickly decimated. Unfortunately, X didn’t sit still and defeated two of Reana’s own with his incredible speed. In an attempt to catch a third, Reana retaliated and buried him three feet deep into the arena wall when she threw him with her treant. X didn’t recover.

From there, Karon was forced into a one versus three, which led to his loss. His oil was a powerful adhesive and burned like dry wood. However, Rean’s knight had some kind of fire-resistance, which meant that Karon wasn’t ready when he was knocked across the arena. Reana had no trouble closing out the match, which meant that they had won the gold. After a short speech, they were each granted their rewards. A pile of gold, some weapons and trinkets… Reana even won a few dungeon-raiding vouchers, which were difficult to get for anybody that wasn’t high nobility. Once again, I thanked Helios for having influential family members. No one refused free stuff, after all.

Then, the announcer did something I didn’t expect.

“With those brave heroes having received their reward, it is time we do the same for the victors of the singles bracket! Both Arthur and Emeri Helios have recovered from their wounds enough to receive their just rewards. As a result, their ceremony will take place in a few moments! Please wait while they get ready to take to the stage!”

Already? Well, if anything, this would save me some time…