Alnea left the mansion with Yuri and Cecilia, heading towards the Blood Hall, while the rest of the Star Seekers headed off to complete their own tasks. Some to gather information, some to spread false information, and some to the Arena to improve their ranks. Though, all of them had to do the last part at some point or the other, including him and the girls.

  Rather, they had to be even more proactive than the rest of their team. After all, one of the prerequisites of entering the inner city was entering the top thousand ranks in the Arena. Or was it a hundred? Regardless, both of those goals were quite some distance away from him. And that was despite fighting three times a day in the Arena. Maybe they should increase the frequency of their battles…

  Alnea shook his head, subduing his thoughts into depths of his Heart, deciding to concentrate on one thing at a time. Although the last thought was worth pondering over, he could not let his worries cloud his mind when he was about to challenge the unknow Trials. He could, of course, have asked Vestia and the others about the Trials. But that would have sapped the thrill of challenging the unknown…

  Maybe some of the recklessness of the girls was rubbing off on him. In any case, it was too late to regret, so he just gave up thinking about what he could have done, focussing instead on what he could do. Prepare for the unknown…

  After reaching the Blood Hall, they headed straight towards the counter of the Scholar Hall, and joined the queue. One that was just as long as the queue of the Warrior Hall. Maybe even longer. Or that could have just been because of their unfamiliarity with the Scholar Hall, and nervousness of facing the unknown. No. he was not nervous. He was just a little cautious. As he should be. Whether it was to get better results, or to—

  “Welcome to the reception of the Scholar Hall,” said the red robed woman behind the counter, greeting Alnea with a tamed smile. “Which Trial are you going to challenge today?”

  “The Mystery Trials,” Alnea said, before pointing to Yuri and Cecilia behind him. “It’s the same with them too.”

  “Oh? Are you together then?” the woman said, nodding with a smile. “It’s rather refreshing to see such young Wanderers gathering together and braving the challenges of the Lost City… Wait a moment. A boy and two girls, relatively young… Are you, by any chance, the Bloodthirsty Stars that has been famous in the city recently?”

  “Bloodthirsty?” Cecilia mumbled. “That’s a new one.”

  “Probably a Lotus clan’s propaganda,” Yuri said, not caring to hide the disgust from her face. “It just shows how desperate they are to deal with us.”

  “So, you are the Bloodthirsty Stars,” the woman said, with a hint of disappointment in her voice. “I thought you would look a little more…”

  “Violent? Grumpy?”

  “…Rough. Though I would not mind if you were a little violent and grumpy either. Both of those traits fall into my sweet spot…”

  “…Sorry to disappoint you, but we have none of the traits that you were looking forward to,” Alnea said, unwilling to continue the irrelevant conversation. Especially since he felt a pair of cold gazes falling on his back. “Now, can we continue with our Trials?”

  “Daes,” the woman said, winking at Alnea. “You can call me Daes. And yes, you can continue with your Trials. But only if you give me your name.”

  “…Alnea.”

  “Alnea… Although it is not as rough as I expected it to be, it is still a good name,” Daes mumbled to herself, before turning back to him with a smile on her face. “I will remember your name, Alnea.”

  “…I would be honoured, Wanderer Daes,” Alnea said, wondering if he had done something to anger the Goddess of Luck. “About the Trials…”

  “A little impatient… maybe there is still some hope,” Daes mumbled to herself once again, before shifting her focus back on him. “Mystery Trials, was it? You can just go to the Wanderer next to me.”

  “Thank you, Wanderer Daes.”

  “No need. Helping you is my duty, after all. Though if you truly want to thank me—

  “We should be on our way now, Wanderer Daes,” Yuri said, stepping next to Alnea, and grabbing his hand. “Or it will not look good if you keep everyone else in the queue waiting because of us.”

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  “…What a rude girl,” Daes said, clicking her tongue in disappointment, before turning back to Alnea with a smile. “See you later then, Alnea.”

  …Before Alnea could think of a reply, Yuri dragged him away from the crazy woman, and came to the man that the latter had pointed them towards. A clean shaved man, with his hair tied back behind his head into a knot. Unlike the woman next to him, the man seemed to be a little normal. He even seemed to sympathise with them, shaking his head with a wry smile. It looked like it was not the first time the woman was behaving so eccentrically.

  “Just bear with it for a while,” the man said to Yuri. “Mystery Trials?”

  “…Mystery Trials.”

  “Give me your Blood Cards.”

  Alnea handed their Blood Cards to the man, who then placed them on the box in front of him, tinkering with them one by one, before handing the cards back.

  “Thank you, Wanderer…”

  “No need. I have already given you access to the Trial Space of the Mystery Trials. What are you still doing here?”

  “…Just to be sure, which floor is the Trial Space of the Mystery Trials on?”

  “You do not even know this? What have you—Forget it. The Trials are on the fifth floor.”

  “Thank you, Wanderer…” Alnea said, bowing slightly towards the Wanderer, before quickly walking away from the counter of the Scholar Hall.

  “What was the problem with that woman?”

  “I don’t know… but she did not seem normal.”

  “…You better stay away from her in the future.”

  “…Even if I want to stay away from her, we will still have to go back to her after completing the Trials to claim our reward.”

  “…Forget it. We will figure out how to deal with her later. For now, let’s focus on the Trials.”

  “…Mystery Trials…”

  “…In a sense, the Trials have truly become a mystery.”

  “…Let’s see if you are still in the mood to joke after the Trials begin.”

  “…Are you nervous?”

  “I am not!”

  “…There is nothing to be shy about being nervous.”

  “I said, I am not nervous!”

  “…Fine. Fine. You are not nervous. Still, just to remind you, we are going to challenge only the Initial Stage Trials today. Even if the Trials are going to be difficult, it won’t be a problem to clear them with our strength.”

  Cecilia paused in her steps, and glared at him, before letting out a sigh, and continuing climb the stairs.

  “…Of course, I know that we can clear the Trials. It is just that… of the three paths, I am least proficient on the path of Scholars. The Glyphs that I have mastered… I don’t know if they will be enough to clear records, and earn some Medals.”

  “…That’s it?”

  “…That’s your reaction?”

  “…How else am I supposed to react?”

  “…I don’t know… Maybe laugh at me, or make fun of me…”

  “I would never—

  “Don’t get me started.”

  “…As I was saying,” Alnea said, feigning to clear his throat with a cough. “I am not much better than you at handling Glyphs either. Or have you forgotten how I almost blew up our mansion?”

  “Only to succeed in inscribing your Glyph the very next day.”

  “…It was a fluke—

  “And you never failed since then.”

  “…That’s because I did not experiment much with my Glyphs. It has been over half a year, and I have only now begun practising how to make Glyph Arrays—

  “You are not helping.”

  “…What I meant is that I am not confident in earning some Scholar Medals either. But you are right to worry. We do need to have a few Scholar Medals, be it to satisfy the demands of the team, or to research the Glyphs of the Lost City. So, how about we let Yuri worry about earning the Medals for us?”

  “…It is not good manners to talk about someone else behind their back, Alnea, let alone when you are with them.”

  “…I was just joking,” Alnea said, feigning a laugh, while shifting away from the girls ever so slightly. Not too much, but enough for the girls to notice, and bring a smile to their faces.

  “…Fool.”

  “Thank you for the complement.”

  “…When are you going to be serious?”

  “Hey, I am always serious.”

  “So, were you serious when you were talking with Daes?”

  “…Daes? Who Daes? Do I know someone with that name?”

  “…It looks like the past six months have not been a waste.”

  “Look, we are here already,” Alnea said, quickly diverting the topic away from himself, while stepping forward to the gigantic door in front of him. A couple of doors, to be exact. One to enter the Trial Space, and one to exit. Just like the Trial Space of the Warrior Hall. Even the arrangement of the doors was the same, as was the black pillar standing next to the doors. The only thing different between the doors was mural adorning their surface, and the queue in front of them.

  “…It looks like we came at the wrong time,” Cecilia said, only for both Alnea and Yuri to shake their heads.

  “…I am afraid things are not so simple,” Alnea said, before turning towards the girls with a grim face. “We need to change our plans.”