The ranking had been established. With this, the final round was starting. As for the duels happening to determine the lower ranks, it would be organized afterward.
This ranking was the initial one. Starting from the bottom, the participants would get to challenge those of a higher rank. Since it was getting late, the last round would be held tomorrow. It was also an opportunity for the participants to prepare some strategies.
"These are the keys to your room." The staff member bowed in greeting and handed Arthur and Yurirl the keys. They had separate rooms and they had to follow the staff until they got there.
The two went on separate ways for the first time today. Despite the short time they spent together, Arthur felt like he knows Yurirl more than he did with the others. It had something to do with Yurirl's simple and straightforward character.
Arthur opened the door and entered the room. It was bigger than the last one and was almost as big as his room in the fortress. Like always, he walked straight to the bed after throwing his robes.
'These are so restricting.' Arthur unbuttoned the shirt and lied on the bed. He finally got some time alone and he listened to the quietness of the room, the boiling tea in the fireplace, and the distinct sound of running water.
'Wait, running water?' Arthur frowned and felt like he was reliving this. He shot up from his bed and looked at the bathroom door.
The door opened like last time and a man walked out. He had a masculine and hairy body with a towel covering his waist and privates. As Arthur looked at the man, the man looked back at him for a moment before a grin broke on his face.
"… I should have fucking known."
"What?" Reece tilted his head in puzzlement. However, it seems he had more urgent news to deliver. "Si has sent me over! There's some bad news."
"Okay, but first of all." Arthur raised his hand in blocking. "Don't touch me when you're in other people's bodies. Moreover, don't touch me at all. Second of all, why are you always taking baths in people's bodies?"
Reece seemed to be stunned by both matters, as he looked blankly at Arthur. It seems Reece couldn't decide on which matter was more important.
"People always feel filthy."
"Oh," It was an unexpectedly understandable answer. "What is the news?"
"… One of the families is making a move."
"What?" Arthur shot up from his seat. "What do you mean?"
"It's the family behind the Ilios Empire, The Voldor family."
"Do you mean their youngest prince's arrival to the Yalveran Union?" Arthur frowned. "What about the other families?"
"No, there's nothing from the others. It seems the Ilios empire is taking action alone. Si used his ability to look into their royal palace, but something happened."
"What do you mean by something?" Arthur frowned. "Is Sier okay?" Reece shook his head.
"We don't know. He's unconscious right now."
Arthur felt his body turn cold. Sier was unconscious after he had tried to look into the palace of the imperial family. Did that mean that he had overused his ability and the legacy owner is now trying to take over?
"We should go back." Arthur was suddenly worried about his family. If even the city of Runera was threatened, a protection jade wouldn't be enough to save them.
"Calm down, junior." Reece walked over and sat on the couch opposite Arthur with his towel still on him. "Si has given his instructions. We don't think the Voldor family can do anything during the cup, so it must be after you leave the city of Runera."
"… Has Si said why they're targeting me?" Arthur didn't think Reece knew Arthur was the outsider, so he had to feign ignorance.
"No, but it must be because of the fortress. It could also be because of your talent in the runes. They don't wish for the Yalveran Union to get stronger."
Arthur sighed in relief inwardly. If Sier didn't tell anyone he was the outsider, then very few people knew. Even Erin Voldor couldn't be sure about his identity. There were Hazel and Miko, the only two who knew his name.
Others have seen him end the trial. He didn't know if they were smart enough to connect the two, but there were many witnesses. With his sudden fame, he must have grabbed their attention.
'Why did they wait until I left Kera?' Arthur didn't know the answer to this question. If they were coming after him, then Arthur could do nothing but run away and hide in his fortress.
If it was about the fortress incident where he called out prince Alfred, then it didn't make sense. This wasn't enough for them to make a move. Yes, a young hero is good for the public image of the Yalveran Union, but it was no threat to the empire. They can't be this petty.
However, if it was about the trial, then it was understandable. The strange thing is why they had waited until now to make a move?
"Are they mobilizing their forces?" Arthur asked weirdly. If the Paladins came after him, it would be hard to run away even with his teleport rune. A single smack could send him to oblivion.
"No, they're trying to be discreet about it. Master Ronin says that they must want to capture you without the other families knowing."
"Alright." Arthur nodded in understanding. It was only a matter of time, he thought. "But I'm not leaving before I become the champion."
"Reece, I'm not running away from this." Arthur couldn't waste the prize for first place in the Apprentice Cup. He also didn't want to waste how much he had worked for this because he was scared of the Voldor family.
Reece nodded after a brief silence. He took out his clothing and started to wear them as Arthur uncomfortable diverted his eyes.
"Very well. Li is on his way here; we'll escort you back to the fortress. Ivy, Zas, and Hua have been called over. William is challenging the Tower of Wisdom so he's unreachable. We'll escort you back to the fortress."
"Thank you, Reece." Arthur sighed. "For everything."
"Arthur," Reece shook his head. "Don't thank me. We haven't known each other for long, but families take care of each other. You're like our newborn child with many illnesses and an ugly face, we can't leave you to die, now can we?"
"That was oddly specific."
"You're like the puppy you pick up from the sidewalk only to realize it was a serial killer puppy and the police are after him."
"Dude, what kind of comics have you been reading?"
"Stop!" Arthur threw his hand in surrender. "I'd rather you guys just hand me over at this rate."
The two looked at each other and broke into laughter until their stomachs started hurting. After the good laugh, Arthur felt more at ease.
He didn't know what have the Voldor family planned. However, he would face it head-on. For that, he needed to gear up. After Reece left the room, Arthur opened his legacy's inheritance.
He had 22 points. He wanted to save them for something grand like a high-tier rune, but his hands were tight this time. Arthur opened the runes menu as he started going through his options.
There were elemental runes like Fire. There was water, earth, wind, lightning, light, darkness, and other unique runes like those that generated a specific gas, others that created metals, or those that produced acid. Arthur thought he could choke his enemies with Carbon Monoxide or something, but he knew this didn't work on high-ranking awakeners.
They could slap the life out of him before he could gather enough gas to kill them. He needed something powerful and instantaneous.
There were other runes like shapeshifting, invisibility, amplification, magnetic waves, shadow creation, taming, material transformation, regeneration, and so many other runes that Arthur felt light-headed just going through them.
There were also the protection runes like barriers, illusion barriers, higher ranking protection runes, shields manifestations, and other similar runes he could use.
There was even summoning runes. Arthur's night, originally planned for his rest, was spent mulling over which rune to buy. That's to say that he couldn't buy all of them as some of them had 25 points price tag and other has 30 price tags.
"I got the fortress for 30 points, why are these so expensive?" Arthur complained to Jizo in his mind. He imagined Jizo telling him the obvious, that the fortress was a part of the Legacy Quest's reward.
In the end, Arthur decided that he didn't need an offensive rune right now. His opponents were stronger than him, so he started considering the protection rune and the others.