Edgan had tied his hair with a pristine white ribbon. Matched with clothes of the exact same color, this detail made him look much more striking than usual.
"Mel, you're here too? What a nice surprise!"
The handsome boy hugged Mel like they were old friends, and the eyes that had been watching him were now locked on the two of them.
"After the Botanical Division trials ended, my friend Nalt and I wanted to watch the martial fights. Plus, you know I have a lot to learn!"
When Mel introduced Nalt as his friend, the boy with uneven bangs let out a happy laugh; holding out his unhurt left hand, he went to greet Edgan.
"It's a huge honor to meet you, I'm Nalt. I heard this is your fourth win in a row!"
Stopping his words for a second, Nalt looked the handsome youth up and down.
"But you don't look like someone who just went through four fights. Your white clothes don't have a spot on them!"
Hearing the boy's words, Edgan narrowed his eyes and lowered his head a bit, acting like he was shy. This act made the girls around them take deep breaths all at once.
"We can't get a moment's peace from these ones either!"
Marvina looked really annoyed by all the attention her older brother was getting; glaring around her, she stomped her foot hard on the stone floor and spoke.
"Calm down, Marvina. You need to learn how to get along with people."
Putting his hands behind his back, Edgan talked to his sister like some wise old monk before turning back to Nalt.
"Let's just say it's a bit of luck, and the sheer arrogance of guys who underestimate me because I don't have noble blood. But there is something I'm really curious about: why do your palms have fresh cuts on them?"
Looking at Mel and Nalt's hands, Edgan pulled a smart distraction and asked his own question.
Before answering, Nalt glanced at the robust youth next to him; it looked like he didn't want to speak without Mel's permission. Seeing this, Mel opened his mouth first.
"I should be the one to explain. Today, we had to make a sacrifice to make sure the commoner kids passed their trials, so we made it."
Hearing Mel's short summary, a look of deep disappointment crossed Edgan's face. Seeing this, Nalt jumped right in.
"Today, Mel matched a century-old legend. He made all ten buds of the Ten-Budded Phantom Orchid bloom fully!"
Hearing this news, the brother and sister froze for a second; right after, Marvina hugged the Prodigy of the Botanical Division again.
"Congratulations, Mel! What kind of monster are you?"
The young girl was bursting with energy; in complete contrast, her older brother took the news with a totally different attitude.
"Then I guess I have to get through this trial without a single loss too. From what I hear, no one without noble blood has ever done this in the history of the academy!"
When the handsome boy used Mel as a rival to feed his own drive, Mel immediately cut in.
"Don't talk like that; you've already won four fights easily. I'm guessing nobody would dare cross your path unless they were really strong!"
Having only just come out of his isolated life, Mel reasoned with basic logic. But the boy who had practically run away from the ring a match ago had something to say.
"You've got the wrong idea, my friend. This isn't going to play out the way you think it is!"
Confused, Mel looked at his friends, only to find them staring at the dirt.
"There's some time before my next fight starts; let me explain why I said that. All five of us standing here lack noble blood; honestly, that's the main reason."
"I don't understand anything; could you explain it in more detail?"
Always hungry for new knowledge and rules, the boy didn't hesitate to dig deep into the matter.
"First of all, not a single noble kid will ever surrender to a commoner, even if they know they're going to lose. Sure, getting beaten by a commoner is a huge disgrace, but surrendering freely would bring endless mockery that would haunt them forever!"
"And what if only commoners dare to fight him from now on?"
A bitter smile appeared on Nalt's face, and he took over the explanation.
"That's the real tragedy! The kids who want to beat a commoner who remains undefeated by nobles—craving to prove they're the best—will never pass up a chance like that. Basically, Edgan has no choice but to fight ten matches in a row in the first trial!"
Having never seen this kind of twisted behavior in his home village, Mel listened to the explanation with deep focus. His curiosity seemed to spark Florin's desire to talk.
"There's darker stuff than this! For example, let's watch what's happening over there!"
The boy with two big front teeth pointed toward one of the twenty fighting rings.
"The dark-skinned kid is Nasrr, a friend of ours. He's been joining the martial trials since he was fourteen; I want you to watch him closely!"
Mel did as he was told; blocking out the rest of the world, he locked his eyes on the kid. The second the match started, Nasrr took total control; using just a wooden staff, he unleashed a non-stop attack from every angle against his fancy-looking opponent.
After about five minutes of this, when his opponent was on the edge of defeat, the whole dynamic shattered in a second.
Nasrr, who had dodged hits with ease before, started blocking the blows with his weapon instead. Before a minute passed, he practically threw himself out of the ring, taking the loss.
"What happened there?"
Mel's confusion was clear in the tone of his voice when he asked. When he turned to his friends, he was met with the same sad looks and lowered heads as before.
"Ah, my friend, you're way too innocent! How are you ever going to survive in the academy like that?"
Florin gave a short intro before digging into it.
"Nasrr is probably the most talented guy in this whole settlement, but his tragedy is being born into a dirt-poor family. His dad died in the forest around the settlement when Nasrr was just ten; since that day, he's had to provide for his mom and three younger siblings!"
"If he wanted to, he could have gotten into the academy easily at fourteen, but he refused to leave his family, knowing he couldn't survive inside without a ton of money. So, he made his own path; a way to drain the nobles' pockets."
"You saw it with your own eyes; Nasrr had the power to end the match whenever he wanted. But instead of winning, he pushed his opponent to the brink—right to the exact moment the guy realized he couldn't possibly win—and forced him to surrender. Obviously, this surrender happened without words."
"Do you see that girl over there? The one in blue clothes with twin tails—that's his little sister."
"A minute ago, while you were focused on the fight, she took a pouch full of coins from the father of Nasrr's opponent; the whole dynamic flipped in that exact second. He's been running this scam for three years. Yet, even though they know they can't beat him, not a single noble family has ever paid him in advance to lose."
"Do you want to know why?"
"It's not about the money; the coins they gave the girl in that pouch is just pocket change they drop on a single glass of wine at the Grape Temple Tavern. Their only goal is to force the illusion that they are superior. If murdering a child wasn't looked down on by the other noble families, they would have killed Nasrr a long time ago!"
As Mel took in the ugly truths of this savage hierarchy and class system, his fists clenched tight with anger. The cuts that had been sealed by Cantankerous Hanry's pill tore open again, covering his hands in fresh blood.