"By the way, you said you watched my preliminary match?"
"Ah yes! Actually it was the Guild Master who took me there. She said she had a job there but later just decided to watch your match. W-well, she is a little weird in those cases but she is really a good person."
"I see... "
'I think she went there to watch my match in the first place. It's not that she is weird, but she doesn't really discuss her plans with others. So I guess it is easy to misunderstand her or something? Well, not that I know her personally.'
"Is it possible to meet her?"
"Oooh~ Now you want to meet her. I told you that one day she'll be your favorite too."
Hearing this suddenly made me choke on my so-called 'free of charge' starters.
'Yeah... She is my favorite. She blackmailed me to go to a camp full of criminals without even mentioning her name.'
"Hmm... But I don't think you can meet her now. She is in Lumina Town now and because of that recent incident, she is quite busy too."
'I thought it would be something like this. Still, if I avoid her more, I don't know what she will do with all my information'
Once I left my Marcel Mistmer identity, it wouldn't really matter if anyone found out that I was the one that made up the name of King Johnathan. But still, I came to know that there were a lot of perks in using this name.
I wasn't planning to completely abandon Marcel Mistmer. I could use this name somewhere in the future again.
So, I decided to talk to the Guild Master about all these things.
I also wanted to ask her about the Karma organization.
"But why do you want to meet her? Don't tell me you want to join the Guild?"
I work for the Guild as a freelance adventurer but I was not a member of the Guild. The members had their own contracts and salaries and were deployed as per the orders of the Guilds. They were also allowed to do the quests from the board, but there was no need to. They already had a good salary.
And similarly, not anyone would be accepted to join the Guild. But I had no doubt I would be accepted considering my achievements. Furthermore, I was a B rank adventurer.
Still, I never intended on joining.
"It's nothing like that. I just wanted her advice on some things'
"Che! I thought it would be fun working together if you are assigned to Springbell."
Since Bella was a contracted member of the Guild, as someone from Springbell, I would definitely apply for the same branch as her. And if I was assigned here too, we would have a chance to eat and drink together a lot as co-workers.
To be honest, it wouldn't be bad. Bella was one of my closest friends and I really enjoyed my time here.
But still, there were people waiting for me somewhere. There were questions whose answers I had to find somehow.
This was definitely not the path for me.
"Here's your food. Please enjoy!"
"Thank you... It looks so good, Marcel!"
"Y-yeah"
'Sob! My hard earned money...'
We finished our meal and went our separate ways. Bella also apologized for using me like this with a 'Tee-hee' and thanked me for treating her here. She said that she always wanted to eat here at least once.
I didn't really do anything noteworthy for the next few days. Although I thought that the school job would be my last one, I decided to do a few more small quests occasionally when I was bored. They were simple ones like killing goblins or delivering goods.
I also had my lunch with Bella mostly during these days. Surprisingly, she decided to treat me the other day but it wasn't that fancy. Honestly, I preferred these restaurants to those 'day light robbing restaurants'.
I could also see that Bella didn't have many friends as she proposed to eat with me mostly.
"You look busy"
"I am busy. Are you leaving now?"
"Yes. The final is scheduled for tomorrow morning."
"I see. Good luck, Marcel"
"Thank you...umm... I'll see you around then"
"... Marcel!" Bella called out after a little hesitation.
"Yes? "
"A-are you going to come back here again?"
Was I going to come back here again? Bella might be a little timid, but she was no fool. Just like I thought of her as my good friend, she also saw me as an irreplaceable friend.
Maybe after these recent days of eating and spending time together, or maybe she doubted it from the first day, I didn't know.
But she knew that I had no intention of coming back here. That I was leaving for good.
'If I win I am going back to Elysium and maybe we will never meet after that. There's no way I can say something like that.'
"..."
"..."
We both didn't say anything.
Well, there were no words that I could say here. I was very bad at goodbyes. I even thought of leaving without even saying anything.
'Lame, Owen. Very lame'
She exited her counter and walked towards me and slowly pulled me in a tight hug. She was hiding her face in my chest but I could see that she was crying.
I too hugged her back softly.
"I am really going to miss you a lot, Bella"
"M-me too. I really hope we meet again someday."
"...Yes. I hope so too. I ready do"
***
Although many people knew Marcel Mistmer in Springbell, there were not many I was close with. I also decided to meet with Gorinn today before leaving.
Although it seemed like I was going on a long journey, I reached Lumina Town in no time.
'It has been only nine days since that incident, but they already made this place like before.'
I could see that the people in the streets were a little less compared to before, but I never thought they would recover to this extent in just nine days.
The stalls were back on the streets, people wearing various colourful clothes and those lanterns everywhere. The amount of lanterns in those shops looked even more than before.
I didn't see the person who sold me the newspaper that day. It was sad but there was nothing I could do now. There were countless people suffering the same fate.
'For now, I need to find an inn again which is really troublesome. I don't want to sleep outside facing the cold night.'
The inn I stayed previously was unfortunately full. Not only that, almost all the inns near the stadium were almost full. The rest had some Nobles and VIPs staying so I avoided those. I didn't really have a longing to meet and chat with one.
'Did everyone move near the stadium after the attack? It's a possible theory. But then it should also mean that the inns near the market are almost empty.'
And just like I predicted, I easily found an inn near the Market. Not only that, the price here was much cheaper too. I didn't have that much of a problem staying here. I just needed to wake up a little earlier and go to the Stadium.
'Hah! Finally... If I win tomorrow, I can meet them again.'
I wonder how mom is doing. My death must have had a massive impact on her.
Knowing her, she'll most probably think that I died only because she failed to protect us.
I just hope she wouldn't blame her for all that.
Is dad doing well? Marielle must have grown a lot too. And there is no doubt that Esmeralda must have become an aspiring Knight.'
I really missed them a lot. But there was also an unknown sadness between these feelings.
'Will I ever come back here again?'
I had a great teacher here. He taught me more than anyone in this world. Sylas and Bella were such friends that I never had back there.
There is also Isabelle, Penelope and Princess Violet. They were also quite nice to me.
I always had really weird dreams when I thought of my family too much. I couldn't always describe them as a nightmare too.
They were just.... oddly familiar dreams.
But that night, I had the most peaceful sleep without any dreams.
***
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Finally the day that you all have been waiting for has arrived."
There was a booming cheer from the audience.
"We had some tragic loss on our path but that doesn't mean we should stop seeking our future."
The arena today was a little larger than the one I saw during the semi-finals. But what really changed was the area reserved for the spectators. It really increased to an enormous size.
"We are here at the finals of the 8th Blood Legacy Competition."
The Princess and her friends didn't come here today. Well, I expected that already. They thought that the attack was targeted at them so the King surely wouldn't let them appear in public just after the attack. There might be some remaining terrorists still aiming for them.
But that didn't mean there were less number of people in the audience. On the contrary, this was the largest audience I have seen throughout the whole competition.
Maybe they wanted a little break after that tragedy? This was also the safest place for them to be honest.
"Get ready to cheer for your favorite contestant! "
Marcel! Marcel! Marcel!
Sylas! Sylas! Sylas!
Sylas' fanbase wasn't inferior to mine in any way. I heard his matches were really fun to watch.
I could see Sylas gripping the hilt of his sword tightly on the other side of the arena. On this side too, a thin silver jian appeared on my right hand and started emiting a slight ethereal glow.
"Marcel Mistmer vs Sylas Zyair!!!!"
There was a loud horn that indicated the start of the final match.